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Printed
January, 1956
Symbolic
Code, Vol. 11, No. 3
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WHAT
PRICE THE "EXTRA OIL"?
(The
sermon Brother Houteff delivered November 11, 1944 has been selected for this
issue of the Code because it deals with the importance of the Certificate of
Fellowship. It is particularly
timely since it is now in order for the holders of the Certificate to have
theirs renewed, and it explains to new Davidians the significance of being
eligible for it.)
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Prayer
Thought: "God has shown me that at the very time that the signs of the
times are being fulfilled around us, when we hear, as it were, the tread of the
hosts of heaven fulfilling their mission, men of intelligence, men in
responsible positions, will be putting rotten timbers into their
character-building,--material which is consumable in the day of God, and which
will decide them to be unfit to enter the mansions above.
They have refused to let go the filthy garments; they have clung to them
as if they were of precious value. They
will lose heaven and an eternity of bliss on account of them."--Testimonies
to Ministers, pg. 446.
At the
very time that the signs of the times
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are
being fulfilled around us men will be putting rotten timber into their character
instead of improving themselves. Why?--Because
Satan needs them as his agents. How long will they continue in their evil course?--A short
time and then it will all be brought to view.
This reading says it is men of intelligence who are engaged in God's
service that will be putting the rotten timber into their characters.
This should be a great warning to us, for right now is the time the
servant of the Lord is talking about. Let
us not play the fool.
Matt.
24:45-51--"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made
ruler over His household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that
servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
Verily I say unto you, That He shall make him ruler over all His goods.
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His
coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with
the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not
for Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth."
Two
types of servants are here described.
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The
servant is the ministry, those appointed to rule over the household, the church.
God's servants, the ministry, are to give meat in due season, present
Truth--Truth which is applicable to the time in which we are now living, not
1844. Present Truth from 1844 to
our time was not the institution of the Sabbath or the state of the dead, for
they have been truths since the beginning.
True, they had been lost sight of. The
knowledge that since 1844 the Judgment of the Dead has been in progress in the
heavenly sanctuary is what has constituted present Truth since 1844.
We were made to understand what was going on in our time.
But when the Judgment for the Living is about to commence then the
Judgment for the Dead is no longer present Truth.
Present
Truth comes only from God. Man does
not know the seasons, and therefore God Himself must appoint the time for
present Truth to be revealed.
There is
a special blessing promised to those whom He finds giving meat in due season.
But what was meat in due season in 1844 most likely would not be meat in
due season in 1944. If we do
not desire meat in due season, however, He does not give it to us.
Matt.
24:47--"Verily I say unto you, That He shall make him ruler over all His
goods."
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This is
speaking of him who faithfully gives meat in due season. The "goods" is present Truth. We are told in Malachi that before the great and terrible day
of the Lord, Elijah is to come. Then
when Elijah appears his message will be present Truth. He is to warn and prepare
God's people for the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
To be sure his message will be present Truth before the great and
dreadful day of the Lord as much as Noah's message was present Truth before the
flood. It verily will mean the
difference between life and death to God's people to whom it is delivered today
as Noah's message meant life or death to the people in his day.
The
verses we have been studying this afternoon show that there are two classes of
servants: the faithful and the unfaithful.
Matt.
24:48-51--"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
delayeth His coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and
drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he
looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him
asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth."
If the
servant says, "My Lord delayeth His
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coming,"
it would indicate that he had expected the coming of the Lord to occur sooner.
The early pioneers among us as Adventists looked for His imminent coming,
but now the banners we used to see in our churches foretelling His coming
"in this generation" are disappearing.
Moreover, we as a people are enjoined to follow a restricted diet, and
because the Lord has not come many are eating and drinking with the drunken.
The Lord comes to such a servant in an hour he does not expect Him.
Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened to ten virgins.
Matt.
25:1-13--"Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but
the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go
ye out to meet Him. Then all those
virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And
the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us
and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
And while they went
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to buy,
the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage:
and the door was shut. Afterward
came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you
not. Watch therefore, for ye know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Here is
represented a church which believes that the Bridegroom is coming, believes in
the second coming of Christ. In
1844 the ten virgins went into their place of waiting for His coming, five of
whom took no oil with them while the other five took extra oil with them.
The lamps aptly symbolize the heart, and it is one's belief in Truth that
lights up the heart. Yes, it is Truth which must be indited by the Holy Spirit
that gives light.
The
message which was meat in due season in 1844 was the Truth Sister White
brought--the Judgment for the Dead--and it was this message which was
represented by the oil that was in the lamps when the ten virgins first went in
waiting for the Bridegroom to come. The
oil that was in the vessels of the five wise virgins must represent an
additional Truth, something other than what was in the lamps.
It is this additional Truth which is to supplement the 1844 Truth and
thus supply sufficient light to the time
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of the
coming of the Bridegroom. And what
must this additional Truth be?--It must be the truth of the Judgment for the
Living, the last message.
In this
parable is seen great confusion when at last the virgins, all ten of them, wake
up and learn for a certainty that the Bridegroom is on His way.
Now they all find themselves in need of light to illuminate the
prevailing darkness about them and to light their way to meet the Bridegroom.
But to the utter and painful realization of the five foolish virgins who
had failed to procure extra oil (truth of the Judgment for the Living) as the
five wise did when it was time to do so are now faced with terrible darkness.
Frantically they make their pitiful appeal to the five wise virgins that
they share their oil with them.
Now they
are fully awake to the fact that they had been mistaken in their belief that the
message of the Judgment for the Dead was sufficient Truth to carry them to the
end.
Do you
not see that the old Spirit of Prophecy should have already been in our hearts
(lamps), and in order to go through successfully to the coming of the Bridegroom
we must also have in our possession and readily accessible to us the
"additional message" mentioned in Early Writings, pg. 277, the
"extra oil," the truth of
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the
Judgment for the Living, the great and dreadful day of the Lord?
Let us
say that now we have the extra oil and those represented by the foolish virgins
come to us an plead that we share the oil with them.
Would any of us refuse to give it to them?--I think we would not.
But in the parable the wise women told the foolish women to go and buy
for themselves, for they had only enough oil for their own use.
You know the sad story--that the foolish were unable to go buy the oil
and get back before the door was closed.
Who are
those who sell the oil? And why would not the wise give to the foolish?
The wise
told the foolish to go and buy oil; therefore the wise must also have had to buy
theirs. The extra oil being the
"additional message," the message of the Judgment for the Living, must
have cost something to those who have it, and they must have paid someone for
it. Yes, we had to buy the oil and
we could not buy it from everybody.
Many
have asked who is eligible to lead in the service of the work? The answer that
goes out from Mt. Carmel is that anyone not holding a Certificate of Fellowship
cannot be a Davidian teacher. He
can listen only. Yet just the
granting of a Certificate of Fellowship is a cheap
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thing.
That in itself would have no significance. Who receives the Certificate?--Those who have personally
studied all the Message and believe It; those overcoming temptation; those
complying with all the requirements; those who put their treasure where moth and
thieves cannot enter; those who keep all the commandments; those who are not
flesh-eaters, drunkards, or tobacco users; those who do not rob God of tithes
and offerings.
We would
freely give literature to those who ask for it, but that does not give the
light. It is only when one
appropriates the oil, the Truth, to his everyday living that the oil becomes
transformed into light. It is when
one pays this price, and thus becomes eligible to receive a Certificate,
signifying he has complied with all the requirements, that he has the light.
Hence, though we can freely hand out tracts, we cannot freely hand out
the Certificate of Fellowship.
All the
parables show different lessons. That
is why there are so many parables. The
one of the talents shows that we must work, for we are to double our talents.
Studying and believing alone does not open the door.
We must comply with all the requirements--pay the price in other words.
And we cannot steal the oil. Those
desiring the Certificate of Fellowship must pay the price.
It does take time and effort,
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and the
individual alone can determine how soon he can get his Certificate, for it all
depends on how soon he pays the price.
We
individually must watch and pray and be ready always, for we know not the day
and hour of our personal visitation to have bestowed upon us God's mark and seal
for eternity. Therefore be ready
always.
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N O T E
S N O T E S
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