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No Respecter of Persons, February 23
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth
him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Acts 10:34,
35
.
God is no respecter of persons.... Those who have the light and do
not follow it, but disregard the requirements of God, will find that their
blessings will be changed into curses and their mercies into judgments.
God does not regard all sins as of equal magnitude; there are degrees
of guilt in His estimation, as well as in that of man; but however trifling
this or that wrong act may seem in the eyes of men, no sin is small
in the sight of God. Man’s judgment is partial, imperfect; but God
estimates all things as they really are. The drunkard is despised, and is
told that his sin will exclude him from heaven; while pride, selfishness,
and covetousness too often go unrebuked. But these are sins that are
especially offensive to God; for they are contrary to the benevolence of
His character, to that unselfish love which is the very atmosphere of the
unfallen universe.
The exceeding sinfulness of sin can be estimated only in the light of
the cross. When men urge that God is too good to cast off the sinner, let
them look to Calvary. It was because there was no other way in which
man could be saved, because without this sacrifice it was impossible for
the human race to escape from the defiling power of sin, and be restored
to communion with holy beings—impossible for them again to become
partakers of spiritual life—it was because of this that Christ took upon
Himself the guilt of the disobedient, and suffered in the sinner’s stead.
The love and suffering and death of the Son of God all testify to the
terrible enormity of sin, and declare that there is no escape from its
power, no hope of the higher life, but through the submission of the soul
to Christ.
Let the soul be uplifted from the lowlands of sin to contemplate the
God of all goodness, mercy, and love, but who will in no wise clear the
guilty.
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