Sunday
January 24
1. CHRIST IN YOU
a. What miracle, wrought by the gospel, is called a mystery? Mark 4:3, 8, 11; John 1:12, 13; 3:3–8; 2:20.
“Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God. This change is in itself the miracle of miracles.”—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 476.
“As the will of man cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333.
b. What experience must we obtain in order to have the power of God manifested in our own life? 2 Corinthians 5:17; 13:4.
“When those who profess to serve God follow Christ’s example, practicing the principles of the law in their daily life; when every act bears witness that they love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves, then will the church have power to move the world.”—Ibid., p. 340.
Monday
January 25
2. RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE TRUTH
a. For what must we spiritually wrestle and pray? 1 Timothy 4:16; 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 John 2:5, 6.
“Christ rejoiced that He could do more for His followers than they could ask or think. He spoke with assurance, knowing that an almighty decree had been given before the world was made. He knew that truth, armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil; and that the bloodstained banner would wave triumphantly over His followers. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 679.
b. What warning did Christ give God’s professed people in His day? What did they fail to see in their search of the Scriptures? Mark 12:24.
“The Sadducees had flattered themselves that they of all men adhered most strictly to the Scriptures. But Jesus showed that they had not known their true meaning. That knowledge must be brought home to the heart by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Their ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God He declared to be the cause of their confusion of faith and darkness of mind. They were seeking to bring the mysteries of God within the compass of their finite reasoning. Christ called upon them to open their minds to those sacred truths that would broaden and strengthen the understanding.”—Ibid., pp. 605, 606.
“The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. In all human experience a theoretical knowledge of the truth has been proved to be insufficient for the saving of the soul. It does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness. A jealous regard for what is termed theological truth often accompanies a hatred of genuine truth as made manifest in life. The darkest chapters of history are burdened with the record of crimes committed by bigoted religionists. The Pharisees claimed to be children of Abraham, and boasted of their possession of the oracles of God; yet these advantages did not preserve them from selfishness, malignity, greed for gain, and the basest hypocrisy. They thought themselves the greatest religionists of the world, but their so-called orthodoxy led them to crucify the Lord of glory.”—Ibid., p. 309.
Tuesday
January 26
3. BEARING THE CROSS
a. What must we do in order to be identified as followers of Christ? Mark 8:34; 10:21.
“[Christians] must be pure in heart and correct in manners. In no case should they be satisfied with an empty profession. . . . To be a Christian is to be Christlike.”—The Sanctified Life, p. 79.
b. How should we consider this cross in contrast to the way the common worldling considers the cross? 1 Corinthians 1:18, 24; Galatians 6:14.
“The scenes of Calvary call for the deepest emotion. Upon this subject you will be excusable if you manifest enthusiasm. That Christ, so excellent, so innocent, should suffer such a painful death, bearing the weight of the sins of the world, our thoughts and imaginations can never fully comprehend. The length, the breadth, the height, the depth, of such amazing love we cannot fathom. The contemplation of the matchless depths of a Saviour’s love should fill the mind, touch and melt the soul, refine and elevate the affections, and completely transform the whole character.”—Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 213.
“I say to the followers of Christ, Look to Calvary, and blush for shame at your self-important ideas. All this humiliation of the Majesty of heaven was for guilty, condemned man. He went lower and lower in His humiliation, until there were no lower depths that He could reach, in order to lift man up from his moral defilement. All this was for you who are striving for the supremacy—striving for human praise, for human exaltation; you who are afraid you will not receive all that deference, that respect from human minds, that you think is your due. Is this Christlike?”—The SDA Bible Commentary [E.G. White Comments], vol. 5, p. 1128.
“It is our privilege also to glory in the cross, our privilege to give ourselves wholly to Him who gave Himself for us. Then, with the light that streams from Calvary shining in our faces, we may go forth to reveal this light to those in darkness.”—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 210.
“To Paul the cross was the one object of supreme interest. . . . He knew by personal experience that when a sinner once beholds the love of the Father, as seen in the sacrifice of His Son, and yields to the divine influence, a change of heart takes place, and henceforth Christ is all and in all.”—Ibid., p. 245.
Wednesday
January 27
4. A VISIBLE CHANGE
a. When we accept this gospel, what change is to be seen in us? Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:21–28.
“A union with Christ by living faith is enduring; every other union must perish. Christ first chose us, paying an infinite price for our redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as first and last and best in everything. But this union costs us something. It is a relation of utter dependence to be entered into by a proud being. All who form this union must feel their need of the atoning blood of Christ. They must have a change of heart. They must submit their own will to the will of God. There will be a struggle with outward and internal obstacles. There must be a painful work of detachment, as well as a work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness—sin in all its forms—must be overcome, if we would enter into a union with Christ. The reason why many find the Christian life so deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is, they try to attach themselves to Christ without detaching themselves from these cherished idols.”—Messages to Young People, p. 118.
“God has given us His holy precepts, because He loves mankind. To shield us from the results of transgression, He reveals the principles of righteousness. The law is an expression of the thought of God; when received in Christ, it becomes our thought. It lifts us above the power of natural desires and tendencies, above temptations that lead to sin. God desires us to be happy, and He gave us the precepts of the law that in obeying them we might have joy.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 308.
b. How is this radical change of mind described? Ezekiel 36:26; 1 Corinthians 2:16.
“As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.”—Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 163.
“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 668.
Thursday
January 28
5. THE MIND OF CHRIST IN US
a. What evidence will show whether or not we have received the mind of Christ? Romans 12:10, 14–16; Philippians 2:2–5; John 13:34, 35.
“When we see Jesus, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, working to save the lost, slighted, scorned, derided, driven from city to city till His mission was accomplished; when we behold Him in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and on the cross dying in agony—when we see this, self will no longer clamor to be recognized. Looking unto Jesus, we shall be ashamed of our coldness, our lethargy, our self-seeking. We shall be willing to be anything or nothing, so that we may do heart service for the Master.”—The Desire of Ages, pp. 439, 440.
“By conversion and transformation, men are to receive the mind of Christ. Everyone is to stand before God with an individual faith, an individual experience, knowing for himself that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory.”—Reflecting Christ, p. 35.
b. What can we do in our own power? John 15:5. What is the only power that can make a radical change? John 6:63; Galatians 5:22–25; 2 Peter 1:2–4.
“It is not only the privilege but the duty of every Christian to maintain a close union with Christ and to have a rich experience in the things of God. Then his life will be fruitful in good works”—The Sanctified Life, p. 83.
Friday
January 29
PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS
a. What possibilities are before one who truly has Christ living in the heart?
b. What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?
c. How does the Christian obtain genuine victory?
d. As we contemplate the sacrifice on Calvary, what sacrifices does it lead us to accept?
e. What kind of fruit is the result of truly experiencing a new birth?