THIRD QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
AUGUST 30, 2025
"LIVING THE LAW."

The Third Angel’s Message

We live in a world flooded with information. With just one click, we can access research studies, blogs, sermons, videos, and now even AI summaries of every possible topic under the sun. But an important question to remember keeps popping into my mind recently—is it true? Is it real?

When I was in nursing school, I took a course called Advanced Physical Assessment. We studied physiology in depth, memorized tests, took health histories, and practiced ways to evaluate patients. During that time, my dad gave me a piece of advice:

“Learn how a healthy body functions. Learn what normal is—and eventually you will be able to instantly recognize when something isn’t right.”

At the time, it applied to medicine. But the principle applies to life, and especially to the gospel. Do we know what the true gospel is—so deeply and personally—that we can recognize when something sounds off? Do we have such a living knowledge of God’s character that we can sense the difference between truth and distortion?

This week’s lesson is titled “Living the Law.” Right away, that makes me think practically—the law is meant to shape real life, not just sit on stone tablets. But when I hear people talk about the law, it often comes in the form of: we must obey the law to be saved… we should do better… we need to focus harder on the mission… Those things sound right, but they raise the most important question: how? how do we live the law?

The more I’ve grown in understanding the gospel, the clearer it becomes: the gospel is not a partial remedy for sin—it is a completeremedy. It is restorative, perfect, and meant for the healing of the nations. The gospel was not given to correct our actions; it was given to heal our hearts—our characters (and in so doing, we will bear the fruits of righteousness). And yet, when I listen to sermons or conversations between friends, sometimes I feel like I only hear bits and pieces of that good news—important truths, yes, but not the whole picture. The gospel I often hear today seems to fall short. Something essential is missing.

And that’s exactly why this study matters: to see the law in the light of the gospel, and to learn what it really means to live the law in the context of the Third Angel’s Message. Where do we begin looking for that missing piece? A natural place to start is with the law itself. Because unless we see how the law looks when separated from Christ, we cannot appreciate what it means to live the law in Him.

THE LAW WITHOUT CHRIST

As previously mentioned, when we don’t know what “healthy” looks like, we can’t recognize when something is wrong. The same is true with the gospel. So what is a “healthy” view of the law? Let’s take a look at what the law looks like without Christ.

“Were the law understood apart from Christ, it would have a crushing power upon sinful men, blotting them out of existence.” Then the man who, without Christ, attempts to understand the law of God, is simply bidding to be crushed out of existence. The Bible statement of this principle is, “The law worketh wrath.” And yet the Bible speaks of people who rest in the law, and make their boast of God. Romans 2:17. But the man who rests in the law is resting in wrath; he is like one resting on a volcano. That man cannot boast of God, nor of anything else but utter destruction. —Alonzo T. Jones, “The Law Without Christ, and With Christ,” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 8, 1898, p. 156, emphasis supplied here and onward.

Jones’s words help us see that the law by itself is like a volcano—dangerous to rest on. If we try to understand the law apart from Christ, it becomes crushing—a weight that exposes our flaws but offers no remedy. And of course, no one would choose to “rest on a volcano,” so why do we allow ourselves to “rest” in the law instead of in Christ? I’ve seen what happens when people live under the law without Christ—it either drives them into a desperate frenzy, constantly agonizing over failure, or into angry dismissal, throwing in the towel and walking away from God altogether. The law, unmixed with the gospel, leaves us feeling hopeless, fearful, or frustrated and resentful.

So how are we to understand the law? If we are to live it, how can we if we are unable to “rest in it”? Maybe this will help as Jones goes on: 

Yet as a matter of fact, the law of God cannot be understood apart from Christ. “I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.” That law is a transcript of the divine mind, of the infinite will. And for the finite to attempt, by its own efforts, to understand that which is infinite, is a fruitless task. Only in Christ can the law be understood. Christ is God’s own exposition and explanation of his own law. Nobody but God can fathom or reveal the wide meaning of his law. In Christ, God has done this. Whoever…would understand the law of God, must study not the law, but Christ,—not the law as it is in the law, but the law as it is in Christ. To study the law as it is in the law is to court destruction. To study the law as it is in Christ is to court salvation.“By understanding the law in connection with Christ, receiving him by faith as his substitute and surety, man sees himself a prisoner of hope. The truth as it is in Jesus is an acquaintance with the holy, just, and good law of God, as this law is elevated, and its immutability demonstrated, in Christ.” Christ is God’s own explanation of all law—moral, ceremonial, natural, or what not. Then study Christ, and Christ alone. In studying him, and him alone, you are studying everything that can ever be known; for he is the truth, and “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him.” —ibid.

To understand the law and how to live it, we must study Christ. But that is exactly how we don’t approach the subject. We leave Christ out of it completely. The law is left to be understood without the deeper revelation of the True Witness. Without Christ, the law alone is left to intoxicate the world with a false picture of God and drive people away from the reality of His character and the healing He offers. If this principle holds true for us individually, it also played out on a national scale for Israel. Their covenant at Sinai is a case study in trying to live the law without Christ.

THE OLD COVENANT VS. THE NEW

Israel’s history is a living lesson of this truth. At Sinai, they promised: “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). It sounded noble, and the intention was admirable, but it was a covenant rooted in self-confidence. And we know that self, self-confidence (aka pride) will fall.

Ellen White explains: 

The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God’s law. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 371.

Jones sharpens the contrast: 

The old covenant, the covenant from Sinai, is summed up in the word “SELF.” The new covenant, the everlasting covenant, is summed up in the word “CHRIST.” The old covenant is self and his righteousness. The new covenant is Christ and the righteousness of God. The old covenant is self and the bondage of sin and works of law. The new covenant is Christ and the liberty of righteousness which is by faith. The old covenant—self—must be cast out, and utterly repudiated, that the new covenant—Christ—may have its proper place and may manifest its saving power, for the son of the bondwoman can never be heir with the son of the free. —“Studies in Galatians. The Two Covenants. Galatians 4:21-31; 5:1” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald July 31, 1900, p. 489.

The difference is stark. The old covenant says, “I will do.” The new covenant says, “Christ has done, Christ is doing, and Christ will do.” Living the law, then, is not about redoubling human effort, but receiving divine life. But even this raises another question. If human promises always fail, and only Christ can keep the covenant, then why give the law at all?

THE LAW’S TRUE PURPOSE

The law functions like a physician’s test—it reveals the sickness, the need. It is the standard of everything that is righteous. It is the test of character. It is the highest standard of love—a revelation of the principles that make up the foundation of His kingdom. 

“Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound.” In other words, Romans 3:20, the last words—words with which you are all familiar—“by the law is the knowledge of sin.” What was the law given for on tables of stone—the first purpose of its given? 

[Congregation: “To show us what sin is.”] 

To make sin abound; to give the knowledge of sin. So, “the law entered that the offense might abound”; that sin might appear; that it might appear as it is. Paul, speaking in the 7th chapter of Romans, says how it appeared to him, 12th and 13th verses: “Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Then to make sin abound and make it appear as it is, exceeding sinful—that is the first object of the giving of the law, isn’t it? —Alonzo T. Jones, “The Third Angel’s Message-18”, General Conference Daily Bulletin, Vol. 5, 1893, p. 410.

So the law was given to reveal sin—to reveal the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The law reveals that sin as “exceeding sinful.” But here is where the gospel starts to shine. Jones draws out the hope written by Paul in Romans 5:

Now let us read right on in Romans 5: “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Then did the law come alone, making sin to appear alone, and that alone? 

[Congregation: “No.”] 

It is simply the means to another end—the means to an end by which to attain another object beyond the knowledge of sin. Is that so? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

So then, where sin abounds—where is it that grace abounds? 

[Congregation: “In the same place.”] 

Right there? [Congregation: “Yes.”] 

But does it read that way, “Where sin abounded grace abounded”? 

[Congregation: “No. ‘Much more.’”] 

That would be pretty good wouldn’t it, if it was only where sin abounds there grace abounds? That would be pretty good, but that is not the way the Lord does things, you know. He does things absolutely well—entirely good, just as good as God could do. Well then, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” 

[Congregation: “Amen.”] 

Then, brethren, when the Lord, by His law, has given us the knowledge of sin, just at that very moment, at that very point, grace is much more abundant than the knowledge of sin. Is that so? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] —ibid.

Yes, the law highlights our pitiful state—but it also allows the gospel to shine all the more beautifully, the truth about the heart of God. It is meant to act as a means to awaken our hearts to our need and to be drawn to Christ. Jones continues on:

The law then brings us to Christ. That’s certain. What for?

 [Congregation: “That we may be justified.”] 

What does the law want of you and me? Does it make any demands of us before we reach Jesus Christ? When the law finds us, does it want anything from us? 

[Congregation: “It wants righteousness.”] 

What kind? 

[Congregation: “Perfect righteousness.”] 

Whose? [Congregation: “God’s.”] 

God’s righteousness? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

Just such righteousness alone as God manifests in His own life, in His own way of doing things? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

Will that law be content with anything less than that from you and me? Will it accept anything less than that, a hair’s breadth less? 

[Congregation: “No.”] 

If we could come within a hair’s breadth of it—that’s too far short; we miss it. —ibid, p. 411.

At this point, Jones makes the situation painfully clear: the law demands God’s own perfect righteousness—and nothing less. But do we, in ourselves, have anything like that to offer?

Well, now, have we—has any man in the world—any of that kind of love to offer to the law of God? 

[Congregation: “No.”] 

Has any man naturally that kind of a conscience? 

[Congregation: “No.”] 

No, sir. Well, then, the law makes that demand of every man on the earth tonight, no difference who he is. He makes it of you and me; he makes that demand of people in Africa and of all the people on the earth, and he will not accept anything less than that from anyone of them. But, we are talking about ourselves tonight. So, the law comes to you and me tonight and says: “I want charity; I want perfect love—the love of God. I want to see it in your life all the time. And I want to see it manifested out of a pure heart and through a good conscience and unfeigned faith.” That is where we are. “Well,” says one, “I have not got it. I have done my best.” But the law will say, “that is not what I want. I don’t want your best. I want perfection. It is not your doing I want anyhow; it is God’s I want. It is not your righteousness I am after; I want God’s righteousness from you. It is not your doing I want. I want God’s doing in your life.” That is what the law says to every man. Then, when I am shut off thus at the very first question and even then when I said I did my best, then I have nothing more to say. Is that not what the scripture says: “That every mouth may be stopped.” It does just that, does it not? But there comes a still small voice saying, “Here is a perfect life; here is the life of God. Here is a pure heart; here is a good conscience. here is unfeigned faith.” Where does that voice come from? 

[Congregation: “Christ.”] 

Ah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came and stood where I stand in the flesh in which I live. He lived there. The perfect love of God was manifested there. the perfect purity of heart manifested there. A good conscience manifested there, and the unfeigned faith of the mind that was in Jesus Christ is there. Well, then, He simply comes and tells me, “Here, take this.” That will satisfy, then, will it? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

The life manifested in Jesus Christ, that will satisfy the law. The purity of heart that Jesus Christ gives—that will satisfy the law. The good conscience that He can create, that will satisfy. The unfeigned faith which He gives—that will satisfy. Will it? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

Well then is that not what the law wants all the time? It is Jesus Christ that the law wants, is it not? 

[Congregation: “Yes.”] 

That is what the law wants: that is the same thing which it calls for in the fifth of Romans, is it not? But why does it call for it in connection with me? It calls for Christ in me, because the law wants to see that thing in me. Then is not the object of the law of God, the gospel of Christ alone? “Christ in you the hope of glory?” Ah, that is so. —ibid, p. 412.

Here the contrast shines: the law stops every mouth, but Christ supplies every need. The law demands perfection, and Christ steps forward as Perfection itself—offered freely to us. Jones concludes this section by showing how the law’s ultimate purpose is fulfilled in Christ:

That is the object of the law then, is it not? To bring us to Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith, made righteous by faith, that His righteousness—the righteousness of God in Christ—may be ours? That is it. Well, when that is true, when we have got there, then what is the use of the law? Then what is the law for? 

[Congregation: “It witnesses.”]

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law.” Then, when the law gives a knowledge of sin, in order that we may have the knowledge of the abundance of grace to take away the sin, then grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ—and this righteousness of God by faith in Christ is our own through the working of the law, and this knowledge of sin has brought us to Christ, and we have Him, and the law is satisfied in all its demands that it has made upon us. —ibid, p. 413.

This is the function of the Third Angel’s Message: to reveal sin, deception, and counterfeit worship—but never without pointing to the cure in Christ. The law brings us face to face with our bankruptcy, only to immediately direct us to Christ’s fullness. What it demands, He supplies. What it exposes, He heals. And thus, the law finds its true purpose—not as an end in itself, but as a faithful witness leading us to the only One who can justify, sanctify, and satisfy its every claim: Jesus Christ.

LIVING THE LAW

All of this brings us to the heart of the lesson—what does it mean in practice? If the law reveals sin and points to Christ, then how do we actually live the law day by day? To “live the law” is not about gritting our teeth and trying harder. It is about allowing Christ to live His life in us. Ellen White explains it beautifully:

The righteousness which Christ taught is conformity of heart and life to the revealed will of God. Sinful men can become righteous only as they have faith in God and maintain a vital connection with Him. Then true godliness will elevate the thoughts and ennoble the life. —Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 54.

Paul echoes this truth in Philippians 2:5,13: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” That is what it means to live the law—not as an external checklist, but as an internal transformation. It is love out of a pure heart and the faith of Jesus, fulfilled not by us, but by Christ living within us. So how does this relate to the Third Angel’s Message?

THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL AND THE THREE ANGELS

This is not just theory. Revelation ties the reality of Christ living in us directly to the final message to the world. The call to live the law is embedded in the everlasting gospel proclaimed by the three angels. 

Revelation 14 describes the final message to the world before Christ returns. But notice where it begins—not with threats or beasts, but with the gospel itself: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth…” (Revelation 14:6). This is the foundation. The everlasting gospel is the same good news Paul preached: “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Romans 3:22).

The First Angel proclaims the Creator and calls the world to worship Him. This echoes the Sabbath commandment—tying living the law with worship of the Creator and Redeemer.

The Second Angel warns against Babylon—religion divorced from Christ’s righteousness, a counterfeit law-and-gospel mixture that enslaves.

The Third Angel gives the most solemn warning—not to receive the mark of the beast. But this is not fear-mongering. It is a call to loyalty and love. It is a plain statement of reality pouring from the heart of infinite love.

And how does Scripture summarize that loyalty? “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 climax of the message: the law and the gospel together. Commandments and faith. Obedience and trust. The law lived out because the faith of Christ lives within.

Ellen White makes the connection unmistakable:

Law and gospel go hand in hand—The faith of Jesus has been overlooked and treated in an indifferent, careless manner. It has not occupied the prominent position in which it was revealed to John. Faith in Christ as the sinner’s only hope has been largely left out, not only of the discourses given, but of the religious experience of very many who claim to believe the third angel’s message....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. I cannot find language to express this subject in its fullness.  —Ellen G. White, The Three Angels’ Messages, p. 113.

Alonzo T. Jones further clarifies the dynamic between law, faith, and love in Galatians:

Now the letter to the Galatians was written to correct this fearful error, and to show to them and to all people forever what righteousness by faith is in the very truth of the gospel. It was written to make plain that the faith of Jesus Christ, and that alone, saves the soul, at the beginning and at the end and all the way between: that what is received by faith is kept only by faith: that what is begun by faith is completed only by faith: that faith alone sets us in the right way, and faith along keeps us in the right way. —Alonzo T. Jones, “Studies in Galatians. Galatians 3:2-5”, Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald, 76, 46,  November 14, 1899, p. 737.

Here, Jones emphasizes that salvation is entirely Christ-centered, from start to finish. Faith is the channel through which God works in us—not our own effort.

That “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh,” not faith and works, but ‘faith WHICH worketh by love.’ And as love is the fulfilling of the law, then in Christ nothing avails but faith which fulfills the law—not faith and the fulfilling of the law, but faith which fulfills the law. —Ibid.

Notice how Jones connects faith directly to love, and love to the law. Obedience is no longer external compliance—it flows naturally from Christ living in the believer.

The law is kept, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved; it is only the saved, the righteous, man that can fulfil the law; therefore he fulfils the law only because he is saved; and he is saved only by grace through faith. The power, the virtue, to fulfil the law is in the faith, which is received as the free gift of God through Jesus Christ. —Ibid.

Here is the practical truth: the believer keeps God’s law because Christ empowers them from within. The law is not a burden—it is the evidence of salvation—the fruit of Righteousness.

And this neither frustrates the grace of God nor makes void the law of God. On the contrary, it magnifies the grace of God, and establishes the law of God. It is the true righteousness by faith. —Ibid.

This is the essence of the Third Angel’s Message: the law and gospel are never opposed. By God’s grace, He fulfills the law in us by producing obedient hearts, fully dependent on Christ. This is why the Third Angel’s Message is so important. It is the final correction to all false gospels—legalism, fear, self-righteousness, or cheap grace. It is the everlasting gospel in its fullness: Christ our Righteousness.

CONCLUSION — CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

We began by asking: how do we discern truth in a world overflowing with half-gospels and information overload? The answer is the same as my dad’s advice in nursing school: “Learn what normal looks like. Learn what healthy is.”  When we know Christ and His righteousness, we will instantly recognize distortion.

And that is the heart of the Third Angel’s Message. Without Christ, the law is a crushing weight. With Him abiding in us, the law of love, God’s character, is written on our hearts.

The real question isn’t, “How can I do better?” The real question is, “Am I letting Christ live in me?” Because the Third Angel’s Message—the everlasting gospel for the last days—is nothing less than Christ our Righteousness, the law of God lived out in His people by His Spirit.

Without Him, the law is an impossible burden. With Him, it is a gift, a revelation of love, and an invitation into abundant life and restoration to Himself. That is the complete gospel—the healing of the nations, the wholeness of our souls, and the light that will shine to the world, piercing the darkness and confusion that surrounds the nature and purpose of the heart of God, before Jesus comes again. And perhaps nowhere is this more beautifully expressed than in Ellen White’s appeal that the church lift up Christ—not merely the law, but Christ our righteousness in the law.

The uplifted Saviour is to appear in His efficacious work as the Lamb slain, sitting upon the throne to dispense the priceless covenant blessings, the benefits He died to purchase for every soul who should believe on Him. John could not express that love in words; it was too deep, too broad; he calls upon the human family to behold it. Christ is pleading for the church in the heavenly courts above, pleading for those for whom He paid the redemption price of His own life blood. Centuries, ages, can never diminish the efficacy of this atoning sacrifice. This message of the gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear and distinct lines, that the world should no longer say, Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, but do not preach or believe Christ.

The efficacy of the blood of Christ was to be presented to the people with freshness and power, that their faith might lay hold on its merits. As the high priest sprinkled the warm blood upon the mercy seat while the fragrant cloud of incense ascended before God, so while we confess our sins, and plead the efficacy of Christ’s atoning blood, our prayers are to ascend to heaven fragrant with the merits of Christ’s character. Notwithstanding our unworthiness, we are ever to bear in mind that there is One that can take away sin, and save the sinner. Every sin acknowledged before God with a contrite heart, He will remove. This faith is the life of the church. As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness by Moses, and all that had been bitten by the fiery serpents were bidden to look and live, so also the Son of man must be lifted up, that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.]  —Ellen G. White, 10 Letters and Manuscripts, Letter 57, 1895, pp. 44, 45.

 

~ Anya Kinsley.