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07 - Like Unto Leaven - Christ's Object Lessons · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, like unto leaven, Many educated and influential men
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  Speaker 1: had come to hear the prophet of Galilee. Some of
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  Speaker 1: these looked with curious interest upon the multitude that had
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  Speaker 1: gathered about Christ as he taught by the sea. In
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  Speaker 1: this great throng, all classes of society were represented. There
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  Speaker 1: were the poor, the illiterate, the ragged beggar, the robber
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  Speaker 1: with the seal of guilt upon his face, the maime,
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  Speaker 1: the dissipated, the merchant, and the man of leisure, high
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  Speaker 1: and low, rich and poor, all crowding upon one another
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  Speaker 1: for a place to stand and hear the words of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: As these cultured men gazed upon the strange assembly, they
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  Speaker 1: asked themselves, is the Kingdom of God composed of such
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  Speaker 1: material as this? Again, the Savior replied by parable, the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman
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  Speaker 1: took and hid in three measures of meal till the
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  Speaker 1: whole was leavened. Among the Jews, leaven was sometimes used
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  Speaker 1: as an emblem of sin. At the time of the Passover,
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  Speaker 1: the people were directed to remove all the leaven from
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  Speaker 1: their houses, as they were to put away sin from
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  Speaker 1: their hearts. Christ warned his disciples, beware ye of the
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  Speaker 1: leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, and the apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul speaks of the leaven of malice and wickedness. But
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  Speaker 1: in the Saviour's parable leaven is used to represent the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of Heaven. It illustrates the quickening, assimilating power of
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  Speaker 1: grace of God. None are so vile, none have fallen
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  Speaker 1: so low as to be beyond the working of His power.
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  Speaker 1: In all who will submit themselves to the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: a new principle of life is to be implanted. The
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  Speaker 1: lost image of God is to be restored in humanity.
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  Speaker 1: But man cannot transform himself by the exercise of his will.
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  Speaker 1: He possesses no power by which this change can be effected.
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  Speaker 1: The leaven, something wholly from without, must be put into
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  Speaker 1: the meal before the desired change can be wrought in it.
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  Speaker 1: So the grace of God must be received by the
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  Speaker 1: sinner before he can be fitted for the kingdom of glory.
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  Speaker 1: All the culture and education which the world can give
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  Speaker 1: will fail of making a degraded child of sin a
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  Speaker 1: child of Heaven. The renewing energy must come from God.
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  Speaker 1: The change can be made only by the Holy spirit.
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  Speaker 1: All who would be saved, high or low, rich or poor,
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  Speaker 1: must submit to the working of this power. As leaven,
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  Speaker 1: when mingled with the meal, works from within outward. So
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  Speaker 1: it is by the renewing of the heart that the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God works to transform the life. No mere
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  Speaker 1: external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God.
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  Speaker 1: There are many who try to reform by correcting this
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  Speaker 1: or that bad habit, and they hope in this way
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  Speaker 1: to become Christians. But they are beginning in the wrong place.
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  Speaker 1: Our first work is with the heart. A profession of
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  Speaker 1: faith and the possession of truth in the soul are
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  Speaker 1: two different things. The mere knowledge of truth is not enough.
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  Speaker 1: We may possess this, but the tenor of our thoughts
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  Speaker 1: may not be changed. The heart must be converted and sanctified.
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  Speaker 1: The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God
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  Speaker 1: from a sense of obligation merely because he required to
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  Speaker 1: do so, will never enter into the joy of obedience.
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  Speaker 1: He does not obey. When the requirements of God are
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  Speaker 1: accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we
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  Speaker 1: may know that the life is not a Christian life.
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  Speaker 1: True obedience is the outworking of a principle within it
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  Speaker 1: springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the
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  Speaker 1: law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty
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  Speaker 1: to our redeemer. This will lead us to do right
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  Speaker 1: because it is right, because right doing is pleasing to God.
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  Speaker 1: The great truth of the conversion of the heart by
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is present in Christ's words to Nicodemus, Verily, verily,
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  Speaker 1: I say, unto thee except a man be born from above,
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  Speaker 1: he cannot see the Kingdom of God. That which is
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  Speaker 1: born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
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  Speaker 1: born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel. Not that I
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  Speaker 1: said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind
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  Speaker 1: bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
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  Speaker 1: but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
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  Speaker 1: So is every one that is born of the spirit.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle Paul, writing by the Spirit, says God, who
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  Speaker 1: is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
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  Speaker 1: loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath
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  Speaker 1: quickened us together with Christ by grace, Ye are saved,
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  Speaker 1: and hath raised us up together and made us sit
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  Speaker 1: together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
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  Speaker 1: ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
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  Speaker 1: his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that
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  Speaker 1: not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. The
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  Speaker 1: leaven hidden in the flower works invisibly to bring the
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  Speaker 1: whole mass under its leavening process. So the leaven of
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  Speaker 1: truth works secretly, silently, steadily to transform the soul. The
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  Speaker 1: natural inclinations of softened and subdued. New thoughts, new feelings,
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  Speaker 1: new motives are implanted, a new standard of character is
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  Speaker 1: set up the life of Christ. The mind is changed,
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  Speaker 1: the faculties are wrap to action in new lines. Man
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  Speaker 1: is not endowed with new faculties, but the faculties he
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  Speaker 1: has are sanctified. The conscience is awakened. We are endowed
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  Speaker 1: with traits of character that enable us to do service
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  Speaker 1: for God. Often the question arises, why then, are there
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  Speaker 1: so many claiming to believe God's word in whom there
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  Speaker 1: is not seen a reformation in words, in spirit, and
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  Speaker 1: in character. Why are there so many who cannot bear
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  Speaker 1: opposition to their purposes and plans who manifest an unholy temper,
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  Speaker 1: and whose words are harsh, overbearing, and passionate. There is
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  Speaker 1: seen in their lives the same love of self, the
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  Speaker 1: same selfish indulgence, the same temper and hasty speech that
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  Speaker 1: is seen in the life of the worldling. There is
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  Speaker 1: the same sensitive pride, the same yielding to natural inclination,
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  Speaker 1: the same perversity of character, as if the truth were
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  Speaker 1: wholly unknown to them. The reason is that they are
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  Speaker 1: not converted. They have not hidden the leaven of Truth
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  Speaker 1: in their heart. It has not had opportunity to do
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  Speaker 1: its work. Their natural and cultivated tendencies to evil have
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  Speaker 1: not been submitted to this transforming power. Their lives reveal
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  Speaker 1: the absence of the grace of Christ, an unbelief in
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  Speaker 1: His power to transform the character. Faith cometh by hearing
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  Speaker 1: and hearing by the word of God. The scriptures are
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  Speaker 1: the great agency in the transformation of character. Christ prayed
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  Speaker 1: sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth if
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  Speaker 1: studied and obeyed. The Word of God works in the heart,
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  Speaker 1: subduing every unholy attribute. The Holy Spirit comes to convict
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  Speaker 1: of sin, and the faith that springs up in the
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  Speaker 1: heart works by love to Christ, conforming us in body, soul,
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  Speaker 1: and spirit to his own image. Then God can use
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  Speaker 1: us to do his will. The power given us works
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  Speaker 1: from within outwardly, leading us to communicate to others the
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  Speaker 1: truth that has been communicated to us. The truths of
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  Speaker 1: the Word of God meet man's great practical necessity, the
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  Speaker 1: conversion of the soul through faith. These grand principles are
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  Speaker 1: not to be thought too pure and holy to be
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  Speaker 1: brought into the daily life. They are truths which reach
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  Speaker 1: to heaven and compass eternity. Yet their vital influence is
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  Speaker 1: to be woven into human experience. They are to permeate
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  Speaker 1: all the great things and all the little things of life.
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  Speaker 1: Received into the heart, the leaven of truth will regulate
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  Speaker 1: the desires, purify the thoughts, and sweeten the disposition. It
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  Speaker 1: quickens the faculties of the mind and the energies of
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  Speaker 1: the soul. It enlarges the capacity for feeling and for loving.
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  Speaker 1: The world regards as a mystery. The man who is
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  Speaker 1: imbued with this principle, the selfish, money loving man, lives
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  Speaker 1: only to secure for himself the riches, honors, and pleasures
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  Speaker 1: of this world. He loses the eternal world from his reckoning,
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  Speaker 1: But with the follower of Christ. These things will not
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  Speaker 1: be all absorbing. For Christ's sake, he will labor and
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  Speaker 1: deny self that he may aid in the great work
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  Speaker 1: of saving souls who are without Christ and without hope
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  Speaker 1: in the world. Such a man the world cannot understand,
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  Speaker 1: for he is keeping in view eternal realities. The love
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  Speaker 1: of Christ, with its redeeming power, has come into the heart.
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  Speaker 1: This love masters every other motive and raises its possessor
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  Speaker 1: above the corrupting influence of the world. The word of
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  Speaker 1: God is to have a sanctifying effect on our association
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  Speaker 1: with every member of the human family. The loaven of
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  Speaker 1: truth will not produce the spirit of rivalry, the love
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  Speaker 1: of ambition, the desire to be first. True heaven born.
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  Speaker 1: Love is not selfish and changeable. It is not dependent
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  Speaker 1: on human praise. The heart of him who receives the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God overflows with love for God and for
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  Speaker 1: those for whom Christ died. The self is not struggling
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  Speaker 1: for recognition. He does not love others because they love
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  Speaker 1: and please him because they appreciate his merits, but because
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  Speaker 1: they are Christ's purchased possession. If his motives, words, or
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  Speaker 1: actions are misunderstood, or misreprice presented. He takes no offense,
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  Speaker 1: but pursues the even tenour of his way. He is
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  Speaker 1: kind and thoughtful, humble in his opinion of himself, yet
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  Speaker 1: full of hope, always trusting in the mercy and love
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  Speaker 1: of God. The Apostle exhorts us, as he which hath
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  Speaker 1: called you is holy. So be ye holy in all
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  Speaker 1: manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy,
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  Speaker 1: for I am holy. The grace of Christ is to
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  Speaker 1: control the temper and the voice. Its working will be
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  Speaker 1: seen in politeness and tender regard shown by brother for brother,
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  Speaker 1: in kind encouraging words, and angel presence is in the home.
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  Speaker 1: The life breathes a sweet perfume which ascends to God
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  Speaker 1: as holy incense. Love is manifested in kindness, gentleness, forbearance,
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  Speaker 1: and long suffering. The countenance is changed. Christ, abiding in
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  Speaker 1: the heart, shines out in the faces of those who
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  Speaker 1: love Him and keep his commandments. Truth is written there.
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  Speaker 1: The sweet peace of Heaven is revealed. There is expressed
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  Speaker 1: an habitual gentleness, a more than human love. The leaven
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  Speaker 1: of Truth works a change in the whole man, making
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  Speaker 1: the course refined, the rough gentle, and the selfish generous.
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  Speaker 1: By it, the impure are cleansed, washed in the blood
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  Speaker 1: of the Lamb. Through its life giving power, it brings
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  Speaker 1: all there is of mind and soul and strength into
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  Speaker 1: harmony with the divine life. Man, with his human nature,
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  Speaker 1: becomes a partaker of Divinity. Christ is honored in excellence
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  Speaker 1: and perfection of character. As these changes are affected, angels
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  Speaker 1: break forth into rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice
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  Speaker 1: over souls fashioned after the divine similitude. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: seven