The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-03-10

t&S wv Z ~ strel OF olu, INC
wrath Of ma n
shall praise Thee; the remainder OF
wrath shalt Thou restrain" And thus
| The Spirit of God seiZes upon tneir
words and writes them down as part
Of Holy Scripture. oh, blessed news
they are telling: This Man receiveth
sinners
Self-rirhteousness has no need for
grace; will not, indeed, have IL; 0nd
these upright, religious Pharisees re-
sent the grace that is flowing out OF
Christ to all the world and that opens
the Fathers house TO the very out
casts Of earth. The Lord Jesus viii
permit no testimony to Himself from
demons, though full well they know
and own His deity and Saviorhood, but
He will permit this proclamation by
| His foes, so well does He love to have
il known that He receiveth sinners.
1t is nowhere said that He receives
others. Nowhere do we find Him do
| ing so. When the best man of his day
came TO Him by night, expecting TO be
| taught something that would make
him still better than he was, he
learned i'm moment that he had not
yet begun TO live, and that he must be
| born again TO enter the kingdom OF
God.
When n lawyer of blameless life
tempted Him with his question:
what shall / do TO inherit eternal
! life?" the Lord referred him 10 the law
with its impossible standard TO show
him that he is a sinner.
Are there, then, others than sin
ners? There are not, for thus it is
written: "All have sinned and come
short of the glory o. God" And
whether these self-righteOus enemies
of the Lord are able to appreciate II
or not, they are compelled TO listen TO
| His holy sarcasm: Il am not come to
| call the righteous, but sinners" 1t Is
He who has pronounced upon this
world of sin, and His estimate of men
shall abide in spite of their good opin-
| ions of themselves. Sinners" He calls
them, and such they are.
But oh, to think that this is what
gives them n claim upon Him! Yea.
1t is the only claim they have or can
| havel This man receivetb sinners.
| And not only does He receive Them
He seeks them out, knocks at their
door and pleads with them to let Him
| in. "The Son of Man is come to seek
and to saver Behold, stand at the
door and knock ~ "All day long l
have stretched forth my hands,"
And how does He receive them?
Are there conditions to be met first?
Are we TO make ourselves fit for Him?
No! And so eager is He to have us
know this that He has written II down
in hundred tales and portrayed it In
hundred types and shadows.
In the same instant that Isaiah con-
fessed the need that the light of Gods
throne had revealed he found that
need fully met without condition of
any sort. "Woe is me ~ "Then flew
one of the eraphim"-"hew." like the
lightning, with the provision of the
altar that puts away discovered sin.
What said Jesus to the woman of
the city which was sinner" as shc
stood at His feet behind Him." Thy
sins are forgiven thy faith
hath saved thee"
What said He to the woman all sin
as He sat by Jacobs we'll? 81 give
thee living waterP
What said He to the adultereSs
brought to Him In the temple?
Neither do l condemn theew His
enemies have brought this poor sinner
to Him without knowing that they
were doing the hest possible thing for
ner. and that the only safe place for
any sinner is the presence If the
Savior
What said He 10 the malefactor, but
now railing upon him in blasrhemy,
as he hung upon felon's cross?
"verily, say unto thee, today shalt
thou he with me in paradise"
And our question is answered: He
receiveth sinners without an upbraid-
ing word or syllable of reproach,
without n question or condition Of
any kind
And TO what does He receive sin
ners? To His own level, TO n place Mt
His side. for they sit at table with
Him: TO the dearest intimacy: to I'M
broken fellowship. and thus to tho
sweet foretaste of heavens bliss: His
FATETH WITH THEM The Chris
tian life, In all its elements and ac-
tivitics. one continual feast with til
Lord Of life and glory. the heart once
desolate because of sin now satisfied
and nj rest forevermore. "And He
went in TO tarry with them
And as He sat at meat with
them, He took bread. and blessed. and
brake, and gave to them. :. +. And
they said one to another, did not our
heart burn within us?" This man re.
ceiveth sinners and eateth with them.