“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”Galatians 2:20, NKJV.
(BLJ 195.1)
Self must die if we would be counted as the followers of Christ. The apostle says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.... For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”Colossians 3:1, 3. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”2 Corinthians 5:17.
(BLJ 195.2)
When men and women are converted to God, a new moral taste is created; and they love the things that God loves; for their lives are bound up by the golden chain of the immutable promises, to the life of Jesus. Their hearts are drawn out after God. Their prayer is “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”Psalm 119:18. In the immutable standard they see the character of the Redeemer, and know that though they have sinned, they are not to be saved in their sins, but from their sins; for Jesus is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. It is through the blood of Christ that they are brought nigh unto God.
(BLJ 195.3)
As they behold the righteousness of Christ in the divine precepts, they exclaim, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”Psalm 19:7. As sinners are pardoned for their transgressions through the merits of Christ, as they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ through faith in Him, they declare with the psalmist, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”Psalm 119:103. “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”Psalm 19:10. This is conversion.
(BLJ 195.4)
When the Spirit of God controls the mind and heart, it turns the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. The law of Jehovah will then be regarded as a transcript of the divine character, and a new song bursts forth from hearts that have been touched by divine grace; for they realize that the promise of God has been fulfilled in their experience, that their transgressions are forgiven, their sins covered. They have exercised repentance toward God for the violation of His law, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for their justification.—The Review and Herald, June 21, 1892.
(BLJ 195.5)