What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life? A Biblical and Spirit of Prophecy Compilation with Comments by Margaret Davis 3020 Murison Place Armstrong, BC V0E 1B4 Canada www.whatshallido.org First Edition 1991 Revised Edition 2006 All Scriptures quoted in this book are from the King James Version unless otherwise indicated. COOPERATE WITH GOD IN YOUR SALVATION He draws us through His love and kindness; we respond by learning to know Him through study and prayer. He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, producing guilt; we acknowledge our guiltiness without blaming others. He gives us repentance, producing true heart sorrow for sin; we confess with contrite hearts, surrendering all rights to self and sin. He forgives and cleanses from all sin and creates a new heart and mind; we believe and experience cleansing and renewal. He dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, energizing us to do His will; we act out what He works in, which results in fruit to His glory. He alerts us when tempted, and empowers us to resist the tempter; we submit to Him and resist through His power, gaining the victory. He will be our Advocate and plead for us if we should fall; we repent and turn back to Him so He can restore us to Himself. Through Christ God has worked out our complete salvation. WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? Allow God's Love to Come into Your Heart "A certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 18:18 This is the most important question we need to ask, and then find our answer from the Word of God. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet?" Matt. 19:17-20 "Christ was drawn to this young man. He knew him to be sincere in his assertion, `All these things have I kept from my youth.'" DA 519 He was a good, obedient young man. He did not murder, steal, lie or commit adultery. But he did have a problem! "His conception of the law was external and superficial. Judged by a human standard, he had preserved an unblemished character. To a great degree his outward life had been free from guilt; he verily thought that his obedience had been without a flaw. Yet he had a secret fear that all was not right between his soul and God. This prompted the question, `What lack I yet?'" COL 391 "Christ read the ruler's heart. Only one thing he lacked, but that was a vital principle. He needed the love of God in the soul. This lack, unless supplied, would prove fatal to him." DA 519 What does "vital" mean? It is absolutely essential for life. What was essential for life? He needed the love of God in his soul, not just human love. Human love can be very selfish. "That he might receive the love of God, his supreme love of self must be surrendered." DA 519 "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." Matt. 19:21, 22 And Jesus was very sorrowful to see him go. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12 The young man had been on the road to death, and chose to stay on that road. He was a very selfish young man, coveting all his riches for himself and not sharing with others. He did not have God's love in his heart. "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" 1 John 3:16-18 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:7, 8 "Unless you accept in your own life the principle of self-sacrificing love, which is the principle of His character, you cannot know God." MB 25 "Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, true love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within." COL 384 "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35 "It is not possible for the heart in which Christ abides to be destitute of love. If we love God because He first loved us, we shall love all for whom Christ died." COL 384 "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10 Your neighbor is a person who needs your help. Your neighbor is your wife. Your neighbor is your child. How do we treat our neighbors in our own family? Do we really love them with God's love? What is God's love like? "Love is patient and kind; [even when your children are disobedient, love is still patient and kind even though you have to discipline them] love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; [There would be no quarrelling in families if we had that kind of love. We would patiently discuss the problem, pray about it, and find a solution] it is not irritable or resentful; [even when others do not agree with us, or even do things that hurt us] it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." [with patience and kindness, and without irritation or resentment] 1 Cor. 13:4-7 "Love not only bears with other's faults, but cheerfully submits to whatever suffering or inconvenience such forbearance makes necessary." 5T 169 "For the love of Christ controls us." 2 Cor. 5:14 As I share these things, people often say, "But we are only human! How can we have that kind of love?" If we are only human, we are not Christians. Christians are partakers of the divine nature. They have Christ in them, the hope of glory. They are connected to the Vine and are filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore they are filled with God's love, which is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit. "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given us." Rom. 5:5 "Many are deceiving themselves; for the principle of love does not dwell in their hearts." SD 49 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Cor. 13:1-3 I grew up in a supposedly Christian home. I was the second of eleven children. My father was very firm in training his children to be obedient to parents and to God. But he could not control himself. If anyone failed to cooperate he would easily get impatient and often very angry. And then he had to find an excuse for his failures and so he blamed his children or his wife or whoever had provoked him. God's love did not control him! My father would have stood for the truths he believed in even to becoming a martyr if necessary, but he would have gained nothing! And one may give ten Bible studies a day and go home and fight with the family and still believe himself to be a worker for God. How sad! "We may be active, we may do much work; but without love, such love as dwelt in the heart of Christ, we can never be numbered with the family of heaven." COL 158 I liked to obey and so managed to get along well with my parents as I was growing up, truly thinking I was on the road to heaven. I gladly helped them with all the children and the farm work. But after I was married and had my own children I did not find it so easy. My husband and I did not always see things the same way in training the children and often argued about it, insisting on our way. I felt I knew more about training children since I had been the one who had always looked after all my younger brothers and sisters. My husband had no experience with children and when he was selfish or harsh with the children, I resented him. When the children were disobedient and we would get impatient and irritated, we also felt we could blame the children! And as I share with others, they acknowledge that they have done it too. How sad! The children carry their own guilt when they fail and also the parent's guilt. But we kept trying to be good parents, not realizing that we were just depending on our human love. In 1970 we came home from our mission appointment in India and I went to visit my parents. During my stay there, several of my brothers and sisters, who were also visiting, brought up the subject of righteousness by faith. Some of them had been studying the concept for some time. While discussing it with father, they had expressed some ideas that seemed different from his understanding of salvation. With me there, he hoped to get to the bottom of the matter. I was a minister's wife! I had been a missionary! I would have the answers, father thought. So, as my brothers and sisters described their new insights, father would ask me, "Margaret, are they right?" Each time all I could answer was, "Father, I don't know." I had been a worker for God but not really a student of His Word. Oh yes, I read my Bible, but I did not understand how to feed on the Word so it would become a power in my life. I was a surface reader! As the discussion continued, father became more and more concerned. Was his hope of heaven built on quicksand? His belief was, simply, believe in Jesus, do your best to obey, and gradually you will overcome your sins. After all, isn't sanctification the work of a lifetime? And doesn't Jesus cover our sins while we are trying to overcome them as many teach? So, during much of his life, he had tried to overcome his sins of temper, resentment, irritation, impatience, strife, and lust, believing that he was always in a saving relationship, covered by Christ's righteousness, even while knowingly sinning. Now he was hearing of the necessity of a heart-cleansing and then the power of God to keep him from sinning, and that Christ's righteousness does not cover sin! As the discussion went on, my father was not the only one who became troubled. I did also, because I had to admit I knew nothing of righteousness by faith. My religion was much like my father's. Do your best to obey God! And since my besetting sins were minor in comparison with his, it seemed as though I was having victory. Father was 78-years-old at the time, and had a heart condition that could bring death at any moment. He knew that only the overcomer would be in heaven, and he was not overcoming!!! He still had a 17-year-old boy at home, born twelve years after the other children, who was aggravating him more than all the other ten children put together. Now, weighed down by the realization of his problem, he cried out, "Margaret, help me!" "Everywhere there are hearts crying out for something which they have not. They long for a power that will give them mastery over sin, a power that will deliver them from the bondage of evil, a power that will give health and life and peace." MH 143 As I looked into my Father's pleading eyes, it suddenly dawned on me that I had nothing to offer a sinner. I could have said, "Try a little harder, Dad!" But he had been trying all his life, and in that moment I knew it was not the right answer. So I said nothing. I went home, determined to do something to help my father. I started to search diligently to discover what it really meant to be a Christian. At first this was boring, but I kept on and gradually the Bible became living water and living bread to my soul. "As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus." DA 391 As I studied, I found answers, and for the first time I realized I had only a form of godliness, but not the power of the gospel. I could seemingly keep the outward law but I had not known how to yield my spirit to be controlled by God's Spirit so that I could have the obedience of faith. "Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work." COL 315 Because I was naturally inclined to be cooperative, and because I was taught by my parents to obey them and also God, I came unwittingly to trust in my obedience. I thought I was a successful Christian. "The people are more ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation and need more instruction upon this all-important subject than upon any other." 4T 394 "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted them-selves to the righteousness of God." Rom. 10:2, 3 "Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and the sinner is made an overcomer with Christ; for he is made a partaker of the divine nature, and thus divinity and humanity are combined. "He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. Man cannot be saved without obedience, but his works should not be of himself; Christ should work in him to will and to do of His good pleasure." 1SM 363, 364 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:8-10 When I began to share my discoveries with my husband, he joined me in the search. He had been a minister for twenty years, but he had not understood the experience of the gospel either. "We need to be enlightened in regard to the plan of salvation. There is not one in one hundred who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare. "The enemy of man and God is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken." RH 9-3-1889 As we studied and both of us discovered how to surrender our hearts to God daily, our lives changed. Soon our children realized that Mom and Dad were experiencing something real in their lives, and they also wanted to find spiritual life for themselves. Our son, Arlen, was twenty-three, our daughter, Cheryl, was twenty-two, and married, and our youngest, Lorna, was fourteen. When Cheryl came home for a visit, we shared with her our new-found experience and understanding of salvation. She exclaimed, "That's what I've been looking for all my life! How do I find that experience?" We encouraged her to spend time with Jesus, truly getting to know Him by reading His word and getting to understand His teachings. Several weeks later she called me and said, "Mom, it's no use! I'm just reading words. They seem meaningless." She had also been a surface reader. I encouraged her to keep on until the words became living water and living bread. Our youngest daughter, Lorna, decided to stay home from school a year and just study the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy writings. She made her decision to follow God at that time, and it was such a blessing. "In the struggle for eternal life, we cannot lean upon another. The bread of life must be eaten by each one. Individually we must partake of it, that soul, body, and mind may be revived and strengthened by its transforming power." TM 385 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, . . . For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, He who through faith is righteous shall live." Rom. 1:16, 17 RSV After I experienced for myself the power of the gospel, I prayed that the Lord would send me back to my father and all my family. I longed to share with them the wonderful truths of salvation I had found. "In order to convince others of the power of Christ's grace, we must know its power in our own hearts and lives." MH 469 "The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace men may possess Christlikeness of character and may rejoice in the assurance of His great love." MH 99 As I shared my testimony with my family, I was very grateful that my father and mother responded to the saving message of the gospel. Some of my brothers and sisters told me, "This will change our whole lives. You cannot keep this to yourself. Would you share it with our friends? Would you speak in our church?" "Me? Speak in the church?" I had only done work for children, and I had never given talks in church, but I knew I had found something real in my Christian experience. So I prayed and asked God to take away my fear and give me freedom to speak. The very next morning I had the church service. No fear! Then the people wanted another meeting in the afternoon and also in the evening. Afterward the minister came to me and said, "I have studied and studied and tried to understand righteousness by faith, but I couldn't quite grasp it. Now I understand, and now I too, can surrender myself to God. "I wish you to distinctly understand this point, that souls are kept from obeying the truth by a confusion of ideas, and also because they do not know how to surrender their wills and their minds to Jesus. They want special instruction how to become Christians." Ev 152 "Do not allow anything to draw your attention from the question, `What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' This is a life and death question, which we must settle for eternity." 1SM 171 "Search, oh search the precious Bible with hungry hearts." COL 111 "A supposed hope, and nothing more, will prove your ruin." 1T 163 "Many are sensible of their great deficiency, and they read, and pray, and resolve, and yet make no progress. They seem powerless to resist temptation. The reason is, they do not go deep enough. They do not seek for a thorough conversion of the soul, that the streams which issue from it may be pure, and the deportment may testify that Christ reigns within. All defects of character originate in the heart. Pride, vanity, evil temper, and covetousness proceed from the carnal heart unrenewed by the grace of Christ." OHC 336 The carnal heart and mind cannot obey the spiritual law, it can only obey the letter of the law. This was Paul's experience also before his conversion. Are there others who were as ignorant of righteousness as we were? Let's think of Nicodemus. What did Jesus tell him? Be Born Again "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." John 3:1, 2 "Jesus bent his eyes upon the speaker, as if reading his very soul. In his infinite wisdom He saw before Him a seeker after truth." DA 168 "Jesus . . . said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3 "He was a strict Pharisee, and prided himself on his good works. He was widely esteemed for his benevolence and his liberality in sustaining the temple service, and he felt secure of the favor of God. He was startled at the thought of a kingdom too pure for him to see in his present state. . . . By virtue of his birth as an Israelite he regarded himself as sure of a place in the kingdom of God. He felt that he needed no change. Hence his surprise at the Saviour's words." DA 171 "Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. "Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" John 3:4-10 I also had not known what the new birth was or the necessity of it. In my natural nature I, just like Nicodemus, had been trying to obey God. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12 "By nature the heart is evil, and `who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.' Job 14:4. No human invention can find a remedy for the sinning soul. `The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' Rom. 8:7. `Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.' Math. 15:19. The fountain of the heart must be purified before the streams can become pure. He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility. There is no safety for one who has merely a legal religion, a form of godliness. The Christian's life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit." DA 172 I also had not known the need of a death to self and sin and the need of the Holy Spirit to regenerate the heart. "The new birth is a rare experience in this age of the world. This is the reason why there are so many perplexities in the churches. Many, so many, who assume the name of Christ are unsanctified and unholy. They have been baptized, but they are buried alive. Self did not die, and there-fore they did not rise to newness of life in Christ." 6BC 1075 How sad! There are so many problems in churches and homes because people don't know how to die to self and be born again. They do not know how to let God's love control them. Think a moment; were you taught, before your baptism, to leave the sins of the world? Smoking, drinking, adultery, stealing, and so on? When I ask this question in our churches, usually almost every hand goes up. But when I ask: How many of you, before your baptism, were taught how to die to self and give up the right to all the heart sins - hatred, anger, bitterness, resentment, impatience, irritation, jealousy, and selfishness? few, if any, hands go up. This is our problem! So few have understood how to surrender the heart with all the heart sins. I was not taught these things either, and as long as I did not commit exterior sins, I thought I was a good Christian. I made excuses for my defects of character; resentment, impatience, and irritation. But when I surrendered my whole heart to God, then He could cleanse me from all my heart sins. "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 "For `if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' 2 Cor. 5:17. That which was objectionable in the character is purified from the soul by the love of Jesus. All selfishness is expelled, all envy, all evil-speaking, is rooted out, and a radical transformation is wrought in the heart." RH 7-22-1890 "Many who profess to follow Christ have not genuine religion. They do not reveal in their lives the fruit of true conversion. They are controlled by the same habits, the same spirit of faultfinding and selfishness, which con-trolled them before they accepted Christ. "No one can enter the city of God who has not a knowledge of genuine conversion. In true conversion the soul is born again. A new spirit takes possession of the temple of the soul. A new life begins. Christ is revealed in the character." RH 7-30-1901 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3, 4 "While the law is holy, the Jews could not attain righteousness by their own efforts to keep the law. The disciples of Christ must obtain righteousness of a different character from that of the Pharisees, if they would enter the kingdom of heaven. God offered them, in His Son, the perfect righteousness of the law. If they would open their hearts fully to receive Christ, then the very life of God, His love, would dwell in them, transforming them into His own likeness; and thus through God's free gift they would possess the righteousness which the law requires. . . . a reproduction in themselves of the character of Christ." MB 54, 55 "Nicodemus . . . searched the Scriptures in a new way, not for the discussion of a theory, but in order to receive life for the soul. He began to see the kingdom of heaven as he submitted himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit." DA 175 "We may have flattered ourselves, as did Nicodemus, that our life has been upright, that our moral character is correct, and think that we need not humble the heart before God, like the common sinner; but when the light from Christ shines into our souls, we shall discern the selfishness of motive, the enmity against God, that has defiled every act of life. Then we shall know that our righteousness is indeed as filthy rags, and that the blood of Christ alone can cleanse us from the defilement of sin, and renew our hearts in His own likeness." SC 28 "The great burden of every soul should be, Is my heart renewed? Is my soul transformed? Are my sins pardoned through faith in Christ? Have I been born again?" 2SM 117 Did Jesus tell us about others who had the same misunderstanding? What were the foolish virgins needing? Have Oil in Your Vessel "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not." Matt. 25:1-12 What is the meaning of this very important parable? "The two classes of watchers represent the two classes who profess to be waiting for their Lord. They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith. By the lamps is represented the word of God. . . . The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. . . . In the parable all the ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom. All had lamps and vessels for oil. . . . But five have neglected to fill their flasks with oil. . . . "For a time there was seen no difference between them. So with the church that lives just before Christ's second coming. All have a knowledge of the Scriptures. All have heard the message of Christ's near approach, and confidently expect His appearing. . . . `Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' many are unready. They have no oil in their vessels with their lamps. They are destitute of the Holy Spirit." COL 406, 408 "All had lamps, that is, an outward semblance of religion; but only five of them had the inward piety. Five of them were wanting in the oil of grace. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, was not abiding in their hearts." SD 118 All had lamps with oil. All were studying the Word of God and asking the Holy Spirit to guide them, but only five had invited the Holy Spirit into the life, which is represented by the vessels. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:9 "Here is the greatest deception that can affect the human mind; these persons believe that they are right when they are wrong. . . . They are found wanting when it is forever too late to have their wants supplied." 1T 417 I had been one of those foolish virgins. I was sincerely living and working for God, but had not realized that I had no oil in the vessel. "The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up. . . . The Spirit works upon man's heart, according to his desire and consent implanting in him a new nature; but the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God. They have not studied His character; they have not held communion with Him; therefore they do not know how to trust, how to look and live." COL 411 "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12 Sometimes people say, "You make us feel so lost!" Praise God, because there is still time to be purified from sin and receive the Holy Spirit into the life. Can you imagine how these sincere people, represented by the five foolish virgins, will feel when Jesus comes and it is forever too late? I am so thankful my father cried for help and woke me up before it was too late to get the oil into my vessel. "Now is the time to entreat that souls shall not only hear the word of God, but without delay secure oil in their vessels with their lamps. That oil is the righteousness of Christ. It represents character, and character is not transferable. No man can secure it for another. Each must obtain for himself a character purified from every stain of sin." TM 233, 234 "Purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord." Isa. 52:11 "All heaven is waiting for channels through which can be poured the holy oil to be a joy and blessing to human hearts. . . . If all were willing to receive, all would become filled with His Spirit." COL 419 "The religion of Christ means more than the forgiveness of sin; it means taking away our sins, and filling the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit." COL 419, 420 "By implanting in their hearts the principles of His word, the Holy Spirit develops in men the attributes of God. The light of His glory - His character - is to shine forth in His followers. Thus they are to glorify God, to lighten the path to the Bridegroom's home, to the city of God, to the marriage supper of the Lamb." COL 414 What else do we need to be prepared for the marriage supper? Put On the Wedding Garment "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, . . . And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen." Matt. 22:2, 11-14 "Calling and justification are not one and the same thing. Calling is the drawing of the sinner to Christ, and it is a work wrought by the Holy Spirit upon the heart, convicting of sin, and inviting to repentance." 1SM 390 We are all called, but only those who have put on the wedding garment will be chosen. What is the wedding garment? "The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of the highest consequence. By the marriage is represented the union of humanity with divinity; the wedding garment represents the character all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the wedding." COL 307 "To the church it is given `that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,' `not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' The fine linen, says the Scripture, `is the righteousness of saints.' Rev. 19:8; Eph. 5:27. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour." COL 310 How do we get this imparted character, which is the righteousness of saints? "By His perfect obedience He made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness." COL 312 Many do not want to believe this. They believe that the wedding garment is just a covering Christ gives us when He comes, but they are deceived. The garment is the character which God works in us. "The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven." DA 555, 556 "Even your thoughts must be brought into subjection to the will of God and your feelings under the control of reason and religion. Your imagination was not given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any effort at restraint or discipline. If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and the feelings combined make up the moral character." 5T 310 "Moral perfection is required of all. Never should we lower the standard of righteousness in order to accommodate inherited and cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing. We need to understand that imperfection of character is sin." COL 330 "Men may now excuse their defects of character, but in that day they will offer no excuse." COL 317 "God will accept nothing but purity and holiness; one spot, one wrinkle, one defect in the character, will forever debar them from heaven, with all its glories and treasures." 2T 453 What are spots and defects of character? Since the "thoughts and the feelings combined make up the moral character," defects must be wrong thoughts and feelings, or wrong attitudes. How could God allow us into heaven with hearts having resentment, bitterness, envy, jealousy, hatred, evil surmising, or any other defects of character? The character will not be changed when Jesus comes. "Many are deceiving themselves by thinking that the character will be transformed at the coming of Christ, but there will be no conversion of heart at His appearing. Our defects of character must here be repented of, and through the grace of Christ we must overcome them while probation shall last." AH 319 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 Today our hearts may be clean. Today we may have a right attitude. If we will come to Jesus and give Him all our wrong thoughts and feelings, our wrong attitudes, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin. He can change our hearts and fill us with His love today. "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:25-27 "It is only the blessed and holy who will be ready for the first resurrection; for when Christ comes, He will not change the character. . . . The Word of God declares that we must be found blameless, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." ST 2-9-1891 "It is the spiritual and moral character that is of value in the sight of Heaven, and that will survive the grave and be made glorious with im-mortality for the endless ages of eternity." 1SM 259 "Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 2 Peter 3:14 "The grace of Christ must be woven into every phase of the character." CH 633 "In his efforts to reach God's ideal for him, the Christian is to despair of nothing. Moral and spiritual perfection, through the grace and power of Christ, is promised to all. Jesus is the source of power, the fountain of life. . . . At every step we touch His living power." AA 478 We will look at one more example of people who thought they were true followers of Jesus but then discovered that they were deceived. What were the Laodiceans needing? Be a Hot Christian "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 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." Rev. 3:14-16 "The Laodicean message applies to the people of God who profess to believe present truth. The greater part are lukewarm professors." 4T 87 Laodicea does not mean "lukewarm" but "a people judged." We are living in the time of the judgment and as the Lord looks at His church, He finds that the majority are lukewarm, and He wants them to understand their true condition. The following diagram illustrates the three kinds of people mentioned in the message to Laodicea. The hot have experienced the new birth and know the necessity of daily allowing the Holy Spirit to control their spirit. If they fail, they do not excuse their sins, but quickly ask forgiveness and cleansing. The cold know they are not in a saving relationship with God. But the lukewarm think they are right with God, not knowing that they are in a lost condition. "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." Rev. 3:17 "How plainly is pictured the position of those who think they have all the truth, who take pride in their knowledge of the word of God, while its sanctifying power has not been felt in their lives." 1SM 357 "If the inner life of many who profess the truth were presented before them, they would not claim to be Christians." 5T 161 "They may be crying, `The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we,' while . . . the courts of the soul temple may be the haunt of envy, pride, passion, evil surmising, bitterness, and hollow formalism. Christ looks mournfully upon His professed people who feel rich and increased in the knowledge of the truth, and who are yet destitute of the truth in life and character." OHC 349 "The internal work of grace is wanting in their hearts." 4T 88 "What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right when they are all wrong! The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception." 3T 252, 253 I was honest in my deception also. I thought lukewarmness meant we were not working hard enough for God, but that is not the meaning. I was busy working for God, but did not know that I was wretched, poor, blind and naked. When I realized my condition, Jesus had the remedy. "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 eyesalve, that thou mayest see." Rev. 3:18 "The gold tried in the fire is faith that works by love. Only this can bring us into harmony with God." COL 158 "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un-circumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. 5:6 "Man needs a power out of and above himself to restore him to the likeness of God; but because he needs divine aid, it does not make human activity unessential. Faith on the part of man is required; for faith works by love and purifies the soul." 1SM 375 "The white raiment is the righteousness of Christ that may be wrought into the character. Purity of heart, purity of motive, will characterize every one who is washing his robe, and making it white in the blood of the Lamb." 7BC 965 "It is in this life that we are to put on the robe of Christ's righteousness. This is our only opportunity to form characters for the home which Christ has made ready for those who obey His commandments." COL 319 "The eye is the sensitive conscience, the inner light, of the mind. Upon its correct view of things the spiritual healthfulness of the whole soul and being depends. The `eyesalve,' the word of God, makes the conscience smart under its application; for it convicts of sin. But the smarting is necessary that the healing may follow, and the eye be single to the glory of God." 7BC 965 "If one sin is cherished in the soul, or one wrong practice retained in the life, the whole being is contaminated. The man becomes an instrument of unrighteousness." DA 313 What must we do? Invite Jesus into Your Heart "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Rev. 3:20 "How willing is Christ to take possession of the soul temple if we will let Him! He is represented as waiting and knocking at the door of the heart. Then why does He not enter? It is because the love of sin has closed the door of the heart. As soon as we consent to give sin up, to acknowledge our guilt, the barrier is removed between the soul and the Saviour." 1SM 325 "I saw that many have so much rubbish piled up at the door of their heart that they cannot get the door open. Some have difficulties between them-selves and their brethren to remove. Others have evil tempers, selfish covet-ousness, to remove before they can open the door. Others have rolled the world before the door of their heart, which bars the door. All this rubbish must be taken away, and then they can open the door and welcome the Saviour in." 1T 143 "The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan's control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God." DA 466 "Humble yourselves before God, and make an earnest effort to empty the soul temple of all rubbish - all envyings, all jealousies, all suspicions, all faultfindings. `Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.' James 4:8." 5T 163 How do I do this? Pray, Lord, here is my heart, with all my heart sins, - my resentment, my bitterness, my hatred, my blaming others for my sins of irritation and impatience - or whatever is in your heart. Take my heart and cleanse me from all sin and create in me a new heart and come into my life and empower me by your Holy Spirit. Jesus can do it today if we will surrender all to Him. "If we ask Him, the Lord will give us the Holy Spirit to cleanse the habitation of the soul; for every room of the temple of God must be entered and purified." RH 9-10-1895 "When one is fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is filled by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ. Such a one has the faith that purifies the soul from defilement. He is conformed to the Spirit, and he minds the things of the Spirit. He has no confidence in self. Christ is all and in all." GW 287 If we realize our lost condition there is no need to feel discouraged. God has a wonderful plan to save us and to give us power to live the sanctified life. We must discover His plan and then cooperate with Him. COOPERATE WITH GOD IN YOUR SALVATION "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:12, 13 "To make God's grace our own, we must act our part. The Lord does not propose to perform for us either the willing or the doing. His grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort. Our souls are to be aroused to cooperate. The Holy Spirit works in us, that we may work out our own salvation." MYP 147 The following is an outline of how we can cooperate with God. God's Part Our Part 1. He Will Draw You 1. Do not Resist His Drawing 2. He Will Convict You of Sin, 2. Acknowledge Your Guilt and Righteousness, and Judgment Need of His Righteousness 3. He Will Give You Repentance 3. Confess and Forsake Your Sins and Give Him Your Heart 4. He Will Forgive, Cleanse, 4. Believe and Accept Regenerate, and Free You to Live the Sanctified Life 5. He Will Live in You 5. Live by His Power and and Empower You Bear Much Fruit 6. He Will Make a Way of Escape 6. Take God's Way of Escape When You Are Tempted and Submit to Him 7. He will Be Your Advocate 7. Repent and Turn Back if You Fall to Him As you may have noticed, all of God's part has to do with working in our hearts while our part is to cooperate and work out what He works in. I had not understood this and so I had been trying on my own to keep my heart right. What is the first work that Jesus does to help us? He Will Draw You Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32 "The very first and the most important thing is to melt and subdue the soul by presenting our Lord Jesus Christ as the sinbearer, the sin-pardoning Saviour, making the gospel as clear as possible." EV 264 Jesus was lifted up on the cross to die for our sins, so He can forgive and cleanse us and restore us to Himself. This is the most important truth in the word of God. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16, 17 "And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isa. 53:6 "Hating sin with a perfect hatred, He yet gathered to His soul the sins of the whole world. Guiltless, He bore the punishment of the guilty. Innocent, yet offering Himself as a substitute for the transgressor. The guilt of every sin pressed its weight upon the divine soul of the world's Redeemer. The evil thoughts, the evil words, the evil deeds of every son and daughter of Adam, called for retribution upon Himself; for He had become man's substitute. Though the guilt of sin was not His, His spirit was torn and bruised by the transgressions of men, and He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 1SM 322 Jesus really felt all our sins and experienced the guilt of them, and He truly wants to make us righteous in Him. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2Cor. 5:21 "As soon as Christ entered the wilderness of temptation, His visage changed. . . . The weight of the sins of the world was pressing His soul, . . . He realized the strength of indulged appetite and of unholy passion that controlled the world, which had brought upon man inexpressible suffering." 1SM 271 "What God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled." Acts 3:18 RSV "Could Satan have induced Christ to yield to a single temptation, could he have led Him by one act or even thought to stain His perfect purity, the prince of darkness would have triumphed over man's Surety, and would have gained the whole human family to himself. But while Satan could distress, he could not contaminate. He could cause agony, but not defilement. He made the life of Christ one long scene of conflict and trial." PK 701 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Isa. 53:7 "In His closing hours, while hanging upon the cross, He experienced to the fullest extent what man must experience when striving against sin. He realized how bad a man may become by yielding to sin. He realized the terrible consequences of the transgression of God's law; for the iniquity of the whole world was upon Him." 5BC 1082 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." 1 Peter 2:24 "While the sinner is yet far from the Father's house, wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father's heart is yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing the wanderer to His Father's heart of love." SC 54 "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jer. 31:3 Many children have not experienced a father's love. They have been rejected and abused and therefore they find it difficult to believe that God truly loves them and wants to save them. When our son was growing up, I sensed that he felt he could not be saved. I did not understand why until much later. When he started school he seemed unable to learn to read, so the teachers thought he was either dumb or lazy. I did my best to teach him, but it was very difficult. We did not know he had a condition called dyslexia until I read about it when he was twenty-two years old. We discovered that he could see only two letters at a time, and he saw them backwards. As I shared with him his problem, he said, "Oh mom, everybody thought I was dumb or lazy, but inside me I knew it was not true, and you were the only one who still had faith in me." I then encouraged him to read The Desire of Ages, a book on the life of Christ. When he finished reading it he exclaimed, "Isn't it wonderful that God loves me!" Then he could surrender himself to God because he finally understood that God had always loved him and would not reject him as people had done. "The very first step in approaching God is to know and believe the love that He has to us; for it is through the drawing of His love that we are led to come to Him." MB 104, 105 "By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word of the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God, - a patient, protracted process." DA 172 Do Not Resist His Drawing "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. 55:3 "The light shining from the cross reveals the love of God. His love is drawing us to Himself. If we do not resist this drawing, we shall be led to the foot of the cross in repentance for the sins that have crucified the Saviour. Then the Spirit of God through faith produces a new life in the soul. The thoughts and desires are brought into obedience to the will of Christ. The heart, the mind, are created anew in the image of him who works in us to subdue all things to Himself." DA 175, 176 "Every one that will submit to be ransomed, Christ will rescue from the pit of corruption and from the briers of sin." COL 188 "The way has been made clear for all those who choose to hear, repent, and believe. All heaven is waiting the sinner's cooperation, and the only barrier that stands in his way is one which he alone can remove, his own will. He must submit to the will of God, and through repentance and faith, come unto God for salvation. No one will be forced against his will; Christ draws, but never compels." RH 3-24-1896 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Heb. 2:3 If we do not realize our lost condition, it is easy to neglect that great salvation. The foolish virgins, Nicodemus, the lukewarm, and I, all thought we were in a saving relationship and therefore neglected to study so we could understand our true condition. God knew I was a foolish virgin and so He tried to get my attention. Year after year my conscience would prompt me to study! study!! study!!! God knew if I would just sit down and do some serious searching to understand the plan of salvation, I would realize my lost condition. But it was only when my father cried for help that I finally took the time to do that and discovered my situation. "In one way only can a true knowledge of self be obtained. We must behold Christ! It is ignorance of Him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness. When we contemplate His purity and excellence, we shall see ourselves lost and hopeless, clad in garments of self-righteousness, like every other sinner. We shall see that if we are ever saved, it will not be through our own goodness, but through God's infinite grace." COL 159 What can He do when we realize our need? He Will Reprove of Sin, of Righteousness, and of Judgment "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." John 16:8 If in any way I had done something wrong, such as cheating or telling a little lie, I would be strongly convicted of having sinned, and I knew I had to confess and correct it. Those sins were easy to see. But what about heart sins? When my father got angry with his children, he blamed the children, and so could excuse himself. And when I had children, I did the same. If I became impatient and irritated, it was someone else who was to blame, because they had done something I did not like or did not want them to do. When my husband was selfish or harsh with the children, I resented him and argued with him. In my mind I blamed him for my resentment. So I excused my heart sins until I started to study. Then God was able to convict me that I did not have righteousness, and that I was not ready for the judgment. I did not have the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is the character of Christ. "It is through the influence of the Holy Spirit that we are convicted of sin; and feel our need of pardon. None but the contrite are forgiven; but it is the grace of God that makes the heart penitent. He is acquainted with all our weaknesses and infirmities, and He will help us." 1SM 353 "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me." Acts 26:18 "God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer, and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need, and prompt the cry, `What must I do to be saved?'" DA 104 Acknowledge Your Guilt and Need of His Righteousness "Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God." Jer. 3:12, 13 While I was visiting with my family after coming home from India, and we were discussing righteousness by faith, someone suggested that we kneel in a circle and confess any problems between us. As we were kneeling, one of my sisters looked up at father, hoping he would acknowledge how deeply he had wronged her! He couldn't do it, but got up and went outside. I followed, thinking to protect him from himself, because I remembered from my childhood that if dad had to take the blame, he would threaten to kill himself. I put my arms around his neck and held him tight! He was no taller than I. Then I prayed, "Lord, what shall I say to my father?" God impressed me to say, "Dad, the reason you get so tense when all your children come home for a visit, is that you are so afraid we are going to talk about our childhood. You have so deeply wronged your children! The only one you have not wronged is me." He thought for a moment, then said, "Margaret, I have wronged you too!" What was he doing? Acknowledging his guilt! Then he took me into his bedroom and the guilt just poured out, even sins of his youth. The burden of guilt was crushing him and he did not know what to do. "Men professing to be followers of Christ fall to a low level, always mourning over their shortcomings, but never overcoming and bruising Satan under their feet. Guilt and condemnation constantly burden the soul, and the cry of such might well be: `O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?'" 6T 52, 53 He had been rebaptized two years before, hoping the guilt would lift, but it only got heavier. No one had taught him how to come to the cross, and lay down his burden at the feet of Jesus. He did not understand the plan of salvation. Then he cried, "Margaret, help me!" But I did not know how to help him! I could have told him, "Try a little harder," but in that moment I knew it was not the right answer. So I said nothing! I had to leave him in that condition. But I went home and began to search to help my father. As I searched, I discovered my own lost condition. Then I studied to find answers for my own need, and I found them. Later the Lord sent me back to my father and my whole family. "God reveals to us our guilt that we may flee to Christ, and through Him be set free from the bondage of sin." MB 10 "The guilty know just what sins to confess that their souls may be clean before God. Jesus is now giving them opportunity to confess, to repent in deep humility." 1T 156 "Those who have not humbled their souls before God in acknowledging their guilt, have not yet fulfilled the first condition of acceptance." SC 37, 38 If you become impatient or irritated with someone, do not blame them, although they may have done wrong. Acknowledge your guilt, that you did not represent Christ to them. If your children are disobedient, they do not need an angry parent, they need help and prayers. God's power cannot work in your discipline if you do not use His methods. Often parents blame the children when they get angry with them, so the children carry their own guilt and that of the parents. How sad! Then the parents punish the children but do not pray with them and bring them to Jesus for forgiveness and healing. How unfortunate! That is how roots of bitterness develop. When my husband and I began to understand the gospel, we were brought to deep repentance and acknowledged how we had failed each other and our children by not knowing how to let God's love control us in our relationships with each other. If you are not ready to acknowledge your guilt, but do want to be saved, you can come to Him anyway and He will help you. "Come to Christ just as you are, and contemplate His love until your hard heart is broken. . . . It is the virtue that goes forth from Jesus which strengthens the purposes of the heart to turn away from sin and to cleave to that which is truth. It is Christ's virtue that makes repentance sincere and genuine." RH 9-3-1901 As I was preparing to go back to my father, I was praying that God would have my family call me and offer to pay my travel expenses to come and share with them. I wanted to be sure God was sending me. About two months later one of my sisters called, "Margaret, help me!" "What is wrong?" "My daughter has run away from home. She is on drugs. She is with a man. I don't know what to do?" I answered, "Tom and I have just found an experience with the Lord a few months ago. We feel for the first time we could help a sinner. Would she come and visit us?" "I don't know where she is," my sister answered. I said, "Never mind. We will pray, and if we can help her God will send her to us." In a few days she was at our place. The man she had been staying with had left her and not knowing where to go, she went home. Her mother told her that I wanted her to come for a visit. So, here she was. As we were trying to make conversation that evening, I was praying, "Lord, how do I approach this girl? What can I say to her? I don't know how to do it! Lord, you must open the door to her heart." Just then there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, there stood a minister's wife from right next door to us. We had just moved there and had not really become acquainted. She said, "I sense that you and your husband are finding something real in Christianity. I want it, too. Will you share with me? Will you teach me?" Well, it was easy to share with her what I had discovered about the plan of salvation and the power of the gospel. We had a good study together, and she was very thankful, and the whole time my niece had been in the room, listening to the conversation. After the lady left, she said, "If there is that much power in the gospel, there's hope for me!" I asked, "Why do you say that?" She answered, "You know how stubborn I am! I watched my parents. They did not have victory. [Her father was a church school teacher] I watched my friends' parents. They did not have victory. I watched my teachers. They did not have victory. So I decided, if they have been trying all those years and they cannot find victory, I, with my stubborn nature, might as well give up now. I might as well enjoy the things of this world. And that's what I am doing. I love sin and my conscience doesn't even bother me anymore. But if what you are saying is true, then there is hope for me!" We had a good discussion and then it was time for bed. I thanked God for opening the door and I expected to be able to continue studying with her and helping her to find a living connection with God. But the next day the door was closed! She found a job at a restaurant and we seldom saw her. One day I was on the phone with a friend who had just left her husband and young sons and run off with another man. I expressed sorrow and disappointment, and pleaded with her to reconsider, but she would not. As I hung up the phone, I realized my niece had come in and had listened to my pleas. She said, "Didn't you invite me here to try to bring me to Christ? Aren't you disappointed?" I realized here was another opportunity and quickly prayed that God would give me the right words. "No, I'm not disappointed," I said. "God has long range plans for you, and I am trusting Him." She gave a sigh of relief. I was not going to push her to make a decision. Many of us have pushed and pushed our children, and they may have decided to be baptized, but did they know God? Did they really surrender the heart? Did they really experience the power of the gospel? We had another good conversation, but the next day she was unavailable again. About a week later she came in with a man, and asked me to share the gospel with him. Of course I did, but after he had left, I said to her, "What are you doing? You are leading him into sin, and then you bring him to me to teach him the gospel!" "Yes, I know," she answered. 'I believe now that anyone can be saved - except me!" Why did she still think it was impossible for her to be saved? What was the barrier? I asked God to show me what the barrier was that still stood in her way. A few days later, as she was leaving to go home, God gave me the answer. I told her, "If you ever want to follow Jesus, don't start by trying to give up your sins. Start by getting to know Jesus. Spend hours sitting at His feet, reading the Bible and the Desire of Ages. Get to know Him. Immerse yourself in the things of God." She did not say that she would do it, and she left. But we kept on praying for her. Two months later she phoned us. "I have been doing what you said to do," she told me. "For two months I have immersed myself in God's word. I have spent hours reading about Jesus. I can hardly believe what is happening! My whole heart and mind are being drawn to Jesus, and I don't even care about sin any more!" Who had done it? Who had brought her to repentance? Who had changed her thinking? The Holy Spirit. Why? Because she gave Him a chance. She learned of Christ and allowed Him to impress her heart, and bring her to repentance. When her mother saw the change in her daughter, she called me and asked me to come and teach her also and she offered to pay my way! Now I was free to go to all my family and share with them and help them also to find true heart repentance. He Will Give You Repentance "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31 "By the manifestation of His love, by the entreating of His Spirit, He woos men to repentance; for repentance is the gift of God, and whom He pardons He first makes penitent." 1SM 324 "Repentance includes sorrow for sin, and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life." SC 23 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin." 2 Chron. 7:14 "True repentance will lead a man to bear his guilt himself and acknowledge it without deception or hypocrisy." SC 40 When God brings us to repentance it is not difficult to confess and forsake our sins and surrender to Him. Confess and Forsake Your Sins and Give Him Your Heart "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. 28:13 "Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him in faith. He will cleanse them from all defilement if they will let Him. But if they cling to their sins, they cannot possibly be saved; for Christ's righteousness covers no sin unrepented of." 7BC 931 Jesus never covers any sins in us. He wants to cleanse us from all sins. But how can He cleanse us if we do not give Him our sins? How can He create in us new hearts if we do not give Him our old hearts? "There are many who try to reform by correcting this or that bad habit, and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. Our first work is with the heart." COL 97 "My son, give me thine heart." Prov. 23:26 "The whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change can never be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness. By nature we are alienated from God. . . . We are held fast in the snare of Satan; `taken captive by him at his will.' 2 Tim. 2:26. God desires to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly to Him. "The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness." SC 43 "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph. 4:22-24 RSV "The Christian's life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether." DA 172 "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Rom. 6:11 RSV What does it mean to be dead to self and sin and to be alive to God? If we are dead to self and sin, we have given up our rights to selfishness and worldly pleasures. We have also given up our rights to use Satan's methods to fight our battles. He wants to work in us impatience, irritation, resentment, anger, envy, jealousy, lust, hatred, bitterness, and rebellion. But when we are yielded to God, He can work in us His love so that we can deal patiently and kindly with others, forgiving them and praying for them when they wrong us. This is God's way of relating to people who do not treat us kindly. They need our prayers! They do not need anger or impatience or irritation. Why should we also allow Satan to control us in our response to them? So I went to God and said, "I want to die to self! I give up my rights to act by the promptings of the lower sinful nature. I give up my right to resent my husband no matter what he does. I give up my right to be impatient or irritated with the children when they are having a hard time with their own problems. I will rather pray for them and help them. I give up my right to allow Satan to work in me his methods of disciplining the children. I give up my rights to be agitated when others do not do it my way. I want to die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to control my spirit. "Put your whole being into the Lord's hands soul, body, and spirit, and resolve to be His loving, consecrated agency, moved by His will, controlled by His mind, infused by His Spirit." SD 105 "There are those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ who have never died to self. They have never fallen on the Rock and been broken. Until this shall be, they will live unto self, and if they die as they are, it is forever too late for their wrongs to be righted." FE 284 "Humble yourselves before God, and make an earnest effort to empty the soul temple of all rubbish - all envyings, all jealousies, all suspicions, all fault-findings. `Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.'" 5T 163 "We cannot be half the Lord's and half the world's. We are not God's children unless we are such entirely." SC 44 "God will not be trifled with; Christ accepts no divided service. He asks for all." 4T 214 "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can-not be my disciple." Luke 14:33 God will continue to love us and draw us, and do whatever He can to bring us to a full surrender. But He cannot save us unless we go all the way with Christ. "God will not occupy a divided heart or reign from a divided throne. Every idol that holds the affections and diverts them from the God of love must be dethroned." KH 63 "Let no one think that Christ can be satisfied with one little corner of our hearts, while we allow Satan to erect his throne within, and fill our moral atmosphere with defilement. Christ will abide in the soul only when the whole heart is given up to Him." YI 1-9-1896 We are to be the bride of Christ. But can He accept us if we also want to share our hearts with Satan and allow his spirit to control us instead of the Holy Spirit? "A partial surrender to truth gives Satan free opportunity to work. Until the soul-temple is fully surrendered to God, it is the stronghold of the enemy." RH 11-28-1899 "Satan does not want anyone to see the necessity of an entire surrender to God. When the soul fails to make this surrender, sin is not forsaken; the appetites and passions are striving for the mastery; temptations confuse the conscience, so that true conversion does not take place." 6T 92 "The Lord cannot purify the soul until the entire being is surrendered to the working of the Holy Spirit." RH 2-27-1900 "He demands all. When we are brought to yield to His claims, and give up all, then, and not till then, will He throw around us His arms of mercy. But what do we give up when we give up all? A sin-polluted soul for Jesus to purify, to cleanse by His mercy, and to save from death by His matchless love." 1T 160 "Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die?" Eze.18:30, 31 What will Jesus do when we surrender all? He Will Forgive, Cleanse, Regenerate and Free You to Live the Sanctified Life "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 How much unrighteousness will He cleanse? All. All anger and jealousy and hatred and lust and resentment and bitterness and love of the world. "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 "The precious blood of Jesus is the fountain prepared to cleanse the soul from the defilement of sin." 4T 625 "When the soldier pierced the side of Jesus as He hung upon the cross, there came out two distinct streams, one of blood, and the other of water. The blood was to wash away the sins of those who should believe in His name, and the water was to represent that living water which is obtained from Jesus to give life to the believer." EW 209 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs ac-cording to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying." Titus 3:5-8 The blood cleanses from all sin and the water gives us a new birth through the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus explained to Nicodemus. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:5-7 "Without regeneration through faith in His blood, there is no re-mission of sins, no treasure for any perishing soul." COL 113 "That life-cleansing, life-sustaining blood, appropriated by living faith, is our hope." 7BC 948 "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified through his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Rom. 5:8, 9 "In him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Col. 1:14 "Forgiveness has a broader meaning than many suppose. . . . God's forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart. David had the true conception of forgiveness when he prayed, `Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.'" MB 114 Justification is not only declaring us righteous, but cleansing us from all sin and creating in us a new heart, a new attitude. This happens when we surrender ourselves wholly to God and believe that He can do it. "None but God can subdue the pride of man's heart. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot regenerate ourselves. . . . What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself." TM 456 "As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is `the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' Rom. 3:26." COL 163 "The grace of Christ purifies while it pardons, and fits men for a holy heaven." KH 336 "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Eze. 36:25-27 When the thief on the cross surrendered to Jesus, he experienced pardon, cleansing, and the new birth. He was saved the same way all sinners are saved, and was fit for heaven. His mind was changed. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17 "That which was objectionable in the character is purified from the soul by the love of Jesus. All selfishness is expelled, all envy, all evil-speaking, is rooted out, and a radical transformation is wrought in the heart." RH 7-22-1890 "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself." Col. 1:19, 20 Now that we are reconciled to God, we may enter the Holy Place experience, which is called sanctification. "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. 10:19-22 Many people have a misunderstanding of the meaning of justification and sanctification. They think that sanctification is a life-time of trying to give up their sins while all the time they are justified, but this is not true. Justification cleanses from sin and creates a new heart, and then empowers us to live the sanctified life - a life of daily abiding and growing in Christ and bearing the fruits of holiness. "Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life." Rom. 6:22 RSV You are no longer slaves of Satan, you are now voluntary slaves, or sons of God, living by His power. And that is the work of a lifetime! "What is sanctification? It is to give one's self wholly and without reserve - soul, body and spirit - to God; to deal justly; to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God; to know and to do the will of God without regard to self or self-interest; to be heavenly-minded, pure, unselfish, holy, and without spot or stain." OHC 212. "Many who profess to follow Christ have not genuine religion. They do not reveal in their lives the fruit of true conversion. They are controlled by the same habits, the same spirit of faultfinding and selfishness, which con-trolled them before they accepted Christ. "No one can enter the city of God who has not a knowledge of genuine conversion. In true conversion the soul is born again. A new spirit takes possession of the temple of the soul. A new life begins. Christ is revealed in the character." RH 7-30-1901 "Now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Rom. 6:22 "Sanctification is a state of holiness, without and within, being holy and without reserve the Lord's, not in form, but in truth. Every impurity of thought, every lustful passion, separates the soul from God; for Christ can never put His robe of righteousness upon a sinner, to hide his deformity." OHC 214 "The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin; it is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God; it is the entire surrender of heart and life to the indwelling of the principles of heaven." DA 555, 556 "As servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." Eph. 6:6 "All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience." DA 668 "Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Rom. 6:17 "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, . . . according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith." Rom. 16:25, 26 I had been taught the obedience of law, but I had not understood the obedience of faith. "True obedience is the outworking of a principle within." COL 97 "If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? . . . Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience." SC 60, 61 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:8-10 "Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked." PP 372. "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." 1 Peter 1:14, 15 "Holiness is not rapture: it is the entire surrender of the will to God; it is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; it is doing the will of our heavenly Father; it is trusting God in trial, in darkness as well as in light; it is walking by faith and not by sight; it is relying on God with unquestioning confidence, and resting in His love." AA 51 This is the work of a lifetime, keeping ourselves wholly surrendered to God and walking in His will. "True sanctification is nothing more or less than to love God with all the heart, to walk in His commandments and ordinances blameless. Sanctification is not an emotion but a heaven-born principle that brings all the passions and desires under the control of the Spirit of God; and this work is done through our Lord and Saviour." FW 87 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. 5:23, 24 Believe He Can Do It and Accept "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15 "You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have resolved to give yourself to God. Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised." SC 49 "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17 "The fatal effects of sin can be removed only by the provision that God has made. The Israelites saved their lives by looking upon the uplifted serpent. That look implied faith. They lived because they believed God's word, and trusted in the means provided for their recovery. So the sinner may look to Christ and live." PP 431 "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29 "Through the cross the sinner was drawn from the stronghold of sin, from the confederacy of evil, and at every approach to the cross his heart relents and in penitence he cries, `It was my sins that crucified the Son of God.' At the cross he leaves his sins, and through the grace of Christ his character is transformed. The Redeemer raises the sinner from the dust, and places him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As the sinner looks upon the Redeemer, he finds hope, assurance, and joy. Faith takes hold of Christ in love. Faith works by love and purifies the soul." 1SM 349 "God's supply of grace is waiting the demand of every sinsick soul. It will heal every spiritual disease. By it hearts may be cleansed from all defilement. It is the gospel remedy for every one who believes." HP 34 "Many of the Israelites saw no help in the remedy which Heaven had appointed. The dead and dying were all around them, and they knew that without divine aid, their own fate was certain; but they continued to lament their wounds, their pains, their sure death, until their strength was gone, and their eyes were glazed, when they might have had instant healing." PP 432 "Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love, and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity. "Here is where thousands fail; they do not believe that Jesus par-dons them personally, individually. They do not take God at His word. . . None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to strip them of their garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live and not die." SC 52, 53 Why is it that so many people do not believe that Jesus can cleanse them and give them a new heart and mind today? Because they have the idea that it takes a lifetime to give up their sins. They have believed a lie. Today is the day of salvation. Today you can be cleansed from all your sins. Today you can be in a right relationship with God. You may not be living tomorrow. Come today! The thief on the cross believed and he was immediately saved to the uttermost. "Through all ages and in every nation those that believe that Jesus can and will save them personally from sin, are the elect and chosen of God; they are His peculiar treasure. They obey His will, and come out of the world and separate themselves from every unclean thought and unholy practice. . . . It is a sad fact that the great proportion of God's professed people have not had faith in Christ as their personal Saviour." RH 8-1-1893 "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6 "Be not faithless, but believing." John 20:27 "All things are possible to him that believeth." Mark 9:23 "The same power that turned the water to wine at the marriage feast of Cana is able to eradicate all evil from our nature, and to make us partakers of the divine nature. The very same power that made the leper clean can make the heart pure, fit for the society of God, of angels, and of the redeemed host." ST 8-10-1891 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16 "According to your faith be it unto you." Matt. 9:29 "Faith is simple in its operation and powerful in its results. Many professed Christians, who have a knowledge of the sacred word, and believe its truth, fail in the childlike trust that is essential to the religion of Jesus. They do not reach out with that peculiar touch that brings the virtue of healing to the soul." 6BC 1074 If you don't have this faith that brings spiritual healing, what can you do? Spend more time with Jesus, learning of Him. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17 When you hear the word of God and act on what you hear, God can perform His saving miracle for you. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1 "Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe His word, and it will be fulfilled. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is `dead in trespasses.' Eph. 2:1. He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin." DA 203 It is wonderful to be free from attitudes of anger, resentment, bitterness, irritation, hatred, selfishness, or any other sin, and to allow God's love to control us. "God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Rom. 6:17 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:1, 2 "Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul. `If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.'" DA 466 "True conversion is a radical change. The very drift of the mind and the bent of the heart should be turned and life become new again in Christ." 4T 17 "For it is as the Spirit of God touches the soul that the powers of the soul are quickened, and man becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus." RH 11-22-1892 "And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. . . . Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him." Eph. 2:1- 6 "To arouse those spiritually dead, to create new tastes, new motives, requires as great an outlay of power as to raise one from physical death." RH 3-12-1901 "God has redeemed us from the slavery of sin, and has made it possible for us to live regenerated, transformed lives of service." MYP 69 "When the Spirit of God takes possession of the heart, it transforms the life. Sinful thoughts are put away, evil deeds are renounced; love, humility, and peace take the place of anger, envy, and strife. Joy takes the place of sadness, and the countenance reflects the light of heaven. No one sees the hand that lifts the burden, or beholds the light descend from the courts above. The blessing comes when by faith the soul surrenders itself to God. Then that power which no human eye can see creates a new being in the image of God." DA 173 This is what the thief on the cross experienced when he surrendered in faith to Jesus and he even saw the light descend to show his acceptance with God. "As He (Jesus) spoke the words of promise, the dark cloud that seemed to enshroud the cross was pierced by a bright and living light. To the penitent thief came the perfect peace of acceptance with God. Christ in His humiliation was glorified. . . . It is His royal right to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him." DA 751 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isa. 55:7 "To be pardoned in the way that Christ pardons, is not only to be forgiven, but to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. The Lord says, `A new heart will I give unto thee.' The image of Christ is to be stamped upon the very mind, heart, and soul." 3SM 190 "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph. 4:22-24 "When a man is converted to God, a new moral taste is supplied, a new motive power is given, and he loves the things that God loves." 1SM 336 "The faculties of the soul, paralyzed by sin, the darkened mind, the perverted will, He has power to invigorate and to restore." Ed 29 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself." 2 Cor. 5:17, 18 "Those who receive the Saviour become sons of God. They are His spiritual children, born again, renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Their minds are changed." ST 12-17-1902 "We must learn of Christ. We must know what He is to those He has ransomed. We must realize that through belief in Him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity. Christ is the sin-bearer; John pointed the people to Him, saying, `Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'" RH 4-24-1900 "If you are right with God today, you are ready if Christ should come today. What we need is Christ formed within, the hope of glory." HP 227 "Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith; is the beginning of life eternal." DA 388 He Will Live in You and Empower You "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16 `"As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.' John 1:12. This power is not in the human agent. It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives power to live the life of Christ." COL 314 "When the sinner accepts Christ and lives in Him, Jesus takes his sins and weaknesses and then grafts the repentant soul into Himself, so that he sus-tains the relation to Christ that the branch does to the vine. We have nothing, we are nothing, unless we receive virtue from Jesus Christ." KH 100 "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5 I had not understood the importance of the vine and the branches parable, yet it is essential to understand the lesson it has for us. "There is no other way for man's salvation. `Without me,' says Christ, `ye can do nothing.' Through Christ, and Christ alone, the springs of life can vitalize man's nature, transform his tastes, and set his affections flowing toward heaven." 1SM 341 "His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:3 "The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in heart and mind." 6T 306 "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, . . . might be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. 3:16-19 "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." John 1:16 "As the life of the vine circulates through stem and cluster, descends into the lower fibres, and reaches the topmost leaf, so will the grace and love of Christ burn and abound in the soul, sending its virtues to every part of the being, pervading every exercise of body and mind." SD 76 "Gospel religion is Christ in the life - a living, active principle. It is the grace of Christ revealed in character and wrought out in good works." COL 384 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20 "True obedience is the outworking of a principle within." COL 97 "When his words of instruction have been received, and have taken possession of us, Jesus is to us an abiding presence, controlling our thoughts and ideas and actions. . . . It is no more we that live, but Christ that lives in us, and He is the hope of glory. Self is dead, but Christ is a living Saviour." TM 389 "Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." Heb. 13:20, 21 "All must obtain a living experience for themselves; they must have Christ enshrined in the heart, His Spirit controlling the affections, or their profession of faith is of no value, and their condition will be even worse than if they had never heard the truth." 5T 619 "May the Lord help us to die to self and be born again, that Christ may live in us, a living, active principle, a power that will keep us holy." 9T 188 "The life of God in the soul is man's only hope." MH 115 "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:27 Jesus wants us to allow Him to live in us daily so that we will be able to have the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives and represent His character to others. Abide in Him and Bear Much Fruit "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. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:4, 5 "Our life must come from the parent vine. It is only by personal union with Christ, by communion with Him daily, hourly, that we can bear the fruits of the Spirit." 5T 47, 48 "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so prove to be my disciples." John 15:7, 8 RSV "Christ abiding in the soul exerts a transforming power, and the outward aspect bears witness to the peace and joy that reign within. We drink in the love of Christ, as the branch draws nourishment from the vine. If we are grafted in Christ, if fiber by fiber we have been united with the Living Vine, we shall give evidence of the fact by bearing rich clusters of living fruit." 1SM 337 "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matt. 7:16 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Gal. 5:22, 23 RSV "When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our life; not one will be missing. . . . The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him." DA 676 "Are you in a position where you do not possess these graces? Just as soon as anyone crosses you, or offends you, does there arise in your heart a feeling of bitterness, a spirit of rebellion? If this is the spirit you have, bear in mind that you have not the spirit of Christ. It is another spirit." RH 12-21-1886 "The Spirit of Christ will be revealed in all who are born of God. Strife and contention cannot arise among those who are controlled by His Spirit." 5T 227 `"By their fruits ye shall know them.' Either God or Satan controls the mind; and the life shows so clearly that none need mistake to which power you yield allegiance." FE 89 "When we give way to impatience, we drive the Spirit of God out of the heart, and give place to the attributes of Satan." 2SM 236 `"To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.' If we indulge anger, lust, covetousness, hatred, selfishness, or any other sin, we become servants of sin. `No man can serve two masters.' If we serve sin, we cannot serve Christ." MYP 114 "Christ does not say that man will not or shall not serve two masters, but that he cannot." MB 93 Think of it this way. If I get angry with my child, where are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? They are not there. You cannot serve two masters, when you test yourself by the fruit of the Spirit. You could do much work and think you are really a good Christian, but if in your home you are irritated and unkind to your family, something is wrong. You may not know how to submit the heart to be controlled by God, or you may not want to. "We cannot be fretful and impatient, and still be Christians, for a fretful, impatient spirit is not the Spirit of Christ." RH 8-14-1888 "Impatience brings the enemy of God and man into your family and drives out the angels of God. If you are abiding in Christ, and Christ in you, you cannot speak angry words." HP 99 "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." Eph. 5:9 "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." James 4:14-18 "You cannot indulge your own temper, and have your own way, and still remain the children of God. We shall have to struggle with our hereditary tendencies, that we may not yield to temptation, and become angry under provocation." RH 10-11-1892 "The man who yields to impatience is serving Satan. `To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.'" 4T 607 "Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God." TM 79 "Let no one deceive his own soul in this matter. If you harbor pride, self-esteem, a love for the supremacy, vainglory, unholy ambition, murmuring, discontent, bitterness, evil-speaking, lying, deception, slandering, you have not Christ abiding in your heart, and the evidence shows that you have the mind and character of Satan, not of Jesus Christ, who was meek and lowly of heart." TM 441 "Pride and selfishness can find no place in the character without crowding out Him who is meek and lowly of heart." RH 11-24-1885 "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" 2 Cor. 13:5 "But you will say, How am I to know that Christ is in my heart? If, when you are criticised or corrected in your way, and things do not go just as you think they ought to go, - if then you let your passion arise instead of bearing the correction and being patient and kind, Christ is not abiding in the heart." RH 7-12-1887 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 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 1:5-7 "What is lying against the truth? It is claiming to believe the truth while the spirit, the words, the deportment, represent not Christ but Satan. To surmise evil, to be impatient and unforgiving, is lying against the truth, but love, patience, and long forbearance are in accordance with the principles of truth. Truth is ever pure, ever kind, breathing a heavenly fragrance un-mingled with selfishness." KH 185 "Selfishness can no more live in the heart that is exercising faith in Christ than light and darkness can exist together." 5T 48 "God is light and in him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5 "While pride, variance, and strife for the supremacy are cherished, the heart cannot enter into fellowship with Christ." DA 650 "Only as they were willing to be purged from sin could they enter into fellowship with Him. Only the pure in heart could abide in His presence." DA 108 "Our Lord is put to shame by those who claim to serve Him, but who misrepresent His character; and multitudes are deceived, and led into false paths." DA 439 "Little children, let no one deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." 1 John 3:7-10 "The greatest insult we can inflict upon Him, is to pretend to be His disciples while manifesting the spirit of Satan in our words, our dispositions and our actions." 3BC 1160 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:7, 8 "Unless you accept in your own life the principle of self-sacrificing love, which is the principle of His character, you cannot know God." MB 25 "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfulling of the law." Rom. 13:10 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby we know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." 1 John 2:3-6 `"O' you may say. `I do keep the commandments.' Do you? . . . Do you carry out the principles of God's commandments in your home, in your family? Do you never manifest rudeness, unkindness, and impoliteness in the family circle? If you do manifest unkindness at your home, no matter how high your profession, you are breaking God's commandments. No matter how much you may preach the commandments to others, if you fail to manifest the love of Christ in your home life, you are a transgressor of the law." RH 3-29-1892 "Men and women, children and youth, are measured in the scales of heaven in accordance with that which they reveal in their home life. A Christian in the home is a Christian anywhere." 5BC 1085 "The meekness of Christ, manifested in the home, will make the inmates happy; it provokes no quarrel, gives back no angry answer, but soothes the irritated temper and diffuses a gentleness that is felt by all within its charmed circle. Wherever cherished, it makes the families of earth a part of the one great family above." MB 16 "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." 1 John 4:13 "If we have the love of Christ in our souls, it will be a natural con-sequence for us to have all the other graces: joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." ML 50 "There are many who have never felt the necessity of subduing self, and overcoming wicked tempers. They cherish bitterness and wrath in their hearts, and these evil traits defile the soul. They thus deny Christ, and darken the pathway of others. None will be excused for the exhibition of uncontrollable tempers; thousands will miss of Heaven through their want of self-control." ST 12-17-1885 "When persons profess to be Christians, and their religion does not make them better men and better women in all the relations of life - living representatives of Christ in disposition and character - they are none of His." ML 257 But many people tell me, even if we disobey our parents and do wrong, we are still their children! Yes, physically, but not spiritually! There is a big difference. "He who is united to the Lord is one spirit with him." 1 Cor. 6:17 "A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny Him, whatever the profession. Men may deny Christ by evil speaking, by foolish talking, by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by shunning life's burdens, by the pursuit of sinful pleasures. They may deny Him by con-forming to the world, by uncourteous behaviour, by the love of their opinions, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, borrowing trouble, and dwelling in darkness. In all these ways they declare that Christ is not in them." DA 357 "Jesus came not to save men in their sins, but from their sins. `Sin is the transgression of the law,' and if we fail to obey the law, we do not accept our Saviour. The only hope we have of salvation is through Christ. If His Spirit abides in the heart, sin cannot dwell there." RH 3-16-1886 What must we do to keep sin out? Fight the Good Fight of Faith "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, . . . that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Tim. 6:12, 13 "When souls are converted, their salvation is not yet accomplished. They then have the race to run; the arduous struggle is before them to `fight the good fight of faith.' . . . The battle is lifelong." OHC 163 "Wherefore . . . let us 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." Heb. 12:1, 2 "The weights . . . are the evil habits and practices we have formed by following our own natural dispositions." 7BC 934 When we come to the foot of the cross, we lay down all our old sinful habits and practices. How do we do it? We give up our rights to live by our old ways and decide to live only for God through His power. "Each soul inherits certain un-Christlike traits of character. It is the grand and noble work of a lifetime to keep under control these tendencies to wrong. It is the little things that cross our path that are likely to cause us to lose our power of self-control." HP 231 "Each day he must renew his consecration, each day do battle with evil. Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ's strength for victory." AA 477 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." Rom. 6:12, 13 "As soon as we incline our will to harmonize with God's will, the grace of God stands ready to cooperate with the human agent." HP 27 "Let us not be in the position of those for whom the Saviour died in vain. In Christ is sufficient grace to overcome all our evil traits of character, and strength is found alone in Him." RH 3-17-1891 "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph. 6:10-12 "Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith." 1Peter 5:8, 9 "Every Christian must stand on guard continually, watching every avenue of the soul where Satan might find access. He must pray for divine help and at the same time resolutely resist every inclination to sin. By courage, by faith, by persevering toil, he can conquer. But let him remember that to gain the victory Christ must abide in him and he in Christ. . . . "It is only by personal union with Christ, by communion with Him daily, hourly, that we can bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit." 5T 47, 48 "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance." Eph. 6:18 RSV "When it becomes the habit of the soul to converse with God, the power of the evil one is broken; for Satan cannot abide near the soul that draws nigh unto God." RH 12-3-1889 "Never can we safely put confidence in self or feel, this side of heaven, that we are secure against temptation." COL 155 "Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all you do be done in love." 1 Cor. 16:13 RSV "Watch the stealthy approach of the enemy, watch against old habits and natural inclinations lest they exert themselves; . . . Watch the thoughts, watch the plans, lest they become selfish and self-centered." KH 351 "Watch, lest you should speak hastily, fretfully, and impatiently. Watch, lest pride should find a place in your heart. Watch, lest evil passions should overcome you, instead of your subduing them." FL 224 "Some have asked the question, Must I be on my guard and feel a restraint upon me continually? I have been shown that we have a great work before us to search our own hearts, and watch ourselves with jealous care. We should learn wherein we fail, and then guard ourselves upon that point. We must have perfect control over our own spirit." 1T 308 "There is not an impulse of our nature, not a faculty of the mind or an inclination of the heart, but needs to be, moment by moment under the control of the Spirit of God." PP 421 "If you will only watch, continually watch unto prayer, if you will do everything as if you were in the immediate presence of God, you will be saved from yielding to temptation, and may hope to be kept pure, spotless, and undefiled till the last." GW 128 "Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort, they must be conquerors in the battle with evil." GC 425 "But you must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so important a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan; and he has ever since been working in man to will and to do of his own pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man. But the infinite sacrifice of God in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become a sacrifice for sin, enables Him to say, without violating one principle of His government: `Yield yourself up to Me; give Me that will; take it from the control of Satan, and I will take possession of it; then I can work in you to will and to do of My good pleasure!" 5T 515 "It is through the will that sin retains its hold upon us." MB 61 "The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, - the power of decision, of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go; but if they stop here, they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil propensities. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him. "God has given us the power of choice; it is ours to exercise. We can-not change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God's service. But we can choose to serve God, we can give Him our will; then He will work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus our whole nature will be brought under the control of Christ. "Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding up the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to every one who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God." MH 176 "The heavenly intelligences will work with the human agent who seeks with determined faith that perfection of character which will reach out to perfection in action. To every one engaged in this work Christ says, I am at your right hand to help you. "As the will of man cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings." COL 333 "I can do all things in him who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13 "Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as the sandbank against the torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and from without." MH 140 "When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan. But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not cooperate with the heavenly agencies, Satan will take possession of the heart, and will make it his abiding place. The only defence against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end." DA 324 What has Jesus promised so that we need not be overcome by Satan? He Will Help You When Tempted and Make a Way of Escape "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13 "Our heavenly Father measures and weighs every trial before He permits it to come upon the believer. He considers the circumstances and the strength of the one who is to stand under the proving and test of God, and He never permits the temptations to be greater than the capacity of resistance. If the soul is overborne, the person over-powered, this can never be charged to God, . . . but the one tempted was not vigilant and prayerful and did not appropriate by faith the provisions God had abundantly in store for him. Christ never failed a believer in his hour of combat. The believer must claim the promise and meet the foe in the name of the Lord." OHC 323 When you are a true believer, you will not be tempted beyond what you can bear, and He also will make a way of escape, but we must take His way of escape, otherwise He cannot help us. When I first understood what it really meant to be a Christian, I sur-rendered all my heart to God, with all of my heart sins. I told God, "I give up my right to become impatient or irritated with my children. I especially give up my right to resent my husband, no matter what he does. He may not do things according to my way of thinking, but I have no right to resent him. Why should I yield to Satan's spirit to correct others. I want to yield to your Holy Spirit and allow God to work in me His love for my children and my husband, and pray for them instead of allowing Satan to use me to bring his spirit into our home. When I surrendered fully to God, I believed that He would take away my resentment, and give me an understanding attitude toward my husband and children. And He did! I also believed that He could then keep me from falling as He had promised. The next day as I went about my work, I don't remember any temptation coming to me until the evening. We were having worship and I was reading from a book on prayer. Suddenly my husband, who was an editor, corrected a sentence problem in the book. There is nothing wrong with doing that, but I did not like it when he did it while we were having worship, because it distracted us. And so I would reprove him in a wrong spirit and worship would be spoiled. But I would blame him for spoiling worship! This evening, as he corrected a sentence problem, I immediately reacted. Immediately the Holy Spirit strongly convicted me that I had sinned, and immediately I exclaimed, "I have sinned!" The family was surprised at my confession. Later, when I shared the story with someone, my son, who was present, remarked, "O Mom, how well I remember that night! That was the first time I heard you take the blame!" You see, I had learned from my father always to blame others when I got upset with them, even though it was my spirit that was wrong. It is so easy to blame others when we allow ourselves to become irritated by something they do or say. But there is no excuse for sin! That evening I again asked God to forgive and cleanse me, and to restore me to Himself. Then I pleaded with Him to show me the way of escape so that I would not react again in a wrong way. I believed He would teach me how to keep from falling, because He had promised that He was able to do that. The next day I went about my work and again I don't remember any temptation until the evening. As we were again having family worship I was reading from the same book. Again my husband corrected a sentence problem. Instantly I felt the temptation to react. We read that the Christian will feel the prompting to sin. Here is where Christ's help is needed. Instantly the Holy Spirit reminded me, in my conscience, "You gave up the right to resent your husband no matter what he does, don't you remember?" Instantly I responded, "Yes, and I really meant it!" Immediately the Holy Spirit so controlled my spirit, that I did not say a word. No one even knew that I was tempted! And I knew I had found the way of escape! When we are tempted the Holy Spirit will try to alert us, and if we quickly submit to God, He will then have the right to control our spirit and give us the victory. Later I found these quotes. "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, `This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.'" Isa. 30:21 "Voices inspired by God are crying, `This is the way, walk ye in it.' If men will hear the voice of warning, if they will trust to God's guidance and not to finite judgment, they will be safe." HP 103 At the moment of temptation, quickly submit to God. He always leaves you free to choose. "As soon as we incline our will to harmonize with God's will, the grace of Christ stands ready to cooperate with the human agent." HP 27 "If the voice of Jesus is not heeded at once, it becomes confused in the mind with a multitude of other voices." 7BC 967 "We want to become so sensitive to holy influences that the lightest whisper of Jesus will move our souls." KH 361 "Allow no taunts, no threats, no sneering remarks, to induce you to violate your conscience in the least particular, and thus open a door whereby Satan can come in and control the mind." SD 211 "Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved." 5T 120 "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." Eph. 4:30 "The Holy Spirit will not compel men to take a certain course of action. We are free moral agents; and when sufficient evidence has been given us as to our duty, it is left with us to decide our course." FE 124 Take God's Way of Escape and Submit to Him "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."