March 1927
136
T h é
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Give Us Expository Sermons A MAN was one day trying to hang a picture for his . wife, and, not having a step ladder, was trying to balance himself on a pile of books stacked upon a rather weak chair. He had hammered the plaster all about the nail but could not get the nail driven in. Said the wife: “John, hit it one brave blow and be done with it.” “How can I,” he asked, “standing on a foundation like this?” That is just the trouble with much of the modern preaching. It has lost its divine foundation and is trying to stand on mere human speculation.. It is the man who stands firmly upon the Word of God, and has a “Thus saith the’Lord,” for all he says, who can say something with force, and get conviction and conversion as a result. If you -want a life-sized photograph of the Apostle Peter, a man who had- a foundation, take a look at him on the day of Pentecost; Note the change that had taken place in this impetuous, unbalanced and even cowardly fel low, and you will have some idea of what the fullness of the Holy Spirit does for a man. He has become a burning speaker. There’s something in his voice we never heard •before. We had never taken him for an expositor, yet he displays a remarkable grasp of the Scriptures, expands Old Testament prophecies and sets forth the doctrine of Christ in all its fullness. This sermon at Pentecost is full of the Bible and Christ. It begins with the Christ of Nazareth and ends with the Christ of glory. It brings out the humanity of Christ (Acts 2:22), the miracles of Christ (v .22), the crucifixion of Christ - (vs. 23, 38), the resurrection of Christ (v. 24), the ascension of Christ (vs. 33-34), the Deity of Christ (v. 36), the Gift of Christ—-the Holy Spirit (vs. 33, 38). Let our sermons be impregnated with the inspired Word itself and filled with the doctrine of Christ. Expository sermons are the model sermons of the Bible and we need more of that kind of preaching today. Note Peter’s positiveness: “He lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words . . . . Ye men of Israel, hear these words. . . . . Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, w hom jiek»« crucified, both Lord and Christ.” What was the result? “They were pricked in their hearts and cried out.” He had hit the right spot. The Word of God had not returned void. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” We need to pray for a ministry that will prick hearts. We’re having too much soothing syrup. Consciences are not being disturbed. We need preachers who will expound the whole truth as it is in the Word, and let the Holy Spirit take care of it. What Peter preached is what every minister true to his vows is supposed to preach. Change that message and give the people little sermonettes and chats on current events, and there will be no answer in the human heart, no con viction of sin and repentance. We are “more than conquerors” Through the Written Word, Holding fast its doctrines, With allegiance stirred. Steadfast, stalwart soldiers, Seek not earth’s reward, Win immortal laurels, Wield the Spirit’s Sword. „
means a contemplation and communion that makes Him a reality in the life. Dr. D eW itt;speaks of Jonathan Edwards’ “immediate perception of the spiritual universe as the reality of realities.” This, made Je.sus Christ very real to him and he conversed very familiarly with Him. If we could but practise the Presence with such sureness and immediacy our hands would not hang down and our knees woud not be weak. We lose heart when we lose the sense of His presence. When He rules supreme in the life and His glory is manifested through us we can not lose heart for He is more than all who can be against us. Oh, fill me with Thy fullness1, Tord Until my very heart vo’erflow In'kindling thought and glowing word, Thy love, to tell, Thy praise to show. Are These False Teeth? T EETH, teeth —human teeth! The scientists are all a-flutter! A nrofessor in Montana has dug up a tooth which he declares to be the most important fossil ever found. Its value lies in its being the ripe old age of perxactly 75,000,000 years. (He adds— “certainly over- 30,000,000.” What does a little 45,000,000 one way or the other mean to us in these days?|j(l Another brother has extracted a tooth from a lime stone cave in China. This one, we are told, carries the human race back only 2,400,000 years (possibly we should allow a month or two over). This exact scientific infor mation has been widely broadcast by newspapers and periodicals, and many unthinking folks are ready to swal low these teeth as concrete evidence against the Bible light on man’s antiquity. It has been well said: “Sufficient unto the day'is the drivel thereof.’’ ' In the first place, there is a little question as to whether or not these are human teeth. They may even be false teeth, like some other famous “evidence” produced by evolutionists. Furthermore, the method of calculating their antiquity by .allowing, so many years for the form ation of earth strata lying above them has more than once been exposed as a fallacy. Here is a paragraph to reflect uponptaken from a recent scientific treatise:
“If ages of time elapsed between the formation of the successive beds of coal, we would not find fossils of a similar character scattered through them. Nor would we find fossil Itrees extending through several over-lying strata. In a colliery near New castle, England, a fossil tree was found reaching up through ten distinct over-lying strata. How could this tree have been preserved through hundreds of thou sands of years, while the land was slowly subsiding into or rising above the sea ?”
The pity is that some of this cock-sure knowledge that can fix the age of a tooth found in the ground can not be put to work diagnosing and relieving some of the human ills of today.
“At the present time,”' says Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of physical anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, “there is an epidemic of ‘ancient man’ discoveries in North America. Most of them, ac cording to this authority, are based upon the most absurd grounds. Sometimes the ‘discoverers’ of these ‘finds’ are fakers, pure and simple, who crave publicity; sometimes they are sincere persons who are unable to examine the object critically and draw a proper inference.” “The trouble with these affairs,” says Dr. Hrdlicka, “is that they tend to make the whole science of physical anthropology ridiculous because of the publicity they obtain.”
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs