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he turns his back to God, it will never give him pain again, no matter whar he does. When God’s Word is brought into eclipse, the light of conscience goes out. When God is blotted o'ut of the picture, conscience cannot point the way. When the sun goes down, the sundial cannot tell what time it is. When the Son of God is crowded out of one’s heart, conscience cannot show the way in which we should walk. Christ is Truth and Righteousness. Conscience cannot tell the man who
denies Him anything about truth and righteousness! Conscience grows in strength and stature as we hide away in our hearts the Word of God. A Christian con science is a strong conscience, a sen sitive conscience, which never slum bers and never goes off duty. It is enlightened by the Word of God; it reflects the revelation of God; it has been cleansed and clarified by the blood of Christ; it is a-’ conscience which has been made, by His grace, “the mirror of heaven.” ,
GIVE US A VOICE [Continued from Page 248]
win.” Let us keep our heads up, Chris tians. I do not say we will always be sure of ourselves, nor is there a place for a bumptious pride, bloated ego tism, and bulbous self-respect. But I do say that we must always be sure of Jesus of Nazareth! The church is the Bride of Christ. I do no’; say that we shall be able to understand all His plans or all the workings of the Parliament of the Lord. But there is one thing we can do for Him: at the close of every day, we can look into the face of our Lord and give Him our confidence—tell Him that we know that He can never fail. We are on Christ’s side now, “and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” That is enough for us to know. May I close as I began: “There is only one way opt of the spiral. The way out is the sound of a voice: not our voice but a Voice, coming from something outside ourselyes, in the existence' of which we cannot disbe lieve. It is the earthly task of the pastors to hear it and to tell men what it says.” who tries to make himself the mas ter of his conscience inevitably makes himself merely the murderer of his conscience. CHEATING A CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE: • It is a pathetic but popular mis conception to suppose that conscience is an all-sufficient, self-regulative de vice for the discernment of moral truth. Conscience is a God-given fac ulty; but it cannot function propirly unless it is God-guided. God gave us a conscience, as He gave us an intel lect. But both must be directed by Him and for Him if they are to serve us faithfully. It has truly been said, “Conscience is like a sundial. When the truth of God shines on it, it points the right way.” Certain cults of “humanists” and “rationalists” have endeavored to dispense with the Bible by pretending to exalt conscience to a place of su preme authority. They argue, “We have no need for God and His Word; for we follow our conscience.” But they are either deceiving themselves or trying to deceive us; for conscience points us to God before it points us to the path of sound conduct. Conscience tells us there is a God and that we ought to obey Him be fore it tells us anything else. If con science does not give a man pain when COLLAPSE OF CONSCIENCE [Continued from Page 243]
Dr. Talbot's Question Box Questions for answer in this department should be sent to the E d i t o r i a l Department, THE K ING 'S BUSINESS, 558 So. Hope Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
The Jordan River represents death, and His going down into it was a pic ture of His approaching sacrifice on the cross. Our Lord came into the world to die on behalf of sinners. Here at the beginning of His ministry He identified Himself with sinners who were being baptized by John; and by so doing, He foreshadowed the pur pose of His coming into the world. At Calvary He went into death oh be half of transgressors. He “who knew no sin” was mhde ^‘sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). It was at the cross that all righteousness w a s fulfilled. Christ’s baptism was a picture of all this. QUE.: The statement that is made about our “being judged by the light that we receive” has in terested me. Does it pertain to the saved or to the unsaved? Are we to assume that the heathen and other groups who have not received the gospel are to escape the judgment, or be judged in a different way? The statement referred to, although n o t in Scriptural words, is t r u e to Scriptural truth, for the following rea sons: 1. The saints are judged according to their works (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10; Col. 3:25; Rom. 14:12). 2. The misled receive according to their works (cf. Rev. 20:12; Matt. 11:20-24). 3. Darkness comes when light is re fused (cf. Rom. 1:18-26; n o t e t h e wo r d s , “Wherefore God also g a v e them up”; 2 Thess". 2:7-12), QUE.: I was recently on a jury to try a man for murder. Although I was convinced that the man was [Continued on Page 278]
QUE.: Where will the Holy Spirit be after the translation o f the church? The church composed of born-again believers is “the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 6:19), and when the rapture takes place, as mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, the - Ho l y Spirit will go with the church. How ever, He is omnipresent; for He is God, equal with the Father and* with the Son. Because He is God, and be cause God never leaves Himself with out a witness in the world, the Holy Spirit will operate in the earth dur ing the tribulation period, even as He did in the Old Testament times. He came upon certain individuals then, anointing them for service. His mis sion for the church age, indwelling the members of the body, of Christ, which is the church, will end at the rapture. But He will seal the 144,(MX/ Jews during the tribulation period, and e m p o w e r their testimony. The church, however, will have been com pleted; and He will not operate then as He does now in the world. It will be a different ministry. Let it be remembered that there can be no conversion, in any age, without the quickening p o w e r of the Holy Spirit (John 6:63; 1 Pet. 3:18). QUE.: Since Christ was sinless, why was He baptized? At least two thoughts have been suggested: (1) That this was the oc casion of His public anointing by the Holy Spirit for His earthly ministry —thus proving to all the world that He was the “beloved Son” of the Father in heaven; and (2) that in this act He identified Himself with sinners, in order tp fulfill “all right eousness.”
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