Disposing of Sin by E. Hilliard

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 2, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 18.

Disposing of Sin

By E. Hilliard

WHEN a person transgresses the law of God, he becomes debtor to the law. Gal. 5: 3. A debtor is one who owes something; and to be a debtor to the law is to owe what the law demands. It demands righteousness, and cannot be satisfied with anything short of that.

For a man to steal would be an unrighteous, sinful act, for the law forbids it. Ex. 20: 15. Would the doing away with the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," pay the debt?—God forbid. God has ordained no such way for the disposal of sin.

How, then, shall the obligation be met? Simply enough. The Spirit of God, through the law, convicts the man of sin; "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3: 20. Pricked in the heart, he bows at the feet of Him who has promised to pay the debt, confesses his guilt, and makes restitution to the one from whom he has stolen. He is abundantly pardoned. He is a free man in Christ Jesus, and is in harmony with the law. Death has no claim upon him.

Now to keep free from the law, he must keep out of debt to the law. He must heed the instruction given by the apostle Paul, "Let him that stole steal no more." In other words, he must keep the commandment that forbids theft.

The violation of any of the Ten Commandments is to be treated in the same manner. No human substitute to meet the demands of God’s holy law will exonerate the debtor. Nor will the abrogation of the law cancel the sin, and save the transgressor. Nothing but a frank acknowledgment of the offense, and pleading for pardon, will answer God’s purpose.

All who refuse to confess their sins during probationary time, will be found guilty at the bar of God. At the great Judgment day, those found in debt to the Decalogue will have no pleading Saviour to pay their obligations. Having trampled the divine precepts underfoot, they themselves must pay the penalty. Now is the time to study carefully the conditions of salvation, and through Christ, to render full, cheerful obedience. Blessed, indeed, is the man whose transgressions of the divine law are forgiven; and twice blessed he who, through faith in Christ, is kept in full obedience to the commandments of God. In such dwell the Father and the Son, the hope of glory. E. HILLIARD.