Grace vs. Law

Excerpts by EG White, as newly published in “Faith and Works” and originally published in “Selected Messages”.

Satan’s Sophistry

It is the sophistry of Satan that the death of Christ brought in grace to take the place of the law. The death of Jesus did not change or annul or lessen in the slightest degree the law of Ten Commandments. That precious grace offered to men through a Saviour’s blood establishes the law of God. Since the fall of man, God’s moral government and His grace are inseparable. They go hand in hand through all dispensations. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10).

Jesus, our Substitute, consented to bear for man the penalty of the law transgressed. He clothed His divinity with humanity and thus became the Son of man, a Saviour and Redeemer. The very fact of the death of God’s dear Son to redeem man shows the immutability of the divine law. How easily, from the transgressor’s standpoint, could God have abolished His law, thus providing a way whereby men could be saved and Christ remain in heaven! The doctrine which teaches freedom, through grace, to break the law is a fatal delusion. Every transgressor of God’s law is a sinner, and none can be sanctified while living in known sin. [31]

The condescension and agony of God’s dear Son were not endured to purchase for man liberty to transgress the Father’s law and yet sit down with Christ in His throne. It was that through His merits and the exercise of repentance and faith the most guilty sinner might receive pardon and obtain strength to live a life of obedience. The sinner is not saved in his sins, but from his sins.

What Sin Is

The soul must first be convicted of sin before the sinner will feel a desire to come to Christ. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). “I had not known sin, but by the law” (Romans 7:7). When the commandment came home to Saul’s conscience, sin revived, and he died. He saw himself condemned by the law of God. The sinner cannot be convinced of his guilt unless he understands what constitutes sin. It is impossible for an individual to experience Bible sanctification while he holds that if he believes in Christ it is immaterial whether he obeys God’s law or disobeys it.

Those who profess to keep the law of God and yet at heart are indulging in sin are condemned by the True Witness. They claim to be rich in a knowledge of the truth; but they are not in harmony with its sacred principles. The truth does not sanctify their lives. God’s Word declares that the professed commandment-keeper whose life contradicts his faith is blind, wretched, poor, and naked.

God’s law is the mirror presenting a complete reflection of the man as he is, and holding up before him the correct likeness. Some will turn away and forget this picture, while others will employ abusive epithets against the law, as though this would cure their defects of character. Still others who are condemned by the law will repent of their transgressions and, through faith in Christ’s merits, will perfect Christian character. [32]

Condemned by the Light They Reject

The whole world is guilty in God’s sight of transgressing His law. Because the great majority will continue to transgress, and thus remain at enmity with God, is no reason why none should confess themselves guilty and become obedient. To a superficial observer, persons who are naturally amiable, who are educated and refined, may appear perfect in life. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Unless the life-giving truths of God’s Word, when presented to the conscience, are understandingly received and then faithfully carried out in the life, no man can see the kingdom of heaven. To some, these truths have a charm because of their novelty but are not accepted as the Word of God. Those who do not receive the light when it is brought before them will be condemned by it.

In every congregation in the land there are souls unsatisfied, hungering and thirsting for salvation. By day and by night the burden of their hearts is, What shall I do to be saved? They listen eagerly to popular discourses, hoping to learn how they may be justified before God. But too often they hear only a pleasing speech, an eloquent declamation. There are sad and disappointed hearts in every religious gathering. The minister tells his hearers that they cannot keep the law of God. “It is not binding upon man in our day,” he says. “You must believe in Christ; He will save you; only believe.” Thus he teaches them to make feeling their criterion and gives them no intelligent faith. That minister may profess to be very sincere, but he is seeking to quiet the troubled conscience with a false hope.

Sugarcoated Spiritual Poison

Many are led to think that they are on the road to heaven because they profess to believe in Christ, while they reject the law of God. But they will find at last that they were on the way to perdition instead of heaven. Spiritual poison is sugarcoated [33] with the doctrine of sanctification, and administered to the people. Thousands eagerly swallow it, feeling that if they are only honest in their belief they will be safe. But sincerity will not convert error to truth. A man may swallow poison, thinking it is food; but his sincerity will not save him from the effects of the dose.

God has given us His Word to be our guide. Christ has said, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). He prayed for His disciples, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul says, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). But this belief did not make his course right. When Paul received the gospel of Jesus Christ, it made him a new creature. He was transformed; the truth planted in his soul gave him such faith and courage as a follower of Christ that no opposition could move him, no suffering daunt him.

Men may make what excuse they please for their rejection of God’s law; but no excuse will be accepted in the day of judgment. Those who are contending with God and strengthening their guilty souls in transgression must very soon meet the Great Lawgiver over His broken law.

The day of God’s vengeance cometh—the day of the fierceness of His wrath. Who will abide the day of His coming? Men have hardened their hearts against the Spirit of God, but the arrows of His wrath will pierce where the arrows of conviction could not. God will not far hence arise to deal with the sinner. Will the false shepherd shield the transgressor in that day? Can he be excused who went with the multitude in the path of disobedience? Will popularity or numbers make any guiltless? These are questions which the careless and indifferent should consider and settle for themselves. [34] [35]

Welcome!

Welcome to everyone coming from fellow Daynoter Brian Bibrey’s site. Brian’s link to my humble neck of the Internet is much appreciate.

A friendly note to all who come here, this site began along time ago in a different format and covered whatever fancied my attention at the time. Now, it is focused on religious issues, especially those relevant as the history of this world draws to a close. Hence, if you are offended by such posts, please read no further.

For those continuing, my site switched from hard coded HTML to using WordPress. The site lost a lot in the translation but such is life, sometimes. So much of the early posts are gone, at least temporarily.

Some of the earlier posts still survive back on my seto.org site but I have yet to sort them out and link them to a page where Google can get to them. Be assured I will get aroundtoit Real Soon Now. By the way, I have some HOT beach front property on the Big Island that keeps on getting bigger, for sale. That, along with the Brooklyn Bridge would make a great graduation gift. [see that there? That's called a joke. I did that a lot. Perhaps too much...]

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Aloha ~ Dan

The Christian Home

A few paragraphs from E. G. White’s “The Adventist Home”

Wonderful Possibilities Are Ours

Our time here is short. We can pass through this world but once; as we pass long, let us make the most of life. The work to which we are called does not require wealth or social position or great ability. It requires a kindly, self-sacrificing spirit and a steadfast purpose. A lamp, however small, if kept steadily burning, may be the means of lighting many other lamps. Our sphere of influence may seem narrow, our ability small, our opportunities few, our acquirement’s limited;  yet wonderful possibilities are ours through a faithful use of the opportunities of our own homes. If we will open our hearts and homes to the divine principles of life, we shall become channels for currents of life-giving power. From our homes will flow streams of healing, bringing life, and beauty, and fruitfulness where now are barrenness and dearth.

God-fearing parents will diffuse an influence from their own home circle to that of others that will act as did the leaven that was hid in three measures of meal.

Faithful work done in the home educates others to do the same class of work. The spirit of fidelity to God is like leaven and, when manifested in the church, will have an effect upon others, and will be a recommendation to Christianity everywhere. The work of whole-souled soldiers of Christ is as far-reaching as eternity. Then why is it that there is such a lack of the missionary spirit in our churches? It is because there is a neglect of home piety.

The 10 Commandments: What Do They Mean for Modern Man?

From The Beginning of the End by E.G. White

God intended to make the event of speaking His law a scene of awe-inspiring grandeur. Everything connected with the service of God must be thought of with the greatest reverence. The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. … For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Everyone was to spend the time in solemn preparation to appear before God. Their bodies and their clothing must be free from impurity. They were to devote themselves to searching their hearts for any wrong, fasting, and prayer, that their hearts might be cleansed from iniquity.

On the morning of the third day, Sinai’s summit was covered with a thick cloud, black and dense, sweeping downward until the entire mountain was shrouded in darkness and mystery. Then a sound like a trumpet was heard, calling the people to meet with God. From the thick darkness lightnings flashed, while peals of thunder echoed among the surrounding heights. “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire … and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” All of Israel shook with fear and fell on their faces before the Lord. Even Moses exclaimed, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Hebrews 12:21).

Now the thunder stopped, the trumpet was no longer heard, and the earth was still. There was a period of solemn silence; then the voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the thick darkness as He stood on the mountain, surrounded by angels, the Lord made known His law.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” The One who had brought them out of Egypt, making a way for them through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and his army—He was the One who now spoke His law.

God honored the Hebrews by making them the guardians and keepers of His law, but they were to hold it as a sacred trust for the whole world. The laws of the Ten Commandments are adapted to people everywhere, and they were given for the instruction and government of all. Ten commandments, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, cover our duty to God and to other people, and all are based on the great fundamental principle of love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). In the Ten Commandments these principles are applied to our lives.

(1) “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Whatever we cherish that tends to lessen our love for God or to interfere with the service that is rightfully His—of that we make a god.

(2) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”

Many heathen nations claimed that their images were only symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower our concepts of God. Our minds would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator, and as our concepts of God were lowered, the human race would become degraded.

“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” The close relation of God to His people is represented by the illustration of marriage. Since idolatry is spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fittingly called jealousy.

“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” Children are not punished for their parents’ guilt, except as they take part in their sins. Usually, however, by inheritance and example the children become partakers of the parents’ sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and [148]decline, are passed along from parent to child, to the third and fourth generation.

“Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” To those who are faithful in His service, God promises mercy, not merely to the third and fourth generation like the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations.

(3) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

This commandment forbids us to use the name of God in a light or careless manner. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, and by frequent, thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. “Holy and awesome is His name” (Psalm 111:9). We should speak it with reverence and solemnity.

(4) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been established at creation. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it tells the difference between the true God from false gods, so the Sabbath is the sign of our allegiance to God. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten in which we find both the name and the title of the Lawgiver—the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given—as it contains the seal of God.

God has given us six days in which to work, and He requires that we do our work in those six days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath. The sick and suffering are always to be cared for, but we should strictly avoid unnecessary work. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell on things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes everyone within our “gates” (meaning our homes). All the members of the household are to set aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by their willing service on His holy day.

(5) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect owed to no other person. To reject the rightful authority of one’s parents is also to reject the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to respect, submit to, and obey their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and [149] to care for and comfort them in old age. It also requires respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has given authority.

(6) “You shall not murder.”

All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life—the spirit of hatred and revenge, or indulging any passion that leads to injurious acts toward others (even to wish them harm, for “whoever hates his brother is a murderer”), a selfish neglect of caring for the needy, self-indulgence or overwork that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment.

(7) “You shall not commit adultery.”

God’s law demands purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared that the evil thought or look is as truly sin as is the unlawful deed.

(8) “You shall not steal.”

This prohibition condemns kidnapping and slave dealing, wars of conquest, theft and robbery. It demands strict honesty in the smallest details of life. It forbids shady business dealings and requires the payment of rightful debts or wages. Every attempt to gain advantage by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven.

(9) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

An intention to deceive is what makes a lie. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the face, we may tell a lie as effectively as by words. It is a lie even to state the facts in such a way as to mislead. Every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation, slander, or gossip, and even hiding truth in order to injure others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.

(10) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins—it prohibits the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. The person who refuses to indulge even a sinful desire for something that belongs to another will not be guilty of a wrong act toward anyone else.

God proclaimed His law with demonstrations of His power and glory, so that His people would never forget the scene. He wanted to show everyone the sacredness and permanence of His law.

Blinded and depraved by slavery and heathenism, the people were not prepared to fully understand the far-reaching principles of God’s Ten Commandments. Additional instruction was given, illustrating and applying these principles. These laws were called “judgments” because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses.

The first of these related to servants. A Hebrew could not be sold as a slave for life. His service was limited to six years and on the seventh he was to be set free. The holding of non-Israelites as slaves was permitted, but their life and person were strictly guarded. The murderer of a slave was to be punished, and an injury inflicted on a slave by his master, even if no more than the loss of a tooth, entitled him to his freedom.

The Israelites were to be careful not to indulge the spirit of cruelty like that which they had suffered under their Egyptian taskmasters. The memory of their own bitter experience should enable them to put themselves in the servant’s place, and to be kind and compassionate.

The rights of widows and orphans were specially guarded. “If you afflict them in any way,” the Lord declared, “and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Foreigners who united themselves with Israel were to be protected from wrong or oppression. “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Charging interest on a loan to the poor was forbidden. A poor person’s garment or blanket taken as a pledge for a loan must be given back at evening time. Judges were warned against perverting justice, aiding a false cause, or receiving bribes. Slander was prohibited, and acts of kindness were required even toward personal enemies.

The people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His provision of crops. The purpose of all these regulations was stated—all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, “You shall be holy men to Me.”

These laws were to be recorded by Moses and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts, as the condition of God’s fulfilling His promises to Israel.

The message was now given, “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him.” Christ in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their Leader. While there were symbols or “types” pointing to [151] a Savior to come, there was also a present Savior, who gave commands to Moses for the people and was presented to them as the only channel of blessing.

 

End Times: The Cause of Evil Falsely Identified

And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God’s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday Sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established: “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” 1 Kings 18:17, 18. As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah.

The miracle-working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony.

Satan’s policy in this final conflict with God’s people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow. And the very work which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels. The same policy of deception has marked the history of the Roman Church. It has professed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, while seeking to exalt itself above God and to change His law. Under the rule of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers; they were declared to be in league with Satan; and every possible means was employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear in the eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals. So it will be now. While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God’s law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon the world.

Excerpt from E.G. White’s free epub book “Darkness Before Dawn”

If a Man Be Just

But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, 18:6 And hath not eaten  upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, 18:7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; 18:8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, 18:9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekial 18:5-9 KJV

18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

18:22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Ezekial 18: 21-22 KJV

The Time is Near

The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is  come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

Ezekial 7:7 KJV