Selected Messages Book 3

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Not Until This Vile Body Is Changed

We must establish an unyielding enmity between our souls and our foe; but we must open our hearts to the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.... We want to become so sensitive to holy influences, that the lightest whisper of Jesus will move our souls, till He is in us, and we in Him, living by the faith of the Son of God. 3SM 355.1

We need to be refined, cleansed from all earthliness, till we reflect the image of our Saviour, and become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Then we shall delight to do the will of God, and Christ can own us before the Father and before the holy angels as those who abide in Him, and He will not be ashamed to call us brethren. 3SM 355.2

But we shall not boast of our holiness. As we have clearer views of Christ's spotlessness and infinite purity, we shall feel as did Daniel, when he beheld the glory of the Lord, and said, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption.” 3SM 355.3

We cannot say, “I am sinless,” till this vile body is changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body. But if we constantly seek to follow Jesus, the blessed hope is ours of standing before the throne of God without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; complete in Christ, robed in His righteousness and perfection.—The Signs of the Times, March 23, 1888. 3SM 355.4