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| I now charge you before God to make thorough work of repentance and reformation. You may now so humble yourself before God that you may be trusted to represent the sacred character of His work. But your peculiarity of disposition is such that if you are in office, you will always be in danger of ruling arbitrarily. God forbids that one man shall have arbitrary jurisdiction over the minds of his brethren.-- Letter 380, 1907 (Nov. 11, 1907 to a Local Conference President). {ChL 24.2} |
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| To the desert prophet all this seemed a mystery beyond his fathoming. There were hours when the whisperings of demons tortured his spirit, and the shadow of a terrible fear crept over him. Could it be that the long-hoped-for Deliverer had not yet appeared? Then what meant the message that he himself had been impelled to bear? John had been bitterly disappointed in the result of his mission. He had expected that the message from God would have the same effect as when the law was read in the days of Josiah and of Ezra (2 Chronicles 34; Nehemiah 8, 9); that there would follow a deep-seated work of repentance and returning unto the Lord. For the success of this mission his whole life had been sacrificed. Had it been in vain? {DA 216.1} |
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| As those thus united in Christian fellowship offer prayer to God, and pledge themselves to deal justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, great blessing comes to them. If they have wronged others, they continue the work of repentance, confession, and restitution, fully set to do good to one another. This is the fulfilling of the law of Christ. {GW 500.1} |
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| "There has been a departure from God among us, and the zealous work of repentance and return to our first love essential to restoration to God and regeneration of heart, has not yet been done. Infidelity has been making its inroads into our ranks; for it is the fashion to depart from Christ, and give place to skepticism. With many the cry of the heart has been, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' Baal, Baal, is the choice. The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord. The true religion, the only religion of the Bible, that teaches forgiveness only through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, that advocates righteousness by the faith of the Son of God, has been slighted, spoken against, ridiculed, and rejected. It has been denounced as leading to enthusiasm and fanaticism. But it is the life of Jesus Christ in the soul, it is the active principle of love imparted by the Holy Spirit, that alone will make the soul fruitful unto good works. The love of Christ is the force and power of every message for God that ever fell from human lips. What kind of a future is before us, if we shall fail to come into the unity of the faith? {LS 326.2} |
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| God's servants are to labor in perfect harmony. Contention brings alienation and strife and discord. I am instructed that our churches have no need to spend their time in strife. When a spirit of contention struggles for the supremacy, call a halt, and make things right, else Christ will come quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of its place. Let an earnest work of repentance be done. Let the Spirit of God search through mind and heart, and cleanse away all that hinders the needed reformation. Until this is done, God can not bestow on us His power and grace. And while we are without His power and grace, men will stumble and fall, and will not know at what they stumble. {RH, August 20, 1903 par. 14} |
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| The message to the Laodicean church is highly applicable to us as a people. It has been placed before us for a long time, but has not been heeded as it should have been. When the work of repentance is earnest and deep, the individual members of the church will buy the rich goods of heaven. [Rev. 3:18 quoted.] Oh, how many behold things in a perverted light, in the light in which Satan would have them see. {7BC 961.7} |
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| Confession will not be acceptable to God without sincere repentance and reformation. There must be decided changes in the life; everything offensive to God must be put away. This will be the result of genuine sorrow for sin. Says Paul, speaking of the work of repentance: "Ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." {5T 640.2} |
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| Why delay? Why go on in weakness? Why not cast your soul in all its helplessness upon Christ, and lay hold on the merits of his precious blood? He waits to receive you. He longs to help you. And when the soul temple is cleansed from every defilement, you will have a new and precious experience. The Lord says: "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." But if the work of repentance and reformation is neglected, if you pass on your way, sinning in word and action, the Lord says: "I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." {ST, January 6, 1890 par. 6} |
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