478 a two-fold confession. F irst, of sin; and second, of Christ as Saviour. We should not profess anything h u t simply confess ourselves to be sinners and con fess Christ as our perfect Saviour. Self- destruction— This would have been the inevitable alternative, had the prodigal no t repented and retu rn ed to his fa th e r’s house. Sin is slow suicide. The Gospel finds, form s and fills us. SATURDAY, May 24. Duke 3:1-14. Jo h n P reaching Repentance. The necessity of repentance as a change of m ind is seen in Jo h n ’s mes sage to Israel. John was th e herald and fore-runner of th e Messiah sent before his face to prepare th e way of th e Lord. Why did he begin his m in istry w ith the clarion call “R ep en t?” Why must the nation change its mind? Because th e people had a wrong idea concerning the Messiah. They were looking for a m ighty w arrio r who should overthrow the yoke of Rome and like Jud as Maccabaeus lead them to victory on many a battle-field. They expected the Messiah ~by diplomatic trium ph and m ilitary prowess to resto re th e lost prestige of the nation and make Israel w hat it was in the days of th e super- splendid Solomon. Cherishing such, expectations how imperious would they be to the gentle appeals of th e lowly P rince of peace! Therefore th e nation m u st change its m ind and both John and Jesus began th e ir public m inistry w ith a call to repentance, assigning as a reason th a t th e kingdom of heaven was a t hand. Everything about man m ust be changed when he comes into relationship w ith God. “They th a t wait upon the Lord shall change th eir stre n g th .” Isa. 40:31, margin, th u s ex changing hum an weakness for Divine streng th . It is even more necessary to change one’s mind, sub stitu ting for m an’s folly and conceit, the tru th of the living God. Isaiah 55:8, 9. SUNDAY, May 25. Acts 17:22-31. P au l P reaching Repentance. Following the m inistries of John and Jesus th e Apostles took up the same message and preached repentance tow ard God and faith in th e Lord Jesus Christ. There have always been earth ly sub stitu tes for th e heavenly message which find expression in various form ulas. “ Reform for th e customs of the age are co rrup t.” The general senti m ent of m ankind is in, favor of rig h t action and when some gross evil mani fests itself, men set themselves to cor-
THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S rect it. Moral reform s are good as far as they go and should not be discredited bu t they only resu lt in tem porarily suppressing an evil or changing the form of its expression. R eform ation i i external. Repentance is in ternal. Re pentance involves reform ation bu t reform ation does not involve repen t ance. “Refine, for th e m anners of the earth are gross.” This assumes th a t ignorance is the cause of sin and th a t education is the panacea. H istory shows however th a t the most highly cultured people can be the most immoral. Civil ization has become the g reatest b arrier to salvation because it represents the best th a t man can do for him self while salvation is th e best th a t God can do for man. Educated rascals and scien tific crooks are th e g reatest foes to society. Refine an unregenerate man and you confirm him in infidelity. No modern sub stitu te can ta k e 'th e place of th e Scripture slogan “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is a t hand .” If we are standing a t the close of the dispen sation, awaiting th e dawn of a new age and th e coming of th e king, th is appeal has an applicability and a timeliness, th a t it has no t had since th e days of John th e Baptist. MONDAY, May 26. Heb. 11:1-10. W h at F a ith Is and W h at I t Does. F a ith must be distinguished from credulity. F aith is reasonable and in telligent. C redulity is blind and fool ish. F a ith rests on evidence. Credul ity accepts something as tru e which rests upon no evidence a t all or a t least upon insufficient evidence. God does not ask us to believe anything w ithout giving good and sufficient reasons why we should believe it. Does He ask us to believe in His own existence? There are so many evidences in N ature th a t it is only a fool can say “There is no God.” Even a fool says it in his h ea rt ra th e r th a n his head. Does God ask us to believe in th e Bible? The book has in tern al and external evidence of Divine authorship. Does He ask us to believe in prayer? He sends us daily answers to prayer. If a man refuses to believe the tru th he will believe a lie. When a man throw s faith over board, he becomes th e victim of super stition. “ Gentlemen,” said Napoleon to some of his officers who had been expressing freely th e ir unbelief in the Bible as a revelation from God, “ it seems to me you make amends for not believing in th e Bible by believing everything else.” If we refuse to
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