Commentary on "Victory Over Sin"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 7: Friday, August 13, 2010 - Further Study

 

Overview

Three quotes from Ellen G. White

 

Observations

To the editors:

Please stop. Quit putting your readers under bondage. The crime of it is that you know exactly what you’re doing. What kind of belief system does this to people?

Verses 13 and 15 of Matthew 23 come to mind:

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

I can apply these verses to you because I was once one of you. I tried my hardest to explain away grace and everything associated with it. I denied nearly everything Jesus did and continues to do. I was miserable and poor and blind and naked. I was so confused that I called my abject slavery freedom, and tried to get others to join me there.

But even though I was faithless, He was faithful, because He could not deny Himself. Jesus spoke the words of those verses to me, and in utter brokenness I finally found what I’d been looking for all along—my Savior.

Stop worrying about your position within the organization. Don’t fear; fear has to do with punishment. Jesus took all of your punishment on Himself, so now He offers you true freedom, true life and true joy, because He offers you Himself.

You will be surprised and amazed at how quickly bad habits fall away in Him. Things that shame you in private (for you can never admit them publicly) and over which you have no control disappear in a brief puff of ash as His light purifies you from the inside out. Law never can do that. Grace never will fail to do that.

If Jesus has been asking to look inside one of those closets you keep securely locked in your mind, now is the time to throw open the door. What you will discover is that, in Him, the closet is empty. He already took every bit of whatever you thought was hiding in there away. Holding onto the guilt and shame is only hurting you. Holding onto the Law is only hurting you.

Law can never bring you life, justification, freedom or anything else that matters. But Law can and does point you to Jesus. Follow the pointer to its end. You will find life.

 

Summary

1. Stop putting readers under bondage.
2. Stop worrying about your position in Adventism.
3. Accept Jesus’ true freedom, life, and joy. Accept HIM.
4. The law can never bring you life, justification, freedom, or anything that matters.
5. Follow the pointer of the law to its end. There you will find life.

 

 

Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised July 19, 2010. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 7

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 7

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 7

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