A pastor was once stopped by a policeman alongside a road for speeding. The policeman noticed a Bible on the passenger’s seat and asked the driver: “Are you a Christian?” “Yes,” responded the driver, “I am a pastor.” “Do you preach the law?” asked the policeman, and the driver said, “I preach the law of God, and I preach the gospel of grace as well.”

At this moment, the driver was pleading for grace or mercy from the police officer. The officer said that “grace does not do away with the law,” and he issued the driver a ticket. However, he gave the driver a “break” by reducing the penalty, because the driver showed good behavior.

In this example, both law and grace were applied as they should always be. In the secular world, this is not always true, but in God’s kingdom, it is always true.

There are many injustices practiced in this world of sin. Evil people are often let go free and are not held accountable for their actions, while innocent ones are sometimes wrongfully accused or persecuted and much unfair suffering has resulted.

Adventism suffered a great crisis in the past, in a time leading up to the year 1888, now 122 years ago. Pastors debated with Protestant preachers, and they loved to prove that “we are right” and that “the Sabbath is the correct day of worship.” In all their zeal, they left Christ off from their preaching, so they were preaching an incomplete gospel, which is actually a false gospel.

Sister Ellen G. White, speaking about the 1888 crisis, said: “We have not held up before the people the righteousness of Christ and the full significance of His great plan of redemption. We have left out Christ and His matchless love and brought in the theories and reasonings, preached arguments.”2

The Lord’s messenger did not neglect her duty. Several references in the testimonies show that Sister White had all along preached the law and the gospel being in perfect harmony. Also Bro. James White, her husband, preached the harmony between the law and the gospel.

At an early time in Advent history, she recorded: “My husband spoke to a crowded house one hour and a half. His discourse was upon ‘I and My Father Are One,’ showing the relation the law sustains to the gospel.”3

Later she confirmed again, “I spoke with much freedom upon the perfect harmony of the law and the gospel. My text was Luke 10:25-28. Elder Van Horn spoke again in the evening to a full house.”4

In the years leading up to 1888, how did God interpose to help His people? He did not leave them in darkness. He sent messages to them through His servants.

“The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.”5

In the two to three years before October 1888, and also after 1888, Elders Jones and Waggoner preached Justification by Faith. They went from camp meeting to camp meeting preaching this message. Sister White accompanied them at several of these meetings and testified that the messages were heaven-sent.

Is it possible that the disconnection between the law and the gospel still exists today among Christians and even among many professed Seventh-day Adventists?

“The third angel’s message is the proclamation of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. The commandments of God have been proclaimed, but the faith of Jesus Christ has not been proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists as of equal importance, the law and the gospel going hand in hand.”6

“The constant dwelling upon the law in Galatians, and not presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ in distinct lines, is misleading souls. The preaching of Christ crucified has been strangely neglected by our people.”7

Fellow believers: By word, pen, or action, are you neglecting to preach Christ and Him crucified? Are you repeating the mistakes of the Advent preachers prior to 1888? Or are you preaching cheap grace which does not save from sin?

“Christ came to our world to represent the character of God as it is represented in His holy law; for His law is a transcript of His character. Christ was both the law and the gospel. The angel that proclaims the everlasting gospel proclaims the law of God; for the gospel of salvation brings men to obedience of the law, whereby their characters are formed after the divine similitude.”8

The law is called “The gospel mirror.”9

What is the job of a mirror? It shows that your face is dirty, but it does not clean it.

“There is no saving quality in law to pardon the transgression of law.”10

“The law is the echo of God’s own voice, giving to every soul the invitation, Come up higher; be holy, holier still.”11

“The law is the gospel of Christ veiled.”12

“The gospel of Jesus is nothing more or less than the law defined, showing its far-reaching principles.”13

“The law of Jehovah is the tree; the gospel is the fragrant blossoms and fruit which it bears.”14

“The law of God is not weakened by the gospel, but the power of sin is broken.”15

“However deep are [the sinner’s] sins of transgression, the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse him from all sin.”16

“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:10).

“The gospel has not abolished the law, or detracted one tittle from its claims. It still demands holiness in every part. There is no such thing as making the law void through faith in Christ.”17 “Between the law and the gospel there is no contradiction, but the closest union. They are in perfect harmony.”18

“The law and the gospel are inseparably bound together.”19

Do you know what this union (law and gospel) does?

“The law and the gospel, blended, will convict of sin.”20

“The law points out man’s duty and shows him his guilt. To Christ he must look for pardon and for power to do what the law enjoins [commands].” 21

The law and the gospel are united as closely as the Father is united with the Son.

“The gospel calls men to repentance. Repentance of what? - Of sin. And what is sin? - It is the transgression of the law. Therefore the gospel calls men from their transgression back to obedience to the law of God.”22

The law and the gospel were always combined. When God gave the tables of the law to Moses, He showed him Christ’s sacrifice.

“While Moses was in the mount, God presented to him, not only the tables of the law, but also the plan of salvation. He saw that the sacrifice of Christ was prefigured by all the types and symbols of the Jewish age.”23

“The law and the gospel go hand in hand. The one is the complement of the other. The law without faith in the gospel of Christ cannot save the transgressor of law. The gospel without the law is inefficient and powerless. The law and the gospel are a perfect whole.”24

“Christ was both the law and the gospel. The angel that proclaims the everlasting gospel proclaims the law of God; for the gospel of salvation brings man to obedience of the law, whereby their characters are formed after the divine similitude.”25

“Christ . . . came to rescue truth from the rubbish of error, and reset it in the framework of the Gospel, presenting the law of God in its original dignity and purity.”26

“Christ and Him crucified is the message God would have His servants sound through the length and breadth of the world. The law and the gospel will then be presented as a perfect whole.”27

“In describing the remnant people of God, John says, ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus’ (Revelation 14:12). This is the law and the gospel.”28

“ ‘The faith of Jesus.’ It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel’s message? Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Saviour. He was treated as we deserve to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus.”29

The Lord’s messenger declares, “Oh, that I had language to present these lofty themes! I lay down my pen in sorrow that my words are so feeble to deal with grand and awful truth; as I contemplate, I seem to shrink into nothingness before its vast significance. The themes connected with the law and the gospel seem too great for such a weak, ignorant mortal as I to handle. From time to time I venture in the simplest language to present that which has been revealed to me concerning the plan of salvation, but again and again I mourn that my expression falls so far short of the glory of the truth as it is in Jesus.”30