Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Christ represents the truth as a treasure that is hid in the field, for which, if men and women would possess it, they must search diligently. In the field of revelation are hid the unsearchable riches of Christ…. Every part of the field of revelation is to be diligently explored and searched with persevering effort, in order that precious jewels of truth may reward the diligent seeker and may be restored to their proper framework in the plan of redemption. Let the shaft sink deep into the mines of truth. If you come to the searching of the Scriptures with contrition of soul, with a humble, teachable spirit, rich and precious treasures will reward your search….

In the teachings of Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is made prominent. What a vast theme is this for contemplation and encouragement! What treasures of truth did He add to the knowledge of His disciples in His instruction concerning the Holy Spirit, the Comforter! He dwelt upon this theme in order to console His disciples in the great trial they were soon to experience, that they might be cheered in their great disappointment….

And yet, though Christ made much of this theme concerning the Holy Spirit, how little is it dwelt upon in the churches! The name and presence of the Holy Spirit are almost ignored, yet the divine influence is essential in the work of perfecting the Christian character….

The Lord has given us a divine directory by which we may know His will…. Those who are guided by the Holy Spirit have cast their anchors within the veil wherein Jesus has entered for us. They search the Scriptures with eager earnestness and seek for light and knowledge to guide them amid the perplexities and perils which at every step compass their path….

To the sincere, contrite heart, truth is truth; and if it is allowed, it will sanctify the soul and transform the character into the divine image…. Those who realize what is the character of the work that they must do in order to represent Christ will walk softly and tremblingly before God, looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of their faith. They dare not trust themselves, they dare not kindle a fire of their own and walk in sparks of their own kindling, for the Lord has said that all such shall lie down in sorrow. The Lord has entrusted to His people the treasures of sacred truth.—Signs of the Times, August 14, 1893.

From From the Heart

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8.

The purpose and plan of grace existed from all eternity. Before the foundation of the world it was according to the determinate counsel of God that humanity should be created, endowed with power to do the divine will. But the defection of the human race, with all its consequences, was not hidden from the Omnipotent, and yet it did not deter Him from carrying out His eternal purpose, for the Lord would establish His throne in righteousness. God knows the end from the beginning: “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Therefore redemption was not an afterthought—a plan formulated after the fall of Adam—but an eternal purpose to be wrought out for the blessing not only of this atom of a world but for the good of all the worlds which God has created.

The creation of the worlds, the mystery of the gospel, are for one purpose, to make manifest to all created intelligences, through nature and through Christ, the glories of the divine character. By the marvelous display of His love in giving “his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” the glory of God is revealed to lost humanity and to the intelligences of other worlds. The Lord of heaven and earth revealed His glory to Moses when he offered his prayer to Jehovah in behalf of idolatrous Israel and pleaded, “Shew me thy glory.” …

It is the privilege of every follower of Christ to behold the glory of God, to understand His goodness, and know that He is a God of infinite mercy and love…. Jesus came to reveal the Father, to make His glory known before humanity. No one was excluded from the privileges of the gospel….

The mystery of the gospel had been spoken in Eden when the lost pair were first in the guilt of transgression, for God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” If Satan could have touched the head with his specious temptations, the human family would have been lost, but the Lord had made known the purpose and plan of the mystery of grace, 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.”—Signs of the Times, April 25, 1892.

From From the Heart

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15.

The grace of Jesus Christ alone can change the heart of stone to a heart of flesh and make it alive unto God. Men and women may perform great deeds in the eyes of the world; their achievements may be many and of a high order in the sight of others, but all the talent, all the skill, all the ability of the world, will fail to transform the character and make a degraded child of sin a child of God, an heir of heaven. We have no power to justify the soul, to sanctify the heart….

How the wondrous provision of the plan of God for the salvation of mankind widens and exalts our ideas of the love of God! How it binds our hearts to the great heart of Infinite Love! How it makes us delight in His service, as our hearts respond to the drawing of His loving kindness and tender mercy! …

This is the work that is before us. We are to have the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Through faith our lives are to be hid with Christ in God. We shall then be God’s hidden ones; for the value of Christian character is not discerned by the world. The world admire honesty, and the manifestations of the virtues and graces of Christian character; but at the same time they make a jest of true Christian conscientiousness because it is a rebuke to their own lives of sin. The living stones that shine in the spiritual temple of the Lord are a great annoyance to Satan, and he ever seeks to cut off the light and eclipse the Sun of Righteousness by interposing his shadow between the soul and God….

Before human beings and angels, Christians are required to show by precept and example the value of Christian character. Those who receive Christ as their personal Savior will be able to do this, and for them Christ has gone to prepare mansions in heaven. There are some who declare that all are entitled to a place in heaven, and in the same breath they acknowledge that all are not fitted for that heavenly abode. If all … would but accept the truth as it is in Jesus and give it a place in the inner sanctuary of the soul, that they might become sanctified through it, they would be fitted for heaven….

Those whose lives are hid with Christ in God, who have been clothed upon with His righteousness, will have a right to the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.—Signs of the Times, May 2, 1892.

From From the Heart

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4.

Christ is an open fountain, an inexhaustible fountain, from which all may drink and drink again, and ever find a fresh supply. But none will ever come to Him save those who will respond to the drawing of His love. None will feed on the bread of life which came down from heaven, none will drink of the water of life flowing down from the throne of God, save those who yield to the pleadings of the Spirit. Since God has given the treasures of heaven in the gift of His only begotten Son, how shall the sinner escape who neglects so great salvation and sets at naught the great provision of God? The justice of God is manifested in the condemnation of all who are finally impenitent and unbelieving. There will be no excuse for the sinner who willfully rejects and neglects so great salvation.

The gift of life has been freely, graciously, joyously offered to fallen humanity. Through Christ we may become partakers of the divine nature and obtain the gift of eternal life; for it has been abundantly provided for all who will come and receive it through God’s appointed means. When Paul beheld the wonders of redemption and the foolishness of those who did not comprehend its nature, he exclaimed, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” …

Those who go on to know the Lord know that His goings forth are prepared as the morning, and all who receive the precious jewels of truth will hasten to impart the knowledge of their riches in Christ to those who are around them. When people respond to the drawing of Christ and view Jesus as the royal Sufferer on the cross of Calvary, they enter into oneness with Christ, they become the elect of God, not by works of their own, but through the grace of Christ; for all their good works are wrought through the power of the Spirit of God. All is of God, and not of themselves….

The fruit we are to bring forth is the fruit of the Spirit…. Your fruit is to remain, to be of such a character that it shall not perish but reproduce after its kind a harvest of a precious order.—Signs of the Times, May 2, 1892.

From From the Heart

I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8.

To love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves is to keep the first four and the last six commandments. God has given to us a large field in which we may work; and in doing the work appointed us of God, we will not lift up ourselves but will exalt Christ. We will cherish love for God and love for our brethren and for all people. Love will soon die out of the heart if it is left without cultivation; we can only keep divine love in the soul by doing the words of the Master. Are there not many claiming to keep the commandments who are living in transgression of the sacred precepts? We cannot keep the law of God unless we give to our Creator and Redeemer our undivided affection. It is impossible to keep the last six commandments unless we keep the first four….

When we come into close sympathy with Jesus, He will impart His love, and this will flow out in loving acts, in tender compassion to others. When we fail to love God supremely, we surely fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. When you love God with all your heart, might, mind, soul, and strength, you will be as a living stream in the desert to all around you. There will be no expressed doubts, no sowing of tares in your suggestions. You will not rest satisfied with a meager experience….

There is no standing still in the Christian life. The followers of Jesus see ever before them higher things to be attained, and they will not be satisfied with a low standard. There is great danger in being satisfied, in not pressing forward for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus….

In the truth, Jesus is unfolded in all His matchless loveliness; but of what advantage will be our knowledge of truth if it does not lead us to Jesus, if it does not increase our knowledge of Him and our love for Him? As soon as you surrender your whole heart to God, you will render self-denying, cheerful obedience. God requires that we shall be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. When, with grateful appreciation of His love, we open the door of our heart to Jesus, saying, “Come in,” the heavenly Guest is with us. When we love Jesus, we love all whom Jesus loves.—Signs of the Times, September 22, 1890.

From From the Heart