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THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
angels will , bring them no salvation. We must all take our choicé of either confessing and accepting Christ of our own free will now and obtaining salva tion thereby, or of confessing Him and acknowledging Him against our will in th e world to come. Confess Him we must sometime. Bow th e knee to Him we must some day. Happy th e man who gladly now in th is time of proba tion bows th e knee to Jesus and con fesses th a t Jesu s Christ is Lord to the glory of God th e F ath er, alhd does not w ait un til th a t day when He is forced to do it and when the confession will bring him no salvation. S!*. M m A Word with tke Unsaved WHERE DO YOU STAND? Every soul is before God eith er (a) “ in Adam”-?—th a t is, “ born of th e flesh” into th e hum an fam ily •(fallen, and under th e condemnation of sin and d ea th ), of which Adam is th e forefather, th e fed eral Head; or is (b) before God “ in th e Sp irit”— “ born of God” , into the heavenly family— one of the “ sons of God, and joint-heirs w ith Christ”— in the “New C reation" (2 Cor. 5:17 ) of which the Risen Christ is th e represen tativ e Head. There is no “between” class or state. And th e re is no way to .pass from the one to the other b u t by being “born again.” Ju st as each of us entered the hum an fam ily by a n atu ra l birth, so each of us can only en ter th e heavenly fam ily by a sp iritual b irth (John 3 :5 -7 ). Now, th is question of our tru e stand ing before God is th e first m a tte r we each need to have settled beyond all doubt in pur h earts by the Word of God— and“ it should be settled w ithout a moment’s delay, because on th is hang the soul’s present joy and peace, and all power to serve and please God here, and all the issues of E ternal Destiny hereafter:
So, my reader, I beg you, as you read these lines, to make solemn, searching inquest into your soul’s tru e standing before God. Challenge your conscience: . “Have I believed on th e Lord Jesu s as my own personal Saviour? Have 'I rested for my soul’s salvation on the assurance of. God’s Word th a t ‘H is Own self bare our sins in His own body on the T ree’? Can I say from my h eart: ‘My soul looks back to see, The burden Thou didst bear, When hanging on th e accursed tree, And knows my gu ilt was th e re ’? Am I saved ‘by grace th rough fa ith ’? Am I one of ‘the children of God by faith in Christ Jesu s’?” I know it is not usual in much of th e preaching of today to draw a clear dis tinction between th e “ saved” and the “ unsaved’g -b e tw e e n th e . “ not con demned” and th e “ condemned already” — between him th a t “h ath everlasting life” and him on whom “th e w rath o£ God ab ideth” (John 3 :3 6 ), b u t the Word of God does it, and the Lord Jesus said, “He th a t rejecteth Me and re- ceiveth not My words h a th -O n e th a t judgeth him : the Word th a t I have spoken, the same shall judge him in fhe L ast Day” (Jo h n 1 2 :48 ). L et preach ers and h earers remember th a t.— J. W. Fegan. jMfc I 'dk m IT ’S EASY TO BARK Fault-finding is not difficult. A. cer ta in w riter illu strates thu s: A dog hitched to a lawn mower, stopped pull ing to bark a t a passer-by. The boy who was guiding the mower said, “Don’t .■mind th e dbg, he is ju s t barking for an excuse to rqst. It is easier to bark th an pull this machine.” I t is easier to be critical th an correct, easier to bark th an work, easier to burn a house than . build one, easier to hinder th a n help, easier to destroy repu tation th a n to construct character.
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