SIN IS SIN by H. W. Reed

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 8, 1900

SIN IS SIN.

By H. W. Reed

H. W. REED.

(Milwaukee, Wis.)

TO BREAK any one of the ten commandments to-day is but to do great wickedness, and sin against God. To do thus was to sin, in Abraham’s day, in Joseph’s day, in Christ’s day; it is the same to-day; and the day of Judgment will prove it sin throughout probation’s day. Christ is our only refuge. He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He is the city of refuge to the transgressor of the law. Wherever sin is, grace doth there abound.

Before the speaking of the law at Mt. Sinai, the Lord remonstrated with the children of Israel, saying, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” The very commandment they had violated was the fourth, which some tell us had no existence till given at Mt. Sinai about thirty days later. Thus we see the existence of God’s law before Israel came to Mt. Sinai.

It is generally admitted that the ten commandments were kept, and that all were binding, from Mt. Sinai to the cross. Some profess that when Christ died, God’s law was abolished. Some religious teachers claim that God’s law did not exist for more than the first two thousand years, but that it did exist for the next two thousand years, was then abolished, and has not been in existence since then, or for the last two thousand years. If this claim be correct, the people of these periods must have different standards by which to be judged, as well as by which to live. But this view, or claim, must be incorrect; for God is no respecter of persons. He will use one standard alike for all. Every man will be measured by the perfect law of God, from the first to the last saint saved, and from the first to the last sinner destroyed.

Let none of Christ’s followers believe, teach, or practice the soul-destroying doctrine that the law of God is abolished; for what else than soul-destroying can it be called? It gives license to sin; and God’s word says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” This means the second death. If any man would escape this death, it must be through the life of Christ.

Then let all transgressors of the perfect law repent toward God for their violations of it, and by faith receive the perfect righteousness of Christ. This is the sinner’s hope, whether in the church or out of it.

Christ is the only one on earth who ever yielded perfect obedience to the perfect law. We all may have Christ in us, the hope of glory. Then, and then only, can perfect obedience be wrought in us. To attempt otherwise is but to invite utter and inglorious defeat. Then let all accept Christ that he may be to them “all, and in all.”

His obedience must be our obedience; his righteousness our righteousness. His perfection must be our perfection. He must be all of this unto us, if we are ever saved.

Let all, then, accept the perfect Christ, that they may have the perfect righteousness which is in him, and thus keep the perfect law of God. Sin is sin, and its sure result is eternal death.