ADDRESSES ON ROMANS
the Eighth of England, went for fifteen or twenty years. He was being prepared then for the tremendous responsibility that he is now facing. Likewise, God is passing us through a rigorous child-training now, that we may reign with Him in glory. I have a dear Hebrew friend who came to know Christ many years ago. All his loved ones left him when he accepted Jesus as his Messiah and Saviour. They disowned him, and even held his burial service. His own wife left him, and all his children. He was in school at The Moody Bible Institute at the same time I was, and occupied a room next to mine. One night after we had retired, I heard him sobbing in his room. I went in to see if there was anything that I could do, and this is what he was saying, "Press it harder, Lord; press it harder." I asked what he meant by that, and he told me that he had just received a letter from his family, telling him never to write to them again. While he was wondering why he had to suffer so, he got on his knees to pray. Then it seemed that the Lord said to him, "I am shaping your head for the crown, my child. I want you to rule with me." No; tribulations do not destroy the Christian's hope. The fire that sweeps through the forest does not destroy the trees; it only makes them put their roots into the earth more firmly. You have probably seen the giant redwoods in Northern California. Do you know why these trees are living, and can survive wind and storm? Because when they were small trees, they went through wind and storm, and grew accustomed to them. That is what tribulation does for the Christian. It teaches him that he is firmly fixed on the Rock, Christ Jesus. "Tribulation worketh patience." You must have patience if you would serve God. My! what patience God has! Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever th011ght about what patience God had with you before you became a Christian? A few days ago, I led a man to Christ who was past sixty-eight years of age. He fold me about his sin, and I marvelled at the patience of God with him. [Page 79
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