838 whom he has nothing in common. And the reason why the average church has lost her testimony for Christ and is powerless to move the masses for God, is that the average church has lost her state of separation and her pilgrim char acter in the earth. How can the church fellowship with the evils of the world and turn around and rebuke these same evils? Fourth:—A SACRIFICING CHURCH. All of the early- disciples sacrificed something to follow Christ. In Matt. 4:18-22 we see that some of them for sook their ships, others forsook ships and father and followed Christ. In Luke 5:11 we see that they “ forsook ALL and followed Christ.” In Acts 2:45 we see this same spirit of sacrifice manifested. In Phil. 3:8 the great Apostle Paul tells us that he “ suffered the loss of ALL THINGS for Christ.” Fifth and last:—A SUFFERING CHURCH. The church of the First Century was a SUFFERING church. But, alas! The church of the Twentieth Century is so much like the world that the world has no quarrel with her, and therefore the church of today is not called, upon to SUFFER for Christ’s sake. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verses 18- 19, Jesus says: “ If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world Would love his own; but be cause ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the World, there fore the world hateth you.” In First Corinthians 4:9-13, we read of the suf fering Apostle, when he says: “ We are made a spectacle unto the world. . . . We are fools for Ghrist’s sake. . . . Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted. . . . Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S offscouring of all things unto this day.” But, alas! The Twentieth Century church is no longer a SUFFERING church. She is like the church spoken of in Rev. 3:17, “ Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable and poor, and blind, and naked.” If the church of the Twentieth Cen tury stood aloof from the world with all its entangling alliances like the church of the First Century did, it too would be a SUFFERING church. And it is nothing to the credit of the Twen tieth Century church that she is so con formed to the world that the world does not persecute her as the world perse cuted the church of the First Century. Brethren of the ministry, let us get back to the BOOK! Let us get back to the old-time doctrines of repentance and faith. The people of the world do not need a new GOSPEL— they need a new HEART. The old-time Gospel is still God’s remedy for the sins of this wicked world. ■=Nothing short o f ' re pentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ will solve the needs of the individual man. It will do no good to whitewash the outside of the sepulchre so long as the inside is full of dead men’s bones; it is of no use to “ paint the pump” so long as the water in the well is rotten with filth; it is useless to paint a pest house think ing that it wjll not be a pest house still; and it is useless to whitewash an unregenerate sinner with a coat of “ moral reform” and leave his heart wicked and unchanged. May God help us to get back to the teachings and practices of the church of the First Century, which is the church given ac cording to “ The pattern shown in the mount,” and which indeed is the CHURCH AFTER G O D ’ S OWN HEART!”
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