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T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
November 1929
the low spiritual life of believers is the cause of the act ings of the flesh. Let the soul come into a higher spiritual atmosphere by being “married to another”; let Christ be enjoyed and trusted, and fed upon through His Word, and the flesh is kept subdued. Engaged with Christ, the mind “makes no provision for the flesh,” and it is kept under. So that it is not by fighting our sins in detail that we get the victory—indeed, in this way, we find that the' sins get the victory—but by coming into closer fellowship with Christ. Treat and trust Him as a loving wife would trust her husband; as Ruth the Moabitess—who found grace in the eyes of Boaz, and he became her redeemer and husband—trusted him to pay all her debts, and pro vide for all her needs. It would have grieved him, a mighty man of wealth, to have had her worried in the slightest degree about either. Alas, how often we grieve our blessed Lord by our doubts and suspicions as to whether He really has re deemed us from all our sins, or our unbelief as to the grace He has promised for all of our need. D e a t h “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26, 54, 55). So death is an enemy; it always has been, and always will b e ; it is the last enemy to be destroyed. But, as an enemy, the believer is assured that in Christ he has the victory. With the question .of sin settled, and judgment behind him at the cross, instead of before him beyond the grave, the sting of death is re moved; and the cause of its greatest terror, the fear of judgment, gone. Death no longer comes like a police officer to a believer, to bind him and take him to prison to await the great assize, but is allowed by God, as an enemy indeed, to hasten his children home—like a bad man who frightens the children as they come from school, and they run the faster to their father’s house. We have, as believers, the victory over death, in the triumph of our Saviour in coming up from the grave. The victory there gained was a victory in which every believer has a share. This robs the grave of its terror, should we be called upon to lie therein. There is-- no question as to our coming up out of the grave. That was fully settled when He arose. Sin cannot keep us there, for Christ by His death has overcome him that had the power of death; and He has. the keys of death and the grave under His control. None can go in without His permission; and all must come forth when He shall speak the word. Corruption cannot keep us there, for “this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). The K ind Deed and Word During a long life I have proved that not one kind word ever spoken, not one kind deed ever done, but sooner or later returns to bless the giver, and becomes a chain, binding men with golden bands to the throne of God.— Earl o f Shaftesbury.
Our Confession By P erley A ndrew G ilmore
0 God of men and nations, From out whose bounteous hand Fall blessings rich and plentiful On our beloved land; Thou art our Benefactor, Thine erring children we;. Help us in penitence to bow And humbly worship Thee.
O God of men and nations, Our vagrant footsteps stray; We bear the smarting wounds of sin And choose our wilful way; Thy matchless Sacrifice remains Our sufferings to allay; The Gilead Balm for our sore needs Is still Thy Calvary.
O God of men and nations, IVe cotne with hands unclean; O wilt Thou purge away the dross Of. all things base and mean; No empty, vain confession ours Thy patience, Lord, to try; We bring no bloodless sacrifice, Thine altar to supply .
We trust the god of Mammon — O f blind insensate Greed, Of pleasure and of passion We would fain supply our need; Ours—ours the sin of worldliness; Of guilty compromise; From Sinai and Golgotha . In shame we turn our eyes.
These are the Baals we worship, From which. Lord, help its turn; No Carmel Flame can we bring down Our sacrifice to burn; Elijah’s God must be our God —- Our way leads to the Cross, Or else the ignominy ours, And everlasting loss.
O God o f men and nations In greater confidence again To, Thee we lift our eyes; Ntr more in arm of flesh we boast, Our trust henceforth in Thee — With might infuse our puny strength That we may victors be.. Once more, refreshed, we rise;
dead—is apprehended feebly that the power of Christ in His salvation is hardly known. Christ found His bride in prison, shut up .under penalty of the law. He died to release her, that she then might marry Him. If the marriage is not consummated, how could the salva tion be enjoyed? So far as He, the Bridegroom, is con cerned, it is. He accepted us when we came to Him; for “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” But, alas! His bride is very half-hearted, and slow to understand the fulness of His affection and the abun dance of His power and grace for the supply of her every need. “Put ON the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Alive unto God IN Jesus Christ.” “Married to him who was raised from the dead.” Surely if we obeyed these exhortations, and accepted in simple faith the truth as to our standing before God in Christ, we should have victory over sin. The mistake is often made that the actings of the flesh are the cause of the low spiritual life of believers. The truth is, that
An A lluring S tream The picture on page 514 is used by courtesy of Booster, a magazine published by the Standard Gasoline Company.
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