T HE K I N G ' S B U S I NE S S
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room one 'afternoon whom I had known before my conversion. Though nearly three years had passed since I made a profession of my faith in Christ I had never seen her to speak to her since. But this afternoon as I saw her in the inquiry meeting I went over to speak to her about her salvation. I had to reason long with her to persuade her to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, but she did, and came out clearly for Him. After the great decision had been made, she said to me, “Mr. Sankey has spoken to me, Mr. Wil liams (a prominent minister in New Haven) has spoken to me and others have spoken to me, but no one has helped me as you have.” If I had had any temp tation to be exalted or elated over these words, it would have been of short dura tion; for she said immediately, “ I thought if Jesus-Christ could save you He could save anybody,” There appár- ently was a soul for me to save that no one else could save. There are broken hearts for each of us to comfort, and if we do not comfort them they will not be comforted. There are persons ignor ant in the things ■of God for us to instruct, and if we do not instruct them no one else will. It is therefore of tre mendous importance that each of us, no matter how small our gifts may be, glor ify Him by accomplishing or perfecting the particular work He has given us to •do. H. How Each One of Us Can Make the Most of Our Lives by Finishing the Work that the Father Has Given Us To Do. This brings us face to face with the question, How can we finish the work which God has given us to do. It is especially for the purpose of answering this question that I have selected the text for today. 1. F irst of all there m u st be th e DEFINITE AND CONSCIOUS PURPOSE ON OUR PART TO GLORIFY GOD BY FINISHING THE WORK HE HAS GIVEN US TO DO, WHATEVER it m a y be . The work may be a hard work: the work God gave our Lord to do
was a hard work, such a work as was never given another person, angel or man. But our Lord finished that work, finished it without a murmur. He said in contemplation of the bitter cup He was given to drink to the very dregs: “The cup that my Father giveth me shall I not drink it?” And on another occasion, in contemplation of the heart-breaking agony that was ahead of Him, He said, “Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." (John 12: 27, 28) And on still another occasion, He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His Work." (John 4:34). So, no matter how hard the work may be that He has given us to finish, it should be the joy of our life and our all-absorbing purpose to fin ish it. That is the path to glory, the only path to glory. This was the path to glory that our Lord Himself trod. How wonderfully that comes out in Phil. 2:5-10: “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who being in the form of Cod, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equal ity with Cod, but emptied Himself, tak -, ing the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea the death of the cross. Wherefore (note carefully the “Wherefore” ; it was because the Lord Jesus had chosen the work the Father had given Him to do that the results mentioned immediately after follow) also Cod highly exalted Him and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that eyery tongue shduld confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" No matter how apparently circumscribed and insignificant and obscure the work is that God gives us to do, it should be our joy to finish that particular work.
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