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The Royal Law Measures Character, May 16
If you really fulfil the royal law, according to scripture, ... you do well.
James 2:8
, RSV.
The standard by which to measure character is the royal law. The law is the sin
detector. By the law is the knowledge of sin. But the sinner is constantly being
drawn to Jesus by the wonderful manifestation of His love in that He humiliated
Himself to die a shameful death upon the cross. What a study is this! Angels have
striven, earnestly longed, to look into this wonderful mystery. It is a study that
can tax the highest human intelligence, that man, fallen, deceived by Satan, taking
Satan’s side of the question, can be conformed to the image of the Son of the infinite
God—that man shall be like Him, that, because of the righteousness of Christ given
to man, God will love man, fallen but redeemed, even as He loved His Son. Read it
right out of the living oracles.
This is the mystery of godliness. This picture is of the highest value. It is to
be meditated upon, placed in every discourse, hung in memory’s hall, uttered by
human lips, and traced by human beings who have tasted and known that the Lord
is good. It is to be the groundwork of every discourse....
A Christian is the highest type of a man because he is Christlike.... He feels his
weakness, he lays hold with earnest purpose and living faith upon the strength of
God, and is an overcomer. Great becomes his peace, his joy, for it comes from the
Lord, and there is nothing more acceptable in the sight of God than the continual
humiliation of the soul before Him. These evidences are unmistakable proofs that
the Lord has touched hearts by His Holy Spirit. More wonderful than miracles of
physical healing is the miracle wrought in the child of God in wrestling with natural
defects and overcoming them. The universe of God looks upon him with joy far
greater than on any splendid outward display. The inward character is molded after
the divine Pattern....
Holding up Christ as our only source of strength, presenting His matchless
love in having the guilt of the sins of men charged to His account and His own
righteousness imputed to man, in no case does away with the law or detracts from
its dignity. Rather, it places it where the correct light shines upon and glorifies it.
This is done only through the light reflected from the cross of Calvary. The law is
complete and full in the great plan of salvation, only as it is presented in the light
shining from the crucified and risen Saviour. This can be only spiritually discerned.
It kindles in the heart of the beholder ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is his
righteousness. This joy is only for those who love and keep the words of Jesus,
which are the words of God (
Manuscript24, 1888
).
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