The Desire of Ages--41--The Crisis in Galilee

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Amen, Brother Beacon!

We can be thankful that Jesus prepares us for trials and times things perfectly. He knew that by declaring the deep spiritual truth of how His disciples were to eat His flesh and drink His blood as described in John 6, His hearers would reach a turning point. They would see that Christ was offering a spiritual kingdom instead of one of temporal aggrandizement. And so today Christ leads us to realize that we have the choice as to whether we will most value union and communion with Him by the Holy Spirit, or if we will allow other things to crowd out the presence of Jesus. As we sense our continual need of His abiding presence, we may be strengthened to go forward in faith, anticipating greater trials ahead, but fully conscious of the presence of Christ to guide us step by step in the way that He deems best.

"Compassionate Redeemer, who in the full knowledge of the doom that awaited Him, tenderly smoothed the way for the disciples, prepared them for their crowning trial, and strengthened them for the final test!" {The Desire of Ages, page 394, paragraph 3}

The trials we are facing now are preparation for greater trials, culminating in the time of trouble just before Jesus returns. Jesus is with us each step, and as we yield the whole heart to Him, He cleanses us by His atoning blood and imbues us with all of the fruits of the Holy Spirit so that not one is missing. This ever-deepening and maturing experience is what we need for each experience in life! Abide in Christ by receiving His word into your heart by the Holy Spirit, for this is what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood in the fullest spiritual sense!

[Dorine]

  This truly was a turning point for the followers of Jesus. Although the majority of his followers rejected Him I am so thankful for the record of His faithful disciples that stayed with Him. It's true what Peter said when Jesus asked them if they were going to leave Him also..."To Whom shall we go?"

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven."

We may be tempted and tried in our walk with God but we can be joyful through it all because we know that because of God's great love for us He is allowing smaller tests to come to help ease the larger ones yet to come. By faith in Jesus and through His word He strengthens us, He changes us, and pours out His most precious blessings. We become new creatures. How I love my Jesus.

[Richard Myers]

Amen! 

While we cannot now comprehend the works and ways of God, we can discern His great love, which underlies all His dealings with men. He who lives near to Jesus will understand much of the mystery of godliness. He will recognize the mercy that administers reproof, that tests the character, and brings to light the purpose of the heart. 

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Happy Sabbath! May Jesus bless you with a sweeter experience than you have ever had before!

What we watch and think about changes us. What we behold is what we become like. By beholding we become changed. We can choose, even in this dark, sinful world, to look to Jesus and become like Him by the agency of His word and His Spirit. Each of us has the freedom to choose to look to Christ and yield the whole heart to Him, for He will then work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure! What a joy it is to experience all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as the inevitable result of union and communion with God!

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven." {The Desire of Ages, page 391, paragraph 1} 

As we grow in grace, we hunger for more of Christ, and the more we receive and impart, the more our capacity for receiving and imparting grows. He gives "grace for grace" (John 1:16), and we are saved "by grace through faith" (Ephesians 2:. Let us look away from self to Christ today and rest in His everlasting love!!

[Beacon]

"A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated."

"Christ became one flesh with us, in order that we might become one spirit with Him. It is by virtue of this union that we are to come forth from the grave,--not merely as a manifestation of the power of Christ, but because, through faith, His life has become ours. Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life."

"It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal."

I encourage you on this wonderful Sabbath Day to ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit your life. You will then be guided into ALL TRUTH. Take the time to reflect on the words of this beautiful hymn and then ask Jesus for this special and unique insight and He will give it to you.

Hymn #269 – Come, Holy Spirit
1
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

2
O raise our thoughts from things below,
From vanities and toys!
Then shall we with fresh courage go
To reach eternal joys.

3
Awake our souls to joyful songs;
Let pure devotions rise;
Till praise employs our thankful tongues,
And doubt forever dies.

4
Father, we would no longer live
At this poor, dying rate;
To Thee our thankful love we give,
For Thine to us is great.

5
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad a Savior’s love,
And that shall kindle ours.



"It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour.

[Dorine]

  "In His promises and warnings, Jesus means me. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that I by believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God's word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise, precept and warning, are mine. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. As faith thus receives and assimilates the principles of truth, they become a part of the being and the motive power of the life. The word of God, received into the soul, molds the thoughts, and enters into the development of character."

The first time I read these words and let them sink in, my heart overflowed with love to the one I had taken for granted for so long. Each time I read them they become even more precious to me. Growing up with a feeling of unworthiness I felt God's love was for everyone else. But that's a tragic conception of Jesus. Once I realized that it is my unworthiness that pulls on the heart of God in tender mercy towards me I never felt the same again. Once I claimed this promise for myself He was then able to work in my life to change my heart and understanding. I praise God for His patience and long suffering while He lovingly waited for me to 'get it'.

[Richard Myers]

Amen, amen, and amen! In today's reading we find Christ is faced with a crisis. It is a turning point in His ministry on this Earth. So many who followed Jesus were not interested in truth. They were looking for worldly benefit from their Messiah. Like Judas, they were not looking for a Messiah who had no where to lay His head.

  "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner." Matthew 3:12. This was one of the times of purging. By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus. Many are still doing the same thing. Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see that their lives are not in accordance with the will of God. They see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered. They go away offended, even as the disciples left Jesus, murmuring, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?"

The Bible reveals there is need for us to have "an entire change."  We must be transformed from sinners into saints. How many are willing to enter into this work? Many are called, but few choose to make the sacrifice. And these many have an influence on others, especially if they are in the church. What we read today is that Jesus spoke words that He knew would turn many of these false believers away from Him.  The truth separates the sheep from the goats.

     When Jesus presented the testing truth that caused so many of His disciples to turn back, He knew what would be the result of His words; but He had a purpose of mercy to fulfill. He foresaw that in the hour of temptation every one of His beloved disciples would be severely tested. His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and crucifixion, would be to them a most trying ordeal. Had no previous test been given, many who were actuated by merely selfish motives would have been connected with them. When their Lord was condemned in the judgment hall; when the multitude who had hailed Him as their king hissed at Him and reviled Him; when the jeering crowd cried, "Crucify Him!"--when their worldly ambitions were disappointed, these self-seeking ones would, by renouncing their allegiance to Jesus, have brought upon the disciples a bitter, heart-burdening sorrow, in addition to their grief and disappointment in the ruin of their fondest hopes. In that hour of darkness, the example of those who turned from Him might have carried others with them. But Jesus brought about this crisis while by His personal presence He could still strengthen the faith of His true followers. 
Have a blessed Sabbath dear friends.

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

We become like what we behold. We are to look away from self, the faults of others, this dark world, and the trials that come our way, and look upon Christ and let Him lead us step by step. He has a plan for this day of each of our lives and He desires to work in and through us for His good pleasure!

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven." {The Desire of Ages, page 391, paragraph 1}
     
When we realize the privilege of suffering with Christ and partaking of His divine nature by the word of God, we shall gladly live in harmony with the law of love--the universal definition of freedom in the universe that allows for all relationships to thrive between God and all others! Then the very fruits of the Spirit (not one missing) that are the overflow of the Word of God in our hearts and minds will be a blessing to all around us!

[Beacon]

"Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated."

"The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ, and the Saviour desired to fix the faith of His followers on the word. When His visible presence should be withdrawn, the word must be their source of power. Like their Master, they were to live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' Matthew 4:4."

"As we feed upon His word, we find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

May our prayer always be.....Take My Life and let be Consecrated Lord to Thee"

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/445
Take My Life and let it be consecrated lord to thee

[Dorine]

While we cannot now comprehend the works and ways of God, we can discern His great love, which underlies all His dealings with men. He who lives near to Jesus will understand much of the mystery of godliness. He will recognize the mercy that administers reproof, that tests the character, and brings to light the purpose of the heart.
And in the book Life Sketches p. 293 we read,"You should search the Bible; for it tells you of Jesus. As you read the Bible, you will see the matchless charms of Jesus. You will fall in love with the Man of Calvary, and at every step you can say to the world, "His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace." You are to represent Christ to the world."
I love this term...the matchless charms of Jesus. When others see Jesus in us they too will be charmed by the beauty of His loveliness. It's not a physical beauty but it was His character that is revealed. It is seen in the way He treated others, in His teachings, and in everything He said and did. All His virtues were constantly demonstrated.  This is what will be seen in the lives of His followers in the same way. What an awesome privilege we have in presenting the matchless charms of Christ to others so that they too may have an opportunity to know Him as their personal Saviour.

[Dorine]

"With a yearning heart, Jesus saw those who had been His disciples departing from Him, the Life and the Light of men. The consciousness that His compassion was unappreciated, His love unrequited, His mercy slighted, His salvation rejected, filled Him with sorrow that was inexpressible. It was such developments as these that made Him a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Without attempting to hinder those who were leaving Him, Jesus turned to the twelve and said, "Will ye also go away?"      

My prayer this morning is that all who are reading this will answer Jesus' question with the same assurance that Peter did.

"Peter replied by asking, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" "Thou hast the words of eternal life," he added. "And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

[Richard Myers]

Amen dear sister!!  And how is it that Peter who had denied Jesus came to this point of belief? He loved Jesus because He had been with Him. But, poor peter did not know Him enough to keep from denying Him. For not long after He said this, was when he denied Him. Then what happened to Peter later that kept him from denying Jesus later when he was steadfast in his faith? What did Jesus say in today's reading that explains what we must do in order to obtain this steadfast faith and eternal life?

Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him."
     To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him, receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated.
     But even these figures fail to present the privilege of the believer's relation to Christ. Jesus said, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame. 

After reading this, then why would not we spend a thoughtful hour a day contemplating the life of Christ? Join with us in sharing what you are learning each day when you behold the life of Christ. Bless us even more than we are now being blessed!

[Beacon]

"By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. Because they were too vain and self-righteous to receive reproof, too world-loving to accept a life of humility, many turned away from Jesus..

Many are still doing the same thing..

Souls are tested today as were those disciples in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth is brought home to the heart, they see that their lives are not in accordance with the will of God. They see the need of an entire change in themselves; but they are not willing to take up the self-denying work. Therefore they are angry when their sins are discovered. They go away offended, even as the disciples left Jesus, murmuring."

Are "WE" willing to take up the self-denying work of spiritual introspection when the Holy Spirit through the Word of God points out our sins??

[Philip T]

  As our physical life is sustained by food, so our spiritual life is sustained by the word of God. And every soul is to receive life from God's word for himself. As we must eat for ourselves in order to receive nourishment, so we must receive the word for ourselves.[/b] We are not to obtain it merely through the medium of another's mind. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the aid of the Holy Spirit, that we may understand His word. We should take one verse, and concentrate the mind on the task of ascertaining the thought which God has put in that verse for us. We should dwell upon the thought until it becomes our own, and we know "what saith the Lord."[/color]

This is why morning devotions are so important in our lives, as we eat physical food our bodies break it down to we can receive the nourishment to sustain our physical strength , so we muse take in the word of God(Jesus) under the unction of the Holy Spirit digest and break down the word of God, that we may be spiritually fed and thus sustain our Spiritual walk with Christ. If we do not spiritually feed ourselves with the word of God, we are lost to the 2nd death.

[Dorine]

"Are you a follower of Christ? Then all that is written concerning the spiritual life is written for you, and may be attained through uniting yourself to Jesus. Is your zeal languishing? has your first love grown cold? Accept again of the proffered love of Christ. Eat of His flesh, drink of His blood, and you will become one with the Father and with the Son."
This is a promise that draws a heart to Jesus like a magnet. May we never allow the pull of the world to cause unbelief to enter our hearts. Jesus wants our total surrender to Him so that we may be one with Him and the Father.

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Amen, Brother Philip and Sister Dorine!

Where are you looking? Are you looking down at your difficulties, or at yourself and your own finite weakness, helplessness and sinfulness? Are you distracted by the pleasures of the world and its perplexities and sorrows? Maybe the temptation is to look at others' mistakes and failings--but praise God, we can choose to look at the ONLY ONE who can safely help us--Jesus Christ!! By grace through faith, Jesus makes it possible for us to live this one day in constant union and communion with Him in true conversion (total surrender of the whole heart to Christ so all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we gladly obey His law of love). Let us look up to Jesus who is even now ministering for us in the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, preparing a place for us to dwell forever and simultaneously preparing us for being with Him as we look to Him in true faith!

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven." {The Desire of Ages, page 391, paragraph 1}

We may be more like Jesus as we each day choose to look and live. Jesus saves us from looking at the things that will only destroy our souls, helping us to keep our continual focus on Him and so He can use us to reach others for Him!

[Beacon]

"They had seen Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by the revelation of God to their souls. The living evidences of His power had been before them day after day, yet they asked for still another sign.

Had this been given, they would have remained as unbelieving as before.

If they were not convinced by what they had seen and heard, it was useless to show them more marvelous works. Unbelief will ever find excuse for doubt, and will reason away the most positive proof.

"Again Christ appealed to their stubborn hearts"

"Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out." All who received Him in faith, He said, should have eternal life. Not one could be lost. No need for Pharisees and Sadducees to dispute concerning the future life. No longer need men mourn in hopeless grief over their dead. "This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Dear Friends - What more could Jesus do and say to those whom He came to save?? & What will be our response to His Invitation tdoay?

[Richard Myers]

    "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." Through the beloved John, who listened to these words, the Holy Spirit declared to the churches, "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:11, 12. And Jesus said, "I will raise him up at the last day." Christ became one flesh with us, in order that we might become one spirit with Him. It is by virtue of this union that we are to come forth from the grave,--not merely as a manifestation of the power of Christ, but because, through faith, His life has become ours. Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal.

Amen!! And when the Holy Spirit takes possession of our heart, He brings every one of the fruits of the spirit with Him, not one will be missing!

[Beacon]

"It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. "

"What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour."

"A theoretical knowledge will do us no good."

"As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him."

"Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame"

."May our prayer today be.....

"All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me

[Pastor Sean Brizendine]

Amen, Brother Beacon!

May the experience of Christ truly become our experience by beholding the loveliness of His character, letting Him lead us in His providences, and teaching us by the Holy Spirit in the way He knows is best. As by faith we yield the whole heart to Him motivated by His grace, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we enjoy constant union and communion with Christ by the Holy Spirit, who leads us to obey God out of love for Him!

"As the Son of God lived by faith in the Father, so are we to live by faith in Christ. So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame." {The Desire of Ages, page 389, paragraph 4} 

This is the victory that overcomes the world--the faith of Jesus! May you let the life of Christ alone appear in your life today so that all He has planned for you will come to pass in His perfect time and way!