EGW Dev 211111
You cannot atone for your past sins; you cannot change your heart and make yourself holy.
But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. When you believe that promise. When you confess your sins and give yourself to God. When you will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His word to you.
If you believe the promise,–believe that you are forgiven and cleansed.
Those who are the partakers of the grace of Christ will be ready to make any sacrifice, that others for whom He died may share the heavenly gift. Steps to Christ, p.78
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT JESUS?
The apostle Paul dealt with this question when writing to the church at Rome. In speaking of the light of the law as clearly given in the Old Testament, he says, “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law” (Romans 2:12). In other words, we will be judged by the light we are given.
Then Paul goes on somewhat of a tangent to discuss the deeper purpose of the law and how even the Gentiles have been given some light. “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (v. 13–15). So even if the small impulse to do good is planted in the heart of every person, and such a person responds to this divine light, they are keeping the law because “love is the fulfillment of the law” (13:10).
In the same way that every person has physical life because of the power of Christ, so also does each person have spiritual light, a perception of what is right. That divine light might not be very bright and that desire to do good can be snuffed out by evil choices, yet it has been given in some measure to every person.
Earlier Paul explains that “since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Each person is given some capability to see and understand God through nature and through the mind. Though limited, it is sufficient to provide a stepping-stone toward the Creator.
Those who have been allied to the world should heed the invitation of the Lord. He says, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” … The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness are to shine upon you, that you may be beautified with holiness.
The book of Hebrews, in all its depth and sublimity, is, in many ways, just one long exhortation to Jewish believers in Jesus. And what it exhorts them to do is: Stay faithful to the Lord!
This faithfulness, of course, should stem from our love of God, of who He is and of His character and goodness, most powerfully expressed at the cross of Christ.
