those for whom He died and those whom He had made alive through His death. The tragedy is that we want to crowd Him off into a little section of our experience. When you do that, you will find that conduct will vary according to circumstance. Perhaps I can illustrate that by giv ing you an example of that which undoubtedly has taken place on more than one week-end. Christianity and Sunday Clothes After the morning service on the Lord’s day, two persons accidental ly bump into each other in the vestibule of the church. They go on their way. Monday dawns and early in the morning two cars ap proach an intersection traveling at a rapid rate of speed. There is a grinding of brakes and two cars come to a stop with fenders touch ing. The same two persons who bumped each other in the vestibule of the church have bumped each other at the intersection on Mon day morning. Conduct has a way of changing according to circum stances when the lordship of Christ is not a reality in experience. Thus it is that on the Lord’s day morning in the vestibule of the church there will be effusive apologies. But on Monday morning under different circumstances, there will not be effusive apo l o g i e s but explosive articulations! Why? If Jesus Christ holds the reins of life there ought to be the same courtesy at the inter section as there is in the vestibule of the church. Why is it that so many believers seem to put aside their Christianity with their Sunday clothes? It is because Jesus Christ is relegated to just a little area of their experience. But Paul says, “For to me to live is Christ” — that is the Christ-dom inated life, the Christ-controlled life. Peter's Answer There are two chapters in the New Testament — adjoining chap ters incidentally — which present us with two different types of be lievers, In Acts 10 we have the story of a man who goes to the top of his house to pray. He falls into a trance and sees the heavens opened and, as it were, a great sheet knit
at the four comers being lowered to the earth. In the sheet there are creeping creatures of every descrip tion and there comes a voice from the heavens which says, “Bise, Peter; kill, and eat.” Then you re member the reply of Peter, “Not so, Lord.” I read those words many times before I saw that here was a con tradiction of terms. What right did Peter have to call Him “Lord” when he said “not so”? Any man who says “not so” to the Lord has no right to address Him as “Lord.” “Why call ye me ‘Lord’ and do not the things which I say?” “Not so, Lord.” Here you have the case of a person who is acknowledging by his lips the lordship of the Saviour, but by his life is contradicting that sovereignty. “Not so, Lord.” Never call Him “Lord” if you ever say, “not so.” If He really is Lord, you will never be guilty of saying “not so.” Paul's Answer Turn back the page to the ninth chapter of Acts and read a thrilling story of a man who is traveling along the Damascus turnpike in the heat of the day. There is a blinding flash. rHe is stricken to the ground. Then there comes a voice from the heavens, and after there has been an identification of that voice, the smitten one rises to his feet unable to see with his physical eyes, and he says, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What a picture that is of the ideal Christian! The first time he has contact with Jesus Christ in a living vital way he acknowledges the sovereignty of the Saviour. So many of us as believers wait for 10, 20, 30 years before we are broken down enough to admit that we cannot run our own lives and He must take over. Right at the beginning of his Christian experi ence, he says “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?” He was finding Him not only as the source of his life, but as the sovereign of his life. I wonder how many of us are Peters? “Not so, Lord.” Maybe the Lord has been speaking to you to do something, a certain thing, and you have been rebellious. You have been guilty of saying with Peter, “Not so, Lord.” Are you living unto
Him or are you living unto self?
Our Answer How many Pauls are there who are saying in their heart of hearts, “Lord, what do You want me to do? I want Your will above every thing else in this universe.” That is the cry of the Christ-controlled life. That is the Christian philosophy of life, “To me to live is Christ.” I wonder how many of you have read of A. C. Dixon? Dr. Dixon was a famous Baptist preacher of a generation or so ago. He was such a powerful preacher of the Word of God, they called him across the water to minister in the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle of London where Spurgeon had such a fruitful ministry. A. C. Dixon was brought up in the Southland of the United States and he tells the story of what happened on one of those large estates in the South. The mistress of the estate was on her deathbed, and they had gathered in the rela tives and the servants because they knew the end was near. She was in a delirium and kept on saying, “Is David driving?” She was referring to the old colored coachman who for some 25 or 30 years had been driving the family coach. David was in the room. He went over to the bedside of his dying mistress, and with the scalding tears running down his ebony cheeks, he put his hand upon his mistress and shook his head as he said, “No, missus, no, missus, David isn’t driving any more. The Lord has hold of the reins.” We do not need to wait until we come to a deathbed before we say, “The Lord has hold of the reins.” We ought to be able to say that right now. Saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to say, “Lord, You take the reins of my life. I am utterly incompetent to run my own life. You are not only my Saviour, but You are my sovereign. You are not only my rescuer, but You are my ruler. You are not only my deliver er, but You are my director. You are not only my mediator, but You are my master.” For the child of God this means “hands off” the management of life. It means your hands off and His hands on. “For to me to live is Christ!” END.
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FEBRUARY 1957
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