' x_ .. ADO.RESSES ON ROMANS
acknowledge himself a sinner. He sits in judgment on the vile man described in chapter one, taking his place by the side of the judge. Therefore, Paul in Romans 2: 1~16 uses language more severe, even more startling, than that concerning the pagan. I want to ask you, my friend, are you in this class? You agree that the bandit and the thief and the murderer are sinners, yet do you acknowledge your own sin? Let me warn you that it will be more tolerable for the pagan in China before the judgment bar of God than for you, if you go on refusing the light of God's salvation, offered as a free gift in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. A Scotch Christian associated with D. L. Moody, once , saw an old man walking down a country road, and invited I him to get in his carriage. He asked the stranger if he knew I the surrounding country, upon which the old man began to } tell all about the people of the district. Then the Scotchman said, "I am a foreigner in these parts, and am looking for heirs to a great inheritance. The name of the family for which I am looking begins with 'S.' I am told that many of them live here." "You say the name begins with 'S.' Is it the Smith family?" the old man asked eagerly. "No: it is a larger family than the Smith family," the Scotch Christian replied. "It is the 'Sinner family,' and the fortune to which they are heirs is one they have not claimed- 'the exceeding riches' of God's grace.'' Immediately the stranger, who happened to belong to 'the--Smith_(amily and was so eager for earthly riches, lost interest in his unclaimed inheritance in Christ. He thought he was good enough and did not need the cleansing blood of the only Saviour from sin. To such men Paul's warning is sounded in terms most severe: "Thinkest thou this, 0 man ... that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" (Rom. 2:3 ). And to you, my friend, let me say: If you are a cultured, moral man, it is "because of the goodness of God" (verse 4); it is Page 32)
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