Section 12—Problems in Adjustment
Chapter 61—The Vital Function of God’s Laws (Part 1)
(A) The Decalogue
The Knowledge of Guilt—The knowledge which God did not want our first parents to have was a knowledge of guilt. And when they accepted the assertions of Satan, which were false, disobedience and transgression were introduced into our world. This disobedience to God’s express command, this belief of Satan’s lie, opened the floodgates of woe upon the world.—The Review and Herald, April 5, 1898.
Nature Weakened—The transgression of God’s law brought woe and death in its train. Through disobedience man’s powers were perverted and selfishness took the place of love. His nature became so weakened that it was impossible for him to resist the power of evil, and the tempter saw being fulfilled his purpose to thwart the divine plan of man’s creation and fill the earth with misery and desolation. Men had chosen a ruler who chained them to his car as captives.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 33 (1913).
God’s Law Easily Understood—There is no mystery in the law of God. The feeblest intellect can grasp these rules to regulate the life and form the character after the Divine Model. If the children of men would, to the best of their ability, obey this law, they would gain strength of intellect and power of discernment to comprehend still more of God’s purposes and plans. And this advancement may not only be continued during the present life, but it may go forward during the eternal ages.—The Review and Herald, September 14, 1886.
Wonderful in Simplicity—How wonderful in its simplicity, its comprehensiveness and perfection, is the law of Jehovah! In the purposes and dealings of God there are mysteries which the finite mind is unable to comprehend. And it is because we cannot fathom the secrets of infinite wisdom and power that we are filled with reverence for the Most High.—The Review and Herald, September 14, 1886.
Perfect Harmony Between Law and Gospel—There is perfect harmony between the law of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. “I and My Father are one,” says the Great Teacher. The gospel of Christ is the Good News of grace, or favor, by which man may be released from the condemnation of sin and enabled to render obedience to the law of God. The gospel points to the moral code as a rule of life. That law, by its demands for undeviating obedience, is continually pointing the sinner to the gospel for pardon and peace.
Says the great apostle, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). And again he declares that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). Enjoining supreme love to God, and equal love to our fellowmen, it is indispensable alike to the glory of God and to human happiness.—The Review and Herald, September 27, 1881.
A Complete Rule of Life—God has given man a complete rule of life in His law. Obeyed, he shall live by it, through the merits of Christ. Transgressed, it has power to condemn. The law sends men to Christ, and Christ points them back to the law.—The Review and Herald, September 27, 1881. (Our High Calling, 138.)
Broad in Its Requirements—The law of God, as presented in the Scriptures, is broad in its requirements. Every principle is holy, just, and good. The law lays men under obligation to God; it reaches to the thoughts and feelings; and it will produce conviction of sin in everyone who is sensible of having transgressed its requirements. If the law extended to the outward conduct only, men would not be guilty in their wrong thoughts, desires, and designs. But the law requires that the soul itself be pure and the mind holy, that the thoughts and feelings may be in accordance with the standard of love and righteousness.—The Review and Herald, April 5, 1898. (Selected Messages 2:211.)
Man Alone Disobedient—Man alone is disobedient to the laws of Jehovah. When the Lord bids nature bear testimony to the things which He has made, instantly they witness to the glory of God.—Manuscript 28, 1898. (The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 3:1144.)
Everyone Required to Conform to God’s Law—Christ came to give an example of the perfect conformity to the law of God required of all—from Adam, the first man, down to the last man who shall live on the earth. He declared that His mission was not to destroy the law but to fulfill it in perfect and entire obedience. In this way He magnified the law and made it honorable. In His life He revealed its spiritual nature. In the sight of heavenly beings, of worlds unfallen, and of a disobedient, unthankful, unholy world, He fulfilled the far-reaching principles of the law.
He came to demonstrate the fact that humanity, allied by living faith to divinity, can keep all the commandments of God. He came to make plain the immutable character of the law, to declare that disobedience and transgression can never be rewarded with eternal life. He came as a man to humanity, that humanity might touch humanity, while divinity laid hold upon the throne of God.
But in no case did He come to lessen the obligation of men to be perfectly obedient. He did not destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures. He fulfilled that which was predicted by God Himself. He came, not to set men free from that law, but to open a way whereby they might obey that law and teach others to do the same.—The Review and Herald, November 15, 1898.
God Does Not Annul His Law—The Lord does not save sinners by abrogating His law, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. God is a judge, the guardian of justice. The transgression of His law in a single instance, in the smallest particular, is sin. God cannot dispense with His law, He cannot do away with its smallest item, in order to pardon sin. The justice, the moral excellence, of the law must be maintained and vindicated before the heavenly universe. And that holy law could not be maintained at any smaller price than the death of the Son of God.—The Review and Herald, November 15, 1898.
God’s Laws Not Annulled by Him—God does not annul His laws. He does not work contrary to them. The work of sin He does not undo. But He transforms. Through His grace the curse works out a blessing.—Education, 148 (1903).
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/78.991#992
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for providing grace powerful enough to produce a most wonderful blessing from a miserable curse for those willing to trust and follow You into eternity. Thank You for the divine privilege to be transformed into your image. Please bless us with discernment and determination to be guided by You alone. Please bless us to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendecies to sin and to trust You, regardless of circumstances. Please grant to us that strength of abiding faith. Bless us with a submissive heart to Your Holy Spirit that we might love and be merciful and compassionate toward others, according to Your divine purpose. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, please bless us to be exactly all You would have us be, and grant to us the mind and love and faith of Jesus that others might be drawn to You eternally through how we live and what we say, especially in the most trying of circumstances. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Your Son, Almighty Jesus the Christ, our Savior, we say Thank You and Amen.
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And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.— Romans 12:2 KJV —The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
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Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
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where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom. Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
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My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
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I’m calling them Barb’s Devotionals.