I sincerely hope that, very soon, we will not be having anymore meetings like this. I want to get out of this world, do you? And when we get to heaven, we'll all go to church together every week. I try to imagine that scene in my mind every Sabbath--what that will be like. We are here in this world for a little bit of time to prepare for heaven; that's what our existence is about, that's why we're here. The only real reason for living is to get prepared and be to ready for eternity.

We have been studying from John the seventeenth chapter where Jesus prayed for His disciples that they might have unity and be one with Him as He is one with the Father. Then He prayed, starting in verse 20, for all those who would believe in Him on account of His word, that they might have this same unity and harmony. He says in John 17:26, "I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." We saw earlier this week that before we ever have unity with each other, we must first come into unity with Jesus. When we all come into unity and harmony with Him, then we also will have unity and harmony with each other.

We saw that coming into unity or harmony with Jesus involves several things. Number one: We must become one spirit with Him, we must have His Spirit. Number two: We must be one character with Him, we must have His character. Number three: We must be one with Him in faith. The saints of God in the last days are described as those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, so we must be one with Him in faith. We saw that if we are to be one with Jesus in character, we must keep the law because Jesus kept the law. So if we are one with Him in character, we will be keeping His law. We also saw that anytime there is discord or dissension among God's people, the reason is because we are not keeping the commandments. Anytime that we are in dissension or disunity, we will find that we are not keeping the commandments.

Let me just read that to you. It is from Selected Messages, vol. 2, 159. It says, "Unity is the strength of the church. Satan knows this, and he employs his whole force to bring in dissension. He desires to see a lack of harmony among the members of the church of God. Greater attention should be given to the subject of unity. What is the recipe for the cure of the leprosy of strife and dissension?" That's the question! The next sentence says, "Obedience to the commandments of God." So what's the cure? Obedience to the commandments of God. Jesus kept the law. When he said to the Jews, "Which of you convinces Me of sin?" they had nothing to say. He was a commandment-keeper. And if I am going to be one in character with Him, I must be a commandment-keeper also.

And so with this in mind, I wanted to find out what and where in the law of God, what is it in the law of God that is going to solve this problem--the dissension, the strife, the trouble in families, in churches, all over the world. The place to start is at the beginning. So we have been studying the first commandment. We will not go over all that we have studied before about the first commandment, but the first commandment says, "You shall have no other gods before Me." I mentioned the other day that this was spoken by Jesus Christ on Mount Sinai. "You shall have no other gods before Me." There is a depth of meaning in that statement that I want to understand.

Before we start studying again this morning, I want to review something that we studied before to help us all understand the importance of the first commandment. This is in Signs of (lie Times, August 2, 1899. She says concerning the first commandment, "Upon this command depends all the rest. This is the substance of all obedience."

I mentioned the other day that before you break any of the other commandments, you always break the first one first. So we started to evaluate and study the first commandment. The first thing you have to study when you study the first commandment is, if you are to have no other gods before Him, who and what is God and what does that mean for Him to be God in my life? What does that mean? Now the Bible describes the Lord as a great King. It calls Him the King of glory. In Revelation He's called the "King of kings and Lord of lords." A king has a throne. And from the throne of a king, judgment is pronounced. We saw that that's the way it's described in the seventh chapter of Daniel when it describes the judgment of God--it talks about the throne. Judgment comes from the throne.

By the way, if you want to do an interesting study in Revelation, you can study that out in Revelation. Revelation has a lot to say about the throne of God and what is spoken from that throne.

But then we ask the question, where is God enthroned? The first answer is, Well, His throne is in heaven. The Bible says that. But we read a couple of texts that show that He wants His throne to be not only in heaven. Let's read those again.

Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 66:1,2: "Thus says the Lord: 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,' says the Lord. 'But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.'"

God is not just in heaven on a throne, He wants to be enthroned in your heart and my heart. And friend, until He is enthroned in your heart, you can't keep the first commandment or any of the rest of them. Let's read that from the Spirit of Prophecy: "Unless God is enthroned in the heart, the commandments are violated; for we have other gods before the Lord of hosts." Review and Herald, June 2, 1891. So where is God's throne? Not just in heaven! God is looking for a people that will enthrone Him in their hearts. And unless God is enthroned in my heart, the commandments are violated, because I have other gods before the Lord.

Look at what it says here in Isaiah 57:15. "For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'"

Now let's think that through for just a little bit. God is to be enthroned, not just in heaven, but in my heart. And what is my heart? The heart is the center of my emotions and my feelings-- love proceeds from the heart. Let's think this through. I cannot have God enthroned in my heart unless I love Him. Does that make sense? It's impossible for me to have God enthroned in my heart unless I love Him with all my heart? I mentioned the other day that that's the problem with Laodicea. Maybe I should read that statement again.

"Love of self excludes the love of Christ. Those who live for self are ranged under the head of the Laodicean church who are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot" Our High Calling, 348. What's the problem with Laodicea? The problem with Babylon is that they don't even keep the law of God or even claim to. Laodicea claims to keep the law of God, but they love themselves more than they love the Lord, and so they're not really keeping it. They claim to keep it, they profess to keep it; but self is enthroned in the heart instead of the Lord. She says that this is what constitutes the Laodicean condition.

"We need to feel our obligation to the higher Power. That presence is ever with us, asserting supreme authority, and taking account of the service that we render or withhold. There is altogether too lithe reverence and sincere love for God, and altogether too much self-seeking. 'Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.' This command must be sacredly observed if we would fulfill the purpose of God for us in our creation and redemption. We must rise heavenward, making God first and last and best in everything. He is our sole, supreme, and everlasting good. Before we are ready to enter His kingdom, self must be crucified. When self is made first, God is put aside, and the sweet sense of His presence and love is lost." Review and Herald, November 24, 1910.

So if I am going to keep the first commandment, the first commandment encapsulates the entire gospel. I was surprised when I found that out. I had thought all my life that the law and the gospel were two separate things, but the first commandment encapsulates the entire gospel. You cannot keep the first commandment without the gospel, because to keep the first commandment, self must be crucified, self must die, self must be totally surrendered to God and the vacuum must be filled up with the Holy Spirit. God must be enthroned in the heart. That's what conversion's all about, that's what the new birth is all about, that's what the new heart is all about.

Read the book Steps to Christ, read the book of Romans. What is one of the major thrusts of the entire book of Romans? Well you read it in chapters 6--8, and actually you read it all the way through the rest of the book, but especially in chapters 6--8. Doesn't Paul talk over and over again about dying to self so that the Lord can live inside? Isn't that what Paul talks about? He devotes whole chapters to a discussion of that, because until that happens, you can't keep the first commandment.

Christ says that before we are ready to enter His kingdom, self must be crucified. When self is made first, God is put aside and the sweet sense of His presence and love is lost. I want to tell you that when you start studying this, when you start delving into it like I mentioned the other day, if you had any self-confidence before, it will leave you, it will be gone.

Ask the question, Is self totally dead? Is Christ enthroned in my heart? Can I really say that my heart is not divided and Jesus is enthroned in my heart? This is so important. What we're talking about is so important that Ellen White made the statement once that it is all that God requires. Now that might sound surprising to you; some people think that God has all manner of requirements. But if you meet this one requirement, you're going to have all the rest.

Maybe I should read that to you. You can find this in Mind, Character, and Personality, or if you have the Bible Commentaries, it's in volume 6, 1100,1101. It says, "When self is submerged in Christ, true love springs forth spontaneously. It is not an emotion or an impulse, but a decision of a sanctified will. It consists not in feeling, but in the transformation of the whole heart, soul, and character, which is dead to self and alive unto God. Our Lord and Saviour asks us to give ourselves to Him. Surrendering self to God is all He requires." That's it! That's all God asks for. If you surrender self to Him and Christ is enthroned within, then you're keeping the first commandment. When you keep the first commandment you'll be able to keep the rest of the commandments. Before you break the rest of the commandments, you'll break the first one first.

"Surrendering self to God is all He requires, giving ourselves to Him to be employed as He sees fit. Until we come to this point of surrender, we shall not work happily, usefully, or successfully anywhere." Oh friend, is what we're studying important? It's so important Ellen White says this is all that God requires. If you are keeping the first commandment, if Christ is enthroned in your heart, you're going to be saved.

Now to His disciples, Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If Jesus is enthroned in my heart, will I obey and follow the truth? He is the way, the truth, and the life. When you turn away from the truth, you turn away from Him, you're taking Him out of the way, you're setting something else up in the throne of your heart.

"When truth occupies the citadel of the soul, Christ is enthroned in the heart, and the human agent can then say, 'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.'" Review and Herald, October 9, 1894. Self must die, self must be crucified so that Jesus can be enthroned in my heart that I might love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the first and great commandment is, "You shall love the Lord with all your heart." Let me ask you something: If I love the Lord with all my heart, how much of my heart is left to love me? It's something worth thinking through. See our problem is this: the devil's problem and the great counterfeit is to set ourselves up in the throne of our heart instead of the Lord. That's the Laodicean condition. Self must die, self must be crucified and we want to know how that happens.

"Self must die, and Christ must be enthroned in the heart as all and in all. The thoughts must be stayed on Him." Upward Look, 200. And then she says that when that happens you're going to receive divine power and you'll be able to resist the devil. How can my self be crucified? How can my self die so that Jesus can occupy the throne in my heart?

Then I am open and in a position to have unalloyed joy and happiness and eternal life, because Jesus, if He is on the throne of my heart, will cover me with His righteousness. Receiving Jesus is to receive the truth and to receive righteousness. Before you can receive righteousness you must be convicted of sin and self must be crucified. Then Jesus is received into the vacuum of the heart. That's what Jesus was talking about in Matthew the twelfth chapter--the man who had the unclean spirit and then when the unclean spirit went out the unclean spirit went seeking rest and found none and then he said, "I will return to the man from whence I came out," and he returned. But the vacuum had not been occupied by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus was not enthroned on the throne of the heart. The Holy Spirit was not in control of that man's life and so the evil spirit went back in. Nobody lives in a vacuum; there's a great controversy going on.

We think perhaps that when our self is enthroned inside of our heart that we're in control, but we're not. We think we are, but we're not. You can read it in Testimonies to Ministers, 79, among other places, where she says that everyone who is not a servant of Christ is a servant of who? Satan. We think we're in control , but we're not. The devil's in control. By the way, that's what's wrong with hypnotism. People think that they're in control of somebody else's mind, but behind them there's somebody else really in control and it's not the Lord.

Self must die. What I want to know is how can this happen for me? Don't think, friends, that somebody that's been a Christian a long time, or a pastor, or evangelist doesn't need to study this. As I was studying it I found out that Ellen White wrote to the president of the General Conference and told him that this was his problem. He'd been president of the General Conference a long time, too. He was a successful enough Seventh-day Adventist minister that all the brethren thought that he ought to be the leader of our worldwide work. I believe that, from my little study of his later life, that he accepted her counsel, and I have every desire of meeting him in the kingdom.

But if the president of the General Conference, if our leading ministers need help on this point, what about me? Is there any possibility that I could need help? When I first studied that I thought to myself, How is it that Ellen White talks to all of our leading ministers like they're not even converted? But the more I thought about it, the more scary it got. If they weren't even converted, how about me?

How can this happen in my life? One of the ways that the Lord helps us to die to self is by letting us go through trials-- letting us go through trials. First of all, we don't believe, as Christians, in any manner or creature worship, that's forbidden in the second commandment. We don't put our trust in being able to crucify ourselves. Have you ever seen or heard of anybody crucifying themselves? Just think it through: you can't crucify yourself. It's very interesting to me, as I thought this through, that when you talk about dying to self, the apostle Paul talks about it as the crucifixion of self and you can't crucify yourself. Just think through what crucifixion is. You can't do it to yourself. You can do it to somebody else, but you can't do it to yourself. You're going to have to have help. Where is the help going to come from?

Here's where the help is going to come from: "Christ came to our world because He saw that men had lost the image and nature of God. He saw that they had wandered far from the path of peace and purity, and that, if left to themselves, they would never find their way back. He came with a full and complete salvation, to change our stony hearts to hearts of flesh, to change our sinful natures into His similitude, that, by being partakers of the divine nature, we might be fitted for the heavenly courts. He is about to do for us 'exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.' Look only to Him; for He is your righteousness, your all-sufficient sacrifice." Youth's Instructor, September 9, 1897.

Did you get that sentence--what it said to do? What did it say to do? It said to look! "Oh," somebody says, "Pastor John, it couldn't be that simple." But it is that simple.

Do you remember when the children of Israel were dying because of those serpents that had bitten them in the wilderness? God gave them an illustration of the gospel and how it works. He had Moses set up a serpent on a pole and Jesus used that to explain the gospel to Nicodemus. And Moses told the children of Israel, "If you're bitten by the serpent. . ." How many of us have been bitten by the Serpent? All. Moses said, "If you've been bitten by the serpent" do what? Look! Now you can read in Patriarchs and Prophets, there's some people that wouldn't look. They died, too.

We studied this before, we must go over it again. Do you understand why Ellen White says in Desire of Ages, 83, 84 that it would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ? We should take it point by point and let the imagination dwell. Then she says that we should dwell especially upon the closing scenes. Are you looking? Have you spent any time today looking? Has a study and meditation of the life of Christ become a top priority in your life? Look.

"As by faith you accept His mercy, you will be cleansed and purified. As you believe on Him,--the One who brings life to the soul,--you will rise to a new life, a life which finds its highest joy in service for the Master. Self will be cast out, and Christ will be enthroned in your heart." Youth's Instructor, September 9, 1897. What's the result of looking? You're going to believe and you're going to rise up. You're going to receive spiritual life just like when they looked at that serpent When they looked, when they fastened their attention in that direction, something happened--a miracle happened inside. Friend, I don't know about you, but I need a miracle inside.

You cannot crucify yourself, you cannot cast yourself out of your heart. Jesus said, "Look to Me all ye at the ends of the earth and be saved." Where are you looking?

Number two: Are you asking? You can't crucify yourself, but Jesus said that if you ask, you're going to receive. Are you asking? Everyday are you saying to the Lord, "Lord, I want myself to die. I want myself to be crucified. I want Jesus to be enthroned in my heart." Is the kingdom of God enthroned in your heart by Christ's presence abiding there, or is self still a controlling power within?

This is Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 33: "Whose subjects are you? If a selfish spirit continues to keep you out of Christ's service, pray, 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.' Pray, oh, pray most earnestly, 'Put Thy Spirit, Lord, Thy Holy Spirit, within my heart, that I may be sincere in keeping my baptismal vow. . .' Pray that unbelief shall no longer lead you to claim to be in God's service, while in life-practice, because of a perverted will, you reveal that you are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Pray for the power to demonstrate to the world that you are dead to sin, and that your life is indeed hid with Christ in God."

Are you praying? Are you praying everyday and saying, "Lord, please, I have a tiger in my heart, I can't crucify myself. Lord, I'm looking to you. I pray that self may be crucified and die and that Jesus may come in and occupy the throne of my heart that He may be enthroned in my heart."

The will--we must look, we must ask and we must choose. Do you remember that the apostle Paul said in the book of Romans, he said, "To will is present with me?" He says, "I don't know how to do it, but I can make a choice. See, I cannot crucify myself; I am dependent upon Divine Power, but I can make a choice." God honors the choices of free moral agents. God does not work contrary or in opposition to the choice, so it is very important to make a choice.

This is from the book Healthful Living, 304, 305: "Your energies are required to co-operate with God. Without this, if it were possible to force upon you a hundredfold greater intensity the influences of the Spirit of God, it would not make you a Christian, a fit subject for heaven. The stronghold of Satan would not be broken. There must be the willing and the doing on the part of the receiver. There must be an action, represented as coming out from the world and being separate. There must be a doing of the words of Christ. The soul must be emptied of self, that Christ may pour His Spirit into the vacuum. Christ must be chosen as the heavenly guest" Have you made the choice? We must look, we should spend time looking everyday, we must ask, but we must also choose. The Bible says, "Choose you this day whom you will.

"Christ must be chosen as the heavenly guest The will must be placed on the side of God's will." That's a choice. By the way, you do not have to feel like doing it to do it. Always remember that: you do not have to feel like it. You choose whether you feel like it or not. God will honor your choice. When I am in a bakery or some other place, there are many things that I feel like buying that I do not--I make a choice. "Then there is a new heart, and new, holy resolves. It is Jesus enthroned in the soul that makes every action easy in His service." Healthful living, 305. Remember when Jesus was here, He said to the people, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy."

When is the yoke easy? When you lay aside the worldly yoke-- that's the death to self. Jesus is enthroned in your heart--that means that you love Him with all of your heart. That's what it means to have Him enthroned in your heart, because the heart is the center of your affections and your emotions. When you love Him with all of your heart and your soul and your mind, then His service, the Christian life, is easy. She says it makes every action easy in his service.

Oh my young friend, does the Christian life seem like just a bunch of uphill business where you're just struggling, struggling, struggling and all you ever do is struggle? There's no joy, no happiness, just self-denial and trouble and that's all you can see of Christianity? You know why that is? That's because self is still alive; self isn't crucified; Jesus has not been enthroned in your heart. When Jesus is enthroned in your heart, then, and only then, does serving Him become easy.

We could give many illustrations from human experience but I must hurry along. But there is one other point that we must cover. We're not going to cover everything. There is one other point that we must cover in studying about the crucifixion of self and that is this: The crucifixion of self involves confession. Here's what Ellen White said about this in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 698: "Whatever the character of your sin, confess it. If it is against God only, confess only to him. If you have wronged or offended others, confess also to them and a blessing of the Lord will rest upon you. In this way you die to self and Christ is formed within."

Oh friend, are you making everything right? Our main subject is not about confession, but over and over again Ellen White emphasized that if we're going to receive the latter rain, we must be repenting and confessing our sins. Somebody says, "How could that be? I've been a Christian for twenty years." Well, I don't know about you, but I've been a Christian for over forty years and I still have to write letters of apology and confession. Now maybe you're way beyond me in your Christian experience, I don't know, but dying to self involves confession. Even if we haven't sinned against somebody, if we find out that we have said or done something and they believe that we have offended them, we have some obligations. Read Matthew 5:23, 24. I find myself writing many letters of that kind.

But now I want to come to something else. This is a big subject, but we will hurry. We cannot read each others hearts, and in fact, Ellen White has told us that we know very little of our own heart. So if we know so little about ourselves as inspiration tells us that we do, the Bible says that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it." If we know so little about ourselves, how can we tell if we're having this experience day by day? Are we really crucified to self? Are we dead to self? Is Jesus enthroned within?

In inspired writings we're given a few barometer readings. Do you know what a barometer reading is? You may not be able to feel at all, but the barometer can tell you something about what the weather's going to do if you know how to interpret it. In the same way we're given some barometer readings in the inspired writings so that I can check them myself and see if lam really dead to self or not.

I want to go over several of these barometer readings with you, and friends, this is painful. When we go over the barometer readings that inspiration has given us, we find that in Adventism we're not dead to self. We may think we are but we're still in Laodicea. The barometer readings prove it. First of all, Faith and Works, 61, "Have we not been passing judgment on our brethren, criticizing their words and actions? Then the love of God has not been enthroned in our souls."

If I am criticizing my brethren, what does that tell me? That tells me that God's love is not enthroned within. We read John 17:26. If Jesus is enthroned within, His love will be enthroned within. That's a barometer reading. If I'm criticizing my brothers and sisters, self is not dead, it is not crucified. "Oh," somebody says, "they're wrong." Well, maybe they are. What shall we do when the other guy's wrong? Of course we're never wrong.

Selected Messages, vol. 3, 166: "There are some differences of views on some subjects." Have you noticed that? Differences of views. "But is this a reason for sharp, hard feelings? Shall envy and evil surmisings and imaginings, evil suspicion, hatred, and jealousies become enthroned in the heart? All these things are evil and only evil." Oh friend, what's in your heart? What's in my heart? I can't read your heart, you can't read my heart and we know very little of our own hearts. But we have some barometer readings from inspiration. If we've got these sharp hard feelings--envy, evil surmisings, imaginings, evil suspicions, hatred, jealousies--if we've got any of those, self is not dead, Christ is not enthroned within. That's a barometer reading. If we're on the judgment seat with our brethren, Christ is not formed within.

Let's look at the happy side. If Christ is enthroned in your heart and if Christ is enthroned in my heart, would we get in a fight? Would we? We may not think the same on all points of faith or doctrine, but would we get in a fight? No!

Here's another one: If there is strife and self-esteem, then Christ is not enthroned in the heart That's also in Sermon and Talks, vol. 1, 271,272. If there is strife and self-esteem, Christ is not enthroned in the heart. When we come together to investigate doctrine and we don't see everything just the same, when Christ is enthroned in the heart, the spirit and love of Jesus will be revealed in the investigation of all points of doctrine. In fact, if Christ is enthroned in the heart, all the fullness of the Godhead will be in us. That's what Colossians 2 teaches. All the fullness of the Godhead-- His mercy, His goodness, His grace--we will have it all.

Do you have anybody that's insulting you? speaking against you? criticizing you? This is Testimonies to the Church, vol. 2, 567: "When we possess true meekness and lowliness we are so lost in Christ that we do not take neglect or slights to heart; we are deaf to reproach and blind to scorn and insult." Remember what we studied about the other day: if your feelings are hurt, that's a sign that self is not dead. When self is dead we're blind and deaf to all that sort of thing. It doesn't bother us anymore. Christ is enthroned within. Ellen White says every blow that is directed at the believer falls on Christ. It hits Him instead.

There's much more that we could study about this--what it means to be converted. Ellen White said the time to do it is now. She told us over and over again, Don't wait for this experience that we're talking about. She says, Don't wait, do it right now. The time of trouble will be too late. I read you a statement that if we die to self day by day, then when the time of trouble comes you won't have anything to worry about. The angels of God will be a wall of fire all around.

The facts are that we have serious trouble in Adventism today. I'm not judging anybody's heart, but it's all right for me to look at the fruit on the tree. It's all right for me to look at the barometer reading. And the barometer reading shows that we have serious trouble. It is high time for us to fast and pray and ask the Lord that we may crucify self, that we may be dead to self and that we may have Christ enthroned within so we can start keeping the first commandment.

I want to read something to you in closing. I wish this didn't describe our condition. I wish it did not. I hope the time comes very soon, by the grace of God, when this does not describe our condition. But I'm very afraid that this is an accurate description of our situation at this present time. This is a dream that Ellen White had in 1880. You can find it recorded in Manuscript Release, vol. 12, 10, 11. Here's what it says:

"I had a dream [there are three people mentioned in this dream. The name of one is given ask the name of the second is B; the name of the third is CI. I saw Ain close conversation with men and with ministers. He adroitly would make statements born of suspicion and imagination to draw them out, and then would gain expression from them. I saw him clap his hands over something very eagerly. I felt a pang of anguish at heart as I saw this going on. I saw in my dream yourself and B in conversation with him. You made statements to him which he seemed to grasp with avidity, and close his hand over something. I then saw him go to his room, and there upon the floor was a pile of stones systematically laid up, stone upon stone. He placed the additional stones on the pile and counted them up. Every stone had a name--some report gathered up--and every stone was numbered.

"The young man who often instructs me came and looked upon the pile of stones with grief and indignation, and inquired [of A] what he had and what he proposed to do with them. A looked up with a sharp, gratified laugh. 'These are mistakes of C. I am going to stone him with them, stone him to death.' The young man said, 'You are bringing back the stoning system, are you? You are worse than the ancient Pharisees. Who gave you this work to do? The Lord raised you up, the Lord entrusted you with a special work. The Lord has sustained you in a most remarkable manner, but it was not for you to degrade you powers for this kind of work. Satan is an accuser of the brethren.'

"I thought A seemed very defiant and determined. Said he, 'C is trying to tear us to pieces. He is working against us, and to save our reputation and life, we must work against him. I shall use every stone to the last pebble here upon this floor to kill him. This is only self-defense, a disagreeable necessity.'

"And then said the young man solemnly, 'What have you gained? Have you in the act righted your wrongs? Have you opened your heart to Jesus Christ, and does he sit there enthroned?' [he wasn't keeping the first commandment] 'Who occupies the citadel of the soul under this administration of the stoning system?

"'You have a higher calling, a more important work. Leave all such work of gathering stones for the enemies of God's law. You brethren must love one another, or you are not children of the day, but of the darkness.'

"I then saw C engaged in a similar work, gathering stones, making a pile, and ready to begin the stoning system. Similar words were repeated to him with additional injunctions, and I awoke."

Oh friend, are we ever going to get beyond the Old Covenant? You know the stoning system was in the old covenant. Are we ever going to get beyond it? Is Jesus going to be enthroned in the heart so that I'm deaf and blind to insult and all the other awful things that people do to me? I have my eyes fixed on Jesus; in everything that happens to me in life I respond the way He would respond. The blow that's aimed at me hits Him. I don't have to worry about it Oh friend, we need a new experience! I tell you friend, there's not going to be anybody taken inside the pearly gates that doesn't keep the first commandment. You know that? We Adventists have been teaching for over a hundred years that the people of God in the last days are going to keep the commandments. The first commandment is the first commandment You can't keep any of the rest without keeping the first.

Friends it's time--it's high time--for us to experience a deeper conversion. What is going on is proof that we are not keeping the first commandment. I'm not judging anybody's heart; I'm just looking at the barometer readings that inspiration gives us. Friends, if we are going to go to heaven, we must come out of our Laodicean condition and self must die. Christ must be enthroned within; I must love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind; I must begin to keep the first commandment.

I want this experience in my life. As I've studied it, I realize 1 need a much deeper experience. I'm not telling you about something that I have and you don't have. I need it just as much as you need it. But friends, we're all going to have to have it if we're going to heaven, and I want it I want self to die, to be crucified so that the angels of heaven can see and testify that I am not serving God with a divided heart. There is no self left-- it's crucified. Jesus alone is enthroned within. Do you want that experience? If you do, let's kneel down and pray that the Lord will give it to us.