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From Heaven With Love

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    The Chief Purpose of the Spirit

    Jesus sought to inspire His disciples with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because the Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts He could solicit from His Father for His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come in the fullness of divine power. The Spirit makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. By the Spirit the heart is made pure. Christ has given His Spirit to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character on His church. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people.HLv 450.3

    “When He [the Spirit of truth] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The preaching of the Word will be of no avail without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Only when truth is accompanied to the heart by the Spirit will it quicken the conscience or transform the life. Unless the Holy Spirit sets home the truth, no souls will fall on the Rock and be broken. No advantages, however great, can make one a channel of light.HLv 451.1

    Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. Many who profess to claim the Lord's promise talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. But many want to manage themselves. Only to those who wait humbly upon God is the Spirit given. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings in its train. Christ is ready to supply every soul according to the capacity to receive.HLv 451.2

    Before leaving the upper chamber, the Saviour led His disciples in a song of praise. His voice was heard, not in the strains of some mournful lament, but in the joyful notes of the Passover hallel:HLv 451.3

    O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
    Praise Him, all ye people.
    For His merciful kindness is great toward us:
    And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
    Praise ye the Lord.
    Psalm 117

    After the hymn they made their way out of the city gate toward the Mount of Olives. Slowly they proceeded, each busy with his own thoughts. As they began to descend toward the mount, Jesus said, “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad.” Matthew 26:31. In the upper chamber Jesus had said that one of the twelve would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him. But now His words include them all.HLv 451.4

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