Here is the wording on the picture, followed by the context for the quotes (all-caps added for emphasis):
“The very ones who condemn and despise the Jewish nation because they refused to see in christ all the SPECIFICATIONS of prophecy, are in A SIMILAR DECEPTION.” (The Signs of the Times, July 28, 1898 issue, article title: “Counting the Cost. No. 2,” par. 12, by Ellen G. White)
DEFINITELY. People are refusing to see and accept all of the “SPECIFICATIONS” given in Scripture for today’s testing truth …
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6 KJV)
… very much life before.
“The light given me is that we are to study more than we do the instruction given to Moses by God AFTER He had proclaimed the law from Sinai. The ten commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were then written on tables of stone, to be preserved till the JUDGMENT should take place. AFTER the giving of the law, God gave Moses SPECIFICATIONS regarding the law. These SPECIFICATIONS are plain and explicit. No one need make a mistake.
“IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT WE SHALL BE ASKED WHETHER WE HAVE LIVED IN HARMONY WITH THESE SPECIFICATIONS. It is because we do not carry out these SPECIFICATIONS in all our dealings, in our institutions, our families, and in our individual lives, at all times, and in all places, that we do not make greater advancement. IT IS BY THE DIRECTIONS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN THAT WE SHALL BE JUDGED AT THE LAST DAY.
“Have we studied these SPECIFICATIONS? I heard them one night some weeks ago. It seemed as if they were being given to Israel, and there was the same solemnity that there was when they were given. I thought, This is given to me that I may tell our people that we must study these SPECIFICATIONS.” ([Australasian] Union Conference Record, March 25, 1907 issue, article title: “Words of Counsel,” pars. 3-5, by Ellen G. White)
———-oOo———-
“The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is an intelligent faith. The service of God is a work of self-denial, of soberness, of thoughtfulness, of decided purpose to obey all the requirements of God, even if they take away that which is as dear to us as the right eye or the right arm. Christ would have His followers use their intellect in spiritual matters as in business transactions, conscientiously weighing evidence irrespective of results. He desires them to think deeply. They must not begin to build the tower and leave it unfinished. They must not engage in warfare when there is before them the prospect of certain defeat. Life, eternal life, is to be gained or lost, and the conviction of the Spirit of God comes to every man who has the Scriptures and will study them for himself.
“Christ is truth, and those who hesitate to obey the truth, deny Christ. They show that they are ashamed to stand under His blood-stained banner, ashamed to own that they are doers of the Word, ashamed to place themselves on the side of Christ as keepers of His law. They feel that it is dishonoring to them to love His commandments, to respect the memorial of God’s work of creation. Christ declares, ‘Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.’
“This is the sure result. Will you risk it? Will you become disloyal to God because your neighbors are disloyal? Will you be found among the transgressors because your neighbors are there? Are you content to be outside the city of God, to perish with the companions you have chosen in the world?
“God would have His people place a proper estimate upon the compassion and love and energy that He has bestowed upon men in order to reclaim them. He gave for them the best Gift of heaven. But men work out their own eternal destiny. If they love praise from their neighbors more than the approval of God, the truth will soon become a dead letter to them. If they refuse the offer of salvation, if they rebel against the government of God, they will share the fate of Satan and his angels.
“Bible religion is not impulse. It is not a zeal that rushes on, Jehu-like, and does not consider the situation. The whole plan of salvation is placed before us. There is eternal life to win, eternal death to shun. Selfish considerations are not to be cherished. There must be a fixed purpose to serve God, who has given His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
“The mystery of godliness deepens upon consideration. It was because the Father and the Son loved the world with infinite love, that Christ subjected Himself to such amazing humiliation. All that God could do, He did in giving Himself in His Son, that He might become the propitiation for the sins of the world. Christ gave His life to reproach; He suffered, being tempted; He was falsely accused, and His motives were misjudged. But if men consider not the dear sacrifice made for them, if they are not willing to die to self and to the world, they become spiritually blind. They do not discern the value of eternal riches. They do not love or honor the Christ-life. They know not at what they stumble. They are enslaved by their own carnal inclinations, which they are not willing to relinquish. And when trials and difficulties arise, they give up building a temple for God, a pure, holy character after the divine similitude. Instead of driving them to the solid rock, the least rebuff makes cowards of them. Scorn and ridicule make them ashamed of Jesus, and they turn from Him to associate with and do honor to His persecutors. Thus, like Peter in the judgment-hall, they put Christ to open shame. Such can not endure all things for Christ’s sake. They can not endure to the end. They have not counted the cost. They have not been converted to Christ.
“No man who after a time resolves to go back to the beggarly elements of the world, is worthy to be called a disciple of Christ. If he does not intend always to be on the side of truth and righteousness; if he does not mean to be a brave, whole-hearted soldier, to endure opposition from a determined foe, and to press close to the bleeding side of Jesus, not faltering or turning back, ‘he can not,’ says Christ, ‘be My disciple.’
“‘Salt is good; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out.’
“Christ was calling the Jews to repentance, but they would not heed His message. They approached the altar, and presented their slain beasts in expiation of their sin, while He whom their offerings typified was among them unacknowledged and disowned. The Jews crucified Christ, because they refused to know Him as the One in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered. Christ’s heart was full of tenderness and love and sorrow on their account. He knew that they were fastening upon themselves the guilt of crucifying Him who was the foundation of all their religious service. When riding into Jerusalem, He exclaimed, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.’ How loath He was to pronounce the irrevocable sentence, ‘But now they are hid from thine eyes!’ Blindness of mind had indeed come to Israel, in that they would not come to Christ that they might have life.
“The compelling power could go no farther than this. The Jewish nations had been educated, taught of God; to them had been committed the living oracles of God; but they perverted their sacred trust. They invented so many religious restrictions, which were placed above the real injunctions of the Holy One, that minds became confused. The ‘Thus saith the Lord’ and the ‘Thus saith’ of the priests and rulers, were mingled together. The commandments of God were set aside, and the sayings of men put in their place.
“Their lack was the same as that of Cain. In every offering that pointed to Christ, the shedding of blood was to represent the death of the Saviour. But for His offering Cain brought of the first-fruits of the ground, by which no faith in Christ was manifested. Cain’s offering was refused. So with the religion of the Jewish nation. Their faith and doctrines became as salt without a savor. They had a form of religion, as had Cain; they had an altar, as had Cain; they had a sacrifice, as had Cain; and, like Cain, they lacked the only thing by which their offerings could express faith in God’s promise, –the slain Lamb.
“And the evil that existed in the Jewish nation is apparent today. The salt has lost its savor. THE VERY ONES WHO CONDEMN AND DESPISE THE JEWISH NATION BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO SEE IN CHRIST ALL THE SPECIFICATIONS OF PROPHECY, ARE IN A SIMILAR DECEPTION. They have nailed to the cross the law of God, which made a necessity the gift of God’s Son to the world. They have crucified the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and in earth. But all who thus claim to accept Christ and yet refuse to obey the law which Christ came to vindicate, place themselves in a position similar to that of the man who began to build, and was not able to finish.” (The Signs of the Times, July 28, 1898 issue, article title: “Counting the Cost. No. 2,” pars. 1-12, by Ellen G. White)
————————–
“I wish to say that all over the fields, there is not among the laborers that humiliation of soul, that sanctification of the Spirit of God, that there should be. Of what use is it for us to say that we have the grace of Christ unless this grace is revealed in the daily life, in the thoughts, the words, and the actions?
“Our only hope is to remember that we are little children–God’s little children. ‘Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.’ We are inclined to exalt self. But God wants no self-exaltation in His work. He wants us to labor in simplicity and humility, as His little children, learning daily of Him. We must bring His Word into the practical life. We talk the truth, we preach the truth, but we do not live the truth.
“THE LIGHT GIVEN ME IS THAT WE ARE TO STUDY MORE THAN WE DO THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN TO MOSES BY GOD AFTER HE HAD PROCLAIMED THE LAW FROM SINAI. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE SPOKEN BY GOD HIMSELF, AND WERE THEN WRITTEN ON TABLES OF STONE, TO BE PRESERVED TILL THE JUDGMENT SHOULD TAKE PLACE. AFTER THE GIVING OF THE LAW, GOD GAVE MOSES SPECIFICATIONS REGARDING THE LAW. THESE SPECIFICATIONS ARE PLAIN AND EXPLICIT. NO ONE NEED MAKE A MISTAKE.
“IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT WE SHALL BE ASKED WHETHER WE HAVE LIVED IN HARMONY WITH THESE SPECIFICATIONS. IT IS BECAUSE WE DO NOT CARRY OUT THESE SPECIFICATIONS IN ALL OUR DEALINGS, IN OUR INSTITUTIONS, OUR FAMILIES, AND IN OUR INDIVIDUAL LIVES, AT ALL TIMES, AND IN ALL PLACES, THAT WE DO NOT MAKE GREATER ADVANCEMENT. IT IS BY THE DIRECTIONS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN THAT WE SHALL BE JUDGED AT THE LAST DAY.
“HAVE WE STUDIED THESE SPECIFICATIONS? I HEARD THEM ONE NIGHT SOME WEEKS AGO. IT SEEMED AS IF THEY WERE BEING GIVEN TO ISRAEL, AND THERE WAS THE SAME SOLEMNITY THAT THERE WAS WHEN THEY WERE GIVEN. I THOUGHT, THIS IS GIVEN TO ME THAT I MAY TELL OUR PEOPLE THAT WE MUST STUDY THESE SPECIFICATIONS. When the directions that God has given are followed, our institutions will be pure and clean, free from all selfishness and covetousness. The tenderness of Christ will come in. His love will fill our hearts. A sense of God’s goodness will make us weep, and sing, and praise God. Then we shall be living channels of light, prepared to do His will.
“We do not make enough of Deuteronomy and Exodus. These books record the dealings of God with Israel. God took the Israelites from slavery, and led them through the wilderness to the promised land. They had almost reached the end of their journey. Spies were sent over the Jordan to view the land, and bring back a report.
“God had shown his people what He would be to them, and what He would do for them. He had destroyed their enemies before them. Nevertheless, when the spies returned from their search, they came with hearts filled with unbelief. They enlarged upon the difficulties and dangers before the Israelites should they undertake the conquest of Canaan. They saw that the cities were walled and very great, and the people who dwelt there were strong, and it would be impossible to conquer them. ‘And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.’ They gave way to cruel, wicked unbelief, and cried, and murmured, and found fault. They accused not only Moses, but God Himself, of deception, in promising them a land which they were not able to possess, and they went so far as to appoint a captain to lead them back to the land of their suffering and bondage from which they had been delivered by the strong arm of Omnipotence.
“In their rebellion the people exclaimed, ‘Would God we had died in the wilderness.’ Their prayer was granted. God declared that for forty years Israel was to wander in the wilderness, and that there, all who had left Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, would die.
“Moses also had his trial. God chose him to deliver Israel. He had been trained as a general, and he thought that it was by force that he was to deliver the people. One day, seeing an Egyptian smiting an Israelite, he killed the Egyptian. Then he fled to Arabia, and for forty years he kept sheep. There his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away. He became patient, reverent, humble, ‘very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.’
“We need to learn the lesson of humility and meekness. And we need to learn to help one another all that we possibly can. When we see one whose soul is in peril, let us be very careful that we do not drive him farther from Christ. Let us speak and act as God’s little children, not as men who would kill.
“Do not cherish self-sufficiency. Walk humbly before God. ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.’
“It is because of the experiences through which I passed last night that I am led to say these things. It means everything to us whether we are sanctified to God, body, soul, and spirit; whether we are channels through which He can communicate His life and light.
“When, after Moses’ time of trial and preparation was over, he was once more told to go and deliver Israel, he was self-distrustful, slow of speech, timid. ‘Who am I,’ he said, ‘that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He pleaded as an excuse a lack of ready speech. He had been the general of the armies of [Egypt], and he certainly knew how to speak. But he was afraid that he would bring self into his work.
“We cannot guard too carefully against self-exaltation. We are to stand where we know that God is speaking to us. Only in this position are we safe. The Lord wants us to stand where we are sanctified and purified, wholly consecrated to His service. Unless we stand in this position we cannot offer Him acceptable service. We need to realize more fully than we do the preciousness of human souls.
“God wants us to learn what it means to be temples of the Lord. When we learn this, His saving grace will come to us, and the terrible dissension that is doing so much to weaken our efforts, will no longer be seen among us.
“Think of these words; pray over them. Come to the Lord as little children. Plead with Him for His salvation. If we receive His salvation into our hearts, His power will be with us, and success will crown our efforts.
“O, there is so much for us to learn. We must make advancement. God has a controversy with us. Many of us have left our first love. We have grown cold and indifferent. Let us not act in such a way that God will have to manifest the wrath that he is loath to manifest. He restrains Himself. The omnipotent One places Himself under the control of Omnipotence. God watches over His weak, erring, tempted children for their good. The punishment He sends them is for their good. He wants them to be saved, and that is why He sends His judgments. He desires them to learn to exercise the compassion that those who are saved must exercise.
“Let us co-operate with God. The Word says: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ ‘Ye are God’s husbandry; ye are God’s building.’ He wants you to co-operate with Him in cleansing the heart of all evil. He says that if we obey Him, He will make us a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and will give us the victory over our enemies.” ([Australasian] Union Conference Record, March 25, 1907 issue, article title: “Words of Counsel,” pars. 1-18, by Ellen G. White)
———-oOo———-