by Vance Havner
chill the marrow of our bones all tell the same sad story. It is written in broken homes, in every morgue, in every penitentiary, in mental institutions, in the ghastly police records, in electric chairs and gas chambers . . . some body flouted the laws of God and bucked the unchange able order of the universe and paid for it. They had it coming to them. There was a time when pulpits thundered about the consequences of sin. Today the theme is neglected, and, in the pew, sin is lightly regarded and there is no fear of God before our eyes. A warden ■ in one of our penal institutions recently said that his biggest job was con vincing young criminals that they had done any wrong. God is regarded in most quarters as a grandfatherly sort of being, trotting us on His knee and with about as much moral authority as Santa Claus. Some may admit that we are punished by our sins but they do not believe we are punished FOR them. God says that it is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment. He has appointed a day, He has ordained a judge, and He has commanded repentance. Death and judgment are on their way. We have it coming to us. Another world is necessary to square up the inequali ties of this one. Things do not come out evenly down here. The wicked often prosper while the righteous suf fer. A godly little woman who suffers the brutality of a godless husband,— if there is justice in the universe there must be a day when each receives his due. They have it coming to them. There is a God in the heavens and men cannot laugh in His face and forever get away with it. Benjamin Franklin wrote to Thomas Paine, “ He who spits against the wind spits in his own face.” There may be no discipline anywhere else these days but the Almighty has not been converted to our modem no tions. We may grow sentimental about criminals and excuse sin by calling it merely sickness but God Knows better. Sin is indeed sickness but a far worse sort than we will admit. It is moral leprosy that dates from Adam. We not only do evil, we are bom in it and in sin did our mothers conceive us. The wages of sin is death and the
O c c a s i o n a l l y w e hear the remark, “He had it com ing to him.” Certain causes produce certain results. A wrong Course leads to evil consequences. Pay day comes some day. One man lives beyond his income and finally there is the inevitable crash. Another breaks every law of health and ends up a wretched wreck. He made his bed, we say, and now he must lie upon it. Still an other starts out with petty crimes and the last chapter finds him in Death Row awaiting execution. We say, “ He asked for it.” He had it coming to him. “ Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatso ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” The biggest fool on earth is the dupe who says, “I’ll get by.” We try it in the home and at school. We make a game of getting by the law. Then we are fools enough to think we can get by with God but God is not mocked. Adam tried it and the world became a graveyard. Judas tried it and paid for a ceme tery with the proceeds of iniquity. He tied a knot in time which he could not untie in eternity. The record says that he went to his own place. Of course he did. Every man arrives at his own place. We’ve got it com ing to us. The Scriptures do not say, “Be sure your sins will be found out.” They say, “ Be sure your sins will find you out” . . . and they will. They show us up. We tell on ourselves. Fools make a mock of sin but one day each man will be shown up 'for what he really is. We fancy that we can break the laws of God and get away with it. No man can break a single law of God. If you leap from a skyscraper y.ou -do not break the law of gravitation. You break your neck but the law of gravitation is as strong as ever. We break ourselves against God’s laws and what we sow we reap. You may cheat your way through life but down the road somewhere you pay and take' the consequences. You have it coming to you. The horrible newspaper accounts of suicide and mur der and unmentionable crimes that curdle the blood and
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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