Ye Have Sold Yourselves, May 2

All Mankind Has Gone Astray

For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. Isaiah 52:3.WGD 124.1

Sin not only shuts away from God, but destroys in the human soul both the desire and the capacity for knowing Him. Through sin, the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted; the faculties of the soul are degraded. There is an absence of pure religion, of heart holiness. The converting power of God has not wrought in transforming the character. The soul is weak, and for want of moral force to overcome, is polluted and debased.—Prophets and Kings, 233.WGD 124.2

More clearly than we do, we need to understand the issues at stake in the great conflict in which we are engaged. We need to understand more fully the value of the truths of the Word of God, and the danger of allowing our minds to be diverted from them by the great deceiver.WGD 124.3

The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption reveals the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. Through sin the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted. Sin has degraded the faculties of the soul. Temptations from without find an answering chord within the heart, and the feet turn imperceptibly toward evil.WGD 124.4

As the sacrifice in our behalf was complete, so our restoration from the defilement of sin is to be complete. No act of wickedness will the law of God excuse; no unrighteousness can escape its condemnation. The ethics of the gospel acknowledge no standard but the perfection of the divine character. The life of Christ was a perfect fulfilment of every precept of the law.—The Ministry of Healing, 451.WGD 124.5