In this world there are standards. There are standards for weights and volume measurements, for length, and also standard measurements of time. Without standards there would be chaos. Without standards in the spiritual world there is also disorder and chaos. “Satan well knows that success can only attend order and harmonious action. He well knows that everything connected with heaven is in perfect order, that subjection and thorough discipline mark the movements of the angelic host. It is his studied effort to lead professed Christians just as far from heaven’s arrangement as he can; therefore he deceives even the professed people of God and makes them believe that order and discipline are enemies to spirituality, that the only safety for them is to let each pursue his own course, and to remain especially distinct from bodies of Christians who are united and are laboring to establish discipline and harmony of action. All the efforts made to establish order are considered dangerous, a restriction of rightful liberty, and hence are feared as popery. These deceived souls consider it a virtue to boast of their freedom to think and act independently. They will not take any man’s say-so. They are amenable to no man. I was shown that it is Satan’s special work to lead men to feel that it is in God’s order for them to strike out for themselves and choose their own course, independent of their brethren.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 650.
God’s spiritual standard that will bring order and prevent the divisions that endanger the churches is His law.
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20.
The whole duty of man is summarized in the commandments of God (see Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14).
To keep the commandments of God is everything (see I Corinthians 7:19).
The Ten Commandments law will be the standard in the final judgment (see James 2:10–12).
The saved from the last generation will be commandment keepers (see Revelation 14:12; 12:17).
Multitudes of professed Christians will be lost because they have lived in transgression of God’s law (see Matthew 7:21–23).
Not even part of a letter of the Ten Commandments can ever be changed (see Luke 16:17).
It is sin that is responsible for all the trouble in the world and in the church. “Sin is a disorganizer. Wherever it is cherished—in the individual heart, in the household, in the church—there is disorder, strife, variance, enmity, envy, jealousy, because the enemy of man and of God has the controlling power over the mind.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 377.