But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.

I love to speak of Jesus and His matchless love. I have not one doubt of the love of God. I know that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto Him. His precious love is a reality to me, and the doubts expressed by those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ have no effect upon me…. Take Jesus as your personal Savior. Come to Him just as you are, give yourself to Him, grasp His promise by living faith, and He will be to you all that you desire….

Those who give their hearts to Christ will find rest in His love. We have a token of the magnitude of His love in His sufferings and death…. Jesus endured such agony … because He became the sinner’s substitute and surety. He Himself bore the penalty of the law which sinners deserved in order that they might have … another chance to prove their loyalty to God….

There are only two classes in the whole universe—those who believe in Christ and whose faith leads them to keep God’s commandments, and those who do not believe in Him and are disobedient….

You have every reason to believe that He can and will save you. Why? Because you are guiltless? No; because you are a sinner, and Jesus says, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The call is addressed to you, and when Satan says to you that there is no hope, tell him you know there is, “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.” …

The hand that was nailed to the cross for you is stretched out to save you. Believe that Jesus will hear your confession, receive your requests, forgive your sins, and make you a member of the royal family. You need the hope which Jesus will give to cheer you under every circumstance….

Those who accept the truth will find their love for earthly things dislodged. They see the surpassing glory of heavenly things and appreciate the excellence of that which relates to everlasting life. They are charmed with the unseen and eternal. Their grasp loosens from earthly things; they fasten their eyes with admiration upon the invisible glories of the heavenly world. They realize that their trials are working out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and in comparison to the riches that are theirs to enjoy, they count them light afflictions which are for but a moment.—The Review and Herald, June 23, 1896.

From From the Heart

“My house is a house of prayer,” but you have made it a “den of thieves.” Luke 19:46.

Why was it that Christ’s indignation was stirred as He came into the temple courts? His eye swept over the scene, and He saw in it the dishonor of God and the oppression of the people. He heard the lowing of the oxen, the bleating of the sheep, and the altercation between those who were buying and selling. In the courts of God even the priests and rulers were engaged in traffic…. When once their attention was called to Him, they could not withdraw their eyes from His face, for there was something in His countenance that awed and terrified them. Who was He? A humble Galilean, the son of a carpenter who had worked at His trade with His father, but as they gazed upon Him, they felt as though they were arraigned before the judgment bar….

Christ saw the poor and the distressed and the afflicted in trouble and dismay because they had not sufficient to purchase even a dove for an offering. The blind, the lame, the deaf, the afflicted, were in suffering and distress because they longed to present an offering for their sins, but the prices were so exorbitant they could not compass it. It seemed that there was no chance for them to have their sins pardoned….

When Christ had expelled those who had sold doves, He had said, “Take these things hence.” He had not driven the doves out as He had the oxen and the sheep, and why? Because they were the only offering of the poor. He knew their necessities, and as the sellers were driven from the temple, the suffering and the afflicted were left in the courts….

But the priests and the rulers, recovering from their dismay, said, “We will return and challenge Him, and ask Him by what authority He had presumed to expel us from the temple.”

But what a scene met their eyes as they entered again the courts of the temple. Christ was ministering to the poor, the suffering, and the afflicted…. He gave the suffering tender comfort. He took the little ones in His arms and commanded freedom from disease and suffering. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the diseased, and comfort to the afflicted….

He was doing the very work which had been prophesied that the Messiah would do.—The Review and Herald, August 27, 1895.

From From the Heart

Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29.

Christ is the author of all truth. Every brilliant conception, every thought of wisdom, every human capacity and talent, is the gift of Christ. He borrowed no new ideas from humanity; for He originated all. But when He came to earth, He found the bright gems of truth which He had entrusted to the human race, all buried up in superstition and tradition. Truths of most vital importance were placed in the framework of error, to serve the purpose of the archdeceiver. Human opinions, the most popular sentiments of the people, were glossed over with the appearance of truth, and were presented as the genuine gems of heaven, worthy of attention and reverence. But Christ swept away erroneous theories of every grade. No one save the world’s Redeemer had power to present the truth in its primitive purity, divested of the error that Satan had accumulated to hide its heavenly beauty.

Some of the truths that Christ spoke were familiar to the people. They had heard them from the lips of priests and rulers and from people of thought; but for all that, they were distinctively the thoughts of Christ. He had given them to people in trust, to be communicated to the world. On every occasion He proclaimed the particular truth He thought appropriate for the needs of His hearers, whether the ideas had been expressed before or not.

The work of Christ was to take the truth of which the people were in want, and separate it from error, and present it free from the superstitions of the world, that the people might accept it on its own intrinsic and eternal merit. He dispersed the mists of doubt, that the truth might be revealed, and shed distinct rays of light into the darkness of human hearts. He placed the truth in clear contrast with error, that it might appear as truth before the people. But how few appreciate the value of the work that Christ was doing! How few in our day have a just conception of the preciousness of the lessons which He gave to His disciples!

He proved Himself to be the way, the truth, the life. He sought to attract minds from the passing pleasures of this life to the unseen and eternal realities. Views of heavenly things do not incapacitate men and women for the duties of this life, but rather render them more efficient and faithful.—The Review and Herald, January 7, 1890.

From From the Heart

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:4, 5.

Christ was the foundation of the whole system of Jewish worship, and in it was shadowed forth the living reality—the manifestation of God in Christ. Through the sacrificial system all could see Christ’s personality and look forward to their divine Savior. But when He stood before them representing the invisible God—for in Him dwelt “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”—they were not able to discern His divine character because of their want of spirituality. Their own prophets had foretold Him as a Deliverer…. But though His character and mission had been so plainly delineated, though He came unto His own, His own received Him not. Occasionally divinity flashed through humanity—the glory escaped through the disguise of the flesh and brought forth an expression of homage from His disciples. But it was not until Christ ascended to His Father, not until the descent of the Holy Spirit, that the disciples fully appreciated the character and the mission of Christ. After the baptism of the Holy Spirit they began to realize that they had been in the very presence of the Lord of life and glory. As the Holy Spirit brought the sayings of Christ to their remembrance, their understanding was opened to comprehend the prophecies, to understand the mighty miracles which He had wrought…. They seemed of much less importance in their own eyes after their awakening to the fact that Christ had been among them than they did before they realized this. They never wearied of rehearsing every item which had come under their notice in connection with His words and works. They were often filled with remorse at their stupidity and unbelief and misapprehension as they recalled His lessons of instruction which they had but dimly understood when He had spoken them in their presence, and which now came to them as a fresh revelation. The Scriptures became a new book to them….

The disciples remembered that Christ had said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The Word was to be their guide and director. As the disciples searched Moses and the prophets which testified of Christ, they were brought into fellowship with the Deity and learned anew of their great Teacher, who had ascended to heaven to complete the work which He had begun upon earth.—The Review and Herald, April 23, 1895.

From From the Heart

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me. John 17:24.

Christ was infinite in wisdom, and yet He thought best to accept of Judas, although He knew what were his imperfections of character. John was not perfect; Peter denied his Lord; and yet it was of men like these that the early Christian church was organized. Jesus accepted them that they might learn of Him what constitutes a perfect Christian character. The business of every Christian is to study the character of Christ. The lessons which Jesus gave His disciples did not always harmonize with their reasonings…. The Redeemer of the world ever sought to carry the mind from the earthly to the heavenly. Christ constantly taught the disciples, and His sacred lessons had a molding influence upon their characters. Judas alone did not respond to divine enlightenment. To all appearances he was righteous, and yet he cultivated his tendency to accuse and condemn others….

Judas was selfish, covetous, and a thief, yet he was numbered with the disciples. He was defective in character, and he failed to practice the words of Christ. He braced his soul to resist the influence of the truth, and while he practiced criticizing and condemning others, he neglected his own soul, and cherished and strengthened his natural evil traits of character until he became so hardened that he could sell his Lord for thirty pieces of silver.

Oh, let us encourage our souls to look to Jesus! Tell everyone how dangerous it is to neglect the soul’s eternal healthfulness by looking upon the diseased souls of others, by talking upon the uncomeliness of character found in those who profess the name of Christ. The soul does not become more and more like Christ by beholding evil, but like the evil which it beholds….

Let us remember that our great High Priest is pleading before the mercy seat in behalf of His ransomed people. He ever liveth to make intercession for us…. The blood of Jesus is pleading with power and efficacy for those who are backslidden, for those who are rebellious, for those who sin against great light and love…. He will not forget His church in the world of temptation.—The Review and Herald, August 15, 1893.

From From the Heart