October 15, 1894

Consider the Moral Code

EGW

“I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.” The commandments of God are not a yoke of bondage, and in obedience to them we have nothing of which to be ashamed. We should not feel that we are severely restricted in being required to keep God's law. The Lord withholds from us nothing which is for our good. We should be ashamed of disobedience to his precepts.ST October 15, 1894, par. 1

There are men who profess to open the Scriptures to others, and who claim to be ministers of the gospel, who yet place stumbling-blocks in the way of those who are seeking for safe paths. But let the sincere seeker for truth look to the Author of truth, and not to the would-be instructor who knows not the way of light. Go to the Fountain of knowledge, and become acquainted with what saith the Scriptures, and take no mortal man's inferences and assertions. The fallacies of men have in them no power to sanctify the soul; and the word of God is not to be adulterated with the customs and traditions of the world. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” “And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”ST October 15, 1894, par. 2

The next verse opens with this warning: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Let us consider the moral law, which was specified by the loved disciple as the “old commandment which ye had from the beginning,” which was spoken from Mount Sinai amid smoke and flame, thunder and earthquake. The commandments are:ST October 15, 1894, par. 3

“I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.ST October 15, 1894, par. 4

“II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 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; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.ST October 15, 1894, par. 5

“III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.ST October 15, 1894, par. 6

“IV. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.ST October 15, 1894, par. 7

“V. Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.ST October 15, 1894, par. 8

“VI. Thou shalt not kill.ST October 15, 1894, par. 9

“VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.ST October 15, 1894, par. 10

“VIII. Thou shalt not steal.ST October 15, 1894, par. 11

“IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.ST October 15, 1894, par. 12

“X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.”ST October 15, 1894, par. 13

If this code of morals had been respected and obeyed, the world would not now be in the state in which it is,—corrupted under the inhabitants thereof. If human agents had cooperated with God, and had obeyed the laws which lie at the foundation of his government, we should not see and hear so much concerning iniquity and crime, suffering and death. Christ magnified the law, and made it honorable. He saw the necessity of expounding the law which he himself had spoken amid flame and thunder and tempest. The rabbis had heaped the rubbish of their traditions upon the law, and made of no effect the commandments of God, because they taught as doctrines the commandments of men. He showed the people that the law of God penetrated to the motives of the heart, and the lover of self was a transgressor of the law. He rescued the commandments from their companionship with error, and placed them in the framework of the gospel, and presented them to men in their true significance and importance; and to those who listened the law seemed a new revelation. Far from taking anything from the sacredness of a single precept, he revealed to men the exalted character of the whole law. But because he cleansed from the law the rubbish of tradition, and freed it from the exactions of men, and from the multitude of minute requirements of men, that confused the people, and hindered them from seeing the real significance of the requirements of Jehovah, the Pharisees were saying in their hearts that Christ had come to do away with the law. But while they were musing in their hearts, he spoke words that revealed to them the fact that he read their thoughts as an open book:ST October 15, 1894, par. 14

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”ST October 15, 1894, par. 15

Christ then proceeds to show that the commandments are exceeding broad, and penetrate to the very motives that control the heart.ST October 15, 1894, par. 16

The great adversary, the first rebel and apostate, makes war on the commandments of God, for “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” This is the reason that he would have the world believe that the law of God is not binding, for then he can keep men in ignorance of the fact that they are sinners and in need of a Saviour. In this way he can lead them to reject the great salvation, that has been purchased for them at infinite cost.ST October 15, 1894, par. 17