Sin Makes No Racial Distinctions (pt. 3) by John H. Gerstner

Let us now apply this doctrine to ourselves. First, let me apply it to myself. This doctrine means that, though I am a minister of the gospel, I am by nature a child of wrath. Even Paul, the greatest of ministers and apostles, included himself. "We also," he said. No privilege or opportunity can blind us to this sober fact. Indeed, a true minister is one who preaches as a dying man to dying men, telling them of a Savior who can save both him and them.
Second, as professing Christians we need to take warning. We have already shown that we too are "by nature children of wrath even as the rest." Let us not say to ourselves, "Abraham is our father." Nor let us say that we are Presbyterians, Lutherans, or Baptists. Let us not say that we come to church regularly, give our tithes, teach our class, and visit the sick. We are by nature children of wrath, just like the rest of this perishing world. If we have a hope of salvation, it must be on some other basis than what we are. By nature we are lost. Let us not say, "Lord, I thank Thee that I am not like other men. I am not like people who play golf on Sundays, or those who give less than a nickel a week to charity, or those who read licentious materials or tell dirty stories." We are by nature children of wrath, just like the rest.
There is no hope for us, no matter what we join or what we do or what we say unless we acknowledge that we are in ourselves reeking with corruption and in a lost condition by nature, a dwelling place for the devil, an enemy of God, a hypocrite, and a criminal. What has made the matter worse is that you have thought well of yourself all this time. You resent having anyone, even God, calling you names because you consider yourself a decent person, one who dwells among decent people.
But the Bible tells you that you are no saint. You must recognize yourself to be a sinner by both birth and by nature (Luke 18:13-14). Only one who recognizes that he is a sinner can ever be a saint. Sinners deny that they are sinners--for the sin of lying is part of their sin. Saints admit they are sinners by nature, for as saints they now tell the truth.
Third, those persons outside the church need to be warned. Professing Christians are presumably repentant (though by no means necessarily so, as we have already seen). Those outside the church are presumably impenitent (though there may be very rare exceptions). Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Generally, those outside the church do not hear the Word of God by which faith and salvation comes. That is, they do not hear it unless you tell them. Unless they hear it, they who, like you, are by nature children of wrath will most certainly perish under the judgment of God. The wrath of God is upon them now (John 3:36). His fury burns hot against them. Their life hangs by a thin thread and, when that thread is broken, they will go to their everlasting home of suffering. How shall they hear without a preacher? You, as a Christian, are their preacher. Do not worry only about what will happen to people who never hear the gospel. Worry about what will happen to you if you never tell them the gospel. They will perish, but you will be held responsible by God for your failure to give them the gospel.
There is positively no way by which they can escape the wrath which is to come, and that which is now, except through the only name given under heaven whereby men may be saved--the name of Jesus. You have that name; and if you truly believe in it and are trusting in Christ's grace for salvation, you will most certainly try, as opportunity affords, to win some. "Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men," Paul said. And, knowing the love of the Lord, we should persuade men too. "We thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). The love of Christ constrains men; the terror of Christ constrains men.
Fourth, nothing less than a change of nature is needed. If we are by nature children of wrath we can only become children of grace by a new nature. When we read that a very religious man of great influence and reputation came to Jesus and was told, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see [or enter] the kingdom of God," we realize that a radical change is necessary. This religious man had to be born from above; he had to be born again. He had to be born twice; he had to have a radical transformation of soul. The ruling disposition of his life had to be changed. Until that happened there was no hope for him. He was by nature a child of wrath just like the rest. He was a perishing sinner. Every moment that he lived he was odious to God. Every moment that he continued his impenitent way, he was storing up wrath against the day of wrath. Every mo¬ment that he lived, he was making the fires of hell that much hotter for himself. The time would come when he would wish that he had never been born. It would be better for that man if he had never been born, or if a millstone had been tied around his neck and he had been thrown into the sea. Being a child of wrath is as dreadful as being a child of God is wonderful.