I6S
THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
May, 1937
with understanding. He silently reread the verses. “ One more passage, Walter— John 10:27-29. Follow the words with your pencil as we read them: ‘M y sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck thém out of my Father’s hand.’ ” “ Why, I never saw that before!” the boy exclaimed. “ A fellow can always be sure just where he stands, can’t he? If he gets to wondering, he can just turn right away to what God says— and be sure. “ Say,” he continued,
“W ell,” Walter mused reminiscently, “ M r. Green did have a Bible in his hand. He recited several verses to me.” “ Do you recall one of them?” “ That’s just the trouble— I don’t !” “ Let’s look into the W ord together, shall we? Suppose we turn to John 1 :12 and read it aloud: ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’ ” “Why, that’s what I did that night,” the boy’s face brightened. “ I received Christ; I ’m sure I did. I ’ll mark that verse in my Bible so I ’ll always remember it.” “ Then shall we turn to Romans 10:9 and 10?”
“ why didn’t somebody tell us boys how to find what we need in the Bible, like you’ve showed me this morning?” S h a m e f u l A b an d o n m e n t Many another boy and girl is echoing Walter’s question . “ I t is easy,” Christian workers say, “ to lead a child to Christ.” True— but spiritual trag edy is imminent when one presents the plan of salva tion to a trusting child, without taking the trouble to establish that precious one in a knowledge of the Word. And the work of instructing the young con vert may be a long, slow, repetitive process that has not the vestige of glamor
Walter read slowly and thoughtfully: “ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto right eousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” “ I did that, too,” he added. “ I confessed Christ that very night.” The joy of conviction was mounting, and the bright eyes of the boy shone
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Essential
Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts
He if they have a hike. The sermons he no longer hears, says he has that preacher’s vocabulary down pat.” Is this father guiltless? Is the minister? II. In the Home “ Twenty Gospels of John, please.” The young man waited for the salesman to wrap them. “For a class?” queried the interested storekeeper. “No, for a little boy.” “ For a boy! How old?” “ Seven.” “ A bit unusual, isn’t it?” “Well, no, not when you know the story. You see, this boy is an only child in a home where the parents are away most of the time. I am employed to care for him, keep him amused, and teach him a little. Our first night together, I told him about the Lord Jesus. He looked at me in sur prise. *Jesus!* he echoed reproachfully; ‘why, that’s a swear word.’ In a very respectable home, in so-called Christian America, I told that boy a story he never before had heard, the story of Calvary, and the empty tomb, and the coming Christ. He was deeply impressed. To my delight, he wil lingly received the Saviour into his heart.” “ But where do the twenty Gospels of John come in?” “ Why, don’t you know that the most natural thing for a saved sinner to do is to begin right away to witness for Christ? In one day, with absolutely no urging, the youngster accosted twenty of his playmates. He used his own phraseology and demanded: ‘Don’t you want to know all about the adventures of Jesus?’ They did, of course. In their homes, as in his, the name of Jesus usually did not mean ‘Saviour.’ “ ‘Then I’ll get you a book that tells all about Him,’ the boy promised. So— at his request, I’m buying little red booklets, to change homes, and hearts.” — Actual Experience of a Biola Student.
about it for the adult teacher or adviser. On every hand, one hears humanitarian leaders declar ing that parents have no right to bring into the world boys and girls for whose physical welfare they are not will ing to take responsibility. There are fierce denunciations of those parents who will bring a child to the birth, and then abandon the little one to the care of strangers. Yet the same loose practice, in a spiritual sense, is going on all the time, and no one lifts a voice in protest. There are innumerable indictments of the modernistic teacher or preacher who either scoffs at or else ignores the Bible teaching concerning the absolute necessity of the new birth for obtaining eternal life. But many Bible-believing teáchers and preachers are likewise in need of correction when they take lightly the holy responsibilities that devolve upon them in connection with the birth of a soul. Any person, adult or child, may experience the New Birth, “ being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in corruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” There is no question that, even in a child, the work of regeneration may be genuine and complete. And the promise is to every one, at any age: “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). The believer, although a tiny child, is then a new creature in Christ Jesus, one who will be “ kept by the power of God.” Is the soul-winner, then, to bear no responsibility? Shall the one present at the birth— the spiritual birth of a child— take no vital interest in the provision of its food and care ? In the world, such heart lessness would merit scathing criticism. In the realm of [Continued on page 190]
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