By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Micah 6:8 He hath showed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

God requires something of us. He calls us to be the people who understand the word of God, who study it carefully so that we can give an answer for our faith in meekness, patience, and kindness; not with a debating spirit. These are huge challenges, because it is so natural for us to become judgmental over people who don’t understand as we do; and we forget many times that we have had a long period of time of preparation ourselves and that these people haven’t had it like that; so we become impatient with them because they don’t seem to get it.

God requires of us to do justly, and to love mercy. Don’t we have to exercise mercy toward people? He requires of us to be merciful, and to walk humbly with our God, so that, as we walk with Him, we don’t look back, like Peter did when he was walking on the water towards Christ. He looked back to his fellow disciples, saying in a way, Look, I’m walking on the water; and when he looked back he went down. It is only as we humbly look to Jesus that we can walk.

The Challenging Call

Jesus addresses here this requirement of loving mercy and doing justly to our fellowmen:

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The challenge and the call is that, if I don’t understand someone and someone understands something better than I, my desire is that they would be patient with me, that they would not come down upon me with this irritated spirit of, Why can’t you see?? This is to do with fulfilling God’s requirement for us: to love Him with all our heart, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This is a strong challenge that we have to meet.

The Lord requires our undivided affections. If men are not wholehearted, they will fail in the day of test and proving and trial. When the enemy shall put his forces in array against him, and the battle seems to go hard, at the very time when all the strength of intellect and capability, and all the tact of wise generalship, is needed to repulse the enemy, those who are half-hearted will turn their weapons against their own soldiers; they weaken the hands that should be strong for warfare. God is testing all who have a knowledge of the truth to see if they can be depended on to fight the battles of the Lord when hard pressed by principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and wicked spirits in high places. Perilous times are before us, and our only safety is in having the converting power of God every day–yielding ourselves fully to Him to do His will, and walk in the light of His countenance. {TDG 13.4}

To love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. If we don’t do that, we will falter; we will fail. God is testing all who have a knowledge of the truth whether they will do this or not. Here is a daunting expectation to our human nature, and as we realise what God is requiring of us we tend to get discouraged. This is why many people walk away from this message, because it is a burden to the natural human mind. To have to meet this requirement of God appears daunting and demanding; it appears like an imposition to me and to my rights. It’s heavy.

But what do we expect? It is the weighty things of God, the deep things of God; the Lord is trying to communicate to us, and of course it’s heavy to the natural man. This is why it says that the natural man does not connect correctly with this. It is foolishness to him. These daunting, demanding realities of having to follow and love God with all the heart and soul, and our neighbour as ourselves, open up this huge field of expectation.

True holiness is wholeness in the service of God. This is the condition of true Christian living. Christ asks for an unreserved consecration, for undivided service. He demands the heart, the mind, the soul, the strength. Self is not to be cherished. He who lives to himself is not a Christian. {COL 48.4}

Many people are called Christians; but do they live to themselves? He who lives to himself is not a Christian. Only those who live in unreserved consecration and undivided service fulfil His demands – to love Him with our heart, mind, and soul. This is what God requires. So you can see; it appears daunting, doesn’t it? It is a demand. And many people say, But I thought following Jesus was a pleasurable thing! They have a poetic fancy many times.

So we want to explore how this kind of demand, of high calling that is a daunting experience, can actually be a pleasure; because God will supply what He requires. We want to see how this daunting, demanding imposition to the natural man can become a joy and a pleasure.

“This is the will of God” concerning you, “even your sanctification.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Is it your will also? Your sins may be as mountains before you; but if you humble your heart and confess your sins, trusting in the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, He will forgive and will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. God demands of you entire conformity to His law. This law is the echo of His voice saying to you, Holier, yes, holier still. {AA 566.2}

You get to a point and you think, Well, that’s it. No; holier still.

Holier, Yes, Holier Still

Desire the fullness of the grace of Christ. Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for His righteousness, the work of which God’s word declares is peace, and its effect quietness and assurance forever. {Ibid.}

As we see the challenge, our hearts long, Yes, I want to fulfil this challenge. God’s word declares that the work of righteousness is peace, and that its effect is quietness and assurance forever; oh yes, I want that. But what is behind it? This is where we need to understand the provision.

As we consider the question in Micah, What does the Lord require of you? we naturally see it as a requirement, a demand. We think, Oh, He demands this? That almost sounds like God is forcing me. But then comes this thought, Does God actually practice force? This is where many times the human mind interprets God’s word and feels constrained.

I prepared a young lady once for baptism, and she really wanted to be baptised, but as I placed the requirements of God before her and it came up to the final days of preparation for baptism, she said, You’ve got a gun to my head. She felt that if she didn’t put those things into practice she couldn’t be baptised. It was a sense of demand and of force. This is where we need to discover God’s word to understand how the things that He demands and requires and that appear to us as being a challenge and a difficulty, can actually be relieved in the light of the words of Revelation.

God’s Attitude

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:

He is not barging in; He is not forcing Himself upon us. He wants us to open the door.

Revelation 3:20 …if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

He doesn’t say, “Here, I force you; I want to come into your heart; let Me in! Come on!” No; nothing like that. He stands gently at the door. And He actually took this imagery of standing at the door from the Song of Solomon (ch. 5). There the woman says, My love is standing at the door, knocking, and I’m in my comfortable bed; I’ve got to get up… This is where He stands, and the door has to be opened by us, not by Him. God does not use force; so why is there a demand? How do we connect with all this?

In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. {DA 466.4}

But it sounds like it, doesn’t it? To the human mind reading the word the impression is that, That’s what God requires; it’s compulsory.

No external force is employed. Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God. {DA 466.4}

Here is a little introduction to the unravelling of this puzzle. Demand and yet freedom? The cry is, “You demand this, and I want this because I want the peace; I want all these things; but it’s hard, Lord. Please, it’s too difficult. You’re demanding something of me which I can’t produce.” These are the thoughts that sometimes come upon us as we read the requirements.

Breaking Satan’s Power

When Jesus came to this earth,

The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. {DA 22.1}

What is Satan’s deceptive power? “God is a demanding person.” This is how Satan wants to picture God to us. And then when we read statements where God requires and demands things of us, we think, Well, yes, Satan’s right. These are the sort of mental exercises that we go through. But Jesus came to break that power.

This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known. Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, “with healing in His wings.” Malachi 4:2. {DA 22.1}

Here is the demand and the requirement, and Satan is saying, “See? God is a demanding person.” And then that darkness of apparent compulsion from God that is operating within us can only be relieved as we look at Jesus who can give us the correct interpretation of God’s demand and requirement. So that which God requires of us He first provides the ability to fulfil. To the person who is an unbeliever the requirements of God are an imposition, so God says, Alright, I am going to provide something for you so that you can fulfil this.

Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

This is the requirement – fear and trembling. God requires something from me; there is fear and trembling. But notice how it continues:

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.

God has a requirement, His pleasure for me; but He provides the wherewithal to fulfil that. The Holy Spirit comes and gives the strength; He is the one who provides through Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God has ordained the requirement; He wants us to give everything, to serve Him unreservedly; we are to have self out of the picture, all those kinds of things; and here it says that this was provided for me by Jesus Christ. This ability to fulfil this requirement is the workmanship of God in Jesus Christ, so that as Jesus comes into my vision, there is something there that is going to operate within me to fulfil the requirement/demand/imposition.

This is the struggle that we meet, and this is what causes people to walk away from this pure message that was given us through the early pioneers; and they begin to say, This is all works! This is all a burden! but then comes the message of the pure gospel that removes the burden, so that it becomes a pleasure, because it is God working within, providing the energy and the joy.

God is Love

Never forget that. And what does that love of God that we see in Jesus generate within us?

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Can you see the transferal of the energy? The love of Christ does something; it constrains me; it impels me; it works within me to be able to achieve what is required of me. It constrains me because I am looking at Him dying the death that I have to die because I haven’t fulfilled the requirement. I haven’t fulfilled it and I can’t fulfil it; I’m overburdened with the expectations of God, and I’m there despairing, This is so hard, Lord… and I see Jesus. What do I see? With strong crying and tears He was appealing to God to help Him. And then God brought Him right into the death of the consequence of me not reaching the standard. And as He meets all that, it constrains me, What?? That’s what Jesus had to suffer? My suffering of demand, and God actually put this on Him, and He suffered under it and died with it? Now you can see the power. The Holy Spirit takes of Jesus and shows it to us. And now whatever God requires begins to make an impact in me, because I see that He provides the wherewithal to fulfil His requirement. It is found in Jesus Christ; we are His workmanship, created in Christ. We have to explore Christ to be able to reach the position where what God requires of me I can do constrained and compelled by that love. It is going to be a joy to do whatever God requires.

This is where modern Christianity is ignorant. They wait for some magic, or they say, “We can never reach that high standard”; “He’s going to cover me anyway.” And as soon as any of us uphold the full standard of God’s word, there is a tendency on the part of others to say, You’re trying to get to heaven by works. They don’t understand what this is about. This is where Christianity has fallen today. But God supplies in Jesus Christ what we need so much.

“But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). In the life of Christ this love found perfect expression. He loved us in our sin and degradation. {HP 234.2}

What God required of me I couldn’t do; what God demanded of me I couldn’t give, and He loved me in that condition. Really let it sink in; because if we don’t let it sink in, it all becomes too much for us what God requires of us.

He reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring sons and daughters of earth. There was no wearying of His patience, no lessening of His zeal. The waves of mercy, beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts, ever returned in a stronger tide of love. {HP 234.2}

I love the way that the word of God starts to become meaningful to us. Here we are, we interpret God to be demanding, we look upon it as an imposition to have to meet up with all these requirements, and He extends to us those waves of mercy. He reaches us where we are in this deplorable condition that won’t submit to all of God’s ways because we think it’s an imposition; He looks at us and He loves us; and as we beat off those waves of mercy, as we keep on whimpering and complaining about our hard lot, it hurts him. It is an indictment to God to murmur and complain; we think we can’t be saved, and we hurt Him. And with all these kinds of things and our feelings of “I can’t anymore!” He is being beaten back; but He ever returns in a stronger tide of love. This is for us to open our hearts to; and then it is a constraining, impelling power as I look at Him like that. He provides the wherewithal.

God’s Provision for Sinners

God can work through young, humble men. Let none forbid them. Let the young, devoted followers of Christ say, “The love of Christ constraineth me.” Moving upon minds with the force of the grace of Christ, this love casts aside all hindrances and barriers, exerting upon souls a compelling influence that leads them to give themselves to God in unreserved consecration. {RY 49.1}

What does He expect of us? Unreserved consecration. He expects of us total surrender. And here He has provided it. The love of Christ moving upon my mind with the force of the grace of Christ will cast aside all hindrances. Everything that is expected of me and that I cannot achieve because I am hindered by my own incapacities; that is all cast aside. The love compels and constrains me as I meditate upon it. This is why it is so important that we don’t just look at Christ hanging on the cross with the thorns on His head and the nails in His hands, but that we actually see what He was suffering under – the very thing I am suffering in my weakness. He died with that. And that is much deeper than just the physical suffering of Christ.

The love of God moves upon the mind with the force of the grace of Christ, and this love casts aside all hindrances and barriers. So whatever hindrances and barriers come up in my mind, such as, “Well, I can’t be like that, I can’t do this; look at me, I’ve got such a bad nature, such a bad inheritance from my parents… I’ve got all this, I’ve got all that.” These are all hindrances, but the love of God in Christ moving upon my mind, casts all these aside. This is how it works.

The heart that is touched by the infinite love that is manifested to the soul, comes to the point where it says, “Alright, God, what do You require of me? Just tell me. Anything. Whatever You want I will do,” because the love has actually cast aside all those hindrances. And as we ask this question, He gives us the answer in Micah: to do justly (that embraces all the justice of God’s commandments), to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. He covers everything in those three statements. The heart that has been touched by Christ’s love says openly to Him, “Show me;” and here it is; God is telling us.

When you read it aside from the love of Christ, the sensation is, “Oh… requirement? demand? He wants my all? He wants everything? He demands that? Argh…” But when you look at it from the love, it is not seen as a demand or a requirement. It is seen as an impetus within me that I want to follow that and do it under all circumstances.

Two Sides of the Human Coin

How do you feel about yourself? What effect has your past had upon you? Do you have a low opinion of yourself? Do you think, “Well, I’ve always been put down, so I’m never going to make it anyway”? Do you seek to boost up your morale by looking for approval? Don’t we as children do that? I am being put down, therefore I look for approval, and I am striving so hard to make everybody happy around me. Have you ever gone through that experience? This is one side of the coin.

The other side of the coin is, I have a high opinion of myself; I’m pretty successful, I have the ability to do this and that. You have the two sides of this experience. You have the Pharisee, who goes about displaying his capability, or the preacher who will say, Amen? They want approval. Or they don’t need approval, “I’ve got it all; I’m telling you the facts.” All these kinds of things are so natural to the human being.

Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

Or Pastor, or Reverend such and such; they like to be called those kinds of things. All this is the condition of the natural man; and in our efforts to make ourselves feel good we will be prone to display the fallen nature that is within, and it will ever have an increasing result; I will always be expressing myself from the nature within that wants recognition, that wants to be impressive to others, whether in a proud way, or by putting myself down – either the negative or the positive.

Envy and Pride

James 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

This is where envy comes from. Someone is getting a better treatment than me – I’m envious. Someone is better than me – I’m envious. It is the spirit within us that lusteth to envy. This is why James says, Do you think the Scripture says this for nothing? I have to understand what is inside of me, the natural fallen nature, that is going to deepen the result of this; and it is going to be like a dog chasing its tail; it gets more and more intense.

Matthew 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

The deepening impact of my human nature that lusteth in envy is a direct contradiction to what is written here. He who will exalt himself is only going to be put down. So the more we feel like exerting ourselves, the more we get put down; and this is what the human race is suffering under. Ultimately everyone is going to be crushed; all the pride will to be put down.

The proud heart strives to earn salvation; {FLB 136.5}

This is the pride. This is what the Bible is speaking about all the time. You can’t do it by works, because that is pride. The natural man is going to try and earn salvation by trying to do the things that God requires of us. It’s the twist of the whole thing.

…but both our title to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord can do nothing toward the recovery of man until, convinced of his own weakness, and stripped of all self-sufficiency, he yields himself to the control of God. Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. He has unrestricted access to Him in whom all fullness dwells. {FLB 136.5}

Unrestricted access – here is the answer to the perplexities that every Christian meets. He is trying to reach the standard of God, and it’s a burden, it’s a suffering, and there is a screaming within that says, It’s too hard, I can’t anymore! But what is missing? Why is this the case? It is because I am not seeing the love; I am not seeing my condition in connection with the love of God. He loves me in my condition. And as I am striving to reach that expectation, God is going to strip me of all self-sufficiency and bring me to the point of yielding to the control of God. This is what He is doing.

Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. {FLB 136.5}

Only when we feel our true condition and we realise how weak I really am and I see the love of God and surrender myself to the fact that He has taken my case in hand Himself, is there unrestricted access to Him. This is the linkage. He has provided the way to reach to that standard.

Grace to the Humble

When we feel of low self-esteem how does God meet us? I see myself as incapable and instead of murmuring and complaining I look to Jesus and His love; and how does He meet me when I truly fall into this surrendered condition?

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. … 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

You don’t have to lift yourself up. You don’t have to do something to achieve God’s requirements. You don’t have to do anything to make a burden out of this. Look at Jesus, and then He will lift you up. He now gives me joy to do what He requires. Can you see what the word of God is trying to get across to us? Next time you go into that negative, remember this message. This is so important that we actually realise that I am going through something that Jesus went through. “Oh, wow, of course; Jesus went through it.” And straight away you have an internal strength. This is what happened to me, and I know it to be true. I was lying there at one o’clock in the morning, totally bereft of any hope; no hope at all, just absolutely lost. Every thought pattern that went through my mind was, You’re lost, you’re lost…And it got me by the throat, my brain cramped up, and the sweet voice said, When you preached to others that were in the situation that you are in right now, what did you tell them? What did I tell them?? My mind started scrambling. What did I tell them, Lord?? Oh! Then He reminded me, Remember such and such a situation? What did you show them there? “Oh, they’re in Gethsemane! Jesus is in Gethsemane with them. Oh! Jesus suffered there the sins of us all, and it’s the thing that I am suffering under right now. Oh!” It just breaks it immediately. The love of Christ constrained me and gave me hope, in that very hopeless situation when it was right down to the hopelessness of hopelessness, that Jesus was there beside me. It just breaks it straight away. It breaks down all hindrances. And it was a total release, Oh, yes; I want to serve Him without any holding back at all. You love Him, and this love constrains you. So He lifts you up; He provides through the beauty of God’s word.

This is simply the way that His Spirit works upon our hearts – when I am broken, when I am in a state of discovery of my totally undone condition right down to the last dregs of my hopelessness, there is our hope, there is the promise of Jesus:

Matthew 5:3 Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When I am all broken. So when God requires that you walk humbly with your God, can you see what He provides to make us come to that? He actually provides for us to walk humbly with Him. To actually feel my totally depraved condition and see Jesus there, it breaks the power; and we will surrender all to God.

Growth in Grace

Let us explore how this thing actually works in living practice inside of me.

Growth in grace will not lead you to be proud, self-confident, and boastful, but will make you more conscious of your own nothingness, of your entire dependence upon the Lord. {ML 104.3}

This is how it works. The grace will not make you feel, “Now I’ve got it; now I feel good, I feel great now.” No; it will make you feel more conscious of your nothingness and your entire dependence upon the Lord.

He who is growing in grace will be ever reaching heavenward, obtaining clear views of the fullness of the provisions of the gospel. {ML 104.3}

And that is when you feel the greatest, the more completely fulfilled: when you know how wretched you are, and the Lord lifts you up. The Lord lifts you up; not you. This is what the Lord did when He showed me Gethsemane. The Lord lifted me up, and I was relieved, there was nothing that burdened me anymore. It was all gone because of that. Grace will do that. This is how it works. This is the workability of how God inspires me to will and to do of His good will.

All who have a sense [not just an intellectual knowledge] of their deep soul poverty, who feel that they have nothing good in themselves, may find righteousness and strength by looking unto Jesus. {FLB 136.2}

They will find it.

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17. Man must be emptied of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus. When self is renounced, then the Lord can make man a new creature. {FLB 136.3}

When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, he can pursue no course so noble as to repent sincerely, and confess his errors in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him; {FLB 136.4}

What is the requirement? To just melt down in bitterness for my undone condition. This God requires of him;

He accepts nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit.{FLB 136.4}

We don’t have to justify ourselves anymore. When someone points out to you, You are like that; Yes, I am like that, that’s me, but I praise God…. This is exactly what the Spirit of Prophecy says. When the devil comes to you and says, “You are lost, you are hopeless, you are sinful; you can tell him, Yes, that’s right, I am; but I have my Lord and Saviour who met  me in my experience, and He is lifting me up. So you can say whatever you like against me, it matters not.” We never have to defend ourselves anymore. It is a beautiful breaking into all those human entanglements that create so much friction and problems within human relationships. It takes it right away; there is nothing left. They can say whatever they like; it makes no difference. And it is not because you are blasé; it is because whatever they say you acknowledge: Yes, that’s right, but Jesus loves me in spite of that.

So when you are put down, it doesn’t matter. And you are going to be put down; we are going to be put down. But when I am being put down, I am invincible if I am hiding in Christ like this.

Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on the merits of the Saviour. By prayer, by the study of His word, by faith in His abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that will never let go. {MH 182.1}

The truth as it is in Jesus does much for the receiver, and not only for him, but for all who are brought within the sphere of his influence. {5T 569.1}

When we have to stand in the courts, it is by the truth as it is in Jesus that we will be influencing them.

The truly converted soul is illuminated from on high, and Christ is in that soul “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” His words, his motives, his actions, may be misinterpreted and falsified; but he does not mind it because he has greater interests at stake.{5T 569.1}

If you are being misinterpreted, do you mind? Or do you feel hurt “because I’m not being understood”? These are all the issues that come into focus here. I am truly seeing myself, and the truth as it is in Jesus is that He took me in my undone condition and died with that, and this lifts me up. Once you are lifted up like that, as soon as something negative strikes you, your mind drifts back into that amazing discovery of Gethsemane with you, and nothing can touch you. And if you forget it, the Lord just has to sometimes send you a little reminder, like He sent me that magpie. As I was despairing, the magpie started to call me, Look up! You forgot, didn’t you? I’ll never forget the impact that this made on me.

He does not consider present convenience; he is not ambitious for display; he does not crave the praise of men. His hope is in heaven, and he keeps straight on, with his eye fixed on Jesus. He does right because it is right, and because only those who do right will have an entrance into the kingdom of God. He is kind and humble, and thoughtful of others’ happiness. He never says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” but he loves his neighbor as himself. His manner is not harsh and dictatorial, like that of the godless; but he reflects light from heaven upon men. He is a true, bold soldier of the cross of Christ, holding forth the word of life. As he gains in influence, prejudice against him dies away, his piety is acknowledged, and his Bible principles are respected.{5T 569.1}

This is the effect. God provides it. We reach the high standard by the provisions of God. God requires something only after He has provided the source of the requirement; and He has provided it through Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for His wonderful truth.

Amen.

(Illustration by Good News Productions, used under CC BY)