By John Thiel, The Pearl of Great Price in the Hour of Temptation Conference, Study 5, mp3

We are spending time in contemplation of the Word of God.

Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

In our contemplation we came to appreciate that this parable applies not merely to us selling all we have to purchase the pearl of great price, but it represents this great wonderful merchantman who came to purchase us.

This parable has a double significance, and applies not only to man seeking the kingdom of heaven, but to Christ seeking His lost inheritance. … The heavenly Merchantman lays aside His royal robe and crown. Though the Prince and Commander of all heaven, He takes upon Him the garb of humanity, and comes to a world that is marred and seared with the curse, to seek for the one lost pearl, to seek for man fallen through disobedience. . . . {TMK 84.3}

He came to purchase the one lost pearl. What was that? It was man. It is His pearl of people as a corporate body that He came to purchase as well as each individual that makes up that corporate body but it is one pearl.

He finds His pearl buried in rubbish. Selfishness encrusts the human heart, and it is bound by the tyranny of Satan. {TMK 84.4}

The tyranny of Satan binds these precious pearls.

But He lifts the soul out of its darkness to show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are brought into covenant relationship with God, and receive pardon and find peace. Jesus finds the pearl of lost humanity, and resets it in His own diadem. . Ibid

He would inspire the most sinful, the most debased, with hope. He says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). When a soul finds the Saviour, the Saviour rejoices as a merchantman that has found his goodly pearl. By His grace He will work upon the soul until it will be like a jewel polished for the heavenly kingdom. … {TMK 84.5}

It is by the principle of repetition. Never become tired of hearing the same thing again and again because you will forget it tomorrow or you will forget it the next hour. Not that you haven’t registered it, but we don’t take it with us in our daily and moment by moment interactivity. It is just as though it’s gone in one ear and out the other. That is why repetition is necessary. The most debased human being Jesus gives hope to. He takes us out of the rubbish of this world’s mud at the bottom of the sea. What is this world? It is many waters. Do you remember prophecy? He moved upon many waters and out of the muddy tumult of the world’s affairs came empires, these beasts. We are part of those muddy waters. We know it so well. We keep on coming before the Lord and saying, oh no I’m unworthy! He is reaching out for those gems that are buried under the water in those molluscs at the bottom of the sea.

Through the ages God formed His pearls and plucked these precious pearls from the molluscs of sin and debris at the bottom of the troubled sea of life. All through history we have seen Him having done that. He picked up Abraham from the land of the Chaldees from the rubbish. He has done that with all of Abraham’s children ever since. We have seen through the history His pearl in each generation. You can discern His pearl of corporate elements. As we see it in Hebrews chapter 11 those people of the past are identifiable as God’s pearl and as Christ’s precious bride.

Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

That they without us should not be made perfect. This is very specifically talking to you and me today that the history of God’s pearl His church which He loved and admired having received a good report, without us cannot glow and shine. We must be joined to them and that is why there has been a long delay.

Notice the words of Jesus that as we have gone on from His time to now, that the Lord has gathered together His people into His pearl. He speaks to the apostles relevant to their present time, this is now God’s fold, Christ’s fold, the sheepfold.

John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.

These are very important words to understand exactly what He means. Who will bring them? He says I must bring them. There are many in other folds that I must bring, they shall hear my voice:

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

As we come to this present time of earth’s history right now, what activity do you imagine Him to be engaged in to do this work? Let us permit God’s word to feed our imagination so that we are not generating our own opinion. Let our imagination be fed by the word that will open up before us as we apply ourselves very attentively and diligently. This is not a man’s opinion that I am sharing with you. We are seeking God’s revelation. When Jesus said, I will gather them, they shall hear my voice, not John Thiel’s voice, not anyone else’s voice, but the voice of Jesus. This is what God is saying He will do.

Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day,

He is talking directly about now.

 …[that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

They come from the east and west, they come from the north and south. How? Follow very closely.

Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; …

This is a paradox, but read carefully. These are pastors that are feeding these people, and what are they doing as they feed them? They are scattering them. I shudder to be a pastor, I shudder to be a minister in God’s kingdom because what I do, I have to give an account for whether I have scattered the sheep or whether I have gathered them.

Jeremiah 23:2…Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

Are you watching what He is doing? He who has raised kings and brought them low and because the shepherds that have not been feeding my flock, I am going to deal with them and I am going to take over. I will gather the remnant of my flock, and I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them; I will.

Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

There is the pearl. You can see that what the Lord has done way out of my expectations. He has placed before us what we have been reading. Haven’t we been through the experience of being tossed to and fro by this church and that? The pastors have scattered and the Lord said, right, those pastors are going to have to be dealt with. I am going to step in here and I am going to do my work. I will set my shepherds over them and there is going to be the development of this beautiful pearl, the Lord our righteousness. This is the utterance of the Lord.

Micah 4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

Can you see your mind flashing over all the things we have been reading? This is what I love about the word. You read something here and there and all of a sudden you see another text that brings the whole picture together. Thou, O tower of the flock. Do you remember Song of Solomon? Do you remember the flock and the shepherd’s tents? There she is, my dove, my undefiled. The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem; she is the only one of her mother.

Song of Solomon 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is [but] one; she [is] the [only] one of her mother, she [is] the choice [one] of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; [yea], the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

As you permit these scriptures to take focus in your understanding that the Lord is doing this work and you look at our experiences that we have been through, hasn’t he been doing this work with us without any of our help? Has He done this with any of our help? Absolutely without any of our help. We were just there as gems lying in the rubbish and He made sure that through His orchestration we have been found where we are now. How do you think He is going to continue? Think and follow carefully, because He is gathering His people. Notice His call, His work in harmony with what we have been reading; He will take care of the situation. The shepherds have failed and He will keep on doing it.

After Apostle John saw the work of the three angels and the explanation of the three angels’ message through chapters 15 to 17 in Revelation, we now come to chapter 18:

Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

Here is another angel and he has what? He has power from heaven and he lightens the whole earth with God’s glory. We know what all that is, it is the glory of the character of God that is lightening the earth.

Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

What is this angel revealing by his proclamation? Not only is he reflecting the beautiful light and the glory, but he is identifying the sins of the institutions. He identifying the sins of Babylon. How does he do it? He is identifying the fornications, the merchants waxing rich though the abundance of her delicacies, he is simply laying it out.

I was so comforted with one of the people who own this camp ground. They said this Christmas is the last time that we are going to have Christmas here. How did they come to that conclusion? Did we tell them? When this person told me this, they said, you might be very happy to hear what I am about to say. Indeed I was, but why did that person say that to me? It was because they knew that we don’t practice keeping Christmas and now they have found that Christmas is a pagan festival. Where did they find it from? They found it by our example and by somebody else telling them that. This is how God works to identify not only Christmas, but all these other things, the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The description here that reveals the abundance of her delicacies. All the delicacies that are attracting the minds of the people today. They are enjoying the thought of purchasing this and that beautiful thing. They purchase all these little gifts and gadgets and so on. All these things at Christmas time, at Easter time, Lent and all these other festivities. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day; what a lot of material is out there under the influence of Babylon.

All we do is follow what is written here, identifying the things that are not of God.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Another Voice from Heaven

We are looking carefully as to how and what Jesus is doing. The shepherds have failed, I am going to step in and I am going to do this and that; here is the material that He is doing. He identifies this other voice from heaven, through this little company He said He would raise up as faithful shepherds. There is another text that says that I will give you teachers according to mine heart in Jeremiah chapter 3. That is my work, I am going to raise these people up, they are not going to go because they want to, they will go because I am raising them up. They are going to do the work that I want them to do to feed the flock according to my voice and my direction.

In this particular statement of verse 4, there is another voice which is another agency. It is the faithful little remnant that He uses and He, the voice from heaven speaks through them. The voice from heaven, this other agency, the people, the remnant, whom He uses. Here is the call, the voice of Jesus.

Zechariah 2:6 Ho, ho, [come forth], and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.

Can you see the other text, they have been spread, now He is going to gather them. Can you hear the call? Ho, Ho, come, you who have been scattered abroad.

Zechariah 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest [with] the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

This is a beautiful little ingredient in our mediation here now. They are His pearl. Your eye is very similar to a pearl. It is His pearl, His eye that He protects like you protect yours if threatened by a speck of dust. You care for it very carefully and you permit nothing to interfere with your eye. He says, come O Zion that dwellest out there, these people that He is gathering together, Zion, His undefiled, His people that are scattered through Babylon. They dwell with the daughter of Babylon; what does He call them? Zion? His people? Scattered where? With Babylon?

For thus saith the LORD of hosts… he that toucheth you (out there) toucheth the apple of his eye. There are people out there that He will regard as His Zion, His people, His pearl, the apple of His eye. He is calling them out. Once more He is calling to His people in Babylon:

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

Be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. I want you to come out before the day of the Lord’s anger is fully poured upon this earth, the plagues. Come out and learn meekness, seek it. Seek righteousness. Everything we have been reading so far, is all part of that last event for God’s people to be drawn. The interesting thing is, who are they? They are the apple of His eye.

Isaiah 43:4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. 5 Fear not: for I [am] with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 [Even] every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

He has made the pearl; He has taken them out there and each one of us can recall it in our own experience. Before this soul ever found what we have now, the Lord was working with him because the Lord knows His sheep out there. He has been at work to formulate and develop these gems and in their scattered state He is going to pull them together. He said, you are very precious to me, you are the apple of my eye, I am going to take you out of all those places and bring you together.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it],

We read this many times to say, come on we are supposed to be talking to each other. How futile, they that fear the Lord will speak often one to another and because they are His gems, the apple of His eye and they appreciate Him so much, they can’t help talk about the Lord to each other. The Lord hears it.

Malachi 3:16… and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; …

In the day that He gathers together the jewels, He says they are the jewels that have been thinking about me and been puzzled with all the madness that the false shepherds have scattered them around by. They have themselves failed the Lord and the Lord is sending them temptations, struggles and troubles. That is what we can all look back to. He has been working through His orchestration to bring us where we are and there are still others out there as well. We are right at the very last part of the whole gathering process.

We agree together that the harvest commenced just after 1844 when the third angel came in 1848. The third angel is gathering the wheat together into bundles; He is gathering the jewels. This gathering has been taking place all this time. Do we think it is future or may be just now? We are here because He has been doing the work. In our response to what He has been doing picking us up where we are, what are we occupied with? The pearl of great price – that is what I am occupied with.

I love this beautiful picture of Jesus. As I love it, I can’t stop talking about Him. I can’t stop embracing and enlarging the pearl before the people; look what I have found. I love it and I am sacrificing everything for that. This is what it is all about. That is how the Lord is at work gathering His jewels. The beauty of the jewel is there because of the jewel of Jesus that has been implanted upon the person who has been scattered out there. The Lord works as we have studied, by the hour of temptation that brings forth the irritations that produce the pearl. As this is happening with each individual, they become very dear to Him, they are His precious gems that He gathers together, the apple of His eye. Why the apple of His eye? Because He has been in there with them suffering with them in their very sins. Never forget that. This is what is to animate us; that I am actually a product of His suffering with me as the reason that I am here. All that material is that which animates and motivates me; this is the central motivating force.

Zechariah 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they [shall be as] the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

Did you remember reading that other statement about the ensign? What is the ensign that is going to be raised up before all nations? It is the pearl in the crown of His diadem. These are the stones that are lifted up as an ensign. What does that mean? If you and I as an individual are part of that crown, what will Jesus do to draw the rest of the jewels? He will lift you up; not me not or us lifting ourselves up. As we become totally captivated by this beautiful gem and I am totally absorbed with it, inadvertently without my extraordinary personal deliberation I can’t help but bubble out what I appreciate so much. You know what it is like, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Out of the heart comes forth whatever it is occupied with. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. That is what you will be talking about, your treasure. You are going to cause it to sparkle and shine.

I have been in two churches as a Bible worker and I haven’t seen it sparkle and shine in those churches. It’s either legalism or its lordship; there is no sparkle in that at all. What are we going to do? We couldn’t be attracted by that sparkle as it’s not a sparkle. We are attracted by the beauty of Jesus. If we are attracted by that, are we going to fall into the same rut as the churches before us? That has happened in every succeeding generation. They started well and then they fell in the rut. We are not going to be any different; we will do exactly the same thing unless we understand what this is talking about.

I could feel the tugs of it especially in the work that I have been engaged in. When I see an error in the church, I fall into the same trap as the Catholic Church. Heretic! Apostate! Drive them out, they’re wrong. This is a mentality that does not sparkle and shine. The shepherds have scattered the flock. We are to attract the flock that when there is a flock suffering because they have been deceived into sin or they have been surprised into sin and the sin is gross and we say, we have to cast sin out of the camp. I have heard this several times, there is sin in the camp! There is sin in the camp! What are you going to do about it John? Then I am counselled what I should do about it.

It is not what the Lord was saying, because the Lord attracts and draws us away from sin. He doesn’t come when I am under the most extreme stress of temptation and suffering with somebody to give me another brunt with his shoulder and push me over the edge. That is what we do when we come and say, hey! What are you doing there? Then the person says, all right I am out of here. This is not the wonderful shepherd that Jesus is. Jesus finds the pearl lost where? The pearl of lost humanity in the rubbish and resets it in His own diadem. This is a totally different work than what we are familiar with in this world, in the churches.

Let us consider these jewels that are still out there and let us consider the jewels that are already gathered. How are they manifest?

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

When you look out into the stars in the evening, see the pearls; they are glistening beautifully. This is the comparison with the people that will shine in the darkness in which we are surrounded. Gross darkness covers the earth. These people are wise, they don’t just have knowledge, they have wisdom. You can have knowledge and you can throw your knowledge around, but it might not be done in wisdom. These people shall shine because they are wise, they turn many to righteousness in the wisdom that comes from above. These are things that we must contemplate so that we become the gems by which God can lift them up. What was that? He will lift up His gems as an ensign because they themselves have responded to this kind of activity with Him. They shine.

Matthew 5: 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

What is the language? Make yourself go through stress to make it shine? No, it says it is there, I’ve put it into your heart; just let it shine. In the midst of the battle of corruption around us, you don’t have to meet with counterforce of any other nature but the light and the glory of God in our character. Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing what? By seeing your good works. You do the good works and they say, you’re trying to get to heaven by works. Is that right? I love my Jesus and I love doing what He tells me to do. It shines, it glistens and people say, what? They’re eating like this? Health reform. They look and go, yum. They see a white man together with a black man walking down the road just as I was in Kenya, and they wonder at it. This speaks louder than words. The loud cry is not words, the loud cry are a people who stand there according to John 17:21 and 23.

John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:…

There’s the pearl.

John 17:21…that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

What’s that for? That they see God and Jesus in us. That’s how the world will believe; no other way. They may be convicted of the doctrine but they still won’t see that they should be part of this gem, this pearl. Only when they see the real manifestation will they say, I love this, I want to be part of this too. That’s what is displayed here in God’s word, in Jesus’ word.

John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;

And then when He has completed that:

John 17:23 …and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Are we getting the picture what Jesus is wanting when He said, the pastors have scattered the flock? Now I am going to step in and here are the shepherds that I am going to bring up before my flock and I am going to speak through them because they are my pearls. I am in them, the Father in me and as they concentrate on developing that picture when the time is ready, the world will know. Will we take on this kind of picture and thus become the agents to attract the other jewels?

The love of Christ, the love of our brethren, will testify to the world that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. {6T 401.1}

How do we learn of Him?

Thus will the truth be brought into Ibid

Be brought into what? The truth that we believe that we fight to safeguard not to let it fall into disarray, that truth will be brought into the practical life:

…practical life, and thus will be answered the prayer of Christ, Ibid

By your works that the truth produces. While we may be out there communicating the truth and the knowledge of the truth to the people around us, they come to us, (and tell me whether I am wrong), they were attracted by the truth and they come and they say, wait a minute, I don’t see the beauty of Jesus here. Look at the way this particular family fights and look at this one there and look at that. Look how they are talking about me. As they see that, is that sparkling and shining? The fact is that in God’s church this happens, but He cannot use His church in the loud cry while that is happening.

When the church has truly understood it’s dilemma and applies the truth that it is trying to tell others about into it’s own practical life, so that God can then do His work in completely renovating and purifying and perfecting His gem; then His gem will stand there and the people will be attracted. It says, come out of her my people and the people will say, yes, this is balmy here, this is beautiful, I love to be here. The jewels out there must be attracted to the jewels in God’s church.

The love of Christ, the love of our brethren, will testify to the world that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lightened with the glory of the Lord.  {6T 401.1}

When? When the love of Christ, and the love of our brethren, will testify to the world that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lightened with the glory of the Lord.

This is what it’s about. I am very thankful that I can share this with you because I do not want to debate with anyone. This is it, there is no other way. The truth is necessary and it is necessary to spread the truth but the spreading of the truth is not going to do the work. It is when there are a people in these last days who stand as an epitome of the truth that others will be attracted who are jewels out there. They are already God’s jewels, never forget that.

To try and make people jewels is just about too late today. Just about I say; don’t take me too far. I know that in the Lord’s work that I have been engaged in for a long time, they come from the gutter and they have such a hard time that they can hardly succeed. It’s too much for them, they finally say, I can’t anymore but there are others who are gems at heart and while they are having an extremely hard time, they come through because they can see somebody that can demonstrate to them that it’s worthwhile persevering. That is the only way. I mean what I am saying because that is my experience with the Lord.

Did you observe the manner of attracting and gathering the jewels? It’s God, it’s Jesus, it’s the people whom He produces His wonderful light in and then He lifts them up for the people to see.

God has jewels in all the churches, and it is not for us to make sweeping denunciation of the professed religious world, {4BC 1184.4}

What did you catch here? It is not for us who are upholding the truth to attract the jewels, to make sweeping denunciation of the professed religious world. What does that mean?

They are all crazy out there and as you think that, it will reflect from you. They can’t even think straight; it will stream from you as you meet them. You will find it difficult to regard them as brethren because they are in error. How can they be a jewel? If you have got this understanding clear, you will see them and although they have got doctrinal errors, you can see the pearl there. You will be very careful with every word you utter not to let them feel that you are deriding their position; very careful! You will not make a sweeping denunciation of the professed religious world.

…but in humility and love, present to all the truth Ibid

Is that where it stops?

…as it is in Jesus. ibid

Sr White writes there will be many among us who will make shipwreck because we have the truth but we do not have it as it is in Jesus which is the pearl.

Let men see piety and devotion, let them behold Christlikeness of character, and they will be drawn to the truth. Ibid

They are not in the truth properly but they are His gems. As they see the piety, the devotion, the Christlikeness of character, they say, I want to be there, that’s Christ I recognise Him. Then they will say, you don’t keep Sunday, I am happy to keep Sabbath too. They will say, why are you dressed like that? I am prepared to change too. They will see all these things and doctrines that we practice and because the love of Jesus is there in all its glory, they will be prepared to accept the truth, because they are already gems.

He who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself, will be a light in the world. Ibid

We have a perfect example here at this camp; they do not harmonise with us 100%, but I treat them as brethren. Next Sabbath at the end of this week we are having church here, because they want me to share another message with them while I am here. I treat them as one of us, and they love it, and they are scratching their head observing us. We don’t keep Christmas, and slowly it dawns. We don’t eat meat, and slowly it dawns. They don’t quite see eye to eye with us on that; that is fine. Let us just keep on shining and they will know this is the real thing.

Those who have a knowledge of the truth are to communicate the same. They are to lift up Jesus, the world’s Redeemer; they are to hold forth the Word of life (RH Jan. 17, 1893). Ibid

The wisdom in the knowledge. Wisdom is handling knowledge aright. The handling of knowledge aright is the pearl Christ Jesus. Don’t fall for the trappings that are surrounding us in the independent mentalities. Don’t fall for the Adventist church saying, we must evangelise the world and then Jesus will come. We will have big public evangelistic meetings; we will do big things. That is not the way the Lord is going to work. The sheep out there need to discern the shepherd’s voice.

Those people out there are rough diamonds. They need to be met with the gentleness of the diamond that is not rough anymore so that the diamond within can say, this is wonderful. His or her roughness will be identified to them in contrast to the gem that is not rough anymore.

Here is the counsel from the testimony of Jesus.

Let everyone bear in mind that we are in no case to invite persecution. We are not to use harsh and cutting words. Keep them out of every article written, drop them out of every address given. Let the word of God do the cutting, the rebuking: let finite men hide and abide in Jesus Christ. Let the spirit of Christ appear. Let all be guarded in their words, lest they place those not of our faith in deadly opposition against us, and give Satan an opportunity to use the unadvised words to hedge up our way. {CW 64.1}

According to the knowledge of the truth we have, we can be careless with our wording, so that those gems out there will enter into deadly opposition against us. We will think they are in opposition to the truth but it’s been our words that have made them that way;and give Satan an opportunity to use the unadvised words to hedge up our way.

There is to be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Our work is to study to weed out of all our discourses everything that savors {CW 64.2}

What does the word savour mean? Smells of it; even the smell of it, the spirit of it.

…of retaliation and defiance and making a drive against churches and individuals, because this is not Christ’s way and method.–Testimonies, Vol. 9, pp. 239-244. (1909.) Ibid

This is not Christ’s way and method, so let us weed it out; this is to be our study. As the Lord prepares us to give the last and final loud cry, this is our preoccupation, this is the missionary work that must occupy our study.

There is need of a much closer study of the word of God; especially should Daniel and the Revelation have attention as never before in the history of our work. {CW 65.1}

She describes how important it is to get the truth right.

The light which I have to give to our people is, Let no condemnatory speeches be printed in our papers. {CW 65.2}

Where does that extend to today? To be printed in our emails, etc.

A large number of precious souls are groping in darkness, yet longing and weeping and praying for light. Thus it is in churches everywhere.–Manuscript 46, 1900. {CW 65.2}

I know this to be true.

Every article you write may be all truth, but one drop of gall in it will be poison to the reader. One reader will discard all your good and acceptable words because of that drop of poison. Another will feed on the poison, for he loves such harsh words.–Letter 91, 1899. {CW 65.3}

You will attract people and you think, see, they are attracted; they are the ones that may be attracted to harsh speeches and say, yes, give it to them, wonderful, you are upholding the truth. The gems out there are saying, oh, I thought that could have been truth, but I can’t hear the Shepherd’s voice. The Shepherd’s voice has no gall, not one drop in it. That is what we are to learn. I am not condemning in what I am reading here, I am reading this so that we can be the pearl that God can use. We are to learn from this; we are to take it in and not say, but. Just say, all right Lord, make it clear.

The ideas expressed in your articles savor so strongly of antagonism that you will do harm, more than you can possibly conceive. Remember that if by the injudicious use of your pen you close the door to even one soul, that soul will confront you in the judgment. {CW 66.2}

When I read that, I said, Lord be merciful to me. What a responsibility lies upon the shepherds that the Lord puts over His flock. Here you can see how the shepherds scatter.

O, how much has been said that has turned souls to bitterness and gall against the truth. Words that should have been a savor of life unto life have been made a savor of death unto death by the spirit which accompanied them.–Letter 17, 1900. {CW 66.2}

These are the words of the Lord to us.

We cannot help the Christless by finding fault with them. We have not been given the work of reproving or giving personal thrusts in our periodicals. Ibid

Are you picking it up? We have not been given the work of reproving or giving personal thrusts in our periodicals. In any of our publications.

This attitude is misleading, We are to be “not easily provoked.” We are to remember that by our spiritual attitude we are to show that we are feeding on Christ, the bread of life. Ibid

The bread of life.

By our words, our tempers, and our works, we may testify to those with whom we come in contact, that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us.–Manuscript 46, 1898. Ibid

Thank God He is here in His love to help us to see all this. Let it take its course, let the truth cut deep. But I want to testify to you, I am still fine tuning myself. Not only in the words I utter, but in my German predisposition. You know very well what we Germans are like. Brother Paul mentioned about the anxiety and the fleshly nature in the limbic system, it comes through the mouth; it comes out of mine. My lips begin to tremble when I am under stress of anxiety. I used to see it in my father and I thought, oh!! Then I found I did exactly the same. When I am intense I have to sharpen my focus on Jesus, so that in my intensity I will remain with a pathos and a loving spirit to come out of my mouth. I have to keep looking to Jesus to conquer those strong hereditary German characteristics. Do you have to do that too? This is what God wants us to take in, to be the pearl by which He can attract other pearls. It took me many years to find this statement, but it testifies to what the Lord has shown to me personally.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. Amos 5:13. {TDG 250.1}

Is that our time? Do you remember what the brother shared this morning? Silence is golden. In this time we have to be prudent.

Caution is to be prayerfully exercised by everyone who believes the truth. There are trying scenes before us, and we need to exercise great caution, keeping the door of our lips while the wicked are before us. {TDG 250.2}

What are we to do? The wicked that really irritate us, and the wicked are not just the wicked out there, they are the wicked in the churches. There are ministers in the churches that we have experienced, about whom we feel disgust. Great caution, keeping the door of our lips while the wicked are before us.

We shall have to meet in our experience with men having fanatical zeal which will provoke those who hate the truth and it will be necessary to preserve a calm attitude and not state all we do know, for impressions will be made upon human minds that will, under the influence of Satan, grow to large proportions. Ibid

There is need of watching unto prayer. The evils we shall meet have long been gathering and like a storm, will come upon many when they least expect it. While they cannot be charged with originating the evil, they precipitated it. {TDG 250.3}

The evil comes and we say, I wouldn’t be doing that, this is wrong. But what have I done to precipitate it? This is what’s coming.

Charges will be made which believers cannot refute, because they have not shown wisdom in the use of either the pen or the voice. {TDG 250.3}

We are going to get hit in the head for it and then we will discover, o dear, I have been telling the truth but I’ve put it in such a way that it’s caused unnecessary persecution.

Many laws will be enacted for the government of nations, calculated to oppress; and old laws that have practically become of none effect, will be resurrected. {TDG 250.4}

Sunday laws of the past. They have become obsolete, but they will be resurrected. What should we do?

We need to move forward in our work understandingly and in faith, under the wise generalship of Jesus Christ. A great work is to be done for the Master in proclaiming the last message of mercy to our world, and we are dependent upon authorities and powers to find passage from one end of the world to another, and as long as we are dependent upon the powers that be, we must not divorce ourselves from them, for this is a worldwide message. Ibid

How important it is that we pick this up. When I travel to Kenya, I am in grave danger. If what I present and what we present together, comes to the ears of the authorities, our path will be closed. In fact, this has happened already behind the Iron Curtain before it came down where there was one false move by our brethren who were reformers. They were picked up by the secret police and their work was halted. We must work under the radar.

Laws are there but we must not generate attention to ourselves. We are dependent upon authorities and powers to find passage from one end of the world to another, and as long as we are dependent upon the powers that be, we must not divorce ourselves from them, for this is a worldwide message.

We are to go forward quietly, and when our way is apparently blocked in one direction we are to make no condemnation of the powers that be, {TDG 250.5}

The papacy is doing it to us. Nothing like that; no condemnation, just let it die its natural death in reference to yourself.

…for in thus doing we are teaching other powers how to work to hedge up our way. Ibid

If they see us reacting, they will say, right, we’ll do this, and so our ability to share the word among the people and to reflect the nature of Christ among the people will be blocked. In fact, we haven’t done it right in the first place.

We are not to stir up opposing elements or provoke retaliation or revenge. The climax will come soon enough. It is already stealing on as a thief in the night. And we can speak Bible truth which will not set opposing influences at work.–Manuscript 90, Aug. 29, 1893, “Our Attitude Toward the ‘Powers That Be.'” Ibid

Study it well. We are to study how to put out our message across.

God wants to gather His pearls. Let Him use those who are His pearls already demonstrating the lustre of the pearl of great price to cause them to sell all and also possess it. How will they sell all? They will sell all the beliefs they had to embrace the beliefs that they have been attracted to in Jesus. That is how the Lord will hasten His closing work. Here is the counsel for us in these last days. God grant us that we will appreciate the preciousness of this with the pearl of great price in the hour of temptation.

Amen.