Preparing for Pentecost 2 - Ask and Take hold
My Life Today.
Instead of being worked by the Holy Spirit, many, even among those engaged in the solemn work of God, are barring the way against its holy, life-giving influences. They freely criticize and judge their brethren, and yet they do not realize the necessity of earnestly looking into the divine mirror to see what spirit they themselves are manifesting. Their defects of character they regard as virtues, and cling to them. . . . {ML 58.2}
Let there be a work of reformation and repentance. Let all seek for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As with the disciples after the ascension of Christ, it may require several days of earnestly seeking God and putting away of sin. {ML 58.3}
When God's people are worked by the Holy Spirit, they will manifest a zeal that is according to knowledge. . . . They will reflect the light that God has been giving for years. The spirit of criticism will be put away. Filled with the spirit of humility, they will be of one mind, united with one another and with Christ. {ML 58.4}
When a man is filled with the Spirit, the more severely he is tested and tried, the more clearly he proves that he is a representative of Christ. The peace that dwells in the soul is seen on the countenance. The words and actions express the love of the Saviour. There is no striving for the highest place. Self is renounced. The name of Jesus is written on all that is said and done. {ML 58.5}
General Conference Bulletin
By his heavenly gifts the Lord has made ample provision for his people. An earthly parent can not give his child a sanctified character. He can not transfer his character to his child. God alone can transform us. Christ breathed on his disciples, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." This is the great gift of heaven. Christ imparted to them through the Spirit his own sanctification. He imbued them with his power, that they might win souls to the gospel. Henceforth Christ would live through their faculties, and speak through their words. They were privileged to know that hereafter he and they were to be one. They must cherish his principles and be controlled by his Spirit. They were no longer to follow their own way, to speak their own words. The words they spoke were to proceed from a sanctified heart, and fall from sanctified lips. No longer were they to live their own selfish life; Christ was to live in them and speak through them. He would give to them the glory that he had with the Father, that he and they might be one in God. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 12}
The Lord Jesus is our great High Priest, our Advocate in the courts of heaven. The solemn position in which we stand to him as worshipers, is not appreciated. For our present and eternal good we need to understand this relation. If we are his children we are bound together in the bonds of Christian brotherhood, loving one another as he has loved us, united in the sacred relation of those washed in the blood of the Lamb. Bound up with Christ in God, we are to love as brethren. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 13}
Thank God that we have a great High Priest, who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Christ has not entered into the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. By virtue of his own blood he entered in once for all into the holy place above, having obtained eternal redemption for us. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 14}
Now is the time for us to make sure work for eternity. Christ is pleading in our behalf. Shall we offer ourselves as a free, acceptable sacrifice? Shall we cover up our sins, or shall we confess them, that we may find mercy and grace to help in every time of need? While Christ is pleading in our behalf, shall we not put away and loathe the sins that caused the Son of God such great suffering and death? While Jesus is showing compassion for us, shall we not have compassion for ourselves? Shall we not pour out our souls in repentance and contrition, and receive the promise of a new heart? God says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 15}
If you are violating the law in the least, you stand under the wrath of an offended God. You may have the mercy of God. If you plead for it, you will obtain it. Cast yourself just as you are upon his mercy and compassion. Lay hold of him by faith. Put away all selfishness, all covetousness. By faith in the blood of Jesus cleanse your soul from moral defilement. Full and free salvation is offered to every one who will fall on the Rock and be broken. There are many who are saying, Lord, Lord, but they trust to their own self-righteousness. Every day they are practising sin. They are no honor to God; for wherever they go they are like evil leaven. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 16}
Why do you not cease from sin? You may overcome if you will cooperate with God. Christ's promise is sure. He pledges himself to fill the office of personal Intercessor, saying, "I will pray the Father." He who could not see human beings exposed to destruction without pouring out his soul unto death to save them from eternal ruin, will look with pity and compassion upon every soul who realizes that he can not save himself. He will see no trembling suppliant without raising him up. He who through his own atonement provided for them an infinite fund of moral power, will not fail to employ this power in their behalf. He will impute to them his own righteousness. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 17}
Christ accepts the surrender of the soul. He has pledged himself to be our substitute and surety, and he neglects no one. There is an inexhaustible fund of perfect obedience accruing from his obedience. How is it that such an infinite treasure is not appreciated? In heaven the merits of Christ, his self-denial and self-sacrifice, are treasured up as incense, to be offered up with the prayers of his people. As sincere, humble prayers ascend to the throne of God, Christ mingles with them the merits of his life of perfect obedience. Our prayers are made fragrant by this incense. Christ has pledged himself to intercede in our behalf, and the Father always hears his Son. Pray then; pray without ceasing; an answer is sure to come. But let me speak in warning. If any man regard iniquity in his heart, the Lord will not hear him. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 18}
It is our privilege to avail ourselves of Christ's mediatorial influence. Let us then increase in wisdom and knowledge by praying much, being instant in prayer at all times, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. The name of Jesus must be in our hearts and fall from our lips. The eye of faith must behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. {GCB, October 1, 1899 par. 19}
According to justice and retribution God might have placed in the hands of his angelic ministers the vials of his wrath, to be poured out upon a rebellious world, to punish the inhabitants for their treatment of the Prince of heaven. But he did not do this. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Isaiah tells us who and what our Redeemer is: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Christ had two natures, the nature of a man and the nature of God. In him divinity and humanity were combined. Upon his mediatorial work hangs the hope of the perishing world. No one but Christ has ever succeeded in living a perfect life, in living a pure, spotless character. He exhibited a perfect humanity, combined with deity; and by preserving each nature distinct, he has given to the world a representation of the character of God and the character of a perfect man. He shows us what God is, and what man may become--godlike in character.
