THE INEVITABLE PENALTY
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the uttermost farthing. – Matthew 5:26There is no heaven with a little corner of hell in it. God is
determined to make you pure and holy and right; He will not allow you
to escape for one moment from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit. He
urged you to come to judgment right away when He convicted you, but
you did not; the inevitable process began to work and now you are in
prison, and you will only get out when you have paid the uttermost
farthing. “Is this a God of mercy, and of love?” you say. Seen from
God’s side, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring
you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to
recognize the disposition you were showing – the disposition of your
right to yourself. The moment you are willing that God should alter
your disposition, His recreating forces will begin to work. The
moment you realize God’s purpose, which is to get you rightly related
to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the last limit of
the universe to help you take the right road. Decide it now – “Yes,
Lord, I will write that letter to-night”; “I will be reconciled to
that man now.”These messages of Jesus Christ are for the will and the conscience,
not for the head. If you dispute the Sermon on the Mount with your
head, you will blunt the appeal to your heart.“I wonder why I don’t go on with God?” Are you paying your debts from
God’s standpoint? Do now what you will have to do some day. Every
moral call has an “ought” behind it.