We learned previously that justification by faith “is the third angel’s message in verity.” COR 64. We want to continue the study of the relationship of Christ our righteousness to the message of the third angel. One of the confusing aspects of Christ our righteousness concerns obedience. Some think that righteousness is relationship, but not obedience or performance. But there are strong statements in both the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy concerning performance that we must take into account in order to understand Christ our righteousness. There is much discussion about what degree of obedience the Christian is expected to reach. Many even talk about perfection or perfectionism. So it is the topic of obedience that we want to examine in more detail.
One of the main problems in the third angel’s message concerns obedience. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand.” “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:9,12. There are two kinds of performance or obedience being contrasted here: obedience to the beast by worshipping him, or obedience to God’s commandments.
The same was true in old Babylon, and we are studying Babylon because it is an integral part of the loud cry of the third angel. We all know the story about the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace. You may recall what the people were told they had to do when the music sounded. “That at what time ye hear the…music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Daniel 3:5,6. They had to worship the image or else suffer dreadful consequences. Obedience in this case was demanded. It was required and legislated.
The same is true in Revelation 13:12, where it speaks about the first beast power causing the world to worship the beast whose wound has been healed. In verse 15, it says that they will be killed if they would not worship the beast and his image. There is an activity or performance required here that many will submit to. In contrast to worshiping the beast are those who keep God’s commandments as described in Revelation 14:12.
What I want you to see is that obedience is at the heart of the controversy concerning the third angel’s message. There are two kinds of obedience found here: obedience to the beast and his image, and obedience to God. Both are obeying, are they not? But they are obeying vastly different authorities. The Bible says that this power would think to change times and laws and to present those laws as God’s laws, so that obedience to them would be serving God.
I would like to suggest that every human being is obedient, but not necessarily to God. Sinners do obey some authority; but God is the authority that Christians obey. Disobedience to God is, in reality, obedience to an authority other than God. Every human being obeys. But to be obedient is not enough. We must be obedient to the right authority, or we do not understand what this subject is all about.
Obedience is an unusual thing. Some people obey governments, but not everyone does. Some obey bosses or their employer, some obey parents, some obey their friends or their peers, some obey their desires and self, some obey success, some obey intellect and logic (not their conscience), some obey philosophies (and there are a great variety of philosophies), some obey thought leaders. The primary difference is whom we obey and why we obey. Obedience in and of itself is not enough.
We usually think that we as a people understand obedience because of our emphasis on the law and obedience. But I think that our emphasis has been on the right and wrong of obedience rather than on a correct understanding of what obedience really is. If you are primarily concerned with what is right and wrong, you might totally miss the meaning of obedience. It is not enough to know what constitutes right obedience. We must also know what obedience is. Understanding obedience is a difficult thing sometimes. It seems obvious, but it is vastly different than the way we often think about it.
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says the word “obey” means “to be ruled or controlled.” Some people do not like the idea of being controlled. For the word “obedient,” the dictionary says it means “submission to control, to restraint, or to command.” We do not like restraints, either. By the way, all authorities have restraints, not just God and the church. Your friends have restraints, such as never telling their secrets (that would make you a traitor to them). There are certain things that you must do or you are not a friend. You must identify yourself with that group by what you do or do not do. With all bosses there are certain restraints— both things that you cannot do and things you must do. The government has many restraints such as traffic regulations and paying taxes. Every authority has restraints.
And obedience is submission to authority, to their restraints, commands, and controls. Other definitions included in the dictionary for the word “obedience” include “due and willing submission to authority or control.” Since it is willing, you make the choice to obey or not to obey.
In essence, obedience means unconditional surrender. That may sound confusing at first, but ultimately, obedience does mean unconditional surrender to some authority. When captured by a superior force in war, the vanquished become obedient as part of the terms of unconditional surrender. They lay down their weapons and the fight is over; and they obey. This is a difficult thing for us to accept. We might have a mental comprehension of surrender, but that is not enough. It must go way inside us until we act properly because of our firm grasp on this concept of obedience.
Since every one is obedient to some authority (or authorities), and since everyone is in willing submission to a chosen authority, then a certain unique relationship is established between you and any authority you choose to serve. That relationship is described by Paul; and I wish you would at least memorize this text and think about it for a while. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16.
As soon as you obey someone, you make yourself a servant of that person, or that authority. In several Bible translations, it does not say servant. It says slave. To whomever you yield yourselves slaves to obey, his slaves (or bondsmen) you are. This is the correct interpretation of the Greek word doulos. As soon as I yield myself to obey some authority, I become his slave. To any who say they do not believe that, I answer that it was God who inspired this to be written, not I. I hope you recognize that none of us are superior to Him. He said it that way. As soon as I yield my life to obey an authority, I become his slave. He has domination over me. The Bible teaches this clearly, and you need to understand it.
All of life is submission to some authority. Since everyone is yielded to some authority, this then makes one thing extremely necessary, which the Lord took into consideration. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are.” Romans 6:16. If I yield to an authority, it means I do so of my own choice. It means that to some extent, I have deliberated about this submission, and I willingly choose to serve that authority. I am not talking about which authority; just that we willingly choose to obey an authority. The Lord decreed that we would yield, that we would choose, that we would submit willingly, not forcefully.
There is a difference between the slavery in Romans 6:16 and the slavery seen in the United States over a century ago. Those were unwilling slaves. They never chose slavery. They did not want it. They despised it and wanted to get away. The slavery mentioned here is a free choice. We willing yield ourselves as servants to obey. This involves a choice to go into that type of submission to that particular authority. That is different. It is not a forced submission but a willful submission. The Bible says that all of us are in willful slavery by our own selection and choice with premeditation and forethought.
I am sure that many would like to disagree here, but I wish you would take the time and ask the question: Is God right? Try to understand what He is telling us, which is that everyone lives in submission to some authority of their own personal choice.
The slavery that Paul wrote about--the slavery of the Christian life, or slavery to sin or Satan—is vastly different than forced slavery. Inherent in this type of slavery is a freedom to choose. If we lack this freedom of choice, then once we find ourselves subject to an authority, we can never escape. You might discover you have chosen the wrong authority, but if there is no freedom of choice after you have made the wrong choice, you can never choose another master. Salvation would be meaningless, and Christianity would be a mockery. There is no salvation without freedom of choice as to whom you will serve. Salvation is based on freedom of choice. If I make one misstep and choose the wrong master, I am dominated as long as I live and I cannot get out, unless there is freedom of choice.
God has decreed and has guaranteed freedom of choice for you and for me and for everyone. We ask people in the gospel message to choose. They cannot choose to stop sinning, but they can choose to serve a new Master. He becomes the power in their life that enables them to cease from sin. He gives me the opportunity to change masters.
This is made clear in the following quote: “Many are inquiring, ‘How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?’ You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections….What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.” SC 47.
God knew that this freedom of choice was basic and the most vital point of all Christianity, because everyone at some point finds themselves serving the wrong master. How do I escape from servitude to the wrong master? Not by trying to stop sinning. The will does not function there. It is incapable. But I may choose Someone who has the power to lead me in a different life. I may choose a new Master, and the Bible guarantees that freedom of choice. All willing slavery comes because of choice; but after slavery to the wrong master, I still may choose to escape by choosing a new master. This ought to make us extremely happy. If you do not recognize that you are a slave, I am sure you will not be happy about this. Or if you are blissfully happy in slavery to the wrong master, you will not recognize any value to the freedom of choice. But if you are miserable and wondering how on earth you can escape from the terrible rut you are in, the discovery that God guarantees the power of choice is a joyful thing. When Christ came down to this planet, He was guaranteeing the power of choice. A new Master came to be our Brother and our King to rule in our lives. What a marvelous thing!
The Bible assures us of the privilege of repentance. Repentance in the Bible means a turning around; and the Bible says you can always turn around and go in the other direction. I can turn around and make a new choice by His grace, and start all over again with a new master.
Keep some of these thoughts in mind as we go back and look again at what happened in Babylon. Notice this power of choice now that you understand how basic it is in Christianity. “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Daniel 3:6. What were their choices? If they would not worship and obey as the king said, they would die. Christians will choose death over obedience to the wrong master. But those are not equal options or choices because the result of making one particular choice would lead to their death. When man was deprived of his privilege of choosing his master, what did God do in Daniel 3? He countermanded the king’s decree, which was supposed to be impossible with the unchangeable law of the Babylonians.
Daniel chapter 6 tells how the leaders in Media Persia (the daughter of Babylon, as she is called by the prophets) deprived man of the privilege of prayer. “All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellers, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” Daniel 6:7,8. It was decreed that for thirty days the people could only ask petitions of the king and of no other authority. They knew Daniel would pray during that time, so they intentionally deprived him of choice because the only other option was to be cast into the lion’s den. What did God do? He changed the king’s commandment. And those who came down to rob men of freedom of choice ended up where they wished their enemies to be. They ended up in the lion’s den because they deprived men of freedom of choice.
There are many things we can do wrong in this life and be forgiven, but when we begin to deprive people of their freedom of choice, we are treading on dangerous ground. Sometimes we think that as Christians we can do this legitimately because the end justifies the means, but it does not. The means must always be freedom to choose, even though the loss of salvation is the result. We can never deprive people of that personal choice. God does not want to force choice. He always wants a willing, conscientious decision. It must be that way. In all our Bible studies and in our dealings with our children and everyone else, they must have the utmost freedom. No coercion ever. Soul winning is not forcing people into the baptistery. We have much rebellion in our ranks because we sometimes try to force people. We cannot choose for them. When they become old enough, they choose for themselves, and it must always be their choice.
We are all willingly in subjection to that great Master. Too often we make attendance to church a legislated activity, a decree by parents or the church. This is legislated worship. We are depriving people of freedom of choice. They will serve by fear or by force, but not by willing choice. We are breaking their will when we dominate them that way. God does not break the will. He seeks the cooperation of the will. We must allow people to exercise their will or we will not have Christians. We will have fearful slaves, not willing servants of the Lord.
God has always intervened at some point whenever man’s will was taken away. When in the last days the ruling authority shall decree “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:15), God will intervene. People must be allowed the freedom to choose whom they will serve. The only true freedom is the freedom of the conscience—the freedom to choose and make choices of our own volition. Some people define freedom in a way that is pure license and permissiveness; but doing your own thing is not freedom for it deprives another person of his thing. Whenever I want to do my own thing, I am not considering you or anybody else; just self, and that is not love for others.
Both the Bill of Rights within the American Constitution and God Himself guarantees freedom to all peoples, not just to one person. Therefore, my freedom is in the context of your freedom, and yours is in the context of my freedom; and therefore we have a joint freedom. It is individualized and personal when it comes to choosing a master. We must be careful about our definitions of freedom and thank the Lord for countries in which the citizens have been permitted the guarantee of freedom of choice in the matters of conscience, and especially in matters of religion. It is a glorious privilege that has been a blessing to our church and to many others.
God will allow me to choose self or Satan. He wishes I will choose Him and He will seek to woo me to Himself. But He will permit me to go into slavery to self. If He forced me elsewhere, He would not be granting freedom of choice. When we make the choice for self to be our master, many will ask God why He did not stop them. He did not because He would deprive them of freedom. You must be able to choose at all times. He dare not stop you or He would not be a God of love. He would be just like the authorities of this world and like the beast that would legislate your activity. He will not stop you from making your own choice. Many have discovered that they can do anything they please; and they also discover that they are in slavery to all kinds of sins. God lets you do that, not because He wants you to fall into sin, but because He desires you to have the choice that you wish. You have that kind of freedom; and once you start obeying, you are in submission to that authority. Our freedom is not in the authority, but in the choice of authority. After we make our choice, the obedience to that authority puts us into subjection. But we have the freedom before we get to that point.
Man is always free to turn around and leave one master and choose another. The Old Testament’s symbolism was beautiful about this in the book of Exodus. It is found in many places, but we seldom think about it this way. “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” “And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master [notice the word love], my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.” Exodus 21: 2,5,6
How did He get into servitude forever? He loved his master and chose to stay there. The master did not choose for the servant to stay. The servant chose to stay because he loved his master. They could change their master every seven years under the old Hebrew economy. In the year of Jubilee, all were free and the land was free, and all land reverted back to its original owner; and there were no debts for they were all paid up every fifty years. We think we are modern, but we are behind many thousands of years. Imagine all debts being wiped out every fifty years. No debts!
This also means that I can escape from the mastery of sin, this terrible thing that drags us down and oppresses us. I can choose God as my new Master and He delivers me. I serve Him by choice, and not by fear. At this point, some will say, “But if I do not serve God, I am going to die.” Therefore, we might think that He is just like all the rest—like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, the beast and the image. People mistakenly think that God forces them, too. They say it is not a free choice because the options are unbalanced, for I will die if I do not obey God. I do not think the Bible teaches that. It is in fact a perversion of the Scriptures.
As Jesus left the temple for the last time (which was His house among men and God’s presence with man), He gave these thoughts about Jerusalem and the Jews: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matthew 23:37. Note that He did not say they could not submit to Him, but that they would not. The word would has to do with the will. You will not. A mother hen gathers her chickens for protection from a hawk or an eagle. She gathers them under her wings so they will be safe. The Lord tells His people that He has often wanted to protect them, and has sent messages of love to them through the prophets, and invited all that labor and are heavy laden to go to Him for rest. But many will not go to Him. They will not choose Him to rule over them.
God’s plea to mankind has always been: “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Ezekiel 33:11. God is saying He cannot understand why you want to die. He came to give you life that you might have it abundantly. He has no pleasure in your death. Turn from your sins unto Him. Choose a different master. Choose Christ. The Bible holds before us the privilege of another choice. Choose Him, for He has chosen you.
Wherever you go, the Lord will seek to remind you that He has chosen you. You will experience little pangs of conscience when you seek to do the things of another authority. There is no pressure or force, just the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice of condemnation and the guilt is usually from the devil. There is no wooing or enticing in condemnation or guilt. God sent not His Son to condemn us but to save us. Never accuse Him of being the accuser. The word Satan means accuser, but God is not the accuser. He is the Savior. He is the comforter and He seeks to woo us back to a joyful, willing, chosen service to Him. He does not enslave us against our will. Choose you this day, is what the Bible says. He wants to allure me and win me, not force me. And I gladly make that choice, and I am delighted when I have done it.
Remember that we are studying Christ our righteousness and how it relates to the third angel’s message. You may not yet have seen the connection between what you have been reading and the subject of the third angel’s message. If you go back to Romans 6:16, the connection is found there. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” By yielding myself to the right Master, I find myself in righteousness. I must choose the Master of righteousness. This is the way to find salvation.
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God.” Romans 6:6,13. Yield to His mastery. It is your choice.
“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [or slaves] of righteousness.” Romans 6:18. When you are a slave, someone tells you everything to do. They command and order your life. Christian slavery is like that. We willingly choose the Master to be over us. We willingly choose to obey Him at all times. We are always free to stay with Him or leave Him. We can always escape; and the choices we make are not whether we are going to sin or not, but to whom we are going to listen, and who we will choose to be our master. Those are the choices. Whenever I come to a crossroad in my life, I must make a choice of which master I will allow to guide me.
Some people say that our choice is to either sin or to do what is right. I do not think so. I think we can only choose which master we will have to rule over us. Will I let Christ dominate in my life? Or will it be self, or a friend, or somebody else? Which will it be? I become righteous by serving the right Master. I do not become righteous by trying to be good or by choosing not to commit this or that sin. There is only One who can make us righteous. We cannot make ourselves righteous. A slave cannot make himself anything, not even free. Only someone else can do that for us, and so we must come to Him.
Most have seen this text: “This is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:6. The Bible supplies the bold text. What does the word “Lord” mean? It means Master. When I make Him my Lord and my God, He masters me, He dominates me, He controls me, He restrains me, He commands me; and it is my willing submission that permits Him to do that. He is the Master of righteousness and He rules me in righteousness. He is Christ our righteousness.
How little we understand about obedience. When it comes to obedience, some will say, “Okay, He wants me to obey, so I will try my best to obey.” That is not it at all. You cannot serve God and mammon, you cannot be enslaved to two opposites. Therefore, it is not trying to obey Him, but rather surrendering and submitting to Him, and making the choice for Him to dominate you.
It is somewhat like getting married. There is a certain domination and restraint in marriage. When I was young fellow, I had a ball-and-chain concept of marriage. I wasn’t sure if I wanted that kind of slavery. Some tolerate that kind of slavery. Others find fault with it. But many find it enjoyable or they would get a divorce. Some people can hardly wait to get into slavery when it comes to marriage. And some young ladies are actively campaigning to put the fellows into slavery, and the ladies can hardly wait; and some fellows are just like that, too. They are waiting for the right person to capture them. Getting married brings about certain restraints. I have had young people come to me after they have been married for a few months and say they never dreamed they would not be free when they got married. It is a revelation to them. When two people get together, sometimes they do not agree on the things they want to do. But in the marriage relationship, there are certain restrictions on what a spouse can and cannot do. But if you love the other person, those restrictions are not so bad, are they? Many people have enjoyed fifty years in slavery, and their fiftieth wedding anniversary is like a big blowout. They gather their families and friends to help commemorate this great event with them--celebrating fifty years of slavery! It all has to do with the choice they each made and continue to make.
The Lord desires freedom for you and for me. When we choose the right Master, He becomes the Lord our Righteousness. As He commands us, we obey Him because we love Him, and we find ourselves doing what He wants, and His will is righteousness. It is and always will be.
Some will get the wrong idea about this slavery, so I must explain more about it. We know that “Righteousness is love.” MB 18. We also know that “Obedience is a surrender of the heart to the sovereignty of love.” MB 46. A sovereign is a king. He rules. Obedience to God is a willing obedience, a willing submission, to the sovereignty of His love.
Christ is described in the New Testament under the symbolism of Melchisedec. Christ is called the “King of righteousness.” Hebrews 7:2. He is the King, or Ruler of righteousness, the One who dominates people in righteousness. As we give our hearts to Him, He rules us in righteousness.
The Spirit of Prophecy wants us to understand that “obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love….It is a service and allegiance of love.” SC 60. This is not something that is exacted of us. It is not something demanded any more than you can demand someone to marry you. If you demand someone to marry you they will say, “Forget it!” You cannot exact love. Therefore, when the Lord wants obedience or He wants righteousness, He has to win it, He has to woo us, He has to allure us and entice us. He loves us first so that we might love Him in response. This is freedom; and all submission, in this context, is always and ultimately our free choice. I am motivated by love to make the choice to submit and to tell God I want Him to rule me. When I am happy with Him telling me what to do, I have found true Christianity.
Do you understand obedience? I said at the beginning that this is difficult for us. Most of us have had our minds trained to think of obedience in ways that prove we really do not understand obedience. We can intellectualize on the subject and theorize about it, but that does not mean we know it. Even after we hear the truth about obedience, we have a tendency to go right away and say, “I have to obey.” I have to keep the Sabbath. I have to do this or that. No, you do not have to keep the Sabbath. You do not have to go to church, you do not have to pay tithes and offerings, you do not have to give Bible studies, you do not have to be a vegetarian. You are free to obey any master you decide to serve. But the Lord is always seeking to draw us unto Himself by His great love. Always.
He wants to be the Master of my life, providing that it is my willful, free choice. Many think they have to go to church school, or to church, or to Sabbath school. That is not it, friend. We are training our children to believe that our God is a God of force. He is not. He is a God who wins us by His tremendous love and goodness to us. There is no forced submission. He is always seeking to win us.
When we submit willfully, tremendous things happen. “Through the right exercise of the will [that is the choice], an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ [a free choice we all have], you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.” SC 48. As I choose the highest of all authorities, the One above heaven and earth itself, I have allied myself to might and to power, to love, and to righteousness; and as He manipulates me by my choice, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. And righteousness is always love. Always! And love is righteousness for “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10.
What a perversion we have made of obedience. Obedience is one of the most blessed things you can find. Obedience is not trying to be good. It is not trying to do the right thing. Obedience is an absolute surrender to His sovereign love. I yield everything to God, and ask Him to take over and rule me.
In Ephesians 5, Paul puts all this in the context of Christ and the church by talking about wives submitting themselves to their husbands, and husbands loving their wives. The reason why a wife should submit to her husband is because of his love. If a wife submits, but is not convinced of her husband’s love, she is submitting by force. A good husband will love his wife so much that she cannot keep from loving him and submitting to him. Submission is a natural response to love. The church is the bride of Christ, and He asks us to submit ourselves to Him, and in so doing, He will make us happy. Righteousness is a result of that submission, and that submission is evidenced by obedience. But it is not the obedience that saves us. It is the surrender, the submission to Him, and He saves us. When we know He loves us and wants to save us, we submit to Him and gladly obey. We allow Him to save us by our choice.
It is that freedom of choice that the devil does not like. He knows that freedom of choice will lead to obedience to the right Master, and therefore to righteousness; and the fact that people willingly submit to the sovereignty of God’s love proves that the devil is a liar. It makes him appear so vilely wrong that the whole universe will know it; therefore, he seeks to attack the very foundation of freedom of choice. He seeks to prevent us from exercising our freedom of choice. He tries to get us involved with a different master and convince us that we cannot have the freedom of choosing another master; and thus he makes us feel that we will be eternally lost. That is exactly what the beast does. He attacks freedom of choice. He will set up circumstances where we must either obey him, or die.
Many people will believe that it is God who gives us that choice because the beast power professes to speak for God. He sits in the place of God, and claims to represent God. Many, even within our own ranks, believe that God is like that—that we must obey Him. And the devil has convinced many that, once we are enslaved, we cannot get out, and that we can never choose another authority. And too often we use the devil’s tactics in coercing our children, our converts, our neighbors, our friends, our acquaintances. We do not woo them by love. We restrict them. We exact of them, we demand from them, we threaten, we oppress, we do all kinds of things and think that we are doing God’s work. That is not God’s work.
The Lord said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32. Once you see His great love, your heart will be softened. In these last days, when the devil seeks to misrepresent God, He wants a people to demonstrate a love that is courteous and kind and tenderhearted. He wants a people that will love others so much that they will grant them ultimate freedom of choice. And as they walk by your house they say, “You are a different kind of Christian. Everybody else twists my arm, but you make me feel free to choose. You use only love to win me over. I like your God.”
It is a marvelous privilege that we have to choose whom we will serve. And the Authority of all authorities, the King of all kings says, “I want you to choose Me. Will you choose Me because you love Me? Don’t serve Me by fear or by force. Choose Me because you see My great love for you. I love you with an everlasting love. I cannot let you go. Why will you die? Turn and go the other way. Choose Me.”
Whom will you serve? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. May God bless you as you make your choice, today and every day.