12. With what words did Jesus round off this section of His address? Matthew 5:48.
NOTE: ‘The greatest manifestation of merely human love is to do good to those who do us good. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. Man loves his friends, sometimes; but God loves His enemies. That is love itself, because it does not grow out of what He has received from the object of love. The Saviour knew that love such as that was not possible to a human nature, and so He added these words, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. That is, we are to have the perfection of God. Not that we are to become gods, but that we are to allow His life to be manifested in us, and so we shall have His perfection. The goodness will all be of God, but will be counted ours, because we yield ourselves to it, that He may live it in us.’ E. J. Waggoner: Present Truth, January 26, 1893.
13. What assurance do we have that God will be able to achieve this goal in us? Hebrews 7:25.
NOTE: ‘We look to self, as though we had power to save ourselves; but Jesus died for us because we are helpless to do this. In Him is our hope, our justification, our righteousness. We should not despond and fear that we have no Saviour or that He has no thoughts of mercy toward us. At this very time He is carrying on His work on our behalf, inviting us to come to Him in our helplessness and be saved. We dishonour Him by our unbelief. It is astonishing how we treat our very best Friend, how little confidence we repose in Him who is able to save to the uttermost and who has given us every evidence of His great love.’ Counsels for the Church, page 47.