God Has Rules Too
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man will present to the people this holy, just, and good law, this law of
liberty, which the Creator Himself has adapted to the wants of man, as
a yoke of bondage, a yoke which no man can bear. But it is the sinner
who regards the law as a grievous yoke; it is the transgressor that can
see no beauty in its precepts. For the carnal mind “is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be” (
Romans 8:7
)....
Beyond “Thou Shalt Nots”
We are living in an age of great wickedness. Multitudes are en-
slaved by sinful customs and evil habits, and the fetters that bind them
are difficult to break. Iniquity, like a flood, is deluding the earth.
Crimes almost too fearful to be mentioned, are of daily occurrence.
And yet men professing to be watchmen on the walls of Zion will
teach that the law was designed for the Jews only, and passed away
[32]
with the glorious privileges that ushered in the gospel age. Is there not
a relation between the prevailing lawlessness and crime, and the fact
that ministers and people hold and teach that the law is no longer of
binding force?
The condemning power of the law of God extends, not only to the
things we do, but to the things we do not do. We are not to justify
ourselves in omitting to do the things that God requires. We must not
only cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. God has given
us powers to be exercised in good works; and if these powers are
not put to use, we shall certainly be set down as wicked and slothful
servants. We may not have committed grievous sins; such offenses
may not stand registered against us in the book of God; but the fact
that our deeds are not recorded as pure, good, elevated, and noble,
showing that we have not improved our entrusted talents, places us
under condemnation.
The law of God existed before man was created. It was adapted
to the condition of holy beings; even angels were governed by it.
After the Fall, the principles of righteousness were unchanged. Noth-
ing was taken from the law; not one of its holy precepts could be
improved. And as it has existed from the beginning, so will it con-
tinue to exist throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. “Concerning
Thy testimonies,” says the psalmist, “I have known of old that Thou