"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matthew 16:27).
God is no respecter of persons. He will render to every man according to his deeds. In the judgment nothing is taken into account but a man's works. "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work" (Rev. 22:12).
The character of the works shows the amount of faith in Christ. A simple profession will not do. God does not respect our person or profession. We may call ourselves Christians and pretend to keep the law and pity the poor heathen, but God classes all together who fail to have good works.
"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" (Rom. 2:12). This shows that the law is the standard by which every man in the world will be judged.
But what is it to keep the law? It is to keep all its precepts. Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, which was only an outward form. If we hate, it is murder (Matt. 5:22). If we have impure thoughts, it is adultery (vs. 28). If we have an impure heart, we violate all the rest of the law. We may be ever so strict in outward Sabbath observance and adhere closely to the outward obligations of all the rest of the law, but an impure heart renders every act sinful.
"When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves" (Rom. 2:14). God has by various agencies placed enough light in the heart of every man to lead him to know the true God. Even nature itself reveals the God of nature. And if a man in the darkest heathenism has a desire to know the true God, He will, if necessary, send a man around the world to give him the light of truth.
So every man that is finally lost will have rejected light which, if cherished, would have led him to God." [1]
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