p. 6 | Commandment Keeping

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 10, 1916

Commandment Keeping

By Elder Charles Thompson; Miss Lora E. Clement

TEXT: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

“Here are they that keep the commandments of God” is the thought I wish you to notice especially. Where are those that keep the commandments of God? The text says, Here they are. I ask this question, and answer it thus, because I think it is appropriately applicable to this congregation. Concerning his remnant church we read here in the seventeenth verse of the twelfth chapter: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The remnant of her seed keep the commandments of God.

The people of the world today are coming to recognize that Seventh-day Adventists are able to give some light concerning the events that are taking place in the world, that other people cannot give. People are interested in the prophecies and what they teach concerning the final consummation of all things.

Recently in a city in South Dakota, Elder E. T. Russell was invited to hold services in both the Methodist and the Baptist church, and spoke to hundreds of people regarding present-day issues. Such invitations are being received by our ministers in other places. The public recognizes that this people have some insight into the prophecies, and are able to give light on the final outcome of the events now taking place. That is true, and we occupy, under God, a position of great responsibility at the present time.

When people ask, “What do these things mean?” the prophecies of the Scriptures will give them information. That is true of the war question in Europe. We can tell people that it is a fulfilment of prophecy, and they will recognize it as such. That is true not only in relation to the war, but in regard to other questions. Not only the prophecies concerning war and strife and commotion are being fulfilled, but prophecies concerning many other events that are to take place in the world are being fulfilled.

I sometimes feel that there is danger that we as a people shall become so interested in the future, in things that are far in the future, that our attention will be diverted from the things to which we ought to give our personal attention just now.

Take the capital and labor question. Seventh-day Adventists profess a knowledge of the prophecies of which such uprisings as we had some months ago in Colorado, Arizona, and West Virginia are the fulfilment, and of the final outcome. Then there is the Roman question. This makes a strong appeal to Seventh-day Adventists. These people have read the prophecies of which the present condition is a fulfilment; they have also read in the Word of God what the outcome of the workings of this power is to be.

These questions are live issues today, and Seventh-day Adventists are able, under God, through the light from the Scriptures, to give information and counsel regarding them. The same thing is true of the organization of different societies to control the commercial interests of the country, boycott the output, and lead up to the prohibiting of buying or selling except on the part of certain classes. I tell you, my friends, this is going to be a live question in the near future—the fulfilling of prophecy along these two lines of boycott and the organization of commercial interests. God has given us light on these definite things, that we may be able to pass on that light and counsel to the people.

But while all this is true, the text that I have read is a prophecy also. “Here are they that keep the commandments.” That is a prophecy which in my judgment is of great importance. While other prophecies are being fulfilled in marked ways so that they stand out before the world as a fulfilment of divine prediction regarding events which are to take place, I believe that this prophecy, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God,” ought to be so fulfilled in the hearts and lives of God’s people that it will stand out before the world as consistent and clear and indisputable.

The apostle Paul speaks of this same subject in Phil. 2:15. He says: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” We are called into the world as God’s people to be lights; to shine forth as stars in the midst of darkness; to point out to others the way of life which is found only in the keeping of the commandments of God. In fact, this is the way of life—the keeping of the commandments.

The rich young man came to Christ and inquired, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” The answer is found in the seventeenth verse of Matthew 19: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” If we would fulfil God’s purpose, we must be shining lights in the midst of the gross darkness; if we would enter into life, we must keep the commandments. And when all is opened and revealed, the people of the world will be forced to say of us, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.”

Now what is commandment keeping? The keeping of the Sabbath commandment means more than refraining on Saturday from the ordinary daily labor. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” But what is commandment keeping? I wish to read a few texts on this point, because I believe what is said about commandment keeping just as truly and surely as I believe that every line of prophecy will be fulfilled; and you remember that the ninety-sixth verse of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm says, “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Therefore I believe that when this scripture—“Here are they that keep the commandments of God”—is fulfilled in us, in its fulness, it will take in all of the length and breadth of commandment keeping, and it will stand out before the world very clearly.

Let us turn to Rom. 13:10: “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” I understand from this scripture, that when an individual is a commandment keeper, the chief trait in his character is the divine attribute of love. “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” And whom shall I love? Myself? The eighth verse says, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” That is, he has met the requirements; he is a commandment keeper.

In Galatians 6 there is a verse that helped me in my study—the second verse: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Then I understand from these scriptures that a commandment keeper is an individual who loves his brother and bears his burdens; he is an individual who is willing and anxious, and I will say happy, to respond to the call of the hour, placing his shoulders under the burden of God’s cause and carrying his part to the extent of his ability. That is commandment keeping. A commandment keeper is no shirk. You find a man who is a shirk, and you can put it down that he is not a commandment keeper in the true sense of the term. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Let us turn to Gal. 5:14: “The law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” “All the law is fulfilled in one word.” “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” That is the whole thing in a nutshell.

Let me call your attention also to a similar statement in Matt. 22:37-39: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” “On these two”—on what two?—First, loving God supremely, and second, loving your neighbor as yourself.

Now, friends, where do I come in, personally? Where do you come in? Think about that. Notice particularly that one statement: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” This is the first. Then who is first?—Why, the Lord, of course. Then the commandment keeper is the person who makes the Lord first. God must be first; his cause and his work first, not second, or third, nor anywhere but first. When you see a company of people that make God and his cause and work first, above everything else, you will notice that they stand out clear and strong, and shine as bright as stars in the dark night.

The text we have been considering is not the only one by any means. Let us turn to a statement in Prov. 3:9: “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.” Where would the Lord come in in this text?—First, of course. Study your Bible through, and you will find that is the place God occupies. “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.”

I have been preaching to people in the North that are threshing great quantities of wheat, and I have been telling them that the Lord wants the first fruits—the first wheat that comes out of the hopper, the best, not the chaff and seconds at the tail end. Yes, my friends, honor the Lord with the first fruits. The Lord is always first.

Take another statement. In Luke, the ninth chapter, the same point is brought out, reading from the fifty-ninth verse: “He said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Now what was the matter with this man? Something was wrong. What was it? Ought he not to bury his father, attend the funeral?—Certainly; that was perfectly legitimate. God had called this man; he heard the call, he intended to follow his Master; but he pleaded, “Suffer me first to do something else.”

“Another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home in my house.” Something else first! “Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Putting his hand to the plow and looking back! He is not looking the way he plows. Did you ever see anybody like that? I have; and isn’t it a rather common sight? So many of us have something else first.

Surely it is all right to attend your father’s funeral; it is all right to honor your parents. The commandment says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” It was all right for this man to bid farewell to his friends and his family,—those who were in his house,—but when a person lets any one or anything else come between him and his response to the call of God, he ceases to be a commandment keeper. That is what I believe he is to think about first. Keeping the commandments of God and service in his cause must hold the place of paramount importance in our lives. Everything else must take second place.

The Saviour taught us that in Matt. 10:37-39: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” So, my friends, commandment keeping means putting God first, and always first.

This same point is illustrated in the parable given by Christ as recorded in Luke 14. I read as follows: “When one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”

Now what was the matter with this first man? What got between him and his response to God’s call? Why, his land, “I’ve got some land and I must go and look after it. Master, can’t you excuse me?” And the Lord said, “Yes, you may be excused.” The Lord always excuses us when we ask him to. And the second man said, “Lord, I’ve got some cattle, some personal property, that I must look after. May I be excused?” And the Master said, “Yes.”

Now what was the trouble with these men? Isn’t it all right to buy land?—Certainly it is. Isn’t it all right to buy cattle?—Yes, perfectly right. Isn’t it all right to marry a wife?—Certainly. But, my friends, these things, which are right in themselves, must not take first place in our hearts. When they take first place, when a man asks God to excuse him from service on account of them, he ceases to be a commandment keeper. That was where the trouble was. The Lord made a striking statement in the twenty-fourth verse: “I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” Why?—Because they asked to be excused. They put something else first; and when a man does that, he surely ceases to be a commandment keeper. But only the commandment keeper is able both to “have a right to the tree of life,” and to “enter in through the gates into the city.”

We find from these scriptures, and others that we might read, that commandment keeping is one of the practical things in this world. It surely is, my friends. Commandment keeping means that an individual loves God first, and his neighbor as himself. Take the twenty-first verse of the nineteenth chapter of Matthew. In this connection we read of the rich young man who came to Christ, asking, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, . . . If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And the young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Ah, that is the secret of commandment keeping. If we would have the blessing of heaven, we must take hold and help our fellow men—love our neighbor even as we love ourselves. “Give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”

And was the young man willing to make the sacrifice; to keep the commandments?—No; the record says that “he went away sorrowful.” Why?—Because “he had great possessions.” He had something else first in his affections. He wanted to keep the commandments, and the Lord told him how to do it, but he had something he wanted to do first. He failed to meet the requirements and failed in the final outcome. We see from this that commandment keeping is a very practical thing.

We read in 1 John 5:3, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Commandment keeping is to bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Now what is the fulfilling of the law? Jesus has told us. We are to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. Then the law is fulfilled in that one word—“love.” This principle of love—how I wish I knew more about it than I do! But, my friends, love is just as willing and just as anxious and just as happy to give as to receive, even though the giving may cause it suffering. Love is happy in giving; that is commandment keeping. An individual who is happy only in receiving, never in giving, is not a commandment keeper.

Take that verse in John 3:16: “God so loved . . . that he gave.” Why does God so love us? Because of what he has given us, or because of what he has received from us? It is because of what he gave. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.” We know the fulness of the love of God because of what he gave. God so loved that he gave the most precious gift of heaven for our redemption, and he gave because “he so loved.” Therefore love is the fulfilling of the divine law.

Those who stand forth in the world as commandment keepers will be known and marked by what they give, and by the response they make to the calls of the cause of God. That principle was expressed by our Saviour in his prayer, offered when he was upon earth representing in himself all humanity. It is recorded in John 17. Standing as the second Adam upon this earth, and looking up into the face of his Father, he said, “All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” When is it that all thine are mine? When?—Why, when all mine are thine, first. That comes first; did you notice that? Man comes and says to God, “All mine are thine;” and the man who does that can claim the other part of the promise, “Thine are mine.” That is commandment keeping; that is the principle of love; it is just as anxious and happy and willing to improve an opportunity to give as to receive, and is willing to receive in order that it may be able to give.

You would expect to find the best representation of love on earth, outside of the kingdom of God, in a well-organized family—in the home. Is that not true? Is not this same principle true of the relationship between parents and children? Are not parents more happy when they have opportunity to give to their children than when they receive from their children? And the same is true of the relation between husband and wife. When do I have a right to demand of my wife all her love and affection? When will she give it to me?—Why, when she is assured that she has all of mine; when there is full and complete reciprocation. Perfect love receives that it may give, and is more happy in giving than in receiving. I understand that is commandment keeping.

I tell you, my friends, I believe that the great God above is so controlling the events taking place among the nations of earth as to give us an opportunity to work out this principle in a practical way before the close of time. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” When will he receive the crown of life?—After he has been tried. Do not mistake that. God will never place the diadem upon an untried head. As never before in the history of this world, God calls upon his people in this day to demonstrate that they are commandment keepers; to demonstrate that they are just as anxious to give as they are to receive.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Commandment Keeping *

Commandment Keeping