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THE KING’S BUSINESS
SEVEN ASPECTS OF HOLINESS In the Bible the return of our Lord is presented as a motive to , holiness in seven different aspects. You will find four of them in the 21st chapter of Luke, .beginning with the 34th verse. “But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come on you suddenly, as a snare, For it shall so come upon all those that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may pre vail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand be fore the' Son of Man.” Four of the aspects in which the Return of our Lord is made a Motive for “Personal Holiness” are found in these four verses. 1. The first one is simplicity in living, holiness in the matter o f the gratification of appetite. “Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with sur feiting.” The whole passage has to do with the return of our Lord, and the events connected with it ; and our Lord says : “Be ready for that day, and be ready in this way: First of all, see that your hearts are not bur dened down with a self-indulgent life, too much gratification of the appetite. We hear a great deal in these days, —we have lectures without number and books without number—about thé dangers of eating too much, and eat ing too rich food. Did you ever hear a sermon on this' subject from the standpoint of this passage, “Do not let your mind be dimmed by an over- indulgence of your stomach, because the Lord Jesus is coming, and you want a clear head when He comes;
lead a simple life, simple in what you eat, simple in what you wear, simple in every respect, because Jesus is coming again ?” 2. The second aspect is temper ance in the matter of drinking, in the matter of the use of alcoholic stimu lants. We all of us have hearer a great many temperance sermons, and I presume that many of us have preached a good many temperance sermons. Did you ever hear a tem perance sermon preached from this standpoint : “Do not indulge in alco holic stimulants to any greater ex tent than Will prepare you for the coming of the Lord ?” How much indulgence will that be? How much alcohol does it take to befog a mind ever so little? One drop will befog it a little. 3. The third aspect is that of freedom from the bondage of the cares of this life, holiness in not be ing submerged in worldly cares, re sponsibilities, and duties. There is many a man and many a woman who would not overeat, who would not overdress, who would not think of touching a drop of alcoholic stimu lants, but who is tremendously pre occupied with the cares of this world. If it is a man, he is taken up with his business duties and his responsi bilities; arid if it is a woman, she is taken up with her domestic and household cafes, or with her special duties. You are letting worldly cares choke out the study of the Word and choke out prayer. You remember, in our Lord’s parable in thé 8th chapter of Luke, 14th versé, thé Lord tells us that the thorns that choke the Word are “ Cares'’ and “riches” arid the “pleasures óf this' life.”' My brethren, if a man is in business he should be diligent in business, if a woman is a housekeeper she—should keep house well; but is your business or your housekeeping choking out
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