Sabbath Afternoon - September 10
Memory Text:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” KJV — John 12:24
“By the casting of the grain into the soil, Christ represents the sacrifice of Himself for our redemption. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,” He says, “it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. So the death of Christ will result in fruit for the kingdom of God. In accordance with the law of the vegetable kingdom, life will be the result of His death. COL 86.2
“And all who would bring forth fruit as workers together with Christ must first fall into the ground and die. The life must be cast into the furrow of the world's need. Self-love, self-interest, must perish. But the law of self-sacrifice is the law of self-preservation. The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. The husbandman preserves his grain by casting it away. So in human life, to give is to live. The life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given in service to God and man. Those who for Christ's sake sacrifice their life in this world, will keep it unto life eternal.” COL 86.3
Sunday - September 11
Submission for Service
Philippians 2:5-9
What important message is there for us in these verses?
“Influence of Truth on the Conscience and on the Heart—The psalmist says, ‘The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple’ (Psalm 119:130). When truth is working only upon the conscience, it creates much uneasiness; but when truth is invited into the heart, the whole being is brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. Even the thoughts are captured, for the mind of Christ works where the will is submitted to the will of God. ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 2:5). He whom the Lord makes free is free indeed, and he cannot be brought into servile bondage to sin.”—Manuscript 67, 1894. 1MCP 324.3
“As our Example we have One who is all and in all, the chiefest among ten thousand, One whose excellency is beyond comparison. He graciously adapted His life for universal imitation. United in Christ were wealth and poverty; majesty and abasement; unlimited power, and meekness and lowliness which in every soul who receives Him will be reflected. In Him, through the qualities and powers of the human mind, the wisdom of the greatest Teacher the world has ever known was revealed. ST September 3, 1902, par. 4
“Before the world, God is developing us as living witnesses to what men and women may become through the grace of Christ. We are enjoined to strive for perfection of character. The divine Teacher says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Would Christ tantalize us by requiring of us an impossibility?—Never, never! What an honor He confers upon us in urging us to be holy in our sphere, as the Father is holy in His sphere! He can enable us to do this, for He declares, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” This unlimited power it is our privilege to claim.” ST September 3, 1902, par. 5
Monday - September 12
Dying comes before knowing God’s will
Romans 12:1, 2
What things does the Holy Spirit need you to give up in order for you to become a “living sacrifice” for God?
“Paul wrote to the Romans: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1, 2. This entire chapter is a lesson which I entreat all who claim to be members of the body of Christ to study... 6T 239.3
“Sanctified ministry calls for self-denial. The cross must be uplifted and its place in the gospel work shown. Human influence is to draw its efficacy from the One who is able to save and to keep saved all who recognize their dependence on Him. By the union of church members with Christ and with one another the transforming power of the gospel is to be diffused throughout the world.” 6T 240.
The time has come, Brother, Sister, to forget self and to be honest with all men, to realize that self is as it were the body of a dead man tied to one’s back there to sap one’s strength and to put him sick in bed…
Tuesday - September 13
Willingness to Listen
1 Samuel 3:10
What contrast is made apparent here between those who listen to God and those who don’t?
You remember that there was a child by the name Samuel who early in life came to walk in “the Way,” and therein he was trained. Now think on what happened: One night Samuel, you recall, was suddenly awakened by a Voice. Supposing it to be the voice of Eli, he quickly jumped up from bed and went to inquire of Eli. Of course Eli was surprised, but he calmly said, “I did not call you. Go back to bed.” Since there was no other person but Eli around. Samuel was certain that the elderly man had called him. Nevertheless he obeyed and straightway went back to bed.
Before long, though, perhaps as soon as Samuel had fallen asleep again, the Voice called the second time. You know that Samuel could easily have then said to himself, “That old man must be dreaming. Here he is calling me again. But I won’t be bothered with him any more; I’ll just let him holler all he can.” Samuel, nevertheless, as quickly as before hurried to his master’s bed, only again to hear the words, “Go back to bed, I did not call you!” Still a third time he heard someone calling, and just as willingly and as respectfully as before, he went to his master’s bedside the third time! Eli finally perceiving that the Lord must have been calling the child, therefore instructed Samuel what to do. And what did Samuel do? – Exactly as he was told.
Had Samuel not been as willing, as respectful, and patient as he was, do you think he would ever have come to hold the highest office in the land? – Of course not. There was nothing else but the saintly qualifications of character which Samuel demonstrated that night that promoted him to the office of prophet, priest, and judge.
Do we still wonder why Samuel was called out of bed three times in succession and why he and Eli were disturbed in the night? – For two reasons: (1) To prove that regardless of the inconvenience, Samuel would not hesitate to arise when called, and that he would not become angry, that he would not “sass” Eli. (2) The Lord wanted to help Eli; He wanted to prevent the possibility of Eli’s concluding that Samuel was getting out of place and questioning his ability to discipline his own sons. Had Eli not been given the opportunity to know for certain that the Lord talked to the child, he then could have easily concluded that Samuel was conniving against the sons of Eli. But providential circumstances being as they were, Eli certainly knew without doubt that God had a message for him. There was no room for doubt.
Wednesday - September 14
Self-Reliance
1Samuel 13:1-14
What did Saul do that led to his own downfall?
“God proved Saul by intrusting him with the important commission to execute his threatened wrath upon Amalek. But he disobeyed God, and spared the wicked, blasphemous king Agag, whom God had appointed unto death, and spared the best of the cattle. He destroyed utterly all the refuse that would not profit them. Saul thought it would add to his greatness to spare Agag, a noble monarch splendidly attired. And to return from battle with him captive, with great spoil of oxen, sheep, and much cattle, would get to himself much renown, and cause the nations to fear him, and tremble before him. And the people united with him in this. They excused their sin among themselves in not destroying the cattle, because they could reserve them to sacrifice to God, and spare their own cattle to themselves. 4aSG 73.3
“Samuel visits Saul with a curse from the Lord for his disobedience, for thus exalting himself before the Lord, to choose his own course, and follow his own reasoning, instead of strictly following the Lord. Saul goes forth to meet Samuel, like an innocent man, greeting him with these words, “Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said. What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said. They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” 4aSG 73.4
“Samuel relates to Saul what God had said unto him the night before, which night Samuel spent in sorrowful prayer, because of Saul's sins. “When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?” He reminds Saul of the commands of God which he had wickedly transgressed, and inquires, “Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord.” 4aSG 74.1
“‘And Saul said unto Samuel, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things, which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.’ 4aSG 74.2
“Saul here uttered a falsehood. The people had obeyed his directions. But in order to shield himself, he was willing the people should bear the sin of his disobedience. 4aSG 74.3
“‘And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.’” 4aSG 74.4
Thursday - September 15
Substitutes
Ezra 4-6; Zechariah 4
How could the completion of a building project be affected by the Holy Spirit? What does this teach us about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the practical things that we do?
You remember that those ancient Jews were by Cyrus, king of Persia, released from their captivity as soon as Babylon fell. He made a decree that they should go back to their homeland to rebuild the desolations and the ruins. The king especially decreed that the rebuilding of the temple and the re-establishing of the worship of the God of Heaven should be done faithfully and speedily. A revival of the spiritual part of the nation (the temple and its system of worship) was their chief concern. But according to Ezra 4:24, Cyrus’s decree and also another that was issued a few years later, were both frustrated, and in the second year of the reign of Darius, King of Persia, the work completely ceased, and apparently there was no hope of ever resuming again.
Then it was that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were called to their prophetic office and commissioned to revive and to reorganize the builders for the deserted temple project. See Haggai 1:1 and Zechariah 1:1. The happy and surprising result was that within four short years the stately spiritual edifice was quickly finished, whereas all the previous and strenuous efforts of kings and people, covering a period of over thirty years, completely failed. (See Ezra 6:15).
Let us now realistically consider why the builders’ efforts and the king’s decrees at first failed, and why at last they succeeded: Before Haggai and Zechariah were called to the prophetic office, many of the Jews returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, although the majority remained in Babylon; that is, the builders voluntarily went to build only because the captivity had ended, and because the king had decreed that the temple of God should be built. But both the builders’ and the king’s efforts were a complete failure – all came to naught. Then it was that through His prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, God directed the work, and then it was that they quickly finished. In other words, not before the Lord took the reins in His Own hands through the Spirit of Prophecy did the work prosper. In fact, sacred history proves that nothing has ever prospered in God’s work without the living Spirit of Prophecy in its midst.
For example, Moses understood from childhood up that his lot it was to deliver the children of Israel from Pharaoh’s brickyards. And when he was fully grown up and thoroughly trained in the courts of Pharaoh, and saw himself strong and capable, he quickly undertook to deliver the enslaved Hebrew host: killed one Egyptian, got into an argument with a Hebrew, then deserted everything, and without hope of ever coming back he fled the country in complete defeat. Forty years later, after God endowed him with the Spirit of Prophecy, he returned and triumphantly led the Hebrew captives out of Egypt!
These special incidences make crystal clear that no matter how hard men may try to bring about revival and reformation among God’s people, their efforts are doomed to failure even before they start if God does not Himself through His prophets take charge of the work.
Friday - September 16
Further Study
Zech. 4:1-6—"And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and has seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the Word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
The angel disclosed two things: First he made known that the symbolism is concerning the Word of the Lord (the Bible) to the servants of God; second, that His Word is revealed, not by man's might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God.
Plainly this symbolism as a whole represents the system by which the Lord transmits His revealed Word to His people. That we might have a thorough understanding of this Divinely designed system, we need to know what each component part of the illustration stands for. The Spirit of Prophecy gives the clue.
In The Great Controversy, page 267 is explained that the "olive trees" represent the "Old and New Testaments"; Testimonies to Ministers, page 188, says that the golden oil represents the Holy Spirit; and on page 337 of the same book, along with Revelation 1:20, says that the seven lamps represent the church, and that the seven tubes (the ministry) convey the oil to the churches.
Now study the illustration itself as you would study any cartoon. First of all, the trees represent the Word of God (the Bible–both Old and New Testaments–two trees).
Here is seen that the whole symbolical set up is for the purpose of depicting the accomplishment of but one thing—of keeping the seven lamps (the entire church membership) supplied with spiritual oil (Bible Truth) so that it might give spiritual light all round about, that the church might lighten the world with the revealed Word of God. And since the ministry's duty is to feed the church with spiritual food, the fact is that the seven tubes represent the ministry at work, taking the oil (revealed Truth) from the bowl to the seven lamps, the churches. Now the truth that in the illustration the tubes (the ministers) do not take the oil directly from the olive trees (the Bible), it positively indicates that the bowl in which the oil is deposted represents the container or the store in which the compilations of Inspired Bible interpretations are stored, and that from it, not from the olive trees, the ministers help themselves with oil and carry it to the seven lamps (to the church). The two golden pipes, therefore, can be only a representation of the inspired channels which are capable to extract the oil (light of Truth) from the trees (from both Testaments) and store it in the bowl (books) for the tubes (ministers) to convey it to the candlestick (to the churches).
The symbolism, therefore, points out the system which Heaven has ordained for dispensing the Word of the Lord to His church: that the Spirit of Prophecy at work is the only remedy against isms in the church and in the world.
Those who do not avail themselves of the golden oil, and those who continue ever to hunt for some kind of oil, or whoever try to extract their own, will, of course, drop into the pit when the earth opens her mouth to swallow up the flood. Then it is that ism-breathers and ism-seekers shall forever pass away.