Psalm 15 asks the question, “Who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” The answer? “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness” (verses 1, 2). Let’s be honest: How much of what you did in the last week–the last 24 hours!–would be considered “righteous” by heaven’s standards? We may be applauded by other people, but would heaven applaud it? The standard for admission is high: no running down others with your tongue (verse 3), no harm to anybody else, 100 percent fidelity to the promises you have made (all of them, even if it hurts!), and utterly zero financial dishonesty–ever.

Psalm 24 lays out even more conditions: clean hands and a pure heart. It is easy to pretend to be pure at church, but in the quiet hours of the night, when it is just you and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, how much of your life could be considered pure? Not mostly good, but pure. There are none on God’s hill who have worshiped idols–and although we may not have statues of pagan deities we bow to, we certainly have many things we revere more than God in this world. Perhaps not with our lips, but certainly with our actions, our priorities, and our budgetary decisions.

Let’s be honest–Gandhi and Mother Theresa would fail the test. “There is none who does good,” the psalmist reminds us, “no, not one” (Psalm 14:3). “Nor shall evil dwell with You,” we are reminded in Psalm 5:4. 

Our Redeemer is also our Creator. He gives us eternal life by His death, and He gave us physical life by His creative power. That’s why the Bible tells us that the seventh- day Sabbath is a sign of His redeeming, sanctifying power in our lives (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

God placed the seventh- day Sabbath in the very heart of His Ten- Commandment law and pointed to Creation as the reason for weekly rest and worship on His special day. The fourth commandment says: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. . . . For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

Could God be any clearer? He tells us here which day is His holy Sabbath– the seventh day of the week. He tells us how and why we are to keep it. We can search the Bible from cover to cover with-out finding any other day that God has asked us to keep holy. In fact, we can’t really keep a day holy that God has not made holy.

Some people seek to escape condemnation by being better, by keeping the law. But such individuals fail to understand that the law cannot save. It can point out our sin and tell us where we have gone wrong, but it was never given to be our savior.

And here is where the good news of judgment begins. The law points beyond our sin to Jesus and salvation through faith in His saving grace. It is because of Jesus that the judgment is good news. And that good news is based on the love of God.

Unlike modern judges, God is not neutral. He is actively on the side of those whom the devil is pointing an accusatory finger toward. One of the crucial facts of Scripture is that “God so loved the world [me] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Or, as Paul put it, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

That, my friend, is excellent news–the very best of good news. The wonder of wonders is that God is willing to credit Jesus’ life and death to my name in the judgment if I am willing to accept Him by faith. That is why Paul could write that even though “the wages of sin is death, . . . the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). And Jesus not only died for us, He is currently ministering for each of His followers as our “Advocate” in the heavenly sanctuary (1 John 2:1).

Because of Jesus, the judgment is always good news for those who follow Him. Or as the book of Daniel puts it, God’s final judgment is “in favor of the saints” (Daniel 7:22).

"We have sinned against the Lord. . . . Cry unto the Lord our God for us." 1 Sam. 7:6, 8.

Samuel visited the cities and villages throughout the land, seeking to turn the hearts of the people to the God of their fathers; and his efforts were not without good results. After suffering the oppression of their enemies for twenty years, the Israelites “mourned after the Lord.” Samuel counseled them, “If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only.” Here we see that practical piety, heart religion, was taught in the days of Samuel as taught by Christ when He was upon the earth. Without the grace of Christ the outward forms of religion were valueless to ancient Israel. They are the same to modern Israel.

There is need today of such a revival of true heart religion as was experienced by ancient Israel. Repentance is the first step that must be taken by all who would return to God. No one can do this work for another. We must individually humble our souls before God and put away our idols. When we have done all that we can do, the Lord will manifest to us His salvation. . . .

“And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli.” 1 Sam. 3:1.

Young as he was when brought to minister in the tabernacle, Samuel had even then duties to perform in the service of God, according to his capacity. These were at first very humble, and not always pleasant; but they were performed to the best of his ability, and with a willing heart. . . .

If children were taught to regard the humble round of everyday duties as the course marked out for them by the Lord, as a school in which they were to be trained to render faithful and efficient service, how much more pleasant and honorable would their work appear. To perform every duty as unto the Lord throws a charm around the humblest employment and links the workers on earth with the holy beings who do God’s will in heaven.

How touching to see youth and old age relying one upon the other, the youth looking up to the aged for counsel and wisdom, the aged looking to the youth for help and sympathy. This is as it should be. God would have the young possess such qualifications of character that they shall find delight in the friendship of the old, that they may be united in the endearing bonds of affection to those who are approaching the borders of the grave. 

Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, “a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber.” A number of wheels intersecting one another were moved by four living beings. High above all these “was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” “And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.” Ezekiel 1:4, 26; 10:8.

The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; yet they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling those wheels; above them, upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne was a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.

As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of this earth.–The Truth About Angels, pp. 137, 138.

How is it that lowly, filthy sinners are admitted into the throne room of God? He has been signaling, since the moment we rebelled against Him, that this was His plan. There were cherubim established at the gates of Eden, with a brilliant flashing presence between them: the first sanctuary service. We may have been barred from Eden, but He intended to bring us back. . . .

Ellen White agrees: “The fallen race were long permitted to gaze upon the home of innocence, their entrance barred only by the watching angels. At the cherubim-guarded gate of Paradise the divine glory was revealed. Hither came Adam and his sons to worship God. Here they renewed their vows of obedience to that law the transgression of which had banished them from Eden.”

We may have been removed from Paradise, but we never have been removed from the heart of our Maker. He not only condescends to restore us to His perfect kingdom, which would be miraculous enough. To merely be admitted would be paradise. But Christ has something deeper, more intimate in mind: we will be given the task of telling the story of redemption to the unfallen universe. Forgiven-restored sinners project exactly the image that God would wish His universe to see. 

We have discovered a crucial Bible teaching regarding the law of God; namely, that God’s LAW of love is more basic than His many laws. All too many miss the point when they try to keep the laws without having His LAW in their hearts. That makes for some very unloving church members who think they are being faithful to God. They couldn’t be more wrong. That is just where the devil wants them.

The proper order is the one taught by Jesus in Matthew 22. His way of looking at the law can be illustrated as follows:

LAW > laws

What that means in daily life is that people who have the LAW of love in their hearts will naturally obey God’s many laws. . . .

In short, all Christian law keeping is based on love. And keeping God’s law in the spirit of love makes us more like Him, whose defining characteristic is love. In that light, the process of sanctification is the process of becoming more loving, more like Jesus.

When the time of the end comes, Jesus will stop His intercession and announce: “Let the ones who have chosen wickedness stay wicked, and those that chose holiness stay holy.” At this, every person’s case in the heavenly record has been decided. When He stops His intercession and makes this announcement, the final troubles will begin.

Satan considers this world his, but the people who love God and keep His commandments reject this claim. Satan will blame Christians, who keep the Sabbath, for bringing the final troubles and disasters on the world, and the only solution is to kill these commandment-keepers. That’s when our faith will really be tested.

Satan’s crowning act of deception will be when he impersonates Christ Himself. He will look like Christ, his voice will be soft and gentle, and he will work what will appear to be miracles. When people see this, they will get excited and shout, “Christ has come! Christ has come!” This will be a powerful deception. Only those who have studied the Bible will not be deceived. They will not yield to what they see and hear and feel.

Will the Lord forget His people during this trying time? Can a mother forget her baby? Some mothers may, but Jesus said, “I have scars in My hands to show you how I love you and care for you, and I will not forget you.” God will send angels to help them, and for their sake, He will cause this time to go quickly.

In his second letter, Paul reminded the members in Corinth to support their pastor. Farmers care for their working animals, so why shouldn’t a church care for its pastor? God asks Christians to bring their tithe to the church to support those in ministry. In addition, we should give offerings to spread the gospel, help take care of the church expenses, and relieve the suffering of the poor.

People usually don’t think twice about spending money on themselves and their own homes. Yet they fear that paying tithe or offerings would leave them too little to live well. However, those who have Christ in their hearts think about God first and always consider what they can do to help others. The spirit of giving is the spirit of heaven because God loved the world so much that He gave His Son to die for us. The spirit of selfishness is the spirit of Satan. He is the one who thought first about himself and caused all the original trouble in heaven.

Every act of self-sacrifice makes us more like Jesus. First, though, we need to give our hearts to Him because no amount of self-sacrifice can buy an unbeliever’s way into heaven.

“An important lesson for every minister of Christ to learn is that of adapting his labors to the condition of those whom he seeks to benefit. Tenderness, patience, decision, and firmness are alike needful; but these are to be exercised with proper discrimination. To deal wisely with different classes of minds, under varied circumstances and conditions, is a work requiring wisdom and judgment enlightened and sanctified by the Spirit of God.” –The Acts of the Apostles, 385, 386

The first seven chapters of Acts span about a year. After believers had spent ten days in prayer and in drawing close to the Lord and each other, God gave them the Holy Spirit. Then, Peter’s Acts 2 sermon led to the baptism of three thousand people. And that was just the beginning! By Acts 4, the Jerusalem congregation had increased to five thousand men (verse 4). Add the women and youth, and the total must have been fifteen thousand believers.

Acts 5 records continued growth–with “multitudes both of men and women” added to the church (verse 14, KJV). And Acts 6 says: “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (verse 7, NIV).

We don’t know how many Christians there were in Jerusalem at the end of that first year, but the 120 had become well over 15,000. That would be quite a congregation!  

The Impending Conflict is a booklet that contains the closing chapters of The Great Controversy. The opening paragraph of the first chapter, “Why Was Sin Permitted?” begins, “To many minds, the origin of sin and the reason for its existence are a source of great perplexity. They see the work of evil, with its terrible results of woe and desolation, and they question how all this can exist under the sovereignty of One who is infinite in wisdom, in power, and in love.”

This sentence from the second paragraph still gets my attention: “It is impossible to explain the origin of sin so as to give a reason for its existence.” Ellen White went on to point out, “Yet enough may be understood concerning both the origin and the final disposition of sin to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with evil. Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin.”

I learned also that when Satan instigated the crucifixion of Christ, the entire universe clearly saw that he had become totally evil. That forever uprooted him from the affections of all. When Christ declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He won the battle. And as we depend on Christ, trust in His righteousness, and obey Him out of love, we, too, become victors.