- Preface
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- Power of the Word
- A New Lifestyle
- Counterfeit Revivals—What's the Difference?
- Why Be Deceived?
- Can God's Law Be Changed?
- Alienated and Reconciled—How Does It Happen?
- Sanctification—Who Does the Work?
- No Room for Boasting
- Counterfeit Sanctification—Is It “Only Believe”?
- Sanctification—Total Commitment
- A Changed Life
- No Longer Condemned
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- This Is the Test
- Why Aren't Miracles Enough?
- Healing Can Be From the Devil
- False “Tongues” Identified in 1864
- Drums, Dancing, and Noise
- Bodies Out of Control
- Nudity
- Confusion
- Order Versus Impressions and Feelings
- Satan's Slaves
- “Inspired” by Drugs
- Pantheism, Spiritualism, and Free Love
- Irrational Behavior
- Pretending
- Claims to Holiness
- Whose Voice Can I Trust?
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- The Contest Following the Revival
- Peril of Confusing the Spirit's Work With Fanaticism
- Easy Ways to Lose the Blessing
- Danger of Light Becoming Darkness
- Spiritual Victory Lost to the Passions for Games
- The Child of God a Laborer With God
- Was the Blessing Cherished?
- A Blessing Turned Into a Curse
- Be Exceedingly Careful
- The Sin of Rejecting Evidence
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- At Battle Creek in Early Days
- Earnest Work at Tittabawassee, Michigan
- A Good Response in Battle Creek
- After Some Hesitancy a Response
- As She Begins Work in Switzerland
- At Christiana [Oslo], Norway
- Determination Indicated by Standing
- Backsliders Reclaimed in Basel
- An Outstanding Experience in Australia
- Non-Adventist Visitors Respond at Ashfield Church
- The Special Call at the Battle Creek College
- Called Forward in San Francisco
- A Similar Work in Every Church
- Response at General Conference of 1909
Chapter 4—God Has Rules Too
Our Unique Responsibility
As the Supreme Ruler of the universe, God has ordained laws for the government not only of all living beings, but of all the operations of nature. Everything, whether great or small, animate or inanimate, is under fixed laws which cannot be disregarded. There are no exceptions to this rule; for nothing that the divine hand has made has been forgotten by the divine mind. But while everything in nature is governed by natural law, man alone, as an intelligent being, capable of understanding its requirements, is amenable to moral law. To man alone, the crowning work of His creation, God has given a conscience to realize the sacred claims of the divine law, and a heart capable of loving it as holy, just, and good; and of man prompt and perfect obedience is required. Yet God does not compel him to obey; he is left a free moral agent.TR 38.1
The subject of man's personal responsibility is understood by but few; and yet it is a matter of the greatest importance. We may each obey and live, or we may transgress God's law, defy His authority, and receive the punishment that is meet. Then to every soul the question comes home with force, Shall I obey the voice from heaven, the ten words spoken from Sinai, or shall I go with the multitude who trample on that fiery law? To those who love God it will be the highest delight to keep His commandments, and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. But the natural heart hates the law of God, and wars against its holy claims. Men shut their souls from the divine light, refusing to walk in it as it shines upon them. They sacrifice purity of heart, the favor of God, and their hope of heaven, for selfish gratification or worldly gain.TR 38.2
Says the psalmist, “The law of the Lord is perfect” (Psalm 19:7). How wonderful in its simplicity, its comprehensiveness and perfection, is the law of Jehovah! It is so brief that we can easily commit every precept to memory, and yet so far-reaching as to express the whole will of God, and to take cognizance, not only of the outward actions, but of the thoughts and intents, the desires and emotions, of the heart. Human laws cannot do this. They can deal with the outward actions only. A man may be a transgressor, and yet conceal his misdeeds from human eyes; he may be a criminal—a thief, a murderer, or an adulterer—but so long as he is not discovered, the law cannot condemn him as guilty. The law of God takes note of the jealousy, envy, hatred, malignity, revenge, lust, and ambition that surge through the soul, but have not found expression in outward action, because the opportunity, not the will, has been wanting. And these sinful emotions will be brought into the account in the day when “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).TR 39.1