I. H. EVANS
Sabbath, May 17, 11 A. M.
I will read a text from the second chapter of John, the seventeenth verse: “And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.10
These words were spoken by the psalmist concerning Christ long before his advent to this world. When the disciples saw on this occasion the wonderful power of Christ in cleansing the temple, this passage of Scripture came to their minds. They remembered what the psalmist had written, and thought in their hearts that this text applied to Christ. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.11
The occasion on which the words of this text were brought to the minds of the disciples was the scene of the cleansing of the temple. It was a wonderful occasion, from the Jewish standpoint. It was the great national festival, the most important in the estimation of the Jews, one in which the people took the greatest pride, and one that secured the largest gathering of Israel; one in which the Jews took satisfaction in endeavoring to celebrate according to the Mosaic ceremony. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.12
A great multitude had gathered from the far north, from the east, from the south, from the west. It was not a gathering like this that we have here today, for we are but a small congregation; it was a mighty concourse of people. The priesthood was there, a priesthood very punctilious in regard to ceremonies, jealous of vested rights and of authority; a priesthood God had appointed, but which had greatly apostatized and had bartered away justice and right dealing for the things of this world. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.13
There was gathered about the temple and in the stalls provided, a large number of animals of various kinds,—sheep, goats, bullocks. Jews had gone out into the country and bought them up and brought them in droves and flocks to the temple, to be sheltered and housed, and then sold at an enormous profit to those who were dealing in these animals, providing the people that had assembled from afar, necessary offerings for worship. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.14
The Jews from abroad brought with them the currency of the country from which they came. They brought the coins of Greece; they brought money from Egypt and from Moab. When they reached Jerusalem, they exchanged this money for the currency of Jerusalem, so as to be able to buy sheep and bullocks and doves to offer in sacrifice. The Jews were shrewd, anxious to make money. “Money Exchange” was written over tables in many places. These exchangers overcharged these poor people who had come from afar to worship, and made an enormous profit. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.15
It was a motley scene on this occasion—that vast concourse of people, the temple thronged with a jostling crowd, hustling in and hurrying out, going hither and yon, each family, each clan, anxious to get together in worship and to partake of the festival that was to come. It must have been a very peculiar scene for the Son of God to witness, at this his first Passover. He was outside the temple, perhaps, and saw the jostling, hurrying crowd, the men buying and selling; he heard the bleating of the lambs, the cooing of the doves, the money-changers crying out their wares. Then Jesus walked up the beautiful marble steps of the temple. No man knew what he was about to do, not even his disciples. They were proud of their Lord, and they thought he would be king some day. They were anxious for his popularity, and wanted the priesthood to receive him. They wanted that vast assembly of Jews to recognize him as the Messiah, and thought that on this occasion he would surprise them with his wonderful words; for they knew he was a mighty teacher. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.16
Christ walked into the temple and cast his searching eyes about. He knew the hearts of those men. Suddenly he turned upon them in the fury of his wrath. Fear seized every heart. The throng fell back, and Christ took the tables of money, heaped high with the coin of Jerusalem, and of many other countries, and turned them over. He took a whip and drove out the buyers and sellers, and they all fled in fear. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.17
No doubt the disciples believed their Master had made a mistake. For the Son of God to enter thus upon his ministry would bring upon him persecution from the start. The disciples were humiliated, and for a moment they, too, were seized with fear. Then there came to them that statement which the psalmist had recorded long before, “The zeal of mine house hath eaten me up,” and they knew that that text applied to Christ. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.18
We read in the Bible of two kinds of zeal. One kind the Lord seems not to accept on the part of his followers; the other I believe ought to possess the hearts of those who believe the message for this time. I want to read about the first kind of zeal,—a zeal for doing things, but lacking consecration, and without God in the heart. Now, men may have that zeal, and the church may have it; it has had it in the past; and men who have been called of God and have been doing God’s work, and have been leaders of God’s people, have had that zeal—the zeal of doing without the zeal of consecration. Oftentimes, from a human standpoint, it seems the easiest way to work for a man to take upon himself the entire responsibility, and by his activity leave God out, doing all in human strength. I want to cite one or two examples of men who have thus exemplified zeal not according to the wisdom of God. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, as we read in Romans 10:1, 2: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” They have a zeal of doing, of acting, of sacrificing, but it is not pleasing to God. It was a wasted zeal, bringing no salvation, no rest, and little satisfaction. Yet they had great zeal, and were willing to sacrifice, and suffer, and endure, but their hearts were not right with God. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.19
In 2 Kings 10 I read about the experience of a king of Israel. This king was a zealous man. One day he met a fellow patriot, one of his own kind. He took him into his chariot, asking him to come and see his zeal for the Lord. Now, I think Jehu had zeal. God had told him to go out and destroy the children of that wicked Ahab. Jehu went about it in a very forceful way. He was most active, and destroyed the children of the house of Ahab. Yet God said of this man, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.” Verse 31. Notwithstanding all Jehu’s zeal, his heart was not right with God. I have sometimes thought that is the reason why men and women sometimes give up this truth, why preachers apostatize and turn their strength in opposition to the work of God. They have had zeal, but their hearts were not right with the Lord. While they were thus active and working with all their might and strength, they had lost, in a way, that precious experience that binds the heart to God. And when a man has zeal without God in his life, he is sometimes going far from what God would have him do. GCB May 19, 1913, page 46.20
I have heard not a few men say, “I cannot understand how a man that is so zealous and earnest and self-denying can be a man that God does not accept.” Yet that man may later fight the truth of God. It is a strange thing. The Jews were in that very condition when Christ was here. The high priest and all his assistants in the priesthood were zealous for the cause of God; they were ardent worshipers. They were very punctilious in offerings and sacrifices, in their tithe, and in all the little details of their lives; and yet, notwithstanding all this zeal, they demanded that Christ should be crucified, and they set the mob on to take his life. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.1
I believe every man ought to know by personal experience that his heart is right with God; that his zeal is not born from ambition; that his enthusiasm is not of this earth; that his consecration is to God and not to man. Loyalty should be given to right principles, to the Word of God, and not simply to church or organization. All men should examine themselves carefully whether they be in the faith or not, because if we are putting forth this zeal and making these sacrifices for anything in this world but the love that we have to God, we miss the mark. There must be in the soul a burning fire, a spirit of loyalty, not to man, not to the church, but to the Lord God, and to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.2
Now I want to read about the zeal that is according to God (Isaiah 59:16, 17): “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.” This is Christ our Saviour; he was clad with zeal as with a cloak. What is this zeal? What are its characteristics? It is a consuming, burning love in the heart for God and the kingdom of God. It is a love that burns with intensity, that consumes utterly soul and body and strength and mind of the one possessed of this love. It is wonderful for a man to have the whole life and soul and body so burning with love, so consumed with devotion to God, that it seems as if he was clothed with zeal as with a cloak. That is what the prophet said of Christ; but notice what kind of man he was: he put on righteousness as a breastplate. He was not like Jehu; he was not like those Jews and that priesthood at Jerusalem; for he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak. I will tell you, my friends, one who goes out with righteousness as his breastplate, in the fear of God, and with this burning zeal in his soul, will do a mighty work for God. That man will be a mighty power, a power as irresistible as any force you can think of in nature. Wherever he goes, he will burn his way into the hearts of the children of men. There is no power in this world that can withstand the onslaught of such a man as that. No power, either kingly or governmental, can withstand the influence of a man whose heart is covered with a breastplate of righteousness, and who is clothed, as it were, with a zeal that is like a coat. Such men are absolutely irresistible forces in this work. This was the experience of Christ, our Saviour. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.3
There have been men with zeal for God, mighty zeal. I will call your attention to one. There had been a great apostasy in Israel, and when there is an apostasy in the church the tendency is for everybody to be affected by it. A great sin had come into Israel. The Moabites had tempted the people of God, had gotten the men of Israel to marry the women of Moab, and the men of Moab had married the women of Israel. The people of God were mingling on equal terms with that heathen nation which God had said should not come into his house. The Lord’s wrath was mightily stirred. He sent his angel down from heaven and began to slay the people. There was a great slaughter. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.4
When Phineas the priest saw one of the sons of Israel and a Moabitish woman sin at the door of the tabernacle of the Lord, what did he do?—In his zeal for God he took a javelin and thrust them through. We say this was an awful thing to do; yet God approved of it, for he said to Phineas, “Wherefore I give unto him my covenant of peace.” Why?—Because Phineas had in his zeal for the Lord tried to put this sin out of the camp. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.5
Oftentimes now men will stand hesitating and criticizing and finding fault, when they ought to take hold with the people of God and help to cleanse the camp of sin. We are living in the most critical time of the work of God; because eevrything that we are doing is so prosperous, and we are so filled with what we are doing that we are very liable to leave God out of our reckoning and believe we can finish his work in our own strength. One of the great things we need to do now, while we have zeal and are in earnest in this work, is to be sure that we are all the time individually on God’s side. If we do not have the zeal according to God, but our zeal comes because of selfish ambition or because of some worldly interest, we shall make an awful mistake. The work of God will triumph, but we shall be lost when the final reckoning comes. What the church needs is to have each individual member of the body on God’s side all the time, and to have the zeal which is according to the righteousness of God. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.6
This zeal, this earnestness, is a thing that belongs to this people. I believe that there has never been a people in the history of the Christian church that is so much entitled to this zeal as this remnant church. Why?—Because there has never been a people in the whole realm of Christianity that made such wonderful professions of religion as we do. There never was a people that pretended to give the message we are giving to a perishing world. We say to the people that we are living in the end of time. I suppose there are very few here today that do not believe that in a way, that we are in the last end of time. Now how would you expect a man to act as if he actually believed that he was living in the very last generation, and probation was about to close. Would he be a man to take things easy? Would he be indifferent whether men heard the truth he believed, or whether they did not? I think if a man really believed the truth, he would be very much like a Methodist preacher I once met. He said: “If I believed what you say you believe; if I were an Adventist who believed what you are teaching, I would work with all my heart and mind. I could do ten times more work than I am able to do now, if I knew the Lord was soon coming.” The very fact of knowing that the coming of the Lord is so near should of itself set a man on fire, and consume him with zeal. The very fact that a man is not going to leave his goods to his children, but is going to live on until the Lord comes, ought to cause him to cut every cord that binds him to this world, and consume him with zeal for God’s service. If that does not do it, what can? GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.7
And yet, my friends, how weak we are, with such a great and mighty truth as we have. I tell you there is something wrong. To believe this is the last generation of men, and this the last message of mercy going to the world—to believe it with all the heart—will fire a man’s soul with such zeal that he will be an irresistible force. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.8
I remember once when I was preaching to a congregation about giving their children to the Lord’s service, one mother would not make the sacrifice of giving up her daughter for training in the Lord’s work. I talked very earnestly with her, but she would not make the sacrifice. She wanted to have her daughter always with her, and could not bear to have her go to some foreign land. She was not willing to let the girl go out of her sight. What do you think became of that girl? That woman held on to her and would not let her go to school to get a training for the Lord’s work. The girl afterward married out of the truth and apostatized. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.9
Do you think a parent who will not give her children to God believes this truth? We have the last message of mercy to be given to the world. This is the end of time; for the Lord is soon coming. Yet men are not willing to give themselves and their children to God. Do you believe that is right? Do you believe, my friends, that is the spirit that ought to prompt and permeate a church? No. I believe every Seventh-day Adventist parent in this world ought to give himself and his children to God for service [amens], that they may go wherever God shall call them, whether to Africa, India, China, or any other field in the wide world where there is need. GCB May 19, 1913, page 47.10
Every son and daughter ought to be the altar to go where God calls, when God calls, and because there is suffering and hardship and trial. That should be an incentive, not a hindrance. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.1
Do you say, I do not feel, Brother Evans, as though I could give myself to go where God might call? Why not? Why should a man hesitate to go and do the finishing work for God? Because of hardships? These hardships depend a good deal on how you look at them. A man might think he was having a very hard time when he was having a very good time if he but knew it. When you get into a foreign field it is not half as hard as you think it is. I talk to young men about going to China. I set before them the conditions. I tell them of the language that is to be learned, and they shrug their shoulders and say, “I think I am better adapted to school work at home.” GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.2
But, brethren, who is going out to these great heathen lands if you do not go? Who is going to make the sacrifice if you do not make it? Who is going to take the message to those people who are dying by the millions if you hesitate to do it? If every one of us believed this truth with all his heart, there would be no hindering cause to prevent your or my going to any field in this world for God, if the need was there and the opportunity presented itself to go. Today we are paralyzed in our work because we cannot get young men and women fast enough to go out into the work. I believe, my friends, as fast as we can get the men, the people of God will give the money. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.3
Think of the tremendous increase in the offerings. Why, yesterday when I heard the treasurer’s report, my heart was wonderfully cheered. I said, The people are ahead of the ministry, and the people are going ahead of even our boards in making provisions to fill these great and needy fields. Where are the men who are ready to go? Do you ask, Isn’t there sacrifice? Isn’t there hardship? Yes, of course there is. But why in the world would a man believe this message if he is not willing to sacrifice for God? I could believe that if a man thought the Lord was not coming for a hundred years, or two hundred, he might want to look out for a rainy day, but if we believe this message it should stir every heart to cut loose and give all for God. Do you not believe that? Do you not believe, my friends, that every one of us ought to be willing to do anything for God, to go anywhere for God? I think so. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.4
And yet look at the great fields in Asia unoccupied—look at them from a reasonable standpoint. In the Asiatic Division there are 25,000,000 souls dying every year without Christ. Think of it! Twenty-five million! Do you, say, I cannot do anything; for I am not sufficient; I am not qualified? It is not great ability that wins in the work of God, but great consecration. The consecrated man, the consecrated woman, whose heart is full of fire and zeal for God, who is willing to give and suffer, can do much more than a man that is better trained yet lacks entire consecration. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.5
I tell you, my friends, there is need of a mighty awakening in the church of Christ today. How are we going to finish this work? How are we going to ever get it completed? When I come here and hear these splendid reports, and see what is being done, my heart burns with fire and zeal, and it seems as though we could finish it soon; but when I go back to that great Asiatic Division, with its 600,000,000 people and see that there is not one man for 20,000,000 population; when I see our men failing in health, being scattered hither and yon, long distances apart, my heart cries out, How can this work be done without more help? How can it ever be finished in this world, and we go home to glory, until this church arouses itself and we have a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God upon us to fit us for service? And, brethren, I will tell you that awakening must come if we close the work in our day. If the people would give themselves wholly to God, with heart and soul and body we could do a mighty work for God. A wonderful work could be accomplished in a short time. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.6
Brethren, we must not forget what God can do with a consecrated instrument. It does not take great men to do a great work for God when he works with them. You remember the story of Israel going around Jericho—how all the hosts marched around, but did not have to fight any battle; they just had to obey God. When they came around the seventh time, and gave the shout of triumph, God did the work. But Israel must follow on. God works; they must show zeal, and service, and consecration, and obedience, and God can do the work. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.7
I believe the time must be very near for the fulfilment of those statements given to us from the servant of the Lord, that there would be a host of our people cutting loose from the world, from the farms, from the shop, and going out to preach this truth to the world. Why, bless your souls, if it is not soon now, when will it be? When will those prophecies ever meet fulfilment if some do not arouse themselves and set themselves to work with intense activity? I say the time is now. It is now the time when every Seventh-day Adventist ought to set himself to work definitely for the coming of Jesus Christ. Do you say, I can not preach well? My dear friends, let your soul burn with fire and zeal for the coming day, and God will lead you out. He will lead you to your neighbors and your friends, and you can give your goods, you can give your children, and in some way God will lead you into a work that will be mighty. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.8
I knew a man over in Michigan, a poor old blacksmith. He was a very untidy man, and had no education; yet that man had great zeal. When he was introduced to me as one who had raised up a church of forty members, I said, “How in the world did he do that?” He did it by Bible readings, by distributing literature, by praying with the people. He had raised up a better church that year than had any minister in the conference. And what one man can do other men can do. Suppose the one hundred fourteen thousand men and women in the United States, in Europe, and in all the world, should give themselves definitely to work for God like that, would not there be a stir in the world, men going out with their satchels filled with literature, talking about the Lord’s coming, distributing this message, telling of the Lord’s coming near at hand. Then a man would not be looking on his acres, on his fine possessions, nor reckoning up his bank account; his soul would be burning with zeal for God, and he would be giving every fiber of his being to God,—his wife, his children, his soul, his money, his time. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.9
God can take every man and woman who will give themselves to him. If you and I are possessed of this zeal, this earnestness, brethren, we will impart it to another, and that one to another, and so on, and these things will extend and expand more and more, until soon the whole world will be reached. The message will be given, and our Lord will come. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.10
Of Christ it was said that the zeal he had for God consumed him,—it ate him all up, his life, his strength, his all. Now, what are we going to do? I have talked with many a man since I reached the United States. Some say, I am going to be a doctor; I am going into private practise. Others say they are going to do this or that. My friends, what is your object in doing this or that? Why do you want to be a great doctor? Why do you want to be a great man in the world? It seems to me that the greatest thing in the world that a man can be is to be an instrument of God to finish this work. What will you do with that greatness by and by? Can you take it with you? It will last during your lifetime, and then it will go out. But if a man will give his life to the work of soul-saving, by and by he will have eternal riches. He will not be flattered; he will have few friends, and no worldly greatness, no social prestige; but, O brethren, he will have a great harvest of souls in the kingdom of God! I would rather have that for my inheritance, I would rather have that for my treasury, than to have all the riches and honor of this world, and then go down to ruin at last. The great thing is to build so solidly, to work so truly, to be so loyal to God, that every fiber of the being will live through all eternity. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.11
I appeal to you with all my heart to cut loose from every earthly tie, and to swing clear into the service of God, and give yourself with great zeal to the finishing of this work. May the text be true of us, “The zeal of My house hath eaten thee up.” I want this to be true of me. I should rather have it true of me than to have anything in this world,—to know that I have given all I have on earth to get heaven; that I stand for righteousness; that I stand for hard work, that I stand to finish this work. I do not care for riches, or for the honor or glory of men, but that I may have it said of me by God himself that “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” I want to be consumed wholly in God’s service, to put all he has given me into his service, and to hear these words said to me by the Lord himself when I have finished my work. This glory ought to satisfy any man’s heart, it ought to satisfy any church, a whole denomination, to have that said of it: “The glory of My house hath eaten thee up.” GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.12
May God give us during these meetings this consecration, that we may be possessed of this zeal, for his name’s sake. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.13
“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.” Galatians 2:20. GCB May 19, 1913, page 48.14