Give Nothing Less Than Obedience to God

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Give Nothing Less Than Obedience to God

Today's Text: He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  1 John 2:4

The Message:      I have been reported as saying you could not be saved unless you kept the Sabbath. Does it indeed seem meaningless, the requirement of the fourth commandment? Does not the habitual subjection to our heavenly Master's will lead the obedient to ask constantly and earnestly, not "What is pleasing?" not "What is the most convenient or agreeable to self or those around us?" but "What does my Lord require? What is the will of God concerning me?"      Is it anything strange that one should do this or that under the conviction of the Spirit of God, under a sense of the fact that a refusal or neglect to do so would endanger the soul's salvation? Is this a matter hard to comprehend, that obedience on our part to all God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life? Is this an unfathomable mystery to the Christian-to secure the soul's salvation at any cost to self or selfish interest? Does the Word of God give us any assurance that we can get to heaven just as well transgressing the law as obeying it? If so, the whole requirement of God as a condition of salvation is an entire mistake.      Were the inhabitants of the old world who perished in the Flood punished for their disobedience of God's requirements? Or were they washed by the waters of the deluge straight into glory because our merciful God is too good to execute the final penalty of transgressing His law? Were the Sodomites punished for their disobedience and only Lot saved? Or were the inhabitants of Sodom winged by the fire that fell from heaven straight into glory?      Has God commanded? Then we must obey-without hesitating and seeking to find some way to be saved without obedience; this would be climbing up some other way. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "I have kept my Father's commandments," says the Majesty of heaven....      We should not obey the commandments merely to secure heaven, but to please Him who died to save sinners from the penalty of the transgression of the Father's law. The sinner's salvation depends upon ... ceasing to transgress and obedience to that transgressed law. No one should venture or presume upon the mercy of God, feeling at liberty to sin as much as they dare.... It is a sad resolve to follow Christ as far off as possible, venturing as near the verge of perdition as possible without falling in.-Letter 35b, 1877.

Commentary: My friend, the last message of hope to the world is the three angels message.  The first message says "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:" (Revelation 14:7).  To fear God is not just to reverence Him, but to obey Him.  The message is to call the whole world back to obedience to the law of God, for we cannot truly give honor and glory to God while we are negligent to His holy requirements. There are many in the church today that do not believe that God really requires complete obedience to His law.  They believe that we should do the best that we can and that God will overlook our seemingly small sinful indiscretions.  They believe that it is impossible for us to live without sin in the flesh and that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness when He comes in the clouds of glory.  But this is a most deadly deception of Satan, for if we wait until the second coming of Christ to overcome sin, we will be without a mediator in Heaven to forgive our sins and will be consumed by the brightness of His glory.  The sins that we do not overcome will at the second coming overcome us. The reason why so many in the church today are not overcoming sin is because they have accepted another mediator in place of Jesus.  The trinity teaches that the Holy Spirit is a separate being from the Father and the Son, and as such is another mediator, while the Scriptures clearly tell us "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5).  To believe in the trinity is to accept another mediator in place of Jesus, and since this mediator is not Jesus Christ it can only be the arch deceiver. The God that the whole of the Christian world to include the Seventh-day Adventist church is the triune god, the three in one god, or as the SDA church calls him the Godhead.  This is not the same God that Jesus testified of in the Scriptures saying "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3). In order for us to be obedient to God we must be connected to the One True God and that is the Father and the only way that we can do this is through the Son for He says "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6).  It is only through the Son of God that we can find forgiveness and cleansing from our sins.  His promise to us is this "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. ... To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:19, 21). My friend, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, seeking to gain entrance that He may come in and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  The question that you have to ask yourself today is will you look away from the false god of the trunity and open the door of your heart to the One True God through Jesus Christ? May you open your heart to the One True God through Jesus today. God bless,

Video of the Week The Parable of the Comforter - Nader Mansour In The Parable of the Comforter Nader Mansour examines this most misunderstood teaching of Christ. Is the Comforter a different person to the Father and Son? What are the implications if so? Why did Jesus even speak this parable? To many people "another comforter" is evidence that Jesus was talking about a different person to himself. Who is this other Comforter? A very eye-opening study. Presented at the New Zealand camp meeting. April 2017.