177
B u s i n e s s
April 1930
T h e
K i n g ’ s
The Heart of the Gospel B y R ev . W. S. B owden
ister who had once preached from this passage was waited upon the day following by a heart-broken penitent, who said: “I was at the meeting yesterday.” ' “Then it was the " sermon that brought you to reflect upon this subject.” “Oh, no,” she replied, “it was not the sermon, it was the text.” Yes; “the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Praise God for His
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life .”—John 3 :16. HE heart of the Gospel is found in this verse. The love of God is the central fact in the uni verse. This familiar verse, which tells of the love of God, has been called the most wonder ful sentence ever written. Certainly there is an immense amount of truth
Word! Praise Him for the wonder ful love revealed in that Word and manifested in the gift of His Sorp.! U niversal L ove ! God loved “the world.” He did not just love some certain part of the world, some select people out of the world. He did not love the rich and despise the poor. He did not love the learned, and ignore the un learned. His love went out and still goes out to the whole world. Who soever believeth in Him need not perish, but have everlasting life.- Some years ago Dr. Lorenz came from Europe to America. A dis tinguished millionaire had this great doctor treat his daughter, who had suffered a dislocated hip. The work was very successful. This gave Dr. Lorenz great publicity through the newspapers. Wherever he went peo ple were wild with enthusiasm. They thronged his way. Cripples were carried to him on stretchers. It was humanly impossible for him to treat all the cases which* were brought to him. It is said that sometimes strong men cried when the great surgeon was compelled to turn, away weeping mothers because his time and energy were limited. Dr. Lorenz did a great work, but he did not have a message of hope for all. Thanks be unto God for His universal love. None need perish if they will but believe.
packed into this one sentence. We never get tired thinking of the won derful love of God of which the text speaks. One great and good man wrote a book upon THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD. What he really said was this : “Man’s love to God is the greatest thing in the world.” I heard one man commend the book very highly, and then add this .criticism : “To say that man’s love to God is the greatest thing in the world is indeed the strangest thing in the world.” It is God’s love to man which is the greatest thing in the world. Two Christian women were talk ing together of their Christian ex periences. One said to the other, “Suppose all the Bible were to be destroyed, and you could keep out just one verse, which one would you choose ?” The other lady thought a moment, and then answered, “Well, I think I would take this one: ‘For God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlast ing life.’ ” Many people would vote for this verse as being the favorite one in the Bible. The Gospel is packed into this one verse. It is not my purpose to analyze the verse, or to dwell upon the gift
The Easter Joy B y B. F . M. S ours 0 joy of joys! Earth had no joy To be compared with this. We came to find the buried Christ, And angels brought a bliss That thrills our happy, happy hearts, And beams upon our ways, For Christ is risen — risen? Yes! Break forth in songs of praise! 1 know He died to save my soul From depths o f night and sin; I shout the psalmody of love, For glory dwells within. I rise to tell the wondrous news The, angels brought to m e : Life, life is His who bled and died O f late on Calvary. Thou, Jesus, Son of God, I bow Before Thy feet, and pray Look on Thy lost one—here am /— Take all my sins away. And be Thou all Thou wilt to me, My Succor in the strife; Then be my resurrection Joy And Everlasting Life. —Mechanicsburg, Pa.
It is sometimes asserted that it is hard to understand how a good God could love such a wicked world. There is much in the world to repel the love of God. The Fall of man was deliberate and wilful, and he was indifferent and even rebellious in his fallen state. Yet God loved sinful man. The magnitude of any force is said to be measured by the opposing forces it conquers. In this light, how great is the love of God to the world! His love has con quered the mightiest opposition, the' sin, the disobedience, the bitter enmity, and the crudest antagonism of the world. It is wonderful that God should love this sinful world; but a greater wonder to me 14 that the world does not love
or the two destinies mentioned. .Neither is it my purpose to dwell upon thé great sacrifice that was made upon Cal vary’s cross for us. All this, and more, is to be found in the text. I would simply point out some of the character istics of the love of God, and bring these marks of love to your attention by means of illustrative material. Mr. Moody used to say that he believed that thousands of peo ple would be converted in any large city if they would just consider seriously the wonderful announcement to mortal man contained in John three sixteen. Many people have been converted from the error of their ways by simply reading and considering this text without ever hearing a sermon preached upon it. A min
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