Peter Writes His Last Letter Remembering the Transfigurationby emmanuel_higgins
1:152 Peter 1:15
Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
Peter, while still in his tabernacle and knowing he must shortly put it off as the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him, strove to make provision that believers would have his teaching always in remembrance after his decease. Though they already knew these things and were established in the present truth, he counted it right to stir them up by putting them in remembrance, repeating the evidences of the Word and words of caution for their fitting for immortality. What was to be kept in mind was the instruction of the first chapter of Second Peter, God's prescribed plan of addition — adding to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. By cooperating with Christ in this growth in grace, supplied through knowledge of Him and His promises, believers become partakers of the divine nature and overcome the corruption in the world through lust. Remembering and doing these things day by day is the remedy for spiritual weakness and the way to victory, securing them from falling and giving them an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom.
Peter's Situation and Intent
Peter wrote while still in his tabernacle, knowing that shortly he must put it off even as the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him. Though those he addressed knew these things and were established in the present truth, he counted it right while still in the tabernacle to stir them up by putting them in remembrance. The verse belongs with 2 Peter 1:1-14 as one section for consideration and stands as its closing verse.
The verse expresses his striving, labor, and endeavor to make provision that believers would keep his teaching and reminders in mind and have them always in remembrance after his decease and death. He worked deliberately to secure remembrance of the truths he had taught beyond his own lifetime, helping believers keep the teachings of the chapter in remembrance after he was gone. That endeavor included repeating the evidences of the Word and giving words of caution.
Such repetition is not to be found offensive but to be recognized as needed and to be had, because believers are fitting for immortality and for the glory to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It calls for carefulness at every step not to give offense to Jesus Christ, who bought them with the price of His own blood. He had full confidence that believers would carry out the principles he presented, and he promised to keep these things before their minds and help their memories so they would always remember them.
Things to Be Remembered
The things to be kept always in remembrance are the instruction given in the first chapter of Second Peter, its practical godliness to be read, heeded, and practiced day by day. Those words are to be fixed in mind and heart and read in the churches and allowed to fill heart and mind, giving comfort and encouragement to all who have obtained like precious faith and strength to resist looking on the dark side and talking discouragement. Keeping them before the mind as what concerns eternal welfare calls for vigilance and carefulness in daily life, avoidance of foolishness and idle speech, diligence to make calling and election sure by heeding God's Word, and earnest effort pledged to do that work. Doing them brings the grace of Christ, with Christ working on the plan of multiplication to fulfill its requirements, securing the eternal life insurance made possible through His grace, making victors at last through obedience to the law of God, and fitting souls as soldiers of the cross under Christ the Captain of salvation to help others to the safe platform of Bible truth.
Those things are God's prescribed plan of addition, adding grace to grace, with its promises and call to follow on to know the Lord. Advancement comes by working daily on that plan, adding to the store of the knowledge of God and of Christ, while God works on the plan of multiplication, and gaining a knowledge of the Bible in this way stores up treasures to impart so these things stay always in remembrance. This requires that angels are on the ground with believers, that the impression of the Holy Spirit come to the human heart and be accepted, that believers have a heart that understands these eternal-life principles, and that they work to that point every day. Keeping them in remembrance by laying hold on the Word of God as one's own brings an immortal promise of heaven and eternal life.
They include the truths of the present faith concerning the power and coming of Jesus Christ, which were not cleverly devised fables but eyewitness testimony of His majesty, honor, and glory received from God the Father at the holy mount. There the voice came from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, which voice from heaven was heard with Him in the holy mount, joined to the more sure word of prophecy to be heeded as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in hearts. Today the voice of heaven still comes to souls striving for victory over sin, that they take hold of the rich promises of the Word and plead for power. With that testimony belongs the practical life of godliness and the need to keep growing in grace, which Peter deliberately sought to secure in remembrance beyond his own lifetime and after his death.
They include becoming partakers of the divine nature and overcoming the world's corruption through lust. All are to become partakers through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and even the very simplest can take hold of that nature because Christ gave His life to buy them with the precious blood of the Son of God. God will not leave believers to drift with temptation, yet He does nothing without cooperation and will not force anyone to drink of the water of life. Whoever stands in Christ and determines to become all God intended can become as precious in God's sight as Daniel was, beloved of God, and, complete in Christ, be counted an heir of God and joint heir with Christ to the immortal inheritance.
Growth in Grace Described
Christian character is to be pursued through cooperation with Christ, with faith developed by adding virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Sanctification is real growth in grace and character by accepting God's promises by faith, developing those listed qualities through steady effort, and becoming fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus. God supplies all that is needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ and His promises, multiplying grace and peace as believers add grace to grace. That advancement comes by working daily on the plan of addition, adding to the store of the knowledge of God and of Christ, while God works on the plan of multiplication. Gaining a knowledge of the Bible stores up treasures to impart so these things stay always in remembrance.
This instruction is a remedy for spiritual weakness, calling believers to grow in grace and godliness, draw upon God's promises, and escape the world's corruption through lust. It is the way to victory over evil and growth in the knowledge of Jesus, calling for conversion and genuine Christian experience, with faith that works through love and purifies the soul. It strikes the keynote of victory by teaching the weak to understand their weakness, go to God for strength, and make Christ their all in all, so they can stand against contaminating influences. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness with heart, mind, soul, and strength molds the entire character after the similitude of Christ, makes believers one with the Saviour and partakers of the divine nature, builds them into a holy temple for the Lord, and causes light to shine to church and world.
Those who lack these qualities are blind to their cleansing from past sins. Disobedience leaves people unfit for citizenship in God's kingdom. Remembering and doing these things day by day on God's prescribed plan of addition secures preparation for heaven and fitness for the heavenly kingdom. Believers are urged to make calling and election sure, with the promise that they will never fall and will have abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom, so that losing heaven means losing everything and truth must be known on every point. God elects those who work on this plan of addition, while Christ has paid the election price for every person, so all are redeemed and those who receive Christ as personal Saviour are given power to become God's children.
Keeping these things in remembrance by laying hold on the Word as one's own brings an immortal promise of heaven and eternal life. That everlasting promise belongs to those who continue to know the Lord, cooperate with God, keep striving to overcome, and receive increasing light throughout life even if death comes suddenly. God will not leave believers to drift with temptation, yet He does nothing without cooperation and will not force anyone to drink of the water of life. Whoever stands in Christ and determines to become all God intended can become as beloved of God as Daniel was and, complete in Christ, be counted an heir of God and joint heir with Christ to the immortal inheritance. The impression of the Holy Spirit must come to the human heart and be accepted with an understanding heart, with angels present with believers as they work at these eternal-life principles of adding grace to grace every day.
Witness Prophecy and Doctrine
The things to be held always in remembrance include the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which were not cleverly devised fables but eyewitness testimony of His majesty, and the honor and glory He received from God the Father when the voice came from the excellent glory declaring Him the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased, which voice from heaven was heard with Him in the holy mount. They include the more sure word of prophecy to be heeded as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the day-star arises in hearts. Today that voice of heaven still comes to souls striving for victory over sin, calling them to take hold of the rich promises of the Word and to plead for power.
The chapter presents Jesus Christ as the only hope and complete dependence of believers. To Him they are to come with little trials and large perplexities and tell them all, believing He will be helper and strength and sympathizing Friend, for He is touched with the feeling of infirmities and in the Lord Jehovah is strength. That dependence is confessed by erecting the family altar in every home with morning and evening petitions, bringing the whole family before God in recognition of dependence upon Him and the claims of His service, setting eternal reality before every member, making requests known unto God and asking His guidance, and thus confessing Christ as Leader, Captain, and divine Teacher.
Practical godliness kept in constant memory means presenting neither law alone nor gospel alone, since one is incomplete without the other. The law is God's great moral standard of righteousness, holy, unalterable, unchangeable and eternal, spoken by Christ Himself in awful grandeur from Mount Sinai. The gospel is Christ dying on the cross of Calvary as substitute and surety, taking human sins to impute His righteousness and cleanse by His blood. The goodness and love of God lead to repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, while the law convicts of sin, shows sinfulness, and draws the sinner to Christ, and Christ then brings the sinner back to allegiance to the holy law. Law without faith in the gospel cannot save, and gospel without law is inefficient and powerless, but the two blended produce love and faith unfeigned. The first chapter of Second Peter to which the verse belongs is connected with the first chapter of First Peter as teaching on the truth and its effect on those who receive it.
Living Out Remembrance
The truths of the chapter are given for encouragement and are to be grasped by faith, studied more abundantly, read carefully, and allowed to practice its precepts for victory over evil and growth in the knowledge of Jesus Christ unto conversion and genuine Christian experience with faith that works by love and purifies the soul. They are to be kept always in remembrance by reading them in the churches and letting them fill heart and mind, with truth forced impressively upon the mind by the way it is presented. Christians are urged to read and practice this counsel with watchfulness and prayer as instruction showing what they may become when they hear and obey.
They are to be carried into religious life and kept in mind as a guide for life, building character by adding grace to grace while God multiplies grace and peace, taking no backward steps but advancing in knowing the Lord with rejoicing. They give comfort and encouragement to all who have obtained like precious faith, and give strength to resist every temptation to look on the dark side of circumstances and to talk discouragement.
Keeping them calls for vigilance and carefulness in daily life at every step, avoiding foolishness and idle speech, and being diligent to make calling and election sure by heeding God's Word. Peter's repeating the evidences of the Word and giving words of caution to keep the truth in remembrance after his death should not offend, for that constant reminding is needed and must be had in fitting for immortality and for the glory to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a charge from the opening of the chapter to its close to be read and heeded by every person to bring himself into order and to walk carefully before God to honor and fear Him and glorify His holy name, not giving offense to Jesus Christ who bought believers with the price of His own blood, a message given when the Lord was not pleased with the course pursued the last ten years amid perversities among professed people and the working out of hostile plans in Australia and in America for twenty years that had to be met.
The mind is to be thoroughly cultivated, forbidding no aspirations or enterprises that pure religion sanctions, and those who take the name of Christian are to obey this instruction in order to honor that name and will be richly blessed for doing so. Salvation hinges on obedience to God's requirements, so essential truths must be kept in mind and heeded, Bible truth followed carefully and continued in unto knowing the Lord, and the teaching that leads to eternal life studied and remembered through diligent growth in grace as the way to obtain the everlasting kingdom. The truth must be known on every point, for losing heaven means losing everything.
The chapter contains valuable instruction for every worker and presents everlasting life as a privilege to secure, setting forth the experiences that fit men and women to become efficient workers for God, so those who offer themselves for service should study it to be directed to work they can do and become adapted to the work. Its instruction strikes the keynote of victory for students pursuing an education concerning their privileges and opportunities to increase in knowledge and in grace unto perfection of Christian character. It teaches them to understand their own weakness, go to God for strength, and make Christ their all in all while they study, so they do not lose all that enriches life and can stand nobly against contaminating influences.
It should be taught in schools and churches, with God's people taught pure truth free from error, fables, and fanaticism, and their minds directed to the truths that concern salvation. It is to be studied verse by verse and heeded as a caution, with the mind impressed to show right relation to God's work in sanitariums and toward those connected with that work, leading to seeking the Lord and walking in all humility of mind before Him. Keeping the truth in remembrance means acting upon light and evidence received, giving the Lord the service of the whole mind and heart with every capability called into use. Spoken as decided testimony it brings earnest prayer, makes a break in hesitation, moves souls to come forward and to decision and advance movement, leads those long on the point of decision to take their position to keep the Sabbath, and gains a decided advance victory that requires immediate action to build.
Christ is the only hope and sole dependence, to whom believers are to come with little trials and large perplexities and tell them all to Jesus, believing He will be helper, strength, and sympathizing Friend touched with the feeling of infirmities, for in the Lord Jehovah is strength. In that dependence the family altar should be erected in every home with morning and evening petitions to God, the whole family brought before God in recognition of dependence upon Him and the claims of His service, eternal reality brought to the view of every member, and making request known unto God and asking His guidance confessing Christ as Leader, Captain, and divine Teacher. Words spoken from the Word are to govern life after the speaker is gone, for God has given power and influence in Jesus Christ which believers are to express for Christ's sake, offering praise and glory to God and measuring their experience according to those spoken words.
Because the world is fast ripening for the closing up of its history, great and earnest work is called for, and those truly serving the Lord Jesus will be a holy, sanctified people, communicating the light of truth to all around them not only in their households but outside them to those not in the faith. They present the truth in the most earnest manner by offering books that give the right idea of the faith and, where books are refused, by kind and tender conversation speaking of and out of the Scriptures. The chapter is a marked guide for Christian life in which God's Word is to be carried out, with righteousness coming from God and Jesus Christ, shown in Christ's character, in different people expressing their individuality under the Holy Spirit's control, and in treating one another kindly so that differences do not cause friction.
Peter, while still in his tabernacle and knowing he must shortly put it off as the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him, strove to make provision that believers would have his teaching always in remembrance after his decease. Though they already knew these things and were established in the present truth, he counted it right to stir them up by putting them in remembrance, repeating the evidences of the Word and words of caution for their fitting for immortality. What was to be kept in mind was the instruction of the first chapter of Second Peter, God's prescribed plan of addition — adding to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. By cooperating with Christ in this growth in grace, supplied through knowledge of Him and His promises, believers become partakers of the divine nature and overcome the corruption in the world through lust. Remembering and doing these things day by day is the remedy for spiritual weakness and the way to victory, securing them from falling and giving them an abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom.
Peter's Situation and Intent
Peter wrote while still in his tabernacle, knowing that shortly he must put it off even as the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him. Though those he addressed knew these things and were established in the present truth, he counted it right while still in the tabernacle to stir them up by putting them in remembrance. The verse belongs with 2 Peter 1:1-14 as one section for consideration and stands as its closing verse.
The verse expresses his striving, labor, and endeavor to make provision that believers would keep his teaching and reminders in mind and have them always in remembrance after his decease and death. He worked deliberately to secure remembrance of the truths he had taught beyond his own lifetime, helping believers keep the teachings of the chapter in remembrance after he was gone. That endeavor included repeating the evidences of the Word and giving words of caution.
Such repetition is not to be found offensive but to be recognized as needed and to be had, because believers are fitting for immortality and for the glory to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It calls for carefulness at every step not to give offense to Jesus Christ, who bought them with the price of His own blood. He had full confidence that believers would carry out the principles he presented, and he promised to keep these things before their minds and help their memories so they would always remember them.
Things to Be Remembered
The things to be kept always in remembrance are the instruction given in the first chapter of Second Peter, its practical godliness to be read, heeded, and practiced day by day. Those words are to be fixed in mind and heart and read in the churches and allowed to fill heart and mind, giving comfort and encouragement to all who have obtained like precious faith and strength to resist looking on the dark side and talking discouragement. Keeping them before the mind as what concerns eternal welfare calls for vigilance and carefulness in daily life, avoidance of foolishness and idle speech, diligence to make calling and election sure by heeding God's Word, and earnest effort pledged to do that work. Doing them brings the grace of Christ, with Christ working on the plan of multiplication to fulfill its requirements, securing the eternal life insurance made possible through His grace, making victors at last through obedience to the law of God, and fitting souls as soldiers of the cross under Christ the Captain of salvation to help others to the safe platform of Bible truth.
Those things are God's prescribed plan of addition, adding grace to grace, with its promises and call to follow on to know the Lord. Advancement comes by working daily on that plan, adding to the store of the knowledge of God and of Christ, while God works on the plan of multiplication, and gaining a knowledge of the Bible in this way stores up treasures to impart so these things stay always in remembrance. This requires that angels are on the ground with believers, that the impression of the Holy Spirit come to the human heart and be accepted, that believers have a heart that understands these eternal-life principles, and that they work to that point every day. Keeping them in remembrance by laying hold on the Word of God as one's own brings an immortal promise of heaven and eternal life.
They include the truths of the present faith concerning the power and coming of Jesus Christ, which were not cleverly devised fables but eyewitness testimony of His majesty, honor, and glory received from God the Father at the holy mount. There the voice came from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, which voice from heaven was heard with Him in the holy mount, joined to the more sure word of prophecy to be heeded as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in hearts. Today the voice of heaven still comes to souls striving for victory over sin, that they take hold of the rich promises of the Word and plead for power. With that testimony belongs the practical life of godliness and the need to keep growing in grace, which Peter deliberately sought to secure in remembrance beyond his own lifetime and after his death.
They include becoming partakers of the divine nature and overcoming the world's corruption through lust. All are to become partakers through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and even the very simplest can take hold of that nature because Christ gave His life to buy them with the precious blood of the Son of God. God will not leave believers to drift with temptation, yet He does nothing without cooperation and will not force anyone to drink of the water of life. Whoever stands in Christ and determines to become all God intended can become as precious in God's sight as Daniel was, beloved of God, and, complete in Christ, be counted an heir of God and joint heir with Christ to the immortal inheritance.
Growth in Grace Described
Christian character is to be pursued through cooperation with Christ, with faith developed by adding virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Sanctification is real growth in grace and character by accepting God's promises by faith, developing those listed qualities through steady effort, and becoming fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus. God supplies all that is needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ and His promises, multiplying grace and peace as believers add grace to grace. That advancement comes by working daily on the plan of addition, adding to the store of the knowledge of God and of Christ, while God works on the plan of multiplication. Gaining a knowledge of the Bible stores up treasures to impart so these things stay always in remembrance.
This instruction is a remedy for spiritual weakness, calling believers to grow in grace and godliness, draw upon God's promises, and escape the world's corruption through lust. It is the way to victory over evil and growth in the knowledge of Jesus, calling for conversion and genuine Christian experience, with faith that works through love and purifies the soul. It strikes the keynote of victory by teaching the weak to understand their weakness, go to God for strength, and make Christ their all in all, so they can stand against contaminating influences. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness with heart, mind, soul, and strength molds the entire character after the similitude of Christ, makes believers one with the Saviour and partakers of the divine nature, builds them into a holy temple for the Lord, and causes light to shine to church and world.
Those who lack these qualities are blind to their cleansing from past sins. Disobedience leaves people unfit for citizenship in God's kingdom. Remembering and doing these things day by day on God's prescribed plan of addition secures preparation for heaven and fitness for the heavenly kingdom. Believers are urged to make calling and election sure, with the promise that they will never fall and will have abundant entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom, so that losing heaven means losing everything and truth must be known on every point. God elects those who work on this plan of addition, while Christ has paid the election price for every person, so all are redeemed and those who receive Christ as personal Saviour are given power to become God's children.
Keeping these things in remembrance by laying hold on the Word as one's own brings an immortal promise of heaven and eternal life. That everlasting promise belongs to those who continue to know the Lord, cooperate with God, keep striving to overcome, and receive increasing light throughout life even if death comes suddenly. God will not leave believers to drift with temptation, yet He does nothing without cooperation and will not force anyone to drink of the water of life. Whoever stands in Christ and determines to become all God intended can become as beloved of God as Daniel was and, complete in Christ, be counted an heir of God and joint heir with Christ to the immortal inheritance. The impression of the Holy Spirit must come to the human heart and be accepted with an understanding heart, with angels present with believers as they work at these eternal-life principles of adding grace to grace every day.
Witness Prophecy and Doctrine
The things to be held always in remembrance include the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which were not cleverly devised fables but eyewitness testimony of His majesty, and the honor and glory He received from God the Father when the voice came from the excellent glory declaring Him the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased, which voice from heaven was heard with Him in the holy mount. They include the more sure word of prophecy to be heeded as a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the day-star arises in hearts. Today that voice of heaven still comes to souls striving for victory over sin, calling them to take hold of the rich promises of the Word and to plead for power.
The chapter presents Jesus Christ as the only hope and complete dependence of believers. To Him they are to come with little trials and large perplexities and tell them all, believing He will be helper and strength and sympathizing Friend, for He is touched with the feeling of infirmities and in the Lord Jehovah is strength. That dependence is confessed by erecting the family altar in every home with morning and evening petitions, bringing the whole family before God in recognition of dependence upon Him and the claims of His service, setting eternal reality before every member, making requests known unto God and asking His guidance, and thus confessing Christ as Leader, Captain, and divine Teacher.
Practical godliness kept in constant memory means presenting neither law alone nor gospel alone, since one is incomplete without the other. The law is God's great moral standard of righteousness, holy, unalterable, unchangeable and eternal, spoken by Christ Himself in awful grandeur from Mount Sinai. The gospel is Christ dying on the cross of Calvary as substitute and surety, taking human sins to impute His righteousness and cleanse by His blood. The goodness and love of God lead to repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, while the law convicts of sin, shows sinfulness, and draws the sinner to Christ, and Christ then brings the sinner back to allegiance to the holy law. Law without faith in the gospel cannot save, and gospel without law is inefficient and powerless, but the two blended produce love and faith unfeigned. The first chapter of Second Peter to which the verse belongs is connected with the first chapter of First Peter as teaching on the truth and its effect on those who receive it.
Living Out Remembrance
The truths of the chapter are given for encouragement and are to be grasped by faith, studied more abundantly, read carefully, and allowed to practice its precepts for victory over evil and growth in the knowledge of Jesus Christ unto conversion and genuine Christian experience with faith that works by love and purifies the soul. They are to be kept always in remembrance by reading them in the churches and letting them fill heart and mind, with truth forced impressively upon the mind by the way it is presented. Christians are urged to read and practice this counsel with watchfulness and prayer as instruction showing what they may become when they hear and obey.
They are to be carried into religious life and kept in mind as a guide for life, building character by adding grace to grace while God multiplies grace and peace, taking no backward steps but advancing in knowing the Lord with rejoicing. They give comfort and encouragement to all who have obtained like precious faith, and give strength to resist every temptation to look on the dark side of circumstances and to talk discouragement.
Keeping them calls for vigilance and carefulness in daily life at every step, avoiding foolishness and idle speech, and being diligent to make calling and election sure by heeding God's Word. Peter's repeating the evidences of the Word and giving words of caution to keep the truth in remembrance after his death should not offend, for that constant reminding is needed and must be had in fitting for immortality and for the glory to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a charge from the opening of the chapter to its close to be read and heeded by every person to bring himself into order and to walk carefully before God to honor and fear Him and glorify His holy name, not giving offense to Jesus Christ who bought believers with the price of His own blood, a message given when the Lord was not pleased with the course pursued the last ten years amid perversities among professed people and the working out of hostile plans in Australia and in America for twenty years that had to be met.
The mind is to be thoroughly cultivated, forbidding no aspirations or enterprises that pure religion sanctions, and those who take the name of Christian are to obey this instruction in order to honor that name and will be richly blessed for doing so. Salvation hinges on obedience to God's requirements, so essential truths must be kept in mind and heeded, Bible truth followed carefully and continued in unto knowing the Lord, and the teaching that leads to eternal life studied and remembered through diligent growth in grace as the way to obtain the everlasting kingdom. The truth must be known on every point, for losing heaven means losing everything.
The chapter contains valuable instruction for every worker and presents everlasting life as a privilege to secure, setting forth the experiences that fit men and women to become efficient workers for God, so those who offer themselves for service should study it to be directed to work they can do and become adapted to the work. Its instruction strikes the keynote of victory for students pursuing an education concerning their privileges and opportunities to increase in knowledge and in grace unto perfection of Christian character. It teaches them to understand their own weakness, go to God for strength, and make Christ their all in all while they study, so they do not lose all that enriches life and can stand nobly against contaminating influences.
It should be taught in schools and churches, with God's people taught pure truth free from error, fables, and fanaticism, and their minds directed to the truths that concern salvation. It is to be studied verse by verse and heeded as a caution, with the mind impressed to show right relation to God's work in sanitariums and toward those connected with that work, leading to seeking the Lord and walking in all humility of mind before Him. Keeping the truth in remembrance means acting upon light and evidence received, giving the Lord the service of the whole mind and heart with every capability called into use. Spoken as decided testimony it brings earnest prayer, makes a break in hesitation, moves souls to come forward and to decision and advance movement, leads those long on the point of decision to take their position to keep the Sabbath, and gains a decided advance victory that requires immediate action to build.
Christ is the only hope and sole dependence, to whom believers are to come with little trials and large perplexities and tell them all to Jesus, believing He will be helper, strength, and sympathizing Friend touched with the feeling of infirmities, for in the Lord Jehovah is strength. In that dependence the family altar should be erected in every home with morning and evening petitions to God, the whole family brought before God in recognition of dependence upon Him and the claims of His service, eternal reality brought to the view of every member, and making request known unto God and asking His guidance confessing Christ as Leader, Captain, and divine Teacher. Words spoken from the Word are to govern life after the speaker is gone, for God has given power and influence in Jesus Christ which believers are to express for Christ's sake, offering praise and glory to God and measuring their experience according to those spoken words.
Because the world is fast ripening for the closing up of its history, great and earnest work is called for, and those truly serving the Lord Jesus will be a holy, sanctified people, communicating the light of truth to all around them not only in their households but outside them to those not in the faith. They present the truth in the most earnest manner by offering books that give the right idea of the faith and, where books are refused, by kind and tender conversation speaking of and out of the Scriptures. The chapter is a marked guide for Christian life in which God's Word is to be carried out, with righteousness coming from God and Jesus Christ, shown in Christ's character, in different people expressing their individuality under the Holy Spirit's control, and in treating one another kindly so that differences do not cause friction.