66
Confrontation
Christ commenced the work of redemption just where the ruin
began. He made provision to reinstate man in his Godlike purity, if
he accepted the help brought him. Through faith in His all-powerful
name—the only name given under heaven whereby we may be saved—
man could overcome appetite and passion, and through his obedience
to the law of God, health would take the place of infirmities and
corrupting diseases. Those who overcome will follow the example of
Christ by bringing bodily appetites and passions under the control of
[75]
enlightened conscience and reason.
If ministers who preach the gospel would do their duty, and would
also be ensamples to the flock of God, their voices would be lifted up
like a trumpet to show the people their transgressions and the house of
Israel their sins. Ministers who exhort sinners to be converted should
distinctly define what sin is and what conversion from sin is. Sin
is the transgression of the law. The convicted sinner must exercise
repentance toward God for the transgression of His law, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle gives us the true definition of sin. “Sin is the transgres-
sion of the law.” The largest class of Christ’s professed ambassadors
are blind guides. They lead the people away from the path of safety
by representing the requirements and prohibitions of the ancient law
of Jehovah as arbitrary and severe. They give the sinner license to
overstep the limits of God’s law. In this they are like the great adver-
sary of souls, opening before them a life of freedom in violation of
God’s commandments. With this lawless freedom the basis of moral
responsibility is gone.
Those who follow these blind leaders close the avenues of their
souls to the reception of truth. They will not allow the truth with
its practical bearings to affect their hearts. The largest number brace
their souls with prejudice against new truths, and also against the
clearest light which shows the correct application of an old truth,
the law of God, which is as old as the world. The intemperate and
licentious delight in the oft-repeated assertion that the law of the ten
commandments is not binding in this dispensation. Avarice, thefts,
perjuries, and crimes of every description are carried on under the
[76]
cloak of Christianity.