ing our Biola students receive. God’s Word tells us we are to examine our selves first and then go forth carry ing the standard of the cross. * * * Children are often expected to learn good manners without the benefit of seeing any displayed around the home. * * * REVEALED BY LIGHT We have the opportunity of pro claiming over these broadcasts 260 times a year the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those terms “grace r” and “mercy” are wonderful to contemplate and are best defined by saying that grace is receiving something we don’t deserve — namely, salvation. Mercy is just the opposite — that is, not receiving something we do deserve — the judgment and condemnation of God for our sins. There is only one way to find the joy and forgiveness of heart which God alone offers and that is by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A beggar or a bum may be taken off of skid row, placed in a room where there is no light, no windows, and comfortably seated on a psychia trist’s couch. There he is told that he is not actually a bum but that rather the suit which he is wearing , several sizes too large for him, is actually the robe of a king and that on his head is not a dirty, greasy Stetson hat but rather a crown; a royal diadem. This derelict of society may begin to be lieve what he hears. He may think that he is indeed a monarch, until someone turns on the light and then he sees himself for what he really is. There are a lot of people who think they are in the light but who are ac tually walking in mental and spiritual darkness. The Word of God prom ises, “I f we walk in the light as He is in the light (that is the one thing we do) we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all un righteousness.”
it is ultimately possessed. God confirmed His promise to Abra ham by an oath. He did so to show to the heirs of promise the immuta bility of His counsel, and to give them consolation of the very strongest character. Dr. Edwards: “just as real ly as Abraham’s long-enduring faith was rewarded, so would the long-suffer ing patience of these Hebrew believers be. The days were sorrow-laden and leaden-footed, as are those in which our lot is cast; but our comfort lies in the fact that although winds may howl and tempests rage, our hope and confidence are in God; ‘Our refuge from the stormy blast, and our eter nal home.’ ” Closely linked with the patience of faith is the anchor of hope. Patience uncheered by hope is apt to faint and grow weary; hope unchecked by pa tience could easily become restless and intolerant; “the patience of hope” (I Thess. 1:3) gives the true balance to them both. And so, as a great exposi tor has said: “while in the early part of this chapter we were conducted to the edge of a precipice, and bid look down and behold the appalling fate of apostates (4-6); or carried away back to the plain of Sodom, and shown there a land rendered sterile forever by fire and brimstone for the sins of its in habitants (7-8), we are here privi leged to witness the pleasing sight of a ship riding safely at anchor, an emblem of the security of a Christian, who cherishes the hope of eternal life, and is thereby enabled to hold fast his profession of faith in spite of all the stormy tribulations of time” (19- 20). REVIVAL The famed evangelist Gypsy Smith teas once asked how to start a revival. He answered simply: “Go home, lock yourself in your room, kneel down in the middle of the floor, dram a chalk mark all around yourself and then ask God to start the revival right inside of that chalk mark. When He has an swered your prayers, then get up from your knees and the revival will he on.’’ What a tremendous personal challenge that is, and this is the type of train
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Strangers are simply friends you haven't met yet. 34
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