Vol. 2 Timely
Greetings No. 23
THE ONLY
PEACE OF MIND
Volume 2
Number 23
Copyright, 1948, 1953 Reprint
All rights reserved V.T. HOUTEFF
KEEPING THE
COMMANDMENTS
THE STONY HEART AND
THE CARNAL MIND
Timely Greetings, Vol. 2,
No. 23 1
TEXT FOR PRAYER
Sowers Of The
Seed
I shall read from Christ's Object Lessons,
beginning on page 57.
"The sowers
of the seed have a work to do in the preparing hearts to receive the
gospel. In the ministry of the world
there is too much sermonizing, and too little of real heart-to-heart work....
So the sowers have something to do that the seed may
not be choked with thorns or perish because of shallowness of soil.... Every
believer...should be taught that he is not merely to be saved by Christ's
sacrifice, but that he is to make the life of Christ his life and the character
of Christ his character. Let all be
taught that they are to bear burdens and to deny natural inclination. Let them learn the blessedness of working for
Christ, following Him in self-denial, and enduring hardness as good
soldiers. Let them learn to trust His
love and to cast on Him their cares. Let
them taste the joy of winning souls for Him.
In their love and interest for the lost, they will lose sight of
self. The pleasures of the world will
lose their power to attract and its burdens to dishearten."
We are to pray that we shall realize that we
are not saved merely by the sacrifice of Christ but that we are to strive to be
like Him in life and character, and as we interest ourselves in the salvation
of others, our own lives will be refreshed; that we shall do more
heart-to-heart work; that we shall bear burdens and deny natural inclination. Thus will the pleasures of the world lose
their power to attract, and its burden lose its power
to dishearten.
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KEEPING THE
COMMANDMENTS,
THE STONY
HEART AND THE CARNAL MIND
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF D. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
MT.
Our text of Scripture is found in Revelation
22:14, 15.
Rev. 22:14, 15 -- "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that
they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city. For
without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."
Here we see that only those who do His
commandments have the right to enter the City.
When the work of salvation is finished and the people gathered home,
they will be those who will still keep the commandments of God, even after sin
is eradicated. Sin nevertheless cannot
be eradicated while the law is transgressed, for the transgression of it is
sin. (1 John 3:3, 4.) The Commandments of God, you see, are
eternal, and only when Christians begin to live the life which the Word of God
advocates, will they find themselves living above the law; then only will they
be free from transgression.
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No. 23 3
Finally, if the commandments of God are
eternal, then they must have always existed.
The Sabbath that was made and hallowed in the week of creation, before
sin came, is contained in the commandments.
And, too, Adam could not have sinned if the commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,"
had not then been in existence.
Rom. 7:7 --
"What shall we say then? Is the law
sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin,
but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
Rom. 7:8-10 -- "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence. For without the
law sin was dead. For I was alive
without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death."
Here we see that the law does not save but
it condemns; and that without the law there would be no sin. The law did not save Adam and Eve, but it judged
them unworthy of the Tree of Life and of a home in
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that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.
But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I
am carnal, sold under sin."
The people who obey a state law think it an
excellent statute of liberty, but those who delight in sinning, to them the law
is anathema. Any murderer
who by law has been sentenced to death, naturally does not delight in the law
that sentenced him, nor in the people that executed his sentence. If such a one had his own way, he would
abolish the law. All criminals would do
away with the law of God, too, for the law is spiritual, and they carnal, sold
under sin.
What would happen if there were no law in
the
The Decalogue, moreover, is not only a moral
code, but also a physical one, for sin against the law involves the sinner's
descendants, too. It visits the
"iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation." Ex. 20:5.
Then, too, every descendant of Adam is
naturally born in sin, is given to sin:
Rom.
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Such being man's lot, the carnal man hates
the law of God, and more so because it crosses his will.
Rom.
If one abstains from theft, he consents that
the law is good and effective, although by nature he might like the idea of
stealing.
Rom. 7:17-23 -- "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is
good I find not. For the good that I
would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members."
Here, you see, we are born with the law of
sin within us, and so it is absolutely necessary for the law of God to restrain
us from sinning.
Rom.
Yes, God and His law in our minds, which we
acquire only by the study of the Word of God
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are our only hope for victory over the law of sin and
the flesh.
Rom. 8:1 --
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The moment we accept Christ as our Saviour, all of our trespasses against the law are blotted
out, and paid for by the death of Christ.
Were this not the case we ourselves would have to pay the penalty of
death, from which there is no resurrection to eternal life.
Rom. 8:2 --
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.
Here the apostle introduces another law, the
law of the Spirit of life -- three laws in all: (1) the law of ten commandments, (2) the law of the flesh, (3) the law of
the Spirit of life. But this third law,
let us remember, is in Christ, and it makes us free from the law of sin and
death only is we be in Him.
Rom. 8:3-11 -- "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the
things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
"Because the carnal mind is enmity
against
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God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. But if
the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in
you."
It is our privilege to have the same Spirit
that was in Christ. In fact, we must
have this Spirit if we are to walk in newness of life, and if we are to have a
part in the resurrection of the just.
From Paul's discourse you see that to be a
Christian means to watch every step you make, and to war against your own
flesh, lest you willfully fall into the pit from which there is no escape. The Christian, moreover, cannot sin; his righteousness
in Christ is absolutely secured, for Christ has paid the penalty for his past
sins. Moreover, if he should
accidentally sin again, he has an Advocate to plead his case, even Jesus
Christ, the righteous. Thus it is that
though a righteous man fall seven times a day, he
rises up, still continues the race and finally wins.
But suppose that you should have to struggle
to keep the commandments of God in the
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then? Would you
then be as anxious as you are now for a place in the Kingdom? God tells us what to expect.
Jer. 31:31-34 -- "Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Here is a promise of a new contract, a new
covenant. It is not the kind God made
with our predecessors in the day they came up out of Egypt, the day He wrote
the commandments on tables of stone and thus to keep them. Instead He makes a new covenant, a covenant
to write them on our very hearts. Then
every one of us will consequently know Him without having to be taught.
Take notice, though, He is not to make a new
law, but a new covenant, a new contract for keeping the law. The difference is that rather than His
writing the law on tables of stone, He will write it on the fleshly tables of
the
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heart, the seat which the law of sin now occupies.
This covenant, you see, is to be made with
both the house of
The scripture, remember, does not say that
we cannot keep the law while it is written on the tables of stone, but it
definitely says that we can, for those who broke the law are reproved for so
doing. We can, therefore, even now
inconveniently keep the commandments though they be
still written on stones. For convenience
sake most Christians wish the law were abolished, and some make themselves
believe that it has been abolished, although the only law that has been
abolished is the ceremonial, sacrificial law, the shadow of the Lamb of God.
What difference would there be whether the
law be written on stone, or on our hearts? -- The experience of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of
Had the king by force been made to live with
the cattle, in a stable or in a field, he would have committed suicide if
possible. But as soon as God took his human
heart away from him, and put the heart of an ox in him, the king was perfectly
contented to be with the cattle, and altogether discontented to live in his
palace.
Were the same thing done to anyone of us,
our desires would be the same as the king's.
In like manner, when the stony heart is taken away from us, and the
heart of flesh with the
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law of God written on it put in us, we shall then find
it altogether too inconvenient to sin, and most delightful to keep the
commandments of God. And so you need not
fear having to struggle to keep the law of God in the Kingdom, as you do
here. You will then be perfectly
contented to live a sinless life. In
fact you will want to sin no more than you would now want to die.
Wonderful indeed! but when may we
expect this miracle to take place? To
find the answer to this question, we need connect Jeremiah's prophecy with
Ezekiel's prophecy of the same event:
Jer. 31:8 -- "Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind
and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth
with child together: a great company shall return thither."
Ezek. 36:24-28 -- "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of
all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and
ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall
be My people, and I will be your God."
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The records from both prophets clearly point
out the time in which this miracle will be performed on the hearts of all God's
people. Both prophets make it as clear
as can be made, that this change of heart takes place in the Holy Land,
Palestine, at the beginning of the kingdom which God promises to set up
"in that days of these kings" (Dan. 2:44), not after their days. He moreover says that He will take us from
among the heathen and gather us from all countries, and take us into our own
land (Ezek. 36:24), the land in which our fathers dwelt (Ezek. 36:28). "Then," at that time, says
Inspiration, not before, will He sprinkle clean water
upon us, cleanse us from all filthiness, and from all idols. Also, a new heart will
He then put in us (Ezek. 36:26). He will
give us His Spirit and cause us to comply with His statutes, and to keep His
judgments (Ezek. 36:27). Read these
scriptures for yourself and see if they say all I am trying to tell you they
say.
Jer. 31:35-40 -- "Thus saith the Lord,
which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the
ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of
hosts is His name: if those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation before Me for ever.
Thus saith the Lord; If
heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of
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and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and
of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron,
unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord;
it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever."
People can believe anything they wish to
believe, but we will believe the Bible.
I know that this is what the Bible teaches, and that this is God's
schedule for these events. And since
this is God's program for the cleansing of His people, and for their receiving
the new heart, our message becomes exceedingly important to all who wish to be
in the Kingdom. We can but put our heart
and soul in the work, though, and leave the results to God. If we ever had to be all out for God and none
for self, it is now.
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