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The Measure of Responsibility, May 26
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness,
we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:6, 7
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The degree of light given is the measure of responsibility. The path
to heaven will be made plain to all who are faithful in the use of the
knowledge they may obtain in regard to the future life.... Look at the first
act of transgression in the Garden of Eden. To Adam and Eve were plainly
stated the laws of Paradise, with the penalty for willful disobedience. They
disobeyed, and disobedience brought its sure result. Death entered the
world.
Transgression is disobedience to the commands of God. Had these
commands always been obeyed, there would have been no sin. The
penalty of transgression is always death. Christ averted the immediate
execution of the death sentence by giving His life for man.... Justice
requires that men shall have light, and it also requires that he who refuses
to walk in the Heaven-given light, the giving of which cost the death of
the Son of God, must receive punishment. It is a principle of justice that
the guilt of the sinner shall be proportionate to the knowledge given, but
not used, or used in a wrong way. God expects human beings to walk in
the light, to testify before angels and before men that they acknowledge
Christ as the great propitiation for sin and that they respect His sacrifice
as their greatest blessing....
For time and for eternity the sacrifice of the Son of God to save the
fallen race will have a binding claim on man. If God had failed to act His
part, if He had not fully revealed His will, if He had given human beings
any reason for neglecting the great salvation, man might plead ignorance
as a valid excuse. But He has made the way plain. He would have all men
to be saved. To some is given greater light than to others. Each will be
judged by the light given him.... God designed that you should cherish as
sacred the light given you.
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