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Chapter 42


Counsels of Caution–
Our Own Standards?



      Suppose that you go to a clothing store to buy a suit. You find one that is acceptable and say to the sales clerk, “What is the price on this one?”
      The clerk answers, “The price is three hundred dollars, but you do not have to pay the full price.”
      What would be your next question? Obviously, “How much discount do I get?”
      Or, suppose that you go to a used car lot to buy a car. You find one that seems to meet your needs, and you ask the salesperson, “What is the price on this one?”
      The salesperson answers, “The price is five thousand dollars, but you don’t have to pay the full price.”
      Again, what would your next question be? Obviously, “How much discount do I get?”
      Now, suppose that you go to your pastor and ask, “Pastor, what about God’s Holy Law, the Ten Commandments?”
      He answers, “Of course the law of God is still in force, but you don’t have to obey it perfectly.”
      What would your next question be? Obviously, “How much discount do I get?’
      How much discount on the Ten Commandments do we get? If we pursue this question we will make an interesting discovery. Nobody knows!
      Put the question to your pastor, your conference president, your union president, or even the General Conference Committee. Not one or all of them would be able to answer the question. The idea seems to be that we must decide it for ourselves. But before we undertake this awesome task, let us pause to consider the counsels on this subject that the Lord has sent to us through His special messenger.

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      In substituting their own ideas, in erecting their own standard, they will come to misrepresent the Father and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, coming far short of Christlikeness of character. In erecting a standard for themselves, they will cling to their own deficiencies, practice their former habits, and fall far below the perfection of Christ’s character. But through the grace of Christ, we should ever strive to reach the perfect standard. 3ST 247

      We are never to prescribe for our own case. 1ST 328

      God’s Word presents the standard to which we are to conform our life and character. We may choose to follow some other standard, which is more in harmony with our own hearts, but we can never thus gain the divine approval. 1RH 320

      Those who are truly sanctified will not set up their own opinion as a standard of right and wrong. 1RH 251

      We are to pattern our lives after the divine Model. We cannot afford to imitate others. We cannot afford to measure ourselves by human standards. The standards of men are as various as the men who make them. 2RH 545

      We have full faith in the scripture that says, “God is love;” and yet many have shamefully perverted this word, and have fallen into dangerous error because of a false interpretation of its meaning. God’s holy law is the only standard by which we can estimate divine affection. If we do not accept the law of God as our standard, we set up a standard of our own. God has given us precious promises of His love, but we are not to ascribe to Jehovah a tenderness that will lead Him to pass over guilt and wink at iniquity. 2RH 403

      The world has set up a standard to suit the inclinations of unsanctified hearts, but this is not the standard for those who love Christ. The Redeemer has chosen them out of the world, and has left them His sinless life as a standard. 4ST 189

      Your standard is to be the character of Him who was pure, holy, and undefiled. YI 345

      Only those have genuine sanctification who keep the commandments of God. They do not erect a standard of character for themselves; for they know that such a standard would fall short of God’s requirement. They take the standard the Lord has given them, and through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, obey the law of God. YI 308

      All heaven is at the command of those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. We need to come up to a higher

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standard, to go forward and claim our exalted privileges. We should walk humbly with God, make no proud boasts of perfection of character, but in simple faith claim every promise in the Word of God; for they are for the obedient, not for the transgressors of God’s law. 2ST 372

      Jesus is our only safe pattern. . . . 2ST 102

      We should raise no human standard whereby to measure character. 1SM 315

      But in the day of judgment those who reason thus (that Daniel was too particular, etc.) will find that they turned from God’s express requirements, and set up their own opinion as a standard of right and wrong. YI 574

      There is no real standard of righteousness apart from God’s law. YI 582

      Men may cast aside God’s great moral standard of character, and erect a standard to suit their own convenience, and by this imperfect standard they may claim holiness; but God will enforce His own laws on nations, families, and individuals. 2ST 131

      Men have taken upon themselves the responsibility of erecting a standard in harmony with their own ideas, and the law of Jehovah has been dishonored. 3RH 43

      The character of Christ is the standard which the Christian is to keep before him. YI 347

      The law of God is the standard by which character is to be tested; if we erect a standard to suit ourselves, and attempt to follow a criterion of our own devising, we shall utterly fail to secure heaven at last. 1RH 567

      The Word of God gives men no liberty to set up a standard of righteousness of their own, as many do who claim to be without sin. 1ST 446

      Men may erect a standard of righteousness of their own aside from that presented in the Word of God; but their hope, like the house built upon the sand, will surely fall. 1ST 493

      True sanctification is found in yielding the will to the will of God, in rendering obedience to His commandments, and in making His standard of righteousness the aim of our life. 3ST 254

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      What, then, of “relationship” theology? Just don’t push it to extremes. Don’t let it become a man-made standard that we put in the place of the standard that God has given. The Law of God is a transcript of His character, expressed in words in the Ten Commandments and in actual life in our Lord Jesus Christ. It simply cannot be improved.
      As others have pointed out, the word “relationship” standing by itself has little real meaning. A snake and a mouse have a relationship, as do a student and a teacher, or a man and woman in love. In each case the word “relationship” is given its content, its specific meaning, by the other words used with it.
      God and man have a relationship - the relation of a Creator with His created being, man. In this case the terms of the relationship are obviously spelled out by the Creator, not by the created being. These basic terms are to be found in God’s Holy Law, written with His own finger. We had best accept them and not try to arrange a better plan to suit ourselves. To do so creates the danger that we will imagine that we can have an acceptable relationship with God while cherishing sin, the violation of His Law. Regardless of the charming manner in which this idea may be presented to us, it just isn’t true.

      The sinner is privileged to recognize Christ as his divine and adorable brother, but this relationship cannot be claimed while he continues to cherish sin. 3RH 434



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