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THE KING’S BUSINESS W illiam P. W h ite , D.D., E ditor J. E. J aderquist , P h .D., M anaging E ditor Motto: “I, the Lord, do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Isaiah 27:3.
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PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY AND REPRESENTING THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES
I N C O M E
V o lum e XX
November, 1929
Number 11
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Table of Contents Crumbs from the King’s, Table—The ‘Editor................................. 511 Editorial Comment ...... .......................................................................513 The Security of the Believer—Dr. W. P. White........................... 514 Reaping a Golden Harvest—Dr. Dinsdale T. Young....... ..............517 A Threefold Victory—Maj. D. W. Whittle................................... 519 The True Kenosis of our Lord Jesus Christ f—The Rev. D. Beaton............... ............................................521 Christ and Antichrist—Rev. I. R. Wall......................... ............. 524 Unfinished Business—A. E. Wendt..................................................525 Radio KTBI ..................... .................................................................. 527 Seed Thoughts from St. Mark—Rev. Wilfred M. Hopkins....... 529 Heart to Heart with Our Young Readers —Florence Nye Whitwell.......................................... .............532 The Junior King’s Business—Sophie Shaw Meader........... ;........ ;.535 Homiletical Helps for Preachers and Teachers............................. ..537 “To the Jew First”—David L. Cooper......... ....................................538 Alumni Notes ............................................................. .......................540 International Lesson Commentary—^David L. Cooper................ ...542 Notes on Christian Endeavor—Alan S. Pearce............................... 548 Our Literature Table ..................... ................;...................................552 A Book A Month................................................................................554 Daily Devotional Readings............. ................................... ..............555
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Bible In s t itu te of Los Angeles 536-558 S ou th Hope S treet Los Angeles, California
POLICY AS D E F IN ED BY TH E BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF TH E BIBLE IN ST I TUTE OF LOS ANGELES (a) To sta n d fo r th e in fallib le W ord of God and its g re a t fu n d am e n ta l tru th s , (b) To stre n g th e n th e fa ith of a ll believers, (c) To s tir young men and wom en to fit th em selv es fo r and en g ag e in definite C h ristia n w ork, (d) To m ak e th e Bible In s titu te of Los A ngeles know n, (e) To m ag n ify God ou r F a th e r a n d th e person, w o rk a n d com ing of our L ord Je su s C h rist; an d to tea ch th e tra n s fo rm in g pow er of th e H oly S p irit in o u r p re se n t p ra c tic a l life, (f) To em p h a size in stro n g , co n stru ctiv e m essag es th e g re a t fo u n d a tio n s of C h ristia n faith .
536-558 S. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, California
Standing on the (promises T is related of Rowland Hill, that quaint London preacher of years ago, that he once attended a meeting that had been called for the purpose of raising money for the Lon don poor. The speaker of the day failing to appear, they called on Rowland Hill to preach a sermon on “Giving to the poor.” He went forward to the platform, opened his Bible and said: “My friends, my text today is: ‘He that [giveth to] the poor lendeth unto the Lord,.’ My sermon on that text is: If you like your security—down with your cash.” When we read the promises of God do we always think of the collateral that is behind them? “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “His riches in glory” is the security for the promise. At a recent Faculty dinner at the Bible Institute the following promises were recited by different ones present and as each of these promises was recited a new thrill came to every heart. We are passing them along to our readers with the suggestion that they be read each morning with the thought of the riches of glory that are on deposit for the benefit of every believing child of God. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. Isa. 42:16. Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart. Psa. 31:24. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do. John 14:13. The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Rom. 15 :13. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Psa. 55 :22. He is faithful that promised. Heb. 10:23. I will instruct thee and teach thee hi the way which thou shalt go. Psa. 32:8. There shall be showers o f blessing. Ezek. 34:26. I zvill hasten my word to perform it. Jer. 1:12. I will . . . make them rejoice from their sorrow. Jer. 31:13. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Isa. 54:17. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. p Sa. 30:5. I will strengthen thee; yea, I zvill help thee. Isa. 41:10.
Blessed is she that believed : for there shall be a per formance of those things . . . from the Lord. Luke 1:45. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall di rect thy paths. Prov. 3 :6. They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me. Isa. 49:23. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and zvill manifest myself to him. John 14:21. Is the Lord’s hand zvaxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. Num. 11:23. Seek ye. first the kingdom of God . . , and all these things shall be added. Matt. 6:33. With God all things are possible. Matt. 19:26. He led them through the depths that they stumbled not . ' Isa. 63 :13 R. V. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. Ex. 14:13 R. V. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. 2 Cor. 9 :8.
Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory erf. God? John 11:40. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. 2 Cor. 9:8. No good thing zvill He withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psa. 84:11. I f ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psa. 126:5. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. Psa. 145:19. I will bless thee . . . and thou shalt be a blessing. Gen. 12:2. He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psa. 91:11. I will cause the shower to come down. Ezek. 34:26. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry, Heb. 10:37. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb. 13 :5.
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Crumbs from the King’s Table By the Editor
We Thank God OR the infallible rule o f faith and conduct. Its genuineness and value have been proved by his tory, by prophecy, by scientific discovery, by experience. For Jesus Christ, the Sacrifice of Calvary. He paid the debt that made us free; He is the mediator at the right hand of the Father, who has all power in heaven and on earth. He has a personal interest in every one of us; For the ever-present Holy Spirit. He is the represen tative of the Godhead on earth; He regenerates, He sanc tifies, He restrains. For the Church of God, the body o f Jesus Christ. It is made up of all believers in Christ and His finished work. He has baptized these believers into one body. For the manifestation of the Sp irifs presence in the Institute. There is no “bitterness and wrath and malice and evil speaking” among us. ‘God has given us a splen did student body of earnest young people, a faculty un surpassed, a working force without a friction. For restored confidence. From all over the United States and Canada, from every continent on the globe, have come letters of confidence from God’s people. The future of the Bible Institute is assured. “We shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” “Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory.” For the glorious hope. The hope that puts spring in the step and song in the heart; a hope that purifies, ener gises, comforts. Hallelujah! ■ H u stlin g to G et th e Chores Done S OME years ago I met Mr. W. E. Blackstone, the author of “Jesus is Coming,” that splendid classic on the subject. I asked him if he was still looking for the Lord and, quick as a flash, he gave me this answer f “I ’m looking for the Lord every day, but I am hustling to get the chores done before He gets here.” The Lord did not reveal the truth of His coming for the Church as a pillow to sleep on. He set before us the glorious hope as an inspiration to a better service. The day of grace may soon close, but it has riot closed, and my heart is crying out to God for men and women who are last in the darkness of sin. Father God ,■ shine on the penitent soul that cries to Thee for help, and give him deliverance; shine on the rebellious soul that defies Thee and subdue him with the radiance of Thy love ; shine on the careless, and show Thy loving thought for him ; shine on the timid and fearful, and give them pictures of Thy compassionate omnipotence; shine on the strong, and double their strength; shine on the poor, and give them the wealth of Thy'glorious presence; shine on the rich, and show them what they give, not what they keep, en riches them; shine on Thy church, and send her forth a
curb to evil-doers and a praise and joy to the righteous; shine on the heathen world, and disperse their darkness of superstition and their clouds of iniquity with the light of Thy glorious Gospel; shine upon me, O Lord, and give me a new vision of a lost world and a mighty Saviour who is able to save unto the uttermost. A [Steadfast Spirit P ERHAPS our chiefest need is a steadfast spirit, espe cially so as we gird up our loins for a new stretch of pilgrimage. We do not need nobler ideals. *We are over stocked with ideals. We read of Henry Martyn, mourn ing that he had devoted too much time to public work and too little to private communion with God, and we vow to pray more. We recall the motto written on Green the historian’s grave, “He died learning,” and ¡we vow that each new day shall see some lesson learned from the great store of Truth. We read the noble words of an old saint: “Oh, to have a martyr’s heart, if not a martyr’s crown.” And we vow to give ourselves absolutely to witness and suffer for Jesus Christ. But, alas, our ideals fade within a few hours, and the withered petals are all that remain. We need the steadfast spirit. Only God can give us this. He can renew our will from day to day and diffuse into us His unaltering, unal terable purpose. He alone can make possible obedience to the apostolic injunction: “Be ye steadfast, unmove able, always abounding in the work o f the Lord.” Hear the comforting words of the apostle Peter: “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, [shall] make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” In the strength of God’s grace we can move resolutely and unfalteringly onward, like Columbus, undaunted by dis couragement; we shall cross unknown seas till the scent of the land we seek is wafted across the brief interven ing distance. Pray for a steadfast spirit. Look and Run A S WE look at Jesus Christ yonder in the Glory, He becomes a living fact in our consciousness and in our hearts, and just as the dying Hebrew gazing on the brazen serpent felt life and power through all his being, so, looking unto Jesus, we are cleansed, comforted, filled with His life and power, and we become like Him in our very natures and being. But we are to do more than “look.” We are to “run.” For there is an intensely practical side of faith. Let us run while we look and let us look while we run. Let us take our inspirations and exaltations with us and live them out in the quiet round of daily duty—better work men, better business men, better husbands, wives and children, because we are living in heaven while our feet are still treading the pathways on earth. “I suppose John is your best weaver,” said a pastor to the foreman of a factory where one of his people was
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A F a ith fu l W itness T HE Evangelical Christian of Toronto, has for twenty- five years been giving out a clear and faithful Gos pel message under the editorial management of Rev. Roland V. Bingham. To celebrate the occasion and to give due recognition to Mr. Bingham, a number of his Canadian friends gathered at a complimentary banquet on October 15. The Editorial Staff of T he K ing ’ s B usi ness sent a message to the gathering expressing, in behalf of themselves and their scattered parish, their appreciation of the Evangelical Christian and its worthy Editor. Mr. Bingham is going abroad immediately for a six- months missionary journey to Nigeria and Abyssinia. The prayers of many will follow him. m More Than Conquerors T HESE words have all these years had a wonderful charm to us. We do not remember ever haying heard or read them or anything like them in any literature, either religious or secular, except in the writings of Paul. In one place he also says, “ Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph.” This is a great statement also. But to be more than a conqueror inspires us with hope and courage. For years we did not understand just what these words mean, or to what they apply. But we think we see a little clearer their meaning. We find by examination of the previous verse (Romans 8:35) that they refer to a contest with those things that are considered the most severe and trying of all the things that come upon men. They are tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, peril and the sword. What a catalogue of ills from the human standpoint. How much they mean we of this age do not comprehend. But can there be anything more severe and testing to the soul? They were the ills that confronted the early church and over which they triumphed and found great blessing. If grace could enable them to be more than con querors, what can it not do for us with our trials that are petty compared with what they endured? To be more than a conqueror is illustrated by Samson when he met the lion who had come forth to destroy him. By divine power he slew the lion. He was a conqueror. When he came back that way, he found that a swarm of bees had made their resting place there and filled his former enemy with honey. He not only overcame the lion but out of that enemy got much sweetness. He was more than a conqueror. • If the early church could not only overcome but actually get sweetness out of their trials and hardships what ought we not to get from ours? The same divine power that gave Samson sweetness in abundance after his conflict can make us more than conquerors as we face a frowning world and all the ills of life. Is it not a pity that we allow them to rob us of the sweetness that God wants us to have over every hard place, and every enemy overcome? Elisha asked God to show the young prophet that the mountains were full of the chariots of the Lord. Some see the enemy but not the chariots. We can make every difficulty and foe a chariot in which we may step, or a Juggernaut to crush us. Which shall it be? In the name of the Lord we can not only triumph but actually get blessing from our difficult places—no matter how try ing they may be.— The Christian Witness.
A National Prayer Great God o f nations, now to Thee Our hymn o f gratitude we raise; With humble heart and bending knee We offer Thee our song o f praise. Thy name we bless, Almighty God, For all the kindness Thou hast shown To this fair land the Pilgrims trod, This land we fondly call our own. Here Freedom spreads her banner wide And casts her soft and hallowed ray; Here Thou our fathers’ steps didst guide In safety through- their- dangerous way. We praise Thee that the Gospel’s light Through all our land its radiance sheds, Dispels the shades of error’s night, And heavenly blessings round us spreads. Great God, preserve us in Thy fear; In danger still our Guardian be; Oh, spread Thy truth’s bright precepts here; Let all the people worship Thee. — Selected.
employed, a man who was always talking about his religion. “Well, no,” said the foreman; “John is a good fellow, but he has yet to learn that while it is all right to talk about religion in its place, yet in the workshop a man’s religion should come at his fingers and not in his mouth.” “So let our lips and lives express The holy Gospel we profess; The New Managing^Editor F OR several months Mr. William A. Fisher, the Exec utive Vice-President of the Institute, has had the responsibility of editing the K ing ’ s B usiness . H e'is to be congratulated for his splendid work. His duties as an executive have been very heavy and the responsibili ties for the K ing ’ s B usiness , rested upon an already overworked faithful servant of God. Beginning with this issue Dr. J. E. Jaderquist, a new member of our Institute faculty, will occupy the position of Managing Editor. Dr. Jaderquist is not a novice in this new position of responsibility. He has been an editor of Christian litera ture for many years and we are sure that under God he will make the K ing ’ s B usiness one of the strongest of our Christian magazines. Beginning with the December issue Dr. Jaderquist will edit the Sunday-school notes, and as he is one of the best teachers on our faculty we can assure our readers that his comments on the Sunday-school lessons will be of the highest order. Many new features will be intro duced in the contents of the K ing ’ s B usiness in the near future.— T h e E ditor . So let our works and actions shine, To prove the doctrine all divine.”
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cheap tirade against a closed mind, forgetting that if the earth was found to be round in earlier centuries, it is probably much the same as the .years go by. Calvary was once for all. —0— The Pope and H is New S ta te T HE Presbyterian of the South quotes rather approv ingly the prediction of a man whom they call well- informed, “that it would not be long before the Pope will be made the head of the League of Nations.” It sees the possibility that this will come to pass because the Pope is now the head of a temporal state. He would be within his rights if he should ask membership in the League, and then, since most of the countries in the League are domi nated by the Roman Catholic Church,- “it would not be at all surprising to see their representatives place the- Pope at the head of the League. Of coursemo one can say that this will be done, but there is unquestionably the possi bility of its being accomplished.” The editorial goes on to say that there is another ques tion of more immediate importance; that is, what effect the Pope’s new position will have, on the politics of other countries. “Now that the Pope is unequivocally in politics it will be impossible for him not to express his views on political, especially international, questions. . . .. When the infallible Pope, God’s vicerégent on earth, expresses his views, what will the members of the Roman Catholic Church do ?” -, The Presbyterian does not discuss the question from the standpoint of Scripture. Many students of prophecy will not only be in accord with thé views expressed, but will look upon the new place of the Pope in politics as ari interesting “sign of the times;” ' —o— Russia and World R evo lu tion S TUDENTS of prophecy who believe that Russia is destined to be the leader of the armies of: the East against Palestine, will be interested in the report that thé Soviet government is planning to move its capital to a new center, about 1,500 miles east of Moscow. Thé Liverpool Daily Post last June published a striking article,'in which this rumor was declared to be reliable, adding: - The idea of moving the capital of all the Russias •further from the perimeter of the Empire than Petrograd or Moscow, is, not new. Russians never",forget it was their country’s mighty distances that defeated Napoleon in 1812.' Since Trotsky’s down-, fall, the Soviet chiefs appear to have.practically renounced the idea of bringing about a world revolution in the West, and to be concentrating on â policy of running Communism independently of thé rest of Europe. They aim at becoming the champions of all the Asiatic races, and by making of Novosibirsk a great Power Station in the legislative and military sense, they would hot only hold a strong strategic position in the face of India and China, but would, have removed their seat of government fi;om the ever-present threat of tumult in the old and present capitals. air Have You Seen the Bible through a Telescope? See Advertisement on Inside Front Cover.
The Andover Case HERE is a new and interesting development in “TSPp*' the Andover Seminary case. It will be remem- bered that Andover was taken from the control of Harvard University. Since then, we under- stand, several conservative schools who claimed ¿UU ‘to be willing to subscribe to the Andover the ology, have sought to find a working agreement with the Trustees of Andover, but without success. It now appears th a t'a partnership plan is practically agreed upon, sub ject to the approval of the court, whereby Andover and Newton Theological Seminary will join forces. Dr. E. C. Herrick, President of Newton, announces through the Watchman-Examiner the prospective union of the two schools. He writes : This proposal . . . does not in any way affect the denomina tional position and possession of Newton. It does, however, seem to offer an opportunity, should it .córiié about, greatly to strengthen the educational program of both schools and to enlarge their usefulness and their great, and as we Conceive it, unaltered task of training men with all the thoroughness we can for the evangelical Gospel ministry at home and abroad. Since Baptists generally class N e w t o n Seminary among “liberal” schools, Dr. Herrick does not say all that conservatives will want to know. Did not the Massachu setts Court in its decision against thè right of Harvard to have the use of the Andover, endowment funds make it clear that no school was entitled to have the benefit of those funds unless it accepted the so-called Andover Creed? Do the Trustees of Andover intend honestly and fully to accept that decision and obey it ? Are the. mem bers of the faculty of Newton Theological Seminary pre pared to accept and teach the Andover theology without reservation or annihilating interpretation? —o—; The H igh Price o f Evangelical F a ith U NDER this caption the Presbyterian editorially calls upon Christians to appreciate and hold tenaciously their priceless possession as found in the evangelical faith. It is very evident that liberalism is quite satisfactory to the masses outside the churches and has a strong appeal to many who are in church fellowship. The old evangel ical faith is counted too stern in its demands and too severe in its discipline to be 'Satisfactory to this new age. It is easy for preachers who would go thé easy way, to try to adapt their message to the popular demand instead of seeking to bring their people to acceptance of the de mands and to appropriation of the compensations of the Gospel of Christ. And the Presbyterian points out that there are real compensations, if we do not cast away our treasures, when it says: There is a high price to be paid for the possession and reten tion of these treasures. Jesus reminds us that the cost is often the value of all that a man hath. We do not come by birth into this inheritance. There must be a willingness to permit others to think us ancient and to bear the shameful stigma of being medieval in our estimate of Jesus and the cross ; but the trea sure is worth the payment. Men seem so easily terrorized by the
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The Security o f the Believer B y D r . W . P. W h ite (Address delivered at the Summer School of the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles)
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them unto me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one ."—John 10:26-30. UR Lord was speaking to a company of unbe lieving Jews. He tells them they are not His sheep because they do not believe Him. Only those who believe in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are called “sheep” in His Word, and only such have a right to claim the promise of the text. “M y ” I like t h a t
upon us with the love of complacency saying : “My sheep” We talk much about our possession in Him. He talks much about His possession in us.
“Can I tell the wondrous fulness Of His love so rich and free? Or measure the priceless value Of the blood He shed for me? No, ’tis beyond my telling, ’Tis deeper than thought can go, And my heart it fails to measure The depth of the love I owe.” “ S h ee p ”
The possessive pronoun “my’
suggests specialty of possession. The w o r d “sheep”
in the text sug ges t s specialty of disposition. I was not born a sheep. I had to be b o r n again. I was born again when I believed in my Lord and Saviour J e s u s Christ. A sheep follows a shep herd. A sheep loves the things t h e s he phe r d loves and hates the things t h e shepherd hates. E v e î •y bo rn- again one loves the T w e n t y - Third P s a !1m, w h i c h is the P s a 1m of the sheep. “The Lord’s my shepherd : I’ ll not want. He m a k e s me down to lie In pastures green He leadeth m( The quiet waters by. “My soul He doth restore again, And me to wall doth make Within the paths of righteousness E’en for His own name’s sake."
possessive pro noun “my” on the lips of Christ w h e n He is looking at m e! I have seen t h e young husband turn from the marriage a l t a r a n d introduce his wife to some old friends and there was music in h i s v o i c e w h e n he said: “My w i f e.” I have s e e n the y o u n g mother start o u t with her baby in the new baby buggy with all the fine covers and pil lows and things made by the sis ters, cousins, and aunts. The babe was asleep but she met an old college c h u m and t he b a b e w a s n ’t asleep any more! She turned down the covers and with all the pride of a mother’s h e a r t she s a i d : “My baby.” Up yon
“He leadeth me beside the still waters.” —Psalm 23:2.
der in the Glory right now my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father looking down
I am so glad that I have the Shepherd’s care. “He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.”
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ing some souls to Jesus Christ, but you got off the track. You followed Jesus Christ afar off and now there is no testimony in your life. My dear friend, do you know how to get back into fellowship with the Shepherd? “I f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “H ear M y V oice ” What does Jesus Christ mean when He says, “My sheep hear my voice”? The Bible is the Word of God. It is the voice of God. When I was a boy I used to sit at my mother’s knee as she would read from God’s Word to me. Perhaps it was that passage in Isaiah, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LO RD : Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” After she had read that passage she would say to m e: “My boy, that is not your mother speaking to you; that is God speaking to you. Then she would read again. Perhaps it would be John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” She would repeat what she had said before: “That is not my word; that is God’s Word. Do you hear God speak to you, my boy?” And I heard the voice of the Lord. I have been listening to that voice through all the years. Every time I open-my Bible, every time I think of a statement in the Bible, It is God speaking to me. When I pray I speak to God; when I read the Bible, God speaks to me. Our Lord said: “A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice o f strangers.” There are many voices that are meant to call a Christian away from fellowship with his Lord. The voice of carnal pleasure, the call of the world and the flesh, the call of false teachers to forsake the faith “once for all delivered to the saints”; but the real sheep of Jesus Christ love the Bible; they believe that it is the very Word of the living God, that it is an infallible rule of faith and conduct; and they do not turn aside for the false voices that surround them. In a ministry of forty years I have seen a great many sick sheep, but I have never seen a sick sheep that was living within the sound of the voice of the Good Shepherd. “ I K now T p k ik ” He had already said: “/ dm"known o f mine.” A sheep of Jesus Christ knows his Shepherd and his Shepherd knows him. “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” I am so glad that my Good Shepherd knows my name. I am so glad that when I get out of fellowship with Him He misses me. He knows me. He has a brand on me. And blessed be God, I know Him! There is mutual fellowship. “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” “T hey F ollow M e ” A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. Often have I heard young people discuss popular amusements. I have had them say to me: “Do you rail out against dancing and card playing and picture shows and the like?” And they always have a pleased look when I say: “No. I do not rail out against popular amusements.” How happy some people are if they can get the preacher to endorse some of their suspected meannesses! I say: “If the Lord Jesus Christ leads you to a dance, go. You have no right not to go. It is your duty to go. If the Lord Jesus Christ leads you to a place where they gamble for a cut-glass
“My God shall supply all your need according to his riches of grace in glory by Christ Jesus.” “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” “Not [a sparrow] shall fall on the ground without your Fa ther,” and “ye are o f more value than many sparrows.” I am glad I am a sheep of Jesus Christ. A sheep is a peculiar animal. It seems to be easy for a sheep to get out of fellowship with the shepherd, and when it does it gets into all sorts of difficulties. I was brought up on an Iowa farm. My father had sheep, hogs, cattle, and horses. We used to have a slough in the back part of our farm and in one place in the slough there was what we called “the hog wallow.” I have stood out in the pasture field when I was a boy and seen the hogs after a dashing Iowa rain had washed them clean, and I ’ve said: “Now, hog, you stay clean.” But no, that is not the nature of a hog. When the sun would come out the hogs would make a bee-line for “the hog wallow” and as they rolled over in the filth and mud they seemed to enjoy themselves. “The hog wallow” was headquarters for the hogs. The sheep did not make a bee-line for that “hog wallow.” But I have seen-some of my father’s sheep walk too close to the hog wallow and slip in. However, I never saw a sheep happy in the “hog wallow.” I have seen some of God’s dear sheep walk too close to temptation and slip into the hog wallow of sin, but I have never seen a Christian, a sheep of Jesus Christ, happy in a hog wallow. I have never seen a Christian with a happy life while living in unconfessed sin. David, who ought to have been at the head of his army, one afternoon walked too close to the “hog wallow” and slipped in. During that year of living in unconfessed sin David did not have for one moment the joy of salva tion. He said: “Restore unto me the joy o f thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” He had not lost his salvation, but he had lost the joy of salvation, and when he lost the joy of salvation he lost his testimony. You cannot live in an unconfessed sin and have the joy of the Lord, and you cannot live without the joy of the Lord and wield an influence for Jesus Christ. When a sheep gets into a “hog wallow” it looks so much like a hog that the hogs do not know the difference! When David confessed his sin God took him out of the “hog wallow” and he sang: “He took me from a fearful pit And from the miry clay. Upon a rock He set my feet, Establishing my way. He put a new song in my mouth, My God to magnify. Many shall see it and shall fear And on the Lord rely.” The good Shepherd goes after and restores the wan dering sheep. The story in the fifteenth chapter of Luke about the man who had a hundred sheep is not a story of ninety-nine sheep and one goat. It is a story about a hundred sheep one of which wandered away from fellow ship with the shepherd. He went out in the mountains wild and bare, away from the tender Shepherd’s care. But the shepherd went after the sheep and brought him back to the fold. He always does. Some child of God may read these lines who has wandered far away from God. You used to serve. Once you were in the Sunday school and you were interested. Once perhaps you were doing Christian work; perhaps the Lord used you in lead
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vase or for money—go. It is your duty to go. If you have the opportunity, open it with prayer!” But these young people often have a troubled look when I say that. Well, I allow them to answer the question themselves. I heard you sing three songs the other night. The first was, “I ’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, o’er mountain or plain or sea,” | The second was, “Where He leads me I will follow, I will follow all the way.” The third was, “All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.” Those are good Christian hymns. I find no fault with them whatever, but be sure you tell the truth when you sing hymns. A long time ago I scolded Christians for doing certain things. I have quit the scolding business. Law may scold, but grace never scolds. ' My mother used to raise house, plants when I was a boy. She would often have a calla-lily in Iowa. A calla- lily in Iowa was a rare thing. It would measure about an inch or an inch and a half across. The doctor said to an Iowa lady who had a calla-lily about this size: “You can’t spend another winter in Iowa on account of the climate. You will have to go to Southern California.” Her reply was: “Oh, I would like to go to Southern California, but what would I do with my calla-lily? I can’t trust any one with i t ; it is so precious.” And then she decided to take it with her. She had it on the train, in the pullman, and the people who came by admired it. She was very proud of it. One morning she woke and threw up the blind in the berth and looked out. She was in Southern California and there before her was a great field of calla-lilies—four or five inches across. She was astonished. She had never seen anything like it. She looked ,at her calla-lily and it was getting smaller and smaller! She looked out again. There was a long fence of great calla-lily blooms. She looked at her calla-lily and it was growing still smaller. Within fifteen minutes she had turned from love of that little calla-lily to hatred of it; She dressed hurriedly, and throwing a shawl over her shoulders, put her calla-lily under the shawl, went to the rear platform of the train, hurled it off into the weeds at,, the side of the track and said: “What do I want with that thing in Southern California ?” As a pastor I never accomplished much by criticizing things that people held dear. Instead of criticizing your little, withered flower of worldly pleasure I hold up before you the Lily of the Valley. I want you to take a long look at the Rose of Sharon; I want you to gaze into the heavens and see the Bright and Morning Star, the fairest of-ten thousand to my soul; and when you get a vision of Jesus Christ,- when you get a taste of the abundant life, you will cast away the withered flowers and the withered leaves of your own life by the expulsive power of a new affection. • Let us review what we have gone over. “MY.” That is specialty of possession. You are the property of Jesus Christ; you are a gift of the Father to the Son. “Sheep.” That is specialty of disposition.' You have been born again; you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Jesus Christ. You are not your own. “Hear my voice.” That is spiritual percep tion. “The natural man receiveth not the things o f the Spirit o f God : for they are foolishness unto h im : neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned,” but the spiritual man looks into the blessed Word of God and finds food for his soul, “I know them.” Jesus Christ is personally acquainted with every born-again one in this universe. We talk much about our inheritance in Him; He talks much about His inheritance in us. (fThey follow
me.” That is the description of a Christian in a normal attitude toward his Saviour. Dear reader, are you a sheep of Jesus Christ? Has He bought you with a price? Has He stamped upon you His image ? Are you acquainted with His voice? Do you know something about His fel lowship? Are you following in His footsteps? Then to you He makes this wonderful announcement: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out o f my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” “Eternal life.” That is the very life of God Himself. The life of God is in every Christian. “Christ liveth in me.” By grace He came in and began a good work in you, and He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He died for me when I hated Him. He will not leave me when.I love Him. No man shall “pluck them out o f my hand.” That is the hand of Jesus Christ the Son of God. That hand has been pierced since He uttered these words. I am in the hollow of His pierced hand. Neither shall anything “pluck them out o f my Father’s hand.”- I am in the hol low of the hand of the eternal God who swings-the planets upon His arms! God the Father and Jesus Christ my Saviour have clasped their hands around me and the Holy Spirit is in me. Oh, what a place of safety! “The moun tains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant o f my peace be removed, saith the LORD.” I am safe for all eternity, not because of what I am but because of what He is. Not because of what I am but because of where I am. I was living in an eastern city when my boy was four years old. I took him down town to a clothing store and bought him an overcoat. The pockets on the sides were perpendicular instead of hori zontal and his little hands went into the pockets clear up to the elbows. And we started home. It had rained and then frozen. Little patches of ice were here and there on the brick sidewalk. We came to one of the patches of ice. I said to my boy, “William, give me your hand.” He had no thought of obeying me and he indicated it in no uncer tain sound. I did not want my baby-to get h u rt; I knew he would fall if we should strike the ice; and yet, what could I do? A few things he had to learn. He had to learn that ice was slippery; he had to learn that.he was not able to stand alone upon slippery ice; and he had to learn that his father knew best. So I let him have his way. We struck the ice and down he went. He was hurt. I brushed him off but said not a word. As- we walked along he was sobbing as though his little heart would break. We came to a second patch of ice and I said, “William, give me your hand.” He refused at first, then he thought of the fall and took a hand out of his pocket and said as he reached up to m e: “Daddy, give me your hand.” “No, my dear. You can’t hold your weight if you should slip. Let Daddy have your hand.” He re fused. And the hand went back into the pocket. We struck the ice and the boy got a worse fall than at first. He arose crying, for he was badly hurt. ' I said not a word. We struck the third piece of ice and I said: “Wil liam, will you now give me your hand ?” And the boy, with all the enthusiasm of his nature, cried out as he held both hands up to me, “Oh, Daddy, please take both hands.” Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ assures me that I am between His hand and His Father’s hand and that He and the Father are one. There is no question about my reaching home in safety. ’
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Reap ing a Golden Harvest By D r . D insdale T. Y ou N g (A Sermon Preached in the Central Hall, Westminster)
dom, of course, is very much more than that, but it is that. And we want to reap a harvest of wisdom, a right apprehension of truths. You know what our method is- here. We always try to find our illustrations in the immediate context.- Let us follow that method this morning, and see if we cannot get a little harvest good out of it. What is the Psalmist thinking about, do you suppose, when he talks about wis dom? He wants a harvest home of wisdom. Whatever else that means, it means precious thoughts, precious truths. There are some remarkable truths about God in this 90th Psalm. There is a wonderful doctrine of God; and where have you not wonderful doctrines of God in this Book? The Bible was written to tell you what God is, and it is worth studying morning, noon and night, because it is God’s portraiture, painted by Himself. What a beautiful thought! That we may have a harvest of wisdom of that sort. Have we set the right way about securing it that we may bring home a harvest of wisdom ? What is there wiser than truths about God ? I do feel in this age that we need to study God more—God in Christ, God as revealed in the Bible, God saving a world of sinners lost, and God willing and waiting to save you and me here and now. But there are some broad truths about God here that are very unpopular today. For in stance, in the previous verse, “Who knoweth the power o f thine anger?” Can God be angry? Yes. There are some men who pose as wise men, who are standing up and ridiculing what they call the old Puritan notion that God is angry with sinners, and that He will damn them unless they repent. Friends, there is something of God’s everlastingness in this Book, and this is God’s Book. It is not my business to read this Book accepting only what I like, and rejecting what I dislike. It is my busi ness to accept all that God reveals. And I put it to you, Bible readers, can you read the Bible yvithout seeing that there is such a thing as God’s anger? Take another illustration. In the very same verse there is this expression, “Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath,” I do not stay to define the distinction between the two points. I am just calling attention to the sub stantial fact that God is not to be trifled with. If we disobey His commands, anger and wrath is upon us. God is angry with the wicked every day, and unless the wicked repent, He will be angry with them through the eternal day. I should be a traitor to your souls if I did not warn you. Is it not wisdom to have a harvest of such thoughts about God? Or, take another illustration. There is a sweet word in the 14th verse, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy.” If there is anger and wrath, there is also mercy with God. That is the brightest jewel in His crown. It says about that quality of God, “He de- lighteth in mercy.” Is there anybody here who says, “I do need God’s mercy ?” Who does not ? I do. But if there is some body here who says, “Oh, preacher, I do need it par ticularly just now,” let me tell you that there is wonder ful mercy in God. You cannot exhaust it. Come to Him,
T e x t : "S o teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”— Psalm 90 :12. Or, as it is in the Revised Version: “So teach us to number our days, that we may get us an heart o f wisdom.” OMEONE says, “What an unsuitable text for a Harvest Festival! It is more suited for a funeral service than to a bright festal gather ing. Is it not a solemn word?” Not at all. This word speaks of the harvest. You say, “I do not see any reference to harvest.” . No, be cause the English does not make it appear. If you had a Jew reading out of the Hebrew Bible this verse, and you said that there was nothing about harvest in it, he would smile at you. Incredible though it may seem, there is a real picture of the harvest field here. This is the Hebrew idea: “So teach us to number our days, that we may come home with the harvest of wisdom.” Those apparently dull words— “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom ”— really in the Hebrew signified coming back from the har vest field. So that, grim as the text might sound for a harvest festival service, it really is a harvest festival text. If we can spend half an hour, by the good Spirit’s help— and it will be a poor business without, but a grand busi ness with—we shall find two things in this text. A G olden H arvest to be G athered First of all, a golden harvest to be gathered— “So teach us to number our days.” There is nothing melancholy in that. It is a little bit of arithmetic that we should all do well to learn and practice. “That we may Bring home a harvest of wisdom.” The next thing about which we shall have a few words to say is as to how this .harvest is to be secured; and the answer is in the text. “So teach us to number our days,” then we shall come -home with the harvest. So you see that in an apparently dull sort of text there is really an Oriental picture, and the last thing you would have thought to see, you do see if you read it with a scholarly eye—the coming back from the harvest field, and the singing of the harvest home. They have applied their hearts unto wisdom; they have gathered the harvest of wisdom. First, let us look at this golden harvest to be gathered. You have it in one word—Wisdom. There are all sorts of harvests in life; some rubbishy harvests. Oh, what poor harvests some people are reaping! Can you tell me of a finer harvest than that of which my text speaks? If you can, then I shall be pleased to sit at your feet. Wisdom—-what a great place that word has in this Book! ■Bible readers, have you not been struck with the almost dominant place that the word “wisdom” has in the Book? The gathering of the harvest of wisdom, the singing of the harvest home—that is the Hebrew ideal put before us in this text. What is this wisdom? Well, of course, it is, first of all, a right understanding, or, to use a popular word, it is a mentality; or, let me put it in the homeliest terms, it is ideas, of great subjects. Wis
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