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I invite you
to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 133. "Behold, how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard,
the beard of Aaron. Running down on the edge of his garments. It
is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion;
for there the Lord commanded the blessing--life forevermore."
Behold, how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
There is nothing
more precious than unity in the Lord. It is what the Lord desires
and longs for in your home; between husbands and wives and children
and parents. That is what He longs for in our church. It is the
thing that will allow Him to pour out His blessings upon us and
give us Pentecost all over again--even greater.
It is the thing
that Jesus wanted for His disciples. How He longed for His disciples
to dwell together in unity. But it seemed so impossible. They were
in contention during His whole time with them. Imagine Jesus influence.
He picked twelve men whom He thought He could teach, and yet handpicking
eleven men, plus one who weaseled himself in. With the eleven men
that Jesus picked, for all the three years that He was with them,
He was never able to bring them into unity.
It shows how
deep is the prejudice, discord and pride of the human heart. Jesus
Himself could not bring unity to His disciples. They came to unity
after they saw Jesus hanging on the cross. But how they were in
contention throughout His ministry! How it hurt the heart of Jesus!
They were jealous because of John. He was too young to be an elder.
He was only in his early twenties and Jesus chose him as first.
What was Jesus
concern on the last night with the disciples and his counsel for
them? We are going to look at a few verses in John chapters 13 through
John 17. These are all accounts of Jesus discourse with the disciples
on His last night on earth with them. What was His burden for them?
It says in verse
33, "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.
You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going,
you cannot come, So now I say to you, A new commandment I give to
you that you love one another; [Now, He is talking to the twelve.
He is telling them that you should love one another as I have loved
you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you
are my disciples if you have love one for another."
Now the disciples
had the Ten Commandments. They believed that you should not have
any other gods, should not have any idols, should not take the name
of God in vain. You should keep the seventh day Sabbath as holy,
honor your parents; they knew how to do that. They should not kill
and they should not steal. They should not commit adultery. They
should not bear false witness and they should not covet.
They had these
commandments, but Jesus said I am giving you a new commandment,
quoting from the Old Testament. There was a commandment there, but
somehow it had not found a place in their hearts. He said, I am
giving you a new commandment that you will love one another as I
have loved you.
I wonder if
it was possible for the disciples, and I wonder if it would be possible
for us to be supposedly keeping ten of the commandments without
love? So Jesus says, I am giving you a new commandment. If you love
one another, by this all men will know that you are my disciples.
That is where the power comes. That is when God can give the power,
when you have love for one another.
It is love that
is the basis of true unity. It is love that is the basis of peace.
Jesus went on to say in Chapter 15, verses 9--14, "As the Father
loved Me, I also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments,
you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Fathers commandments
and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My
joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
He repeats it.
You know, this
is the most important thing the disciples can have. If they have
everything else but they have not love, they do not have anything,
Paul says. I Corinthians 13 says that if you have all faith so that
you can remove mountains but do not have love, they are nothing.
They are nothing! If they know everything and do not have love,
it is worthless. If they accomplish all kinds of deeds, and even
give their bodies to be burned and have not love, it is not going
to do them one bit of good. No good!
Jesus is trying
to impress the disciples with their desperate need. But Lord, what
do you mean? Surely we have love. We dwell together, we live together,
we eat together, we have been with each other for three years. He
said, No, this is a new commandment for you. I want you to learn
to love just as I love. "Greater love has no one than this,
than to lay down His life for His friends. And you are my friends
if you do whatever I command." John 15:13.
What was it
that Jesus had commanded them to do? He had commanded them to love.
Now, someone says, I just cannot have love for my neighbor, not
that kind of love. But Jesus said, This is a command. We are told
that all Gods biddings are enabling. When God commands you to do
something, He gives you the strength to do it.
Husbands are
commanded to love their wives. They are not asked to love their
wives. They are commanded to love their wives. I cannot love her!
I have lost that first flickering flame. It got extinguished somewhere
along the line. The Bible commands you to love her. Whenever God
commands, He gives you the power to do it. Love is not some fickle
thing that floats around in the air some place. It is a principle
that God plants in the heart.
I venture to
say that if you have not learned to cultivate love in the home,
you probably do not have a lot of love in the church either. It
has to begin at home. So God has commanded us to love one another.
Jesus says, You are My friends if you keep my command, which is
to love one another. Then you are My friends. That is what I am
asking you to do. That is My dying request. That is My last Will
and Rights. I am dying tomorrow and this is what I am preaching
to you about today, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
I am asking
you to do it and I am pleading with you to do it and lam commanding
you to do it. And lam giving you the power to do it. Start in your
home with your children, your wife and your husband. Bring it into
the church. Spread it around in the community. Love one another
as I have loved you.
As we look in
our hearts, have we found that we are obeying the commandments of
Jesus? Are we His friends? Or do we find in our hearts bitterness,
envy, jealousy and all these things? Are you the friend of Jesus?
All discord has its roots in selfishness, envy, pride, jealousy,
fault finding, all these things have roots found in selfishness.
Unity has its root in love. Love brings unity. Selfishness brings
discord. That is the difference between the two.
Turn with me
to John 17:22, 23. This is Jesus prayer just before going to the
garden. His closing prayer with the disciples. He had already left
the upper room. It says, "The glory which You gave Me I have
given them, that they may be one just as We are one." What
was the glory of Jesus? The glory of Jesus was His love. There was
not a lot of other glory around. He did not have fancy clothes or
fancy degrees or fancy positions and people hated Him. Wherever
He went there was contention and dissension and trouble.
But Jesus had
love. He said, This is My glory. Jesus glory was His character.
"The glory which You gave Me I have given to them. [Now the
glory of Jesus was His character and He said, I have given this
glory to My disciples] That they may be one just as We are one.
I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved
them as You have loved Me."
What makes for
unity? What makes for discord? We will look at three principles.
It is a subject that we need to be concerned about because if we
cannot dwell together in peace, harmony and love here, how are we
going to do it in heaven?
And how are
we ever going to see Gods work finished if we do not have that unity
which is the pre-requisite of His sending the Holy Spirit out among
us and upon us? We are not going to do the work on our own, are
we? We can try but what we need today is the power of the Holy Spirit,
a revival, a reformation. We can never have it until we have that
love that leads to unity.
When that unity
is developed in the church, that love, that unity in the Lord--not
unity in error. There is going to be a certain unity in the world
before Jesus comes. All the world is going to be united behind the
beast. All the world is going to follow the beast. There is no virtue
in being united in that! There is no virtue in being united with
anyone except the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus was not
able to unite the Jewish nation. It took Him a long time to unite
the twelve disciples. But this is the thing that is needed in our
church in order for us to finish the work that God has given us
to do and in order for God to get us ready to take us to heaven.
He wants to have a people that He can translate.
I read in the
beautiful book of Jesus parables, Christs Object Lessons, 69,
"When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced
in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."
Jesus said, You are My friends if you do My commandment, which is
to love one another. When we have this character, then Jesus will
come to claim us, but not until then.
He will claim
us when our characters reproduce His character. Oh, God is longing
to reproduce His character. He is longing to fill our church with
His blessing, with His power, with His peace. That is what He wants
to do more than anything else. Is that what you want? Is it worth
studying about? Now, you know there are a lot of people that are
trying to bring unity.
There are ecumenical
movements around the world. I was invited to a prayer breakfast
with the other ministers in Wichita to unite with the Pope in praying
for peace and unity. There are a lot of people working and striving
for unity. A lot of ideas on how unity should come, but if we are
really going to find the true principles of unity, where do you
think we are going to find them?
You know, the
devil has a plan for unity. It is called compromise and flattery.
Look with me at Psalm 5:9, 10. "For there is no faithfulness
in their mouth. Their inward part is destruction; their throat is
an open tomb; they flatter with their tongues. [An open tomb; they
flatter. Have you ever read about Jesus flattering? Is that the
way He created unity? No, probably a lot of us would not be too
united with Jesus]. Pronounce them guilty, Oh, God! Let them fall
by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of Your transgression,
for they have rebelled against You." The devil has a plan.
It is a popular plan. It is a pleasing plan to bring unity and peace,
but it does not work. It never works. Gods plan works. I want to
find His plan, what about you?
Now, I have
to warn you, if you are interested in Gods plan, it is not a real
popular plan. That is why we have not found it yet, maybe. I am
looking at three principles that God uses for unity. These are not
the only principles that are going to be found. You might like to
write these down. We are just going to go over three; that is not
too hard to remember. So, if someone asks you next week what the
sermon was about, at least you can come up with three points. That
is not too many to remember.
The first principle
for unity is that we must dwell on Christs character. We become
what we think about, do we not? We become what we dwell upon. By
beholding we become changed. We must train our minds to dwell upon
Jesus Christ, His Word and His goodness. That is why memorizing
is good. Take the Bible with you when you go, when you have a few
spare moments, do not pick up some worthless magazine, open the
Bible and dwell upon the character of Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:7-11
says, "Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God.
[Are you going to learn how to love from television? Or from the
psychiatrist? Or from some other book? Love is from God, that is
where we learn it]. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God. He who does not love, does not know God." You see, the
way to learn to love is to learn about God, to fasten the mind upon
Him until the mind assimilates His character and His goodness.
I will tell
you, friends, if we will spend time dwelling upon the character
of God, our whole idea of love will change and our characters will
change. "In this the love of God was manifest toward us, that
God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
If we do not
love one another, of course, we do not know God. "We also ought
to love one another." God loved us and if we know Him we will,
because our minds and our characters will be changed. We will never
become like God unless we somehow find time in our daily schedule
to spend time with Him and unless we train our minds to dwell upon
Him.
My friends,
if your mind is dwelling upon the cesspool of this earth, on the
trash you can find everywhere you turn, if that is what your thoughts
are upon, you are going to have marriage problems. You are going
to have problems in the church. You are going to have false feelings.
We are told that many people will end up thinking that they are
saved, thinking that everyone else in the church is the problem
when they themselves are the problem. Lo and behold, one day they
find that they are lost, too late.
Train your mind
to think not upon gossip, not upon slander, not upon all the other
things that you might dwell upon. Train your mind to dwell upon
the character and love of Jesus Christ, on His life, and your life
will be changed. You will find a power in your life. You will find
a peace in your life. You will find a joy in your life. You will
find your life changing moment by moment.
The next principle
we find in the Bible is that we must be humble, and not envious,
not contentious for position, notice and recognition. Look with
me at Matthew 18:1--5. This was back when the disciples were still
contending for their rights, which was all the time that Jesus was
with them. At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, "Who
then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Is it John? Or
is it Peter? Or is it Judas? Who is going to be the greatest?
"Then Jesus
called a little child to Him and set him, in the midst of them,
and He said, 'Assuredly, I say unto you. "I believe that what
Jesus said was the truth. That was just a statement. I believe that
when Jesus said something, it was truth. Now when Jesus said, "Assuredly,"
it is still the truth but He is trying to get us to realize, Listen,
I am not just giving you some good platitudes here, I am telling
you the absolute truth and it applies to you, not to someone else.
And so Jesus
said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom
of heaven. You will not even get there, let alone be the greatest.
You are not even going to get there! "Therefore, whoever humbles
himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever receives one little child like this in My name, receives
Me."
Jesus said,
If you are contending for first place, you had better get converted
or you are not even going to get there, let alone be first. You
are not converted. You must become like a little child. Oh, but
someone says, But I am an old pillar! I should be the head. Have
you ever considered how old Jesus was when He became the Messiah,
which means the Anointed One? He was baptized there in the Jordan
River and began His public ministry, calling His disciples to Himself.
How old was
He? Thirty years old? That is really old, is it not? No wonder a
lot of the Pharisees and Sadducees did not follow Him. They were
too old and wise to follow some young, impudent, upstart like that!
Have you ever considered how old Ellen White was when God called
her to be a prophet to the Remnant Church? She had just turned seventeen.
Now I wonder if you had been a leader in the Millerite movement
and you were up in your forties or fifties or sixties and you had
been preaching for years, I wonder how well you would have accepted
that ministry if she had rebuked you?
Jesus said,
Unless you become like little children, you are not even going to
make it. You must be converted. No, there are so many of us that
think that we have become so old and wise.. We have been in the
church for so long. We know so much. The Bible says, The danger
of becoming old and wise in the church is to become lukewarm. God
has to raise up young people and new converts to try to get life
back in the church.
Then do you
know what the older people do? They try to hold back the progress
of God. Do you know who they are fighting against? God. God wants
to revive His church. I mean He wants to revive the whole denomination.
He wants to revive all of us. He wants to revive this church right
here.
If it is possible,
He is going to do it. Look with me at Matthew 21:12--16. "Then
Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought
and sold in the temple, [Somebody might say that was not a loving
act or unifying act] and overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who sold doves." Let me tell you, friends,
love does not countenance evil in the church.
Evil will never
bring unity. It never has. Compromise never brings unity. It never
has and it never will. "And He said to them, 'It is written,
My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it
a den of thieves. Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the
temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes
saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out
in the temple and saying 'Hosanna to the son of David! they were
indignant and said to Him, 'Do you hear what these are saying? And
Jesus said to them, 'Yes. Have you never read, Out of the mouth
of babes and nursing infants you have perfect praise."
So Jesus went
on to say in Chapter 23:11, 12. "But he who is greatest among
you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be abased
and he who humbles himself will be exalted." There will never
exist unity in the home or in the church while someone is striving
for first place.
And so we see
two principles. One is that we must spend time dwelling upon Jesus
and that brings the second, which is humility. We will never find
humility in ourselves because by nature we are proud. But as we
spend time dwelling upon the life, love and character of Jesus Christ,
it leads us to humility and that is the next principle that we need.
I would like
to look at a third principle and that is that we must preach and
practice health reform if we expect to have unity in the church.
Look with me at Numbers 11:4--7. "Now the mixed multitude who
were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel
also wept again and said: 'Who will give us meat to eat. We remember
the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is
dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!
Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color
of bdellium."
Verse 31: "Now
a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea
and left them fluttering near the camp about a days journey on this
side and about a days journey on the other side, all around the
camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. And
the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next
day, [Thirty-six hours straight--it said they had an intense craving!
They did not even sleep that night. They were going to get their
bellies filled.] and gathered the quail. (He who gathered least
gathered ten homers);" [A homer is six and one half bushels]
How many bushels did the least gather? Sixty-five bushels! They
were in earnest! They decided that they may not have another treat
like this for another forty years and they were going to get what
they could get while they could get it] and they spread them out
for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still
between their teeth before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord
was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with
a very great plague." I would like you to note in Psalm 106
what David says followed. They had a plague and they died, but what
did it lead the people to do?
Look at verses
13-18: "They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His
counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God
in the desert. And He gave them their request, but He sent leanness
into their souls." What did He give them? He gave them meat
to eat, the Bible says. What happened next in verse 16? They envied
Moses. They rejected the guide God gave them first. Secondly they
had leanness of the soul and thirdly "they envied Moses in
the camp. And Aaron the saint of the Lord, The earth opened up and
swallowed Dathoan, and covered the faction of Abiram. A fire was
kindled in their company; [The flame spread] burned up the wicked."
And so there
were four things that David showed that happened: They first rejected
the health message that God gave them. They next had leanness of
soul. They next envied and stirred up contention and finally they
were destroyed by the just retribution of God. I would like to read
a divine commentary on this found in Testimonies for the Church,
volume 3, 171, 172. It says, "The children of Israel would
have flesh meats and said, as many now say: We shall die without
meat. God gave rebellious Israel flesh, but His curse was with it.
Thousands of them died while the meat they desired was between their
teeth. We have the example of ancient Israel and the warning for
us not to do as they did."
Dear friends,
God is the same today as He was yesterday. Now, why was it that
God gave the children of Israel a vegetarian diet? Why was it that
He took meat away from them? "The state of the mind has largely
to do with the health of the body, and especially with the health
of the digestive organs. As a general thing, the Lord did not provide
His people with flesh meat in the desert, because He knew that the
use of this diet would create disease and insubordination."
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 375.
Insubordination
and contention go along with meat eating in the church. It happened
with Israel. "In order to modify the disposition, and bring
the higher powers of the mind into active exercise, He removed from
them the flesh of dead animals. He gave them angels food, manna,
from heaven." Ibid.
What are we
told that meat eating leads to in the church? What did it lead to
in the children of Israel? Insubordination, envy, jealousy, contention.
Dear friends, if we are really going to deal with unity, we need
to go beyond the surface. We need to get down to the heart of the
problem. We need to deal with all of the ramifications of the situation.
We need to spend time with Jesus every day. We need to become humble
and we need to become health reformers.
The children
of Israel failed because they rejected the diet that God had given
them; it led them to insubordination. It led them to envy, faultfinding,
jealousy and discord and prevented them from entering Canaan. I
wonder if the same things could apply to us today? This is one of
the reasons why we are still wandering in the wilderness, while
we have not reached our heavenly home yet. In 1883 Ellen White said,
"God did not design that His people, Israel, should wander
forty years in the wilderness . . . But those to whom it was first
preached, went not in 'because of unbelief. Their hearts were filled
with murmuring, rebellion, and hatred.
The same sins
have delayed the entrance of modem Israel into the heavenly Canaan.
. . It is the unbelief, the worldliness, non-consecration, strife
among the Lords professed people that have kept us in this world
of sin and sorrow so many years. Oh, how our heart bled." (Eighteen
years later she was still lamenting the same thing. She said,) "We
may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination
many more years." Evangelism, 696. She did not look for Jesus
soon coming in 1901. What led to their insubordination? They rejected
the health reform message. I have a question. Do you think that
the same rejection of health reform will also lead to insubordination
today as it did back then or are we somehow different than they
were?
Dear friend,
if you are struggling with the temptation to murmur and complain,
I would urge you to look at your diet. What are you eating?
I would like
to look at just a couple more statements the Lord gave to us on
this same principle. You know, for the first fifteen hundred sixty-five
years, God gave mankind a diet that was free from disease, a diet
of vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. Man lived for nine hundred
fifty years. After the flood, God shortened mans life. But before
leading the children of Israel into Canaan, He led them back to
His original diet.
Today, in the
last days of earths history, before leading us into the heavenly
Canaan, in order to get us ready for translation, He is leading
us back again to that original diet. Now, like the children of Israel,
He will not force anyone. He will not force you and He will not
force me. But dear friend, He is testing us. The animals are more
diseased than ever before because Gods Spirit is being withdrawn
from the earth. Out of love for us, God wants to protect us from
these diseases, both spiritually and physically.
I would like
to read a few statements from Counsels on Diet and Foods, 380--384.
"Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead
us back, step by step, to His original design,-- that man should
subsist upon the natural products of the earth. . . Is it not time
that all should dispense with flesh foods? [How many did she say?
All.] How can those who are seeking to become pure, refined, and
holy, that they may have the companionship of heavenly angels, continue
to use as food anything that has so harmful an affect on soul and
body?
Among those
who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually
be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet. . Those
who use flesh meat disregard all the warnings that God has given
concerning this question. [They have no evidence that they are walking
in safe paths.] They have not the slightest excuse for eating the
flesh of dead animals. . . When will those who know the truth take
their stand on the side of right principles for time and for eternity?
When will they be true to the principles of health reform? When
will they learn that it is dangerous to use flesh meats? I am instructed
to say that if ever meat eating were safe, it is not safe today."
Well, what does
diet have to do with unity? We saw that it leads to insubordination.
Not only what we eat, but what we drink. That is why God has warned
us against these drugs that lead to addiction such as alcohol, nicotine
and caffeine. Let me read a little bit more, since this is a practical
message today. We are dealing with practical issues.
From Counsels
on Diet and Foods, 422, 423: "The habit of drinking tea
and coffee is a greater evil than is often suspected. . . When these
tea and coffee users meet together for social entertainment, the
effects of their pernicious habit are manifested. All partake freely
of the favorite beverages, and as the stimulating influence is felt,
their tongues are loosened, and they begin the wicked work of talking
against others. Their words are not few or well chosen. The tidbits
of gossip are passed around, too often the poison of scandal as
well. These thoughtless gossipers forget that they have a witness.
An unseen watcher is writing their words in the books of heaven.
All these unkind criticisms, these exaggerated reports, these envious
feelings expressed under the cup of tea, Jesus registers as against
Himself."
What does coffee
and tea do? It stimulates the nervous system and it prevents the
Holy Spirit from coming into the life and it leads to gossip, fault
finding and scandal. Now, somebody says, That cannot be true! Everyone
drinks coffee and tea. Yes, that is just about true. If you will
notice almost everyone spreads scandal, gossip and mischief. If
you go down to the grocery store and there as you pass out, there
are whole magazines of nothing but gossip and people eat it up!
Whole elections
are won and lost by who can get out the most garbage on the other
person, the most scandal. Dear friend, God does not want this spirit
in the church, does He? He is trying to help us in every way possible.
He is trying to give us nerves that are not irritable. He is trying
to give us healthy dispositions, clear minds, sweet characters.
We must spend time with Jesus every day and we must live a life
that His Holy Spirit can fill.
I read in Welfare
Ministry, 124: "To my ministering brethren I would say,
prosecute this work with tact and ability. Set to work the young
men and the young women in our churches. Combine the medical missionary
work with the proclamation of the third angels message. . . Send
into the churches workers who will set the principles of health
reform in their connection with the third angels message before
every family and individual. Encourage all to take part in work
for their fellow men, and see if the breath of life will not quickly
return to these churches."
Dear friend,
that is what we want, is it not? We want to see Gods life and power
return to the church and God says, If we are going to see it happen,
bring the message of health reform to every family and individual
in the church and it will happen. Dear friend, I want to see a plan
of unity take place in this church, do you not? I want to see a
power take place. But we will never find it in any other place except
in Gods way. We must follow Him if we want to see it happen.
I want to see
it happen in our church. Jesus began His ministry with a forty-day
fast in order to conquer on appetite. If we are going to be ready
for Jesus Second Coming, we also are going to have to conquer on
appetite. Well, Jesus is coming soon. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-12,
Paul says that the children of Israel ate spiritual food but because
they rejected the spiritual food, they were led into idolatry and
murmuring and they did not get to Canaan but rather their bodies
were spread out over the wilderness.
Dear friends,
I do not want my body in the wilderness. Do you? I want to make
it to Canaan. Today God is giving us spiritual food. Our food has
a relationship. Paul was talking about the manna Israel literally
ate, but our food has a relationship with our spirituality. Our
drink has a relationship with our spirituality.
Jesus is coming
soon to take us to heaven. If He should come today, could you live
with your neighbor there? What if God ordained some elders in heaven
that were younger than you? What if He set out on the table some
foods that you had not learned to like and He did not set out the
things that you had grown accustomed to? Would you rebel? In heaven
God is going to have the pure in heart. There are not going to be
any murmurs or troublemakers in heaven. Rather, those who go to
heaven are going to learn to love as Jesus loves.
Let us turn
to our closing text in l John 3:11-16. "For this is the message
that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers
righteous. Do marvel, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know
that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.
He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates
his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal
life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down
His life for us. And we also are to lay down our lives for the brethren.
I would like
to close with a call. We are dealing with an important work. We
want to see Jesus come. I want to see Him come, do you not? One
of the requirements for Jesus to come is for unity to dwell in the
church and in our home and our hearts. I would like to give a call
for those who would like to work for the unity of this church by
spending more time with Jesus every day, by asking Him for humility
and by seeking to follow the health reform message that we have
been given. I wonder how many would be willing to stand and commit
themselves to a program of unity in the church?
I think of that
song, "Tis almost time for the Lord to come, I hear the people
say; The stars of heaven are growing dim, It must be the breaking
of the day. It must be time for the waiting church, To cast her
pride away, With girded loins and burning lamps, To look for the
breaking of the day."
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