An excerpt
"Every discourse given should be of that practical character which will show sinners the sinfulness of sin in the light of the law of God. It should lift up before them the sin-pardoning Redeemer, who gave His life that He might draw them unto Himself and ransom them from the power of Satan, by the price of His own sacrifice of ease, of pleasure, of honor, of glory in coming to a world all scarred and marred with the curse."
December 27, Sabbath
Spoke in the hall to the church in Washington. The hall was well filled and I had much freedom in speaking from (2 Peter 1), showing the necessity of practical godliness. {Ms53-1890.48}
I feel the burden on my soul to present not only the law but the gospel. One is not complete without the other. We hear so many who are deceived by the enemy constantly claiming, “I am saved; I am saved;” but you present God’s great moral standard of righteousness before them, and they show such contempt of God’s rule of righteousness that we know that they do not know what it means to be saved. They have caught up the words, and repeat them parrot-like, while they know nothing of saving grace. The heart is not in harmony with the law of God, but is at enmity with that law. Thus was the great rebel in heaven. Will the Lord take men and women to heaven who have no respect for the law of His universe? {Ms53-1890.49}
There is an enemy constantly at work to make of none effect the holy law of God. He has woven into the theology of today his perilous errors, that exalt a spurious sabbath and trample down the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, so that God is dishonored and the man of sin has exalted himself above God and above all that is worshiped. The professed Christian world have accepted Satan’s lie and discarded the words of God, as did Adam and Eve. People say unto us smooth things, they prophesy deceits. {Ms53-1890.50}
What is to bring the sinner to the knowledge of his sins unless he knows what sin is? The only definition of sin in the Word of God is given us in (1 John 3:4): “Sin is the transgression of the law.” The sinner must be made to feel that he is a transgressor. Christ dying upon the cross of Calvary is drawing his attention. Why did Christ die? Because it was the only means for man to be saved. He became our substitute and surety. He took upon Himself our sins that He might impute His own righteousness to all who believe in Him. The love of Jesus Christ displayed for man in the sufferings He endured on the cross of Calvary is a mystery even to the angelic host of heaven. Amazing love of the Father to give His Son to die to ransom the sinner! Oh, what love, what inexpressible love! {Ms53-1890.51}
The goodness and the love of God lead the sinner to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The awakened sinner, convicted of sin by the true display of the love of God, is pointed to the law he has transgressed. It calls to him to repent, yet there is no saving quality in law to pardon the transgression of law, and his case seems hopeless. But the law draws him to Christ. However deep are his sins of transgression, the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse him from all sin. {Ms53-1890.52}
There is a necessity of dwelling upon the love of Jesus Christ; this is essential. But it is not all that must be spoken. The great standard of character—God’s holy law, with all its solemn injunctions—should be distinctly set forth, together with the circumstances of the giving of the law from Mount Sinai in awful grandeur. The Lord Jesus Christ was there in person. He spoke that law and gave the commandments, which are unalterable, unchangeable, and eternal in their character. {Ms53-1890.53}
While we dwell upon the paternal character of God, and His love expressed for man in the gift of His only begotten Son, we must tell people why such a costly sacrifice was necessary. It was because of sin. What is sin? The transgression of the law. Only the Son of God could pay the penalty, and that by His own humiliation and death. As men look at the cross, conscience will be aroused. They will see the majesty of the law, the holiness of God, and their own unlikeness to His character. They will flee for refuge to Jesus Christ, who can cleanse them from every stain of sin and adopt them into the royal family, making them sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Then will the words of the prayer He offered to His Father be verified: “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. ... And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:23-26. {Ms53-1890.54}
Every discourse given should be of that practical character which will show sinners the sinfulness of sin in the light of the law of God. It should lift up before them the sin-pardoning Redeemer, who gave His life that He might draw them unto Himself and ransom them from the power of Satan by the price of His own sacrifice of ease, of pleasure, of honor, of glory in coming to a world all scarred and marred with the curse. Thus He became man’s surety and substitute and stands in the place of the transgressor of God’s law. He suffered—the Guiltless for the guilty—that He might make it possible for all to believe on Him and accept Him as their personal Saviour, and for God to accept them in the Beloved. {Ms53-1890.55}
Some feel relieved after they have stamped down the righteous, holy law of Jehovah, as one minister described: “I feel better after giving the old law a run, and after denouncing it as a yoke of bondage. I pronounce it a bloody old law, dead and buried, and undeserving of a gravestone.” Is not this the very way Cain felt when he brought a sacrifice to God without the shedding of blood? He was so provoked with Abel that he could not tolerate him, because Abel did not accept his reasoning but followed the injunction of God. He mingled with his offering the blood of the victim representing the efficacious offering, the real person of Christ, as a Lamb without blemish. “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12. {Ms53-1890.56}
Let not one declaim against the law of God, and let not one rail out against the sacrificial offerings. If men were abiding in Christ, if they had a knowledge of His relation to the law, they could not make a raid against the law. Christ Himself was the One who devised the system of the Jewish economy. In the symbols and typical sacrifices to represent the great Offering that was to be made, He would teach to Adam and Eve and all the human family the lesson that without the shedding of blood there is no pardon for transgression and sin. {Ms53-1890.57}
Take not the position that men can be moved by the presentation of the love of God alone. You may build ever so fine a structure, but it is without foundation. Dig deep, lay the foundation on Christ alone—a crucified Redeemer who died for the transgressor that he should not perish but have eternal life. How? Only by coming back to his allegiance to God’s holy law. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21. {Ms53-1890.58}
The law and the gospel go hand in hand. The one is the complement of the other. The law without faith in the gospel of Christ cannot save the transgressor of law. The gospel without the law is inefficient and powerless. The law and the gospel are a perfect whole. The Lord Jesus laid the foundation of the building, and He lays “the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Zechariah 4:7. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The two blended—the gospel of Christ and the law of God—produce the love and faith unfeigned. {Ms53-1890.59}
Ellen G. White, Diary Entry, Sabbath, December 27, 1890