I H EART T O H EA R T TALKS witk Unsaved People ÌÉ
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b ro th er, you are a m urderer. Yon don’t have to ta k e a gun and shoot him. Ir you look to lust, you are an adulterer. It does no t say th a t if we are as good as we can be, it will be all righ t. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Don’t worry about th e meaning of those words, but get the things th a t th e words are ta lk ing about. God says we m ust be holy for He is, holy. He says, “ I am God Almighty, walk before me and be ye perfect.” If He was not alm ighty, we could never do it. If 'G od should try to help you live th e holy life, could you do it? A little girl who had been saved was asked who was concerned in her salva tion. She said th a t th e re were two. “Who were th e tw o?” she was asked. “ I did' w hat I could, to h ind er,” she said “ and He did th e re st.” T h at .is tru e and y et no one is saved against th e ir wills. He can pardon th e sins of th e p ast and He can pro tect us against th e sins of th e fu tu re. He is alm ighty. You doii’t have to sin. If you w ant Him to save you, He is competent to save you from past and future. All are sinners. Drive a stake 'there. All can be saved. All are salvable. There is no crim inal; however bad he may be, bu t is in a salvable condition. The sins th a t are past may be rem itted and th e Holy Spirit may keep us from those of th e future. There are a t least two ways th a t peo ple do no t differ. All have sinned and all can be holy. Another way in which th e re is no difference is th a t all who are saved’ a t all m ust be saved in the same way. The rich, th e w ise ,. the poor, th e fool all come along and must all get th è sam e-kind of salvation. The man who has sinned so much th a t he cannot b ear to look a t his own face in th e glass, and who lays awake nights to h ate himself, m u st be saved in th e
Rom. 3:22 “There is no difference.” This is talk ing about men, and it says th a t men are all alike. The aver age man doesn’t believe th at. In the meaning ordinarily assigned to the words, it isn ’t tru e, b u t in th e deeper sense, it is true. All men are sinners. Suppose I should ask all who have comm itted n iu rder to come over on one side of the room ; a n d . all who have comm itted robbery to ta k e th e other side. Then some would say, th e re is a difference. But suppose I should say, “all who have SINNED, come over on th is side.” All have sinned. There is a difference in sins b u t when we, come to th e question of sin, th e re is no dif ference. All of us, if le ft to ourselves, are guilty before God. There is no dif ference. God’s law is peculiar. ' It requires perfection. I t makes no provision for imperfection. It doesn’t say “You shall be nearly honest, or as honest as your neighbor, or as honest as the tim es perm it.” I t says YOU MUST be honest. It does not say you m ust gen erally speak the tru th . There is no th ing of th a t kind in th e Bible. God’s law says all liars shall be cast into th e lake of fire. I t doesn’t mean SOME bu t ALL. It says we MUST have a clean h eart. If you have desired in your h eart, you are counted as having com m itted th e sins. If you h ate your (Continued from page 81) company w ith” is a very, suggestive one, it means, “mix up w ith.” The purpose of th is trea tm e n t was th a t he m ight be “asham ed.” B u t even such an one was not to be regarded as “ an enemy,” bu t admonished “ a s 'a b ro th er.” The first epistle had closed w ith a prayer to “th e God of peace.” This epistle closes w ith a prayer to “th e Lord of peace” (cf. 1 Thess. 5 :2 3 ). He prays th a t “ th e Lord of Peace” may give them peace “ a t all tim es in all ways” (cf. John 1 4 :47 ).
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