“As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him—what can you do to obtain it? It is peace that you need—Heaven’s forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, ‘without money and without price’ (Isaiah 55:1). It is yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it.”—Steps to Christ, p. 49.

“Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.

“The Saviour said, ‘Except a man be born from above,’ unless he shall receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, ‘he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3, margin).”—Ibid., p. 18.

All the good qualities people may possess are the gift of God. Their good deeds are performed by the grace of God through Christ. It is a perilous thing to praise or exalt people, for that person comes to lose sight of their entire dependence on God and is sure to fall. We are contending with foes who are stronger than ourselves, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). It is impossible for us in our own strength to maintain this conflict—and whatever diverts the mind from God, whatever leads to self exaltation or self dependence,is surely preparing the way for our overthrow.

We have an example of true repentance in Psalm 51 when the prophet’s rebuke touched the heart of David. His conscience was aroused, his guilt appeared in all its enormity. His soul was bowed in penitence before God.

“David’s repentance was sincere and deep. There was no effort to palliate his crime. No desire to escape the judgments threatened, inspired his prayer. But he saw the enormity of his transgression against God; he saw the defilement of his soul; he loathed his sin. It was not for pardon only that he prayed, but for purity of heart.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 725.

God forgave David and once again could call him a man after His own heart. This reveals the result of true repentance.

A similar case is that of Zacchaeus. When he heard about Jesus, he had a deep longing to meet with Him—and we see a new heart in him as he vows to repay all whom he had robbed and that he would give to the poor.

It is only due to God’s mercy that we still even exist. The four angels are still holding the four winds at the four corners of earth so that God’s people can be sealed. It is you and I that have caused the return of Christ to be delayed. As soon as God’s people are sealed, Jesus will come and take His people home.

Our hearts are evil and we cannot change them by ourselves. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one” (Job 14:4). It is only by the power of Christ.

“Beware of procrastination. Do not put off the work of forsaking your sins and seeking purity of heart through Jesus. Here is where thousands upon thousands have erred to their eternal loss. I will not here dwell upon the shortness and uncertainty of life; but there is a terrible danger—a danger not sufficiently understood—in delaying to yield to the pleading voice of God’s Holy Spirit, in choosing to live in sin; for such this delay really is. Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss. What we do not overcome, will overcome us and work out our destruction.”—Steps to Christ, p. 32.

An example of victory is found in the case of Simon of Bethany. By the power that Christ gave, Simon was touched by Christ’s kindness in not openly rebuking him before his guests. Patient admonition convinced him of his error. He saw how great was the debt he owed his Lord. His pride was humbled, he repented, and the proud Pharisee became a lowly, self-sacrificing disciple.

“When we see the length of the chain that was let down for us, when we understand something of the infinite sacrifice that Christ has made in our behalf, the heart is melted with tenderness and contrition.”—Steps to Christ, p. 35.

There is a precious assurance which the Lord promises: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

“Let us not regard sin as a trivial thing.

“Every act of transgression, every neglect or rejection of the grace of Christ, is reacting upon yourself; it is hardening the heart, depraving the will, benumbing the understanding, and not only making you less inclined to yield, but less capable of yielding, to the tender pleading of God’s Holy Spirit.”—Ibid., p. 33.

“When, after his sin in deceiving Esau, Jacob fled from his father’s home, he was weighed down with a sense of guilt. Lonely and outcast as he was, separated from all that had made life dear, the one thought that above all others pressed upon his soul, was the fear that his sin had cut him off from God, that he was forsaken of Heaven.”—Ibid., p. 19.

Today, if we hear the voice of God speaking to our heart, let us not harden our hearts!

“As you see the enormity of sin, as you see yourself as you really are, do not give up to despair. It was sinners that Christ came to save.”—Ibid., p. 35. We must fully yield our hearts to God for the change to be wrought in us.

“From the simple Bible account of how Jesus healed the sick, we may learn something about how to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins. Let us turn to the story of the paralytic at Bethesda. The poor sufferer was helpless; he had not used his limbs for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus bade him, ‘Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.’ The sick man might have said, ‘Lord, if Thou wilt make me whole, I will obey Thy word.’ But, no, he believed Christ’s word, believed that he was made whole, and he made the effort at once; he willed to walk, and he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God gave the power. He was made whole.

“In like manner you are a sinner. 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. You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. 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—God supplies the fact; you are made whole, just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is so if you believe it.

“Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, ‘I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.’ ”—Ibid., pp. 50, 51. [Author’s emphasis.]

“Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity.”—Ibid., p. 52.

Christ is waiting to strip us of our garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon us the white robes of righteousness. The Spirit invites you today, come with your whole heart to Jesus and you may claim His blessing!

God is interested in my salvation, in your salvation—and there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than of ninety and nine that need no repentance. Today while the voice of the Holy Spirit is still calling, let us give our hearts to the Lord, fully surrendering ourselves unto Him. God is able to make us into good trees that are going to bear good fruits. Amen.