In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the idea that if all the secrets of people's lives were exposed, they would be afraid to face judgment. The preacher uses a courtroom scene as an analogy to illustrate this point. He also discusses the parable of the prodigal son, highlighting the elder son's rejection of his father's love and grace. The preacher then connects this to the concept of justification by faith, explaining that it is not the heroes of the law who will be justified, but rather those who do the work of the law. He concludes by referencing Romans 2:11-16, which speaks about God judging the secrets of man.

Chapter 2 this evening, the letter to the Romans, and we're at the second chapter, and we're going through from verse 1 to the end of verse 16, trying to do every phrase in the first sixteen verses of chapter 2 this evening. And in this portion you will find that the self-righteousness of man and the righteous judgment of God are staring each other fool in the face. This is one of those portions where we find the self-righteousness of man staring as it were into the eyes of the righteous judgment of God. And the righteous judgment of God condemns the self-righteousness of man and warns him to flee from the wrath to come. And so that's the portion this evening. You remember last Tuesday, as we finished the last part of the first chapter, that we found that primitive man, well he didn't thought a cannibal or a savage. You remember that primitive man knew God. Of course Adam held converse with God. But we found that there came a time in the primitive man's history, verse 21 of chapter 1, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts was darkened, professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. My man really failed, didn't he? We followed every step downward last Tuesday. Seven steps, I called them, downwards. And because of this, verse 24 says, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. And verse 26 came in with the cross. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their woman did change the natural youth into that which is against nature. And you remember we looked into the depths of this pool of uncleanness, that the primitive man fell into headlong. And we found that he was like a pig wallowing in the mire. I think that modesty in the class last week was shocked whenever we talked about woman leaving their natural youth and going and practicing sins that the Bible calls even against nature. And I took the class away over to Leviticus, and I read some of the horrible sins that man and woman can fall into against nature. And it shocked every modest woman in the class to find that woman can do such horrible things. Woman leaving their natural youth, turning into sensuality and sexuality to animals. Shocked the class. Then when we read verse 27, it gave us more of a shock. And likewise, also the man leaving the natural youth of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, man with man, working that which is unseemly. And I didn't need to go very far in Lurgan for an illustration for that, did I? Because they put a lot of them in jail for that here not so long ago. And they're going to put a lot more of them in jail in Bangor. And if the police had nothing else to do but go about, they could get them in every town in the north of Ireland. And then they have all England to fish. I and all the continents to fish after that, for this old world of ours is steeped in sodomy and homosexuality. You see, even us poor lost sinners who got gloriously saved, we are shocked at times at the very depths that a human can descend into. Yes, we did so. You see, Adam's sons, quite a company of them, they go down that broad road into this cesspool of iniquity, and they go into these abominable things that one can hardly get words to touch modestly, even in a meeting like this. But you know, Adam's got another crowd, and they don't go down into these horrible abominations and pollutions. They're the self-righteous crowd. They pay twenty shillings on every pound, and they're the honest people. They're the nobility of society. They're good, and modest, and moral, and upright, and religious. And you know, they would sit on the judgment chair, and they would judge and condemn all who get into sin. And that's the crowd that we're going to see this evening. And you know, they're not allowed to judge, because you'll find out that maybe, when we get it all chiseled out, that the one who sits on this peak of self-righteousness, and despises poor lost, undone humanity, may be in God's sight. Maybe they're the worst of the two. But we've got to see this. Just have a look at a word that our Lord Jesus said before we start the chapter at all. In Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, let's set the stage properly. Lord Jesus Christ is speaking in Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, and in verse 9 he said this, And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. That's the crowd. You can find them everywhere. Let me say this, the churches are full of them. There's a crowd stuck in the churches, empty, dead, formal religionists, who knew nothing at all about God's salvation. And you know, they trust in themselves that they're the righteous people, and they despise others. Here's what Jesus said, verse 10, Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. Boy, that's Adam's race divided for you. The whole human foreign race is divided into two classes. These Republicans who are charlatans, and these Pharisees who think that they're the whole cheese. And just watch what the Lord says, verse 11, The Pharisees stood and prayed thus with themselves, God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortionate, unjust, adulterous, or even as this Republican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Republican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. And if you care to come with me when we're here, from Luke 18 on over to Luke 15, maybe you'll see the thing clearer still before we start. We're at Luke's gospel chapter 15, and verse 11, and Jesus said, Our second man had two sons. My, I think you know the story without me reading it all. The story is what we call the story of the prodigal son. Oh, but just don't put that title on it too quick. The story is the story of the younger prodigal son, and of the elder prodigal son. That's what the story is. Because the story is of the younger one. You remember it says, he said, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, and he divided unto them as living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all, took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And you know the story of this chap? He got among the harlots, and then he got among the hogs, and then he got among the huts, and then he came to himself. And you know, he cried from the depths of his heart, I perish. He said, I will arise and go to my father and say, Father, I have failed. That's what he got through. And he was going back a self-confessed perishing sinner, and he was throwing himself on the love, and mercy, and grace of the Father. It wasn't me. And mind you, love and mercy and grace matter. Look what it says here, I love this bit. Verse 20, And he rose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. You know, that bit always touches me. You know, once there is confession of sin, once there's real, honest conviction wrought in the heart, and there's a staggering step toward God at all. My, the father sees that poor, convicted soul, a long way off. Well, he was a great way off. My, I want you to get this. It says, He ran. His father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Oh, think of the love, think of the mercy, think of the grace that was yet to come. Bring the best robe, put shoes in his feet, kill the prophets off, and then put a ring on his finger. You know, I've often said he needed shoes. He said he had got none. And he needed food. He was starving. And he needed the best robe. He was in rags. But he could do right well without the ring that he supplied me. Oh, but this, this gives more than you need to know. That's what God always does. And it was love, and mercy, and grace that met his needs. Well, where do you see the father? My, it says, verse 25, Now his elder son was in the field, and he came and drew nigh to the house. He heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received them safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. I'm certain you see him standing outside. He despised this love that came home. My, he was in the house now. Oh, yes, he knew a whole lot about the righteousness of God. He knew a whole lot about the holiness of God. He was wanting to walk another path to be a good boy. The Dutch, poor sinner. My, look, if you can see the two companies. If you can see this crowd that goes down into the depths. You know, as they stand in this abominable, polluted manner. You know, they chant on the righteousness of God, and on the holiness of God, and the judgment of God they're about to come upon. Ah, but there's a crowd that stands out from all that. And they're treading on the love of God, and on the mercy of God, and on the grace of God. I'll bet you they don't take it easy. It's up to you to judge which one, in God's sight, the deeper is. And if you want me to tell you, I'll tell you. Because Saul of Tartus was one of these Pharisees. In fact, he makes so bold that he says, before I was saved, regarding the righteousness which is of the law, I was blameless. He could pull a stretch of his Pharisee to robes around him, and hold his head high in a pious manner. I'm blameless, he says. Yet when God convicted them of the deep need of his heart, he penned these words, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. My, I'm telling you, there's the cue for you. You know, a poor, drunken, debauched, sinful, scarlet, reptile sinner that goes into the very depths of pollution, and is awakened to the deep, dire, desperate need. Somebody said to me last Tuesday after the meeting, can these women ever get saved? Can these men ever get saved? My dear, we'll learn that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Oh, the grace of God can save them, all right. But you know, friends, when a man thinks that he's too good to be lost, and he treads on the Son of God, and he counts the blood of the sacrifice as an unholy thing, and he goes death-tight to the spirit of grace, he's far deeper in than the other fellow. So I'm telling you, whatever class you're in, you're doomed, and your only hope is Jesus. So you can see, we've got two classes. One in the first chapter, the unrighteous sons of Adam's race who go into the depths of uncleanness, and then the self-righteous sons of Adam's race who will need to face the judgment of God. Now, just let's get to the chapter now, and you'll see it working out very wonderfully, I think. You see, Paul, the writer to the Romans, was very sure that when he touched some of these abominations that were practiced by humans, that there would be others who would really shudder and say, that's awful. You know, we're all quick, aren't we? Well, we can claim on to the judgment seat, and we can say, these, call it rebel, reptile sinners that practice these abominable things, my, they need to be thrashed. We're so quick, you know. But we sometimes forget that that's the very race that we belong to. That's what we forget. We forget that in this very breast, there is a very thin nature, that old nature, called sin, that led these children to the depths. And but for the grace of God, any one of us might be there. Always remember, but for the grace of God. There goes you. Oh, you say, you know, I'm a modest woman, I'd never do things like that. Oh, my dear, you just don't know what's inside your breast. My, given the right circumstances, and the season, and all the rest can yield to this deep depths of abomination, you can go headlong, dear. So don't be sitting in judgment too soon. Of course, the self-righteous boys, they wouldn't listen to this. My, they paid twenty cents in the pound. They're nice people, they're modest, they're upright, they're even religious, and they claim onto the judgment seat. My, they hurl down condemnation on the head of every fallen self and sin. And Paul's going to talk to them. Listen to the first verse. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest, doest the same thing. You see, when we sit on judgment, in judgment, on any child of Adam, no matter what the sin may be that he's committed, first of all, we ought to remember that he's one of our race, and the same nature that's in him is in us. And the moment that we sit in judgment, we leave ourselves open to be judged by God. And remember, self-righteousness is treading into the gutter more than these poor unclean souls ever did. And so if you're sinning on the one side, or on the other, it stands condemned before God. You know, God's going to close every mouth, and he's going to bring the whole world in guilty before God. You know, I was telling the friends here, some years ago I was preaching at a big convention way up in the east coast of Scotland, and I had a great Monday morning with a banker. In fact, he was the manager of one of the great banking companies, and I saw him getting very rudely out of the meeting the night before. My, he pushed his way through the people, and went out through the door, and banged it, and I knew right well that I had upset him. But the next day I was going through the cafe just at the dinner hour, and I saw him sitting alone finishing his lunch. And I walked past, and then I stopped and said, hello, how are you getting out of the meeting last night? Were you not too well? I knew he was well enough, you know. He said I was quite well. I said, what was wrong with you? He said, you know, you seem to delight in bringing everybody in as sinners before God. I said, well isn't that the truth of the matter? It's not. He said, I'm not a sinner, you know, and I won't stay where anybody calls me a sinner. I said, you know, you and I would need to have this out, wouldn't we? You nearly finished your lunch. Can I sit down beside you? He said, yes, I invite you to sit down. I sat down. I said, you know, in the first chapter of Romans, Paul shows us the race getting away from God, and in the second chapter he shows us the self-righteous man facing the judgment of God. And then in the third chapter he brings the whole world in. He says there's no deference for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And then he looked up at me and he said, well, Mr. Moran, just wait a minute. He said, I don't believe a word that Paul penned. I don't believe that. I know that Paul preached the same as you're preaching, but I don't believe that stuff. He may preach that over onto the world, but he's not getting it over onto me. You needn't talk to me about what Paul said. So I knew I'd got a really clear case on my hands. I said, now tell me this, do you believe there's a God? I do. I believe there's a God. And you believe you're going out to meet him? Yes. If I find you something that God really penned, you have a look up. I will. And here's what I did. Now for the younger ones, I'll do it over again, so you might make a clear case like this one day. I turned over to the 32nd chapter of Exodus. I just went you see what I did. Exodus chapter 32. You see, you need to know these things when you come to these spots on the road of life. And then I got to Exodus 32, I began reading at verse 15. And it's Moses coming down from the mount. And Moses turned and went down from the mount. And the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God. And the writing was the writing of God. That was a good wee phrase to remember, wasn't it? So I said to the banker, do you really believe that God penned the ten commandments? Oh, I said, no, you're getting somewhere. I believe that that's the writing of God. I said, now without stirring too much, can you quote me the last commandment? I can. He said, thou shalt not covet. I said, now look into my eyes and don't blink. Be as honest as you're pretending to be. Do you mean to tell me you have never coveted anything even once in your life? He said, I have. Then you're a sinner. You've broken God's commandment. He said, you know, you're making a lot out of this, aren't you? I said, I am. That's just what I'm here for. He said, you know, coveting is not very much. It just happens. I said, don't you let anybody ever kid you on, it's not very much. It's the basic sin of the commandments. The last one, the tenth one, thou shalt not covet. The ninth one, thou shalt not bear false witness. Why do people tell lies? Because they covet somebody's smile? Because they covet some commendation from somebody? Because they covet something that somebody can say? I said, go to the eighth one now. Thou shalt not steal. Why do men steal? Because they covet. Go on up the commandments. Go to the sixth. Thou shalt not kill. Why did Hitler plunge the world in the dreadful water? And I made them sick while I went through the whole ten of them. And they're all based on covetousness. And when I had finished with the table, he said, I'm a sinner. Friends, we're all sinners. And we've all committed sin one way or another. And you cannot sit on the judgment seat, but you'll condemn yourself. Thou didst that. Thou condemned thyself. That's the inexcusable ways of the self-righteous. Now, let's get on with the chapter. We're just short a wee bit this evening, but you must make a proper start here. Now, look at the verse two. But we are true. When you get the we, you get Paul himself in, don't you? And my, he says that we believers are sure of quite a number of things in this wonderful book. I'd love to really string them all together tonight, but I'm sure time would beat me doing that. Let me touch on your heart with a few of them. My, we are sure that there is to them that are in Christ. They're sure of that. We're perfectly sure that all things work together. We're perfectly sure that if God so can be against us. Paul said in Romans 8, I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor power can separate us from the love of God that's inside. He was sure of a lot of things. But you know, he was perfectly sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. You know, that's a tremendous thing, isn't it? My, when the great white throne stands yonder when the heavens and the earth have fled away, and the dead small and great are called to stand. My unrighteous friend tonight in this meeting, self-righteous friend, if you stand yonder without Christ, then the books will be opened and that judgment day will be according to truth. God will turn you around and he'll make you look down into the valley and thou will see thy way in the valley. And you'll know what you've done. My every mean little act will stand out like a mountain. Every unkind thing will come before your conscience. Every unjust, every unclean thing God has done with you. You'll find out that you were a rebel, reptile, sin on the palm of a hand. You will be salvation. Is there any self-righteous folk here? God pity you if you stand before God with your fig leaves of self-righteousness and the day to come you'll find a wither in the presence of the glory of God. It will be according to truth. Now just watch what comes behind that. Verse 3, and thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. You know friends, there's no escaping this judgment of God. If you go down the road of life, even on the clean side, if you pay your 20 shillings in the pound and all that, and yet the 10 commandments bring you in as a sinner. My, if you die in your sins and you neglect the great salvation that has been provided, let me say it again, there's no escape. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? You won't escape. God will deal with you. My, you can't wipe your feet on God's Son, and you can't count the blood of the cross as if it didn't matter, and you can't do death's pipe to the Spirit of grace, and then crawl through the pearly gates into heaven. You'll be damned and doomed for all eternity. You'll not escape. There's no escape. And then Paul went that little bit further, not only God touching the inexcusable ways of the self-righteous, and the knowledgeable judgment of God, and the inescapable judgment of God with the discreditable ways of the self-righteous. He says in verse 4, O despisest thou, O that I could hit this properly, the riches of his goodness. I say, what a phrase. My, the man that couldn't preach on that shouldn't be let loose at all. The riches of his goodness. What a text. My, there are some of you in this meeting, and I just know you too well, and I know that up to this very moment you have this part. The riches. Mind you, in the riches of his goodness, my, in the providential dealings of his grace, you were born. You might have been born in Central Africa, but you were born into a Christian home. Your old mother rocked you to sleep in your babyhood days, hanging the gospel to your very toes. I and you were brought up in a meeting where they taught you the truth of God's word. And you know, God has given you good health, and God has given you a good mind, and God has given you a goodly heritage. My, your lines have been cast in pleasant places, but at this point, turn it off. You despise the riches of his goodness, and then you pretend to be a self-righteous politician. My, God will send you out yet, and when he does, you'll run it off in his presence. Not a word will you have to say. You'll be speechless on that day. But there's more here than that, isn't there? My, God is born with you, and God has long suffered with you. Some of you, man, I really mean this, some of you have 60 years of the goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering of God, and you're nearer hell now than you ever were before. Horrible thing, isn't it? Then if some fella come by you drunk, man, you would get away over on the foot. You'd soon get into the judgment seat, and you're a wicked, ungodly, un-done wretch for yourself. That's the point in this meeting. Now, will you see this? Or despises thou the riches of the goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads us thee to repentance? My, God's been good to you. He's been waiting for you to turn. But what's it? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, a treacherous up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous. You know, friends, this is the bit we need to take time with. When we look at God, sometimes we look at the righteousness of God, and the holiness of God. Sometimes we look at the love of God, and the mercy of God, and the goodness of God, and the grace of God. But you know, we'll need to look at this. There is such a thing as the wrath of God. You know, God will get really angry with you one day. My dear friend, God, and in the ocean of whom Jesus came to be, you are old and very fragile, but you have no time for Christ. Why, the wrath of God will meet you one day. You know, it'll just break forth like a flame from a furnace, and it'll consume you. And every day you trample on the blood of Christ, you're putting another drop in the bucket for yourself. You're treasuring it up, my dear. You're treasuring it up. Why, you're holding something up that'll be emptied on your head, and it'll never come. You're treasuring up wrath. The righteous judgment yet in God's pity. Horrible thing, isn't it? Why, this is a powerful chapter, really. Well, let's get on with it. Let's have a real look at this. Verse 6. Who will lend unto every man according to his deeds? For them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life. Now, I want you to get this bit very straight, because there has been a lot of false teaching, I feel, on these two verses that we're about to tackle just now. You know, God is not showing us here the cost of eternal life. He's not showing us that it costs something, that you have to do all these things to get eternal life. Oh no, Paul will explain all that very carefully when we get into Romans. He will show us at the end of the sixth chapter that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And, of course, we know long ago that if we only hear his words and believe him that sent him, we have everlasting life. And we know it plainly like this, that he has a thousand texts I can bring in now to show you that eternal life is the gift of God. He's not showing us the cost of eternal life. He's showing us the character of eternal life. Because if you get this eternal life as a gift, these things will characterize you. You see, you're the patient, continuing in well-doing, and you're beseeching for glory, and honor, and immortality, and then you'll enter into the full blaze of eternal life. My, these are only the characteristics. He's not showing us how to get the thing. He's showing us what happens when we have got the thing. And then, at the same time, he just turns to the other crowd, unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. You know, friend, they're not condemned just because they've done all these things. My, the very moment that they stepped into mother earth, they were condemned. They were born sinners. Ah, but this is the character, the character of the fear, all the time. You know, we don't do good to get things. My, we do good because we are saved. That's the character that springs from that. My, you're not condemned, you know, just because you've lived for 40 years. You're condemned right at the start. You're a condemned sinner, a child of wrath, by nature. It's a horrible thing, isn't it? Now, watch, he says, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. That's right at the end of the journey now. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. But at the end of the journey, for those who receive the gift of God, but glory, you can see it's the end of the journey, glory and honor. God will publicly honor us, and we'll enter into everlasting peace. For every man that worketh good to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God. You see, this is the wonder of the thing, that God closes every mouth, and he brings the whole world in Joseph, so that he might lavish his love upon us, and send Christ to die, for beyond godly, and bring them back from the dead, that every man and woman and boy and girl may have a Savior. Man, there's a Savior for you. Grace of God is offering you a thing, and you know you despise him, and you set him at knots, and you tread upon him, and then you look at the drunkard, and you shove your shoulders, and you think you weren't a sinner at all, and you're a blatant sinner on your way to hell, and you're going to meet the judgment of God. My God just closes every mouth. Let's get this little bit finished. Watch this reasonable judgment of God. Verse 12, another difficult one. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish. And don't make any mistakes about that. Shall also perish without law. Dr. Newell translates that like this, and I think he's got it. I've looked at about 20 translations. For as many as have chosen to sin without law shall also perish without law. And as many as have chosen to sin in the law shall be judged by the law. You know, sometimes we talk about the heathen in the judgment day, don't we? Well, I'll tell you about the heathen in the judgment day. The crowd among the heathen that have chosen to sin, even when they have no law, will perish. Do you get that? Why do you think that God will not judge this world righteously? Why, he will. You see, there will be a day to come in this world when there'll be quite so much time there, and there'll be men called to stand before that throne. Never had a bookie. Ah, but they had conscience. And their conscience was working every day they lived. And some of them knew right well what was wrong. And they choose to do wrong. I will, God will judge them. God will judge them. And then there'll be men who'll stand before that throne, and they had the law. They never heard the gospel properly, but they had the law. Ah, but they choose to do wrong. I will not perish. And then there'll be men that will stand before that throne, and it's not so much conscience or law, but the glorious gospel of Christ came to the heart day in and day out. And they'll perish too. When it will be an awful hour, the judgment hour. My dear friend, I'll show you something that's going to happen in the judgment hour. Now watch this. 13, 14, 15 are parenthetical verses. You can see that. But we'll read them. We'll just put in for an explanation. Parenthetical explanation. For not the heroes of the law doth before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law, not the word of the law, the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, their thoughts the means while accusing or as excusing one another. Watch this. Shall be judged, is the two words, in 11 and 12, no respect with persons, for as many as have sinned without the law shall perish, and they with the law shall be judged. Now watch 16 now. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. What a title for a book. The secrets of men. My, the news of the world could make something out of this, couldn't they? If they could only get all the secrets of men. If they could get them all in a book, they could have a few sundries out of it, couldn't they? My dear friend, let me say this to every man and woman in this meeting on stage. We know if all the secrets of your life were painted on the wall, you'd be afraid to sit. The Bible calling your name and then it flies. The secrets, the things that your mother never thought you would do. The things that the partner in life never knew you had done. The things that the neighbors never thought took place in your life. The secrets of man and woman shining out. My, if you never had love, your conscience would make you bow your head. And when the law rattled in your soul and you knew it was wrong. And when the Savior pleads with your heart to take you away from the things that's going to damn your soul. My, and that day you'll really be condemned. You ever see a condemned soul? One I saw, a wee fellow standing in the dock one day. And as the jury filed then again into the court, not a stand to his feet, he was charged with the murder of his wife. And I shall never forget that moment until I die. My, I could hear the clock ticking in every tent. And then the clerk of the court stood up and looked at the foreman of the jury and said, have you come to a verdict? And the foreman said, yes, my Lord. And the clerk took a moment and then said, I'm your verdict, gentlemen. And I could see the foreman's whole little paper and it was shaky. And he said, good thing, my Lord. Ah, let me get it out. The old judge turned, looked at the wee fellow standing there. And just at that moment, he gripped the dock until you could see his fingers growing white. He was clutching it so tight. The saying is near me said, how so anything to say? Ere judgment is passed upon us. And he never moved. He just grew white and white and whiter. And then the judge said, thou shalt be hanged by the neck until you're dead. And your body will be buried in the precinct of the prison. And may the Lord have mercy on your soul. This case, the judge and the preacher told me that he was in court one day. When the judge turned to the man in the dock and said, have you anything to say ere the judgment is passed upon you? And the man said, mercy, mercy. The judge said, you're at the bar of judgment now. There's no mercy here. We only thank you for your mercy. The sooner you'll be saved for time, for eternity. One day, it will come upon your defenseless head. Surely there should be somebody saved in this meeting. Surely some of you self-righteous sinners that's going down to hell shall turn tonight. Turn while the Savior, the mercy is waiting. Over the deadline tonight. Come, will you come to the Savior? It's thus bestowed for a moment. Not saying any more this evening, but every believer, thank God. Thank God that you were brought out of darkness. Thank God for that day when you bowed, and though you were trembling, you put your arms of faith around the Savior. Thank God for it tonight. Thank God that you're sure there is now no condemnation for them that are in Christ. Thank God that you're part from judgment, and from death unto life. On saved sand in the building, while we pay a moment, while we wait a moment, somehow I feel that God has got through to some of you that we have long prayed for.