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  1929 LECTURES
  by Abilene1928
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Lectures from the 1929 Abilene Christian College annual lectureship series,
featuring addresses on biblical topics, evangelism, and church practice from
speakers in the Churches of Christ tradition.

  Chapters: 22

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. Introduction
    2. Religious Education In Texas
    3. The Weightier Matters of the Law
    4. I'm Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
    5. Christian Education
    6. When Success Becomes Failure
    7. Our Misunderstood Bible
    8. The Need of Knowing God
    9. Exalting The Church
   10. My Creed
   11. The Bible School
   12. Power In The Blood
   13. The Integrity of New Testament Worship
   14. The Righteousness of God
   15. The Doctrine of Christ
   16. In All Judea and Samaria
   17. The Uttermost Part of the Earth
   18. Faith
   19. The Human Body
   20. The Shadow and the Substance
   21. The Human Heart
   22. Our Religion

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  CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
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Introduction

INTRODUCTION

It has been the custom of Abilene Christian College for several years to hold an
annual “Lectureship” the last week in February. This is a time of gathering of
brethren from all over the state and adjoining states. It is a time of a great
spiritual feast. It affords an opportunity for brethren to meet and talk over
the work of the Lord. It also enables us to hear again great men of God whose
voices have sounded the Word of the Lord in the days of the past in great'
meetings. In order that those who are not permitted to hear the lectures may
enjoy them it has been the custom of Abilene Christian College to publish the
lectures in a book at the end of each two years. We feel that these wonderful
messages from some of the greatest minds of the church ought to be preserved
that they may do good even after the lips of the speakers have become silent. It
is with a prayer that great good may come that this volume of lectures of 1928
and 1929 is sent forth.

We regret that some of the lectures could not be included in the book. Several
of the brethren neglected to send in their manuscripts; some other manuscripts
were destroyed by fire, and the brethren did not replace them. Most of the
lectures are in the book.

BATSELL BAXTER.


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  CHAPTER 2: RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN TEXAS
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Religious Education In Texas Religious Education In Texas RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN
TEXAS By W. F. Ledlow, Teachers College, Denton, Texas. As soon as Texas gained
her independence from Mexican domination, her citizens began to establish
schools. The state took no special interest in education for a long time and
this gave private enterprise the start. There were several hundred schools
established in Texas before the Civil War but only four of these live today.
These are Baylor University, Austin College, Ursuline Academy at Galveston, and
Ursuline Academy at San Antonio. Before the war the Bible was not taught in our
Texas colleges; for they hoped to secure state funds for their support, and felt
that the schools should remain community institutions. This same attitude held
until 1883 when the University of Texas opened. After this date Bible courses
began to enter and today all church schools in Texas require Bible work for
graduation. The Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian churches took
the lead in educational work. At first the Christian people were united, but
later separated and formed two groups. The Presbyterians were divided when they
entered Texas. For some reason the Methodists and Baptists have taken greater
interest in schools than any other Protestant group in Texas, and have made much
greater gains. My study of this problem led me to believe that Christian
education is a prominent factor in church growth and progress. Soon after the
Republic of Texas was established the Missionary Baptists outlined a plan of
procedure, and to this the church has strictly adhered to the present day. The
plan included a preacher for each church, a Sunday School for each community, a
missionary for each county, and colleges for the entire state. In these colleges
they hoped to train their boys and girls for religious work. The Primitive
Baptists rejected all these items and proceeded independently. Let us look at
the results. The Missionary Baptists have nearly 425,000 members in Texas,
nearly 3,000 preachers—almost half are college men, $12,000,000 in church
property, $11,000,000 in college property, and about 8000 young people in their
own schools. The Primitive Baptists have about 2,000 members in Texas, probably
30 preachers—likely not one a college man, $18,000 in church property and not a
college, Sunday School, nor college student in preparation for a life or
religious work. Do you think schools count? If the Baptists and Methodists had
not built colleges, their numbers would not be nearly so great as they are. The
sacrifices have been heavy but the reward has compensated. At least a thousand
dead colleges in Texas, but a million Protestants inhabit the land! The future
demands that we build more wisely, and carefully. We must center our forces and
build one real college, and make its life secure. As I see it, the Abilene
Christian College is the logical place to put our efforts, and is the one
institution in Texas that demands our immediate attention. Several visits to the
College have impressed me with the great work it does, and the promise the
future holds for it. Within the next few years I should like to see Abilene
Christian College receive several million dollars and take its place among the
truly great schools of the South.


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  CHAPTER 3: THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW
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The Weightier Matters of the Law THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW By E. W.
McMillan.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise
and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice,
mercy, and faith”. The author of the above quotation is the miracle-working
Jesus. His power over nature was shown when he calmed the sea, he proved his
power over demons by casting them out; he demonstrated his power over disease by
healing the sick, and the resurrection of Lazarus proved his power over death.
But the greatest miracle of all is the power of his gospel over the lost and the
faith it inspires in the saved. This all-powerful, miracle-working Savior is our
authority that some things in his law are weightier than other things in his
law. Put in language more in keeping with our own usage, some things in his law
are more important than other things in his law. Those who stressed the less
important and neglected the others were called by Jesus “blind guides”,
“hypocrites”, “whited sepulchres”, and they are said to have been full of
extortion and corruption. What, then, did Jesus count as the more essential
things of his law? Tithing was not one of them. The Pharisees were tithing to
the last point; but because they stressed this above certain other things, Jesus
said they were hypocrites and blind guides.

Justice was a most important thing. But what is justice? If we could have all
the evidence in a given case and could weigh that evidence with perfect
hon-esty; and if we could then know all the law pertaining to that case and
could be able to render a verdict that is perfectly fair in the light of the law
and the evidence, that verdict would be justice. Therefore, all biased
judgments, all ignorance of the law, and all cases where only a part of the
evidence is given shade away from justice. I have heard severe attacks made upon
brethren, and reports have been whispered about an opponent; I have heard and
read many discussions upon religious themes, wherein it would be admitted by
many that the truth had suffered for the lack of sincerity in both speakers, but
in none such cases have I heard that a man was called to account before the
church for injustice. Though gross injustice was apparent to both a fellow-man
and the truth of God, no reckoning seemed thought of. Again, many courses have
been offered in Bible study, and many topics have been used in sermons, but who
has offered the course or preached the sermon exclusively on the subject of
justice? Yet Jesus has said it is one of the most important things in his
religion. Justice—justice to our bodies, justice to our souls, justice to our
neighbors, justice to our Bibles and justice to our God.

Mercy, also, is a most essential thing. When justice has been discovered in a
given case and the punishment based upon the known facts is ready to be
administered, mercy steps forwlard and pleads for leniency. Pleading for the
erring is the mission of mercy. Out of it grow’ patience, longsuffering,
for-bearance, and forgiveness. We have heard many ser-mons which pictured the
punishment of God for in-fractions of his law, but how many sermons have
de-clared his mercy? Many times, we have been judges over brethren and have
criticised their teachings and their deeds, but how many of us have been
outstanding for the mercy we showed? Yet Jesus said that those who were
otherwise were blind guides and were as full of corruption as the grave is of
decaying bones.

Faith, too, is a weightier matter. It was faith that “subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the
power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, waxed mighty in war, and put to
flight the armies of the aliens”. It was through faith that “women received
their dead by a resurrection”, that others “endured scourgings, bonds, and
imprisonments”, that others endured when caused to wander “in deserts, and
mountains, and caves, and the holes of the earth”, and of whom, “the world was
not worthy.” It is “by faith” that we are justified, because of which “we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Though the chosen of God in this
world were the poor, they are praised by him for being “rich in faith.” If any
would ask why Abraham was willing to leave his far away Mesopotamian home and
journey that long distance to Canaan, camping a lifetime in tents, why he was
willing to offer his son, Isaac, in sacrifice to God, and how his name has
become so famed in the sacred text, the answer is simple. He had faith in God.
If it be asked how Jesus could turn water to wine, heal the sick, walk on the
sea and raise the dead; if it be questioned further how he could give himself
over to enemies to be killed, yet, in the doors of death, predicate his divinity
on the fact that he would rise from the dead, it can be answered only that he
had faith in His Father. With admiration, we have stood aghast and amaze as we
read of the apostle Paul, how he was “in labors more abundantly” than all the
other apostles, “in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure”, and “in
deaths oft”; how he was whipped three times with thirty-nine stripes; how he was
beaten thrice with rods, once was stoned, thrice suffered shipwreck, and how on
the thirteenth day of a driving storm at sea he could say to all on board, “Be
of good cheer for we shall all be saved”. We have marvelled how he could endure
“in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in
perils among the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in labors and travails,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and
nakedness”. But the apostle explained it all when he said, “The just shall live
by faith.”

What was it that led the Ethiopian eunuch to leave the baptismal waters (Acts
8:38-39) rejoicing? It could have been nothing but faith in his Lord’s
promise—“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Having believed and
been baptized, he had the right to trust the promise “shall be saved.”
Furthermore, that which should lead the person now to be baptized; and that
which should lead the Christian to prayer, to Bible study, and to consecration
in the holy, Christian life is faith in his Master’s promise—“Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” And lastly, though not given
by Jesus in the text of this sermon, there remains one more weightier matter
which He later revealed through his Holy Spirit. “Now abideth faith, hope, love,
these three, and the greatest of these is love.” It matters nothing how many
kingdoms one may conquer nor how many sick one may cure unless he is prompted by
love. It is of no avail in heaven for one to seek justice, show mercy, or have
faith unless his heart is mellowed in love. “Above all these things, put on
love.” Again, of that triple alli-ance which stands as guard to our souls, “The
greatest of these is love.” The person who goes in the pursuit and practice of
justice, and who also is full of mercy; who, further-more, in implicit faith,
seeks to obey his Lord, and finally, whose every act is ruled by love can well
be said to be looking after the weightier matters of the law.


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  CHAPTER 4: I'M NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
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I'm Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
By Warren E. Starnes

Worship and adoration are natural impulses in man. Man has always worshipped and
adored something; if he does not worship the God of the Bible he fashions one
according to his imagination or according- to his tradition, from
semi-civilization back to savagery and barbarism, we come to no time when man
was not wor-shipping something; and tradition itself takes us to no time so
remote that man was not paying tribute to snake or river, animal or image, demon
or divinity!

If man’s conception of that which he worships be lofty, his worship will be
uplifting and ennobling; if his conception of that which he worships be low and
base, his worship will be groveling and vicious! It would be difficult to
overestimate the value of this point, for in worship, man assimilates to himself
the character of that which he worships. The superiority of the nations which
have worshipped the one true God are evidences of this fact. The worshippers of
images and inanimate things, or even things alive which are beneath and below
the true God, have never wrought either a life or a civilization which may be
commended to the world. They cannot build character, and without character there
can be no civilization. Character depends upon two things; they are quality and
strength. The quality of character depends upon conscience. The strength of
character depends upon will. Apart from the law of God man can have neither. The
law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is
sure making wise the simple (Psalms 19:7).

Jehovah has two books; the book of Nature and the book of Revelation. He has
written the book of Nature in things; He has written the book of Revelation in
words. The presence and appearance of a house de-clares a builder; but does not
declare who he is. Every house is builded by some one (Hebrews 3:4) but the
builder of all things is God. The existence of the earth and the world as we see
them; the marvelous handiwork of a power which transcends our imagination and
goes beyond our comprehension presuppose both a plan and? i purpose but if death
ends all of what avail is the plan and who will fulfil the purpose? Man does not
have to have the revealed word of God to tell him to hope and long for another
life after this life is over, for the savage who had his bow and arrow buried
with him hoped and longed for another life and thought he would enjoy it in the
“happy hunting grounds.” Man does not have to have the revealed word of God to
tell him to desire the things above and beyond this life, for the Fiji Island
savage, with a ring in his nose has that desire. But man does have to have the
revealed word of ppGod to teach him what that great Spirit is that is above and
beyond him and how to reach that home for which he longs and life for which he
sighs.

Some years ago, some scientists who were skeptics, asserted that man had no need
for a revelation from God, for the reason that Nature and the “light of rea-son”
made provision for the satisfaction of every pas-sion and desire in the heart of
man; yet they declared that death ends all, and that man shall not be called to
account after this life. Now, if they told the truth, knew about what they were
talking and meant what they said: what about this desire for another life ? If
nature or science or anything else has made provision for the satisfaction of
every other desire but this one she has blundered, and all this talk about her
immutable laws is foolish.

I believe that the Creator of the heavens and the earth is the Creator of man; I
believe the Author of creation is the Author of revelation; I believe the
Creator of man’s body is the Father of man’s spirit; I believe the same Father
who put it into his heart to live after this life is over; I believe the same
Father who has provided for the satisfaction for the desires of the heart down
here has also provided for the satisfaction of the desire to live again; I
believe the light toward which the face of the Christian is now turned, is but a
dim reflection of that fuller and brighter light which shall shine out in him
when he, according to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, attains in life and in
character, justification for the bestowment of its glory. I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it is God’s power to every one that believes, unto the
accomplishment of this end—salvation of the soul both here and hereafter.

Through the centuries man’s body has shivered in the cold; but’ God who made
that body, hid veins of coal in the earth and crowded all the forests full of
fuel to keep it warm! Through the ages man has desired gold and silver, and
needed gold and silver; and God who made that body threaded the foot of yonder
hill and tangled the base of yonder mountain with shining metals. Through all
the ages man has hungered for food and thirsted for water; but God who made that
body which gets hungry and which thirsts, lifted His fountain high up in the
mountains from which man might satiate his thirst and crowded all the harvests
full of bread! Once man becomes conscious of his life, he desires to continue to
live, and in the event his life ends he desires to live again. Now if when man’s
body shivers in the cold there is provision in the forests to keep it warm; if
when man thirsts there is a fountain to satisfy; if when man hungers there are
harvests ripened unto bread; if when man’s hand is bruised and he suffers pain,
a balm is hid under the bark of a tree, I cannot doubt that there is a balm in
Gilead, and I believe there is a fountain filled with blood, and that when man
dies if he has obeyed and lived the life of the gospel of Christ, he will have
the desire of his heart fully satisfied. I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Moreover man’s desire to worship is lifted to its highest possibilities by the
gospel of Christ.

God is spirit and no image could represent Him; no likeness in the heavens above
nor in the earth beneath could reveal Him. Thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth (Exodus 20:4).
God being spirit must be subjective in the mind and heart of man, before He can
be worshipped objectively. This was so under the Dispensation of the Patriarchs
and Jewish fathers. God was the subject of worship and not the object of
worship. He could not be worshipped objectively until His attributes, in their
perfect power and fullness, were embodied in objective likeness and form;
therefore, in the fullness of time, He sent forth his Son, who expressed the
power, love and purity of God in all their fullness and perfection. Then it was
that the subjective worship of the Patriarchs and Jewish Fathers was supplanted
by the objective worship of the Holy Nation, Royal Priesthood, Peculiar People
under Christ Jesus the Lord. They who worship Him today must worship Him in
spirit and in truth. Jehovah is not “truth”. He is true and any expression of
Himself is “truth.” When He expresses Himself in word, He being true, that word
becomes truth. When He expressed himself in His Son that Son was truth. I am the
way, the truth and the life (John 14 :). When Jehovah expresses His power, His
power inheres in the expression which carries it'. When He sends forth His love,
His love goes forth in the vehicle which conveys it; when He manifests His
purity, His purity is evident in that which declares it. His power to create
worlds went out in His word of creation, and His power to create souls anew goes
out in His word of regeneration. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled
us to Himself by Christ Jesus and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). When we see bad men made good and good men
made better we know that they have come under the influence of the gospel
through this ministry of re-conciliation. Moreover men are never ashamed upward,
the trend of shame is downward. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is
the house of Israel ashamed (Jeremiah 2:26). Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed (Psalms 25:3). Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears
of the dumb shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as an hart and the
tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out and
streams in the desert and and parched ground shall become a pool and thirsty
land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be
grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way and it
shall be called the way of holiness (Isaiah 35:5-9). I am not ashamed of that
way for it is high and lifted up; and I, if I be lifted up will draw all men
unto me (John 12:32). Who can describe the difference between a man who is on
this way and the one who is not?

Man can describe the difference between small potatoes and large ones in pounds
and ounces; man can describe the difference between large beef cattle and small
ones in pounds and hundredweights; man can describe the difference between
garments and articles of merchandise and measure all these differences in
dollars and cents; but who can describe the difference between a good man and a
bad one? Who can describe the difference between a moral man and a vicious man?
Let me bring it nearer home. Who can describe the difference between William
Edward Hickman of California, Leopold and Loeb, formerly of Chicago, and three
of the best boys in Abilene Christian College? Whether the difference be
described or not, that difference could be obliterated if all would come under
the influence of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. The powers of reason, to think,
to act and execute plans and carry out purposes, are like the forces and powers
of the elements, and of nature unless controlled by law and intelligence. For
centuries the rivers of our continent plunged down the mountain sides and over
rocks and shoals pushed their way on to the sea; but the energies and powers
thus spent were not the power to turn spindles and pull belts and wheels and
serve man until they were harnessed to machinery according to the law of physics
and mechanics. But today we know that the fretting and foaming of those waters
down the mountains was the language they employed to tell us of their
willingness to serve! For centuries the winds and electric currents ran riot
through the forests and across the waters, their powers and energies let loose
and serving no purpose of utility. But at last man caught the secret of the
strength and power of the wind in the trembling leaves and swinging boughs, and
when he subdued it to the control of law intelligently harnessed to his
mechanical devices it serves him and for his convenience pumps cool clear waters
into his home from wells and springs. He likewise “metamorphosed” the lightning
spark into a messenger boy to carry his words from one continent to another and
wing his thoughts around the world. So it is with man. Unless he allows himself
to be controlled by the law of the spirit of life in Christ, his powers to
think, act, execute plans and carry out purposes run riot -and serve evil ends
and purposes.

Some one has said that pig iron worth $20.00 a ton when made into horse shoes is
worth $200.00 a ton and when made into watch springs worth $1000.00 a ton then
asked the question: What is the difference between the raw material and the
finished product? The answer is: When made into horse shoes the difference in
dollars and cents is $180.00 and when made into watch springs the difference is
$980.00. So this increase in value is raw material plus mind; raw material plus
genius. Let us make a comparison. If the raw material in pig iron, when it has
added to it the genius and ingenuity of man is raised in value from $20.00 to
$1000.00, what do you think the raw material in a boy could be made to be worth,
if he had added to it the wisdom of God? Take a boy who smokes cigarettes, takes
the name of God in vain, who has no regard for the church, and tell me what he
is worth if he could be reclaimed from such a life by the power of the gospel.
The gospel is the only power to reclaim one from such a life, then let us not be
ashamed to preach it. Not every one that sait.h unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven (Matthew 7:21). Came unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my
burden is light (Matt. 2:28-30), the language of Him from whose sovereign
authority there is no appeal and beyond the verities of whose word, in truth,
there is nothing.


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  CHAPTER 5: CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
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Christian Education CHRISTIAN EDUCATION By Jesse P. Sewell By education I do not
refer alone to the processes of instruction, but to the entire process of
development by which the human being is equipped to live his life in such a
manner as to achieve the greatest amount of success, to enjoy the greatest
happiness, and to give to his fellows the broadest and most useful service. Any
process through which the youth of the world may be carried which does not thus
prepare them for life does not deserve to be called education, regardless of the
physical, mental and cultural development it may give. This education can only
be given in such a way as to a ccomplish its service in the finest and noblest
living when it is given from the viewpoint of Christianity. Will you please read
with me just here some statements from God’s Word. “No man can come to me,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him: It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (Jesus in John 6:44-45).

“ Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are
not written in this book: But those are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing ye might have life
through His name” (John 20:30-31).

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing, them in the name of the
Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world” (Jesus ii Matthew 28:19-20).

“Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). In these passages the
following truths are clearly and positively presented: 1. Man, uninfluenced by
the power of God, cannot come to Christ. , 2. God exerts His influence to bring
man to His Son through teaching. 3. The testimonies of the gospel are for the
express purpose of producing faith in man, that, in Jesus Christ, he may have
life. 4. Children of God are to teach the gospel to every nation that by it men
may be made disciples. 5. Disciples are to be taught to observe ad things
commanded by the Lord that they may enjoy His blessed fellowship to the end. The
service of Christian development is made a sacred and definite responsibility of
Christian father-hood. These passages might have added to them a score or more
of others, teaching just as plainly the same truths. By them the service of
Christian Education is firmly established as a fundamental doctrine of the
Christian religion and the most important and sacred function of the church of
God. With these fundamental truths in plain view on the very surface of the
sacred scriptures during the cen-turies, the church has never taken her
educational work seriously, and does not do so now. With this background of
scripture teaching in our hearts let us now study some present day conditions.

“The National Industrial Conference Board has re-cently made public its survey,
showing that during the year 1925 more than one-fourth of the total net public
expenditures was applied to public education. The total public school
expenditure was more than $2,000,000,000, which the board declares exceeded the
combined expenditures for our military, police, fire protection and prohibition
enforcement. An increase of 37.1 per cent in the cost of public education
between 1910 and 1925 and an increase of 69.4 per cent' from 1890 to 1925 are
indicated.

One of the important factors in the present school expenditure, however, has
been the proportionately greater enrollment, which increased from 68.6 per cent
of the 18,500,000 children of school age in 1890 to 83 per cent of the
29,700,000 children of school age in 1925. A greater proportion than ever now
attends high school after graduating from grammar schools, 15 per cent of all
those enrolled attending high school 1925, as against only 1.6 per cent in 1890,
an increase the more significant as the cost of high school education per pupil
is estimated as amounting to two and a half times that of grammer school
education. The average school term has been lengthened from 134.7 school days in
1890 to 169.6 days in 1925, in-volving corresponding salary increases, greater
main-tenance and repair costs as well as greater outlays for supplies. More
regular attendance, increasing the proportion of pupils attending school each
day from 64.1 per cent of those enrolled io 80.5 per cent, is counted another
factor in definite dollars and cents addition to school costs. Factors entering
into the nominal increases of costs, the report states, are the changed
purchasing value of the dollar, population increase, -ncrease in enrollment and
better attendance, the lengthened school year and greater high school
attendance. The National Bureau of Economic Research tells us we are getting
richer, richer not merely in dollars, but richer in what the dollar will buy. In
1921, our total “current income” was $62,736,-000,000. In 1926, it was
$89,682,000,000. Per capita the jump from $597 to $770, or per worker, from
$1,537 to $2,010. Our rate of illiteracy is the lowest in the history of the
nation. The average length of human life is greater than at any previous time.
This is an inspiring picture we have been considering. I am delighted to call
your attention to it. It demonstrates beyond question that through our pres^ enr
system of education we are making our people physically strong and mentally
intelligent, and finan-cially prosperous. But I am sorry that there is another
picture, just as true to facts, that is as dark and gloomy as the one just
considered is bright and inspiring. Truth demands that I now call your attention
to it. The National Economic League recently sent a ques-tionnaire to 5,700
members of its national council, asking what in their minds constitutes the
gravest problem now confronting the people of the United States. The answers
show that it is the solemn judgment of 87 per cent of the outstanding business
men of the nation that the crime wave presents the gravest problem now before
the American people. We do not need statistics to reveal to us that this is an
exceedingly serious problem. We have only to look about us in our own city and
to read the daily papers. In every paper we read of misdemeanors and felonies,
thefts, robberies, burglaries, shootings and murders. Young girls are debauched.
Women are attacked and then cut to pieces or killed in their own homes. Boys and
girls of high school age are frequently arrested drunk. Those are the stories we
read every day,—not occasionally. And we know the papers do not tell it all by
any means.

There are three billion dollars worth of property stolen in the United States
every year. There is a forged check cashed in the United States every three and
one-half minutes, night and day.In his exposition of the Sunday school lessons
for June 24th, Dr. Wm. T. Ellis wrote, “Men who gather statistics say that in
the United States there are 285.0 young men of college age in prison, which is
35.0 more than the number in college.”

Kathleen Norris in a wonderful article, entitled, “Home, The Center of the
World”, published in Pic-torial Review, February, 1929, says, “Our children grow
up without any sense of a background behind them, or of a code and plan for the
future. They are shifted about' from house to hc^use and school to school, and
very often shifted as well from family to family. An agitated mother poisons
their very babyhoods with long, passionate tales of the defects of their
father’s folks; later she includes Dad himself in this category. They are forced
into criticism and partizan- ships in those very years when they ought to be
rooted most deeply in family loyalty and affection. Prayers have long ago been
dropped from the scheme; there is never any mention of duty, honor, family
tradition. Why should there be? Grandma is a handsome divorced woman with a
permanent' wave and a diamond collar, living at a hotel. Mother looks
twenty-five, and would sell her immortal soul to be it once more. Dad cares
about two things, business and golf, and gives to everything else only a kindly,
absent- minded attention. ‘‘My sister is lucky,” said a young woman to me
complainingly a few years ago. “She’s only twenty-five—she married a man with a
good deal of money and had a darling baby girl; now she’s gotten her divorce and
her alimony, and her whole life is before her!”

If that is the ideal of the younger generation—and the advocates of companionate
marriage, alimony, divorce, and birth-control seem eager to assure us that it
is—then the American home has vanished forever.” Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.
recently made the following statement, “Eight years ago, when I was first
married, 70 other young couples of my former wife’s and my personal acquaintance
were married during the spring and winter sodial season. Within four years, 39
divorces took place, and while I was in Reno, 22 of the others came there also.
Today but nine of these families still are living as man and wife. And of these
nine, there are to my distinct knowledge only two who are not having what
society calls ‘affairs’ with other persons on the side. A deplorable state! Yet
one which we must face, for this condition is almost universal; it is not
confined to the so-called ‘smart set.’ In the State of Illinois, where there
were almost 10 times as many divorces granted as there were in Nevada last year,
85 per cent of them were found to be in families where the average yearly
in-come was not in excess of $5000.”

Under the auspices of the Institute of Social and Religious Research of New York
City, Walter S. Athearn, one of the deans of the University of Boston, recently
directed a nation-wide survey of the basic causes of crime. His first inquiry
was into the amount and quality of religious and moral instruction which the
children of the nation are receiving. In his report he says, “Our survey showed
that there are millions of children and youth in America today who are unreached
by the edu-cational program of any church. Seven out of ten of the children and
youth of the nation are growing from infancy to maturity without any systematic
instruction in religion or ethics.” The second inquiry was into the ethical
ideas of the children and youth of the nation. This section of the survey shows,
“A high susceptibility to immoral conduct in typical groups of American youth.”
It re-vealed, “Low ethical ideas in a sufficiently large area of our child life
to guarantee the ongoing of our crime wave for years to come.” The third inquiry
was into the age of persons now committing our major crimes. The results found
by Prosecuting Attorney Wm. H. Remy who conducted the survey in Indianapolis
gives a fair idea of the entire survey. They are as follows:

“The average age of persons convicted of burglary in Indianapolis in 1913 was 29
years; in 1923 the average was 21 years; a fall of eight years within a period
of ten years. In 1913 the average hold-up man was 28 years of age; in 1923 the
average hold-up man was 21 years of age. In 1913 the average person convicted of
grand larceny was 29 years of age; in 1923 the average person convicted of grand
larceny was 23 years of age. In 1913 the average age of the persons convicted of
bigamy or wife desertion was 32 years of age; 1923 the average age of persons
convicted of bigamy or wife desertion was 23 years of age. One-half of the
auto-mobile thieves are boys of the high school age, between 18 and 19 years of
age.”

Mr. Athearn gives the following summary of the results of the survey: 1.
Millions of American children unreached by the educational program of any
church. 2. A low level of ethical ideas in selected samples of American youth.
3. A high susceptibility to immoral conduct among typical groups of American
youth. 4. A rapid increase of juvenile delinquency. 5. A rapidly spreading
emphasis on agnostic and materialistic views of reality which, tend to eliminate
a personal God from the life of the rising generation. 6. An army of untrained,
unsupervised voluntary religious teachers attempting to teach morality in poorly
equipped and meagerly supported religious schools. 7. Commercialized amusements
and the influence of vividly portrayed criminal conduct in the daily press and
on the movie screen.In the presence of these facts and many others which might
be given, equally convincing, we are forced to ask, “What is the cause of this
nation-wide, spiritual and moral breakdown? “This is just another way of asking,
“what is the cause of our present nationwide crime wave”?

It is perfectly clear that we cannot account for it on the basis of the physical
and mental degeneracy of the people. The average length of life is greater than
at any previous time, and the illiteracy is the lowest in our history. We must
look elsewhere. But one answer seems to square with the fact’s. The crime wave
is due to the absence of an adequate program of moral and religious education
for the chil- hood and youth of the nation. Our ancestors established our
democratic institutions and built our great' system of law on the theory that
the life and success of both depend on the intelligence and moral integrity of
our people. To the end that all the people might be educated a nation-wide
system of common schools has been established. Because we believe in a complete
separation of Church and State religion was removed from the public schools. In
our large and rapidly increasing crime rate we have positive and unanswerable
proof that we have failed and failed miserably as teachers of morals and
spirituality. As a result, the lowest rate of illiteracy and longest span of
life are matched by the highest rate of spiritual illiteracy, the highest crime
rate. We have made the nation physically strong and mentally intelligent, but we
have failed to make the nation moral and spiritual.

Hon. James J. Davis, our present Secretary of Labor, in a recent magazine
article says, “The soul of this nation will die if we do not instill in the
minds and hearts of our children some proper form of moral and religious sense.”

Again he says, “Men may say what they will, but we shall never have a morality
that respects the rights and integrity of others unless our morality has a
religious sanction. To put morality on anything but a religious basis is to
build on sand. It is religion that gives vision, strength, inspiration, and
without it we are nothing.” In the same article he says, “I would plead for q
conception of education large enough to take into itself everything that deepens
the human consciousness, that inspires the human soul, and gives one a vision of
the eternities. This, a moral education, to use the word in its highest sense,
will do. As every historian can show, morals divorced from religion are sorry
affairs without any point. But morals not so divorced can rise to the height
that religion itself has attained. A British poet put it exactly when he said
that true religion is ‘morality touched with emotion.’ Such a religion this age
has not outgrown, nor will any other age outgrow it.”

Judge Wm. McAdoo, Chief Magistrate of New York City, in a magazine article,
published in October, says, “What is, perhaps, most evil in the influences of
mod-ern youth is the new materialism which has come into vogue—a cynical,
negative and hopeless attitude toward life as a whole. Those influences which
led many college students within the past year to commit suicide are akin to
those which impel the daughters of re-spectable families to lives of dissipation
and those of the poor to wrong doing. It is the feeling which has come into
being—expressed in pathetic letters left by several of those student
suicides—that there is no purpose to life, that the universe is run by
mechanistic processes rather than by a governing spiritual power, that
immortality is a delusion and religion an exploded superstition.”

Again he says, “As chief magistrate of the city of New York, through whose
courts each year pass more than a half million cases ranging from petty larceny
to murder, I can state from observation that most crimes on the part of young
people are committed by those whose parents have failed to bring them up
according to religious precepts or who have lost the faith of their
forefathers.” In the same article he says further, “I have found one thing more
definitely established than all others— that is, people who go wrong and drift
into crime are those who have lost faith in God. What is there to live for, what
inducement is there to lead a righteous life, if there is no faith? Ethics are
not a substitute for the Sermon on the Mount. In my dealings with young
criminals I find the parents of many have brought them up without any spiritual
teachings whatever, and this is not confined to the parents of boys and girls
who become criminals. It prevails through the higher orders of society. What
this lack of religious training, of simple belief in a divine Creator to whom we
are responsible for what we make of our lives, brings about, one can see in the
rampant dissipation, moral degeneration and intractibility of the young today.”
From the Literary Digest I quote the following: “Regular attendance upon Sunday
School during the period of character formation would cause criminal courts and
jails to close, for there would be no ‘raw material’ to work on. This is not a
platitude from the pulpit. It is an expression of belief of a judge who has had
long experience. In the eighteen years he has sat upon the bench in two courts,
Supreme Court Justice Lewis L. Fawcett, of Brooklyn, has had more than 4,000
boys less than 22 years arraigned before him, charged with various degrees of
crime. But of this large number, only three were members of a Sunday School at
the time of the commission of their crimes.”

Robert Babson says, “The crying need of today is not more cultural and
scientific knowledge. Our prosperity will collapse of its own weight unless our
spiritual growth catches up with our material growth.” In a recent address
President Coolidge said that “We do not need more national development; we need
more spiritual development. We do not need more intellectual power; we need more
spiritual power. We do not need more knowledge; we need more character. We do
not need more law; we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that
are seen; we need more of the things that are unseen.”

Until we come to our Bibles and relearn our Chris-tianity and build into our
educational system a program of spiritual and moral training to match our
efficient system, of physical and mental training, our rate of spiritual and
moral illiteracy and our wave of sin will mount higher and higher. This program
to be effective must include the home, the church and the school, each
functioning constantly and efficiently as a center of moral and spiritual
train-ing. The most sacred responsibility that rests on mankind is the
responsibility of parenthood. Our children are in no way responsible for their
existence. We are entirely responsible. The most inexcusable and sinful neglect
possible is to bring a human life into existence and then shirk the
responsibility to properly train and develop that life. The family and home are
not an end, but only a means to an ‘end, that is, the perpetuation and proper
development of the human family.

Each home is, consciously or unconsciously, inten-tionally or unintentionally,
an educational institution, and in it the very foundations of character, spirit,
at-titude and conduct, are laid in the hearts of the children who go out from
it. Largely speaking, other educational agencies can only build on these
foundations, and only such character, spirit, attitude and conduct can be
developed as these foundations will sustain. All Christian parents and all
Christians who con-template marriage and parenthood should certainly study
carefully and thoroughly methods of Christian education, especially for children
in the home and family. A conscious, intentional, planned effort should be made
to properly instruct, inspire, guide and restrain the children in each home.
This is vitally important, and the effect will be far reaching. But far more
important, and far reaching in effect is the home as it is normally, not as it
is in its seasons of conscious effort to instruct, edify and influence the
children, but as it is in its own habitual normal character, spirit, attitude
and conduct. The normal habitual preferences, controlling inter-ests,
established estimates of persons and pursuit's, the ordinary circle of
associates, the usual standards of conduct, the accepted ideas of work and
amusement, will have far more effect on the foundations of char-acter being laid
in the hearts of the children of the home than all of the intentional conscious
efforts at instruction and direction. These are important and should have
constant, intelligent and prayerful atten-tion. The former are more important
and demand ever more constant, more intelligent and more prayerful at-tention.
Much depends on what the home does. Much more depends on what the home is. The
home, in order to hope for the highest accom-plishment in its God given task
must be able to look to the church for thorough efficient co-operation and
support. The most sacred function of the church is her edu-cational work, the
task to teach every creature in all the world. But with the clear and positive
teaching of the scriptures before her and with nearly 2,000 years of experience
and observation behind her, the church does not now take her educational work
seriously. She depends almost entirely for the accomplishment of this, her most'
important one, on one hour session one day in the week. And usually this is with
untrained supervision and instruction. We would not depend on such procedure to
teach anything else to which we attach the slightest importance. Yet' we seem
perfectly satisfied with it in teaching the human family the one thing on which
God depends to draw men to His Son that they may live.

Few churches conduct any week day Bible classes. There are few teacher training
classes and my brethren have produced no teacher training literature, or at
least very little. We conduct protracted meetings to lead people to Christ, but
no meetings or schools to train the church for more efficient Christian
teaching. We conduct singing schools to teach the people to better sing—but no
schools to teach them to better teach.

We have produced vast quantities of literature, good, indifferent and bad, for
general reading by adults, but practically none that can be used by parents in
the home or teachers in the church in teaching and inspiring and guiding the
children and immature.

But, it is replied, “parents and teachers have the Bible. No other material is
needed.” The idea that vast time, thought, work and money must be expended by
the church in preparation of its sacred material of the Bible for adults, who
are equipped in mind to properly assort and apply this material, but that all
such effort is unnecessary for the young who are not prepared to properly assort
and apply the material is so absurd that a reply could be nothing more than a
waste of time. The great need of the church today is the development of each
congregation into an effective educational unit. With the church as with the
home, much depends on the conscious, planned efforts to instruct, inspire,
direct and restrain, but far more on the normal sustained faith, character,
spirit, attitude and life of the church. Much depends on what the church does.
Much more depends on what the church is. With all of these things said, and
accepted, I feel that it is unnecessary for me to argue for the necessity of
Christian schools and colleges. Every one sees at once the absurdity and the
danger of having the effect of such homes and churches, as we have just been
con-sidering, neutralized and cunteracted by schools and colleges, thoroughly
worldly and material, and even irreverent and unbelieving from the viewpoint of
all that is really important and enduring.

I say without apology or fear that the average college today (including the
denominational colleges) does not even maintain a spirit'of culture and
refinement. Almost universally the atmosphere is course, vulgar and rough.

Beginning even with the high school, the spirit of the average modern school is
the spirit of rag time and jazz. The atmosphere is that of slang, profanity,
coarseness, vulgarity, frivolity, extravagance and selfindulgence. Reverence and
piety, the conventions and virtues, are laughed to scorn as babyish and utterly
out of date, and the students who maintain them are pushed aside as “nobody” in
the social life of the institutions. The Christian College is essential, not'
only because Christian Education is a positive doctrine of the New Testament,
and the Christian College is a necessary part of that process, but also in order
to the presentation of the ideals and institutions of the American government.

I do not miss the facts when I say to you that, with the exception of a few
individual institutions, the col-leges of America have so far compromised with
the forces of materialistic philosophy, irreverent' unbelief, self-indulgence,
and extravagance, as to become a men-ace not only to the church and the American
home, but to the American ideal of government as well.

If time would permit, I could give you hundreds of instances in college life and
procedure proving all of these statements t'o be true.

Christians must be made to see the Christian schoo, not as a priviege, but as a
necessity. They must be made to see the entire process of Christian education,
from the home to the finished academic scholar or pro-fessional, industrial or
commercial worker, as a sacred function of the Christian religion, commanded by
the Lord himself. To fail to teach it is to be unsound in doctrine. To fail in
the practice is to be disloyal to our Lord. The Christian home, the Christian
church, the Christian college, if it would be worthy of the name and make a
worthwhile contribution to human development, must be genuinely
Christian—Christian in faith, in character, in spirit, in management, in
teaching, in attitude, and in atmosphere. When these are sacri- fived to
anything, institutional size, custom, wealth, station, whether home, church or
school, has lost its savor and is good for nothing but to be cast out' and
trodden under foot of men; this regardless of all else that may be true. To
trustees, teachers, students, patrons and supporters of Christian education, may
I utter this warning? As the years go by and our Christian homes, churches and
schools grow in age, influence, power and wealth, as they will, we are going to
find it far more difficult to maintain our faith, character, ideals, spirit and
service than to obtain all of the material equipment and academic training
necessary.

If we do not constantly teach, watch and pray we will lose sight of the fact
that God ordained these in-stitutions as a means of service to humanity and not
as an end within themselves. Reaching this point we will find ourselves laboring
for size, material excellency, wealth, power and glory, and the service of
Christian education will be forgotten. In a recent address President Coolidge
said, “There is something more in learning and something more in life than a
mere knowledge of science, a mere acquisition of wealth, a mere striving for
place and power. Our colleges will fail in their duty to their students unless
they are able to inspire them with a broader understanding of the spiritual
meaning of science, of literature, and of the arts. Their graduates will go out
into life poorly equipped to meet the problems of existence, to fall an easy
prey to dissatisfaction and despair. Many of our older universities were founded
by pious hands at great sacrifice for the express pur-pose of training men for
the ministry to carry light to the people on the problems of life. Unless our
college graduates are inspired with these ideals, our colleges have failed in
their most important function and our people will be lacking in true culture.”

Let us never for one moment forget' that the com-mand of our King is teach every
creature in all the nations, and that the law of God to Christian parents is,
Bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.


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  CHAPTER 6: WHEN SUCCESS BECOMES FAILURE
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When Success Becomes Failure WHEN SUCCESS BECOMES FAILURE By Robert Alexander

Perhaps some of you have seen men and business enterprises rise rapidly in the
world to what appeared to be a noble success; but in an hour when you were least
expecting sucn a thing there came the news of failure. Individual or business,
as the case maj have been, toppled and passed into obscurity. Or you have seen a
crop, in June time, filled with blossoms gay giving forth flattering hopes of a
heavy harvest. In one hour, with lowering clouds, lightning’s flash and thum
der’s roar the tempest came down; and when the sun once more broke through and
drove the storm clouds away, all hopes of harvest had been blasted.

Perchance, it was a fine dwelling which you saw. It rep resented years of toil
and sacrifice, and was fine to behold and possess. But in the wee hours of
night, without a moment’s warning, a tiny flame broke forth in the attic, the
house was soon wrapped with fire, and within a fewT minutes the stately mansion
lay mouldering in the dying embers. Some of you could recite incidents showing
how moments of supreme joy have been turned into occasions of bitterest sorrow.
I have in mind at the present time an incident with which most of you are
acquainted and some of you may have been deeply affected by this affafr.’ It was
on a crispy Christmas Eve night; the air was full of frost; the ground was
covered with a light blanket of sleet and snow; all nature was in tune for a
merry Christmas. Neighbors and friends had gathered in a little country
schoolhouse for the purpose of exchanging presents and extending the season’s
greetings to one another But the joy of the occasion had hardly begun when fire
broke out and turned the occasion into a panic. Within thirty minutes the
community, yea, the state and nation were turned to weeping; for in the Babbs-
Switch fire thirty-two people were burned to death and scores of others were
maimed for life. So it is with man. In the midst of prosperity he is in
adversity. In the midst of joy he is in sorrow. In the midst of health he is in
death. And in the midst of success he is in failure.

Many of you, no doubt, are thinking that the title of this discussion seems to
be a contradiction of terms. This I admit to be true, but at the same time call
your attention to the fact that many of the principles enunciated by the Savior
Himself are paradoxical. Let me mention a few of these principles for your
consideration. Losing your life is finding it. For Jesus said, “He that loseth
his life for my sake shall find it." Finding your life is losing it. For again
Jesus says, “He that findeth his life shall lose it.” To be greatest you must be
least. “For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” Giving is
getting. “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
shaken together shall men give into your bosom. For with what measure you mete
it shall be measured unto you again.” Again Jesus said, “It is more blessed to
give than to receive.” But why? Because giving is getting. To the Apostle Peter
the Master said, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or
children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel’s but shall receive an
hundredfold now in this time—and in the world to come eternal life.” But you are
beginning to see that things that appear impossible with men are possible with
God. Let us never forget that God hath said, “For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts.” If we would always see things as they really are we must place
ourselves in position to see them as God sees them. If we look at an
achievement' from the low and sordid position of man it may appear to reach the
heights of glory and success. But if we view the same accomplishment from the
Holy Heights of Heaven it may appear to be void of any true merit and altogether
a dismal failure. Go with me, for a moment, and view one of the most magnificent
kingdoms known in the history of the world. See Solomon, the proud Monarch of
Israel, who surpassed all in his day, in wisdom, in power and in riches. Hear
the Queen of Sheba, when she had seen the glory of Solomon’s court and had heard
his wisdom as she exclaims, “The half has not been told.” Would you not, my
young friends, join the world in acclaiming this achievement of Solomon’s a
success ? And yet, Solomon himself, when he began to view his career from the
standpoint of the Divine Word, saw his failure and expressed it in these words:
“All is vanity and a vexation of the spirit.” Realizing his failure he sought to
set us on the right course to success when he said, “Remember now thy Creator in
the days of t'hy youth when the evil days come not and the years draw not nigh
when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.” Solomon was a failure in that
he forgot his Creator.

However, you insist, Solomon was wise and surely wisdom gives success. No,
success does not lie in wis-dom nor education. Wisdom is a wonderful thing; but
empty learning is to be despised rather than aspired to. Solomon says, “In all
thy getting get wisdom,” and “Happy is the man that iindeth wisdom and the man
that getteth understanding.” How different the world would be if persons would
learn only one new thing every day. I would not discourage any course of
preparation for greater usefulness but want you to see that success cannot be
achieved in learning alone. Where is noble Athens or proud Rome? Both were
centers of learning at different periods of the past, but they are fallen and
forgotten. Their sleeping ruins are silent testimony to the fact that learning
alone is not success. When Jesus began preparing for the establishment of His
Kingdom here on earth, He did not seek the worldly wise to be the leaders in
that work but chose, rather, humble hearted men from the lowly walks of life.
Men who were willing to hear His word and obey the same. And just remember,
young man, if ever you reach the place in your career of learning where you are
not willing to hear, believe and abide by God’s Word, God cannot use you. To
such a one wisdom has become a failure. Education is a weapon to be used by our
greater passions and may be used for our condemnation as well as for our
salvation. Spurgeon once said, “A cat with a silver collar is none the better
mouser. Fine dress, learned degrees, high titles, and grand offices do not give
ability. We have neard of doctors of divinity who were duller preachers than the
generality of the clergy.”

Let us now survey other fields of endeavor to see what we can find with respect
to success and failure. I feel sure that we can find no other field in which
more people expect to achieve success than the field of finance or money-making.
This is an age of commercialism and to a large extent we are counting success in
dollars and cents. Even churches are not wholly blameless in this respect, for
they vie with one another in building great church edifices while they starve
the souls of men for the bread of life and strip their backs to pay church
debts. Our public schools, almost from the first grade emphasize preparation for
money-making thus giving aid to the idea that success may be achieved in this
field. All of us have the human view of this question; so let us, for a moment,
view the question as Jesus sees it. He says, “For what shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” “Lay not up for yourslves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break
through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.” To
the rich young ruler the Master said, your success in riches has made you a
failure in my sight, “Go sell that which thou hast and give unto the poor and
come and follow me and thou shalt have treasures in Heaven.” See the picture of
this farmer, whose barns are filled with a bountiful harvest? Watch him as he
builds bigger barns to store away his rapidly accumulating wealth, against the
days of old age and inactivity. Surely he was a success in the eyes of his
fellow countrymen. Many men, no doubt, coveted his prosperity. But hear the Lord
Almighty as He says, “Thou fool, tonight is thy soul required of thee; then
whose shall these things be?” In his haste to make a financial success he had
forgotten God and had been laying up treasures on earth instead of in Heaven;
and in that, his success was turned into failure. Financial success need not
cause failure, in the sight of God, but in many instances it does. Alas! it is
true that in many instances, men and women, true servants of the Lord, because
of prosperity have been turned away from the House of the Lord to serve the
world and the flesh. Whenever man, whether his financial success be great or
small, refuses to use his means to the glory of God, his success becomes a
failure.

You, my young friends, are just in the act of choosing your life’s career. Be
sure you choose wisely; for your choice means joy or sorrow, success or failure,
salvation or condemnation. It is essential that you learn early in life what
makes for lasting and eternal success. For that success that passes with the
passing of time is not success at all; but a delusive phantom which many
following shall be led astray and pierced through with many sorrows. But if you
have chosen unwisely in the past do not let the mistake haunt your life nor
hinder your future progress. Right your mistakes t'he best you can and forget
them. God will. Say with Paul of old, “One thing I do, forgetting the things
that are behind and reaching forward unto the things which are before, I press
towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Two
brothers were tried and condemned in Colonial days for stealing cattle. They
were sentenced to be branded on the forehead with the capital letters, S. C. One
of the boys could not bear the reproach of the punishment in his home community
and decided to run away from his shame. He went into new communities but
wherever he went people were inquiring concerning the strange youth with the
strange letters on his forehead. Thus haunted by the past the young man fled
from place to place and at last died, in young manhood, a fugitive and a
vagabond among strange people. The other boy settled down in his neighborhood,
went to work and lived an upright life. People forgot his trouble and thought
nothing strange of the brand on his face. Finally, when the man was old, a
stranger moved into the community and inquired of one of the neighbors what the
strange letters on the old man’s face meant. The neighbor replied, “We do not
know but think they mean Saint of Christ.” However successful a man may seem to
be in running from his sins or in covering them up, he will surely come to
failure. You cannot run away from God. Remember Jonah! Nor can you conceal your
sins from Jehovah. Do you remember the story of David, King of Israel, who
illegally took Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and then in order to
cover up his sin had Uriah slain in battle? No doubt, David was exultant over
his success in covering up his wrong-doing. But his suc-cess was short-lived for
soon Nathan, the prophet of God, arrived on the scene to rebuke David for the
sin which he thought no one know. Nathan pictured the sin of David in a parable
and David hearing, grew red with rage and pronounced the death sentence upon the
one who had committed the crime. The prophet of God said, “You are the man.” God
had said, “Be sure your sins will find you out,” and even a king upon the throne
could not deceive the God of Heaven. Thus success was turned into failure. The
only thing to do in case of sin is to confess it as David did when Nathan
revealed to him the error of his way.

Success lies before all. You may not be able to climb to the brilliant heights
of glory, but you can glorify the common ways of life. Do not despise the little
things of life; for in little things men either fail or succeed. He who fails in
little thing's cannot succeed in great things. But one prepares to succeed in
great things by performing well the little tasks of life. Have you read the
parable of the talents? “Because thou hast been faithful in very little have
thou authority over ten cities.” “Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I
will make you ruler over many. Enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.” The Savior
teaches in this parable that faithfulness in small matters prepares for
usefulness in a greater sphere. However, some people who have been able to
succeed in the big affairs of the world have been overcome by the little things
that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven. Alexander of Mace- don, was able to
conquer the world but was unable to master a little appetite which brought him
to an untimely grave, a drunken wretch. Moses the deliverer, leader and lawgiver
of Israel was a success in each of these great fields, but because of
unfaithfulness in little things, when he failed to exalt God instead of himself
and Aaron, God refused to permit him to enter Canaan. Remember, young people,
when you go out into life, that whatever you may be able to achieve, your
success will be turned into failure if your life does not, above all other
things, hold Christ up on the athletic field, into the class room, into your
dealings with one another on the campus and into your homes when you leave these
college halls. Do not become self-exalted. Uzziah at the age of sixteen was made
king of Judah and reigned in Jerusalem for a period of fifty-two years. The Lord
blessed him and he became a mighty monarch in number of subjects, in possessions
and in war. “But in the midst of his glory his heart was lifted up to his
destruction.” He refused to hear God and His messengers. He went in to the
Golden Altar and offered incense thereon when he had been warned not to do so.
When Uzziah came out, he was smitten with leprosy and died in exile. His success
was turned into failure when he refused to hear the will of God. May God always
keep you, young people, so you will be willing, at all times, to hear His will
in every matter. A building, however grand its superstructure may be, can never
long stand if it is placed upon an insecure foundation. Be sure your foundation
is well laid, of the right kind of material, then begin your superstructure.
Napoleon said, “Alexander, Charlemagne, Caesar and I built our Empires on power
and they have long since perished. But Jesus of Nazareth founded His Kingdom on
love and there are millions who would die for Him today.” Some one else has
said, in order to build aright, “We must' think never of our enemies, seldom of
ourselves, often of our friends and every day of Jesus.” Be honest in your
building if you want it to be secure. Do not try to bluff your way through the
world, nor deceive, for you will sooner or later be defeated in this course for
it heads directly towards failure. A young lad away from home, in school,
thought he had not been getting as much money as he should have and decided to
do a little bluffing. So he sent his father the following telegram: “No mon, no
fun, your Son.” The father sat down immediately and wrote in reply. “Too bad, so
sad, your Dad.” Another lad who had learned to cheat and deceive while in
school, married soon after finishing his course, and began to look for
employment. He had studied carpentry and so his father-in-law showed him a
vacant lot and told him to prepare estimates on building a house of certain
dimensions with first class material. The figures were submitted and the boy
went to work. But he said to himself, “I could make more money out of this
contract if I should use second grade material and fewer nails and braces than
were specified.” So acting on this suggestion the house rapidly went up. Finally
all was done and a little paint covered all defects. He delivered the key to his
father-in-law and received the contract price. But he was fearfully shocked when
the old gentleman gave the keys back to him saying, “I give this house to you
for a home, move in.” Had he known he was building for himself he would have
built of the best material, braced in the most substantial fashion. 'You, young
ladies and young gentlemen, are today engaged in building a spiritual structure
in which you must dwell some day. Be sure that you build well of material that
is enduring. Make the best' of your opportunities. Jesus says, “Whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man
that built his house on a rock.” In conclusion, let me remind you, my dear young
people, that you have a soul to save as well as a life to live. And he who so
lives, in this life, that he loses his soul has failed; though he may have
gained the whole world. Build a character, which is the spiritual house in which
you must meet God, by laying the word of God deep in your heart and by complying
with its ihstructions. “Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”
Guessing at life doesn’t please God, well. Measure every act of your life by the
spirit- level of His word and thereby make your life true and straight. The
Bible is the ultimate test of life and character. Do you know a book that you
would be glad to have under your head when you die? Then make that book your
constant companion through life. Holy Bible! Book Divine! Read it, study it',
love it, accept its promises, obey its commandments, and success, in which there
can be no failure, is yours in this world and in the world which is to come.


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  CHAPTER 7: OUR MISUNDERSTOOD BIBLE
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Our Misunderstood Bible OUR MISUNDERSTOOD BIBLE By James H. Childress When a
presumptuous stranger on an ancient high-way asked the Ethiopian eunuch,
“Understandest thou thou what thou readest'?” (Acts 8:30), he received an honest
answer: “How can I except some man should guide me?” Most of us need a host of
Philips to aid us in our study today. Not only is the Bible the most widely
circulated book in the world: it also has the rare distinction of being the
least understood book in all the universe.

1. The Bible is to some extent misunderstood be-cause of inaccurate or faulty
translations. Of course you and I know enough to realize that the Bible is a
translated library. To that extent we have the advantage over the sister who
went to her grave insisting that the Apostle James wrote the Bible in the
English tongue. The expression, “be converted,” as found in such passages as
Matthew 13:15; Matthew 18:3; Acts 3:18 and so on, has been responsible for much
religious delusion. De-nominational preachers have argued at great length that
“be converted” is passive—as it is in this faulty translation—and it follows
that the alien sinner is acted upon by an outside influence in a mysterious way
in order to bring about a “conversion.” As a matter of truth the sinner is
active in obeying the gospel. “Be converted” is correctly translated '‘turn” or
“turn again” in the Revised Version. The King James translators for obvious
reasons merely anglicized the Greek word baptizo and its various forms. The
popular practices of substituting sprinkling and pouring for immersion have
hidden under this cloak for generations, and creed-bound preachers have rejoiced
to have it so. In the second chapter and fourth verse of 2 Peter we learn that
God “spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell.” In this
citaiion “hell” is tartarus, a word that' occurs nowhere else in the sacred
writings. Perhaps one of tne most inexcusable errors in translation is the
unhappy use of one English word to express three entirely different Greek words:
“hell” has been used as the equivalent of Gehenna, hades, and tartarus. Such
inaccuracy more than doubles the trials of anyone sincerely endeavoring to teach
the word of truth. The King James wording of 2 Peter 2:9 follows: “The Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve, the unjust
unto the, day of judgment to be. punished.” But' a later and better rendering
gives the passage thus: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of
judgment.” According to t'he former, the punishment is entirely future. And
while we are discussing inaccurate translations, we might as well tell our
friends that their humorous references to Jonah’s “whale” are groundless. The
rendering in Matthew 12:40 is wrong. The Greek word is properly translated “sea
monster.” Our common version states that John baptized “with water.” (See
Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:26; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:16.) A proper
translation would have stopped the puerile arguments of the old-time Methodist
debaters, who contended that this phrase proved that the water, and not the
subject, was handied by the administrator in the act of baptism. John baptized
“in water”—not “with water.” In Galatians 3:24 we read that “the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The
Greek word here translated “schoolmaster” is “paidagogos”—meaning a
“child-conductor,” usually a slave who had charge of boys until they became of
age. The Greek “paida- gogos” differed so widely in character and function from,
our “schoolmaster” that we may conclude the current translation to be extremely
inaccurate. Indeed, the beauty of God’s striking figure is obscured until we
learn something about the nature of the work of the ancient pedagogue. When we
in studying the Authorized Version read that “once in the end of the world hath
he (Christ) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews
9:26), we are very likely to be confused, because in our current speech the “end
of the world” is yet future. If I understand the meaning of this language,
Christ appeared at the end of the age—that is, the Jewish age or dispensation—to
put away sin by his atoning sacrifice. (Frequently, “world” ought to be rendered
“age” or “ages.”)

2. The Bible is frequently misunderstood by modern readers because of antiquated
translations. Even a pious reader might be inclined to grow skep-tical upon
seeing these words of the Psalmist: “I prevented the dawning of the morning”
(Psalms 119:147). Such passages become clear when we are told that the word
“prevent” here means to “come before” or “pre-cede.” The word is also used in
this sense in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 : “ ... we which are alive and remain unto
the coming of the Lord shall not prevent1 them which are asleep.” Our English
language is undergoing a steady metamorphosis.

There is to our modern eyes and ears something ex-tremely awkward m this
phrasing: “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on
the churches of Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 8:1). It is clear enough when we
modernize it to read as follows: “Moreover, brethren, we would have you
understand I once read of a banquet' given by society leaders in a large city of
the North. The profits were to be used to help the needy. Upon the wall these
words appeared: “The greatest of these is charity.” “Charity” to those revelers
meant what it means to most of us today: giving money to the poor. It is
possible for one to bestow all his goods to feed the poor and still lack
charity. “Love” is the better term; the popular conception of the meaning of
“charity” has changed since 1611. Our favorite, 2 Timothy 2:15, does not mean
what nine4enths of us make it mean. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that' needeth not to be asham,ed, righty dividing the word of truth.”
Now, here is what we make it mean in our sermons: “Study and investigate the
Bible for the purpose of making God approve you; the way to do this is by
showing people the difference between the Old Testa ment and the New.” What’s
wrong about that? Simply this: “study” as used by the translators here does not
mean what “study” means in our every-day speech. It is here equivalent to t'he
Latin studeo, “to be zealous,” “to strive,” etc. Let me try to give the meaning
of 2 Timothy 2:15 in modern speech: “Make a strong effort to meet with God’s
approval .... handling the truth accurately and correctly.” (Incidentally, it is
well to note that there are several other of our favorites that need to be
reinterpreted.)

3. The Bible is misunderstood by a number of readers because they do not
understand plain English. The most extreme case that comes to mind is the
el-derly gentleman who reproved some boys for playing marbles. “It’s sinful to
play marbles, boys,” said he, shaking his finger in a commanding manner. “How do
you know it is?” asked one of the impudent lads. “Because the Bible very plainly
says, ‘Marble not’.” In an Old issue of the Gospel Advocate I read a report from
the pen of G. C. Brewer. Incidentally, Brother Brewer told of an old brother’s
objections to his preaching. He accused Brother Brewer of wresting the
Scriptures. Brother Brewer, of course, was puzzled. Upon investigation he found
that the old man did not like the Revised rendering of Acts 2:38. His complaint
went like this:“We’ve always told the Baptists that baptism is for the remission
of sms and now you back down on what we have always taught. You preach that
baptism is ‘unto the remission of sins’.” “What’s wrong with that?” asked the
evangelist. “Well everybody knows that ‘un-’ means ‘not’; ‘unnecessary’ is ‘not
necessary’; so, ‘unto the remission of sins’ means ‘not to the remission of
sins’ and it’s sinful for you to preach that way.” Tne dear old brother’s
learning was a dangerous thing because he had learned too little. To most
Americans “meat” means flesh, and “corn” means maize. I remember a teacher who
once told her class about Abraham’s making cornbread. In the Bible (as in
England) “meat” means food, and “corn” means grain. The latter part of
Revelation 2:10 is usually misinterpreted because we fail to give the word
“unto” its right mean-ing. It reads as follows: “Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.” Note that the word is “unto”—it doesn’t
mean “until”! It does mean: “Be faithful even if it' costs your life.”

Ask the next ten persons you meet this question: “Does the Bible mention a
‘straight and narrow way’?” At least nine will say, “Yes, everybody knows that.”
Turn with me to Matthew 7:14 : “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The gate is
“strait” and the way is “narrow” there is no such phrase as the “straight and
narrow way” to be found between the lids of the Bible. It originated, of course,
in the minds of people who confused “s-t-r-a-i-t” with the more familiar
“s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.”

4. The Bible is misunderstood because we have accepted at face value words or
ideas which originated outside the Bible. Bruce Barton in the opening chapter of
his widely circulated production, The Book Nobody Knows, illus trates the above
principle by giving us the following incidents:

“An intelligent and talkative lady found herself at dinner seated beside a
bishop. Having a social gift, she knew that most men are flattered to be met in
conversation on their own grounds, and so she started to talk about the Bible.“
‘I can’t pretend that I read it as much as I should,’ she confessed, ‘and really
you know parts of it’ seem to me hopelessly out of date. ‘Yet,’ she added
broad-mindedly, ‘I’ll admit that there are some very beautiful passages.’
“‘Yes?’ said the Bishop. ‘For instance?’ “ ‘Well, for example, that line about
God tempering the wind to the shorn lamb.’ (On the chance that there may be one
or possibly two readers whose knowledge is no more exact than that of this fair
lady, let us hasten to remark that ‘God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb’ is
in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey, a book wich resembles the Bible about as much
as Robinson Crusoe resembles the Encyclopedia .Brittannica.)“ ‘And now you must
tell me your favorite verse,’ the lady continued brightly.“ ‘It would be hard
for me to pick a single verse,’ the Bishop answered. “But I can give you my
favorite passage. It is the one that tells about Eliza crossing the ice.’ “Not
long ago I met a man who wanted to know which of the Old Testament books
contains the verse: ‘Thus saith the Lord, Every tub shall stand upon its own
bottom.’ The answer is that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel give expression to bits of
philosophy that resemble this, but not in words that bear any resemblance to it
whatever.”

There is quite a good deal of this “chimney-corner Scripture” in circulation.
Here is a question which you all have heard: “The time will come when man cannot
distinguish between winter and summer except by the falling of the. leaves.”
(Sometimes it is altered to read “by the budding of the trees.”) Not once, but
many times, have friends warmly affirmed that the Bible so teaches, only to
search for the passage in vain. I should really like to show the origin of this
pseudo-Scriptural verse.

Just to show how easy it is for us absorb such false ideas, let us quiz
ourselves: (a) What kind of fruit did Eve eat ? Was it really an apple? (b) How
do you know that there were three wise men? (c) Is it true that Absalom’s long
hair was caught in the branches of a tree as he fled from battle?(2 Samuel
18:9). (d) Who passed over the Israelites in mercy and smote the first born of
the Egyptians—the “death an-gel” or the Lord Himself? (Exodus 12:12-13).

All to many of us believe that a “saint” is an es-pecially pious Christian or a
dead and exalted one. We speak of the meeting house as the “church.” The word
“ordain” to our misinformed minds has a ritualistic significance, and we falsely
imagine that “minister” is a Bible synonym for “preacher.” Our mental pictures
of hell, heaven, Satan, angels, cherubim, and seraphim are largely the
impression made by literature, sculpture, and painting. For in-stance, Milton
and Dante are responsible for many unreasonable and grotesque ideas which we
fondly imag-ine are authorized by the Bible. Painters and sculptors have
seemingly conspired to deceive us as to the appearance of angels: beings, often
feminine, with beautiful wings, given to playing on golden harps, pure and
sinless and lovable. In the Bible an angel is pri-marily a messenger (sometimes
human beings serve as angels) or an agent of God. The Bible teaches that angels
have sinned moreover, they are never therein described as( beautiful females.
Our popular song writers have contributed their quota to our widespread
misconception along this line; it is ridiculous for them to write about the dead
becoming angels. The Holy Scriptures in no wise hint that a cherub is a dimpled
little child; in Ezekiel 10:14 the Bible speaks of a cher-ub as being part ox,
part' lion, part eagle, and part man (possibly a symbolic figure embodying
service, strength, aspiration, and intelligence). I might well add that a seraph
is not a dainty sprite. While I believe that pictures and illustrations may to
some extent’ be legitimately employed in Bible teaching, it is only fair and
truthful for the teacher to explain to his pupils that no artist knows or can
know just what Jesus, Mary, Paul and others looked like.

Many of these ideas from extra-Biblical sources are comparatively harmless, but
pictures and drawings, as well as words, can become positively dangerous when
used as vehicles of sectarian propaganda. A woman, who lived in a north Texas
county, had been almost persuaded to obey the gospel. Water had been sprinkled
on her in lieu of baptism, and she was deeply troubled. A day or so before she
was to be immersed, she attended a picture show purporting to portray the earth
life of Jesus. Among other things, this woman saw “John the Baptist” dip water
from the Jordan with a convenient shell, and then pour this water on the head of
“Jesus.” When she was asked, “When are you going to be immersed?” she angrily
responded: “Never. You had me deceived; but I went to the show and saw with my
own eyes just how Jesus was baptized, and what was good enough for Him is good
enough for me.” As long as we try to study the Bible by proxy, and allow others
to do our thinking for us, we lay ourselves open to the grossest and most
mischievous forms of error. I dare say that any preacher on Sunday morning can
read some skillfully phrased production of uninspired composition and then
announce to his audience that he has quoted from one of the seldom read books of
the Old Testament, and thereby utterly deceive nine-ty per cent of his hearers.
To test' this statement, I ask you to listen attentively to the following
verses:

1. And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham sat in the door of his
tent, about the going down of the sun. 2. And behold a man, bowed with age,
coming from the way of the wilderness, leaning on a staff. 3. And Abraham arose,
and met him, and said unto him, Turn in, I pray thee, and wash thy feet, and
tarry all night, and thou shalt arise early in the morning and go on thy way. 4.
But the man said, Nay, for I will abide under this tree. 5. And Abraham pressed
him greatly; so he turned and they went into the tent: and Abraham baked
un-leavened bread, and they did eat. 6. And when Abraham saw that the man
blessed not God, he said unto him, wherefore dost' thou not worship the most
high God, creator of heaven and earth ? 7. And the man answered and said, I do
not worship thy God, neither do I call upon his name; for I have made to myself
a god, which abideth alway in mine house, and provideth me with all things. 8.
And Abraham’s zeal was kindled against the man, and he arose, and fell upon him,
and drove him forth with blows into the wilderness. 9. And at midnight, God
called unto Abraham, say-ing, Abraham, where is the stranger? 10. And Abraham
answered and said, Lord, he would not worship thee, neither would he call upon
thy name, therefore have I driven him out from before my face, into the
wilderness. 11. And God said, Have I not corne with him these hundred ninety and
eight years, and nourished him, and clothed him, notwithstanding his rebellion
against me: and couldst not thou, that art thyself a sinner, bear with him one
night? 12. And Abraham said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot against his
servant; lo, I have sinned; forgive me, I pray thee. 13. And he arose, and went
forth into the wilderness, and sought diligently for the man, and found him; 14.
And returned with him to his tent: and when he had entreated him kindly, he sent
him away in the morning with gifts. 15. And God spake again unto Abraham,
saying, For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted four hundred years in a
strange land. 16. But for thy repentance will I deliver them: and they shall
come forth with power, and with gladness of heart, and with much substance. The
above is not' from the Bible, but from the fertile mind of the great Benjamin
Franklin. In the summer of 1763, Dr. Franklin was the guest of honor at a party
in England. In the course of the general conversation, a noted doctor of
divinity affirmed it to be right to employ persecution to stamp out heresy.

Franklin crossed swords with him, arguing that the Bible itself taught
otherwise. The clergyman admitted that there were some New Testament passages
which might be interpreted to favor lenience rather than per-secution. Franklin
then inquired, ‘‘But is not the Old Testament against you as well as the New:
what think you of that remarkable chapter in the book of Genesis?” The clergyman
knew of no chapter in Genesis bearing on this subject'. Franklin called for his
host’s family Bible, and then proceeded to read what he styled “The
twenty-seventh chapter of the first book of Moses, commony called the book of
Genesis”—the sixteen verses of which are given above.) 5. The Bible is
misunderstood because we fail to consider words and passages in the light of
their contexts.

There are, of course, a number of passages, proverbial in character, which have
a proper meaning apart from their setting. But even Acts 2:38 cannot be
understood without studying the whole chapter, as well as the first chapter of
Acts.

I have time for only a few interesting examples of popular mistakes under this
heading.

“I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Cris- pus and Gaius” (1
Corinthians 1:14). This passage has been repeatedly employed by men otherwise
intelligent to prove that baptism must’ be of no consequence or im-portance else
Paul would have wanted to baptize as many as possible. A brief study of the
entire chapter shows that Paul was here rebuking the party-ism of the Corinthian
church, and is glad that he did not do the actual baptizing in many cases lest
those baptized call themselves by this human name.

“Brother Childress, can you tell me where you find the Old Testament prophecy
relating to automobiles.” “No, sister: I have never read any such prediction.”
“Well, I hear Brother So-and-So mention it in his sermon one night.” I had heard
Brother So-and-So mention what he thought referred to automobiles. He had quoted
Nahum 2:4 : “The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one
against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run
like lightnings.” Nahum is merely pronouncing a detailed curse on Nineveh; here,
as elsewhere, false ideas are quickly dispelled by studying the context.

“For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together”
(Matthew 24:28). A careful study of the Olivet discourse throws such light on
this verse that we can only regard with profound amazement the interpretation
given by one brother, who shall remain unnamed. This unnamed brother used this
verse as a “proof-text” to show that Christians should meet on the first day of
the week to break bread!' A sister living in North Texas once exclaimed: “Oh, I
feel sorry for Mrs. Blank’s family; they can’t pray in their home.” She was
asked to explain her statement. “Why, Mr. Blank didn’t let the carpenter put a
single closet in that whole house.” Of course, our beloved sister had in mind
the words—though not the meaning—of Matthew 6:6 : “But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly.”

While discussing the question of context, I want to bring up that sorely misused
passage: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8).
Many a covetous brother has run thither, thinking he had found shelter and
protec-tion. He knows nothing of the verses above or below. This teaching was
given to force men to do their duty rather than to impose extra and unfair
burdens on the church. In other words, it teaches giving- more instead of
excusing giving less!

We are often guilty of “getting a good lesson” from passages, which the author
did not put there. Romans 14:23 reads: “And he that doubteth is damned if he
eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” The
word “faith” is here evidently used to mean “conscience”; in Romans 10:17 and
Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:6 “faith” indicates belief and trust; in Ephesians 4:5
and Jude 1:3 “faith” refers to the entire body of Christian doctrine.

6. The Bible is misunderstood because of our desire (conscious or unconscious)
to force its teachings to harmonize with our preconceived ideas. The late Dr. H.
Clay Trumbull gives this interesting account of a mischievous boy whose habits
were none of the best. His grandmother took it on herself to re-prove the boy
for staying out at night, arguing that the night is the time for sleep, whereas
the day should be devoted to activity. Entirely unabashed, the boy said,
“Grandmother, the Bible teaches just the opposite, and I can prove it.” He
proceeded to quote 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 : “Therefore, let us not sleep, as do
others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night,
and they that be drunken are drunk in the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober.” He continued his argument in this fashion: the Lord doesn’t want us
to be like those who drink at at night or sleep at night; Christians are taught
to watch or stay awake during the hours of darkness. This young man was much
like the preacher who goes to Isaiah 52:15 to prove that immersion is not
baptism: “So shall he sprinkle many nations.” I knew one elderly clergyman who
counted the number of times some form of the word “sprinkle” appears in the
Bible, and showed that “immerse” wasn’t to be found, and rested his argument
there. He is in the same class with the woman who knew that the Bible authorized
the Methodist episcopacy because she could find the word “bishop” in several
places.

It is not at all uncommon for us to try to make Jesus’ parables “go on all
fours”. I believe I am safe in saying that each parable was given to drive home
one particular point.

Dr. C. I. Scofield, the editor of the well-known Scofield Reference Bible, a
leading light among premil- lenialists and “dispensationansis,” feels free to
interpret the kingdom parables of our Lord so as to harmonize them with his
complicated theories. For instance, in Matthew 13:44, Jesus said, “Again, the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field; the which when a man
hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath,
and buy- eth that field.” Dr. Scofield explains that the hid treasure is Israel,
yet to be restored: Christ bought the field (the world) with His blood because
He particularly desired the treasure (the nation of Israel)! In Matthew 13:45-46
the kingdom of heaven is said to be like “unto a merchant man, seeking goodly
pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that
he had, and bought it.” Although these two parables evidently reinforce each
other and teach the same lesson, Dr. Scofield asserts that the pearl is the
church, whereas the treasure is literal fleshly Israel. If common sense plays
any part in interpretation, the Savior in these three verses simply portrays the
surpassing value of His kingdom in contrast with the lesser values of wordly
possessions and honors. Did you ever hear any one try to prove that we should
use instrumental music in Christian worship because, when the prodigal son
returned to the father’s home, the elder son while in the field heard “music and
dancing” (Luke 15:25) ? Such a misuse of Scripture is to be deplored by all who
love the truth of God.

Moreover, it is just as wrong to “stretch” types and anti-types as it is to
misinterpret parables. Some of use seem to invent types. Peter does find a
parallel in the waters of the flood and the waters of baptism; but that does not
give us leave to compare Noah’s ark to the church. Peter teaches that Noah’s
household was saved “by water” from the wicked state or condition of the
antediluvian world; he does not teach or mention their salvation “by the ark”
from the raging flood (1 Peter 3:20-21). When I was a little lad, I often ate at
the home of an elderly man, who thought that his children should never object to
the food on the table. His favorite verse was 1 Corinthians 10:27 :“whatsoever
is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake.” It served the
old gentleman’s purpose inasmuch as the children were silenced, but I always did
think he misapplied the Scripture; and, when I grew older I investigated it for
myself. Nowadays, I do not always eat what is set before me, but it isn’t a
matter of conscience.

Several months ago, after hearing me preach about the one body, a lady in a
private conversation took it upon herself to justify denominationalism in this
manner: “We have a multiplicity of churches today; there were a multiplicity of
churches in John’s day, for did not he write the book of Revelation to the seven
churches of Asia? If such a condition was right then, it is right today.” Her
intense longing to justify a sinful condition led her to misapply the teaching
of God’s word. To those who believe the theory of “inbred sin” Psalms 51:5 is
proof conclusive that they are unerringly correct: “Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This verse does not say what
their theory teaches, but they are blind enough to think so. David is referring
to his evil environment, and not to his supposed inherited depravity. I am just
reminded of the Baptist father who warned his son: “Now don’t spend time trying
to study the parables be-fore you are rooted and grounded in the Baptist faith,
for you might get apostacy from them.” To the mind obsessed with the idea of
earthly per-fection and sinlessness (a Pentecostal or a Nazarene) Hebrews 12:14
means just this: “Unless you are made sinless by the Holy Spirit’s second work
of grace, you cannot reach heaven.” What the verse really says is this: “Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” The
next verse con-tinues: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of
God.” Such a mind, of course, has a set, pecu-liar definition for such terms as
“sanctify,” “sanctification,” and “holiness.”

I am thinking of another passage which is constantly misapplied and
misinterpreted: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest’ any man should boast”
(Ephesians 2:8-9). Some religionists have a theory that obedience on the part of
the sinner has nothing whatsoever to do with his election and salvation; and
they, of course, try to make this passage fit their human theory. To their
minds, the grace of God cancels the necessity for active obedience on the part
of the sinner. Were you ever told that the word of God must be ac-companied by
the direct, illuminating presence of the Spirit before it could be comprehended?
Were you ever told that the Bible, is a dead letter and an enigma to those who
have not come in personal contact with the Spirit of God? Have you ever heard
the Sacred Writings termed “the mere word”? Those who teach such nonsense almost
invariably quote in self-defense these words from 2 Corinthians 3:6 : “For the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” Only the most deluded of theorists
could fail to see that Paul is here contrasting the old covenant with the new,
the Jewish law and the Christian gospel. But the misinterpretation has spread
far and Wide.

Advocates of the “direct call to the ministry” deem it wrong for any one to
preach unless he can claim such a miraculous call. (Of course, their conference
or synod or what-not may pass judgment on the validity of such a call; and thus
have the power to veto and nullify the Lord’s decision!) In defense of this
position, they refer us to Hebrews 5:4 : “And no man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” The writer is here
referring to the office of the high priest, to which Christ had been called,
just as was Aaron. There is not the remotest hint of God’s supernatural
intervention in the life of some ploughboy that he might become a denominational
clergyman! But my brethren are guilty, too, at times. We are not always above
using a misapplied quotation for the purpose of defeating our opponents in
argument or debate! I never shall forget the earnest brother who was hotly
defending the use of the “individual cups” in the communion service against the
claims of a “one- cup” friend. His line of argument ran like this: “The Bible
says ‘Drink ye all of it/ Each communicant can not fulfill that command unless
he empties his cup or glass; therefore, we must have a separate and distinct cup
for every member present.” “All” doesn’t refer to the contents, but our brother
did not let that worry him. He needed a twisted interpretation to sustain his
argument. In our zeal we have not been content to prove that instrumental music
in Christian worship is unauthorized by the New Testament; we have dared to deny
the right of the Jews to use the harp in Old Testament times. I do not think
that there is a man living who can prove that the Jews sinned in using
instruments of music in their temple worship. You are no doubt thinking of the
sixth chapter of Amos just now. Yes, it reads like this: “Woe to them that chant
to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instru-ments of music like
David” (Amos 6:1-5). But the same passage pronounces a woe on those who are “at
ease in Zion”—those “that lie on beds of ivory” and “eat the lambs of the flock,
and the calves out of the midst of the stall”! The truth of the matter is this:
Amos is here referring to the decadence of Israel; he isn’t considering their
worship as such at all! Jehovah was displeased with their whole manner of
living. In the fifth chapter, Amos does refer to their worship, but God is said
to reject their assemblies, their feast days, their sacrifices and offerings, as
well as their music, both vocal and instrumental. But who dares to say that the
Lord himself had not originally ordered their assemblies, sacrifices, and music?
Their loose living—not their instrumental music had invalidated their worship.
It is absolute folly to question the use of instrumental music in Old Testament
times by misapplying Amos’ warnings to an unrighteous people.

I expect that nearly all of us have preached or heard sermons showing that
baptism is the final act of obed-ience that puts the alien sinner in Christ. It
is, but we have in one instance used unfair tactics in trying to prove our
position. Here is the old familiar outline, too: (1) Believe UNTO righteousness
(Romans 10:10): (2) Repentance UNTO life (Acts 11:18); (3) Confession UNTO
salvation (Romans 10:10); and (4) Baptism INTO Christ (Galatians 3:27). It is
such a pretty, convincing outline that I was shocked and nearly heart-broken
when I found that, while “unto” and “into” are different words with different
meanings in English, in our Greek Testament “unto” and “into” are one and the
same! The Greek word eis is sometimes translated “unto” and sometimes “into.” We
cannot honestly make a play upon the difference between the two English
prepositions for that difference does not exist in the original text.

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe that it' is right and proper to use more than
one glass in partaking of the fruit of the vine. I believe with all my heart
that instrumental music in Christian worship violates God’s will, and I am fully
persuaded that baptism is the culminative act in the sinner’s coming to Christ;
but I do not want to use a faulty argument to sustain a good position. Eternal
watchfulness must be the price we pay if we remain loyal to what God’s word
says, instead of being merely loyal to what we want to believe! Sincerity and
openmindedness must ever characterize the honest Bible student.

7. The Bible is Misunderstood by Readers Whose Minds are Confused or Blank as to
Chronology, His-torical and Geographic Background, and Literary Peculiarities.

Public speakers, I am thoroughly convinced, take too much for granted. It is no
uncommon thing for the brightest minds in an average congregation to confuse
Bible characters of the same name, some of whom liv-ed in different centuries.
King Saul and Saul of Tarsus ; Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Joseph the son
of Jacob; Ananias, the Liar and Ananias, who baptized Saul; Lazarus, the beggar
and Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead; James the martyred apostle and
James the elder; John the forerunner and John the beloved apostle—all such
characters puzzle a vast number of people.

Nine-tenths of the preachers do not know the approximate distance from Jerusalem
to Bethlehem. I am ashamed to confess how little I know of the topography of
Palestine. Those who stop to think about it at all sometimes wonder why a king
ruled over Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth, whereas Judea was governed
directly by a Roman governor at the time of the crucifixion. Paul’s epochal
missionary tours are pretty dry and meaningless to many who have never studied
his travels with the help of a good map. A diligent reader might have memorized
the New Testament and still fail to grasp Jesus’ reference to putting a new
piece of cloth in an old garment or his reference to putting new wine in old
bottles. A knowl-edge of contemporary customs and manners is necessary before
one can see the propriety and beauty of these comparisons. Not until I was grown
did I know why new cloth in an old garment would make the rent worse, or why new
wine would destroy old bottles (Matthew 9:16-17).

Only woeful ignorance of life in the first century of our era could account for
the following humorous in-cident. This story has been told many times, but is
well worth repeating. I first read it in an old issue of the Optimist several
years ago. “Can anybody in this Bible class tell me what Cornelius’ occupation
was?” asked the instructor. “He was a musician,” came the answer. “How did you
find that out?” inquired the astonished teacher. “Why, that’s just as plain as
can be. The Bible says that he belonged to the Roman band!” The Bibles in common
circulation are deficient from the standpoint of typography. On this account
much of the prophetic and poetic portions of the Bible appears to be a barren
wilderness of words. We cannot tell who the speaker is in many instances; the
dramatic personage in the Song of Solomon and elsewhere are not introduced. The
use of quotation marks would go a long way toward clarifying many Bible passages
for the modern reader.

8. The Bible is Misunderstood Because Many Readers Fail to take all the Evidence
given on any Single Topic under Consideration.

If I want the Lord’s teaching on the topic of “eternal life,” I make a sad
mistake by picking one text' and disregarding all other passages that treat of
the same topic. In John 6:47 we read: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life.” But the wise student will not stop here:
he will read and compare such texts as Matthew 25:46; Romans 2:7-8; Jude 1:21 :;
1 John 2:24-25; Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7; Mark 10:30; Galatians 6:8 and so on.

Similiarly, we ought to study all the answers to the question, “What must I do
to be saved?” I ought' to collate all the scriptures on faith, repentance,
baptism, the kingdom of heaven, the second coming of Christ, the judgment, and
the church. Such broad investigation will forever do away with the heresy of
“salvation by faith only,” as well as many of the amusing tenets of our
anti-Sunday school brethren. The fable of the blind men and the elephant
fittingly teaches the lesson I have in mind. A group of blind men had long
desired to examine an elephant, and at the first opportunity they did so, going
to “see” the monster one at a time. Later, when they had assembled to compare
notes, each had a different conception of the elephant. The first blind man
said: “An elephant is like a tree trunk; I know, because I felt him with my own
hands.” The second blind man stated, “An elephant is like a wall. I leaned
against this elephant, and I am convinced that he is broad and strong and flat
like a wall.” The third investigator exclaimed, “You’re both absurd. An elephant
is decidely similar to a serpent.” The fourth made this report: “An elephant' is
like a palm leaf.” The argument waxed hot and furious. At length the four blind
men called a friend with two good eyes to settle the matter. After listening
patiently to what all had to say, he summed the matter up in this fashion: “You
are all partly right. An elephant’s legs are like tree trunks; his sides are
like walls; his trunk or snout is similar to a serpent; and his ears resemble
palm leaves. Here is your trouble: none of you investigated long enough. Each
learned a fraction of the truth, and failed to add the truth that his companions
had discovered. Accept all the truth contained in these reports about the
elephant and you will then begin to realize what the elephant looks like.” In
conclusion, I take the liberty of asking your aid in learning little by little
the truth God has in these sacred pages for the children of Adam’s race. You may
see cobwebs that have blinded me; if so, brush them aside and receive my
heartfelt thanks. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: THE NEED OF KNOWING GOD
========================================================================

The Need of Knowing God THE NEED OF KNOWING GOD By J. B. Nelson The very fact
that Jesus commissioned his apostles to “Go teach all nations—Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature” proves the need of knowing God.

Cudworth said, “Ignorance is the curse of God.” The Psalmist adds strength to
this when he said, “The wicked shall be turned back unto Sheol, even all the
nations that forget God” (Psalms 9:17).

Someone has said “Where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise.” I am sure it
is better for all to be ignorant of many of the sins of the world, but it is not
a bliss to be ignorant of God; but on the other hand it is degrading,
destructive, and enslaving to be in such a state. Knowledge of God brings peace
of soul, joy of mind, and blissful contentment to the one who fully appreciates
and understands the divine purpose of God’s knowledge revealed to man. The
happiest people on earth today are those who know, trust and serve Jehovah. The
miserable ones are those who disregard all God has said.

Ignorance Enslaves Individuals and Nations It was Solomon who said, “Good
understanding giv- eth favor—To the wise the way of life goeth upward” (Proverbs
13:15; Proverbs 15:24). The prophet Hosea told Israel “My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject
thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of
thy God, I also will forget thy children.” (Hosea 4:6).

What was true in Old Testament times regarding those who were ignorant of God is
equally true in the New Testament dispensation. The apostle to the Gen-tiles
said to the church at' Ephesus, “That ye no longer walk as the Gentiles, also
walk, in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is m them, because
of the hardening of their heart.” (Ephesians 4:17-18). May we hear him again as
he speaks to the church at Colossae, “And you, being in time past alienated and
enemies in your mind in your evil work” (Colossians 1:21). What brought on this
state or condition? The answer comes in thundering tones,—Ignorance, Ignorance,
Ignorance.

Why the teeming millions of earth today that do not worship the Christ ? It is
on account of the absence of the knowledge of God. It was ignorance that caused
the death of Christ. It was Peter who said: “And now, brethren, I know that in
ignorance ye did it’, as did also your rulers.” (Acts 3:17). Paul confirms this
when he incriminates the rulers for the murder of Jesus: “Which none of the
rulers of this world hath known; for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8).

Many people of today arc persecutors of Christ and the church and believe as
Paul did before his conver-sion that they are doing God service (Acts 26:9).
There are those who make light of the doctrine of baptism and snigger when they
behold Christians eating the Lord’s supper—all because of their ignorance of the
Bible teaching upon these subjects. Knowledge expels darkness and exposes
ignorance and turns fun making and bitter criticism into respect and reverence.
To Know God Is To Know The Bible For all we know about God, Christ, Holy Spirit,
heav-en, hell or our origin, we get' it from God’s Holy Book, the Bible.
“Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh; for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in
Shiloh by the word” (1 Samuel 3:21). It was by the word that Samuel knew
Jehovah. It is by the word of God that all are made to know Him. There is no
other source of information. The prophet Isaiah said to Israel, “Bind thou up
the testimony, seal the law among my disciples..... To the law and to the
testimony; if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no warning
for them” (Isaiah 8:16; Isaiah 8:20). There is no need of comment on these
quotations.

It is in God’s book, the Bible, we find Jehovah, for he was revealed in the
volume given by inspiration. Hear the testimony of the Bible on this point,
“Then said I, lo, I am come; in the roll of the book it is written of me.” “Seek
ye out of the book of Jehovah and read” (Isaiah 34:16).

Let us go to the New Testament for further proof. “All things have been
delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father;
neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
willeth to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). “No man hath seen God at any time; the
only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”
(John 1:18). “Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have
life in his name” (John 20:30-31). In Luke 16 the rich man was told that in
Moses and the prophets’ warning could be found by which to keep his brethren out
of hell.

Beloved, read God’s Holy Book, exhort others to read it, and meditate upon it
day and night (Psalms 1:1-2), and you will not only know God and your duty to
him, but you will be constrained to flee from the wrath to come.

We need to know the Bible because in it, God reveals man’s duty to Himself.
Hear, again, the Apostle Paul to the Church at Corinth, “Know ye not that ye are
a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is
holy, and such are ye, and what agreement hath a temple of God with idols ? For
we are a temple of the living God; even as God said I will dwell in them, and
walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people” (1
Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

We might add an additional statement from the same writer, “Or know ye not that
your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from
God? And ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price; glorify God,
therefore, in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

It is not at all to know our duty to ourselves for we need to know our duty to
others. During the world war the Salvation Army had a slogan that merely read,
“To Others.” The Bible clearly reveals our duty to others. Jesus taught the
lesson of our duty to others in the case of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-27).
Pure and undefiled religion is to look after the widows and orphans (James
1:27). We need to know our duty to all mankind. Jehovah is the source of all
good. “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, com-ing down from the
Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by
turning” (James 1:17). “For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to
himself” (Romans 14:7). Cain asked the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
(Genesis 4:9). Yes, my dear friends, we are our brothers’ keeper. So to know our
duty to our brother we must know what God has revealed to us concerning him. To
know our duty and then refuse to perform is a sin before God (James 4:17). To
Properly Know God is to Know Our Duty to God “And now Israel, what doth Jehovah
thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways,
and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul, to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). “Whatsoever is commanded by
the God of heav-en, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven”
(Ezra 7:23). We need to know the New Testament in order that we may know our
duty to God in the church. God’s laws should be in the hearts of his people and
must be before they can claim to be his people and expect the spiritual
blessings found in Christ. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my laws in their
inward parts, and in their heart will I write it and I will be their God and
they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and
every man his brother, saying, know Jehovah, for they shall all know me from the
least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah; for I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:33-34). This
prophecy is quoted by Paul in Hebrews 8:9-12. It seems to me beyond the shadow
of a doubt that the climax is reached when Jeremiah and Paul tell us that all
will be wiped out, both sin and iniquity, and remembered no more. These things
we need to know, and to know them we must know God, for He is the One who thru
Christ will forgive and eternally save poor lost man in heaven.

Place of Salvation The human family needs to know that there is not a promise of
salvation out of Christ and to be in Christ is to be in the Church. The Church
is in Christ (Galatians 1:21-22; 1 Thessalonians 2:14). The Church is in God and
is in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). Salvation is in Zion and
Zion is the Church, so when we get where salvation is had, we are in the Church
(Isaiah 46:13; Hebrews 12:22-24; 1 Peter 2:6-8). The nations that have rejected
God are today in heathenism, groping in ignorance, darkness, infidelity,
idolatry and bloodthirsty in mind and heart. The greatest work today is to make
known the knowledge of God. Paul declared that the church is the pillar and
ground of the truth and t'o her was committed the dispensation of the grace of
God (1 Timothy 3:14-15; Ephesians 3:2-5).

I am glad to see so many young men in Abilene Christian College preparing to
break the bread of life, the knowledge of God, to the lost. Oh, the need of more
men who know God, so that the teeming millions may have an opportunity to learn
God and His will, by their preaching. The knowledge of God will civilize the
heathen; it will humanize him; it will moralize him, and it will Christianize
him. Let us not stop with anything short of Christianizing the poor dupes of
earth. A better knowledge of God and his teachings will keep the Church morally
clean and financially honest. Let me say to you young preachers, as you go forth
preaching, live financially honest and morally clean. Pay your debts, be true to
every promise, flee from all forms of lust. Keep yourselves pure in heart and
life and you will wield a great influence both in and out of the church. The
church needs to be taught that she may better know her duty on supporting the
gospel. A better knowledge of God will cause “cranky” brethren to see the
difference in law, forms, customs and incidentals. Let all church “leaders”,
elders, preachers, teachers, urge upon all, more Bible study. Beloved, there
certainly is a need of knowing God. A better knowledge of God will make better
husbands, wives, sons, daughters, neighbors and friends. Life everywhere will be
sweeter. May the knowledge of God fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, is
the prayer of one who loves God, the Bible and the church above everything in
this world, if I know my own heart. On with the knowledge of God to the ends of
the earth. May we be able to say with David: “But his delight is in the law of
Jehovah; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” It was the knowledge of
God taught Ruth that caused her to say to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “For whither
thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be
my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be
buried” (Rth_1:16-17).

It is comforting to the soul to know God. It is sweet to be a child of God. 0,
may knowledge increase until Christ comes.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: EXALTING THE CHURCH
========================================================================

Exalting The Church EXALTING THE CHURCH By F. L. Young “Husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church .and gave himself for it”, (Ephesians 5:25).

We learn from sacred history that' Jehovah God made one perfect man and one
perfect woman. They were just as good in body, soul and spirit as He wanted
them. They were the result of infinite love, wisdom and power. When he took a
survey of this marvelous creation, he pronounced it “very good.” As to how long
this blissful condition lasted we do not know. In the domain of creation there
was one being who envied the close relation that man sustained to the creator,
so he planned to sever that relationship. Into the heart of man was sown the
seed of falsehood. Where trust and confidence had dwelt, now is found doubt and
distrust. Man sins. He voluntarily wanders away from God. He is deprived of the
fruit of the tree of life, and start's on his long journey down the “valley of
the shadow of death.” No sooner had the gates to that Edenic home closed than
Jehovah began to plan for man’s return, not to a “Paradise Lost”, but to a “city
that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” As a parent leads and
instructs the child, even so Jehovah led and instructed the race. Seers,
prophets, priests and wise men were the teachers. Signs, symbols and miraculous
manifestations were methods of appeal.

It is said that in the beginning Jehovah walked in the cool and beauty of
earth’s fairest garden, and that afterwards he flung the robe of his glory over
the misty cloud-land and arched the heavens with the bow of promise; that from
the burning bush he proclaimed his holy, memorial name; that his mighty arm rose
before the hosts of Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night that his mighty voice shook the mountains. As a climax to all these
miraculous manifestations, with his own fingers, he inscribed his law upon
tables of stone.

Amid all these signs, symbols and wonders no one had beheld Him, tor not yet had
the glory of the Lord been revealed. How long suppose you, it would take a
burnish bush, or a pillar of fire, or commandments engraven on stone, to purify
the heart and bring back man into fellowship with Him against whom he had
rebelled, and whose law he had violated?

However, these wonderful awe-inspiring manifesta-tions had not been in vain. By
appealing to the emotion of fear the Almighty had been enthroned in the heart.
Fear is the first and lowest element of our nature. That is why, in the Old
Testament, we find so often the expression, “Fear God.” Its language, is
sacrifice. The sublime and picturesque ritualism of the Hebrew worship was an
appeal to admiration. In the heart of the worshipper was enthroned the All-Wise.
Its language is praise, so manifest, in the Psalms. A third appeal was made to
gratitude. The All-merciful was enthroned in the heart of the worshippers. This
emotion found expression in incense. The highest, holiest and most powerful
emotion of the soul is not fear, nor admiration, nor gratitude, but love. The
language of love is service and self-sacrifice. At last the All Loving occupies
the throne. In the fullness of time the Almighty, the Allwise, the Allmerciful
and the All-loving was fully manifest- ed in' Jesus, the Son of Mary. He was the
“brightness of the glory of God and the express image of his person.” He did for
man what types, shadows and symbols could not do. He opened up the new and
living way back to the Father’s favor. The climax of his mission was the
building or establishing of the church, which is his spiritual body, the fulness
of him that fill- eth all in all. The purpose of this study is the exaltation of
the church. In the midst of so many conflicting and rival institutions, the
origin, purpose and mission of the church have almost been lost sight of. By
many the church is spoken of as a superfluous or non-essential institution; that
one can obtain God’s favor and enjoy all the benefits of salvation without being
a member of the church. This shows a gross ignorance of God’s revelation. For
four thousand years Jehovah had been planning the church and preparing the world
for its reception. It has been asked, “If the church is so essential, why did
not God establish it in the beginning?” There may be many reasons, but one is
sufficient. The world was not ready or prepared to appreciate the spiritual
relationship that exists between the Savior and the saved. The world had to
exhaust all human means of salvation before it could rightly appreciate the
divine. After all the manifestations of mercy, grace and love as seen in the
simple teaching of Christ and his apostles, even after all this, the world
lapsed into gross darkness, and for ages the true church was almost unknown.
When men, groping their way in darkness, began to remove the rubbish so that
they might restore the church, they were persecuted and cast out as evil doers.

Finally, courageous men, whose hearts had been' fired by rays of light from
God’s revelation, began to push their investigation beyond Philadelphia, beyond
Lon-don, beyond Geneva, even beyond Rome, into the very gates of Jerusalem.
There they discovered the origin of the church Christ established on the first
Pentecost after the resurrection. On their banner was inscribed the slogan,
“Where the Bible speaks, we will speak and where the Bible is silent we will be
silent,” or, in biblical language, we “will speak as the oracles of God speak.”
With this as their battle cry they went forth conquering and to conquer. To
exalt the church we must emphasize its relation-ship to Christ. T'he chief sin
of denominationalism is its failure to recognize or to appreciate the relation
that the church sustains to Christ, its head and the Savior of the body. When
the apostle says, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church” he is
expressing the nearest and dearest relationship known to man. One cannot
disparage the wife without reflecting on the husband. Neither can one exalt the
husband without the wife sharing in the same. In a model family they rise or
fall together. Such a family the apostle had in mind when he said to Timothy, “I
hope to come to you shortly, but’ if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how to
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of the truth.”

There are some who speak in the highest terms of Christ, exalt' his name to the
highest heaven, but disregard his plain teaching. This is very inconsistent, for
no one can exalt the Christ and slight his teaching. They stand or fall
together. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord and do not my commandments.” In
like manner Christ and his church stand or fall together. When the Holy Spirit
said “Glorify Christ in the church he evidently meant to teach that all
religious activities should be done in his name—by his authority. As a citizen
of the state one is called upon to respond to many benevolent calls. What shall
he do? “Do good to all men as you have opportunity.” One does not have to join
something to do this. Respond as one that “submits to the powers that be.”
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” does not deprive one from
rendering to Christ the things that are his. The hungry can be fed and the needy
supplied by Christians without joining any human institution. A destitute family
was found sick and sorely in need. Their every want was supplied. The family was
astonished when they learned that no society or fraternal order had done this,
but that it’ was the work of the church functioning through its members. As a
result of this service the family was won to Christ. I shall never forget the
night the mother made the good confession. With her face radiant with joy she
said, “I want to live and worship with a people who do all things in the name of
Christ.” In this one deed she saw the church exalted. The good women who were
the hands and feet of the church in supplying her needs said, “All this is
yours,* given in the name of the church of Christ.”

We used to sing, “Don’t exalt the preacher.” Have we forgotten that admonition ?
From the posters, pictures, and flaming advertisement, it would seem that we
had. The presence of Doctor So-and-So, the world famed “spellbinder” has
overshadowed the simple message of the Cross. Any advertisement that exalts the
messenger above the message or the church that holds up the message is
misleading. The church and its message first, then the messenger. Who are Paul
or Apollos, or Dr. So-and-So, but the ministers by whom we believed.

God does not make nor recognize a distinction be-tween clergy and laity as man
does. God’s people are a royal priesthood, a holy nation and one built together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit. The people of the world recognize a
distinction. And why? They reason that a man who studies his Bible constantly,
preaches earnestly and prays often and fervently should imbibe more of the
Spirit and should partake more of the divine nature than the one who does not do
these things. I often think of a question asked Sidney Smith, “How many genders
are there?” “Three, masculine, feminine and clergymen.” In the sight of the
world it is even so. Preachers are in a class by themselves. One preacher can do
more to bring the church into disrepute than a dozen ordinary church members. In
olden times it was said, “Like priest, like people.” In modern times it is like
preacher, like people. Oh, the power of example!

Wendell Phillips, in speaking of the power of exam-ple, said, “Put an idea on
two feet, turn it loose and it will revolutionize a continent.” He lived to see
this fulfilled. His one idea was abolition, the abolition of chattel slavery in
America. From his view point', to put an idea on two feet, meant to make it
concrete, in-corporate it into one’s life, make it the arterial blood of one’s
very existence.

We are what we are, not because of some ethical or spiritual formula, but
because we have seen ideas and truths manifested in somebody’s life. These ideas
thus manifested we consciously or unconsciously imitate. Man needs a concrete
model. That is why the apostle says, “Be ye followers of me as dear children”,
and again, “Be ye imitators of me and mark them that so walk as you have us for
examples.” The early disciples did not deny the good done by an individual or
human institution. Their contention was that everything done religiously in word
or deed should be done in the name of Christ. Thousands today do deeds of
kindness and acts of benevolence who make no pretension to Christianity. The
spirit that prompts such deeds Is not known where the name of Christ has not
gone. They receive the applause of the world, but deny the source or power that
prompts the action. Many good men sing the praises of fraternalism, and even say
they would give up the church rather than the fraternity. I would not disparage
a single good deed done by any fraternity, but we should remember that no
institution, whether human or divine, will function by itself. They are only
agencies through which men and women act. There is not a helpful deed, word or
ministration that cannot be done through the church, if only members function as
they should. The church would have more power and influence if all of its
members functioned as they should.

Regardless of the inconsistent lives of some, let us exalt the church, because
of its foundation, its creed and its worship. Its creed was predicted by the
prophets, announced from heaven by the Father, preached by the apostles and
confessed by every disciple. In the beginning the church was not’ a rival or
competitor of any of the isms whether they were religious, social or political.
One cause of so much persecution w’as that the church would not fraternize or
compromise with any of the existing institutions. The church claimed to hold out
the only hand from God to a lost and undone world. Like its founder, the church
said, “If you are not for me, you are against me.” Much of the persecution today
arises from the same source. One frequently hears such expressions as
“uncharitable”, “intolerant”, “narrow”, and “dogmatic.” They should be met like
the early Christians met them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye; we cannot but speak the things
which we have seen and heard.” To compromise meant present ease and popularity,
but they endured as “seeing Him who is invisible” and “accounted that the light
afflictions of this present time were not worthy to be compared with the glory
revealed in the hereafter.” The church should be as chaste and spotless as a
virgin before him. How careful all should be to take heed how- they build. If
the builders take heed and build according to the model on the foundation, gold,
silver and precious stones, the material will stand the test when tried by the
fires of persecution. The builder himself also shall be saved if he lives the
message that he preaches.

Twice last Lord’s day I heard the same congregation sing, “How, oh, how are you
living, my brother?” The question asked in the song was very suggestive. The
sermon on the occasion was good. It was delivered by a godly man. The
congregation that sang was spiritual and devout—above the average in many
respects. Still the question, “How, oh, how are you living, my brother?” Are you
exalting the church by your life? It is easy to preach the simple gospel, but
how are you living, my brother?

After preaching a sermon on “The Badge of Discipleship”, a good woman said, “I
want to ask you a question. Will you answer it? Do you practice what you
preach?” I had answered many questions, pertinent and impertinent, but this one
was unusual in that it demanded self-examination. My answer was, “When my
preaching and practice are out of harmony I will quit preaching until my
practice catches up." The apostle says, “When thou teachest another, teachest
thou not thyself also?” When one teaches against lying, fraud, embezzlement,
free love or adul-tery, does he not teach himself?. Here is a weight that keeps
the church from being exalted. How may it be removed so that the church may
“shine out as clear as the sun, as fair as the moon and as terrible as an army
with banners”? Lift high the standard of living. Make discipleship mean
something. Affability, suavity, personal magnetism are not to be compared with
purity of life, spirituality and godliness. I would not for a moment discourage
soundness in the faith, but I would encourage, yea emphasize consecration of
life and spirituality in the assembly. “Whatever you do, do heartily as unto the
Lord and not unto men.”

There are hundreds of consecrated preachers and multiplied thousands of members
who are exalting the church by their devotion. Occasionally there is an erring
one, the Diotrophes whose sin has found him out. When such a one is discovered,
he grows penitent, comes back, confesses his sin with some apologetic
mitigations. As the church of Christ, what should we do?

Forgive him, certainly, and pray for him. But should he be restored immediately
to the height he had once attained? No, never. It took him years to attain that
height. He fell. Now from the depth of humility let him begin and build again.
The church has suffered because men of influence have tried to reinstate such
characters before they gave evidence of genuine repentance. The admonition is
“Bring forth fruit' worthy of repentance.” Were the fathers of the Restoration
mistaken when they pleaded for unity ? Is it impossible to restore that model
practice? There is not' a doubt but that the divine theory has been restored.
Men today, like the apostles of old, are preaching the gospel by the Holy Spirit
sent down from heaven. Why then all this faction ? Somebody is not being led by
the Spirit. If one has not the spirit of Christ', he is none of His. “Defile not
the Church, the temple of God, for it is holy.” “He that defiles this temple
shall be destroyed.” Christ said, “And I if I be lifted up, will draw all men
unto me.” The masterpiece of his power and con-descension is seen in that last
act of humility—dying on the cross. One generous act of unselfishness is more
uplifting than whole volumes of theory. When we have fought the last fight, kept
the faith and finished our course, we may stand with that blood- washed throng
and hear the Father say, “Well done.” Then the unfettered spirit, escorted by
bands of angels, shall pass in triumph through the Gates into the morning land
of God. While waiting, let us bow the knee, and give thanks to God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, after whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named. Then a day shall dawn whose sky no cloud shall darken and whose sun shall
never set.


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  CHAPTER 10: MY CREED
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My Creed MY CREED By W. L. Oliphant My creed is what I believe. The term
indicates just that, and no more. I once heard a young brother la-boriously try
to prove that' we have no creed. There is no man without a creed, that is, no
sane man. We all believe something. What this brother meant is that we have no
manmade creed. In this I heartily agree with him. Jesus prayed for the unity of
His followers. There can be no unity based on human creeds. The Divine unity
described in the New Testament must rest on the Divine creed. As a basis for
this lecture I have read two excerpts of Scripture. The first is found in the
sixteenth chapter of Matthew, verses thirteen to nineteen. The second is John
14:1-6. In the first, Jesus asks His disciples: “Who do men say that I the Son
of man am?” They give Him various answers. He then asks them the direct
question: “But who say ye that I am?” Peter answers: “Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.” The Lord pronounces a blessing upon Peter, and promises
that upon the great truth he had expressed the church will be builded. In the
second reference Jesus has just informed His disciples that He is soon to leave
them, but that He is going to prepare a place for them where they may dwell
happily with Him without fear of separation. The disciples had learned to love
the Master as they had never loved any one. He had been their constant associate
for some three years. These years were entwined with the most sacred memories.
He had answered • their questions, solved their problems and guided their feet
in the paths of righteousness. In the beginning of His ministry, they had
forsaken all to follow Him. This may have seemed a great adventure then; but now
it has ceased to be an adventure. They have learned that certainly there is
nothing to lose in walking with one who could even still the raging winds and
quiet the turbulent waves of the sea for their protection. He had been a
complete answer to all that their souls had craved. But now He is to leave them!
No wonder their hearts were sad. And no wonder they listen eagerly and question
earnestly, as Jesus tells them that there is a way by which this happy union can
be restored. The saddest hour in the experience of any family comes when they
are gathered around the bed of a loved one to engage in the last conversation
before the family circle is broken by the monster, Death. How eagerly they
listen to the last message of this departing loved one! They grasp each faintly
uttered word. Oh, how those sweet words are cherished during the lonely days
that follow! During these days, the most interesting subject is the happy
reunion which will bring them again into the presence of the departed, and
restore the happy companionship which now lingers only in fond memories. The
family thinks more about heaven and the way there than they have ever thought
before. When the disciples were made to realize that their happy little band was
to be deprived of its happiness by the departure of Jesus, their source of
happiness; I am sure Thomas was voicing their unanimous sentiment when he
exclaimed, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?”
Listen to Jesus’ answer; “I am the way and the truth and the life; no man cometh
unto the Father but by me.”

Christ is the “siimmum bonum” of religion. The word “religion” comes from the
term “ligo”, meaning “to bind”; and the prefix “re” meaning “again”. True
religion is the “binding again” of the human soul to God; the restoring of the
peaceful relationship which existed between the soul and its Creator before the
soul departed from God, into sin. Jesus Christ is the only link in all the
universe which can do this “rebinding”. During His life upon the earth He was
both God and man. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God” (Jno. 1:1). But, “He took not on Him the nature of angels but
He took on Him the seed of Abraham” that he might be made “like unto His
brethren” (Hebrews 2:16-17). We find him as man at a wedding, making merry, as
we might do; but, as God, he changes water to wine. He wept beside the tomb of
his friend Lazarus, just as we would do beside the grave of a friend; but as
God, He speaks to dead Lazarus, and he bursts the bars of death, and comes forth
to live again. Christ is the “one mediator” between God and man. He spans the
entire distance between them. He is a complete creed—“The Way and The Truth and
The Life.” The various ideas of Christianity might be summed up under the three
headings: Way, Truth and Life. The Way. To one man Christianity means a “way”—a
mode of conduct. To him, morality is religion. He emphasizes honesty, veracity
and cleanliness of life. To “go about doing good” is this man’s conception of
being a Chris-tian. This is his complete creed.

Just recently I saw an abbreviated Bible. It contained nothing but the teachings
of Jesus on matters of conduct, and a record of His good deeds. The tendency now
in the religious world seems to be to humanize the Christ; to make of Him
nothing more than a good man.

We would not for a moment detract from any man’s morality. Jesus Christ teaches
the highest code of morals the world has ever known. No man can be a follower of
the Christ without living upon the highest plane of morality. Nor would we want
to subtract one good deed from any man’s life. Christianity means a life of
service. The mission of the Christian is to bring happiness into the hearts of
the fellow- creatures by acts of service. He is greatest in the kingdom of
Heaven who renders the greatest service (Matthew 23:11). But Christianity is
more than morality or a code of conduct, and my creed, to be complete, must
contain more than this. In the tenth chapter of Acts, wTe read of a man whose
standard of living could not be questioned. In fact, the life of Cornelius would
put to shame many professed Christians. Yet Cornelius was not a Christian before
Peter’s visit to his house.

Rendering service to humanity does not of itself, make me a Christian. I cannot
earn my way to Heaven. My own righteousness is but “filthy rags” in the
estimation of God. All of us have “sinned and come short of the glory of God”
(Romans 3:23). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). No man can blot his
own sins from the records of heaven. No man can Pear the penalty for the sins of
another, for he is himself, guilty. Only the innocent Son of God could pay the
penalty for man, and thus save lost humanity from death. Only the blood of Jesus
Christ can atone for sin. If I am saved, I must have access to the blood of the
Lamb of God. A lifetime filled with service cannot atone for a single sin. I
cannot buy my way to the home of the soul. Confucianism is a “way”, Buddhism is
a “way”. Nothing more can be said of them. But Christianity is more than a
“way”. My creed must embrace more than a mode of conduct. i The Truth. Truth is
the goal sought by every honest mind. The mind cannot possibly rest until truth
seems to have have been discovered. If I am contemplating a move t'o a new
country, I want to know the truth about that country. If I am purchasing a piece
of property, I want the truth about that property. I want the truth about its
value, its location and its title.. I will employ an attorney to examine the
title, and I will not' make the purchase until I am assured that he has learned
all the truth about the matter, and that the owner can, in truth, give me a bona
fide title.

I most surely want to know the truth about my title to an everlasting home. I
would regard him as my most dangerous enemy, who would attempt to make me
believe a falsehood about things eternal. Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Only the truth can free us from
sin. The whole truth can never be found in a creed written by man. “Thy word is
truth” (John 17:17). The truth which makes free from sin can only be found in
Jesus Christ. When Peter confessed: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God”, he recited the only creed containing all truth. Since Christ is “The
Truth” this creed contains all the fundamentals of Christianity. Believing is an
essential element in becoming and being a Christian; but the value of my belief
depends upon what' I believe. It is not eating—merely eating—that builds and
maintains the body; it is the content of my diet. Just as in eating, I must eat
something; so in believing, I believe something. Only the truth is worth
believing. Christ is “The Truth.” In my search for a definition of Christianity,
I am sure I would find a group who would answer: “Why, Christianity is a truth,
or a system of truth. Christianity is a doctrine—a set of doctrines.” This
answer is fine as far as it goes. I do not have much sympathy for the man who
has no definite convictions of faith. There would be no reason for the church if
it did not stand for a definite belief. In this age of being “broad and liberal”
I am sure there are many who greatly undervalue the question of what to believe.
But Christianity is more than a list of doctrines. There is danger in
overestimating the theories of truth we hold, to the expense of the service we
render. Many of us, I am afraid, having learned what we believe to be the truth,
have become satisfied in just holding this truth. We cannot imprison truth in a
cage of inactivity and expect her to remain there. Remember, there is the
possibility of “holding the truth in unrighteousness.” If we have the truth, are
we acting in harmony with the truth ? Are we carrying the truth to others? Are
our lives conformable to the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus? Is the church
living up to the demands justice would make of an institution pos-sessing the
truth? Let us not expect to save ourselves or convert the world by coldly,
ritualistically, lifelessly, holding on to a set of theories—even though these
theories be true. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). My creed must
embrace more than a set of theories. The Life. In answer to our question: “What
is Christianity?” we would perhaps find a third group, who say: “Christianity is
life. Religion is something ‘put in’; not something ‘put on” or something
‘done’. It is an experience of the heart and soul”. In some of the mystic cults
of our day, we find a very striking example of the class who limit Christianity
to a religious experience. These folks are often very hazy as to doctrine;
acting upon the assumption that what we believe is immaterial. In this class, we
frequently see fanatics who base their relationship with God solely upon
“visions”, “dreams”, and “impressions”; seemingly without' regard to whether
these “experiences” are in harmony with the truth of God as it is revealed in
Christ. We must not forget that any “experience” which does not' harmonize with
the revelation of Christ cannot be God-given; Christ is “The Truth”.

Those who make “experiences” the supreme test of the religious life, are often
lacking in the expression of Christ as “The Way”, in their lives. The mode of
living exemplified by Jesus is frequently not expressed in their characters. We
must remember that Jesus Christ is also “The Way”.

While true faith and right living may suffer at the hands of over-emphasis of
“religion as an experience”, we should carefully avoid robbing the religion of
Jesus Christ of its heart influences. All true religion emanates from the heart.
God, through the Holy Spirit, wrote the message of the New Testament upon the
“fleshly tables of the hearts” of the apostles. This message is adaptable to
human hearts; it cannot mold the faith and life of the individual, until it has
become the message of his heart. The religion of our Lord means more than simply
believing and living according to set standards; it offers a heart’ filled with
heavenly joy and comfort. The admonition: “Let not your hearts be troubled”, is
applicable to every child of God. No sweeter message could be uttered by
lips—human or divine—than this from the great apostle Paul. “In nothing be
anxious; but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving let' your requests be made
known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Php_4:6-7, A? V.). Let us
balance the-ledger: Over one column, let us write: “Things About Which To Be
Anxious.” On the other side of the book, let us title a column, “Things To Be
Taken To God.” What have we in the first column? “Nothing”. What, in the second?
“Everything.” This divine philosophy leaves absolutely nothing for the Christian
to worry and fret over. Trouble comes into every life; life cannot be all roses.
But Christians have a wonderful advantage over those who have not accepted the
Christ. We can forget about all the anxieties of life, casting them all upon our
Lord, knowing that “He careth” for us (1 Peter 5:7). Do we really believe the
teaching of the Bible on this question? Are you worrying and fretting about
something? Do you believe that “all things work together for good to those who
love the Lord?” (Romans 8:28). Certainly I am not worrying because something
good is going to happen to me! But I must, or quit worrying; if I believe this
statement from God’s word. With a God who knows and can control all the laws of
the universe, as my Father; I should be willing to “let the peace of God which
passeth all understanding, guard (and guide) my heart and my thoughts.” Of
course, finite as I am, I may not understand all of God’s ways and means; but
why should I expect to understand them, when they “pass all understanding?” I
can, in simple, child-like faith, commit everything tq the God who has buried my
past; guides my present, and holds my future in His hand; resting securely and
happily upon the conviction that “if God be for me, who can be against me?”
(Romans 8:31).

We sometimes sing: “The best life to live is the life of a Christian”. This is
true from every viewpoint. The Christian life is a life of true joy and
happiness. A mother once told me that she did not want her daughter to become a
Christian until she was older and had “had a good time.” Poor, deluded mother!
What a false conception of pleasure! She, herself, had not tasted the real joy
of serving God. Christianity does not rob us of a single legitimate pleasure; it
deepens and broadens our joys. A friend of mine owns a farm in Oklahoma. The
soil of this farm is very productive. For many years he had enjoyed the products
of this farm. When the “oil boom” started in that state, it was found that a
good pool of oil lay beneath the surface of my friend’s .farm. Wells were
drilled, and the oil production was immense. My friend reaped the benefits of.
this production; but he did not cease to enjoy the blessings derived from the
surface of his land. While Christianity leaves us all the clean surface joys of
life; it also digs deep into our natures, and causes streams of hitherto unknown
joys to flood our souls.

Christianity is “life”—a wonderful “experience”. He who has tried to make it
simply “way and truth”, has missed the greatest comforts and joys of life. In
elim-inating the “life” from our Lord’s religion, we present to the world a
cold, uninviting atmosphere. If every Christian lived close enough to his Lord
to show by his life that Christianity is something real, we would not have much
difficulty in getting the unsaved to want to be Christians. A young man once
said to me: “I have been thinking seriously of becoming a Christian. My parents
are members of the church. I do not un-derstand why they have never said
anything to me about this matter. Christianity does not seem to mean much to
them.” What could these parents expect of their children ? Can we expect the
world to be attracted to Christ', if they cannot tell that He means anything in
our lives?

Two boys were skating on the ice one day, when sud-denly the ice broke and one
of them fell into the water. He was unable to pull himself out. The other boy
came as near the edge as was safe and extended a pole to the drowning friend.
Each time the boy grasped the pole, his hands slipped off, and he went back into
the water. Finally he managed to say to his companion: “You are giving me the
icy end of the pole. Turn it around”. I wonder if we have not sometimes offered
the world the “icy end of the pole”, and then wondered why they did not cling to
it, and be saved. My creed must contain life. I cannot consistently ask the
world to accept a dead creed. Christ is “The Life.”

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of real religion—a complete creed. He is the
“Way, and the truth, and the life”. Let' us live a whole religion. I want to
walk in “the way”: Jesus Christ is “The Way”. I want to be guided by “The
Truth”, my soul desires life, abundant life; Jesus Christ is “The Life.” May God
help us to always cling to Him who is “The way, and the truth, and the life”;
making Him our “all, and in All” (Colossians 3:11). Thank God for a creed that
contains all truth! May we emphasize it upon the hearts of men by teaching and
living it, until the whole world shall see the beauty of our creed, and come
confessing: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: THE BIBLE SCHOOL
========================================================================

The Bible School THE BIBLE SCHOOL By C. A. Norred When we undertake to define a
word or expression, we should bear in mind the truth that aside from its
etymological meaning a word or expression frequently comes to have a particular
application. This tendency of a word or expression to run to a particular
application is illustrated in the subject of this address.

Radically speaking, a Bible School is simply an association of persons in the
work of studying and teaching the Word of God. From the radical point of view,
then, any group of persons engaged in the study of the Bible could be called a
Bible School. However, we all know that .the expression is not currently so
generally applied; the expression has come to be used with a particular
application. Throughout Christendom, religious groups have adopted the practice
of arranging Lord’s day sessions, separate from the hour of worship, in which
instruction is offered in the Bible and related subjects. Most of us can
remember that several years ago such schools were called Sunday Schools.
However, it is well known that' for several years there has been a well-defined
and increasing tendency to refer to such schools as Bible Schools. Now it is
just such a school as I have just described that I have in mind in this
address,—I have in mind that which might also be called the Sunday School. But
even all that I have and said does not introduce particular theme. The subject
of the Bible School sets before us a very wide field. Under that head we might
study the Scriptural principles which should govern such a school; or we might
give attention in a general way to the opportunities offered in such schools and
the resultant claims they make upon us. This last named work is the one I shall
undertake in this address. This address therefore is to deal with our obligation
to the Bible School as it' exists among us. What opportunity does the Bible
School, afford? What, then, is our duty? These questions indicate the direction
and nature of this address. As to the opportunity afforded in the. Bible School,
I shall simply refer to the results which such schools have accomplished. The
latest figures I have seen on this question show that eighty-five per cencum of
Christendom has come through the Bible School. That means that if you could
summon all Christendom be-fore you for roll call on this question, eighty five
per- soxis in every hundred would declare that they came through the Bible
School. But the statement just made becomes freighted with additional
significance when we observe that statistics sho wthat in America today only one
person in four, of the professed followers of Christ, maintains any connection
with the Bible School. Only one in four! That means that as far as Bible School
work is concerned, only one-fourth of Christendom is em ployed. And still
another startling statement remains to be made. Records show that' the little
group pointed out have accomplished the results named on two per cent-um of the
funds contributed to the religious organi-zations. When we put together all that
has been said in this connection, we have the amazing truth that the Bible
Schools, while employing only one-fourth of the pro fessed followers of Christ
and expending only two percentum of the funds employed, have been instrumental
in accomplishing- eighty-five per centum of the increase in Christendom.

I have referred to the statement just' made as being amazing, and it is amazing.
Yet there ‘are certain principles which afford an easy and satisfactory
ex-plantation. We should remember, in the first place, that the Bible School
offers instruction in the Bible. But the Word of God is the divinely appointed
converting power. Naturally, therefore, the Bible School will turn persons to
Christ.

We should bear in mind, as a further consideration, the truth that the Bible
School offers continuity in study. Herein is a distinct advantage of the Bible
School. A student who is regular and systematic in his studies will, generally
speaking, make satisfactory progress. The protracted meeting, for instance, as
powerful as it has proved itself to be, offers its instruction at widely
separated periods and deals with subjects which, in view of certain influences,
are often detached. But a correctly administered Bible School offers constant
instruction in closely associated subjects. The two factors just named go a long
way toward explaining the phenomenal success of the Bible School. Place a person
where he is influenced to give constant and systematic study to the Bible and
that person will naturally and normally turn to the Lord. But what I have said
up to this point has related to the Bible School’s efficacy in accomplishing
conversion. I should like to add the further statement that the Bible School is
powerful in promoting Christian development. Although I have no figures on this
particular phase of the subject, I can say that in my own humble experience 1
have been much impressed in ob-serving that in most instances the willing and
efficient worker in the vineyard of the Lord is a product of the Bible School.
And this situation is itself easily ex-plained. The student in the Bible School
has constantly before him the ideal of Christian service. Furthermore, there are
opportunities for actual service; for in a correctly administered school tnere
is opportunity given to every student t'o engage in definite gospel work. All
this is conducive to growth; for it is not only true that we learn to do by
doing, but it is also true that we learn to love to do by doing. It is natural,
therefore, that a person placed in an abiding atmosphere of Christian service
should become an active and efficient servant of the Lord. So deeply have these
principles we have just been considering impressed themselves upon careful
observ-ers that it has become an adage in the Bible School world that the Bible
School is a trustworthy barometer of the activity and efficiency of the church
of which it is a part.

But, as is true in nearly everything of value, effectiveness in the Bible School
requires that' certain ele-ments be supplied by those engaging in the work.

First, the Bible School must be operated along the lines of correct
administration. There are certain laws that govern Bible School work; and if we
hope to succeed in that field we should acquaint ourselves with those laws and
respect them. And I can not rid myself of the conviction that just at this pint
our minds are being turned toward a fundamental weakness m the Bible Schools
among the churches avowing the New Testament order. 1 fear that I would be
justified in saying that in the Bible Schools in the churches of the New
Testament order not more than one worker in five hundred ever made any definite
study of Bible School administration. Yet it should go without saying that if
the Bible School is to succeed it must be administered by those who know how to
conduct it.

Second, we must place in the hands of efficient workers an adequate equipment.
Most of the Bible Schools I have seen have been expected to “make brick without
straw”. First', in the matter of equipment comes the question of quarters. The
ideal arrangement is for the Bible School to have its own building which was
specially designed for Bible School work. If such a building is not available,
certainly separate rooms should be provided. And certainly all buildings and
rooms used should be well lighted and well ventilated, should be kept
scrupulously clean, and should be made attractive. Further, such maps, chart's,
books, cards, and other equipment as can be used to advantage should be
supplied.

Third, Christians must give the Bible School their individual support. Adults
who withhold their support from the Bible School do the cause of religion
a‘double injury; for in addition to denying the Bible Schools their support,
they inflict the further injury of casting the reflection that Bible School work
is of little importance. I once saw this illustrated in a family I knew,—in
fact’ we dwelt in the same building. The parents in this family were, in many
respects, excellent persons; were comfortably situated in life; and resided only
a short distance from the meeting house. Furthermore, the father was a deacon in
the congregation. These parents had several boys; and without exception these
boys were enrolled in Bible School at the earliest possible age. Also, without
exception these boys became Christians almost as soon as they became responsible
to God.

I remember that I used to find much amusement in listening to those boys
preparing their Sunday School lessons on Sunday mornings. One of the boys had
openly declared his intention of be-coming a preacher; and I took particular
notice that he was the noisiest one in the group. The signs certainly indicated
that that boy. would be a preacher and that as a preacher he would be able to
wield with unusual powers! But' the music of that hour has died away—those
childish trebles have turned bass long ago. And those voices have not only
changed in character; they have been turned to other uses. The sad truth is that
as fast as those boys grew up they became of no account to the church. It may be
that you are thinking that I am falling into an unhappy illustration in that
while endeavoring to show the power of the Bible School I am showing some very
poor results. But in a very real sense those boys were not products of the Bible
School. To be sure, those boys were in the Bible School, and became Christians
but they withdrew from the Bible School. And why did they withdraw? The answer
is easily found. If the parents during my long acquaintance with them ever sat
in Bible School, I had no knowledge of it. As far as Bible School work, in
particular, and Christian living, in general, were con-cerned, those parents
were largely passive. As the boys grew up under this influence, their minds
appropriated a certain measure of that evil spirit and when the boys reached the
age where they exercised choice for themslves, they chose the world. Those
parents made one of the worst mistakes they could have made. Of course, those
boys are responsible for the choices they made; but in a very real sense, those
parents contributed to their boys’ destruction.

It is not enough for parents to send their children to Bible School; they must
go themselves and give the work their support.

Travellers used to return to America and relate that one of the strangest sights
to be seen in the East was that of the Egyptian farmer plowing his fields with a
crooked-stick plow drawn by cows. These travellers would refer to the background
in Egyptian history; they would refer to the fertility of the soil there and the
friendliness of the climate; they would refer to the great demand there for
food—and then with a shrug and a moan they would remind you of the crooked-
stick plow. But without any desire to exaggerate, I contend that before our eyes
is a spectacle infinitely more saddening. Consider the Bible Schools in the New
Testament churches! Consider those Schools! Poorly equipped! Conducted by
workers that are largely untrained! Receiving the support of a miserable
one-fourth of the people! Granted the disgraceful appropriation of two cents out
of the dollar! And, yet, those schools are the hope of the church! I say that
there in that sight is a spectacle infinitely more saddening than all the wooden
plows of ail Egypt. This condition must be remedied, And I earnestly believe,
just as I have indicated here today, that im' provement must run along the way
of education, equip-ment and co operation. But I also believe that education is
the first factor to be considered. I therefore offer today a plea for education
in Bible School work.

First, let me address myself particularly to the gospel preachers who are here.
Let me remind you that for the next twenty-five years you will have a large
influence among the churches. Let me appeal to you that you make yourselves
specialists in Bible School work. Master the principles of Bible School
adminis-tration. Then as you go among the churches, push the Bible Schools. See
that the Schools are correctly or-ganized. Fill the Schools with real teachers.
Give the churches the privilege of seeing what successful Bible Schools are. To
be sure, such a program would greatly increase your duties but it would also
increase your usefulness.

Second, I plead for a Teachers’ Training Class in every Bible School. And let
that class follow some course that will yield a knowledge of Bible School
Ad-ministration. Unfortunately, many of the so-called training classes which
have undertaken work have proved to be simply Bible classes. Certainly we need
teachers who know the Bible; but we also need persons who know how to teach and
how to direct a school. Let us see to it that our training classes meet the need
among us. Let us have a Teachers’ Training Class in every Bible School. For my
third recommendation, I shall offer a suggestion which I have not heard before.
Let us have a Bible School department in some paper. Let that department be in
charge of a thoroughly conservative Christian man whose training and successful
experience in Bible School work fit him for a wise leadership in that neglected
work. Such a department would be of immense value in disseminating needed
information and in building up an adequate literature; it would be useful in
promoting an enlarged inspiration in the work; and it would also be of service
in guarding against' those radical ideas and overleaping tendencies which would
almost certainly appear along with in-creased activity. And I trust that it will
be observed that these items not only yield their respective result's but that
they operate in excellent co-ordination. The special attention by the preachers
will enable us to start well. The Teachers’ Training Classes will operate toward
the creation of trained leaders among the members. The Bible School Department
guarantees scope and permanency.

It has been demonstrated before our eyes that the Bible School is one of the
most effective instruments in the kingdom of God today. Surely it is our duty to
employ this agency to the greatest advantage. But the successful employment of
the Bible School will require that we provide ourselves with a knowledge of
correct methods, that we give each school an adequate equipment, and that
Christians give the schools indi-vidual support. To the end that these necessary
things may be supplied, let eyery preacher become an aggres-sive Bible School
Specialist; let us have a Teacher Training Class in every Bible School; and let
us have a Bible School Department in some good religious paper. When these steps
are taken a new and better day will dawn on the Bible Schools among the New
Testament churches. And may God speed that day.


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  CHAPTER 12: POWER IN THE BLOOD
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Power In The Blood “POWER IN THE BLOOD” By J. L. Hines

“In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
tresspasses” (Eph„ 1:7). “Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible
things with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your
fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
even the blood of Christ ” (1 Peter 1:17-18).

Beloved, it is indeed a very great pleasure for me to be here during “Lecture
Week” and contribute my bit toward making life a little brighter, and help you
if I may to get a clearer view of Gods redemptive plan. The responsibility
resting upon me is indeed great and I acknowledge it most cheerfully, yet with
that degree of soberness which should dignify God’s servants. The passages read
declare most emphatically, that we have been redeemed and forgiven, of our
tresspasses through, and by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There is a third
(1 John 1:7) that teaches us how to keep clean by the blood. Therefore, the only
way to the beautiful home just beyond our golden sunset, is by the cross
saturated by the blood of God’s dear Son.

It may not be out of place, just here, to talk awhile, about the enormity of
sin-^-sin with all of its blackening influence. Sin threw Lucifer from his
throne, drove Adam and Eve from the beautiful Edenic home; separated them from
their Creator, thrust mother Eve’s heart through with a sword of anguish, when
she was called upon to attend the funeral of her second son whose life had been
taken by her firstborn. Ther e he stands over the body of his victim with blood
dripping from his hands. Sin defied God, hated purity, wrecked a home and sent
the human family on a journey through the blackness of a night, to be thrown and
tossed against the rocks of greed, pride and jealousy, and to be torn by the
thorns of hate, envy, strife and selfishness. It is a serpent that lurks in the
darkness, to bite the feet of the tired and weary pilgrim. It bites and stings,
it blackens and blurs, it disgraces and degrades. It brings to shame and
distinction and at last causes one to writhe in agony and pain in the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the worm dieth not and where the fire is not quenched.
For four thousand years sin wielded the scepter of power over the earth as a
mighty giant; but through the thick darkness there would be seen the star of
hope sending its silver rays forth from Bethlehem. Not one sin throughout the
four thousand years had been blotted out. I like to sing that good old song:

“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me
whole again ? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

All blood is life (Genesis 9:4), the life of the flesh, but no blood except the
blood of Christ could or can wash away one single sin. I do not hesitate to say,
and with emphasis, no sin was ever remitted, except through the blood shed on
Calvary. All the blood of all the sacrifices offered from Abel to Christ, could
not pardon one poor sinner. If pardon could have been procured by an animal
sacrifice, such would have never been removed ‘and replaced by another. By the
eye of faith, I see the veins of the first lamb opened, back yonder, just
outside of the Edenic home. The blood began to flow from this Edenic spring, and
to this flow were gathered the streams as from ten thousand trib-utaries,
throughout the twenty-five hundred and thirteen years of the Patriarchal age;
until we see a mighty river of blood passing Mt. Sinai, to be swollen by
thousands of other streams during the fourteen hundred and ninety-one years of
the Mosaic age; and yet not one sin could be blotted out by this crimson flow.
“For the law (for the critical student read Genesis 26:5 for law of the
Patriarchal age) having a shadow of the good things to some, not the very image
of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year which they offer
continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. Else would they not have ceased
to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have
had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of
bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). “And every priest
indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oft'entime the same
sacrifices, the which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11).

It would be ridiculous and next to sacrilegious, for one who poses before the
public as a religious teacher, minister or evangelist, to declare that remission
of sins, in the absolute, was obtained prior to the death of the Lamb of God.
The logical deduction deducible from such a declaration would be: God’s son laid
aside his celestial robe and the glory that he had with the Father before the
worlds were formed, before the stars were tuned to singing and the earth hung on
nothing, emptied himself, took upon him human flesh, suffered, bled and died the
horrible death of the cross for naught.

If remission of sins could be had before the death of Jesus—and sin was the only
barrier between God and man—why did Jesus die? Beloved, there was but little
power in the blood of bulls and goats,—just enough to roll one’s sins forward
one year, and then these returned bringing with them all the sins of the recent'
year. And thus it was throughout the life of the faithful individual, until at
death his sins were rolled mountain high,—but just ahead. These were to be
placed upon the scape-goat, Jesus who was to bear them away. Oh! how wonderful
are God’s ways! We cannot see. We cannot know. But by faith we feel our way
through the shadow. Every lamb, every bloody sacrifice offered from Abel to the
death of Jesus, typified the one great sacrifice offered by the great and
eternal God. We see him (Jesus) led as a sheep to the slaughter, bruised,
beaten, tried and torn— “Hark! I hear the dull blow of the hammer swinging low,
they are nailing my Lord to a tree!” The cross is upraised and plunged into the
place prepared for it. I see the flesh as it tears in his hands and feet, the
blood as it streams from the thorn pricks in his brow, agony as it plays across
his blood besmeared face. I hear him moan. I hear him pray. In pain he writhes
until the sixth hour, bows his head and gives up the ghost. God turns his face
away and refuses to look upon the scene. The sun’s light seems to go out. The
old earth trembled, reeled and pitched as a drunken man. The lightning must have
played across the heavens, to give one a momentary glimpse of the nude, beaten,
bruised, haggard and bloody body of God’s Son, as it hanged upon Calvary’s top,
between two thieves who are not as yet dead. Don’t you by the eye of faith see
him as he hangs suspended between heaven and earth, bleeding and dying for the
sins of the world? Why did he die? Why was it necessary for him to die? Could
God not have given remission of sins without offering His only begotten Son as a
sin offering? These and a thousand other questions might be asked, but the only
answer is the answer which God gave to the prayer of Jesus, who under the very
shadow of the cross, prayed thrice thus: “My Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The
second time the Lord said: “My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink
it, thy will be done.” He drank the cup to its bitter dregs. It was not possible
for the cup of suffering and death to pass and the world have a Redeemer, The
scenes of the cross ought to stir every heart, fire our emotions and set our
souls to singing;

“Jesus keep me hear the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all—a healing
stream, Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain. “Near the cross, a trembling soul, Love
and mercy found me; There the Bright and Morning Star Sheds its beams around me.
“Near the cross! Oh Lamb of God, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from
day to day With its shadows o'er me.”

All people prior to the cross who would trust in God, could only remove their
sins forward one year by the blood of animals, but not one sin was forgotten by-
Jehovah, or remitted, but was remembered the next year and so on until death. So
when the Lamb of God was offered upon the cross, buried and begotten from the
dead, he took his own blood, went to heaven and after seven days entered the
Sanctorum, heaven itself, and there in the presence of God made atonement for
the “transgressions that were under the first covenant, that they that have been
called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance” It is clear that no
responsible human being will be permitted to pass through the pearly gates and
bask in the sunlight of God’s eternal smile, except through and by virtue of the
shed blood of the Lamb of God. The prophets, priests and all the faithful Israel
of old, looked through the crimson mist, to the Messiah, the promised seed of
Abraham. To make it perfectly clear, let me say; that all, from Adam to the
second coming of our Lord, who will be permitted to enjoy the bliss of over
there, will have done so only by remission of sins through the blood of Christ.
The benefits of His blood were appropriated only to the transgressors under the
law, who were “the called.” The “called” were the ones who heard God, believed
God, repented of their sins, confessed their sins and obeyed him in offering the
proper sacrifice. Be it understood all things else done, if the proper sacrifice
was not offered the offender’s sins remained unmoved, and such a one dying never
reached the blood of Christ.

Christ died at the end of the Jewish age (Hebrews 9:26), took away the law
(Ephesians 2:11-19) of Moses and es-tablished a New Covenant, the blood of which
covenant can take away sins. But only people who are in Christ, or in fellowship
with him, have their sins removed by his blood. “In whom we have our redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7). “In whom
we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins” (Colossians 1:14). “There
is salvation in none other” (Acts 4:12). “And the witness is this that God gave
unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). These
scriptures declare that “life,” “salvation,” “redemption,” “forgiveness of sins”
are in him “through his blood.” So whatever is necessary to get into Christ is
necessary to cleansing by his blood, for the blood is in him. We believe in, on,
unto, repent toward, unto; confess unto; and are baptized into, as is clearly
set forth in Romans sixth chapter and Galatians third chapter. So if you would
reach the benefits of the blood of Christ, it is necessary to hear God, believe
God, repent of your sins, confess Christ and obey him in baptism. For baptism to
a believing penitent who has confessed Christ is, “for the remission of sins”
for it brings that one to the blood which is in Christ, which washes away his
sins.

“Would you be free from the burden of sin? There is pow’r in the blood, pow’r in
the blood. Would you o’er evil a victory win? There is wonderful pow’r in the
blood. “Would you be white, much whiter than snow? There is pow’r in the blood,
pow’r in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide, There is wonderful
pow’r in the blood.” In conclusion, permit me to say a word about children of
God keeping clean by the blood. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us
from all sin” (1 John 1:7). There is no fellowship ‘out of Christ and to be in
Christ is to be in his body, the church. In order for the blood of Christ to
keep us clean from all sin, it is absolutely necessary to walk in the light, and
to have fellowship with the brethren. Otherwise we are unclean. One who is not
in fellowship with his brethren is unclean because he is out of touch with the
blood. Remember that the blood of Christ flows, spiritually speaking, through
the veins of his body, the church, and all who die out of fellowship with the
brethren, the church, die out of fellowship with Christ and away from the blood
and thereby die in sin and are lost.

Power in the blood? Yes, power in the blood of Christ. Enough power to save all
who will bow in hum-ble submission to his divine will. Saved by the blood and
kept clean by the blood, let us as a band of happy Christian soldiers march
forward under the bloodstained banner of the Prince of Peace, ever fighting
against the enemy of righteousness, till the last' battle has been fought, the
smoke has cleared away, the banner of victory has been planted upon the rampart
of the enemy, and then we can pass across the silent river of death, with a
smile upon our face, into the Paradise of God, to wait the final day when the
Lord shall come on the clouds of heaven, and we then shall come forth with
bodies immortal and by his invitation be permitted to pass into the beautiful
city prepared for all who have been redeemed by the blood.


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  CHAPTER 13: THE INTEGRITY OF NEW TESTAMENT WORSHIP
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The Integrity of New Testament Worship THE INTEGRITY OF NEW TESTAMENT WORSHIP By
F. B. Shepherd

Worship is defined as homage rendered, adoration offered, praise ascribed, and
thanks given, to God. It comprehends all thoughts, feelings, purposes, words and
deeds in which the soul of the creature reaches the direct and conscious point
of contact and transaction with his Creator. Worship is offered directly and
ex-clusively to God without regard to man. As the word is used by Christ in Mark
7:1-9, worship includes everything done as a ceremonial religious act whose
ob-ject of its performance is to worship Him (1 Corinthians 10:31). Formal
recognition of the necessity of God in our lives and the manifestation of the
estimate we place upon Him, and the esteem in which we hold him: is acknowledged
in worship. The Bible has always rec-ognized two kinds of worship, e. g., that
which is ac-ceptable, or “True”; and that which is vain or “False.” From the
reading of Mark 7:1-9, and Matthew 15:9, it is a self-evident truth that there
must be a divinely circumscribed system, or order, of Christian worship, since
all worship is characterized as vain that God does not authorize, or which
originates in human idea or authority.

If there are not divine prescriptions regarding what will be acceptable in the
New Testament dispensation: then nothing can be disorderly, and there can be no
in-novations, no error or sin in the acts performed as such (Romans 4:15; Romans
5:13). Since the Lord, however, is possessed of the sole right to prescribe or
regulate the things that shall be done as worship to Himself, if he has so
prescribed, then all human regulations are presumptuous and sinful (Colossians
2:20). Let it be fully understood, and unreservedly recognized, that an action
may be entirely legitimate within itself as a social function or a personal
operation, but when such act is performed as one of worship it then becomes a
flagrant violation of God’s law. It was perfectly legitimate for the Jews to
wash their hands, bathe their bodies or wash cups and pots and brazen vessels
after coming from the market places, since such were not only commended in the
law, but were, and are, necessary things for physical cleanliness, and come
under the primary rules of hygiene; however such are vain worship when performed
as religious acts to glorify God. Undoubtedly Christ would not forbid personal
purity or cleanliness. Neither did he. There was positively nothing wrong, but
everything right, in Jew or Gentile, saint or sinner, Pharisee or Sadducee,
washing the body or bathing the hands after contact with all classes in the
marketplaces, if such an act was only one of common personal purity. It was only
when these things were offered as worship that they are characterized by Christ
as vain. This principle would be easily recognized and understood if we were
advocating toast and coffee on the Lord’s table, Lord’s Day, either as a
substitute for or in addition to the bread and fruit of the vine. Everyone
recognizes Toast and Coffee are legitimate as sustenance and stimulants for the
human body, but no one would think of using them on the Lord’s Table to
represent the body of Christ. When it has to do with one act of worship we seem
to be perfectly normal, but in other things there is extreme dullness of
comprehension. No one will dispute me whep I affirm that in settling any
question, secular or religious, theoretical or practical, there must be a
standard and final court of appeal agreed upon and adopted. This is the. only
means through which any matter of controversy can be settled safely, sanely, and
correctly: whether it be personal, civil, or religious. No question is settled
until it is settled right; and no question is settled right until it is settled
according to applicable law. Necessarily then, it is easily seen, and should be
freely conceded that in all questions pertain1 ng to the worship, government,
discipline, faith and practice of the body of Christ, the New Testament alone
must be the final standard, since it contains the sole and only information we
have today regarding the will of (tod for the church of the Lord (John 12:48-50;
John 14:25-26; John 16:13-15). The New Testament is as perfect--and if possible
more so—a rule of faith and practice for the New Testament institution as was
the Old Testament fo** the Old Testament institution. Nothing is warranted, or
may be practiced authoritatively as worship in the church today, which does not
have the express authority of this standard. There must be an actual assertion,
a necessary inference or implication, or a divinely approved precedent for any
act of worship or article of faith before such can be considered authoritative.
Merely that a thing is “not forbidden” or “not condemned” by the New" Testament
is not' sufficient. Such reasoning as we all too often find to justify things
done as worship would allow every kind of innovation, since there are a thousand
and one things that would be illegal that are not “condemned” in so many words
of the New Testament. The Waltz, Lancers, or even the Black Bottom in worship is
not expressly condemned in so many words. Poker or dice are nowhere forbidden by
name. Would anyone who is halfway religious affirm such things are becoming a
Christian, or could be done to the glory of God, just because God does not tell
us in so many words he will not accept them? But what condemns them? One hundred
exhortations to keep one’s self unspotted from the world provide conclusive
command against all such pastimes for a child of God, even though all too many
do indulge themselves in them. The acceptance of these self-evident premises
drives to the conclusion that the use or nonuse of mechanical instruments in the
worship of God under the Christian dispensation is not optional or a matter of
expediency, but belongs to a class of things which are expressly condemned in
the New Testament. The playing of mechanical instruments in the worship of God
must be either scriptural or unscriptural, authorized or unauthorized, commanded
or not commanded: because part of the worship. If such is commanded, then when
playing is omitted or neglected by one or all there must be sin, because one is
disobedient when he fails to obey a command. If such playing is not commanded or
authorized by positive assertion or necessary implication of the New Testament:
when used it is a transgression of the law and presumptuous, because the one
playing is acting without authority and God once said: “Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as
the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim” (1 Samuel
15:22-23). Every command to perform a specific act within itself forbids any
addition, subtraction, or substitution. It is a truism, that should be readily
accepted, that whenever the scriptures fail to furnish men with every detail of
an act of worship, then only such things as are inevitably necessary to the
execution of the prescribed act can be scripturally admitted. Singing is a
specific command prescribing an act to be performed as worship of God. Such
specification necessarily excludes within itself all ideas and practices not
essential to vocal music. I am perfectly willing to admit that the Greek may
inherently involve instrumentation, but if so the instrument to be used is
specified, since the “Psalloing” is to be with the heart. To use any mechanical
instrument made by man ' is nothing short of presumption. (Read Hebrews 13:15).
Actually the issue between those who use mechanical instrumentation in the
worship of God is not so much the matter of playing or not playing, but what is
the instrument that is to be played. Those of our own brethren who have added to
the original purity of the New Testament know full well that for the Lord to
command immersion of penitent believers into the name of Father, Son and Holy
Spirit positively forbids the sprinkling or pouring of water upon adult or
infant, believer or imbecile; or to immerse any but believers. I marvel they
cannot apply their own rule as perfectly in other things. Neither will to object
that Ephesians 5:19, and Colossians 3:16, have reference to social singing help
them at all, since the expressions, “To the Lord” and “unto God” definitely
place these exhortations or commands as referring to acts of worship. Nor is it
legitimate or fair to compare the tuning fork, the song book, church house,
windows, carpets, etc., etc., with the instruments, since these other things
have absolutely no part in the actual worship, while the instruments do become
part of the worship according to the ad-vertising of the people using them and
the observation and recognition of all. The tuning fork is used only to get the
pitch, and pitch is inevitably necessary to obey the command to sing. This pitch
must be secured one way or another, and any way not within itself unscriptural
or antiscriptural may evidently be used. A song to sing comprising notes and
words, is equally as necessary, and hence some sort of song book must be used if
we would obey the command. The argument on the lights, house, etc., is too
evidently fallacious to even notice. The very fact that the apostles who were
led into all truth and who knew all things omitted it and allowed it not in the
early churches, though mechanical instrumentation seems to have been prevalent
under the old covenant is highly significant that it is not au-thorized by any
command of God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit now. Even a casual reader will
readily perceive the practice is wholly lacking in authority by anything done or
taught in the New Testament. Christ did not appoint it either before or after
his crucifixion; the apostles never sanctioned it; nor did any primitive church
ever practice it: so far as Biblical record is concerned. Neither does profane
history give any intimation of such practice for a considerable number of years
after the close of revelation. The informed ones among the users of instrumental
music themselves freely admit the New Testament is silent on the subject. The
Schaff-Herzog Cyclopedia gives A. D. 787 as the date of the introduction of the
first" organ into the cathedral at Aix la Chapelle by Charlemagne, and indicates
that the Council of Trent in 1545 would have abolished organs from the churches
but for the influence of the Emperor Ferdinand. Many of the great religious
leaders and reformers of bygone days such as Aquinas, Erasmus, Calvin Beza, have
expressed themselves as opposed to instrumental music in the worship as
unscriptural. After all the controversy is not upon the question of
interpretation, for no scholar has ever arisen to claim divine warrant for it in
the New Testament1 churches. The matter is purely one of the authority. And the
sole authority for it now is that of Councils, Synods, Boards, Conventions, or
the Pope and church. All such things exist in opposition to, and in competition
with, the simple and original arrangements of our Lord. The integrity of the
'New Testament worship is a question no child of God can afford to seek to be
neu-tral toward. The unimpaired soundness of the worship must be maintained and
sought after with all our might, since the church of our Lord Jesus is the
“Pillar and ground of the truth”. We cannot be too careful in seeking to learn
the limitations in worship acceptable to God now.

God is true, genuine, real and unimpeachable. Hence He can only be pleased with
those things that resemble himself. Anything that is assumed is counterfeit and
presumptuous, unlike God and so is insulting to Him. He is not material (human)
so cannot be honored, pleased, or propitiated with the things that appeal to the
flesh such as mechanical instrumentation, ceremonies, chanting doxologies, and
burning candles or incense. All rites and ceremonies, temples and sacrifices of
former dispensations were arranged for the benefit of man and with regard to
impressing man with the majesty of the Deity. The virtue and honoring power of
all such acts performed in former dispensations lay in the implicitness of the
obedience, not in the elaborateness of their fleshly and material grandeur. May
we all learn to worship in spirit and truth and be satisfied with God’s way in
childlike implicitness and unhesitating trust.


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  CHAPTER 14: THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
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The Righteousness of God THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD By C. M. Pullias From the 23rd
chapter of the Book of Numbers , 10 th verse, we have this statement: “Let me
die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his.” Strange as it
may appear, these very significant words fell from the lips of a very wicked
prophet. One who had withstood God and whom God had withstood; who ran greedily
after the reward of. unrighteousness and then came to use the language which w,e
have for our text. But he perished in the gainsaying of Korah. It is yet a
question perplexing as to what becomes of people when they die. It would not be
a very great trouble to tell where they go when they die, if we could tell how
they live before they die. This passage tells that if a man lives the life of a
righteous man, his end will be that of a righteous man. Our difficulty, then, in
knowing what becomes of people, is in finding out how they live and if you can
find out exactly how a person lives, you can easily put your finger on the place
where he goes after he is dead.

I believe, then, that righteousness is a supreme question. It is a momentous
one—it is one that ought to arrest the attention of every heart and soul,
because your destiny and mine depends upon living righteously, and unless we
know what righteousness is, it will be impossible for us to live as righteous
men and women in the world. Our purpose then tonight is to call your attention
unto that subject and discuss it and in order that it may be done carefully and
properly and that we may build, as it were, from the ground up, I call attention
to one of the beatitudes of Christ, as they call it. In the fifth chapter of
Matthew: “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled.” This, then, is the first thing we want to impress upon
you; it is the first point we want to bring out. It is fundamental. They write
and talk about it as a beatitude of Christ, but for the sake of directness and
simplicity we want to call it a condition of heart. That is a heart condition—a
trait of character, we might put it. Now beatitude sounds good and reads nice,
but whether we get the strength of it and the meaning of it, or not—a condition
of heart, a trait of character. For a man to be hungering and thirsting after
God’s righteousness, the promise that he shall be filled, which means that he
shall be eventually a righteous man, and of course if he is a righteous man
until he dies, he dies a righteous man, and if he dies a righteous man, he will
receive the end of a righteous man, and we may determine what that is before we
get through tonight.

It is not a great deal of trouble for people to do what they want to do, and
here Jesus Christ strikes at that thing and I wish I had the power to make my
listeners want to be righteous—to thirst and hunger after righteousness—and I
wish I could paint it in such colors and make it so attractive that every heart
wpuld be hungering and thirsting for it, because if such a condition sets up in
a man he will go after it and never stop until he gets it. No man will eat
unless he is hungry, but if they are hungry they will seek food and they will
eat it when they find it, and if they are thirsty they will seek water and will
drink it when they find it. It is not hard, therefore, for people to get that
lesson, and when people fall in love with the righteousness of God, and the
kingdom of God and the service of God and the church of God, they will seek for
them and they will seek until they amount to much in accomplishing anything- in
the find them, and unless they do that they will never service of God, they will
never do much about it. But my understanding of it is that a man can do anything
he wants to do, unless he wants to do something else more. If a man wants to go
to heaven more than he wants to do anything else, you can’t keep him from going
to heaven, and I frankly tell you, that if men and women want the righteousness
of God as much as they want some other things, they will have the righteousness
of God and the kingdom of God and they will go to heaven, and there never will
be another person turned away from the beautiful gate, into outer darkness and
despair. I believe it is no more difficult for a man to go to heaven than it is
for him. to do some other things. It becomes an easy thing then, an easy
matter—he takes a joy and a delight in it—he does not feel that he is being
bored to death, neither does he feel that it is an unjust requirement. The Bible
says, “His commandments are not griev-ous”—noi; to the man who would rather have
God’s commandments than anything else. If a man wants water, then he would not
give a dime for all the bread in the world; he does not care for bread, he does
not seek food, he does not try to get it; he wants water and water he must have.
And to show you the force of it, although it may be a little bit uncomely for an
illustration, but take a man who is a liquor drinker, who has an ungovernable
craving fo drink, he comes to town and he will find a bootlegger without any
trouble at all, but I could not find one in six weeks.

Why? Because I do not want one. We find what we want. Any man who wants Jesus
can get him, and any man who wants God’s righteousness and God’s kingdom, can
get that; but a man who does not want it will have a difficult time of ever
possessing it. And therefore I wish that I might so describe that fabric of
righleousess that is made up of all the little details of word and deed in the
hfe of a man, until it would so appeal to you that we would call for it and
hunger for it and thirst for ic. Jesus therefore gave us that as one of the
conditions that is laid down. A heart condition—that is essential to
righteousness. No man will ever go to heaven who does not want to go. No one
will ever be a Christian who does not want to be one. Everything we can do, in
service, in worship, in word or in deed, must be done from a willing heart. A
man must come to God because he wants to come and if he does not will to come he
cannot.

Now that being fundamental, we start right at the beginning where wTe ought to
start on any subject, then whenever that condition is wwought in a man, then
another thing that is logical, he begins to look for that for which he hungers
and thirsts (Matt. 6: 83, 34). “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” But think of a man
seeking God’s king’ dom and God’s righteousness who does not care for it, who
does not want it, who does not hunger and thirst after it—why it is
unreasonable, and the man that is seeking for God’s kingdom, and God’s
righteousness is the man who hungers and thirsts after it, and so we must seek
God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness first, and whenever that condition is
thoroughly set up in us, as big as it ought to be, when we want to be everything
in the sight of God that we ought to be, then we will make God’s kingdom and
God’s righteousness first, and not put it off until the last thing.

It is unfortunate that we strive after everything else and seek everything else
and try everything else, and when the last drop has been drained out, and when
the last thing has been done and we find it to be a failure, then we turn to
God. We should give God the first, and then the rest of it, if there be any, may
be used for our satisfaction or for our gratification. Now.then, observe this
fact, that when I get enough of this world’s goods, then it is that I am going
to turn my attention to the service of God, but no, you won’t, you cannot do
that. Who ever had enough? The more a man gets, the more he wants, and every
acquisition, instead of gratifying our desires, intensifies them. A man dreamed
a dream one day, and he said: “If I had a little farm well tilled, and a little
barn well filled and a little wife well willed, then I woud be content and that
is all I would want.” And in the course of time he got the little farm well
tilled and the little barn well filled and the little wife well willed, and was
he then content? No. One day he said to his wife, we must certainly make an
outlet over here on this side of our place, we must have this land also, and his
wife agreed, and they began to work for it and after while they got it, and the
more he got the more his desires were intensified and I believe that is right, I
believe it is the right thing. I had a dream one day, that if I could ever
preach a sermon like a certain man I knew, I would be satisfied, and right now I
am at, or at least near that, and I am less satisfied than ever I was; and so
the more we have the more we want. Very often we hear a man say, “When I get all
I want, when I get all the clothes and all the automobiles and all the cattle
and all the stocks and bonds that I want, then I am going to give my life to God
and my heart to God, but he never will. But let me turn your attention to
another thing now, that when people hunger and thirst after righteousness, then
they will begin to seek for righteousness and the kingdom of God. Well, where
are they going to seek for it? Does not the Book say, Seek and ye shall find?
Have you not seen people seeking for God day after day and year after year, and
they never did find him? Well, something is wrong, somewhere. I read where God
said, “Ye sought me not after the due order.” Maybe that is the reason. There
are people who want to be righteous, but they do not know how to seek and the
result is that their seeking is all in vain. His tears and anguish would tell
you he was earnest and sincere. The Book says “seek and ye shall find,” and why
is it that some men seek and never do find. Well it is just like this: If I went
out to seek for gold and there was none where I sought, I never would find any.
So likewise with the righteousness of God. Whenever I go to seek for God’s
righteousness where that righteousness is not to be found, then my seeking is in
vain and I never can find it. Then where shall I go, where shall I seek? That is
the question; Well, let us read what the Books says about it. Isaiah 34:16,
“Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read: no one of these shall fail, none
shall want her mate. For my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
gathered them.” Isaiah says, “Seek out of God’s book and read. Do you read the
Bible? If you do not read the Bible and thus read it because you are seeking for
God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, the chances are that you never will find
it. Where else would you go ? If I wanted to know something about horticulture I
would not take the Bible to try to find it. If I wanted to know something about
the weather or the phases of the moon, I would not get a Bible, but I would get
an almanac, but if I wanted to know anything about' God’s righteousness or God’s
kingdom, I would get the Word of the living God. Seek out of God’s book —that is
the place to seek. Then how are you going to seek? Read. I tell you, indeed, if
we just let the Bible do its own explaining, it would be a much easier
proposition than when we undertake to help it out. The first condition is that a
man hungers and thirsts after righteousness, then the next thing he will be
seeking after righteousness, and then he will go to the Bible, and then he will
be reading the Bible, because the Bible tells you of God’s righteousness and
God’s kingdom, and you will there find the power of God. “Search the Scriptures,
for in them ye think ye have eternal life.” “From a child thou hast known the
holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation.” “Every
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” “He opened his mouth
and began at the same scriptures and preached unto him Jesus.” Where else would
he begin and how else would he continue and where else would he end? Beginning
at the scripture, continuing in the scripture and ending with the scripture. In
the Law, in the prophets, in the Psalms, know the glorified Lord as the giver of
every good thing. Go to the Bible, seek out of the Book of the Lord and read. No
one of these shall fail. If you seek in some other' book you will fail. Reading
from the tenth chapter of Acts, we have in verge 34 a very significant statement
that leads us a step forward: “Then Peter 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.” Now think of a man working righteousness
until he has found righteousness and of “seeking righteousness” when he does not
care anything about it. A man is not a righteous man until he works
righteousness. A man is not a liar until he lies, he. is not a murderer until he
kills someone, and he is not a righteous man until he does the righteousness of
God. “In every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted
with him.” “He that doeth righteousness is righteous.” We think there can be
nothing said that would add to a passage as simple as that. You notice that a
man works righteousness and then he is a righteous man. How big is that in you?
How much doth that appeal to you? What place does that find in your heart? If it
is as big and full in you as it ought to be, I want to tell you that would
create within you the desire to want the righteousness of God, and that would
lead you to the Book of God and that would cause you to read the Book of God,
and reading and learning from the Book of God, you would learn about God’s
righteousness and then you would work the righteousness of God. Paul in writing
to the Roman brethren in the tenth chapter of the book of Romans beginning with
verse one, says: “Brethren, my/heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God
but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not Submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.” Now you think for a moment. Those
Jews, Israelites, were righteous. They had adopted a system of righteousness,
but it was not God’s righteousness. Then there is such a thing as God’s
righteousness on the one hand, and our righteousness on the other. This says
plainly, that they, being ignorant of God’s right-eousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God. I am more, charitable now than I used to be in that
instead of charging them with duplicity, or dishonesty, as the case might be, I
would rather throw the mantle of charity over it by calling it
ignorance—ignorance of God’s, righteousness. And so I suggest to you that I
doubt if there is a man on earth that if he knew what God’s righteousness was,
would have the audacity to want a man’s righteousness rather than the
righteousness of God. Why are they not doing that? They just do not know. They
are ignorant of God’s righteousness. Alienated from God’s righteousness by the
ignorance that is in them. And now notice this fact. There are two kinds of
righteousness. My righteousness is one thing and God’s righteousness is another
thing. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” So then we have it
that God has thoughts and I have thoughts and God has righteousness and I have
right-eousness, but I am not interested in my righteousness or yours, but in
God’s, and that is the thing I am seeking after tonight, and that is why I
appeal to men and women everywhere to read the Bible and learn the righteousness
of God and when you have found it, be a worker of God’s righteousness. Now we
only want to distinguish between these. First, what is the righteousness of God
and what is the righteousness of men? The Book says, “Our righteousness is as
filthy rags in His sight.” If our righteousness is a^ filthy rags in the sight
of God, then I am not interested in it any more and I immediately dismiss that
and turn to the other side of it—to the righteousness of God. I read where
Jesus, when he came to the baptism of John, and John said, I have need to be
baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answered him, suffer it to be
so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness (Psalms 119:172 :
“My tongue shall speak of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness.”
And I know as well as I know anything, that God commanded that because God’s
commands are righteousness! 'and it takes that to make it—that is what the Book
said. And thus when Christ was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, he was
baptized to obey the command-ment of his Father in heaven. Sometimes I hear
people discussing it, that they can fulfill all righteousness and not be
baptized, and I only have one word to say, and that is they can beat the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said he could not do it, but they claim today that they can.
Well,' let us try again. I turn attention to 1 John 5:17. “All unrighteousness
is sin.” I read it just merely for what it says, “un” is a negative.

All unrighteousness is sin; then all uin is unright - eousness, of course. If
all unrighteousness is sin, and all sin is unrighteousness, then let me inquire
to see just how defimte and pointed the matter comes to be. Reading from Romans
14:21, I have these words: “For whatsoever is not of faith is sm.” I read, again
from Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word
of God.” Now then, with these statements I want to make this kind of a
conclusion. I want you to notice then the deduction, that faith comes by hearing
the Word of God, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and all sin is
unrighteousness. How then, can you find a righteous thing outside of the Word of
God? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and whatsoever is not of faith is
sin, and all sin is unrighteousness, then does not the Word of God reveal to us
every item and every fiber of the righteousness of God? “Without faith it is
impossible to please him.” Faith comes by hearing the wrord of God— -whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Does God say it in his word? Then it is righteous. If he
does not, then it does not come by faith, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin,
and all unrighteousness is sin, and all sin is unrighteousness. And faith comes
by hearing the word of God. And you cannot do a thing by faith unless God has
said it—God must have spoken in order to have faith, and you must have faith in
order to be a righteous man. Whatever the Book commands, whatever God commands,
whatever God reauires, whatever service you render in obedience to it, whatever
it is, that is God’s righteousness. You get outside of the Bible and that is not
God’s righteousness. God said, “Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God.” There is a worshipful spirit in man and not
knowing what to do, they are bound to do something and not knowing the Bible,
they go about doing their own righteousness and do not submit themselves to the
righteousness of God. Do you suppose that the Hindu woman that casts her baby
into the river and watches an alligator eat it and then rejoices because the
gods smile on her, would do that, if she knew what is contained in this book?
She loves him so much more than she. loves her own life. She does not know what
this book says. Do you suppose there would ever be another man anywhere that
would bow down to stocks or stones or any idol that is made of wood or stone or
any metal, that can neither bless nor curse? Would there ever be another man who
would bow down to them if he knew what this book teaches? No, he never would do
it. But being ignorant of God’s righteousness, he establishes his own
righteousness. “Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and
hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews 1:8-9). Friends, the scepter of the kingdom
of God is right.

Righteousness ‘ is the banner, righteousness is the flag, righteousness is the
sceptre of the kingdom of God. And the reason of it is, as given here, that
Jesus Christ, the founder of the church, the builder of it and the head of it,
and therefore the author and finisher of our faith, has given here this reason.
He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and I want to stop here to comment on
that, that any man who loves the church and the righteousness of God as he
ought, will hate iniquity and abhor evil. Shun every form of evil. Jesus Christ
shunned it, Jesus Christ hated it, Jesus Christ stamped it under his feet, he
hated iniquity. Now that is one side and is an important one. But you cannot
wink at unrighteousness, at iniquity, at sin. You cannot smile at it any more
than you can take live coals of fire in your bosom without burning your
garments. You can’t do it. On the other hand he not only hated iniquity, but he
loved righteousness. It has been a question with me many timqjs what it was that
prompted Jesus to come down from his home on high into this world. I know now. I
did not always know. I see him there with his Father, where the storms never
sweep and where the darkness never falls, and where things never went wrong,
where neither want nor necessity ever were felt, or a single wish ever went
without being gratified. And then one day he threw open the windows of heaven
and swung from the exalted position that he had held for all time and came down
to this world. No man ever knew how deep the waters crossed. He saw the lost
condition of humanity and he left his home in heaven. The record says he loved
righteousness. He loved God’s commandments, God’s will, and when you see him
facing the cross, there in the garden where he sweat drops of blood and prayed
to his Father, “If it be possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not
my will but thine be done.” The apostle wrote about it like this. “Ever looking
to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down on the
right side of the majesty on high.” I saw him naked and cold and deserted and
hungry, I saw him boycotted and persecuted, I saw him when the sun went down,
exclaim, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head.” I saw him when they smote him with the
palms of their hands and when they plaited a crown of torns and placed it upon
his brow and mocked him as a king, he never opened his mouth. I saw him when he
bore his cross and fainted under its load. They tell us his great heart broke on
that occasion. He had done the righteousness of God. He loved the righteousness
of God. And God’s righteousness never could be done by him until he passed over
the hill and beyond the cross. Now a man that loves something else more than he
loves the righteousness of God will never do it. In the fourth chapter of 1
Timothy we have a terrible picture presented and before he gets through telling
about the conditions that would prevail he said, men will be lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God. And I have observed men who claim to love God, who meet
him regularly at the communion table, and break with him the bread and drink
with him the fruit of the vine, and receive from his beneficent hand the
greatest blessings heaven holds for men. I have seen those very persons love
pleasure more than they love God. How? I will tell you how. People can find time
to do nearly everything else, they can find their way to go nearly everywhere
else, they can find money to bear the expenses of nearly everything else, but
when it comes to the Church, we cannot find time and we cannot get away, and we
are always broke. I am saying this frankly and candidly, my friends. A man may
love God more than anything else and yet he has money to buy chewing gum and
coca cola and ice cream and other things, but does not have any money for God’s
cause, for God’s kingdom, for God’s righteousness! Whom does he love more—God or
mammon? I do not think it is difficult to tell. I believe that it is an easy
matter of solution. But we cannot dwell here long. I have known a few farmers in
going my rounds, they could not leave their crops, the grass was about to get
them, they could not leave them to come to church, but you let a circus come to
town, they could leave them then. When the clown and the band wagon and the
elephant is to make a parade, they can always come out to see them, but when it
comes to the church, and the things that nurture and culture the souls of men
that never die, then we claim we just cannot get time and cannot leave our
business to do it. We ought not to play with this. Jesus loved righteousness
more than anything else. He might have had a good home in this world, he could
have had it all, because the devil offered it to him, but he refused it because
he said, “Get thee behind me.” He would rather go to heaven when he died than to
have all the world for a season and go to the other place. But I have read of
people who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God and therefore
those men were afraid they would be put out of the synagogue. Now, I want to
call your attention to another point in this connection. The example of a
righteous man, how far-reaching that is.

I read from the 11th chapter of Hebrews (verse 4), “By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he
was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he, being dead, yet
speaketh.” Did you ever read anything that excels that? Six thousand years ago,
approximately, that young man offered a sacrifice to God and did a righteous
act, and all the evils, all the wars that have raged, all the rising and falling
in the birth and annihilations of nations and men, have not been enough to drown
the clear, bell-like voice of Abel as it is heard ringing above the din of the
conflict and speaking unto the struggling, striving soldiers of the cross today.

There is not even a modest marker to tell you where Abel was buried; nobody
knows anything about it, but the deed which he did as an act of faith was a deed
of righteousness, and by that he is still speaking, though he is dead. And when
my life and yours are gone, it shall be that when our lips are sealed in death
we can still be talking to our loved ones and our fellow travelers. We will
either speak to men as righteous people, did or as wicked men did, you can take
your choice. Six thousand years, and he is still talking. How long will you be
talking when you close your eyes in death and your heart ceases to beat? When
your body rests in the tomb, the life that you have lived for God, in faith, in
purity, in righteousness, in obedience — will that stand out among the turmoil
and the conflicts and teach a lesson and counsel and encourage those that are
left behind ? But just another word before I close, and that word is the
language of'mv text: “Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end
be like his.” You do not have to write a book other than the life that you have
lived among men. It need not be written with pen and ink on paper at all, for
influence lives and that very life continues. How far-reaching, to what extent
it: goes and how much it may do, we may never know until we stand before our
Savior when this life is over.

But, turning your attention further, the end of a righteous man—what is it?
Listen. “Then shall the righteousness of the righteous be upon him,” looking on
to the judgment in the great hereafter. Ihe righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon him, that is, the man who is righteous. Do you hear Jesus Christ saying
in that day, the righteous would come to him and he would say, “I was hungry and
you gave me meat, thirsty, and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me, sick
and in prison and you came unto me.” And then, “Inasmuch as ye. did it unto one
of the least of these, my brethren, ye did ’t unto me.” The righteousness of the
righteous thus shall be upon him. But newspapers may never take it up, they may
never know about it, but what difference does it make? God knows, for in that
day every righteous deed and every righteous act will be pronounced upon the
righteous. In Matthew 13 a description is made like this. He will send forth his
angels and they shall gather out of his hmgdom all things that offend and them
that do iniquity, and. shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there, shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shah the righteous shine forth as the sun in
the kingdom of their Father.” They shall shine forth above the brightness of the
sun in the kingdom of God, forever. Then let me die the death of the righteous
and let my last end be like his.

Another passage, Revelation 19:7-8 : “Let us rejoice and be glad, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

Let me still read you another. When the curtains of death were gently but surely
drawing round about the peerless Paul, the mighty preacher, confined in his
prison cell, awaiting the hour of his end as if he could hear the soldiers’ feet
coming to take him out and to execute the orders of the king, he wrote like
this: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing.” Friends, think on these last two
quotations for a moment. The end of a righteous man. Look at him there in the
spotless garments, clean and white, and today he sits in the loom of life with
the shuttle running back and forth with lightning speed. Do not ever take your
eyes off of it, you might ruin the pattern. On the other hand, if there is no
crown for me I am to blame. Suppose we look at it like that. There is therefore
laid up for me a crown, and I am mighty glad he added the rest. “And not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Friends, I beg you tonight in the adorable name of the Lord Jesus Christ that
you no longer stand aloof and stay away, but that you come in obedience like
this: Let whosoever will come and take of the water of life freely. Behold, I
stand at the door and knock, He said, and if any man will open the door, I will
come m and sup with him and he with me. Won’t you let him come in? Jesus is
tenderly calling to you.


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  CHAPTER 15: THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
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The Doctrine of Christ THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST By C. M. Pullias The Doctrine of
Christ is a very profound subject. It is a very specific one. There is nothing
that can be substituted for it. The church of which we spoke last night, that
had its birthday in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost, had for its charter
members the apostles. From the second chapter of Acts we learned that that
church continued “steadfastly” in the apostles” doctrine. Friends, that is the
panacea for all our ills. That is the balm for all our aches. That is the tonic
for our souls, and whenever the church wanders from it, it shall sink, it shall
come to an end. It can live upon nothing else, and therefore has no right to
have anything whatever to do with any other doctrine than the doctrine of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

I have marveled at the success that attended that church, in the city of
Jerusalem, and seemingly without education in the main, without money to any
great extent, and yet they moved out, and in less than forty years they had
carried the doctrine of Jesus Christ all over the civilized world. They never
had an aeroplane, they had not the telephone nor a telegraph— they had no radio,
they had no steam rail carsj nor electric cars, nor steamships to ply the
waters. They went on foot, and yet, in that age, traveled that way and covered
the civilized world in less than forty years, until Paul wrote, “That every
creature under heaven has heard the gospel.” Yes, their sound went unto all the
earth and their words unto the end of the world. It has been a problem in these
times—and which we will discuss—as to how we can reach the masses, and there is
a constant cry going up, “If you will give us as many as a hundred thousand
dollars, why, then we will crown Christ Lord of All,” then “we will take the
world for Christ.” They had no money and they could not rely upon their earthly
success. Neither can we.

I have read with interest Acts of Apostles, that short oratorical book of
twenty-eight chapters, and I have noted with care that they relied solely and
only upon the Word of God for success. I know that Peter had the power to take
Tabitha by the hand and command her to rise, and she did. I know that they could
raise the dead and open the eyes of the blind and otherwise perform miracles,
but everywhere you read the story of their labors; their success turned upon
their preaching, upon their teaching—the Apostles’ Doctrine was their theme.
They continued in it, they abode in it, they stayed in it, one day with another.
They never used it as a bee uses its hive, to run in and out of, in fair and
foul weather. They got on the inside of it, they stayed in it, they remained in
it, and never one time did they depart from it; and therefore we hear the gospel
of Christ going into every home, and into every place, until, “There is not a
creature,” said Paul, “under heaven, but has heard the doctrine.” But now, I
want to point out this fact to you, that we are mistaken. We think if we had a
fine church building, and if we had automobiles, and various mod-ern facilities,
and aids and helps, and organizations, and we have about organized it until we
choke it to death. What men and women need to learn tonight is what the
apostles’ doctrine is, to pick it up, to get in it, to preach every day,
everywhere, to pick it up, to get in it, to preach it every day, everywhere, to
everybody, and stop at that.

I read in the third chapter of Acts of Apostles: To show you the financial
standing of this remarkable little church in their very beginning, when Peter
and John were going into the temple, to the house of prayer, and a man who was
crippled in his feet, had never walked a step in his life, above forty years of
age, reached out his bony fingers for an aim of Peter and John; and Peter said,
“Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give thee: In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

Brethren, I want to tell you the principle in that: God does not want us to give
anything that we do not have—but just such as I have I give it to you, and if
the church here, as anyone else, would give just such as it has, why, then they
would move on to higher ground, and would soon sweep the earth from ocean to
ocean and from pole to pole. But just let me supplement that just a minute.
There are lots of people in the church today who do not have anything, because
they are not economical, because they are not thrifty, because they do not save;
they spend it for chewing gum and tobacco and candy and Coca Cola', and
everything, and the result is they have nothing left for the Lord.

I want to tell you that God will hold us accountable for not having anything,
but he will not hold us ac-countable for not doing something we are not able to
do, “What I have I will give you, that is all.” In my years of experience as a
preacher I have learned that men are mighty liberal with what they don't have,
“If I had so and so I would do so and so,” and I have my misgivings and my
doubts, because what they have they do not use in harmony with what they would
do if they had so and so. There is a reason for this. It is universally agreed,
without reference to religious tenets and dogmas, that God must be with man to
accomplish in this world, and that God must be with the church, or else it can
never succeed. I believe it might be well to say that little Joseph, after
twenty-two years of absence from home, came out the hero in the case, when he
was the Prime Minister of the richest land m all the world. The Bible says they
sold him into envy, in Egypt, but God was with him. What can man do without God-
- nothing, nothing, and that system of education, or any other thing you might
mention, that drives God out of the heart, and out of the home, and out of the
lives of men and women, is a failure. Men and women cannot succeed without God.
And if God be for us, who can be against us? The. question rings out from every
page of Holy Writ, and tonight, my friends, I tell you if God is not with us in
Abilene, we cannot do anything—we had just as well fold our tent and go home.

I read this encouraging; statement: “Great is He who is in you, even he who is
in the worid." If we can have God to live this week with us, and feed us, and
fight our battles for us, and deliver us from evil, that long; shall we succeed:
but when we depart from God then we can go no further. There is a reason—I offer
this suggestion, and I am stepping now upon ground that is common to all
religions. It is an acknowledged proposition, one that is received univer-sally,
that God must be with men. I read, when Paul was at his first trial, “And all
men forsook him,” and from the magnanimity of his soul, thrust him into prison,
and he prayed God not to lay it to their charge, “notwithstanding God stood with
me.”

I read about the time that Christ sat about the table, and delivered that
wonderful lesson, in John 14, 15, 16, and then concluded with that remarkable
prayer, John 17. And when the matter had gone into the late hours of the night,
and when one of the disciples said, “Lord, how is it that you have manifested
yourself to us and not to the world?” He said, “The world does not love me—you
love me, and therefore I will come to you, and I will take up my abode with you,
and my Father will come to you and take up his abode,” and lest they failed to
get his meaning, he said, “He that hath my commandments and keep- eth them is he
that loves me”; so then that church that does not abide in the commandments of
God and keep his commandments is not regarded in that passage as loving God. But
let me read you another passage from the second Letter of the Beloved John,
beginning with verse 9: “Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of God." The man that transgresses, the man that goes beyond the doctrine of
Christ, has not God—And therefore that early church, that first church,
continued steadfastly in the-apostles’ doctrine. To the extent then that any
church departs from that—to that extent then it ceases to be a church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is, however, a succession. We succeed then only through
the word of the seed, and the word of God is the seed. Outside of that,
independent of that, there is no succession, and whenever we depart from the
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ our chain of succession is broken and beyond
repair—we never return to it.

There are so many people in the world that do not like doctrinal sermons. I
have'been told a number of times, by certain preachers, that “I don’t like to
hear him preach, because he preaches doctrinal sermons,” and to be frank with
you tonight I would be ashamed of myself if I did not. I don’t know how you
think of it. But I am not going to try to find out. It looks like that we might
just point out a few lessons to you: First, this—that the idea is, if a man
believes a thing, that faith will save him; but he ought to remember that the
power to save a man is not in the act of believing, it is in what he believes.
That is the reason Paul preached the word; that is why that church continued
steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine. The power to save is what a man believes.
If it is not, then I may not believe rightly. The Bible says if he does not
believe in God he shall be damned.

There is that established rule of faith, and the Bible says, “We must contend
earnestly for the faith.”

I was asked once to participate in a meeting, and they wanted me to take my turn
in the little town in which I lived, and they wanted me to agree not to preach
anything doctrinal. I said, “Well, I will not do that, but I will agree not to
preach anything except that which I can read out of the Bible without comment;
but I would not preach for any house, or any meeting, or any church, or any
congregation beneath the canopy of heaven that would not let me preach what the
Bible teaches. I told those parties that day that the Bible said every scripture
inspired of God is doctrinal and just as long- as God permitted me to live and
this poor stammering mouth of mine was allowed to speak, I expected to use at
least one passage of the scripture in every sermon I preached, and I could not,
therefore, make any such agreement.

I wonder if it would not be well to give a quotation or two to show you how the
Bible speaks of it: “Teach thou the things which become the sound doctrine.”

I have heard some doctrinal preachers make a joke and suggest certain things
about the Bible. “It does not look to me like there is anything grave about it.”
A thing of gravity, thing of sincerity—that is the way the books says it, and
showing therefore no corruptness.” That is the way the Bible states it. “In all
gravity. Just look yonder at that open grave, and they are standing by it with
hearts so light that they are not touched by its darkness. Just think of such a
one .as that—and here preaching the word of God and the doctrine of Christ, or
any part of it; and that gravity that does not cause us to be serious and
sincere and thoughtful.

Paul, talking to Titus, said this: He said, in talking about elders: “You select
elders who are sound in the faith and abide by sound doctrine, to convince the
gainsayers.” Yes, I suggest to you further—that he said to the young preacher
then. He said: “Take heed to yourselves.” And that is a mighty fine set of
words, and I believe if we would clean up about our back doors and brush the
cobwebs from our brains and purify our lives, then we might go out with effect
and tell the story of Jesus Christ; but as long as we go out and preach one
thing and look to another, it looks like to me that kind of thing will fail. He
said, “Take heed to yourselves and to the doctrine, for it wil save you and them
that hear you.” That is the way he said it.

Yet, my friends we don't like doctrinal sermons. Suppose we were to reach a
righteous version, we would not have that word “Doctrinal.” It has got a rasping
sound to it. No, there are certain religious institutions on earth that won’t
allow men to preach a doctrinal sermon except occasionally—and 365 days out of
the year, if I get it, is what the Bible says.

Now, listen friends, the inspired apostle came again and said: “Mark them that
are causing divisions and occasions for stumbling, contrary to the doctrine
which you have learned and avoid them, for they that are such serve not the Lord
. . . and by their fair and smooth speech they beguile the hearts of the
innocent.” Writing to that part of the church—the Philippian church, he said:
“There are many who walk.” “I say to you, as I did before, they are the enemies
of the cross of Christ, whose God is their belly, who mind earthly things.” And
yet they failed to catch the significance of that.

Suppose a man comes here with another doctrine that is different from the
teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ? What are you going to do with him—what
relation are you going to bear to him? What would you say to him; will you take
him into your arms and warm him into your lives, until he has planted the seed
of corruptness, until it will ooze out everywhere, and the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ is split into a thousand pieces, by the factions and schisms about
what the Bible contained, or did not contain, and say that the reason is that we
can’t understand the Bible alike, that it is subterfuge and deceptive? That is
not true that we can’t understand the Bible alike. If we understand it at all we
understand it alike. The first book I ever studied was the old blue-back
speller. I wore that book out. I went through it from the fly-leaf until I
learned my A B C’s—just as I did the Bible here. They can’t understand the Bible
alike. Yes, incompatibility, it finally reaches that, and yet the same thing in
the Bible. These letters we learned—they were formed into words of monosylables,
and then into words of two syllables, until we got to words of five or six
syllables. It is the same proposition. I studied grammar once, and it gave a
rule like this: It said: “a sentence is a group of words expressing a complete
thought,” whether it is in the Bible or in the Almanac. It doesn’t make any
difference whether it is in the Bible or not, we just know there is a sentence.

“Father, from whence did these things come.” Where did this book come from?
Where did this denomination come from? Where did this doctrine arise, something
that was not put in the book? I read a little story one time, in the “Life of
Christ,” a little parable: “They sowed the seed of the destruction of man and
when the fruit came there were the tares and they said “must or must not we sow
good seeds in the fields; from whence then.." And he went on to say that, “After
they slept the Devil sowed the tares in the wheat,” and they didn’t know the
difference in the tares and the wheat until the fruit came.” Do you get the
idea? You would have to make the very finest professional diagnosis to tell the
difference in the tares and the wheat, but it was not done. Now, can you tell
the difference in the gympsom weed and the wheat in the field, or the cockle
burrs; but when it came to this question, it was so near like the wheat that
they didn’t see any harm or any difference in it, and it bore fruit after a
while.

You hear people say: “I don’t see any difference to amount to anything.” Well,
maybe not. “I don’t see any harm in it.” Well, maybe not. The reason is because
some do not use their eyes. The Bible tells us “that all men are blind.” That
man who exercises himself, has read and studied upon it, until it is like the
tree watered from the well —until it is fruit for themselves. Of course we are
not expecting him to see anything, because he is blind, but the man who has
studied it and learned and understands it, and believes it and obeys it, puts it
into practical use, with his eyes open —he is not near-sighted, he is not blind,
and he can see the difference in the tares and the wheat. But just let us turn
our attention back to another thought here: That they not only continued in the
Apostles’ Doctrine, but they continued “steadfastly” in the Apostles’ Doctrine.
“Steadfastly,” that is the way the Bible puts it. To continue in a thing is to
get in it and remain in it and never get out of it, and to continue steadfastly
in it. That word “steadfastly” has a synonym in the Holy Scriptures, and that is
“patience,” and we have the idea that a man must be patient. The basis of that
is and by that we mean in modern parlance, that the one-plus treatment is
square, and I am not alarmed or agitated—I don’t care if corn is one dollar a
grain and I have neither corn nor money—and I need “patience.” I tell you you
must have steadfastness, get in there and stay there—when the sun does not
shine, when you are sick and when you are well; and that might help some of the
Sunday morning headaches you have. Lots of our folks where I am from have Sunday
morning headaches, and get up about eleven o’clock or afterwards, but the man
who can’t serve God, is too busy—he is in and out, he will not do it. But I
quote: “They continued steadfastly.” And there was somebody once said, “To stand
to the rack, fodder, or no fodder.”

I know lots of brethren that will stand all right, as long as everything is all
right, until a shadow falls, and then they quit—there are lots of them. And that
kind of religion is not worth the snap of a finger, when there is no persecution
when everybody looks alike to them. They stood there day in and day out,
steadfastly to the Apostles’ Doctrine, and when the storm of perse-cution broke
in upon them, some of them were beaten, some were murdered, but they still stand
and take their medicine. Yes, indeed, that is what we want—that is what we mean
that the church in those days stood steadfastly for it. They succeeded because
God was with those thf^t stood in his teaching, that believed in it, those that
remember it and love and obey him. God is with them fighting their battles for
them. And if he is with us who can be against us? But when we come to think
about that just a little bit more, we have this kind of an idea: “Brethren, be
steadfast bountiful in the 'work of the Lord. Inasmuch as you know that your
labor in the Lord is not in vain”

“Temperance,” “Patience,” that is the same word, But I want to say another thing
to you, and that is this: That when you read about the Doctrine of the Apostles,
there, is never an “s” put to it. You know the “s” means plural, but when you
read about the Doctrine of God, or the Doctrine of Christ, or the Holy Spirit,
there is not one in the Bible.

Sometimes you hear a brother talking about the teachings of Christ. The Bible
don’t talk that way about it, and since the Bible never says “teachings,” or
“doctrines,” we had better never say it either. Just let us learn about the
things in the Bible, and if it rs impossible for us to do that, then perhaps we
had better look closer and see if there is not something that the Bible does not
contain. But the word does occur in the plural in the Bible, for the apostle
says: “If you be dead with Christ of the world; where..... Now, there is where
you have your “doctrines,” that is where they' all came from. One body, one
spirit, one faith, one God. one Doctrme—the Doctrine of the Apostles—the word of
Jesus Christ; and therefore when you read the doctrines of men you have the
plural. How many do you suppose there are? I do not know. I never expect to take
the time to enum erate them. I don’t care anything about it. I would just as
soon have the doctime of old Balaam, or the doctrine of Nicholas, or old. But we
cannot live without the Doctrine of Christ.

I tell you that the religion that comes from men and originates from man we run
down and trace it, but that which came from the church of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we cannot live upon anything else except the gospel of Christ—the Doctrine of
Paul, from the first letter—because Christ is the author of your faith, that is,
He is the living God.

Doctrines of men. You hear folks talking about my doctrine, and your doctrine.
Well, I haven’t any. When I was younger I might not have seen it as I do now,
but now I want to tell you that I haven’t any, and I would be ashamed if I had,
in my present mind, but I am trying to present to you the Doctrine of the Lord
Jesus Christ, just holding up that one point and magnifying it and dweling on
it; because, I will tell you, when you live in the church of Christ, corruption
ceases to be, and the only way the church of Christ can ever be revived and
marched out with triumphant zeal against the doctrines of men, is to trace the
Doctrine of the Living Christ—to get in it, to stay in it and be in it, day in
and day out.

Let me state this to you: God came to Christ, and Christ came to the apostles,
and the Holy Spirit came unto the apostles, who gave it to the world, and
there-fore. it is called the Doctrine of the apostles, and therefore if God gave
it to Christ, it is the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, (but not “Doctrines.”)
There is a marked difference; but there is another time when that word is used
in the plural. Reading in the New Testament Paul said: “Go and doctrines of
devils.” Do you know, my friends, that the devil will find out what you want to
do? And it is strange to me that the smartest men on earth will tell us what we
want to do; that we do not appreciate a man who has not courage enough and
backbone enough, to stand up and tell us before our teeth that there are things
we will have to do or die. We will get mad at him.

Paul said, “Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?” Like old Nathan, when
he came to David with adultery—the breaking up of the home, the foulest crime
that could be committed, and old Nathan pointed his finger in his face and said,
“Thou art the man.” To think of the man or woman that will tell us of our sins,
because our only hope of redemption is just here. Wouldn’t it be fine, then, to
just turn everything loose except that. Satan will teach you anything and never
complain of anything you undertake except the Bible.

Doctrines of men—Doctrines of devils; but the Doc-trine of God, the Doctrine of
the apostles, the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit—one thing, just one thing. From
whence, then, did the tares come? Here is the trouble: There has a seed been
planted. Then how is that? It is what they have been taught. Then here comes
someone with something that is not in the Bible. That is the thing that divided
the people, that /formed the party; that is the thing that severed the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then they pick up this blessed old Book, and
therefore insult God, and dishonor thinking people by translating the original
language.

If it became necessary that I translate again the original language, I would
have suspicions to start with. Who made this Bible—“God;” who made the revised
Bible—the best scholars in the world, and here am I. I don’t know anything about
Greek. I may know the first word in the Greek alphabet, and then I have got the
Doctrine, and have to come here and retranslate it from Alpha to Omega. Why? I
have got a doctrine to sustain and support, and the English Bible doesn’t do it.
I have mighty little confidence in this sort of thing. And do you suppose that
God would go to all this pains, and trouble, and expense, of giving his word to
the world and not give it in the language that they understand and know? And
some little fellow, with a head about as big as a cocoanut, coming along and
translating it. Yes, he has got to retranslate it. Now, what do you think about
that? But just get the idea that here is the church of Jesus Christ, that the
book tells us that Christ is the husband and the church the wife; in the 5th
chapter of Ephesians it says; “We are bone of his bone, we are flesh of his
flesh.” And the husband is the head of the wife. And so Christ is the head of
the church, and as the wife must be in subjection to her husband, so must the
church be in subjection to Christ. Of course he was not telling you about
multiplism—he was talking about the rule they must maintain in force whether men
abided by it or not. But here comes now the church, producing an organ-ization,
but giving rise to a party born of Jesus Christ, and he had nothing to do with
it. I don’t wonder then that I read in the Bible about adultery, and about
fornication; that I read about whoredom, that I read about Pilus—not from a
physical standpoint altogether, but universally, all through the Bible, almost
—the spiritual relationship all around us—the church of Christ. Men crop in and
teach things, and the first thing you know here’s a party in the church, and
Jesus had nothing to do with it.

You will allow me to speak plainly. This is my first opportunity to preach to
the people in this wonderful city.and it may be my last one; but friends you
must allow me to speak freely. Suppose a man and his wife are in your town, and
that woman should give birth to an offspring with which her husband had nothing
to do? What would you think of it? There is your story, your relationship; there
is what the Bible says about it; and one of. the churches to which Jesus wrote
in Revelations warned him against that woman, Jezebel and he called him before
he finished this doctrine.

There are various institutions and various societies and various organizations
in this world, that never came from the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
here is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ coquetting with those things. Old
Balaam’s doctrine, the doctrine of compromise. God said to his people: “You
shall not be numbered with the nations—you must be a separate nation, therefore
you must maintain your separate nation from the nations of the world. And old
Balaam went over to curse his own people, but God would not let him do it—but he
told Balaam to get some of the women, some of the best, that could come as quick
as possible, and invite them over, and they did, and they were soon marrying one
another and mixing together, and the Lord took a hand in it, and twenty- four of
them died, and the Book calls it fornication.

Oh, yes, the book tells them of the doctrine of Balaam, and the church says: “We
have to do so and so and mix up with so and so.” In that event, let the church
of Christ stand over here and the others over there. There are not but two
things to it—one is the church of God and the other is the other side. The
conquest is to fight over it, not for a day, but for a year, and I decided long
ago, as a member of the church of Jesus Christ, and I expect to give everything
I have, my bones, muscles, my time and money, to the ad-vancement of the
obligation and the proposition of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I haven’t
time for anything else.

I just' wonder how that might apply in these modern times or church here,—the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ going out with somebody else. That thing of
adultery is received in our journals— it is published everywhere, but people in
the time of Christ practiced it a long time. No, not a woman’s fi-delity to her
husband or her faithfulness. Do you re-member when we stood there, and I said,
with all my heart, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God”—We took him in our hands and
said we would be loyal and faithful unto death, and “I know that my Lord will
never leave nor forsake me, but I am constantly in dread of this evil world,
lest I be lured, lest I be tempted to go astray.” “He gave himself to me, he
went to the Cross and carried my sins there. First, he came down and gave me
consent, and he was so tender and so sacred, “and it hurts my heart to see the
recklessness and the infidelity and unfaithfulness between married people today,
because, if for no other reason, it is threatening the home and the church and
society; but it is a thrust at the Lord Jesus Christ, who took the sacred
relation that exists between him and his? You can’t do it, my friends, you must
abide in the Apostles’ doctrine.

I want to point out just another thing or two, because we do not want to speak
too long here: We are two thousand years this side of the apostles. We mention
what history is doing—since the day Jesus stood yonder, on the heights and
delivered that sermon on that memorable day. The stream of flood and time has
borne us on, until we are nearly two thousand years removed. We are far away in
the deep-tangled wildwood, in the theological brush, and T want to ask what are
we to do? You hear people say, “What am I to do”? Look at this man—here’s
another, a scholar, smart, and here’s another, and yet he says, “What will I
do”? I’ll tell you what to do— pay no attention to either of them. Go back
yonder and sit down at the feet of the apostles and get your lesson again. Get
your Jacob-staff, get your level and find your beginning, and undertake to run
that line there, and if you lose it again, go back and get on the old trail and
try it over. It does not matter how good a surveyor a man is, how well equipped,
or about the accuracy of his instruments, unless he can find the beginning
corner he can do nothing. Going out here to find a tract of land, unless he can
find a beginning, what account is a compass or a Jacob-staff, or his ability to
calculate every mile and acre, and the width and length of it? Not a bit on
earth. Let’s go back yonder to the beginning, where we ought to go. Let’s there
make our start in the established corner of the city of Jerusalem, on the day of
Pentecost, and when we come down the stream so far, all entangled in the
wilderness, and have lost our way, let us go back yonder where we know the
ground and start all over again. What do you say about that?

Christ said once, “We are all as sheep, going astray.” You can take a pig and
carry him away from home, before his eyes are open, and turn him loose, and he
will go home; but you take a lamb.away from its mother, just a few yards away,
and it cannot go back; put it on a flat rock and it will starve to death out
there. But let Jesus take us by the hand and lead us out of it. I tell you, my
friends, pay no attention to what men say about it. Go back and see what Peter
tells you, and John, and James, inspired of Him who knew whereof he spoke.

Away back in the wilderness a man is lost, and we go looking about for him and
find a knot on a tree. There has been a scar there. The old surveyor went and
ran this line, one hundred years ago he did that, and that is just as good as
any. Do you reckon anybody would pay a dollar on that? Why, an old woodpecker
might have peocked on that tree; an old Indian might have scalped it with his
tomahawk, before our forefathers ever saw this country. And yet you will take a
guess at it, and you would not put a dime of your good money in it; and yet you
lose, but your money is not worth anything.

Let me illustrate a little more: Here’s a stream, with a spring, that comes down
out of the mountain, two miles, approximately, back yonder is where that stream
comes out of the mountain, over the pebbled course, and the water at the source
is as pure as moult- en silver, but it has come down through the fields, and the
filth, and the surplus water has been flowing off in it, and stock drinking out
of it, and every man or boy or girl that could get a bathing suit has been
bathing in it and a man in the woods is thirsty—would he stick his axe in a
stump and put his head down and drink out of it? Why, he would not do it? It
would have turtles in it, and snakes in it, and wiggletails in it. It is
absolutely unfit to drink, his health would become impaired by it. And I know
that woodmen get mighty thirsty. You can put me to work and I will get thirsty
mighty quick.

I have been out on a hunting and fishing trip, but I could never understand the
psychology of it. Do you reckon that a woodman would drink that filthy and muddy
water? No, he would stick his axe in that stump and go back up yonder and drink
out of that spring from the hill, out of the mountainside, before it is
contaminated. And here am I, two thousand years this side of the apostles, with
all the filth that is creeping in, the doctrines of men, and the Bible, and yet
I have to have something to drink and I will stick my nose in and drink. No,
no—my soul is worth too much to me to do it, whether it is to anyone else or
not; therefore I will turn away, I will reject' it and go back yonder and sit
down by the apostles and let them tell me the story. It is not a reformation, it
is a restoration—going back to the apostles of the Lord, with Jesus Christ,
telling sinners what to do, to do what they told them to do, teaching the
churches to do what they told the churches to do. There’s your safety, your
tonic, there’s your life, there’s your soul-saver.

Wouldn’t it be great for you to go back there and get that lesson, the apostles’
doctrine.

I want to tell you just a little story before I am done, not to make it
laughable, but because it illustrates what I want: Over in the hills of
Tennessee there was a man who was said to have a herd of hogs, who had lost his
voice, but he had taught' those hogs to come there to their feed, by taking an
ear of corn and knocking on the railing, and they soon learned their dinner
bell, and every time he knocked they would come to their feed. One day there
were two men passing through the woods. One of them was a stranger and the other
was familiar with the situation. The stranger saw those hogs and they had
pricked their ears and were running as hard as they could go—some this way, and
some yonder and some another way, and he said, “Wait, what in the world is the
matter with those hogs? And the other man replied, “Why, the man wtio feeds them
has lost his voice, he cannot call the hogs, and therefore he has taught them,
by knocking on a rail with an ear of corn, to come to their feed, and therefore
every time a woodpecker lights on an old snag and goes to pecking, they run to
him.” And you know today, my friends, the world is afflicted with theological
woodpeckers, just knocking on those old snags, and here they go helter skelter,
for him to feed them. Do you think that is in keeping with the Bible? Listen to
me: “Ye go hence and... just to and fro and carried about with every doctrine,
by the craft of men and their cunningness, whereby they lie in wait to receive
you.

You let a man come into your community, and he thinks he has what everybody
should have—He ought to have his head examined. Oh, yes, he has a subject, and
nobody has ever heard that subject and everybody talks about it, and “I am the
originator of it.” Well, a man ought to be examined when he feels that he is the
first one that ever had it. And therefore I am not ashamed to talk to you about
that which is old. There is nothing in the New Testament that is too new to drag
into the pulpit, or that is -n the Bible that is too old. There is our feed,
there is our ice cream, there in our water—there in our meat and drink, to the
end that it is not everyone that speaks to me. “Oh, Lord, let me enter in the
kingdom of heaven."

Read Acts of Apostles and find out what a sinner must do, what shall the church
do? Read those letters and find out the apostles’ doctrines. You may not care
much for it, friends, tonight,—In health, in sunshine, with the flowers blooming
all around but there will be a day when it will be different, when the shadows
will fall on your home, and in your hearts sometime—when there will be a bunch
of crepe at the front door to tell the observers of the mysterious passing of
him; there will be a mortal bier, pallid lips, a heart that stopped beating,
passed into that..... hieroglyphics that mortals cannot fancy: Involuntarily you
will turn to the Bible, and there find its sweet consolation and comfort. “The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He rest'oreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art
With me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth
over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I
will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” May God bless you and keep you
under the shadow of his wing—he wants to do it—will you not let him do it.


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  CHAPTER 16: IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA
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In All Judea and Samaria IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA By C. M. Pullias

We are very much gratified tonight that our Living Heavenly Father, by his good
grace, has permitted us to live to the present, and now resume our studies in
Acts of Apostles.

There was a time, in the history of the Church, not many centuries after its
beginning, on the Day of Pen-tecost, in Jerusalem, when it is said, that they
hardly knew that there was such a Book in the world, or that such a Book had
ever been written, and it looks to me sometimes, as I look over the matter of
the pulpit and of the press, that time may come again.

If you were to take the heart out of a man’s body, he could live just as well as
if you took Acts of Apostles out of the Bible and away from the plan of
salvation. If you were to remove Acts you would take the heart of the Bible out.
Without it Christianity is impossible, and for that reason we have selected
these subject's here from that Book, and our first subject was the beginning at
Jerusalem; our second subject was the Apostles’ Doctrine—tonight; in all Judea
and Samaria, after the Church was established,—they must have some message to
impart to the world, and that is termed the Apostles’ doctrine; and in going out
of Jerusalem and all over the world they have no message save that, and they
undertook to use nothing else at all except that, for the recovery and the
restoration of a fallen and lost race.

I used to think that the Bible, especially the New Testament, was thrown
together carelessly. I have thought that way in some time, and I have changed my
views—I believe that the first four books of the New Testament are first,
because they belong at the first. I believe Acts of Apostles is the fifth Book,
be-cause it could not be placed logically anywhere else, it belongs there. I
believe the 21 letters follow Acts of Apostles, because they belong there, and
Revelations closes the New Testament, and the Bible, because it belongs at the
end of Revelations.

I would like to say to you that the progress of the early Church is marked in
the words of the Lord: Be-ginning at Jerusalem, and Jesus said, “You shall
receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”
If we were to read the Book of Luke, and then the three other books associated
with it, that tell the story of Jesus Christ while on earth, and then right on
through Acts of Apostles, we would have a continued story. The Book of Luke
closes with the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection, and the
Book of Acts begins with that—just as though we were to weld two pieces of iron
together, and we must have both of the same heat, in order that they may be
welded together; so then these two Books are welded together and then we have a
continued story. Their Chronology, for a shrt time, deserves our attention I
believe it might be well to say that there are some things about the Bible, from
a chronological point' of view, that are absolutely uncertain, that we cannot
rely too much upon chronology—that is, in every particular. There is some of its
chronology that is absolutely certain and definite.

Likewise might we remark that so far as the geography of the Bible is concerned,
that altogether is not too reliable; part of it is altogether certain, and other
parts absolutely uncertain; for when Columbus discovered America there was not a
geography in the world worth a dime, and for that reason I make mention of these
things merely that we may eliminate a lot of study and worry and time. I believe
we ought to know all about the geography of that country possible, and
everything about the Chro-nology that we can know but after all, there is much
of it that is indefinite and uncertain; but there are some things in connection
with it that are absolutely sure. The Acts of Apostles is divided into certain
divisions, we might say the first part' of it complies with the Books that we
read on the city of Jerusalem. I might say this, that the idea of the Geography
of it is to gain time, and drawing that as a radiating center, we come until we
reach the uttermost boundary of the inhabited earth.

It is mighty hard for us, in leaving our homes and going across to the other
side of the world, to ever ac-complish much. And so they began in Jerusalem and
their labors were confined to Jerusalem. Then next they were in Judea, and
Samaria, the countries immediately adjacent to Jerusalem, and thence to the
uttermost parts of the world. Acts of Apostles is written with regard unto this
order, and unto those three points, as they are suggested.

Jerusalem was a city in round numbers of 200,000 population. The first seven
chapters of Acts, with the first four verses .of the eighth chapter, gives us
the story of the City of Jerusalem. Beginning with the 5th verse of the 8th
chapter, of Acts and ending with the 12th chapter of Acts, we have the story of
Judea and Samaria. Beginning with the first verse, first chapter of Act's, we
have the beginning of the first part of the earth, when Paul went out on his
country wide tour, and ends with the 14th chapter. The first 35 verses of the
10th chapter tells of his visit after his return from that tour, about A. D. 50,
when they returned to Jerusalem. In the 16th chapter of Acts, it starts on the
story of Missions and closes with the 18th chapter of Acts. Beginning with verse
24 of the 18th chapter of Acts, and ending with 8 of the 21st chapter, when his
first missionary tour was incomplete and intercepted by his arrest in the City
of Jerusalem, we have the most stupendous undertaking in the history of the
world by remarkable men, and that is to evangelize the whole earth. The
remainder of that book is covered by his arrest and imprisonment, covering
approximately a period of five years, and when the Book closes he is still in
prison, in the City of Rome, waiting for the time he can answer for himself the
charges that are lodged against him. Briefly speaking, we have the outline of
this re-markable Book. Our attention, in the former subjects, has been divided
into the Jerusalem Church and its establishment, and if you want to know
everything you can about it, read the first seven chapters and the first verse
of the 8th chapter of Acts of Apostles. There we have the Church, whose
membership went into thousands, on the occasion of the first sermon preached
there, at the rate of three thousand a day, and the next day the number of
members leaped to five thousand, and then by such leaps and bounds until the
author tells us that multitudes of men and women were added to the Lord.

I tell you my friends there must be a secret in such success, and there must be
a cause for such remarkable progress. But in about two years—1 am persuaded in
my own mind—the Church began in the spring of 34, in the City of Jerusalem, and
about two years after that tune we have the subject that we have for tonight.
The 8th chapter of Acts—these first seven chapters, have covered about two years
of the history and the work of the Church in the Holy City, when they thrived
Jerusalem with their Doctrine, and later they turned the world upside down with
it; and tonight I call your attention to the. breaking away from Jerusalem.

I don’t blame those men for coming from every auarter of the earth, until the
hills and valleys were filled with them all over that country, because the
apostles were there, and they were ministers of God, and they had been with
Jesus, and had heard him, and talked with him. and slept with Him, and even ate
with Him, saw him when he died, saw the open grave, saw him come up, saw him
resurrected, and heard the messengers say, “As you have seen him go, so shall he
come again.” Also, it was to them that he, gave the message that was to become
age-old and w orld wide. They are pouring into Jerusalem from every quarter of
the earth to sit down at Peter’s feet, and John’s, and James’, and the apostles,
and listen to them tell the story to every nation and to a weeping wrorld. With
all my years that are upon my head, with all its troubles and cares, I would be
willing to work my way as a stoker upon some steam vessel, to go to the City of
Jerusalem, to sit dawn for one hour and listen to John talk, and Peter talk, and
James, and the rest of those inspired apostles, who leaned upon his breast, who
ate with him, and drank with him, who saw him bear the cross and suffer, time on
time, for the sins of the world, and I don’t blame them. This went along for
about two years. It was a period of education and opportunity, when the Word of
God should be planted in human breasts, and when the two years were finished,
one of God’s noblest men made a speech one day, and we might say he was lacking
in diplomacy, if he had lived in your own age; and they rushed onto
him,.......and stoned him, and I saw that man lift his face to God—“Lord,
receive my spirit”; then I saw a man lift his broken, bleeding, battered body,
and carry it away t'o bury it .

I just want to say this, many things happen to us that we think ruin us and are
destructive. The disciples were under a shadow and cloud. The persecution that
began back yonder over the healing of that man that had lived forty years as a
beggar, that had never walked a step in his life; it began there and continued
to grow until it culminated in the death of one of God’s noblest men, a man full
of the Holy Ghost, full of moral courage, to tell the story of God as it was
related to him; but notice, my friends, when he was dead, that' a great
persecution broke out against the church. The Book tells us that they carried on
in great lamentation, devout men did—they were brokenhearted, there was a shadow
on their hearts, their very existence was threatened, and they felt they were
ruined, but I want to say to you, in the language of David, “And I speak not in
the exact words, but in substance, that God in olden times—that he makes the
wrath of man to praise Him. The very thing that broke out in the church that
resulted in the death of Stephen, was the best thing that could have happened;
and if Stephen could have lived until now, and preached every day, he could not
have done in all his years what he did in the hour of his death, when that
mul-titude of disciples were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the
word. This then is the beginning of an evangelism that pertained to the country
districts, and hamlets, and towns, resulting from Stephen’s death—which
resulted, in other words, in the scattering of the church. They would have to
leave home, they are in the city of Jerusalem no longer. They must break up
camp, their tenting time is over; they have stacked arms so to speak, and must
leave the old camping grounds. The Book says they were scattered far and near
and went everywhere, preaching the Word. To scatter means to diffuse in drops,
and they went in every direction, hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps. Per*
haps one hundred thousand Christians left Jerusalem at one time, in every
direction, and wherever one found a home, or a hamlet, or a cross-road, or a
store, or a place with a person in it, he is preaching the Word of God. I tell
you, sometimes we think things happen to us and ruin us, and we want sunshine,
and flowers and friends, money and clothes, and I am not sure but what maybe
tears have done more to bring hearts to God, or poverty and persecution, than
all the things men have had to wear or eat.

“Nothing can befall his children that will be to their disadvantage.” I have
thought', in this connection, of the statement that Paul made, when he said, “We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God;”

Suppose something were to happen in the town of Abilene, Texas, in which we are
situated tonight, and this great company of Christians, by reason of the.
persecutions, on account of that happening:, should be scattered—that you would
have to move your homes or property, or whatever you had, and be scattered, just
going' hither and thither. Fow many men of the church in Abilene, Texas, would
have the moral courage, under those conditions, to preach' the word of God
wherever they might be? We would be afraid to open our mouths. I tell you
tonight what’ the church of Christ wants & to be tied to the Word of God, and
have the moral courage to speak it anywhere, to anybody, at any place, just
simply because it is the Word, of God. They went everywhere, everywhere,
preaching the Word, and in a day’s time it had spread over Judea, over Samana,
and all that adjacent country about there. One hundred thousand Christians,
perhaps, going- in different directions. Suppose that the church of the present
time in tins town, or any other in your community, should be scattered abroad,
and many of them wrere t’o go out to preach. And where would be the result? How
many of them could preach the Word of God? How many of the members of the church
are sufficiently familiar today to tell a man what to do to be saved? In the
State of Texas I can point out to you men who are in the eldership of the church
who could not quote the Bible to save their lives. I was impressed with your
dean the other day, talking about the inefficiency of teachers. How can a
teacher teach something when he does not know it himself? Therefore how' can we
go out into this world and preach the Word of God unto men and women, and boys
and girls that are perishing on hill and plain, when we don’t know what the Word
of God contains. “Study.......handling aright the Word of truth,” is the
language of the apostles, and when ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that
one teach you again what be the first principles of the oracles of God. For
every one that useth milk is a babe, unskillful in the word of right-eousness.
And in these two years people were so proud of the Word of God, when they were
driven out of their homes—the greatest persecution ever experienced up until
that time, they went everywhere and preached the Word.

We depend on a preacher who will come around about once a year and preach ten
days and then he is gone, and then we can live on that until next year, and that
is our food; and if you did not eat with me you would not live another year. And
when Jesus Christ said, “men shall not live by bread alone but by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” I am just' as sure as anything that a
man cannot live without the Word of God—he must take it daily, systematically,
he must enter into it, in prayer, in seriousness, and in all gravity. There.were
numbers of them that went abroad from Jerusalem, so we will just take up one of
them and digress: In the fifth verse of the eighth chapter of Acts, we have the
conversion of the Samaritans, and some other matter that is linked therein, but
which in substance comprises this work. In commencing it is said, here — “That
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.” Now,
that is just one man out of the great multitude that was in the city of
Jerusalem, and each one of them did that, they were all doing it, and I would to
God that we could learn tonight, and “If any man speak, let him speak the
oracles of God,” and if every man who gets in the pulpit tomorrow would only
speak the Word of God, what one of God’s preachers does, every one ought to do,
then nothing but the word of God would be preached. He went to the city of
Samaria and preached Christ to them; and the next suggestion I want to make
about this is, that any way leading to Jerusalem is up —every time they went up
to Jerusalem, they went down from Jerusalem.

It is said of Mary and Joseph, “They went up every year from Jerusalem to
worship after the custom of the Feast.” It is said a man went down from
Jerusalem into Jericho. And Philip went down from Jerusalem to Samaria; and so
that is, so to speak, a promonitory, from our point of view, and it is this from
which the light radiates to the uttermost corners of the world. You can just
make your decision as to that, I am just telling you what the Bible says about
it.

It may be well to state, too, that the city of Samaria was directly north of the
city of Jerusalem, a number of miles, and that the waters flowed from the north
to the south and if we were talking about' it now, we would say up to Samaria,
and down, if we were pointing to about southeast; but from Jerusalem, if it is
north that' is down, if it is east it is down, if it is south it is down, if it
is west it is down. And so Philip went down to the City of Samaria and preached
Christ to them. You will notice that Samaria is the capital of the country,
Judea in the south and Judea inf the center, and Galilee in the north, and
therefore he is in the city of Samaria now, and the Book tells us when he
reached there he preached Christ. I do not suppose there is any difference, any
man who preaches Jesus Christ must preach the Word of God and vice versa; and
any man who preaches the gospel and leaves Christ out of it, is certainly not
preaching the gospel that we read about in the New Testament. The book tells us
he entered there and the people became stirred and excited, and multitudes of
men and women were coming to the preaching, and he was per-forming miracles, and
they were excited over it. And they had already been baptizing in that city, and
then Philip says, when he was preaching the things concerning God and of Jesus
Christ—they were bap-tized both men and women. Now, I take it that when-ever a
man preaches Christ he preaches on conversion. Philip went to Samaria and
preached Christ, and when they believed he was preaching Christ' in the name of
God, they were baptized. Did you ever notice that is the universal statement in
the Book of Acts, that whenever the people believed the things that were
preached, they were baptized? Here comes the preacher, preaching the Word of God
to the sinner, and the sinner understands and believes, and before they leave,
it is midnight or some hour in the day, and he is baptized. In these days modern
revivalists come along and set up a big tent, and have contribution boxes as big
as plates to pass around; and when he preaches nothing of Christ' they will
flock to him in great numbers. And he will take the train and never baptize a
soul. I tell you there is a marked difference in the preaching of the apostles
and that of modern evangelists. Whenever people accepted what they preached they
were in every case baptized. Would it not be a great thing for us to copy
apostolic precedent, and follow in their teaching? I don’t mean to be harsh.
Somebody once said I was hard- boiled, but I don’t mean to be. I just want to be
frank with you. My soul and salvation depends on what I do with the word of God,
and so does yours. A man asked one of these big evangelists in a certain big
town, if he would not preach a sermon on baptism. He said, “I could do it, but I
am too busy preaching Jesus Christ, and I do not believe that the man lives that
can preach Jesus Christ and leave baptism out of it. I tell you that when the
name of Jesus Christ is called upon, and a man enters into it, he is baptized.
There is not an abundance anywhere where we could draw an exception to that' in
Acts of apostles. When they believed that Philip was preaching the things of
Christ they were baptized. And here are modern preachers, and they believe
everything he preaches, and not a soul is baptized. And I am suspicious, there
is something wrong with that kind of preaching. This man Philip went to Sarparia
and preached Christ to them, and when they believed the things he was preaching,
in the name of God and Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Now
there are three statements which are synonomous—that whenever one preaches the
word of God the same thing is preached of Christ, and whenever a man believes in
the things preached, he believes in Christ. Now, you hear a man say that is just
a sort of myth, and he would be evangelical without that. That is what we mean
by a saving faith, a faith caused by hearing the Word of God, faith as a means
without pleasing Him, and that is the theory produced all over the world.

I would to God that preachers of today could learn that lesson—preach the Word
of God, that faith might be produced in the hearts of the hearers, that faith
might overcome the world and please God.

I read a striking little statement in the book of Rom-ans, that' said,
“Whatsoever is not of faith is a sin.” Why, of course, everything that is in the
Bible, is of faith, if the Bible says it, we can do that by faith, and if not we
could not. Therefore, that would confine our activities unto the Bible alone. In
the midst of this meeting, great crowds coming and people being baptized in
great numbers, we observe that an angel came on the scene one night, in the
midst of a big meeting—and one of the biggest ever held by the disciples of the
Lord, outside of Jerusalem, and it is a remarkable success, a wonderful meeting;
and one night, in a most exciting moment of it, an angel came and said, “Philip,
get out of this town, go away from the city, go in a southerly direction, to a
road which leads from Jerusalem to Gaza.” A preacher told me once that he
thought it was best to preach in town, that he could reach so many more folks.
Well, maybe it is not the quantity, maybe it is the quality that counts, that
reaches them. We sometimes get very anxious to get additions, where the preacher
has more additions than the Lord has. I am glad to see.so many people observe
God, but it pains my heart when a man or woman, or boy or girl, would do it from
no motive whatever other than for obedience to God. I feel sure that you catch
the point. At any rate Philip was like most preachers of the time—he just did it
because God said so. Sometimes you hear people say, “How much faith does it take
to save a man?” “Well, it takes just so much.” Just, “God said to do it.” And he
replies, “Well, I think it would be best to do this.”

I understand this—it does not matter what people think, the question is what
does God think, what does He require. “My thoughts,” God said, “are not your
thoughts, my ways are not your ways.” And before Christ left the earth he laid
down the general terms to the Disciples: “If a man come after me, let him deny
himself ..." And here we are, constantly telling what “I think about it,” and
have to say about it, and “my way,” and “my Church,” and “my doctrine.” I am
ashamed of a preacher who would talk that way, because that is not the way the
Bible talks.

God says, “Philip, get out of the city, get out in the wilderness.” He says,
“Well, nobody lives down there, it is a waste down there, it is barren down
there, and this is a thickly populated center, this is a magnificent town, this
is a capital.”

Yes, a few years ago, they made most wonderful speeches all over the country. We
must have Jesus Christ, not only in the capital of the nation, but just where
there are souls to save. It is all right to have a revival in Washington, but it
would be just' as well to have one in Abilene. Washington, in God’s sight, is no
better than any other place.

We learn that Philip left overnight, or the next morning, and he went down into
the wilderness, and he told him, “There is a road down yonder, going to the
northeast,” and after a while he came to that road, and there he stopped. He was
at the end of his road. He had gone to the extremity, and that was as far as he
knew, and he stopped. And I would to God some of my brethren would stop where
God’s word stops; but we are filled with so much speculation and curiosity, that
our curiosity begins to work on us.

He stopped. He was at' the end of hi& journey. That was as far as he could go.
He stays there until some-body speaks to hijn again, and that somebody must be
the One on High. Standing by that roadside, there was a chariot came by, and
there was a lone man in it, and he was reading from the Holy Prophets, from the
Scriptures—his head was buried in the book—he was reading aloud, and was so
overawed and verwhelmed in the Scripture recorded in the third chapter of
Isaiah, that he did not know there was a man or a human about—reading from the
Holy Scriptures.

Going back, I want to talk to you about that. Here is Philip away up here in the
north, and here is the other man ‘way off down here, going to Gaza, in a
southwesterly direction, and Philip going down to this road, and this man having
left Jerusalem and got there at' a certain time, when the preacher came to the
crossroads, and the man was driving by. How did that happen? You just let the
Lord manage that and how they got there at the same time. Don’t you try to help
the Lord out. You listen to what he said—you be certain to get it, and when you
get' that, just do that and everything will come out right, and nothing whatever
can be wrong. I have thought many a time of that time, that God knew just' when
that man would leave Jerusalem, and the time Philip would reach this crossroad
and intercept him. And when Philip is there the chariot came driving by. .

Let me illustrate, Paul. Notice this fact, that Paul made a tour about eight
months afterwards and he came to Athens, and from there to Corinth; and did you
notice, at exactly the right time Claudius of Rome drove every Jew out of the
city, and then there came Aquila and Priscilla, and they formed a nucleus, and
worked together, and in eighteen months they established a wonderful church of
the Corinthians in that Metropolitan city. God worked that. He brought that
about. And the more we study the Bible the more we ought to know by now, that
“All things work for good to them who love God .......” And how it is beyond our
power to trace out! But mark you, if you will just let Gd have his way and
follow where he says, whenever we get to the place he assigns he directs us.
Then he will give to us another step, one step at a time—the sun setting, but
the Holy Book on High says, “Shining light, that shines more and more to the
perfect day.” You don’t have to weep all the way until you see the gates of
pearl, even to the gate that stands ajar.

If you go out tonight with a flashlight, just see if it doesn’t go ahead of you,
and there we have the il-lustration, just as it works, just as his commands
require. Just satisfy him and by the words of God, “and the more and more let
the light shine about you until the sun goes down at the end of a perfect day,”
and in the language of the Old Prophet, “It shhll be light’ at even time.” But
notice when he came in contact with this man. This man had been to Jerusalem to
worship. And we think if a man went to Jerusalem t'o worship, that he is going-
to heaven. There are a lot of people who wor-ship, but what do they worship? But
a man can wor ship any way he pleases, even worship God after the commandments
of men, but it won’t get him anywhere. The Bible says: “We know now that all
things work together for good to them that love God.”

We know now that when a man worships God and leaves the worship out of it, it is
not worth the snap of a finger. This man did worship God. You tell me that he
was not in fear. He must have been one thou- and miles away from home—he lived
in Ethiopia, and he didn’t' even have a Ford. Suppose you were going that far in
a Ford? And who was he? He had charge of all the money of the Queen of that
country. He was her treasurer, and so far as I know did not carry the stub of a
check along. He left all that back home. And yet there are brethren who can’t'
sit here for an hour to worship God, when God is so anxious to save, and people
are dying and starving all around, and they can’t close up a little ten-cent
store to come to worship God. “I am hired out” one man said to me. Well, this
man was hired out, not only that', but he had a big job, he had all the money of
Ethiopia, but he managed to get away and go one thousand miles, in an old
rickety chariot, to worship God one day. It must have taken him a month or six
weeks. “What would become of my business?” I don’t know—I am not looking after
that. “A man can take care of his own business and make all the money in the
world....... ” And yet you can’t leave God out of it. He deserves first
consideration, and he deserves more than to live off the rags and the crumbs and
the bazaar sales in this country. We have put Him out on the streets, like a
beggar selling shoestrings for a living, but he does not appreciate it. This man
had gone one thousand miles to worship, not only that, but he was forty or fifty
miles on the return trip, and he was so imbued with it, and full of it, running
over with it, that he is still reading and meditating and studying the Holy
Scriptures, he is absolutely filled with it. And I have seen brethren today who
will come to the Lord’s meeting with a bunch of papers, red and green —a big
quantity, as big as a bundle of oats or fodder, under their arms, and they will
sit back there and never render songs or prayer, and look at Andy Gump, and Mutt
and Jeff, and Winnie Winkle, and the rest of them, all the time the preliminary
services are going, on and they manage to lay it down in time to eat the bread
and drink the cup.

Gentlemen, I believe a man is unfit who enters in such fashion. A man should
enter in the service of our God seriously, with all gravity, meditating on it,
and working all hours to prepare and fit and open the heart for the spirit of
worship, that we might' give Him the best that is in us.

I am not certain but what these Sunday papers ought to be done away with.
Brethren, instead of getting up there and reading the Bible lesson, will read
the news in the Sunday papers.

Now, brethren, I don’t mean t'o be harsh, but let’s lay that aside, and let’s
acquaint ourselves with the things in the Bible, and when we come here filled
with the Bible, and new thoughts, and new inspiration, with the view of drinking
from the Holy Fount that morning, and go ahead, gentlemen, in reverence, in the
august presence of Jehovah, and break the bread and drink the cup, then we shall
act fittingly to the honor of him who loves us so, and who died to save us from
our sins. But this man passed along reading the Bible, and Philip stood there—he
didn’t know what else to do, and then the Spirit of the Lord came to this
preacher and said, “Philip, go and join yourself to that chariot.” I know
sometimes we talk about feeling moved to do so and so. What'moved you? “Well,
the spirit moved me.” Oh, no—the Spirit said, “Philip, go and join yourself to
that chariot.” That is the reason he ran and joined it. And I read yonder—seven
times repeated in the Book of Revelations—“He that hath ears let him hear what
the spirit says.” And it won’t make any difference to you whether you never hear
anything else—you won’t be any worse off after you cross the divide. And
therefore Philip stood there like a stone wall, until the Lord said, “Philip, go
and join yourself to that chariot,” and he ran out to it immediately. I saw a
picture of that. We have a lot of picture- makers in this world. Some make faces
better looking than the subject. One made a picture of Noah’s Ark once, and on
one side of that Ark he had fourteen windows with glass panes, and the one I
read about in the Bible didn’t have but one window, and that was on top. But now
this picture that was made, made Philip on the south side of that chariot. How
he ever got around on the lower side of it I don’t know. Philip came down from
the north, and when he reached this chariot then he joined the chariot, but the
picture had him on the opposite side, down there across the road. Now, you can
believe what you wish about that, but I am just mentioning* the little
discrepancies in these pictures. A lady was telling her Sunday School class
once, in Lebanon, Tennessee, about Jesus being baptized. She said John led him
down in that water, which was about knee-deep, and picked up a shell and poured
some wa-ter on his head. “Now,” she said, “Children, I did not read that in the
Bible, I saw a picture of that when I was a child, and I never forgot it.” Some
pictures are not correct and do not correspond with what' the Bible reveals
about it. But Philip did not wait for an introduction. I don’t know what he
would do now. You know, if somebody, some new person, comes into a town, that
somebody can’t' be visited now until someone introduces him. I was in a little
town recently, where a woman was about to bleed to death, and a man and his wife
came there, and when we stopped the flow of blood and her life was saved, this
lady says: “Why, I would have come over, but I had just forgotten whether you
came in the community before me, or vice versa.”

Now, Philip did not wait for an introduction, he ran up by the chariot and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading” ?

Now, my friends, there is not a man on earth, or woman, that can become a child
of God, who does not understand something. The Bible tells us they must
understand from their heart. The Bible tells us it gives light and
understanding, that “If you continue in my words, then you are my disciples
indeed, and the truth shall make you free.” If you do not understand what you
are reading, you had better understand before you read any more. This man says,
“How can I know unless somebody else comes up here and guides me?” Philip got up
in the chariot and opened his mouth and began preaching him the same scripture
and doctrine of Jesus. Now, there is preaching Jesus, and preaching God, and
whatever one means the other means, and whenever anybody says, “I am too busy
preaching Jesus to preach baptism,” why, he has got to preach Christ to tell it.
Preaching Jesus—“How can I, unless some man advise me” ? How is he going to
relieve that stupidity and ignorance, that darkness? Why, he opens his mouth and
preaches to him Jesus, and they went on their way. “What means it to me to be
baptized.” And if there is a man or woman here or anywhere else that can preach
Jesus Christ and say nothing about baptism, I would just like to hear him try
it. Suppose I tell you just a minute about that. I am going to preach Christ. I
will tell you about the birth of him, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in the
manger; and I will tell you about the flight.......about the sojourn in
Egypt.......And going back into the land of Canaan. I might tell you about them
taking him to Nazareth and bringing him up to Jerusalem when he was twelve years
old. I might tell you about him coming back, after they found the lost boy.
Eighteen years passed and I could not tell you anything. But I could tell you
when he was thirty years old—when he worked the last day in the old dusty shop,
and had been there day in and day out all these years, struggling and toiling to
drive the wolf from the door of his widowed mother, and of the orphan children,
when a boy of twelve—beginning when he was a boy eighteen years of age,
struggling, but his tools had become his companions, and the last day he worked
in the shop, he caressed every one of them, methinks, and laid them aside; and
when the day’s work was done he closed up his kit of tools and came out of the
old shop and closed the doors behind him, never to go back there again.

Let me tell you, it is a crisis in a man’s life when he goes to leave his
parents, and as much as.he has wandered from the hearthstone of the old home and
parental roof, there is a yearning and restlessness in the earth that can never
be satisfied, because there is nothing left there to which he can return in
after years. The fruit trees are failing and the fences are falling down and
there is no one left to love, maybe, now in that old home. And in the language
of another, “Backward, turn backward, Oh Time, in your flight— make me a child
again just for tonight.” Could we but lean on our mother’s knee and listen to
her counsel—could we but hear her sweet lullaby, could her wrinkled hand but
straighten out our tresses, could her lips kiss away our tears, and heal our
wounds. Oh, I will tell you, it is a crisis in any man’s life.

Jesus is thirty-one years old when he leaves home, and the Book tells you he
came to Galilee, to be bap-tized by John. I would have to tell you that, if that
would be my subject, and the Book tells you that Je.sus said, “Suffer'that to be
so now .......” And I can see John, as he led Christ into the waters of the
Jordan, raised him up, and I can see Jesus, as he lifted his eyes to heaven and
breathed the prayer, and the Spirit of God descended and rested like a dove on
Jesus Christ, and I can hear the voice, from the lips of God saying, “This is my
Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” I would have to tell you that, and I
don’t know but what any m^n on earth that teaches Jesus Christ would have to do
the same thing. Then, in about three and a half years after that, when he is
about to go on his way to heaven, he said to his disciples, “All power in heaven
and earth is given to me, Go therefore and preach to all the nations and baptize
them.......He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Would I undertake
to preach and leave those things out? No, my friends, I am going to tell
everybody, as long as I live, that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan at the
beginning of his public ministry. And I am going to tell you, when he was about
to go away, to come back no more, he commanded the apostles to go and preach to
all nations, “And he that believeth and is baptized is saved.” He was so true to
that that every time he preached and people believed him, they were baptized,
throughout the Acts of apostles.

But, my friends, just another word: This man says, “Let me be baptized.” If you
believe with all your heart, you may. “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God.” They tell us that is not enough, that that is too simple. Do you know
there is not a shadow that that does not embrace, not a bleeding heart that that
does not embrace, that there is not a law, not a professor, there is not a
Psalm, nor a- book or chapter, or verse out of the Old Testament, or the New,
that that does not embrace; and whenever a man says, “Out of my heart, I believe
Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” he must take the whole doctrine, and he must
continue in it. "Oh, yes,” a man says,- “I believe that Christ is the Son of
God, but I don’t believe that story about Jonah and the whale, I don’t believe
that has got sense.” Jesus Christ says Jonah was three days in the belly of the
whale. Do you believe that Christ was the Son of God? He said he knew what he
was talking about. And you say you don’t believe that story. Well, then, you
don’t believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We can say that the whole
Bible is so linked together that if you reject one part you reject all. But he
said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And then they got out of
the chariot and went down into the water and he baptized him, and the spirit of
God caught Philip, so that the eunuch, saw him no more, and the eunuch went on
his way rejoicing,

I wonder if a man were to preach out here and a man believed Christ was the Son
of God, and he said, “Here, I want you to baptize me.” Well, he would have to
wait until he called the elders of the church to open the doors of the
church—that would be material.

I remember once a preacher said, “I don’t know what I will do tonight, because there is no one here to open this church,” and I don’t know either. But, now, my friends, do you see anything like that in the Bible? “Oh,” but they say, “We have got to have somebody to vote on him to see whether he is all right or not.” “What Church is he a member of”? Now, We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus—“For as many of you as are baptized into Christ did put on Christ...” And this man confessed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and was baptized. And Philip went on his way until he came to Caesarea, and there we have the last pen scratch of it. But we can only say this, as an exaltation of the Word of God, and if we want to con-vert men, why, we must do it from that standpoint, and that is the thing by which your destiny and mine will be satisfied. It is not by what preachers tell you or what some enthusiastic instructor will tell you. When God comes to settle with you it is going to be according to what our God says: “I saw the good and bad standing before God and the good and the bad were judged according to their works.” As I told the boys this afternoon, the preacher is the dumping ground of the community in which he lives, and is big enough and good enough to share with them in their sufferings. I know of a man who came to me, having a life in-surance or sick benefit policy, and he wanted a certain kind of settlement, and I opened that policy and looked in it. He said the agent said to me he would pay me so and so in case of a certain accident, if death overtook him, he would do certain things. But it did not matter what he told him. “Here’s your contract and the signature, and you will have to settle with that Company upon what is written in the face of the policy.” And that is what God meant, when he said, “If the king would give me his house full of silver and gold I could not do any more than God’s word.” When you reach the Judgment Bar, and the Books are open, and your works fail to correspond with this work here—what you can do about it? What are you going to do about it—when you listen to something that is in the Book and that is not a part of the Book ? Those that obey God’s Word, his will---those that look unto the perfect law of liberty and continue therein, shall be blessed for what they are doing for him....... and “fear God and keep his commandments.......Blessed are those that do his commandments.......and enter into the gates of the city.” And he is the author of the whole situation, not some preacher, not some enthusiast, not some secular church. I beg of you tonight to give us just one convert to that. In conclusion, we are going to extend an invitation tonight. Maybe someone wants to give his heart to God, and therefore we are not going to withhold from you that opportunity, but beg of you and plead with you to come to Christ. That night when Jesus was leaving Jerusalem, upon the last day of his labors there; when he crossed the Kidron and climbed up the slopes of Mt. Olive, and with great tears rolling down his cheeks, and disap-pointment in his heart as heavy as moulten lead that day, and he looked back and said, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” It broke his heart,'it made him to lament over the situation, but “you would not.” Just look yonder at the storm cloud, listen to the pealing thunder, with the lightning, and then the rain begins to patter against the window pane, and look at that mother hen out there, as she gathers her chicks under her wings and exposes herself to the wind and the driving rain and the storm to save her babies—and there is the picture. “I would have gathered you under my wings many a time, but you would not.”

Won’t you come back under the wings of Jesus tonight and let him save you, hold
you and keep you on his lap and under his wings, through sunshine and shadow,
until you reach the light of happiness and light of liberty. Won’t you come?


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  CHAPTER 17: THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH
========================================================================

The Uttermost Part of the Earth “THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH” By C. M.
Pullias

Inasmuch as I shall have nothing to say at the con-clusion of this talk tonight
I want to take occasion now to thank Brother Baxter for the invitation to come
to Abilene and participate in this week’s services. I want to thank everybody in
connection with this school. I want to just state that I appreciate it, and I go
away from this place with a feeling in my heart for Abilene, and for Abilene
Christian College, for its President, and for its faculty, by reason of this
association, and for its people that I hadn’t known before.

These have been very pleasant days. We have realized that we are here just for a
special occasion and for a limited time, and we have tried to crowd our service
just as full of things helpful and elevating as possible. In the first place we
selected services that were purely Biblical and that mean something. Basing our
entire night course upon one verse in the Bible—Beginning at Jerusalem was the
first subject, and taken from Acts 1:8, in which Jesus said, “You shall testify
of me in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
parts pf the world.”

We have called your attention to every one of these, until we have now come to
the uttermost parts of the world. This brings us to the first verse of the 13th
chapter of Acts, when Paul leaves Antioch of Seleucia, upon his first Missionary
Tour. Those who are acquainted with the Bible will recognize the towns. We have
built too large a subject for one subject, and for that reason we are to pick
up, so to speak, just a few crumbs on the way, or just a few crumbs of the
Geography of the Bible to the north. To get our setting we may say now that Paul
becomes the central figure of that remarkable Book of 28 chapters, known to us
as Acts of Apostles, having been converted in about A. D. 86, and this chapter
begins with about A. D. 45, he being a member of the church then for nine years.
The first three years of that time he was in Arabia somewhere, buried to
civilization, going out of that to Jerusalem, and then was sent to Tarsus, his
old home, where he remained until A. D. 42, when Barnabas had gone to Antioch at
the instance of Paul. Jerusalem offered encouragement and when he bade them
cleave to the Lord, many people were added to the Lord. Seeing .the
possibilities of the church there, he went to Tarsus to seek Saul (Paul). When
he had found him and they had come to Antioch they labored there for a while.
During this time the Prophet, Agabus, came to Antioch and told of a famine which
should be all over the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
It came unto the saints of Antioch to send relief to suffering Judea, and the
Bible tells us they were able to send that relief. Would not that, brethren, be
a fine lesson, for us to just stop a minute? If every member of this great
church of Abilene would determine to do everything he was able to do, whether he
was a boy, or girl, or man, or. woman’, or father, or mother, or son, or
daughter, we could turn the world upside down in less time than it would take to
make this speech. And the Bible tells us they sent that at the hands of Barnabas
and Saul unto the elders of the church in Jerusalem.

I believe, brethren, it would be a fine lesson, for churches today to do just as
that tells us. There is your divine pattern, your beaten path of
inspiration—that when the church of Jesus, or Lord Jesus Christ, wants to
relieve the suffering- of a storm stricken district, let it come at the hands of
the brethren of this church, out of the fruits and toils of the. ground, but let
them apply it in the name of the. Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough for us, in
other words, to raise money for suffering humanity, but God wants us to come in
contact with the sufferer, and there is not anything that does us more good than
to go to the sick bed. You can hire the nurse and send her there, and she can
take care of him and administer all his wants, but that doesn’t do you the good
God wants you to receive from it. And hence, in the language of the Bible, “It
is more blessed to give than to receive”—the reflex action, that which comes
back. And when you go in a room and sit down by the side of the bed of the
sufferer there it is that you have your tender feeling and come in contact with
him. You listen to his groans and you look upon the struggling man, in pain and
anguish, burning with fever. It does you good. That is what God means by that..
And he wants us to take our means, raise our money, and with our hands to carry
it over there. Your brother,' your sister, is sufferings—your unfortunate
neighbor. Do it with your own hand and therefore receive the greatest good
possible to come to people. This was about the year A. D. 44, when Paul and
Barnabas came into Jerusalem. James had been killed by Herod; Peter had been
thrown into prison—they were going to kill him when the passover is past, and
God miraculously delivers him. Old Herod made a speech and the people gave to
him the glory that be-longs to God, and he fell down and the worms ate him. And
about that time Paul came back to Antioch and they went out on their Missionary
Tour. And I tell you that the most stupendous undertaking in history was when
John and Paul and Barnabas left Antioch and went down by Seleucia across the
Mediterranean sea to Salamis on the Island of Cyprus, where they preached the
word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and when they went through that,
island into Paphos, where they encountered the Roman Governor—the first
experience there; they crossed the Sea from Paphos to Perga, in Pamphylia, and
John Mark turned back home.

I want to tell you now that there are lots of people who will leave us when the
work becomes dangerous and hard; there were the wild Pisidian passes and rough
mountains and they must pass through them, where there were wild beasts and
murderers hiding there, and John’s heart seemingly failed him and he went home
to his mother in the city of Jerusalem; and I tell you there are lots of Johns
and Marks in the world.

I read where the Bible said “That Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world, and departed unto Thessalonica....... ” And there are lots of
Demases in the world—you could not count them in the church—forsaking the
Lord—turning back to Egypt for the cucumbers and for the garlic and onions and
various things they had to eat, and the amusements to be had. The Bible tells us
that Paul had passed through those mountains into Pisidia. I call your attention
then to a writing in after years: The apostle talked about being in peril of
leopards and other wild beasts. I have no doubt but what he refers to this very
experience. Those deep gorges, ravines, and those climbing peaks, and those
woods, are inhabited thickly alike, through which they must pass, in order that
they may reach their objective, Antioch in the Pisidias. It was there they began
to preach, and the Synagogue was full, and they called him out, on the Sabbath
day, as the Jews began to speak against those things that were spoken by Paul.
But a persecution arose, and it made it necessary for him to go away.

You know it is success, in the main, that causes persecution. When a man
succeeds, perhaps, somebody will oppose him. I remember that little Joseph had
the animosity and envy of his own brothers, not because he had ever injured
them, but because he was succeeding and because he was favored by Jehovah. But
from Antioch, in Pisidia, he went to Iconium, and there he went to preaching the
word of God again. And there the people were stirred up likewise; and he left
there and went to Lystra, and the persecuting Jews followed him and persecuted
him, they hounded him and stirred up the people of Lystra, until that great and
good man was stoned in the streets of the city, and dragged out and left for
dead.

I will say it looks to me like that is a terrible experience for a man on his
undertaking. Nothing but the expression of God’s word—the church of Christ is
his only support—God above heard then—and his word to teach them the law. And
the very people he would feed are those that would bite the hand that feeds
them. It is hardly believable, but it is so, and that is the statement, and if
you will read what is said to Timothy, about the af-flictions and persecutions
that came to him at Antioch, and Lystra, we may be able to get the lesson. That
is, Paul was dealt with as an animal, as a dog, as a vicious something that
would be destructive to humanity, and dragged out of the city and left for dead.
In writing of it in after years, he said, “I knew a man about fourteen years
ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I can’t tell: God knoweth. How that
he was caught up to Paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful
for a man to. utter. In reading the Bible I have been impressed with this: Men
have had the inklings of things beyond—glimpses of heaven, they have had God to
put in his appearance, and yet every time, as I remember it was in deepest
distress. If Paul had not been stoned and persecuted and dragged out of that
city and left for dead he never would have been caught up in Paradise up yonder,
the Third Heaven: he never would have heard those words that were uttered on
this earth. And to enlarge and embellish on that point—Old Abra- hame left that
Syrian district and went to Canaan in' the north, and through Egypt and back
into Canaan, and in his late age of about seventy-five years of faithfulness and
service to his God, and the climax of his suffering came one day: He must take
Isaac, the promised child, the boy that he loved and carry Him to the top of
that mountain and burn him as a sacrifice on the altar. You notice Abraham never
fal-tered-—he even cut the wood to carry it out, and we can’t see him for three
days, and finally he came to the place arid he looked and saw it, and he said to
the two servants who were with him, “Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the
lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you: and Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac, his son,' and took the fire in
his hand, and a knife, and they proceeded to the place of execution. That boy
knew nothing of what would happen, and on the way he said, “My father, behold
the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering”: but Old
Abraham, whose courage and fidelity to God never faltered, said, “My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” When God tells you what to
do, when you are keeping his commandments, when you are following as Jesus led,
God will take care of you. I have no doubt—but I can’t say so much of the man
that won’t do what God commands. Listen: “God will provide for that offering.”
Just look at that little boy bearing the wood bn his shoulder and one thousand
years after that Jesus was nailed to the cross for the sins of the world. And
when Abraham reached the top of that mountain he bound that boy, put him on the
altar, and raised to knife to drive the steel to the heart of his child. Because
God needed him, God stopped him, and he looked and said, “Abraham, rejoiced to
see my day, and his heart was glad.” He saw the light raise from the ashes
there, and saw the vision there of the resurrection of the dead, and was glad.
The amount of suffering in that sacrifice, And I tell you that Paul suffered
persecution to the end, that they stoned him and dragged him out of the city and
left him for dead. It was then that he went up yonder to that third heaven and
heard the words not lawful to utter down here. May I call your attention to
another fact—that when little Daniel, a captive in Babylon, had been carried
away and was nothing but a child. He had been a victim of a cruel conspiracy,
and his enemies wanted to destroy him, and hence they had a decree passed that
they knew he would not regard, and knew there was no mercy and there was no
clemency in the case of the law of the Medes and Persians—that when he violated
it he knew they would consign him to the lions’ den when the sun went down; and
he went to his room—he never pulled a shade or closed a blind, and never tried
to hide himself in some closet, and there pray to God, but he went to that
window, as always, and when he was shown the order that night, he fell down upon
his knees and prayed, and offered his supplications to God, as always; and when
the night came on, as a result, he must go into the den of lions, and old King
Darius was very much discouraged over it, and could not sleep, and the next
morning the King went to that den in person, and he said: “0 Daniel, servant of
the Living God, Is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee
jl(rom tho lions?” And he cried from the den and said, “0 King, live forever, My
God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt
me, because I have been always innocent in his sight and your own; and he was
merciful to me,” and there was not a rent in his clothes nor hurt on his body.

I tell you when a man is in dire distress and lifts his voice to the Great
Beyond, God will come closer to us—closer in that hour than any other. I don’t
believe we can ever get so close to him, or he to us, but that he will come to
us when we are suffering.. But he said, “If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God rest- eth upon you; on
their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none
of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a
busy-body in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

Some people suffer because they do wrong, others because they do right, and the
greatest sufferers that the world has ever known are those sufferings for
somebody else—and the Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest sufferer in the history
of our unfortunate world, because it was right to suffer, because he cared for
us. And, remember, just to illustrate to you that that gives God an opportunity;
that when the storm was on the sea of Galilee, and the disciples were out there
all night; the first watch passed and they are alone; the second watch passed
and Jesus is not there; he was back yonder somewhere in prayer; and the third
watch came and he wasn’t there; and the fourth watch came and the heavens were
as dark as they ever got to be; the thunder and lightning is splitting the dusk
of the dark clouds; the waves are higher than they ever were, white-capping all
about; and they saw something that seemed to be a ghost—and Jesus cried to them
above the din of the thunder and the roar of the storm:.“My.children, be not
afraid, it is I.” I tell you I believe he will come to us in hours like that,
for his name’s sake, for his Kingdom’s sake. I know some one-eyed men but they
didn’t lose their eyes for His sake. The Bible tells us, “That if a man lose his
life for my sake, he shall find it.” Of course, Jesus wanted us to love God, to
serve God. And he was stoned near to death. That was his undertaking, to carry
the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. Do you remember the old
disciple, John, the only one that was put naturally to death, who lived to be
nearly one hundred years of age? That in his old age he was on an island in the
sea. Do you know, I fancy his hair was as white as snow, his form bent,’ his
forehead wrinkled with deep furrows, and worried. I know all that; but he was
out yonder on the Lord’s day, climbing to the highest mountain and looking away
to the shore, where his friends were yonder; and then it was God came to his
relief and permitted him to see all those things about which he wrote in the
Book of Revelations—in the deepest language that I know anything about, and the
greatest contribution'to literature is that Book, and the most wonderful and
most marvelous things that he heard1 and saw that day: He heard them sing,
“Beyond Redeem,” and the song of “Moses and the Lamb,” and he saw the tree of
life that day. And we don’t want to suffer, to do anything wrong, and yet we
will not come to Christ. Don’t you know what Jesus mdant when ' he said that
“All things are possible to him that believeth.” And little Timothy, about
sixteen years of age, one of Paul’s converts, was standing there weeping, and he
rose up and went over there to Derbe, and then he came back to Lystra. And then
to Iconium, and then to Antioch, and then to Perga. And then to At- talia, and
then took ship and went back up the river unto Antioch of Syria, from which he
had formerly sailed, And when he reached there he called the church to-gether,
and he recited those things that had been done. But, listen, friends, I want you
to see what God has done among the Gentiles. Here we are today. What do we do?
We are treading down. We look at the side of it that those men did it, and God
is out of it. I have been impressed with that until it stirs my heart and almost
moves me to tears to think that I had read the Bible so long—I would' I could
preach so that nobody could even say that I lived, but that God was doing that,
and that I could so perform that work of God and do this will and perform his
work, until everybody would say God was doing that, and I would disappear as a
star disappears when the sun rises. Do you remember Peter, in that third chapter
of Acts, when he was at the Temple and caused the lame man to rise and walk, and
who immediately began to praise God. Suppose we were afflicted, how many of us
would think to praise God?

You hear people talking about, “He is a most won-derful preacher, most wonderful
man. Yet, after all, that is God’s doing this preaching. Anything living this
life, that is God’s work. Let him, therefore, have the glory,” is the way the
Bible talks about it. But when the apostle goes back on his second missionary
tour he did the same thing—called them together and recited the great things God
had done. And would it not be fine for the church here, or the community, or for
any body of disciples engaged in that work, if when that work is done, everybody
that knows about it and hears it, only saw God in it.

I believe we ought to study how to live like that. I pray that that would be the
case—that God would stand out so people would understand that was God, and no
puny man, who is no more than a worm, or dust or ashes. He remained there a few
days and he went to Je-rusalem to consider certain matters of circumcision that
had gotten into the church. About five years his first missionary tour lasted,
and now he must go to Jerusalem about the question of circumcision. Some-body
had been there teaching something they ought not to have taught.

I tell you this, look at your teachers, what they teach, and whenever a man
doesn’t teach everything that is told in the Holy Scriptures, tell him to stop.
So he went there—Barnabas went away—and they had told them things they hadn’t
ought to have told them. Then they went to Jerusalem about it. And a letter was
written—it was dictated to John Mark, and it was satisfactory to that bunch of
elders in particular, and they brought it back and went on a second tour.
Barnabas wanted to carry John Mark and Paul didn’t want to, because he had left
hem in Perga, and a dispute arose. And sometimes brethren cannot agree, but that
is not the thing. Paul and Barnabas were wonderfully good men. They disagreed
over taking a certain man, who was not a good seaman. Barnabas wanted to carry
him but Paul didn’t.. You know how kinsfolk are, mine or yours or anybody
else’s—they must get just what they need, though they may be lost, and will be
no doubt. But this letter was dictated to John Mark, and he drops out of the
record. And then Paul takes Silas, and instead of going across the sea this
time, he goes by land through Mysia and Troas, and then wanted to go into
various places, and the Spirit would not allow him to do that. Now, let’s get a
lesson: That is the spirit of a man we want to repel. But the Bible says: “There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end of the way is death,” and
says, “You shall not do all the things..... ” And then the Bible said: “Oh,
Lord, It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” And therefore I want
to ask you why a man should undertake it? It was this very man that in after
years wrote these words: “They are the Sons of God.” And you must know that any
man that is lead by his think’so’s, or dreams, or by what he understands, or
anything like that, wasn’t led by the spirit of God ” And when the spirit.said,
“No, you can’t preach in Bithynia. No, you must go straightforward to
Macedonia,” and when the spirit said, “No,” that is the end of it. So therefore
they go along and in just a day or two they were standing at the Aegean Sea. He
had picked up Timothy at a school in Lystra, and the Bible students and
commentators tell us that the most educated man in all history was Doctor Luke.
They picked him up at Tarsus. When Paul was at Troas he had a vision, and that
vision was, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” We understand that the Lord
called them over there to preach the gospel.

I have known a few preachers who claimed to preach the Lord, but the Book says:
We understand by that that the lord called us to preach the gospel. And then
another statement is made: "Immediately they sought to go.” Get that, my
friends, you know some-times we do it and carry it in stock. Somebody said: “On
the plains of Neglect bleached the bones of countless millions, who at the point
of victory, sat down to wait and died.”

Yes, God’s business requires immediate action. And I have been so wonderfully
impressed in reading the s(tory of these men. The same day they were baptized,
the same hour of the night.

“Straightway”—they never delayed .a minute, so far as I know. , Just as quick as
it could be attended to, and they made it possible.

Sometimes we are going to obey God and do better, but we put it off; but the
good Book says, “Do it im-mediately.” God calls and we want to go—we want to get
there right now, and we can’t delay—God has called us. To do what? To preach the
gospel.

I have heard a few illustrations made on the question of preaching the gospel.

I want to stop to tell you this—and we overlook our illustrations sometipies. If
we can get illustrations from the Bible, I think we should take them from there,
so that illustration is that preachers- of the gospel are like salesmen. Did you
ever know a salesman in your life that had an article that any competitors were
handling to compete it? Why, the gospel has no competition. If a man came out
with seed.wheat, and another with dust or chaff, you would not pay any attention
to that. One has the grain and the other the chaff. Gpd tells us that the true
word is the wheat and the other is the chaff. It ought noc to be hard to get
people to see that point. To make the gospel a competitive business, and he is
going to sell jnine and I am going to sell his. Why, it is just chaff, always.
“The Prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream and he that hath my word,
let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the
Lord."Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord: and like a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces?” And, “Therefore, behold, I am against the
Prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.” And
therefore he calls us over to preach the gospel, not to give our experiences or
to preach anything else. The Bible said they took ship that day, and the next
day they were on the Island of Neapolis, the first time that anybody had ever
ventured to cross there, from the Hellespont and over to Neapolis. Did you
notice the story, when, at other times, it required five days to make the same
trip? What is the lesson from it ? It is this: That when you go im-mediately to
do what God tells you to do; and you nev-er delay, he will help' you. I saw the
Israelites standing over yonder on the banks of the Red Sea—They could go no
'further; They were entangled in the wilderness, and I saw the great Army of
Pharaoh coming to take them back;’ and'a great cloud arose, and a pillar of
fire, And I saw the Lord' look out of that cloud, that was darkness to the
Egyptians, and light to the Israelites, and they could seb under the dark sea,
under that cloud, and passed through, and the Egyptians passed around. I heard
him say, ....... but to as many as received him he gave them the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name...... ”

Whatever a man tries to do, God will help him, and favorable winds will catch
his sails, and he will be borne away. In two days they were in a little village,
or colony, Philippi was -the name of it, and the Sabbath Day came. . .. You know
that every once in a while, there is a day that stands out as holy in a man’s
life, when an op-portunity comes knocking at the door—it does not come every
day, but only occasionally. On the Sabbath Day they went out of the city to the
river side, to worship God. They are in the Roman Colony. There are rich folk
here and educated people, and here are some Jewish women over here trying to
make a living, and one of them from Thyatira, with a company of saleswomen with
her: but when the Sabbath day came she closed up her trunks. And she never
attempted to sell a thing—and here we are in this good day, 1928, and we can’t
even close up a little old dime business and come to his children where they
drink the cup and eat the bread with him: but this woman, a Jewess, “Lydia” was
her name, and she was earnest and religiously inclined, and when the Sabbath day
came she turns from her business and goes out yonder to the weeping willows, and
it was there that day, at that little prayer meeting, that God came and opened
her heart, and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. “And when
she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, “If ye have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she
constrained us.”

I don’t know how many members attend your prayer meetings. In my opinion it
would not take me long to pick out those that come to prayer meeting. Folks will
more often go to dance halls, and even to the bathing beaches, and things like
that, where they have no business—more often than they go to prayer meeting.
This woman, not a Christian—she is. I tell you, away from home, with a great
company of salesladies out yonder—and they are all out there in devotion, in
prayer. There are some people God wants, and he will put himself to trouble, so
to speak, in order that he might enlist them in tbs service. Did you notice
about the man last night that left his business to go one thousand miles, and
God intercepted him? The man who will go one thousand miles and worship God, so
imbued with the spirit of worship, that when he has gone back forty or fifty
miles, he is still pouring over the Scriptures, vastly interested, concentrated
and endeavoiing to drink of those things. God would rather have one man like
that than to have the whole City of Samaria. He would rather have one woman like
Lydia over yonder on the bank of that stream, than to have one thousand of these
indifferent, careless members of the church, that bring spots and wrinkles and
disgrace upon the institution for which the Lord Jesus Christ died.

He wants that kind of people. The Book says there wrere a number of those women.
But did you notice there was just one that stood out. I.noticed that long ago,
when trying to preach the Bible—there would not be many folks paying attention:
but when I looked back and found there was just one woman in that company whose
name stands out, and that she had heard Paul and the Lord opened her heart, and
she “attended unto the things spoken by Paul”—I wonder if there is not another
thing, that the Book opened her heart. Now, the Book says of the Gentiles to
open their eyes. And then. I read in the first chapter of Ephesians of having
the eyes of your heart opened. I never would have known that the heart had any
eyes if it hadn’t been for that'.

I once preached to a number of soldiers of the Grand Army, about “Having your
loins girded about with truth,” and then I lived a number of years and kept
reading the Bible: and one day I stumbled over this passage, (I had walked over
all these things), in which it.said, “Wherefore, gird up the loins of your
minds” (1 Peter 1:13): then I discovered that the mind had loms, and the truth
is the loins, of your mind. The Bible tells us the heart has eyes, and that
those eyes are to be opened: and the Book says, “thar the Lord opened Lydia’s
heart.” Well, here’s Paul—you know how he went back yonder on the first tour and
told them what God was doing: and .here’s God’s Word, through Paul, preaching
and teaching that wom-an; and. she is enlightened and her eyes are opened; and
the Book says that “She attended to the things spoken of Paul.” Paul says, we
were “Buried with him >n baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of (tod, who hath raised him from the dead”; and the Book
tells you, “She attended to the things of Paul,” and when she was baptized,
Well, what did she do? Well, “She besought us and persuaded us,” saying, “If ye
have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.”
A woman that far from home, in rented quarters, and a bunch of sales ladies—and
here’s Paul and Silas, and Luke, and Timothy. at' least four preachers, and this
woman trying to make a living over there: “You come into my house and abide
there.”

You know I went to a church once, and there was no home in that town to take
care of a preacher, no facilities: “No, no, we are not fixed to take care of
him.” But you think about that, that the Book says': “She saw us and persuaded
us and prevailed upon us” —“If you judge me faithful, come into my house and
abide there.”

I read later about a woman that built a room, and every time the Prophet came
by, there was the room, and nobody else occupied it, and she had a son, and one
day, when the bright sun came out, she laid the body on the Prophet’s bed in
that'room, and the boy ! was dead, and she ran away—and the Prophet went into
that same room and there breathed into him again the breath of life and he lived
once more (2 Kings 4:32-37).

You hear people say, “Excuse me, I am too busy, I just haven’t time.” Do you
know that is not the kind of people God wants? He wouldn’t give a dime a
thousand for that kind of people. A woman that is idle, with nothing to do, the
Lord doesn’t want her; he wants busy men and women .that' have something to do.
And therefore, when he enlists people with that energy to do things—;that is why
I take it he was so anxious to enlist Paul, because of his determination and
tenacity and his courage, and because of his way, and spirit of just going on,
and just doing things that he thought ought to be done, and yet I know when you
can get that energy and that interested and turn it into the proper channel,
why, then it will do as much for God.

I have thought of the woman and the man-power— just call it that, that is
ourselves—of the mighty streams and cataracts and waterfalls in this county that
they have been doing no good to anybody, washing out fences, and running over
land, and the devastation up and down this land of ours, those streams
throughout the years: but in these latter days I have seen them harness those
waters and turn that wasted energy into channels of industry, until our whole
coun-try is illuminated with the light and cars are drawn with that wonderful
power, and it is felt in every home, in every town throughout this remarkable
country. Before it' did nobody any good.

Here’s a man left alone, with nothing to eat and drink, why, just harness that
energy and turn it, with the brawn and muscle and bone, into the service of God.
God wants busy people, energetic people. If they are lazy he is not1 much
interested in them. He wants men that will sacrifice, that will make a way to go
if he wants them. And therefore, along here, we can pick up some of the richest
and finest lessons in the world, in the city of Philippi. There is another
lesson, and it is this: That there was a damsel there, a soothsayer and fortune
teller and if you have never read the Bible on that question, before you have
your fortune told, you had better read it; because that is so interesting, and
may be classed as the works of the flesh—witchcraft—a sort of female term—a
generic term, and said, “They that do such things cannot inherit the Kingdom of
God.” But you say, “I am not a fortune teller, a soothsayer”—but what is the
difference? What is the difference in a bootlegger and the man that buys it? I
want to tell you that there would not be a bootlegger in the world if there were
not someone to buy his or her wares. Yes, she was a soothsayer—she was mightily
afflicted; she was held by a lot of crooked men for what she could do for
them—like a cow— they held her in captivity, so to speak. So when Paul and Silas
were in that city, and that girl followed them that day and said, “These men are
the servants of God and show us the way”—Do you know she knew more about that
than some college president's know of how the way of salvation came, and that
Silas and Paul were God’s servants, that showed the way of salvation.

There are some people in the world yet ihat think you cannot show them the way
of salvation, but must accept their disposition and walk in it. But that evil
spirit aid come out of her, and she could not tell any more fortunes, and her
owners were just all out of sorts about it; and they had Paul and Silas arrested
and charged them with sedition and that they were disturbers of the peace, and
they beat' them and stoned them with rocks, and later in the. day put them in
stocks, and then at midnight Paul and Silas were singing and praying to God. I
don't know whether I could have prayed or not. I can see where prayer came in,
but not singing, in those old Roman stocks, with their ankles twisted and thrust
through those, there in excruciating pain—they prayed and sang, and God heard
them, and then the earthquake came and the bands were loosened. But we will have
to pass over that for this time. The next day the man who had Paul and Silas put
in prison sent word down there, “You, tell those men to depart in peace,” and
Paul said, “No, tiiey put us in here, and we being Romano, and without a cause,
let them come down and fetch us out.” Put them in there lor what? Why, they
might cure every afflicted person, No, the preachers, if permitted in any
community, will break up every pool hall and every hell-sink in all the country;
and therefore we have to drive them out. Why, the whole world will worship this
idol, and they cried him down. In the 19th chapter of Acts you may read the
story. Do you remember when Jesus Christ has crossed the sea and gone into the
land of the Gadarenes, he encountered a man whose name he said was “Legion,”
“who had his dwelling among the tombs,” and was possessed of an unclean spirit,
“and no man could bind him, no, not with chains, and always night and day, he
was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself wTith stones;
but when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud
voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high
God? L adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. And he asked him, What is
thy name, and he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he
besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country,” and near
the mountains there was a great herd of swine feeding; “And all the devils
besought him, saying, send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And
forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered
into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,
(they were about two thousand), and were choked in the sea” (Mark 5; Matthew 8;
Luke 8). And those keepers came and told what had happened, and they begged him
to leave that country. Well, why? Well, they might lose every hog they had. That
is the reason Jesus Christ is not in this church tonight, not' in many homes and
places, because when he comes in you must clear the way, and you don’t want to.
We wTould rather go to a dance, or go to the bathing beach, or picture show,
than to go into the gate that stands ajar, or into Heaven after awhile. It looks
like we need to give our attention to this very point; that if you would rather
trace a carpet than to have Jesus Christ, .then you can have it at your
pleasure; but you must reap the consequences.

We observed, when we left this place, Paul made a tour to Athens, across the sea
and told the church what God had done; and then went on the missionary tour, and
when they howled him down that night, in Ephesus, and when God was impressed by
his teach-ings, when he had taught in the synagogue, and they brought their bags
of silver and turned them and counted fifty thousand pieces of silver—No, just
burn it. up—God doesn’t want that kind of money, and therefore they did burn it
up. When he left there he went over to Macedonia and preached about six months,
and stopped at the town of Ephesus, and in that he said: “Wherefore, I take you
to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God”, and “I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly,
and from house, to house.” Also, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to
all the flock.......For I know this, that after my departure shall grievous
wolves enter in . among you, nqt sparing the flock. Also, of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to
warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to
God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give an
inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man’s silver,
or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered
unto my necessities, and to them that were with me (Acts 20:26-34). . My
friends, whenever God’s word is taken from his works—and the effort today, in
the schools of our country and the Universities throughout the land is to take
it away from us—and, I am afraid, even among homes of Christians, and in
schools, that the word is not treated with that seriousness and concern that it
merits.

I commend you to the word of God and his grace. If we succeed we must rise
higher, and they do nothing, “if’s”. When they had acknowledged Jesus before the
close of that little meeting that day, they prayed. The last thing they did was
to pray; and when the Savior was on the Cross he prayed. When he was baptized he
prayed; he prayed in the multitude, he prayed in solitude—he prayed on the
doorstep; he prayed on the Mount of Olives, and when he went to his death there
was a prayer on his lips. They were in prayer from the start to their
destination, and at the hour of prayer Peter and John went to the Temple, and
when Dorcas died, they sent for Peter and he went t’o the death
chamber.......and in the silence of it all he prayed, and then said, Tabitha,
arise, and then when Peter went to his house they prayed all the night long. And
when Paul and Silas were with their feet in the stocks they prayed unto God; and
therefore I might say to you in their parting words, “they prayed”—the last
thing they prayed. And so tonight, my friends, let prayer feed and clothe us,
and let’s never let the sun go down without prayer. If I didn’t know there was
somebody back yonder who, before lying down to sleep, would offer a prayer for
me—I know there are those tonight that will kneel by the bedside and send a
petition up yonder to God’s merciful throne for me, that he might keep me and
bring me home without bodily harm. What would I do without that? Suppose you
were to know that nobody cared for you, or prayed for you. And when Stephen was
being stoned to death, and as he knelt in the midst of it all: “I saw Jesus at
the right hand of God; Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit,” and the last things he
ever did was to pray as his spirit was waft'ed on high and upward. Just briefly
speaking of these three Missionary tours—Paul left Athens, then and went to
Syria, and when he left there he went to Jerusalem; but when he left Syria they
begged him not' to go—the whole church begged him, and he said, “Why do you weep
and break my heart—I am not only ready to be bound in Jerusalem, but I am ready
to die there for Jesus Christ.” Would to God we could increase his kind on
earth, that they might finish their course with joy, and testify to the gospel,
to the Grace of God. And tonight, aren’t there some who would like to come under
the shadow of his wing? He will let you live in the hollow of his hand, on the
highest ground, until you are on the peak of the highest mountain.


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  CHAPTER 18: FAITH
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Faith FAITH By Hall L. Calhoun

Let me say by way of introduction that the subject of this lecture is “Faith,”
and that' a proper frame of mind is necessary to the investigation of this or
any other subject. If you have come here with your mind so definitely made up as
to say, “No matter what he has presented or said on this occasion, I am going to
leave here thinking just as I do now, I do not intend to change my views in any
way,” of course, there is no chance to benefit a person like that. His mind is
closed against any possible help. The only way to approach this or any other
Bible subject with a prospect of being benefited by a study of the same is to
say and mean it, “No matter what have been my views in the past, if I can be
made to see that God’s word teaches anything upon this subject clearly and
unmistakably true according to his word, I will take it’ and act upon it, no
matter whether I ever heard of such a thing before or not.” With such an
attitude as this, I believe there is a chance for some of us to be benefited in
some ways by the discussion of this great subject. No more important subject is
found in the Bible.

We find these statements made concerning faith: “Without faith it is impossible
to please God.” “He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a
rewarder of those that diligently seek him.” Again, in 2 Corinthians 5:7, is the
statement: “We (Christians) walk (that is, live) by faith.” In Mark 16:16, Jesus
said, “He that believeth not shall be damned.” In 1 John 5:4 is this statement:
“This is the victory which hath overcome the world, even our faith;” and in
Romans 14:23, speaking of the Christian religion it says: “Whatsoever is not of
faith is sin.” Now, if one cannot please God without faith; if he cannot come to
God without faith; if the Christian walks by faith; if he that does not have
faith shall be damned; if that which overcomes the world is faith; and if
whatsoever is not' of faith in the Christian religion is sin; it becomes very
evident that nothing can be more important than faith. Now, seeing the
importance of faith, there are three questions that should be clearly and
corrqctly answered. First, what is faith? Second, how do we get faith? And
third, what does faith do for us when we do get it? The first question, What is
faith ? is very important. If I cannot come to God without faith nor please God
without faith; and if I do not have faith, I shall be damned; if I must' walk by
faith; if faith is the victory that overcomes the world; if in the Christian
religion whatsoever is not of faith is sin; I must be very sure that I have it.
If I do not know what it is, I cannot be sure whether I have it or not. Do you
know the difference between faith and opinion? Do you know the difference
between faith and human knowledge ? Faith, opinion, and knowledge are as
different in meaning as daylight is different' from darkness. Therefore permit
me to say with all courtesy and yet with all positiveness, if you do not see
clearly the difference between faith and opinion and between faith and human
knowledge, you never did have a clear idea on the subject of religion; and you
never will have until these words are as distinct and different in meaning to
you as midnight is from noon day.

What is faith? What is opinion? What is human knowledge? Now, I am going to give
an illustration of my own, showing the difference between faith and opinion and
faith and knowledge; and I promise after giving this illustration of my own to
find the same il-lustration in substance in the Bible, showing what faith is as
contrasted with opinion and knowledge. Here is the illustration: I have
something in my hand. I am sure no other person in the house except' myself
knows what it is—no one else has had a chance to know; but I want each one of
you to form an opinion as to what I have in my hand. The word opinion comes from
the little Latin word opinio which means I think. Since opinion is just what you
think, now what do you think is in my hand? I want every person present old
enough to listen to form an opinion as to what I have in my hand. Some years ago
a gentleman said in a speech before the National Teachers Association in
Washington, D. C., “He who fears to form an opinion is a coward; he who is too
indolent to form an opinion is lazy; and he who cannot form an opinion is a
fool.” Now you do not wish to be classed either as a coward, lazy, or as a fool;
so get busy, every one of you, and form an opinion as to what I have in my hand.
No; you do not know; you cannot therefore say you know I have something in my
hand. You do not have a right to say, “I believe you have something in your
hand;” but you do have the privilege of forming an opinion, What do you think is
in my hand? I am sure that no one here thinks that I have an automobile in my
hand—you can beat that. No one thinks I have a horse and buggy in my hand; no
one thinks I have a steam engine in my hand—any of you can think better than
that. But the question is not what I do not have in my hand, but what I do have
in my hand?

Now, will some of you be kind enough to tell me what your opinion is? One person
says I have a kni’fe in my hand. Would you be willing, sir, to risk your soul’s
salvation upon the correctness of that opinion? He shakes his head. Certainly
not. However honest and intelligent his opinion may be, he realizes that it
might be wrong; and the good and all-wise God will never ask any person to risk
his soul’s salvation upon anything that can be mistaken. Another thinks that I
have a nut in my hand. Would you be willing to risk your soul’s salvation upon
the correctness of your opinion? He shakes his head. Another thinks that I have
a piece of crayon in my hand. Would you be will-, ing to risk your soul’s
salvation upon the correctness of that statement? He shakes his head. Another
thinks that' I have a pencil in my hand. Would you be willing to risk your
soul’s salvation upon the cor-rectness of that opinion? And he shakes his head.
Now, if we had time, we could perhaps find fifty other opinions in this audience
as to what I have in my hand—maybe more, for each one of you is free to form an
opinion of your own. You see now how an opinion is formed, just what you think
about a thing. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that Christians walk by opinion.
You see how people differ in opinion. One man thinks I have in my hand a knife;
another I have a nut; another, a piece of crayon; another, a pencil; and others,
many other different things. Permit me to say just here that this accounts quite
reasonably for the many differences we have today among professors of the
Christian religion. Many of them are walking by their own opinions. No two
people in this world ever did or ever will or ought to think just alike. God
never tells us to, never expects it, does not want it, nor should we. What a
dreary old world this would be if every one thought exactly alike. Perhaps you
heard years ago, as I did, what an old preacher said about that. He said that
it' was a good thing that everybody in the world did not think alike; for if
they did, all the men would want his wife and that nobody but himself could get
her. A man in the audience spoke out and said to him she was so ugly that nobody
else in the world would have her. But we say that we differ in opinion and it is
a good thing that we do for religion is not a matter of what you think.

We see what an opinion is; let me illustrate what faith is. I am going to tell
you what I have in my hand. I have a penny in my hand. Now, if there is anybody
in this audience who does not believe me, will you be kind enough, please, to
stand? No one stands. I thank you with all my heart for the compliment you have
conferred upon me in believing what I say. Now, all you here believe that I have
a penny in my hand. It would not be correct to say, “I think you have ai penny
in your hand,” or “It is my opinion that you have a penny in your hand.” There
is now no opinion about it. You believe it; that is, you have faith in me enough
to believe what I say. So faith is just believing what some one says. Now,
believing what I say is not the. faith mentioned in the Bible; but believing
what God says is the fait'h mentioned in the Bible, and it is by faith that
God’s word says Christians walk. Faith in me is believing what I say; faith in
God is believing what God says. Now, the Bible says that in religion whatsoever
is not of faith is sin.

Perhaps this is a good place to answer the question that some people like to ask
my brethren, Why you people object to being called Campbellites ? Every one else
has a human name, a nickname, why do you people object to having one? Our answer
is this: We Christians walk by faith. Faith.is believing what God says; walking
by faith is walking by what God says, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Now, God nowhere calls any Christian a Campbellite; nor does he tell any one
else to call any Christian a Campbellite; so we cannot wear the name Campbellite
by faith, and to wear it without faith is to sin, since whatsoever is. not of
faith is sin. We will not wear the name Campbellite because it is a sin to do
so; but we would be just as willing to wear the name Campbellite as we would to
wear any other name that God has not called the Christian by. We are willing to
be called Christians, for God’s word says: “If any man suffer as a Christian let
him glorify God in this name.” We are willing to be called disciples; for we are
told that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. We are willing
to be called saints; because God’s word calls Christians saints. We are willing
to be called children of God, because God’s word calls Christians children of
God. We are willing to be called brethren in Christ, because God’s word calls
Christians brethren in Christ. And these five names are all that God anywhere in
any way applies to Christians. They are the only ones that Christians can wear
by faith, and to wear any other name than these is to sin, as surely as the Holy
Spirit said, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Here also is a good place to answer the question, Why do you people not use
mechanical instruments in music in connection with the singing in the church? Do
you not believe that music is sweet? Is it because you do not know enough about
it to appreciate it ? No, our brethren know as much about instrumental music as
any other folks' brethren. Our sons and (laughters can play the different
instruments as skillfully as tbe sons and daughters of other people, and we
believe that music has charms to soothe even the savage breast. Well, then, some
one says, “Why do you not have it? You are able to buy the instruments, and you
like music. “Why then do you not have it?” Our answer is: we cannot have it' by
faith. Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians ever taught to use mechanical
instruments of music in connection with the singing in the church. We cannot use
it by faith, and “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Again, what is knowledge? Let us continue the ilustration. Opinion is just what
you think; faith is believing what some one says. Now what is knowledge? Let me
illustrate that also. I am going to let you know tnat I have a penny in my hand.
I hold it up so you can see it. Now, it -would not be correct to say, “I believe
you have a penny in your hand,” or “It is my opinion that you have a penny- in
your hand.” It is not belief; it is not opinion. You can say, “I know.” Opinion
is just what one thinks; faith is believing what one says; knowledge comes
through the five senses and mathematical demonstration. What I can see and hear
and touch and taste and smell and what I can prove by mathematics, I know. I do
not believe this book is here; I know it. I can see and touch it. I do not
believe that light is there. It w’ould be nonsense for me to say it is my
opinion that that light is there, or I believe that that light is there. I do
not either believe it or have the opinion, I know it. Now, religion is a matter
of faith We wralk by faith is what God says to a Christian. To walk by anything
else is a sin, since God says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Do you not
see then how distinct and different faith is from opinion and from human
knowledge?

Now, I promised to find in the Bible this same illustration in substance. I
shall now make good that promise. Do you remember that we are told “By faith
Abraham offered unto God his son Isaac, accounting that God was able to raise
him from the dead, whence also he received him in a figure?" Do you not
remem-ber that he afterward took a lamb and offered it instead of his son. Now
what is meant when it said:“By faith Abraham offered his son Isaac?” Did Abraham
just think up this thing to do? Was it simply his own opinion? Was it a matter
of something he had seen, tasted, touched, or felt, or could prove by
mathematical demonstration? No. He heard God’s word telling him to take Isaac
and offer him upon the altar. He went ahead and did as God’s word told him, and
thus he offered his son. So then we see that the Bible uses the word faith to
mean we believe what God says. Now, Abraham had an opinion which is mentioned
here. God said that Isaac should be the father of a great' multitude of people
as numerous as the stars of heaven. Now, if God had Abraham kill Isaac, how
could God keep his promise? This was not Abraham’s faith. The Bible says he
accounted, that is, he thought, that God would raise Isaac from the dead. That
was Abraham’s opinion—just what he thought— and his opinion was incorrect. So
that you good people whose opinions were incorrect a while ago need not feel bad
about it. Your opinion was as good as Abraham’s.

Religion is not a matter of opinion. It should be a matter of faith. Now, where
did Abraham’s knowledge come in? When God said: “Stay thy hand; touch not the
lad,” we are told that he looked to one side ana saw a ram caught by the horns
in a thorn- hush. He could see the ram, he could touch it, he could hear it, he
could taste it, he could smell it. All five senses brought him knowledge that
there was a ram there. So that we have found here in the Bible the same
illustration which I gave you in substance, showing that faith is believing what
God says, and opinion is just wrhat' one thinks, and that human knowledge comes
through the five senses and mathematical demonstration. Religion, Christian
religion, is not a matter of human knowledge. None of these great elements are
in the Christian religion. I have never seen heaven, nor tasted, nor touched,
nor heard, nor smelt it. I cannot prove it by mathematical demonstration. The
same is true about the blood of Christ and the pardon of sin. Therefore any
other element of the Christian religion is not knowledge. It if wholly a matter
of faith, and m it whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Not what I think nor hear
but what Cod says, that is, by faith must we walk in the Christian religion.
Nowhere in the Bible are we told that Christians must walk by their opinions or
by their knowledge. Everywhere is the Christian religion a matter of faith,
believing what God says. Romans 10:17 says, “Then faith o.ometh by hearing, and
hearing the word of God.”

Having seen that faith is believing what God’s word says, let us now test this
definition by taking up passages in the Bible where the word faith occurs, and
seeing if this moaning of the word fits in every case. Hebrews 11:1 says: “Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Here faith is said to be the substance, that is, the foundation, of things hoped
for. Now, what is the Christian’s hope? We do not have to guess. Peter says:
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God unto the hope of an inheritance in
heaven.” This then is the Christian’s hope, the hope of heavenly inheritance
which never fades away. The word hope is sometimes wrongly used. It is made up
of two very definite elements, both of which must be present or it cannot be
appropriately used. These two elements are faith and desire; that is, one must
believe he is going to get a certain thing, and he must desire that thing before
he can truthfully say he hopes for it. Now, the Christian’s hope of a heavenly
inheritance meets fully these two requirements. The Christian believfes because
God’s word tells him so—that he will have a home in heaven when he leaves this
earth life, and he desires this home in heaven. Therefore he can truthfully say,
“I.hope to go to heaven.” But if he did not believe, he was going to heaven,
then he could not truthfully say he hoped to go there. The wicked are said to be
without hope. They therefore cannot believe that they are going to heaven ; and
even if they do believe they are going there, that does not entitle them to say
they hope to go there. One cannot hope for anything that he does not both hope
he is going to get and desires to get it. Should I say to a boy, “Come here
tomorrow at ten o’clock, and I will give you a big red apple.” If he is a normal
boy he would desire an apple, and if he believes what I told him, he would
believe he would get it if he would come at that time which I appointed;
therefore he would say “I hope to get the apple.” But you never have heard a
"boy say, “I hope to get a whipping,” yet many boys have believed, that they
were going to get a whipping, but they did not desire it; hence they never said,
“I hope to get a whipping.” So we see in this passage that faith is the
substance, the very foundation, of the Christian’s hope. The second part of this
verse says: “Faith is the evidence of things not seen.” Now, there is another
place beginning with “h” that is not heaven, and ac-cording to all accounts it
is very hot there. I have never seen hell, I do not hope to go there, but I am
just as sure there is a hell as I am sure there is a heaven. Yet the same word
of God that tells me there is a heaven tells me there is a hell. The only
evidence that I have is the belief of what God’s word says concerning this
unseen place 5 so that my faith in a hell is a faith in a place unseen, based
upon what' God’s word tells me. Again, we are told in James , 2 chapter, verses
21 to 24, that Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him,for
righteousness and that this faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith
made perfect. Here we see that Abraham’s believing God is called Abraham’s
faith. In Acts , 15 chapter, verses 7 to 9, Peter says: “The Gentiles by my
mouth heard the word of the gospel, and God put no difference between us and
them purifying their heart's by faith.” Here also believing God’s word is called
faith. In Hebrews 11:6, we are told that it is impossible to please God, without
faith and that Ife that cometh to God must believe that he is. Here again
believing God is called faith, and so we may trace this word through every place
where it is found in the Bible, and nowhere is anything else ever called faith,
except believing what God’s word says, Everywhere the word is found it has this
meaning and no other, so that we have ans-wered the first question, What is
faith? It is believing what God’s word says. The faith that you have or that I
have or that any one else has is simply believing what God’s word says, not
believing what grandmother says, or some preacher, or some friend. This' is
nowhere in the Bible called faith. Faith in the Bible is always believing what'
God says.

Having learned what faith is, the second question which we desire to answer in
this lecture is how should we get faith? It would do no good to know what faith
is unless we know how to get it, however important' it might be. Now, I believe,
because God’s word teaches it, that God gives us faith. Some people say, “Well,
if God gives us faith, we can’t get it till he gives it to us; and if he never
gives it to us, it will not be our fault; so then we can’t help it if we never
have faith, and therefore should be lost.” Now, I believe that God gives us
faith, but I do not believe that all we can do is just to wait until God gives
it to us; for God’s word nowhere says that, nor does it say anything else that
can be made to mean that, but it does say that God gives us faith. Where does it
say it? Here is a verse that same people quote to prove that God gives faith. It
is incorrect to use it so, because it really does not teach it; but I should be
willing to grant to the person who says that it does, that the Bible teaches
that God gives faith. This is the verse which they quote: Ephesians 2:8, “By
grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift' of
God.” The “it”, some people say, means faith. This is not true. But let us give
here the verse that does teach that God gives faith. Hebrews 12:2 says: “Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Here Jesus is called “the
author of our faith.’’ The author of a book is the one who gives out' the book.
He is the one said to be the author of our faith, the one who gives it, but he
is also “the finisher of our faith.” There are many other verses that teach that
God gives faith just as plainly as this one. Certainly no one would doubt that
God gives’ us faith. There is no question of this point. The one question is,
how does God give faith? Is it a direct or an indirect gift?

I once sat at a table where this occurred. I was called upon at the beginning of
the meal to offer thanks. I did so; and a little boy seated in a high chair by
his mother, when I finished, said, “What did he do that for, mother?” And I knew
I had found a home where they were not in the habit of having thanks offered at
the table. But suppose you had uft>* deftaken to answer the little boy’s
question, would you not have said, “God gave us all this food?” And if he had
said, “How?” you would have said, “Father planted the seed after preparing the
soil, cultivated the crop, and gathered it in, took it to the mill. He then had
it ground, brought it home, and mother made it up into bread or dough and cooked
it; and here it is on the table, and we are thanking God because he gave it to
us.” Man’s work could not give us even one piece of bread without God
co-operating with man. Just so it is with faith. God gives us faith, and we
could never get it without his part. He gives us the word to believe. If he did
not give us the word, we never could have it and therefore never could get it.
But 1 have to read God’s word or hear it read, and thus hear what he says; and
then when I accept it' with all my heart, this is faith. Is it right to pray for
faith? Yes; just as right as it is to pray fdr daily bread; and God taught us to
say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Now, you might get down on one side of
the table here and ask God for a loaf of bread, and I might get down on the
other side of the table and ask him for some faith; and we both might stay there
until we wore out the knees of our pants, asking for the bread and the faith,
and neither of us would get either one, not because God is not willing to give
both, but simply because we are not asking for them in the way in which God
gives them. God has a way of giving daily bread, and he has a way of giving
faith, and he tells us what it is. In Romans 10:17, he says: “Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God”; that is, I hear God’s word, I believe
God’s word, and this is the way I get faith;, and it may be said in absolute
confidence this is the only way the Bible teaches that faith comes. There is not
a line in the Bible from the first of Genesis to the last of Revelation which
teaches that faith comes any other way than by hearing the word of God.

I believe I will make a proposition to this audience similar to the one which I
made in an audience in Ken-tucky some years ago. I said there, “I will give
fifty dollars to the person who will show me a line in the Bible that teaches
that faith comes any other way than by learning the word of God.” I make that
proposition to this audience—to every person in it. It is a standing
proposition, good as long as I live. You have the privilege to get any help that
you wish to get—from any preacher, professor, or any one else; and if you will
find some person to show me a verse in the Bible which teaches that God gives
faith any other way than by hearing his word, I will pay you the fifty dollars
gladly. When I made this proposition in Kentucky, at the close of the service a
very intelligent woman came up, and said, “Brother Calhoun, I am going to try to
find that verse.” and I said, “May the Lord bless you, my sister. If you find it
and show it to me, I’ll be glad to give you the fifty dollars as soon, as you do
it.” She stayed away from church for the next two days, and on the third day
came back to the morning service, walked down the aisle, smiling,. and said,
“Brother Calhoun, don’t you know I can’t find that verse. I thought I could go
home and turn right to it; but I stayed away from church and spent every minute
I could possibly spare hunting for it, and I haven’t found it yet.” And I said
to her, “My dear sister, do you know why you can’t find it?” And she said, “No,
I do not.” And I said, “I can tell. you why, you cannot find it in the Bible;
simply because it is not there to be found. And the person does not live on this
earth, or any other earth, that can find it.” Now, if any of you think you can
find it, my advice would be to take a day off and find it. Most of you can
afford to take one day off for fifty dollars; and if you believe it is in there
and find it, you’ll get the fifty dollars.

There are numbers of other verses that' teach that faith comes by hearing the
word of God. John 17:20 says, “All that believe on me through their words” Acts
15:7 says: “The Gentiles heard the word of the gospel and believed.” John 20:31
says: “These are written that ye might' believe.” Luke 8:12 says: “The devil
took the word out of their heart lest they should believe.” The devil himself
knows that the word of God kept in a human heart produces faith. Hebrews 11:6
says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must
believe that he is.” All those passages and hundreds of others just' as plain
teach that faith comes by hearing the word of Cod. You can see very easily
whether anything you believe to be true is faith or not. Just ask the question,
‘'Does God’s word say it? Do I believe it because God’s word says it? If I do,
then it is faith; otherwise it is not faith. Nothing else anywhere in the Bible
is ever called faith. It is believing God’s word. So this answers the second
question.

Having answered the two questions, “What is faith? and second, “How do we get
faith?” wre come now to the third question, “What does faith do for us when we
do get it? In Romans 5:1 wre have this statement: “Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here we learn that
a smner is justified by faith. Some one may say, “Well, that is my doctrine. I
have always believed that a sinner is justified by faith only.” Well, if you
have, you have always believed something that the Bible nowhere says. We are
justified by faith; the Bible says that; and we cannot be justified without
faith for “without faith it is impossible to please God, and he that cometh to
God must believe that he is.”

Nowhere in the Bible are we said to be justified by faith only. In James 2:24,
we. find this: “You see how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith
only.” Now, I believe this verse just as. much as I believe Romans 5:1. One says
we are justified by faith the other says we are not justified by faith only; and
both are true. In Acts 15:9, we have this language: “God put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” Here we learn that faith
purifies the sianer’s heart, but not faith only; for in 1 Peter 1:22, Peter
says: “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth, see that' you
love one another with a pure heart fervently.” Here we learn that faith purifies
the heart and that obedience also purifies the heart, and one is just as true as
the other. In John 1:12, we have this language: “To as many as received him he
gave the right to become the children of God; even to them who believed on his
name.” This teaches that faith gives power to become a child Of God. In James
2:22, we learn that by works is faith made perfect.

What then does faith for the sinner? It justifies him, purifies his heart, gives
him power to become a child of God, and it is perfected by works. The gospel is
made known for the obedience of faith, and sinners purify their hearts in
obedience to the truth; and by works a man is justified as well as by faith. All
this simply means that a sinner’is j ustified by that faith which leads him to
obey the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, doing those things
taught in the Bible which lead us. to him up to God’s promises of salvation, and
these are: that he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart;
that he must truly repent of every known sin; that he must confess with his
mouth before men his faith in Jesus as Lord; and that he must' be baptized into
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And then Jesus
says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Now, what does this
faith do for the Christian? In Acts 16:34, we are told that when the jailer and
his household were baptized, he brought Paul and Silas into his house and set
food before them and rejoiced, believing in Jesus with all his house. Here we
learn that faith, obedient faith, gives joy to the Christian.

In Ephesians 6:16, the Holy Spirit says to the Christian soldier, “Above all
taking’ the shield of faith wherewith ye may be able, to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one.” We learn from this scripture that faith shields the
Christian from all the fiery darts of Satan. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 we are told
that “God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labor of love,” so
we here learn that the faith of a Christian should lead him to do the works that
God has enjoined upon us. So then faith gives joy, shields, and guides the way
of every Christian, enabling the apostle' to say, “We (Christians) walk'(that
is, live) by faith.”" In Conclusion, let us ask this question, “What must' I do
that I may become a Christian? In Acts, 16:34, answering the question, “Sir,
what must 1 do to be saved?” we have this language: “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and th6u shalt be saved.” Believe oh him as the crucified, buried, and
resurrected Savior. These facts of the gospel, that we must believe, that we
must repent; that we must confess him before men; that we must be baptized and
believe his precious promises ' that we may have salvation, which means the'
pardon of our sins, the'gift of the Holy Spirit, and a home in heaven when this
earth-life ends—this is what the apostle meant when he said, “The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). And this
is what God meant when he said, “He that believeth (the first step) and is
baptized (the last step) shall be saved,” When I look over an audiencd like
this, I think of the story'they tell about Michael Angelo. You know he was the
great sculptor that could take mallet and chisei and make figures so life-lihe
that they could almost speak. He took it in his heart once to make the figure of
an angel. He wanted a very beautiful piece of stope; so he hunted long and
faithfully for a piece, of. marble of the right quality out' of which to make,
it. One dqy he found the stone just suited to his needs imbedded in the dirt of
the mountainside. He called his workmen and told them to dig this stone from its
lowly bed and carry it away to his work shop. All the time they were busy
digging about it and prizing it from its resting place,, he \yas walking about,,
looking ^t' it, pointing to it, clapping his hands, and saying, “There’s an
angel in that! there’s an angel in that!” They thought he was crazy! An angel in
that rough ugly-looking piece of stone! When taken to his workshop, with iqallet
and chisel, the . work began—a little block here, a little chip..there, another
block here, and the hours sped into days, and the days into weeks—a little block
here—a little chip * there. And after,a while the dim outlines of a figure began
to appear. The weeks passed into months and the months into years, and still the
work went on. The outline grew stronger. Finally, when weary years had flown and
the work was complete, there stood before him the figure of the angel that came
forth from the block of stone, it was in there, but it took the hand of an
artist to bring it' out. And., when I look out over the audience and see a man
here, a woman there imbedded in sin, I say, -“There’s fin angel in that! there’s
an angel in that!” Not the material for the cold lifeless angel of stone, but
the material for the real angel to vie around the throne of God and join with
others in singing praises to God. The great . Master Artist who only is able to
shape souls into such saints as to make them meet to be partakers in the
inheritance of the saints in life and to stand about his throne singing the
praises of God, the Master Artist of all eternity, who shapes our lives and
characters so that we may join the angelic host and stand about the throne
singing the praises of him who loved us and died to save us and wash us from our
sins in his own precious blood.


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  CHAPTER 19: THE HUMAN BODY
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The Human Body THE HUMAN BODY By H. L. Calhoun The teaching of the New Testament
makes it very clear that God wants the human body. “I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service. And be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may
prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1).
And again, “Glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God’s” (1
Corinthians 6:20). And Paul says: “I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection, lest by any means, after I have preached the gospel to others. I
myself should become a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

It was not Paul’s duty to keep his body under and bring it into subjection to
the will of Christ more than it is your duty or mine to do the same. Again we
find: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, and if any
man defile this temple, him shall God destroy.” If it is a Christian’s spiritual
duty to offer his body to God as a living sacrifice; if it is his duty to
glorify God in his body; if it is his duty to keep his body under and bring it
into subjection to the will of Christ; and if one who defiles his body which is
the temple of the Holy Spirit will be destroyed; it is very clear that God wants
the human body. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, we have this language: “Having these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse our-selves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, per-fecting holiness in the fear of God.” Here again it is
made very clear that God wants our bodies. This statement: “Let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh,” and the flesh means the body, shows
beyond a doubt that God wants our bodies kept free from sin here called the
“filthiness of the flesh.”

Notice how wonderful this work is, how thorough. “Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit.” One sin is enough to ruin a person
both for time and eternity, if that sin be persisted in. One does not have to
suffer from all the diseases known to medicine in order that death may claim his
physical body. Just one disease like tuberculosis or pneumonia or typhoid fever,
if allowed to have its way is enough to bring death. One does not have to break
every law of the state in order to be punished as a criminal. He does not have
to commit' murder, burn somebody’s house, and steal somebody’s automobile in
order to be arrested. Any one of these is sufficient to bring him within the
clutches of the law; and so one sin is enough to bring one under condemnation of
the law of God. He does not have to lie, steal, get drunk, commit adultery, and
covet. Any one of these is enough to ruin him for time and eternity.

Let us notice how personal the work is. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” It does not say, “Let God cleanse us from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit nor Christ’ nor the Holy Spirit.” This
does not mean that God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit do not have important parts
to perform in man’s salvation, but it does mean that there is a personal part
each one of us must have. God cannot and will not do our part and his too. Let
us cleanse ourselves. James speaks in harmony with the apostle Paul, talking to
Christians he says: "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” And John says: “Every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.” Again this makes it very clear
that it demands on our part a very thorough cleansing of ourselves by ourselves.

Repentance is a personal work. God does not repent for me nor you. God commands
all men everywhere to repent' and repentance means the turning away from and the
leaving off of the practice of sin with all one’s heart and body. “Having
therefore these promises.” What does the writer mean by “these promises?” Where
are they to be. found? I suppose each one of us knows that the Bible as
originally written was not divided into either chapters or verses. Chapters and
verses, like printing, are comparatively modern inventions and are used for the
convenience of the readers. The writers of the New Testament books no more
divided it into chapters and verses than you and I divide our letters into
chapters and verses. If we remove the chapter mark from 2 Corinthians 7, and
allow the last verses of the preceding chapter to come in immediate connection
with the first verse of the seventh chapter, and then read what we find in the
last verses immediately preceding this first verse of the seventh chapter, we
have the promises clearly stated. They are as follows: God says, “I will receive
you,” “I will be a father to you,” and “You shall be my sons and my daughters,”
said the Lord almighty. These then are the promises referred to in the first
verse of the seventh chapter, the promises that God will receive us, that he
will be a father to us, that we shall be his sons and his daughters. “Having
these promises,” the writer says, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Now these
prom-ises are not unconditional. God does not say to just anybody and everybody
under any and all conditions, “I will receive you; I will be a father to you,
and you shall be my sons and my daughters.” The conditions upon which he will
receive us and be a father to us and make us his sons and his daughters are
clearly stated in the verse preceding the promises. They are as follows: “Come
out from among them; be ye separate, and touch no unclean thing,” then he says,
“I will receive you; I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and my
daughters.” But nowhere does God promise to receive any one who will not come
out from the people of the world, keep himself separate from it, and refuse to
touch the unclean thing'which is sin. These are the universal conditions that
one must come out from among the people of the world, be separate from the
world, and refuse to touch the unclean things of sin. And only such persons as
do this may expect to receive the promises. But some one says, “Have you not
forgotten what Jesus says? ‘No man can come unto me except the Father who hath
sent me draw him.’ Does not this scripture show that I cannot come to God
without his drawing me? And hence, if I never come, it will not be my fault; but
all I can do is just to wait till he draws me, for I cannot come until he draws
me. And so if I never come, I shall not be to blame.” No; I have not forgotten
that, and I have it recorded here in my notes that I would be sure not to forget
it. It is found in John 6:44. I believe with all my heart just what Jesus says,
that no man can come unto Jesus except God who sent Jesus draws him; but I do
not believe what you said about it when you said, “Well, then, if. I never do
come, it will not be my fault. All I can do is just to wait' until he draws me.”
I do not believe that, for the language of Jesus does not say that and does not
say anything that means that or that can properly be construed to mean that.
Well, some one says, “Have you not forgotten this other verse which says: 'It is
God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure?’ ” No; I
have not forgotten that verse either. I have it noted. It is Php_2:13 and this
verse is true. I believe it with all my heart just as it is written. It is God
who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now, this does
not mean, does not say that I do not have part in doing the will of God or in
getting myself ready to do it. Certainly God can do as much as a poor puny man
could do. He can do more than I can do, or than you can do. And I can work in my
friend here to will and do of my good pleasure, and have no mystery about it and
no miracle connected with it.

Suppose (and I am glad it would have to be a supposition,, for I never did such
a thing in my life and am proud to say that I never did such a thing) but
suppose I had a pistol in my pocket—and a good one too, loaded and just ready
for business—and I should whip it out quickly and level it on my friend here,
and say to him, “Get out that door immediately or I’ll put a bullet through your
heart.” Do you think he would go? I have not known him long, but I am very sure
he would go promptly; yet I would work in him to will and to do of my good
pleasure. How? By the fear of what would happen to him if he did not. Now, God
does not draw a pistol on one. But he does say those who do not obey the gospel
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and
the glory of his power. I do not know what that language means. I know it means
what we commonly call “hell,” but I do not know what “hell” means. I know just
what little the Bible tells about it. It is a place where there is weeping and
wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and forever; it is a place where the smoke
of their torment ascends up before God day and night forever and ever; where
those within it have no rest; it is a lake of fire and brimstone; it is outer
darkness, where the vile. and the impure are to spend an eternity of misery.
When God says, “If you do not do my will, hell will be your home forever,” I do
not hesitate to tell you that that works in me at once the willingness to do his
good pleasure. I say, “Lord, I’ll do anything you want me to do to keep out of a
place like that.” Here is one way in wdiich any one who knows the Bible
understands that God seeks to work in us to will and do of his good pleasure. I
am not ashamed to say that one reason I am a Christian is because I am afraid
not to be. Jesus said, “Fear not those that kill the body, but after that have
no more that they can do; but I will show you whom you shall fear. Fear him who
hath power to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yea, I say unto you fear him.”
So in this way by the fear of punishment (and I am not ashamed to be afraid of
what Jesus tells me to fear) God seeks to work in me, and in all of us, to will
and do of his good pleasure. But there is another way in which I could work in
my brother t'o will and to do of my good pleasure and have no more mystery about
it than in the way we have just considered. Suppose (and this would have to be a
supposition too, for I do not have it) suppose I had a twenty-dollar gold piece
in my hand, and I would hold it out to him and say, “I will gave you this
twenty-dollar gold piece if you will get out that door immediately.” l)o you
think he would go? I have not known him long, but you just ought to see him
jump. He would go and go gladly for the pay he wouM get; and so I could work in
him to w U and do of my good pleasure simply for the pay I offer him. Any clerk
in. any store, every person who is working for wages in the employ of any
company or person is being worked on by the wages he is to receive to do the
good pleasure of the employees. Talk about working for pay, the greatest pay
that anybody in this world could be offered for his work is that which God
Almighty offers those who will serve him. Listen. “Blessed are they that do his
commandments that they may have rignt to the tree of life and may enter in
through the gates into the city.” I do not know" what this means. I know it
means what we commonly call heaven, but I know no more what heaven is than just
w'hat little this Bible says about it. I know it is a place where God’s own hand
wipes away every tear from our eyes; where there is no more pain, neither sorrow
nor crying; where there is fullness of joy; where there are pleasures
forevermore. It is a place where they have no need of the sun Joy day nor the
moon by night, for the Lord God gives them light; and they shall dwell in his
presence, and God shall be their God and they shall be his people throughout the
ceaseless ages of eternity. I know" it is a place where the sparkling waters of
the river of life, clear as crystal, flow out from beneath the snow-white thvone
of God; and on either bank of this river grows the tree of life, bearing its
fruit every month and the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations—a
city whose foundations are of precious stones whose gates are of pearl; whose
streets are paved with gold, where nothing unclean or sinful ever soils the
inmates who dwell within. And when God says, “If you’ll do my will, I’ll give
you a home in a place like this,” I say at once, “Lord, that’s too good to miss.
I’ll take the pay which you offer me.” It does not seem to me that it ought' to
take an intelligent person a half minute to decide between heaven and hell when
the decision is left wholly to him, and God says, “I set before you life and
death, good and evil, choose ye.” But there is another way in which I could work
in my friend to will and do of my good pleasure, and have no more mystery about'
it than in the ways of which we have been speaking. Man has a conscience, a
sense of right and wrong. You can appeal to a man’s conscience, and a
fair-minded man is always willing to do right. He would not be fair-minded if he
were not willing to do what is right. A horse or a hog or a dog has no
conscience. It is the glory of a human being that he has a conscience and that
he can be led by that conscience to do the thing that is right. Now, if I could
convince my friend that it was right to go out that door, he would go; for I
esteem him to be a fair-minded man so God comes to us saying, “My law is holy
and just and good. The law of the Lord is perfect; whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty shall be blest.” And when God says, “Will you not do what
I ask you to do? My law is right, holy, just, and good.” Do you not see how this
itself is sufficient to work in a man who is fair-minded to will and to do God’s
good pleasure? But there is another way also in which I could work in my friend
to will and to do of my good pleasure, just as free from mystery as any of the
three already considered. Suppose that I had done him a great favor at some time
in the past. Suppose that I had stepped between him and death and that at the
risk of my own life I had saved his life; and then I would say to him, “Will you
not get out that door just to show that you appreciate what I did for you in
saving your life at the risk of my own?” Of course, he would go gladly and
quickly. Otherwise you would say he would not be fit to have his life saved.
Now, Jesus did not risk his life to save you and me from eternal death— he died
for us. He wore a thorn crown for us; he bore that old rugged cross up the rocky
steps of Calvary; he was nailed to the cross; he suffered the cruel mockings of
the enemies for you and for me. Then with those pierced hands of his he comes
before us holding out the crown of life, and says, “Will you not accept it to
show me that you appreciate what I did for you?” Where is the heart that
realizes that Jesus died for him that would refuse this, gift of his love? Would
you not say even as the apostle said, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema?” That is, let him be damned. Such a person as could
trample the blood of Jesus Christ under unhallowed feet, and say, “I don’t care
if he did die for me. I don’t care any more about his blood than I do for the
blood of a hog.” Would you not join with the rest in saying, “Let such a person
be damned. No other fate could be or would be appropriate for such a person as
that.”

Now, in all four of these ways God’s word makes it clear that he is seeking to
work in each of us to will and to do of his good pleasure—by fear of punishment,
by the hope of reward, by the appeal to conscience, and by the appeal of love,
this last being God’s greatest and strongest appeal. But still it remains for
you Or me to say whether or not we will let him thus work in us to do his will.
Did not Jesus say, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man should
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in?” But Jesus never forces himself
into any heart that does not want him. It is as much your place and mine to open
the door as it is his place to come in; and if we do not open the door, it is
not his fault, but' ours.

Well, some one says: “Did you not promise to speak about the religion of the
human body? Is it not about time you were turning your attention to that?” Yes,
that is what we are proposing to do just now. Having seen that God wants our
bodies, that it is our reasonable service to present to him our bodies, and that
we can do so and ought to do so, and that he offers every inducement that
infinite wisdom and love could suggest to work in us to do so, then may we not
ask, “If I yield my body to him, what does he want with it?” Most of us know
that about the first of the year most merchants take stock; that is, they make
inventory of all goods that are on hand, and of all bills, due to them, also
making a list of all obligations that they owe, striking the balances, that they
may find out just how their business stands.

Now since God tells us that he wants our bodies, we learn that it is our
reasonable service to give them to him. Let us take stock and see just what we
could do for God with our bodies if he wanted us to use them for him, what can
your body do? I do not mean your dead body—your body without your spirit in it.
God asks for our bodies as living sacrifices. What can your body do just as it
is now, living, acting? Only this: it can see. You have eyes with which to see
and you could not see unless you had eyes. This is one thing that the body can
do. Again, you can hear. We have ears just as we have eyes, and we hear with our
ears just as we see with our eyes. One may injure his eyes so as to lose them
entirely; and so one’s ears may be injured that he cannot hear. I have not been
in this community very long, but I have learned one thing already about it—that
you people are fond of good things to eat, and you are very careful about what
you eat, insisting that it may always be clean. Nothing but the cleanest' food
will you allow to go down your throat. Yet there are some people who are just as
careful about what goes down their own throats as you are, but’ are not so
careful about what goes down their ears.

I have known some people who would listen to filthy talk, smutty jokes, profane
language, vile stories, filthier than any slop that a pig ever drinks. And such
people would hold their place and listen intently while some person pours this
filth down his ears and laugh while it was being done. Such persons are filthier
than a pig that drinks of the slop. I would rather be a pig and drink the slop
than a man with a soul akin to God and so degrade that soul as to listen to the
filth. The body therefore can see and the body can hear and the body can taste.
Yes, I have a sense of taste just as I have a sense of sight. When I bite an
apple I know whether it is sweet or sour. Some people lose their taste almost
entirely. Just as one can injure his eyes or his ears, he can injure his taste.
Once I heard an old man say, “Oh, watermelons are not good like they used to
be;” and then he spit out a wad of tobacco about as big as the end of your
thumb. The old fellow did not know that he had let that dirty filthy stuff lie
in his mouth until it had paralyzed his taste.- You never heard a boy say,
‘‘Watermelons aren’t good like they used to be.” The body can see and hear and
taste, and touch. It can also smell. These are simply the five senses our
children are taught in school. What else can your body do? You can’t think of
anything else just now. No, and you could not if you had a day in which to
think. The body can see and hear and taste and touch and smell, and that is all
it can do. Yes, if you know anything about mathematics, you know that by the
theory of permutations and combinations you can take these five things and make
literally thousands of things which the body can do; but when you reduce each
one down to its simple elements, it is either some one of these five or some
combinations of them. If your body had no power to see and hear and taste and
touch and smell then it would be as powerless as this chair to do any work in
this world.

Now since these five things are all that the body can do, the next question is,
Does God want me to do all these for him? I am not free to use my eyes to look
at anything I please. Some people seem to think so. They would say, “Oh, there’s
no harm just to look at it, just to see it you know;” and yet God’s word tells
man to avoid the very appearance of evil, turn away from it, pass not by it,
look not upon it. Some of us know, sad to say, that there are pictures posted on
our streets at which one cannot look and keep a decent thought in his mind. God
gave us our eyes to use for him, and I have no right to look at anything that
God would not want me to look at. Years ago I was in Huntingdon, Tennessee,
assisting in a meeting, stopping in the home of Brother Freeman. One afternoon
just before sundown I was on the front veranda studying my sermon. Just outside
the portico was the flower garden. Standing in the midst of this garden was a
great old-fashioned trellis covered completely with a splendid rose vine loaded
down with beautiful roses, wonderful to see and very sweet to smell. As I stood
there, looking at the rosebush and drinking in its perfume and beauty, I said,
“I wonder if I tried, if I couldn’t find something ugly about this rosebush.”
And just for the sake of the illustration, I went to look; and I had only looked
a moment before I found an ugly old bug. He did not look pretty, and he did not
smell sweet. You think I would have been foolish to stand there and look at that
bug and smell him instead of looking at the beautiful roses and smelling them.

Sometimes a man may preach a sermon which is a perfect bouquet of thoughts,
beautiful and sweet with heaven’s own perfume, and yet if he happens to say just
one thing in that sermon that some people do not like, they cannot see or talk
about anything but the mistake in the sermon, the one thing the preacher said
that they think he should not have said. So as it would be foolish to stop and
look at the bug in the rosebush instead of looking at the beautiful roses and
drinking in their sweetness and beauty, would it not be foolish to spend all the
time looking at the bad things we see. Let us learn to use our eyes only to look
for that which is good and pure. The body can hear. Does God care what I do with
my ears? Does he not say, “Take heed what ye hear?” And one has no more right to
listen to just anything than he has to look at just anything. It is just as much
my duty to keep my ears for God as it is to keep my eyes for him. Some of you
have read the story of the sirens, those three creatures said by the ancient
Greeks to live on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. From the waist upward they
were like beautiful young ladies. They had brows like alabaster, cheeks tinted
like roses, cherry lips and teeth like pearl, hair that hung in beautiful golden
ringlets over shoulders white as marble. They had beautiful tapering tinted
fingers and voices rivalling those of heaven’s seraphs in richness and beauty.
In the evening when the sun was low, and the zephyrs sweet and soft, they would
come out on the shores of the island and sing sweet songs to the sailors sailing
over the sea. So sweet were their voices that the sailors, listening, would
forget about the port from whence they sailed and the golden harbor toward which
they were now sailing—would forget' everything but the matchless music of the
siren’s song, and drawn nearer and nearer, and would finally come right up to
the shores of the island and be lulled to sleep by their song, but to them it
was the sleep of death. For when those beautiful creatures saw that they had
them completely under their power, they were beautiful no longer. They tore them
limb from limb and ate their flesh and drank their blood; for they lived on the
flesh and blood of the victims whom they enticed by their music.

Now don’t you think that those old Greeks believed that old story any more than
you and I believe it. That was merely their way of setting before us the
seductive influences of the voices of sin. Those sailors sailing over the sea
represent us sailing over life’s sea in the frail barks of our bodies. And the
siren voices of sin were represented by the siren song, and many have been the
sailors over life’s sea that, listening to the songs of sin, were lulled to the
sleep of death which is the wages of sin. Do I need to stop here to tell you
that we have no right to touch just anything? Does not God’s word say, “Touch
not, handle not any unclean thing?” We do not have the right to smell just'
anything. God gave us our noses and they are just as much a part of our bodies
as our eyes and ears; therefore they should be kept for him just as our other
organs are.

Some years ago in northern Mississippi a man and his wife were passing along a
road which ran between a filthy mudhole, foul smelling, and a large pile of
fresh sweet pine lumber. When they came just between the two, the man turning
his nose toward the mudhole said, “My! just smell this! how awful it is!” His
wife with more good sense said, “No, thank you, dear; I’d rather smell this pine
lumber,” and turned her nose toward that. As we go through life let us learn to
turn away from the vile, filth and impurities, and keep our eyes and ears, our
taste, our touch, our smell for just' such things only as those that make us
good and pure and holy. In closing, may I tell you in a few words just what God
wants with these bodies of ours? By the old farmhouse where I lived when a boy
was the flower garden. Just inside the gate was a great old honeysuckle vine
that climbed up over a wooden frame. Beneath this was a rustic bench on which
many a time we sat and drank in the beauty of the honeysuckle blossoms and the
sweetness of its perfume that filled the yard and the garden. One evening a dark
cloud rose in the west. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared; find the
storm came riding over the face of the land and smote the old frame and its vine
and levelled them in the dust. Did we let the frame lie there? Ah, no. We lifted
the vine and with gentle hands planted a new frame, a stronger frame, a more
beautiful frame than the old one ever had been. Then all about this we taught
the vine to climb again with its tendrils, bursting with its bright buds, and
shedding its sweet perfume as in days of yore. But I know a prettier story than
that. Long years ago the God of heaven planted in the soil of earth a beautiful
vine, and that vine is the human soul. He wanted a frame on which the soul could
lean. He gave these bodies of ours. The bodies of some people are not very
pretty to look at, twisted by disease, bowed by age, hardened by toil; yet they
are the frames of the soul to lean on, clinging round it with its tendrils of
faith, bursting out with its buds of hope, and shedding the perfume of love on
all the atmosphere of life. And this is what God wants with our bodies. Some day
the storm cloud of death will come sweeping over the land and will level these
old bodies of ours in the dust of the grave. Will God let them lie there? Ah,
no. He loves them too well for that. Then up from the grave with loving hands he
will raise them. He will transplant them from the soil of the earth to the
bowers of heaven; and there in the presence of the king himself the soul will
cling round that glorified, immortal, heavenly body, fashioned like unto the
glorious body of Christ, and throughout eternity the soul vine will cling round
it with its tendrils of faith, bursting out with buds of hope, and shedding the
perfume of love over all the atmosphere of heaven. And that^ what God wants with
our bodies.


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  CHAPTER 20: THE SHADOW AND THE SUBSTANCE
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The Shadow and the Substance THE SHADOW AND THE SUBSTANCE By H. L. Calhoun The
subject of this lecture is, “The Shadow and the Substance.” It is based upon the
first verse of the tenth chapter of Hebrews which reads thus: “The law, having a
shadow of good things to come.” The law here mentioned is the law of Moses. This
no Bible scholar denies, and the statement is made that this law of Moses had a
shadow of good things to come. Christ nailed the law of Moses to the cross and
took it out of the way, as Paul tells us; and that which came to take its place
was the gospel, which means ‘good tidings,” “good news,” “good things.” The
statement that the law of Moses contained a shadow of good things to come; that
is, of the gospel which came to take the place of the law is in harmony with
Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3:24, where he says1: the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ; but Christ being come, we are no longer under the
schoolmaster. The same thought is here presented that Christ, that is the gospel
of Christ, lhaving come, we are not any longer under the law of Moses, but under
the gospel of Christ to which our schoolmaster brought us. This teaching is
found also in Hebrews 9:24, where we are told that Christ entered not the holy
places made with hands, but into the heavenly places of which the holy places
made with hands were figures. These scriptures taken together make it very plain
that God’s word teaches that the law of Moses had a shadow of the gospel; and it
is our purpose in this lecture to develop both the shadow and the substance, so
that all may see how beautifully they correspond with each other.

Some one might ask, “Why preach about the law if it is done away?” The statement
that the law had a shadow of the gospel is interesting. God made the law, the
shadow; and God made the gospel, the substance; and it goes without saying that
the shadow of the gospel will bo like the gospel. The shadow of any object is
always like the object. The shadow of a man is like a man; the shadow of a horse
is like a horse; the shadow of a tree is like a tree, but the shadow is not the
sub-stance. We do know the shadow is not equal to the substance. No sensible
woman would be willing to mar-ry a man’s shadow. She wants a sure enough man. So
the shadow of the gospel is not as good as the gospel; but as every part of the
substance is represented in the shadow, so every important part of the gospel
will stand out clearly in the law. It is a well known fact that there are many
conflicting voices today, each one claiming to preach the gospel. In the United
States we are said to have two hundred and fifty-seven varieties in the
preaching of the so-called gospel of Christ. How is one to know in all this
babel of voices which one is true? Is it not clear that if the law of Moses
contains a shadow of the gospel, that the gospel which is true will correspond
in every important feature to its shadow as represented in the law of Moses? And
thus if I preach a gospel that is not clearly shadowed in the law of Moses,
there is something wrong with my gospel. Hence the law and the gospel serve as a
check each upon the other. According to the statement of our text, it is well
known that the Jewish religion carried on under the law of Moses centered around
the tabernacle from Sinai, on till Solomon’s time, and from that day on, around
the temple, that the worshin in both tabernacle and temple was the same as that
taught by the law given by Moses at Sinai. The entire worship ac-cording to the
Mosaic law centered around the taber-nacle, and later around the temple. So of
course, if we are to find a shadow of the gospel of Christ, we shall find it in
the law of Moses governing the worship car-ried on in the tabernacle; and later
in the temple. In order that we may see the correspondence between the two, let
us first study the shadow as found in the tabernacle worship. We shall study the
apartments, and they are three in number, the court, the holy place, and the
most holy place. The court was what we call the yard around the building. They
called it court; we call it yard; the dictionary calls it courtyard. This court,
surrounding the tabernacle, was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide;
reckoning the cubit to be eighteen inches, the court was about one hundred and
fifty feet long by seventy-five feet wide. It was surrounded by a fence made,
not of wood or iron, every five cubits, that is, seven and a half feet, there
was planted in the ground a brazen post, near the top of which was a silver hook
and a white linen curtain five cubits broad, that is, seven and a half feet
broad, and hung on these silver hooks, reaching from the top of the post to the
ground, making a fence around the tabernacle seven and one half feet high. These
posts were made secure by tent cords and tent pins stretched tight one on one
side and one on the other of the posts; and the posts were held in place by
silver railings or connecting rods called fillets.

There was only one entrance to the court; it was on the east side; it was twenty
cubits wide, that is, thirty feet in width; it was closed by a richly
embroidered curtain; the figures upon this curtain worked in blue, scarlet and
purple,, and fine white linen. Every one who entered the court must pass in at
this door. There was no back door nor side door nor place to climb over or crawl
under. Who could enter this court? Everyone, regarless of race,*color, or
condition. God’s house has always been a house of prayer for all nations.
Solomon teaches this in his prayer of dedication as well as Isaiah in his
prophecies. So we have three points about the court—its name, the court; it had
one doorway; and every one who desired could enter, the court and offer a
sacrifice upon the altar that stood therein. The priests must always be present
to officiate in every offering. The next place or apartment was the holy place,
the front room of the tabernacle proper. The walls of the tabernacle were made
of acacia wood boards twenty-seven inches broad and fifteen feet or ten cubits
high. These boards stood on end upon silver sockets as a foundation, two sockets
of silver each weighing ninety-six pounds under each board; and its bottom end
had two teeth which fitted into the holes of the same size and shape in the tops
of the silver sockets. These boards were held in place by long rods running
through golden rings fastened at' equal distances from top and bottom and
running full length, three rows. Over the top of the entire tabernacle were
heavy tent coverings protecting the rooms below from all wind and weather, the
tent coverings held in place by tent cords made tight by tent pins. The front
room of the tabernacle was twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits
high; thirty by fifteen by fifteen feet in length, breadth, and height. The
front end of this room was closed by a heavy veil or curtain quite thick so as
to exclude all light from the outside, making it quite dark within. There were
no windows nor other doors nor skylights. This front room was separated from the
back room by a heavy veil quite thick; and the back room was a perfect cube ten
cubits by ten cubits by ten cubits, that is, fifteen feet long, fifteen feet
wide, and fifteen feet high. The front room was called the holy place. In it
stood the golden candlestick made of one solid piece of gold beaten out. It had
seven branches, each branch with a hollow bowl on top, this bowl filled with
pure olive oil and containing a wick. These lamps were kept burning constantly
in the holy place; they must never be allowed to go out day or night any time.
We would raise the question, Why seven? Perhaps you know that with the Jews
seven was a perfect number. This light representing something that was perfect
naturally had the seven branches.

There were also in this holy place the altar of incense, sometimes called the
golden altar. It was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. On this sweet
incense was burned each morning at nine o’clock and each afternoon at three
o’clock by a priest who must get the fire with which to burn this incense from
the altar out in the court. The other piece of furniture in the holy place was
the table of shewbread standing on the north side of the holy place just
opposite the golden candlestick which was on the south side of the holy place,
and the altar of incense was immediately in front of the veil separating the
holy place from the most holy place. On this table was bread and wine and
incense. Into this holy place there was one door leading, and only one; there
was no other way to get into the holy place. It was by this door that all the
priests could come into the holy place, and were expected to do so, carrying on
the worship inside the holy place every day. Nobody but a priest was allowed to
come into this holy place.

Separating the holy place from the most holy place was the heavy veil already
mentioned, completely excluding the two, the one from the other. In this most
holy place was the ark of the covenant, a hollow box, the lid of which was
covered with pure gold. On top of this lid were the cherub1 m kneeling as they
faced each other one on each end of the lid. and each cherub with its wings
raised above its head so that the tips of the four wings met just over the
center of the mercy seat. Within this ark of the covenant was placed a copy of
the law of Moses, a not of manna upon w hich God fed Israel for forty years, and
Aaron’s rod that budded. There was only one door leading into the most holy
place, and there was no other means of entrance. And into this most holy place
went the high priest alone, and he only once each year on the tenth day of the
seventh month, taking with him blood which besprinkled on the mercy seat to make
atonement for his own sins and for the sins of the people, which atonement
lasted only one year. The furniture in the court consisted of two pieces: first,
the altar of burnt' offering, a hollow box made of acacia wood with a heavy post
in each corner, each post projecting above the corner, and these projecting
corner posts were called the horns of the altar; and the hollow box of the altar
was filled with earth and unhewn stones and on this altar w~as a fire, kept
con-tinually burning. This fire was kindled at first by the Lord, and it must be
kept always burning; for God’s altar must be ready at all times to receive the
offerings which men would make to him. Between this altar and the door of the
holy place- stood the laver, a large vessel made of the mirrors which the women
gave for that purpose, an exhibition on their part of a splendid spirit of
self-denial.

We have now given the names of the three divisions of the tabernacle—the court,
the holy place, and the most holy place; and we have named and described the
pieces of furniture in each—in the court the altar of burnt offering and the
laver; in the holy place, the golden candlestick, the altar of incense, the
table of shewbread; in the most holy place, the ark of the covenant overshadowed
by the mercy seat1. Over this entire tabernacle-—court, holy place, and most
holy place—presided, th'e; high priest, that is, the head priest. It was his
business to see that all the worship and service of God was conducted according
to the will of God as expressed in the law of Moses.

All the common priests were subject to the high priest. In order to become a
priest certain conditions had to be complied with, not one of which could be
omitted, if the person should ever be permitted to hold the priestly office.
First, the priest must be a believer. Without faith it has always been
impossible to please God, and “He that cometh to God must believe.” Next, the
priest must turn away from every other line of work and be only a priest. He
could not be a priest and a lawyer, or a farmer or a shepherd; he must be
nothing but a priest. Thirdly, some one who was already a priest must bring him
to the laver and wash him all over with water. He did not wash himself, nor did
the person who washed him wash only a little of his person, but the entire body
must be washed with water. After the washing there were then put upon him the
garments of the common priests. They were first, the white linen breeches;
second, the white linen coat, reaching- from neck to ankles, with his sleeves
coming down to his wrists. This coat was very much like a lady’s wrapper.

Around the waist of the priest was tied a white linen girdle, or belt; and on
his head was placed a white linen cap or mitre. When dressed in the priestly
garments, the priest must have looked immaculately clean, for linen freshly
laund'pred Sfe the whitest of all cloth. After being dressed the one becoming a
priest must be anointed with the holy oil and sprinkled with the blood. When
these five things had been done, he might enter upon any duties as a priest; and
these duties were daily and weekly. The daily service consisted in keeping the
golden candle-stick lamps trimmed and burning always day and night. They must
never be allowed to go out. And the priest1 walked and worked in the light of
this golden candlestick with it$ seven branches; every step must be taken in the
light of the golden candlestick.' Other daily service was to burn incense on the
golden altar at nine o’clock in the morning and three o’clock in the afternoon.
This incense was a sweet perfume; and since there were no doors nor windows nor
open spaces when the incense was burnt in the holy place twice, each day, it
kept this holy place sweet with incense all the time. So the priest had not only
to walk in the light of the golden candlestick and do every piece of work in its
light, but he must also work in an atmosphere laden with sweet incense all the
time. There was another piece of furniture the table, in the holy place; and the
service of the table came once a week. Every seven days the priest must come to
this table and eat and drink what was on it—and there was on it bread, and among
the vessels named was a decanter, which is a wine jar, so that on the table was
bread and wine which the priest must take every seven days. They were not
supposed to take a vacation and go away and let the daily and weekly service go
unattended.

Now as briefly as we could we have gone over the shadow, showing the apartments
of the tabernacle, the furniture of the tabernacle, the priest who officiated in
the tabernacle, the manner of their daily and weekly service. It will be our
privilege next to point out the substance corresponding to the shadow presented
in the first half of this lecture.

Having looked at the shadow, we turn now to a consideration of the substance
casting this shadow; and in deciding what the different places and pieces of
furniture mean and the priests, we do not wish to be governed by guess work or
opinion, but by the word of God. In considering the places, we spoke of the
court; then we spoke of the holy place and the most holy place; and we spoke of
the high priest as having control of the entire worship, the service being
governed of course by the law of God as given through Moses. Whom did this high
priest represent? Does the Bible tell us? Remember Hebrews 10:1 says: “The law
had a shadow of good things to come,” and it was by the law that they had a high
priest. In Hebrews 9:11, we are taught, “Christ being come, a high priest of
good things.” Here is again the statement that Jesus is the high priest of the
good things to cOme, and the law was the shadow of .the good things to come. And
we have found that the good things that came taking the place of the law made up
the gospel. So this language tells us that Jesus was the high priest under the
gospel dispensation—and this is not my say so nor yours, but the declaration of
God’s word. In Hebrews 9:24, we are told that Christ entered not into the holy
places made with hands which are figures, that is shadows, of truth, but into
heaven itself where he made eternal atonement for us. The high priest under the
law entered into the most holy place and made atonement or obtained redemption
for sins. Our high priest entered into heaven and obtained eternal redemption or
atonement for us all. It1 is clear that the most holy place into which their
high priest entered was a shadow of heaven into which Jesus, our high priest,
entered. It follows of necessity that the blood which the high priest offered
upon the mercy seat was a shadow of Jesus’ blood which he offered upon the mercy
seat in heaven. The atonement which their high priest made lasted only for a
year; the atonement which our high priest made lasted forever. Thus it becomes
manifest that their high priest was a shadow of Jesus, our high priest; and the
most holy place was a shadow of heaven. Of course, our high priest was better
than theirs—God’s word says so. Our high priest had no sin, did not make
atonement for his own sins because he had none. Their high priest had sins, and
the law tells us that he made atonement of his own sins. The blood which our
high priest offered was a great deal better than the blood theirs offered. The
blood of animals could never take away sins, but the blood of Jesus Christ could
take away sins so that God would never remember them any more forever; but the
high priest and the blood which he offered could be a shadow of our high priest
and the blood which he offered, for a shadow is not expected to be as good as
the substance. And the most holy place could be a shadow of heaven, the most
holy place of which we have ever heard; in fact, because it was a shadow of
heaven was the reason why it was called the most holy place.

We have found according to the teaching of God’s word what the high priest
represented under the law and what the most holy place represented or was a
shadow of under the law. We shall seek next' to find whom the common priests
were shadows of and of what the holy place was a shadow. In Revelation 1 chapter
verses 5 and 6 the Apostle John says, speaking of Jesus: “He washed us from our
sins in his own blood and made us kings and priests unto God.” the “us” here
means Christians, those who have been washed from their sins by the blood of
Jesus; so that when he says “Jesus made us priests unto God,” it becomes evident
that the priests back there under the law were shadows of Christians under the
gospel. In 1 Peter 2 - chapter and 5 verse, Peter says: “As living stones, you
are built up a holy priesthood; and the “you” means Christians. Peter joins John
in calling Christians priests and in the 9th verse of that chapter, Peter again
calls Christians “A royal priesthood.” There are other places in the Bible where
Christians are called priests, so that we see in God’s word the priests under
the law were shadows of Christians under Christ or the Gospel. This is not my
say so nor yours, but the declaration of God’s word.

Now, the priests under the law were the only ones allowed to enter the holy
place. There they carried on their daily worship and service, and the very name
shows it to be a holy place. Of what was it the shadow? Since the priests back
there were shadows of Christians, then the place where the priests worked and
worshipped, a holy place, must be the shadow of the place where Christians work
and worship, that is the church. No one bat a Ghrisl jan can get into the church
just as no one but a priest could enter the holy place. In the second chapter of
Acts we are told that God added to the church daily those being saved. Hence, we
find it very clear that the holy place in the law represents the church and that
the priests under the law represent Christians. In regard to the court we need
to notice this fact: everybody who desired to do so could enter the court. This
is the place into -which anybody and everybody comes and in which stands the
church. The only place answering to this court is the world where everybody
comes and in which the church stands. There was just one door nto the court, and
there’s just one door into the world; every one who came into the court1 entered
by the same door, and every one who comes into the world enters by the same
door, natural birth.

There was just one door to the holy place and every one who entered the holy
place entered by that one door; and so there is just one door to the church.
Jesus said you must be born again and except a man be born of water and the
spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. In Matthew 16 th chapter, Jesus
called the “church” in the same breath the “kingdom,” so that we see the
scriptural confirmation of this point as the others. There was just one door
into the most holy place, and everyone who entered it entered by this door.
Having seen that the most holy place rep resents heaven, we are justified in
saying there, is just one door into heaven. We are told of Jesus that he was the
first box’n from, the dead; that is, he was the first person wrapped up in human
flesh who ever rose from the dead to die no more.

Others have been raised from the dead, but they all sooner or later died again;
but Jesus rose from the dead to die no more. And after his death he was received
into heaven where he is sitting at the right hand of God. How beautifully and
scripturally the persons and places correspond. The most holy place represented
heaven the holy place must have represented the church, and the court'
represented the world. Jesus Christ was represented by their high priest,
Christians were represented by the common priests, and sinners were represented
by all the people who entered the court. Could it be possible that all this
perfect correspondence just happened? No; for God’s word says that the law had a
shadow of good things to come.

Now, if the priests represented Christians, the way to become a priest will be a
shadow of the way to become a Christian. What was the first step taken by one
who was to become a priest? First, he must be a believer. God has never been
willing to accept the service of an infidel. “He that believeth not shall be
damned,” and “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh
to God must believe.” The second step taken by one who was to become a priest
was that he must give up his old line of life, no matter what it had been, and
be nothing but a priest. He could not be a priest and a lawyer or a doctor or a
farmer. If he was going to be a priest, he must be that and nothing else. The
third step taken by one to become a priest was some one who was already a priest
brought him to the laver and washed him all over in.water—not just his hands nor
his feet nor his head, but his entire body was washed in water. He did not wash
himself, but was washed by some one else already a priest, and any priest could
do the washing. The fourth step taken by the one becoming a priest was to be
clad in the priestly garments. They were four in number: first, the white linen
breeches; second, the white linen coat, reaching from the neck down to the
ankles, having sleeves reaching to the waists; the third was a white linen
girdle or belt around the waist; and the fourth piece was a mitre or cap of
white linen. When the common priest was thus dressed, he must have looked very
pure and clean. The final step taken in becoming a priest was that the person
must be sprinkled with blood and anointed with holy anointing oil; without both
blood and oil he never could become a priest.

Now, since the common priests were shadows of Christians, the way to become a
priest will furnish the way to become a Christian. To become a priest one must
be a believer; to become a Christian one must be a believer. “He that believeth
not God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,” so that the
first point corresponds with the first point in becoming a priest, a person must
give up his old life and be nothing but a priest. The second step in becoming a
Christian one must give up his old life of sin, no matter what it has been, and
be nothing but a Christian. If he has been a liar, he must give up lying; if he
has been a thief, he must give up stealing. Whatever his life of sin has been,
he must give it up, and be nothing but' a Christian; that is, to become a
Christian one must repent. The third step in becoming a priest was that the
person becoming a priest must be washed all over with water by some one already
a priest; and the third step taken by one becoming a Christian is that he must
be washed all over in baptism by some one already a Christian. Could there be a
closer correspond-ence between shadow and substance? The fourth point in
becoming a priest was that the person was dressed in white from head to foot.
Now white has always been considered a symbol of purity and cleanliness; and the
person becoming a Christian, before he becomes such, must be washed in the
waters of baptism, and then he is promised salvation, or the cleansing from sin.
The Bible speaks of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. The fifth step in becoming a priest was that the person must
be sprinkled with blood and anointed with oil; and the fifth step in becoming a
Christian one must be sprinkled with the blood of Christ and anointed with the
Holy Spirit. Not one of these five could be omitted by one becoming a priest;
and not one of the five points foreshadowed by the process of becoming a priest
can be omitted by one’s becoming a Christian. To become a priest one must
believe, give up his old life, be washed with water from head to foot, be
dressed in white robes, and be sprinkled with blood and anointed with oil; to
become a Christian one must be a believer, he must repent, be washed in the
waters of baptism. He is then promised salvation, and he must be sprinkled with
the blood of Christ and anointed with the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a shadow
that corresponded more perfectly than the way to become a priest corresponds
with the way to become a Christian?

Further, since the way to become a priest, is a shadow of the way to become a
Christian, then the work of a priest must be a shadow of the work of a
Christian. Some of this work of a priest must be done every day and some came
only every seven days. Let us examine these works and see how beautifully they
correspond to the works of the Christian. The priest must walk in the light of
the golden candlestick every day; every step taken in the holy place was taken
in the light of this golden candlestick. This golden candlestick was a light
shining in a dark place with its seven branches typifying perfection because it
gave all the light that was needed in the holy place.

Referring to this light of the golden candlestick, Peter says: “We (Christians)
have a more sure word of prophecy (that is, the Bible) unto which we do well to
take heed as of a light shining in a dark place.” And Paul says: “All scripture
is sufficient to perfect a man and thoroughly furnish him in all good works.”
Certainly no stronger statements could be found that the golden candlestick with
its seven branches was a shadow of the teaching of the Holy Spirit found in the
Holy Scripture, which is sufficient to perfect the man. The priest must burn
incense on the golden altar twice a day, and then walk and work and worship in
the atmosphere filled with the perfume of the incense all through the day. What
did this incense foreshadow? It is good we do not have to guess here. In
Revelation 5:8, it is called “the prayers of the saints;” and just as the common
priests walk all the time in an atmosphere sweet with incense so the Christians
must walk every day in an atmosphere sweet with prayer, for Jesus said, “Men
ought always to pray.” The Holy Spirit through Paul said, “Pray without
ceasing.” A fish could live out of water or a bird out of the at-mosphere fully
as long as a Christian could live out of the atmosphere of prayer.

There was another piece of work which the priest must do every seven days; that
is, he must come to the table in the holy place and eat the bread and drink of
the wine that was upon it, having previously offered the incense representing
prayer. Could a shadow of the Lord’s table be more complete? That table stood in
the holy place, representing the church where the Lord’s table stands. That
table had on it bread and wine and the prayers of thanksgiving. To that table
all the priests come once a week; to the Lord’s table all Christians should come
once a week. Could a shadow be more perfect than this ? So we can see in
becoming a priest and in assuming the priestly life we have a perfect shadow of
the way to become a Christian and of the life one should live and worship as a
Christian.

Please note that the laver at which one becoming a priest was washed stood in
the court, and the court represented the world; so that baptism which is done
for the one becoming a Christian is something done before he gets into the
church. It cannot therefore be properly called a church ordinance. It is an
ordinance of God, but it comes before one gets into the church. Indeed all
religious bodies that practice water baptism refuse to allow any one to become a
member of their church in full fellowship and good standing until after baptism.
In this position they are right, although some of them do not follow the shadow
in having the body of one to be baptized washed. Could the sprinkling or pouring
of a little water upon the head of a person be truthfully called a shadow of the
washing of the entire person in water?

Note please that the priest was not expected to offer sacrifice for sins any
more than he was expected to eat of the table and drink of the wine found on it.
It was no more the duty of a person becoming a priest to be washed with water
than it was his duty after he became a priest to come to the table once a week.
I appeal, friends, to every one of you personally. Could, if be possible* to
have a more perfect correspondence between shadow and substance than we have
here between the law and the gospel? Of course we have just fairly begun the
study of the correspondence between shadow and substance, but in conclusion it
may be said there is not an element or point anywhere under the gospel of Christ
that is not clearly and definitely foreshadowed under the law of Moses. God help
us all today to live under the gospel of Christ, to accept without change not
the shadow, but the gospel of Christ in its fullness of which the law is the
shadow.


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  CHAPTER 21: THE HUMAN HEART
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The Human Heart THE HUMAN HEART By H. L. Calhoun The text of this sermon may be
found in Matthew 5:8 : “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

All people who believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God claim to believe
in heartfelt religion. In fact, if one does not have heartfelt religion, he does
not have the religion taught by Jesus and his inspired apostles. It was Jesus
who said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The thing
which makes the human heart impure is sin. Isaiah tells us: “Your iniquities
have separated between you and your God.” The word of God declares: “There is
not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin neth not.” It further says:
“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

These scriptures make it plain that persons old enough to be accountable to God
must have a change of heart if they are ever to see God; for if sin makes the
heart impure, and if all have sinned, and if only the pure in heart shall see
God, it follows of necessity that all men must have a change of heart. Another
thing to remember is that we all have hearts alike— strange, is it not? How many
people imagine that they are peculiar, that there is no one else in the world
quite like themselves. Many imagine that no one else has such trials and
hardships as they have. I used to think that about myself. Do you know what was
the matter with me when I did so think? I was simply so little, so narrow, so
self-centered in my thinking that I did not look around far enough to see that
others had just as hard a time in proportion to their strength as I had.

God’s word teaches that we all have hearts alike. It declares of him: “He
fashioneth their hearts alike.” Again, it says: “As in water face answereth to
face, so the heart of man to man.” This being true, that the face in the water
is exactly like the face above it, then one human heart must be exactly like
another human heart (Proverbs 27:19).

Another point to remember it that God knows all hearts. Proverbs 15:1 says:
“Hell and destruction are before the eyes of the Lord; how much more the hearts
of the children of men?” Acts 1:24 says: “Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of
all men.” Since God knows all hearts, and since all have sinned and therefore
need a change of heart, it would follow that we all need the same change of
heart.

Now there is only one thing that can purify a human heart from sin and that is
the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s word says: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.” In discussing the subject, The Human Heart or
Heartfelt Religion, four questions seem to be especially important: first, What
is the human heart? second, What change does the human heart need? third, Who
changes the human heart? and fourth, How is the human heart changed? In
answering these four questions I suggest that we give not our own opinions nor
what some man has said. But since God’s word is the truth for Jesus said, “Thy
word is truth,” we should let this word of God be our guide as we seek the
answer to these questions. Then all who believe the Bible to be the word of God
can accept our answers, if we are faithful to the word of God. What we want in
answer to the question, What is the human heart? is the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. I suspect many of us would be surprised if we should
distribute pieces of paper and pencils to each one in the audience and ask him
to write down an answer to the question, What is the human heart? to find how
many different answers we should get. Yet almost all of them, though different,
would be true. But do you know that it is not enough on this or on any other
subject to have simply the truth? A half truth is sometimes more deceiving than
a whole lie. May I give you a little story illustrating this point that partial
truth does not give clear ideas? Some of you have read or heard the story of the
blind men who went one at a time to see the elephant. Of course, blind men have
to see with their fingers. The first one who came in ran up against the great
broad side of the elephant, and said, “It is clear to see the elephant is just
like a wall.” Now this is the truth, but it would give a very poor idea of what
an elephant is like just to say he is like a wall and quit with that. When the
second came, he threw his arms around the great tree-like leg. Rubbing his hands
over that, he said, “Any one can see that the elephant is just like a tree.” And
he told the truth, but not the whole truth. The third one came, and got hold of
the big fan-like ear of the elephant. Rubbing his hands over that, he said, “The
elephant is just like a big fan.” The fourth came and got hold of the big
spear-like tusk. Rubbing his hands over that, he said, “The elephant is just
like a spear.” This was true, but what a poor notion of an elephant it would
give.just to say he is like a spear and stop with that. The next one came, and
he got hold oi the big old trunk twisting and squirming about like a great big
snake. Rub bing his hands over that, he said, “Any one can see that the elephant
is just like a snake.” He. told the truth, but not the whole truth. Then the
elephant was like the wall, the tree, the fan, the spear, the snake; but to take
any one of these by itself, would by no means give a true idea of what an
elephant is like.

Just so it is with many of the answers which some people give to the question,
“"What is the human heart?” Most of them tell the truth in the answers, but they
do not tell the whole truth; and what we want on the subject is the truth, the
whole truth, ana nothing but the. truth. So let us take God’s word, for Jesus
said, “Thy word is, truth.” Let us take all that God’s w'ord says in answer to
this question, and we shall have the whole truth on this point. Let us stop with
that and we shall have nothing but the truth. God’s word says that the human
heart thinks. Genesis 1:5 says: God says that the imagination of the thoughts of
man’s heart was only evil. Jesus says, “Out of the heart come forth evil
thoughts.” The writer of Proverbs says of a man, “As he thinketh in his heart so
is he.” Then in answer to the question, What is the human heart? upon the
authority ot God’s word we say it is that part of man which thinks. Is that
man’s say so or your say so? No. It >s God’s say so; therefore it is the truth.
Is it the whole truth? No.

Again God’s word says: “0 ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be of an
understanding heart.” Then the human heart understands—God’s word says so. And
Jesus said of some people: “Their eyes they have closed; their ears they have
stopped; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their hearts.” So Jesus says the human heart understands. In
Romans 10:10, is found the statement that the heart of man believeth; so the
human heart believes. Now what have we found? God’s word says the human heart
thinks, the human heart believes, the human heart understands. You are thinking
while I speak, you are understanding what I say, and I trust you are believing
what I say, because I am saying just what God’s word says. So the human heart is
that part of a person that thinks, understands, and believes and this is not
what I say, nor what I think, but what' God says; and it must be true.

Now sometimes men have a name for a thing and God has a name for it. So then God
says the human heart thinks, understands, believes. What do men call that part
about a human being that thinks, understands, and believes? I am glad there is
no difference on this point. No matter who the man is that has written upon this
subject. All of them say the human heart is that part about us that thinks,
understands, and believes and that this is what men call the intellect. If one
has no intellect, he neither thinks, under-stands, nor believes. So what a man
calls the intellect, God calls the heart. Is this the truth? As certainly as
God’s word is the truth this is the truth, for it is what God’s word says, the
human heart is. Is it' the whole truth ? By no means. If one should give to God
his intellect, that which thinks, understands, and believes, and stop with that,
he would never find God; for God says, “When you seek me with the whole heart.”
What is the human heart? In Romans 10:1, we have this statement: “Brethren, my
heart’s desire to God for Israel is that they might be saved.” Here we learn
that the human heart desires. God’s word says so. In Matthew 22:37 is the
statement: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” In Proverbs
3:5 is the statement: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.”

Desire is a feeling; love is a feeling; trust is a feeling. So the human heart
embraces man’s feelings. Did it not we could not' correctly speak of heartfelt
religion. So in answering the question, What is the human heart? we may say it
embraces man’s feelings. Here again I am glad that there is no dispute between
God’s word and what men say when they write concerning the human heart. Men say
that we desire, love, and trust with our sensi-bilities which is simply a long
word for feelings. The Bible says we desire, love, and trust with our hearts.

Thirdly, God’s word says, Hebrews 4:12 : “The word of God is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a dis- cerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.” Here we learn that the heart intends. Now what is an
intent? It is simply a decision to do or not do a certain thing. God’s word says
we do this with our hearts. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 is the statement, “Every man
according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give.” Here we learn that the
human heart purposes. Again in Rom. :17, we find the statement, “You have obeyed
from the heart.” Hence we see that God’s word says that the human heart intends,
purposes, and obeys, What do men call that part about us that intends, purposes,
and obeys? Here again is the perfect agreement of men who have written
concerning the . s'ubject. They say that man’s will forms his intentions and
purposes and determines his obedience, so this is what the human heart embraces.
Men call it the will. Let us ask then what is the human heart? In the light of
the teaching of God’s word, we shall be compelled to answer, “It is that part
about one which thinks, understands, and believes.” Men call this the intellect.
It is that part about one which desires, loves, and trusts. Men call this the
sensibilities. It is that part about a human being that intends, purposes, and
obeys. Men call this the will. So according to the word of God and the
declaration of men, the human heart includes man’s intellect, sensibilities, and
will. This is how much human heart my brethren believe in. Do you believe in any
more? There is no more in which to believe. This comprehends all of man’s inner
or spiritual nature. It does not take in the human body. That was the subject of
the former lecture.

Having answered the first question, What is the human heart? the second question
to be answered is, What change is necessary if one hopes to see God ? In Isaiah
55:7 is this statement: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts.” In Php_4:8, Paul says: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any
praise, think on these things.” These Scriptures make it plain that no man’s
heart is right until he thinks right. So a man’s heart must be changed till he
forsakes wicked thoughts and thinks thoughts that are good and pure. No man’s
heart is right as long as he continues to let it be filled with evil thoughts.

Second. Ephesians 4:18 says: “The Gentiles are alienated from the love of God
through the ignorance that is in them.” And Psalms 119:130 says: “The entrance
of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.” No one would
claim that a human heart is right until it understands God’s will. Sinners have
their understanding darkened. Now the human heart understands: hence, since the
human heart thinks and. understands, one’s heart must be so changed that he
think right and understand right. Of course, no human heart is properly right
until it is a believing heart, “He that believeth not shall be damned;” and
without faith it is impossible to please God, and he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. So in answering the question, what change does the human
heart' need? we say it must be so changed as to think right, understand right,
and believe right. In other words, man’s intellectual nature must be brought
into accord with the teaching of God. Again in Proverbs 11:23 is the statement:
“The desire of the righteous is only good.” As long as a man’s heart is full of
evil desires his heart is not right before God. 1 John 2:15 says: “Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.” Matt’. 22:37 says: “Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart.” And Proverbs 3:5 says: “Trust in the the Lord with
all thine heart.” And Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a man who trusts in anything else but God to enter the
kingdom of heaven. What change does the human heart need ? It must be so changed
as to desire only good, to love God supremely, and to trust in God above
everything else. That is, man’s feelings or sensibilities must be so changed as
to be brought into harmony with the will of God. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus teaches
that a man who looks on a woman with lustful intent is already guilty of
adultery in his heart. No man’s heart is right as long as his intentions are
wrong. Acts 11:28 says that Barnabas exhorted the Christians in Antioch to
cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. Nothing is more important to a
good life than to have one’s purposes right. Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them who obey him. Now since we obey
from the heart, no man’s heart is right until it is an obedient heart. Thus we
see in answer to the question, What change does the human heart need? that it
must be changed from evil to good thoughts, from ignohance to the understanding
of God’s word, from unbelief to belief, from evil to good desires, from love of
the world to love of God, from trust in riches or anything else material to
trust in God, from evil to good intentions, from evil to good purposes, from
disobedience to obedience. Thi^ is how much change of heart my brethren believe
that a man must have in order to see God. Do you’ believe in any more?

Some one might say, “I know a good many of your brethren that do not live up to
what you say about how much change of heart a man must have.” Yes, so do I. I
did not come here to defend my brethren; I came here to teach God’s word on the
subject of The Human Heart. In the light of God’s word, I am sure that many of
my brethren are going to be lost; for Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like
ten virgins” and the five foolish ones never did get into the wedding feast. The
third question, Who changes the human heart? can be answered more quickly than
the preceding ones. Let me first answer the question in my own words and then
show from both the Old Testament and the New that my answer is correct. If I do
not so show it' to be correct, please do not accept the answer I give. One verse
in the Old Testament and one in the New showing who changes the human heart. My
brethren believe, always believed, and always will believe, because God’s word
teaches that God changes the human heart. In Ezek. 26:36, God, speaking, says to
the people of Israel: “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and
will give you a heart of flesh.” That is, God would take away the old hard
sinful heart and give them a new heart. If God takes away the old and God gives
the new, then is it not clear that God changes the human heart? In Acts 15:9,
Peter says: God put no difference between us Jews and the Gentiles, purifying
their hearts.” God is here said to purify the heart' of both Jew and Gentile,
and that is exactly the question we are considering, Who changes the human
heart? So both in the Old Testament and the New it is plainly taught that God
changes the human heart. Now let me answer the question who changes the human
heart? and then I will show you from God’s word that my answer is correct. If I
do not so show, I do not want you to believe my answer. My brethren believe,
always have believed, and always will believe because God’s word teaches it,
that, man changes his own heart. In Ezek. 18:33, speaking to the people and
guided by the same Holy Spirit Ezekiel says: “Make you a new heart and a new
spirit, for why will ye die, 0 house of Israel?” Now God cannot lie and God does
not joke. So we learn here that Israel must make their own new heart. In 1 Peter
1:22, the same man from whom we quoted in answer to the question, Who changes
the human heart? says: “Seeing ye have purified your souls, see that ye love one
another with a pure heart fervently.” Here it is just as plainly declared they
had to purify their own hearts as it was stated above that God purifies the
heart. Some one says, “Does the Bible contradict itself? Did you not prove
clearly that God changes the human heart? And did you not prove just as clearly
that man changes his own heart? Yes, 1 did. Then some man says, “Is that not a
contradiction?” No, my brethren do not believe that there is a contradiction in
the Bible where God speaks or where one of his inspired servants speaks.

Let us see how both of these answers can be true— must be true. If one believes
that God did it all and man has nothing to do with it, he would have a
contradiction on his hands, and no way to escape it. For all those passages
which teach that man must change his own heart would contradict' the ones that
said that God did it. Again, if one should say that man did it all and God has
nothing to do with it, he would have a contradiction on his hands and no way to
escape; for all those passages that say God does it, would contradict him when
he says that man does it. Again if we say God and man working together change
the human heart, then both statements are true, and these have no contradiction.
God has a part in the changing of man’s heart, and man has a part' in the
changing of man’s heart. Man cannot do God’s part, and God will not do man’s
part. But when both work together, then the heart is changed according to the
teaching of God’s word. It is like this: James says: “Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” Let us take the first
expression, “Cleanse your hands,” and see how beautifully it illustrates the
cleansing of the human heart. Suppose my hands were literally and actually dirty
and soiled, how would I get them clean? You say, “You would take some water and
wash your hands, thus getting them clean.” Where would I get the water? “Oh,”
you say, “out of the hydrant, bucket, or pitcher.” But where did it come from
when it came into the hydrant, bucket, or pitcher? You say, “God furnished the
water.” Yes. All the water in this world God furnishes, but he does not take
that water and wash my hands. That is my part. I take the water which God
furnishes and I wash my hands; and God and I working together get ray hands
clean. Just so it is with regard to a human heart. Now do not make a mistake.
Water cannot wash away sin from a human heart. My brethren do not believe that,
never did believe it, and never will believe it, because God’s word does not
teach it. We believe what God’s word says: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanseth us from all sin.” Now where does the cleansing blood come from? Who
furnishes it? “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son;” hence
we say, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins.”
But it is ours in obedience to his invitation to be washed from all our sins in
his blood. Thus it is clear that it is God’s part to furnish the cleansing blood
and ours to make use of it. And thus the scriptures answer who changes the human
heart. God and men working together, each one doing his own proper part. The
fourth question, How is the human heart changed? can be answered quite briefly.
I have already quoted the passages that answer this. Let us now call attention
especially to how the human heart is changed. Acts, 15:9, the Holy Spirit
speaking through the Apostle Peter said God purified their hearts by faith. In
Romans 10:17, we are told that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of
God. No man’s heart can be purified without faith, for “He that believeth not
shall be damned,” and “Without faith it is impossible to. please God.” So in
order to have the human heart purified, one must have faith which comes by
hearing the word of God. In 1 Peter 1:22, Peter says, “Seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth see that ye love one another with a pure heart
fervently.” Here it is just as plainly stated that these people purified their
own hearts by obeying the truth. In Romans 6:17, the Holy Spirit says: “Ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine made known unto you being made free
from sin.” So in answer to the question how is the human heart changed? in the
language of the Bible itself we say, “By faith and in obedience;” and there is
no promise that any one’s heart ever has been purified or ever will be purified
without these two, because by works faith is made perfect, for “Faith without
works is dead, being alone.” In Psalms 51:17 we have this statement: “The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit'; a broken and contrite heart, 0 God, thou
wilt not despise.” God wants our hearts, and calls upon us to give them to him."

Some years ago a young man and young lady living in an eastern state married and
came and settled in the western part of Kansas on the plains. They lived happily
till one day, the supply of provisions having grown short, the young man kissed
his wife goodbye, took his wagon, and went fourteen miles to the nearest town to
buy provisions, leaving his young wife for the first time alone. When he left
home the day was beautifully fair and warm. He reached the town; but while
buying his supplies, one of those sudden storms known in the west as northers
came up, with terrific force. The snow was blinding, the wind a perfect
hurricane. Friends told the young man that he must not start home in such a
storm, that it would be folly, that he would lose his life if he should
undertake to go home through such a storm. Several hours passed and the storm
grew harder, and evening was drawing on. He thought of the young wife miles away
from the nearest house with the darkness of the night coming on and the fearful
storm round about. In spite of all friends could do, he started on foot. He
fought the storm with all the courage of a brave heart and a strong body. Night
came on; no star to guide his way, every trace of the road covered by the snow,
the wind coming from many directions. Soon he lost all idea of direction, did
not know where he was going, lost on the plains; but still he fought on until
through chill and exhaustion, he sank to rest just a moment he thought; but when
the storm was over, they found him within a mile of his own house door. The wife
had taken the one lamp, and had polished it as brightly as she could and set' it
inside the window, hoping that the light would guide him home. Sad to say that
he died almost in sight of home, but there are sadder cases.

There are human hearts today sinking down to death in the storm of sin and in
the full light of heaven’s glory as it shines upon their pathway, while God is
knocking at the door of their hearts, saying, “If any man will hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in.” God help us all to give him our hearts and lives
in loving service.


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  CHAPTER 22: OUR RELIGION
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Our Religion “OUR RELIGION” By H. L. Calhoun

Introduction Our equals yours plus mine. The YOU in yours means a group of
people named in the census books as Disciples of Christ, conservative. In the
newspaper world perhaps more easily described as making up in a large part the
constituency of the Firm Foundation. In the educational worlds, most easily
located as the friends and supporters of Abilene Christian College. The “I” in
MINE represents a people described in the census books as the Church of Christ,
most easily located in the newspaper world as composing in a large part the
constituency of the Gospel Advocate and per-haps most easily located in the
educational world as the friends and supporters of David Lipscomb College. “Our
Religion,” then, means the religion of these two groups. It has some times been
named “Fundamentalism,” “Mossbackism,” “Phariseeism,” “Sectarianism,”
“Non-Progressive-ism,” “Literalism,” “Legalism,” “Antism,” “A Book Religion.” It
has some times been described as static, antiquated, fossilized crystallized,
hidebound, ossified, narrow, indi-vidualistic. Some have said that it was
begotten by egotism, conceived in bibliolatry, brought forth in ignorance,
propagated in bigotry and its progeny the narrowest and bitterest of all
sectarians. Outsiders have sometimes described us as preachers of union, but
practicers of division; holding the form of godliness, but' not having the
power; sticklers for the letter, but ignorant of the spirit; tithers of mint,
anise and cummin, but neglecters of ]ustice, mercy and faith, wranglers over
non-essentials, but' careless about fundamentals; loving ourselves, but
despising others; professing Christianity; practicing Pharisee- ism; anxious to
proselyte, careless to convert; skillful theorists but bungling practicers;
great' debaters, but little doers. Our Religion Perhaps the best way to make our
religion known is not to call it names, or use descriptive adjectives, or give
certain dicta as to how it was begotten, con ceived and brought forth, or even
how others look at us, but by setting forth as plainly as we can just what we
believe concerning the Bible, the sacred scrip ture. Since we claim to speak
where the scriptures speak and be silent where the scriptures are silent, to be
able to give chapter and verse for everything we do in the practice of our
religion. "We believe the Bible to be divinely inspired and therefore,
infallibly true in its statement of facts, all authoritative ip its commands and
absolutely sure as to the fulfillment of its every promise. We believe chat its
dassification of tne works of God as those of nature, providence and miracle is
true; that a work of nature is an effect produced without a .special act of
(rod’s will, being simply the result of the operation of his law; that a work of
providence is an effect produced by a special act of God’s will through the use
of his law: that a miracle is an effect produced by a special act of God’s will,
without the use of any of his laws known to man. We believe that the writers of
the Bible wrote and spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And that each
one of its writers might have truly said what Paul said, “which things we speak
not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit
teaches.” And that “all scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, that
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good worksthat
there is not a doctrine, duty, nor privilege pertaining to the Christian
religion that is not fully and clearly revealed therein.

We believe that the inspiration of the writers while sufficient to guide them
into all truth, and to guard them from all error, did not convert them into mere
automatons, dictographs or mechanical instru-ments ; that it left each writer
free to use to the highest of his ability his own personality, style, and
vocabulary; that the province of this inspiration was not subjecting of
subverting but rather that of suggesting and supplementing. We believe that the
Bible presents three great realms of thought, science, philosophy, and faith.
That science deals with facts and proper deductions drawn therefrom; that
philosophy is based on human reason and proper conclusion’s/ drawn by it. That
faith is the belief of divine testimony, and that all correct science, sound
philosophy and Christian faith are true, that these three realms of thought,
like three parallel planes, if produced indefinitely would never impinge one
upon another; neither does any one of these three realms of thought when
correctly used, ever contradict, or conflict with either one of the others.

We believe that the Bible gives the only correct account of man’s origin, duty,
and destiny that it tells us man came by the creative act of God, and was made
in the image of his Creator; that his whole duty is to fear God and keep his
commandments; and that his eternal destiny is according to his own choosing, a
state of happiness, or misery.

We believe that the Bible reveals three great' divine institutions; the home,
the State, the Church; that the home is for the reproduction and rearing of
human beings; that the State is intended to protect the life, liberty and
happiness of its citizens; that the Church exists for the conversion of sinners
and the sanctifying of saints.

We believe that the Bible is our only all-sufficient universal and perpetual
rule of faith and practice; that the principles set forth in this Bible are
sufficient in number and definiteness to guide man in every thought, feeling,
purpose, word and deed of his earth life.

We believe that the Bible makes known to us the gospel as to its origin,
institution and operation; that it shows this gospel to have existed first in
the eternal purpose of God, even before the foundation of the world for it tells
us that Christ stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world; that,
therefore, the gospel is no mere emergency measure to meet an unforeseen or
unexpected event in the history of man, but that God from the beginning saw the
gospel in all its beauty and completeness; that while it existed first in His
eternal purpose it was first planted in the soil of the earth just after sin
came to separate man from his God; in the promise that God made that the seed of
the woman should bruise the serpent's head, which promise was repeated 2000
years later to Abraham, the friend of God and the father of them that believe,
when God said to him, “In thy seed, which is Christ, shall all the families of
the earth be blessed;” that this gospel existed next in the teaching of the
prophets, who spake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow, and by whom hundreds of years before Jesus was born every
im-portant event of his earthly life was foretold, either in type, shadow, or
simple prediction; that this gospel existed next in the preparatory work of
John, the man sent from God concerning whom Jesus said, “Among those born of
women hath not arisen a greater than he,” who came as the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, “prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” who came to make ready a people prepared for
the Lord, as he preached the baptism of repentance for remission of sins; that
the gospel existed next in its perfection upon the first Pentecost after
Christ's resurrection when every fact, commandment' and promise of the gospel
had been brought into existence by Jesus Christ; that this gospel was
instituted, set up or prepared for operation by the earthly ministration of
Jesus, who did its every fact,. issued its every command, and gave it's every
promise; that the facts of this gospel are as Paul states them, “the death of
Jesus Christ for our sins, according to the scriptures. His burial and his
resurrection from the dead according to the scriptures; that the commandments of
this gospel are that one must believe with all his heart on the Lord Jesus
Christ; that he must genuinely and truly repent of every known sin; that he must
be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the promises of this gospel as Jesus gave them are remission of
sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and a home in heaven in the life beyond
death; that having instituted this gospel, which is the power of God unto
salvation and having declared of his own work here on earth that it is finished,
Jesus took his seat at the right hand of God, where he ever lives to make
intercession for us.

We believe that the operation of this gospel was committed to the Holy Spirit;
whom Jesus sent when he ascended to the Father’s right hand to bring to the
remembrance of his followers all that he had taught them, to guide them into all
the truth and to show them things to come, and that we are living now under the
operation of that gospel as directed by the personal agency of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Bible reveals to the alien sinner the law of pardon; that he
must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of his sins and by the command of
Jesus Christ, be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit and that when he has done these things, then and not until then does
he have the promise of salvation or pardon, or the remission of sins.

We believe that the Bible reveals to the Christian the law of life; that he must
do unto others as he would have others do unto him; that as he has opportunity,
he must do good unto all men, especially unto those who are of the household of
faith; that as one who has become obedient unto the faith of the gospel he must
add to his faith virtue and to virtue knowledge; to knowledge temperance and to
temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly
kindness and to brotherly kindness love, and that should he do this, there will
one day be ministered unto him an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; that as one who has received the gift of the
Holy Spirit as an indwelling guest and comforter, he should bear the fruit of
the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, and temperance and that against one whose life is filled with
these things God’s law has no accusation to bring, it teaches that a Christian,
being one wdio has accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord, would say as Jesus
said, “Thy will, not mine, oh Lord, be done,” and that he should follow Jesus
who said, “I am the way the truth and the light,” and that he should embody in
his own life those elements of character found in the character of Jesus and
most beautifully expressed in the beatitudes.

We believe that the Bible presents to us the church of Christ as built by Him
upon the foundation, the great truth that Peter confessed when he said, “Thou
ait' the Christ, the Son of the living (tod, that other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ the Lord.” We believe that
this church is as the Bible says, “the pillar and support of the truth” and that
through it the church and not some humanly devised society must be made known
the manifold wisdom of God.

We believe that the Bible makes known to the church wThose head is Chiist
himself, while the church is his body of which every individual Christian Is a
living member; the law of worship due to God by the church, and that this law of
worship embraces five great acts which are prescribed inclusively and
exclusively, telling exactly what to do and howr it is done, without additions
or subtractions, the worship, as looking up to Him, through these acts of
worship as revealed in the sacred scriptures, we behold as in a mirror the
glorious Lord, and are thus changed into his image from glory to glory as by the
spirit of the Lord.

We believe that these five acts of public worship are first the teaching or
preaching of the word of God to every creature in all the world. Prayer unto the
Father in the name of the Son consisting of confession of sin, praise to God,
thanksgiving for blessings received and petitions for what we need. The third
act of public worship is that of singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs,
making melody with our hearts and not with mechanical instruments, singing with
grace in our hearts to the Lord; that the fourth act of public worship is the
weekly observance on every Lord’s Day of the Lord’s Supper, according to the
appointment of Jesus Christ, we must eat the bread and drink the wine in memory
of Him ; that' the fifth act of public worship as ordained by God is the laying
by in store upon the first day of the week as God hath prospered us, each man as
he purposeth in his own heart.

We believe that the Bible reveals the law of love to all men, that' we must love
God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, more than father, mother,
husband, wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, yea even more than we do our
own life; that we must love our neighbor as we love ourselves; that we must love
our brethren as Christ loved us, and as John says Christ laid down his life for
us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; that we must love even our
enemies and do them good that we may be the children of our father who is in
heaven, for if we love only those who love us, even sinners do the same.

We believe that the Bible presents to us the great motives leading us to forsake
sin and to practice holi-ness as expressed in obedience to the gospel and to
that perfect law of liberty into which if a man looks and continues he shall be
blessed, and that these motives are fear of eternal punishment, hope of
everlasting happiness and love to him who first loved us.

We believe that this Bible lifts the veil of the future and shows us the pathway
of the just, shining more and more unto the perfect day; that it tells us if we
follow Jesus in this world we shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. That we’ll be able then to rejoice in the Lord always, as we seek
to make our lives glorify God and bless our fellowmen.

We believe that this Bible reveals to us the coming of the Son of man in His
Glory, and all His holy angels with Him, when He shall sit upon the throne of
His glory and that all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son
of God and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of
eternal life and they that' have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

We believe that this Bible shows the veil of earth’s temple rent in twain from
top to bottom, revealing to us the glories of that home, that Jesus has gone to
prepare, and that while it doth not yet appear what we shall be, we know that we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is, and that every man who has
this hope in him will purify himself even as He is pure; that some day it may be
his privilege to sweep through the gates of glory as they swing wide upon their
hinges of pearl into that land where they have no need of the sun by day nor of
the moon by night, for the Lord shall give them light and they shall dwell in
His presence, and God shall be their God and they shall be his people, drinking-
of the waters of life clear as crystal, that flow out from underneath the snow
white throne of God, eating the fruits of the tree of life, the life more
abundant, where sin never comes, sorrow and pain are forever unknown and death
is not found, and that as long as God shall last, we may dwell in this home of
the soul, going on always and growing toward the limitless perfections of Him
who loved us and gave His only son to redeem us at the price of his own precious
blood. These are some of the elements of our religion and though they have been
told by one of its humblest adherents in plain simple language, and though we
may say as one of old said, “the half has not yet been told,” we believe that
enough has been revealed to show how unjust and incorrect is the charge that our
religion is static, antiquated, ossified and narrow.

Five years ago I stood on a mountain in California beside a tree which towered
363 feet above the earth. It was 105 feet in circumference, 35 feet in diameter.
It was 4,500 years old, 250 years old when Abraham was born. It was estimated to
contain enough lumber to box in, if sawed into inch planks, the greatest
steamship and to put a lid on the box. As I stood by the tree and studied its
features, I thought, this tree has stood in one spot for 45 centuries; it has
never once changed its position; it has never in all its history changed parts.
There have always been roots, body, bark, branches, foliage, flowers, fragrance,
fruit. It has never once changed the kingdom in which it lived. It has always
belonged to the vegetable kingdom, never to the mineral or animal kingdom. It
has never changed species in all its life. It was never oak, hickory, or pine.
It was always redwood. It has never changed its physical prop-erties. Its wood
has always been brittle, light, lasting, soft. It has never once changed
chemical elements. A piece of that tree analyzed 4,000 yoars ago would show
identically the same elements as a piece of the tree analyzed....... And those
elements are united in the same proportion. It has never changed foliage. It aid
not for a while bear oak leaves, then mulberry and then ash, but always the
leaves of the redwood. Its flowers have never changed. It never bore blossoms
like the rose, the honeysuckle or the lilac, but always the blossoms of the
redwood. It has nev6r changed fragrance. The perfume of the honeysuckle, the
sweetness of the lily was never its own, always the fragrance of the redwood and
its fruit has ever been the same, never bearing apples, peaches, nor pears, but
always the seed of the redwood, and its life has been constant, never an hour in
its existence that life has not flown back and forth through its fibre. As I
thought of these unchanging elements that have been the same for 45 centuries, I
said, Old tree, you are static, and the tree said, “Yes, static even as he is
static, of whom it was said He was the same yesterday, today and forevetf.” And
then I said, “Oh tree, are you static? Wherein are you static? In root? Each
year have not your roots dug deeper, spread wider and grown larger ? Has not
your location widened and deepened with the spread of your roots until today it
is a thousand times greater than when first a tiny twig pushed its way through
the soil of earth?” And the tree answered, “Yes, my location has grown with
every passing year, my roots have changed with every season. I am not static on
location, neither am I static in root.” And then I said, “Oh tree, are you
static in your body?” And the tree answered, “With every passing year my trunk
has climbed higher toward the blue dome of heaven, has grown greater in
circumference, has grown wider in diameter, has covered itself with thicker
bark. My trunk is not static, but even yet is changing with every passing hour.”
Again I said, “Oh, tree, are your branches static?” And the tree answered, “Each
year has seen my branches spread wider, increase in number, grow larger and
become stronger a thousand fold greater than they were during the first year of
my life. My branches are not static.” “Is your foliage static, oh, tree?” And
the tree answered, “No, every returning spring has seen new leaves take the
place of the old that fell away, and the foliage of the year 1927 is a thousands
times greater than in the first year of my life. My flow'ers have grown in
number, with each passing year and have changed 4,500 times. My fragrance has
been fresh with each new blossom, and greatly increased in its quantity. My
fruit has never failed to be renewed with each passing year and has spread wider
and wider until today I stand in the midst of thousands of my children, grown
almost as great, some of them as the parent tree. My life current has changed
greatly, drawing from the willing breast of mother earth, drinking in from the>.
atmosphere that gave freely, the life current has increased many thousand times
over what it was in the first year of my life. I occupy a larger space, a very
greatly increased space in the vegetable kingdom than I did 4,500 years ago. The
elements found in my body are a million times more than they were 40 centuries
ago, and so of my foliage, flowers, fragrance, fruit and life.” And I said, “Oh,
tree, you are dynamic, you are never the same.” And the tree answered, “Yes,
dynamic, as was He who said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly’.” And as I looked upward through ’ts branches
toward the heaven to which they pointed, I said, “Thanks, old tree, for the
lesson thou hast taught me, that in the living works of (tod there are united as
in His own life and years the two principles, the static and the dynamic, and so
we find in this religion of ours. It has embedded in it the static. The gospel
of Jesus Christ the basis of our religion is nineteen centuries old. Not a fact,
command or promise m that gospel has ever been changed, Not a doctrine, duty or
privilege has been altered. Not a motive has been added, substracted or changed.
Not a fruit of the spirit has been altered. Not a grace of life has seen
changes. Not a principle that has altered, and yet, how greatly it has changed.
The dynamic elements are as apparent as the static. Its location, now different,
beginning on a mountain in the land of Palestine for the law went forth from
Zion, it has spread over the hills and valleys of earth, until there is not, a
nation of any consequence where its roots have not been planted. How it has
changed in its content. Beginning with a little band on the day of Pentecost, it
has spread through the centuries until today its adherents number 566,201,000.
How dynamic in growth. Its body the. body of Christ, now small, on that day of
Pentecost, when compared with its size today. Its fruit of the spirit increased
a million fold and more. Its flowers of faith and hope and love fresh in every
newborn child of God. Its graces of life reproduced with every new generation.
Its teaching and preaching of the word done by new ser-vants of God, in every
age. Its prayers ascending from living hearts, fresh in each generation. Its
songs of praise changing with every passing year. Its memorial feast and its
offering of love given by other hands with every passing century. How its
foliage has changed!

What has Christianity, our religion, done in the realm of painting? Blot out
every picture suggested by or inspired by the Christian religion and all the
works of Raphael and Michael Angelo and De Vinci and Reynolds and West' and a
hundred others must go, for all the great paintings that the world knows today
came either directly or indirectly from our religion.

What has it done in architecture? Beginning from the temple of Solomon and
Herod, coming down thru the centuries to Saint Peter’s Church, the cathedral of
Milan, St. Paul’s in London, Church of the Madeline in Paris, including the
thousands of little brown churches in the vale, and the other thousands of white
spires pointing to the heavens, all have sprung from the religion of Jesus of
Nazareth, and to destroy all these buildings would leave in architecture nothing
of great importance today.

What has it done in the realm of literature? Confine it even to our own mother
tongue, beginning with Shakespeare who said, “There is a divinity that shapes
our ends, rough hew them as we may,” whose female characters are drawn with such
purity and tenderness and love that we know as surely that' like produces like,
where he found his ideal.

What has it done in the realm of music? From the notes of the sweet singer of
Israel down through the ages, the psalm and hymns, the great sonatas and
symphonies of the world have sprung from the hearts tuned by the religion that
our God hath taught.

Go into the realm of science and listen to that long line of Christian
scientists, who say we can analyze any living object and show every element and
the combination of elements found in it and we can recombine those elements in
the same proportion, but we cannot produce life. There must be a God who is the
author of life. '

Take your stand among the philosophers. See that one as he holds in his hand the
rose, watch him note the beauty and shapeliness and combination of its petals
and the wonder of its design and its perfume. Follow him as he studies that most
wonderful mechanical combination to be found on earth, the human body. Note the
perfection of its parts, their wonderful symmetry, and adaptation, its striking
design, and then hear him say there must be a God, there could not be a design
without a designer.

Truly it is but a shortsighted view that would call such a religion as this
static, ossified, narrow. The author of our religion said that a tree is known
by its fruit. Does this mean that a religion may be known by the characters that
it produces, the men and women whom it grows? Passing by the man of Galilee, who
practiced what he preached, the Apostle of the Gentiles with his inspiration,
let us come down to the Restoration found in the 19th century. Look at that man
Alexander Campbell, who when Robert Owen, the boastful champion of infidelity
came from his Scottish home to the shores of America and challenged the clergy
of the Christian religion to bring forth a man to meet him in debate, promising
to defeat such representative as to show their religion a fraud and a failure.
It was Alexander Campbell who accepted the challenge and won a victory for the
Christian religion as decisive as that which David won over the boastful
Goliath. It was the same man, Alexander Campbell, who a few years later met
Bishop Purcell, the learned and skillful representative of Ecclesiasticism, and
won for Protestantism and Christian Liberty as represented by him such a victory
as gained for him the gratitude of every Protestant body on earth. It was the
same man who a few years later met in debate that learned and skillful debate,
Dr. N. L. Rice, representative of denominationalism, and Alexander Campbell won
over him such a victory for the United Church of Christ as has left
denominationalism since that day without a defender or even an apologist. Take
another man concerning whom Dr. Henry H. Thayer, learned Harvard professor and
editor of the great Grim-Wilkes English New Testament Lexicon said he possesses
the most thorough knowledge of the English Bible of any living man. A man who
wrote the most splendid commentary on the book of Acts that has ever been
written. A man who by his thorough knowledge by the word of God, and science of
biblical criticism, met the keenest representatives of destructive criticism in
argument and did more to defend the church of Christ from their baleful efforts
than any other man, the saintly J. W. McGarvey.

Take another man, who by his pleasing personality, his trenchant pen and his
powerful preaching, did more to popularize and propagate the plea of the
disciples than 'any other man of his generation, the matchless Isaac Errett.
Take another man, who by his firm stand for the alone sufficiency and all
sufficiency of the word of God, as our rule of faith and practice, did more to
pre-serve our creed from modern eco.lesiasticism repre-sented by organized
missions, from the fad of federa-tion and from the formalization of Christian
worship through the introduction of mechanical instruments of music where sound
was too often substituted for sense and the motive prompting the singing of the
hired choir was too often greenback, rather than the grace of God m the heart,
than perhaps any other man, David Lipscomb. Shall these men be called static,
mossbacks, narrow, and Kteralists? Shall such epithets be applied to him who was
the author of our plea, Alexander Campbell? Or to John W. McGarvey its most
noted defender? Or to Isaac Errett, its peerless propagator? Or to David
Lipscomb its sturdy preserver? The very asking of the question is enough to show
the absurdity of an affirmative answer. It was Alexander Campbell w’ho said,
“Introduction of a mechanical instrument of music into a worshipping assembly of
Christians is as inconsistent as the bringing of a cowbell into a musical
concert.” It was John W. McGarvey who all his life long believed and preached
that the use of mechanical instruments of music in the worship of God was wrong,
and neither one of the four men whom w*e have mentioned believed that either
humanly, devised missionary societies or mechanical instruments of music were
any part of the inspired service and worship of God, nor that either one was a
matter of faith.

Perhaps a few words in conclusion may not be inappropriate. The following facts
will not be denied by anyone who believes the Bible and is acquainted with the
history of our religion. First, the era of greatest growth in the history of the
church of Christ was in that period when the church came fresh from the land of
the inspired apostles and into the hands of those who succeeded them; when its
doctrines and its practice were governed wholly and solely by the inspired
teaching of God; as it came first from the lips of inspired men and then from
its writers. In the first three hundred years of its history we see this church
making such progress that its gospel was preached throughout the then known
world, and was accepted and obeyed by so many that it became the established
religion of the great Roman Empire, whose ruler Constantine the Great, bearing
the sceptre of iron, bowed in humble submission to our King, Jesus, who bears
the sceptre of love. The next period of most rapid growth found in the history
of the church was within the first fifty years of the great Restoration movement
led by the Campbells, Stone and Scott. When the growth was so great as to
surpass by ten times that of Methodism, which up to that day has furnished the
prodigy of growth in the Protestant world. When Methodism was fifty years old it
numbered 50,000 adherents. When the Restoration movement was fifty years old it
numbered 500,000 adherents, just ten times as many as Methodism won in the first
fifty years of its life. And it is a significant fact that these two eras of the
most rapid growth of our religion were those in which neither humanly organized
missionary societies nor mechanical instruments of music were used by any of the
churches of Christ.

It is another fact quite as significant, that with the introduction of these two
so-called human expedients, there came a diminution both in the number and per
cent of increase and so far has this diminution gone that in some years there
has been a decrease, rather than an increase in both.

It is another fact that nowhere among the churches of Christ are there people
found who believe that either mechanical 'instruments of music or humanly
organized missionary societies are matters of faith, or that either one or both
must be used, in order to have the Christian religion in its perfection. It will
not be denied by anyone acquainted with the Bible that Jesus prayed all his
followers might be one; that the Holy Spirit speaking by the apostle Paul said,
“Let there be no division among you, but be ye perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment.” If the Holy Spirit condemned division, and
Jesus Christ prayed for union, and the Holy Spirit taught it, then union among
God’s people is both possible and desirable, for neither Christ nor the Holy
Spirit would teach or pray for what is not desirable or possible.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/1929-lectures/
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