Just as an inaccurate standard of time or length or weight will produce serious consequences, an inaccurate moral standard will produce serious moral consequences. “A wrong conception of the character, the perpetuity, and the obligation of the divine law has led to errors in relation to conversion and sanctification, and has resulted in lowering the standard of piety in the church. Here is to be found the secret of the lack of the Spirit and power of God in the revivals of our time.” A New Life [Revival and Beyond], 10.
“The law of God is an agent in every genuine conversion. There can be no true repentance without conviction of sin. The Scriptures declare that ‘sin is the transgression of the law,’ [1 John 3:4] and that ‘by the law is the knowledge of sin’ [Romans 3:20]. In order to see his guilt, the sinner must test his character by God’s great standard of righteousness. … Without true repentance, there can be no true conversion. Many are deceived here, and too often their entire experience proves to be a deception. This is why so many who are joined to the church have never been joined to Christ.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 297.
“In the closing work of God in the earth, the standard of His law will be again exalted.” Prophets and Kings, 186.
In 1886, Ellen White wrote a letter to leading Adventist ministers about the importance of uplifting the standard of God’s law. Following are excerpts from that letter: “I [Ellen White] want to speak to the ears of our people in America in every church. Awake from the dead, and Christ will give you life. Souls are perishing for the light of truth as it is in Jesus. We are standing upon the very borders of the eternal world. … There must be intensity brought into our faith and in the proclamation of truth. I tell you, a new life is proceeding from satanic agencies to work with a power we have not hitherto realized. And shall not a new power from above take possession of God’s people? The truth, sanctifying in its influence, must be urged upon the people. There must be earnest supplications offered to God, agonizing prayer to Him, that our hopes as a people may not be founded on suppositions, but on eternal realities. We must know for ourselves, by the evidence of God’s Word, whether we are in the faith, going to heaven or not. The moral standard of character is God’s law. Do we meet its requirements?” Selected Messages, Book 2, 382, 383.
The law of God—the only true, infallible standard of character in our world “is the standard of the character they must attain in order to be among God’s family in the heavenly courts.” The Review and Herald, March 22, 1898.