The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 473

The desire for an easy religion that requires no striving, no
self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world, has made the
doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doctrine; but what saith the
word of God? Says the apostle James: “What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
... Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was
not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by
works was faith made perfect? ... Ye see then how that by works a man
is justified, and not by faith only.” James 2:14-24.
The testimony of the word of God is against this ensnaring doctrine
of faith without works. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven
without complying with the conditions upon which mercy is to be
granted, it is presumption; for genuine faith has its foundation in the
promises and provisions of the Scriptures.
Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can become
holy while willfully violating one of God’s requirements.
The
commission of a known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit
and separates the soul from God. “Sin is the transgression of the law.”
And “whosoever sinneth [transgresseth the law] hath not seen Him,
neither known Him.” 1 John 3:6. Though John in his epistles dwells
so fully upon love, yet he does not hesitate to reveal the true character
of that class who claim to be sanctified while living in transgression
of the law of God. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth
His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” 1 John 2:4, 5. Here
is the test of every man’s profession. We cannot accord holiness to any
man without bringing hi m to the measurement of God’s only standard of
holiness in heaven and in earth. If men feel no weight of the moral law,
if they belittle and make light of God’s precepts, if they break one of the
least of

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