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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February, 1938
our unbelief? Let us rather catch up with the Scriptures both in our explanations and our experiences! “ Let God be true, but every man a liar” ! President Rood in the East Paul W . Rood, President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, left the Institute on January 11, for meetings in the Chicago vicinity. He had been invited to speak at the annual rally of the Christian Business Men’s Committee on January 17, and to address noon meetings held in one of the large theaters of “the loop” under the Com mittee’s sponsorship. He also preached in several churches in the Chicago region. AROUND THE KING’ S TABLE [ Continued, from page 45] ing of the statesman’s mother, he stopped and said to his boy, “ I come here every morning and look into the face of my mother that I may receive the stimulus and inspiration that comes from a consideration of her wonderful life. After seeing her pic ture, I cannot think ignoble thoughts or do ignoble deeds.” Shall we not go into God’s art gallery every day and look at the picture of Job that we might learn patience, the picture of Joseph that we might learn integrity, the picture of Abraham that we might learn faith, the picture of Daniel that we might learn faithfulness, the picture of John that we might learn to love Christ supremely, and the picture of Paul that we might emu late his zeal? Shall we not above all look daily at the portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ that our souls may be steadied and prepared for the testings and trials and problems of the day? W e behold Christ in the Scriptures!
God says: “ Be filled with the Spirit.” Men have dodged and denied the Bible doctrine of a definite enduement of power for service. They have been willing to miss a blessing rather than give up a prejudice. Painted fire has supplanted Pentecostal fire, and Samson, fresh from the lap of Delilah, shakes himself and knows not that the Spirit has departed from him. But it is not by might nor power but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts: “ Let God be true, but every man a liar.” God has said that Jesus shall return in the same manner as He went away. Scof fers ask, “Where is the promise of his com ing?” Hypocrites read the face of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times. Belshazzar drinks before his lords in un godly revelry while astrologers and sooth sayers guess at the meaning of the hand writing on the wall. W e live in the Satur day evening of the age; the mystery of law lessness heads up toward its awful climax; the nig;ht of apostasy darkens; the sky is lurid with the flames of approaching judg ment. Jesus is coming! “ Let God be true, but every man a liar.” The Issue: Believing God or Man So, no matter which way we look, the issue is this: Are we to believe what God has said or the testimony of man ? In Matthew 22:29 our Lord said: “ Ye. do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” W e err because instead of know ing the Scriptures on the one hand we sub stitute our explanations; . and instead of knowing the power of God on the other hand we substitute our experiences. And what can be more pathetic than to spend a lifetime expounding the supernatural without ever having experienced the super natural, contending for the miracles of yes
body who was sick and prayed in faith, yet died. The facts do not seem to bear out the Scriptures, and we adjust the Book to the Procrustean bed of our pitiful ex perience. W e dare not believe God’s own bold w ords; we run them through a process to match our miserable faith—or lack of faith— and we are as guilty of denaturing the Scriptures as modernism ever dared to be. "Let S o d Be True" W e must believe what God said because God said it, not because logic or life seem to verify it. T o be sure, the Bible is both reasonable and livable, but first of all it is so simply because God said so, and God’s saying so makes it so. We must accept that or else go blundering along half- believing and half-doubting, trying to mix the wisdom of man with “the foolishness of God” (1 Cor. 1:25). God has spoken and that settles it: “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). T o doubt God and believe human explanation and experience is to make God a liar. If any body has lied, man has lied. If there is any doubt on any point, give God the bene fit of the doubt. If circumstances seem ro contradict what God has said, let God be true and circumstances be liars. If scholars doubt what God has written, let God be true and let scholars be liars. If feelings do not seem to confirm the Word, let God be true and let feelings be liars. If we do not live up to what God has said, let God be true and let us be the liars. “ He hath said . . . so that we may boldly say,” and whatever contradicts Him is of the devil who is a liar and the father of it. When Satan entered human life, he took the form of a serpent and his question was, “ Yea, hath God said . . . ?” When the Saviour came to earth, He took the form of a servant, and His answer in life and teaching was, “ Yea, God hath said.” God has said: “ There is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Men say that there is a difference and that sin is only arrested de velopment, immaturity, biological growing pains. Whom shall we believe? “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” God has said: “ Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” ; “was raised again for our justification” ; “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Men say that other ways are just as good. Modern Naamans claim that Abana and Pharpar are as good as Jordan. They do not like the Gospel of No Other Name. “ Let God be true, but every man a liar.” God says: “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Men believe in a sentimental God who would wink at man’s wickedness, and they forget that while God is love, He is also a consuming Fire. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” God says: “ Present your bodies a living sacrifice” ; “come out from among them, and be ye separate.” Men do not choose the highway of holiness; they would mix light with darkness and join Christ with Belial. But God has spoken, and he that believeth hath no part with an infidel. “Let Qod be true, but every man a liar.”
terday yet practically denying the possibility of miracles today! After all, the Word of God yields its deepest secrets not to scholarly analysis but to simple faith that dares to let God be true but every man a liar. After the wise and prudent, even among the orthodox, have ar gued at length over this verse and that, God raises up some nonentity who dares to believe God’s bold, brave words, and puts all the rest of us to shame. Few of us ever stand with all our weight on the Word of God. W e pretend to, but in a crisis we usually make some concession to human weakness, and the Word does not profit us as it might, being mixed with unbelief in us who hear it. In the thick of an engagement some one cried to the captain: “ The flag is far ahead, and the regiment has fallen ’way be hind the colors. Shall we bring the flag back to the regiment?” The captain shouted back: “N o ! Bring the regiment up to the flag!” W e Bible Christians have fallen far behind our colors. Shall we bring the Scriptures back to us, trim them to suit
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