King's Business - 1953-02

What? Shall cease to exist? No! Cease to function. Wearing your old raincoat in a heavy storm one day, you discover on your return home that your clothes are soaking wet. What is the verdict? “ My raincoat is perished,” has ceased to function, is marred, lost to usefulness! To perish is to go to perdition. To perish is to go into the fire which never shall be quenched. To perish is so awful a destruction that God, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, gave His only be­ gotten Son to die the death of sin on the cross, that all men through Him might be saved. How saved? Look upward, and see the last long beam of that wondrous light, “ have everlasting life.” Oh, what a gift! To what shall I liken it? A life-draught to the dying, a life-line to the drowning, a life-pardon to the death-sentenced! Imagine yourself carried out by an undertow, struggling in mountainous waves, which break over you in foaming fury. You swim for the shore with all your strength, but cannot make headway against the current. Your stamina ebbs out; your breath comes and goes in gasps; you feel yourself beginning to j£heltonCollect Formerly The Notional Bible Institute More and more churches and mission boards are demanding college trained candidates. Shelton provides high college standards on a sound Bible-believing basis with strong theological and pre- theological departments. Write for cat­ alog. Shelton College Dr. J. Oliver Buswell Jr., President 340 W. 55th Street New York 19, N. Y. offers a liberal arts education free from denominational bias and all entangling alliances with modernism.

sink. Alas! Are you doomed to perish? You cry, “ Lord, save me, I perish!” and lo! a life buoy labeled “ John 3:16” hits the wave by your side, and all you have to do is to grasp it. It is really meant for you? Yes! “Whosoever” is stamped all over it. What a fool you will be to refuse it, and drown. You grasp it; make it your own, clinging desperately to it until you are drawn to shore. Saved, not lost! Living, not dead! Rescued, not perishing! Lo! I cast the life buoy of this blessed text to every perishing soul. Accept it! “ He that hath the Son hath life.” Life! Oh, lovely word to those under sentence of death. Every sinner is under sentence of death. Some of you, my read­ ers, are doubtless among the condemned —“ drawn unto death and ready to per­ ish.” How awful your position! During the American Civil War, a young soldier, named Owen, was found sleeping on sentry duty in face of the enemy and was sentenced to be shot. Before the day of execution he wrote a pathetic farewell letter to his father. I quote a few lines from it: “ Dear Father, when this reaches you I shall be in Eternity . . . They say they will not bind me, but that I may meet death like a man. You know I promised Jemmy Carr’s mother I would look after her boy, and when he fell sick I did all I could for him. I carried all his gear on the' march . . . and I had to lend him an arm now and then or he would have dropped by the way. I was all tired out when I came to camp, and then it was Jemmy’s time to be sentry, and I would take his place. But I was too tired, father; I could not have kept awake if I had had a gun at my head. But I did not know it until—well, until it was too late. Don’t lay my death against Jemmy. The poor boy is broken-hearted and does nothing but beg to die in my stead. I can’t bear to think of mother and sister. Comfort them, father. God help me! It is hard to bear. Goodbye, father! God seems near and dear to me; not at all as if He wished me to perish forever, but as if He felt sorry for His poor, sinful, broken­ hearted child, and would take me to Him and my Saviour in a better, better life. God bless you all!” The sister took the letter and hastened to Washington; her only hope was in Abraham Lincoln. She obtained an inter­ view and showed him the letter. Tears filled the president’s kind, sad eyes. He reassured the girl, and immediately wrote cut the pardon. He did more. He person­ ally delivered it to the camp authorities. Said Lincoln: “ I could not think of going into Eternity with the blood of that poor, young man on my skirts . . . It is not to be wondered at that he fell asleep. I cannot consent to shoot him for such an act.” How like unto our Lord. He looked down and saw our plight. He pitied us. He came and procured our pardon at the infinite price of His own death. He comes again to death-doomed sinners awaiting ( Continued on Page 21) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

The Lighthouse of Love (Continued from Page 16) does it mean? “ To be marred, unfit for rightful use, lost; but in no New Testa­ ment instance does it mean cessation of existence or of consciousness. It is the condition of every non-believer.” Let me illustrate the meaning of perish in two ways—one from Scripture, one from ordinary life: The disciples were crossing Galilee in their ship. The Lord Jesus was asleep on a pillow. Suddenly, a great storm arose and the waves kept breaking over the helpless ship. In fear of foundering, and death by drowning, they aroused Jesus, crying: “ Lord save us: we per­ ish!” To these men “perishing” meant “ being lost at sea;” and their appeal was for “ salvation,” which they received, when He arose and stilled the storm with the words, “ Peace, Be still!” Again perishing means losing the capacity to function with God—being marred. “ And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles [made of skins], and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.” If You Move Please notify us immediately on Form 22-B (which you can secure from your Postmaster), attach 2 cents postage and send us your old and new addresses. Baptistry Instanstaneous Gas Wafer Heater 450 G.P.H.— 20° RISE Also furnishes Hot Water to Church Kitchen and Rest Rooms. Special Discount to Churches. Write for Folders. Heaters for Homes Also. LITTLE GIANT MFG. CO. 907 - 7th Dept. €8 Orange, Texas

TEACHERS! make your BIBLE STORIES "Gome to J liie." with ~ STORY-O-GRAPHS manufacturers of • Story-O-Graphs • Scenic Boards • Scenery Backgrounds • New, Vis-U-Fold e V isualized Lessons Aluminum Tripod eCut out Figures and Flannel Board ST0RY-0-GRAPH Write for literature f l M D I I B O . B O X ,145 U l W & r n PASAD ENA ,CALIFORN IA

Page Twenty

Made with FlippingBook Online document