King's Business - 1914-08/09

THE KING’S BUSINESS

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while he was still wrong. When he met Jesus there was no change in him. What Jesus said to him while He was with him in his home we do not know. But we know that some­ thing happened. Something very real and definite happened for it changed the man to the very roots of his being. This was evident by what he said and did. It was not the old tax gatherer that stood ready to make restitution and fulfill his obligations to his fellowmen. It was a new man who said, “ Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold.” It was at this point that Jesus an­ nounced that Salvation had come to his house. The moral and spiritual faculties were restored and the man began to live right because he was saved. The man with the withered hand began to use his hand and the fact that he used it was the evidence that his hand was saved. So Zac­ chseus began to live right and that was the evidence that he was a saved man. The new life and powers began to show themselves in his moral and spiritual life. Once life comes it straightway manifests itself in vari­ ous expressions. From this we get our definition of salvation,—Salvation is the infusion into life of a new power that restores incapacitated faculties so that life can be lived normally. It is the introduc­ tion of a life or a power that makes it possible for a man to live right in all his relations in life. In the third place, let us note how this came about in the life of Zac­ chseus. It was through his contact with Jesus, and it is very obvious that this contact meant that Zac­ chseus yielded himself to the Lord- ship of Christ and allowed Him to reign in his life. From that time on he had a new viewpoint of life which

faith had made thee whole.” In all these casés of healing and moral restitution we have literal illustra­ tions of what Jesus meant when 'he spoke of men and women being saved. In every instance there was an impartatioii of life that resulted in the restoration of health and faculties - which had been wholly or practically incapacitated by sickness or death. The things that were wrong in the bodies of men and women and made them abnormal were put right and they were able to live a normal physi­ cal life. The people who were healed believed that Jesus could heal them, but that was not salvation. This atti­ tude of mind made salvation possible but it was not salvation. Salvation was the thing that restored them and made them new men and new women. It was the thing in the physical realm which gave the leper new flesh and the man with the withered hand a new hand. In the moral life it was the thing that gave men and women new moral life and power. In the spiritual realm it cannot mean some­ thing else. Here also it is the im- partation of a new spiritual life which restores spiritual faculties which are just as real as the restored* flesh or hand. That is the thing that came to the house of Zacchseus on that memorable day—When Jesus entered the home life entered it. The en­ trance of this life made a fundamen­ tal difference. In the light of this fact let us look at the story a little more in detail. First of all, let it be noted that this man was wrong in his life and in his relations with his fellow men. He was not wrong because he was rich, but he happened to be rich because he was wrong. He got his riches through wrong relations with his fol­ lows. In the second place, note “that he came face to face with Jesus Christ

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