March, I93S
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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N ot long ago, according to Ripley, a letter addressed to the Lord was sent to Rome, Italy. A fter some time, it was returned, marked, “Addressee Unknown.” Addressee unknown ! Whether the postal au thorities at Rome understood that the writer had actually attempted to send a letter to God, I do not know. Nevertheless, these words, “ Addressee Unknown,” are more than significant. One o f America’s most popular religious journalists has written a book entitled, The Man Nobody Knows. This attractively written book, in spite o f its clarity o f diction, gives us merely a few dim snapshots of Jesus the Man, in “ poses” generally unfamiliar to the average in terpreter o f His life. The “ snaps” are not good. The camera must have had something radically wrong with it mechanically. Perhaps the camera man himself did not have sufficient light for the taking o f such pictures, or else thé light that he did have was not light, but darkness ! “ If there fore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6 :23 ). At any rate, I prefer the simple teachings o f the Bible, whose character delineations o f our Lord are always true, and which tell us in terms unmistakable o f the one Man whom every one may know ! T remendous I mportance of K nowing C hrist It is absolutely essential that every man become ac quainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. It means to him either eternal life or eternal death! If you know Him, you have eternal life. “ And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and JesUs Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). But if, at His coming again you do not know Him, it will mean banishment forever from His presence: “ And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel o f our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence o f the Lord, and from the glory o f his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe . . . in that day” (2 Thess. 1:7-10). Dear reader, do you see the awful truth as revealed in that verse? Do you see that it is to them that “ know not God” — and who, consequently, “ obey not the gospel”— that “ everlasting destruction” is to be meted out ? T ruth I s T ruth W e are living in a day when men are discounting the plain teachings o f the Scriptures on such vital subjects as the immortality o f the soul, the destiny o f the soul, and, especially, what it is that determines that destiny. But such skepticism and unbelief is not new. It has ever been true that those who believe the gospel to the saving o f the soul, have been compelled to breast the swift-moving cur rents o f a doubting world. But truth is truth, no matter who doubts it. “ For what if some did not believe?.shall their unbelief make the faith o f God without effect?” (Rom . 3 :3 ). Certainly not! “ For the preaching o f the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power o f God.” “ But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (1 Cor. 1 :18; 2 Cor. 4 :3). God is looking for men who will dare to believe and serve Him, even amidst a world of agnosticism. When the Bible teaches that there is a heaven, we believe i t ; we must do the same concerning the Bible teaching about hell. It is true, o f course, that the righteous shall go away into life eternal; it is equally true that “ the wicked shall be turned into hell” (Psa. 9 :17 ). One o f the inconsistencies of modernism is that it preaches a hell-less eternity, yet wonders why so many are living hellish lives! You do not pass out o f existence at death—you merely pass out o f the body-Wjfor “ it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9 :27 ). H ell , a V ital N ecessity P ’ell is a vital necessity in the great program o f the o f love, else what could He do with the scores of thousands o f criminals now at large in the world, when at last they come to die, provided, o f course, that they die ■ unsaved?] How safe would heaven be with that gang of ¡lO f cutthroats, murderers, adulterers, white slavers, kidnapers, foul-mouthed blasphemers, and sodomites all there ? When I get to heaven, I expect to have more security than I do
T h is I Know By E. M A RG A R E T C L A R K S O N I do not know what next may come Across my pilgrim way, I do not know tomorrow's road, Nor see beyond today; But this I know— my Saviour knows The path I cannot see, And I can trust His wounded hand To guide and care for me. I do not know what may befall O f sunshine or of rain, I do not know what may be mine O f pleasure and of pain; But this I know— my Saviour knows, And whatsoe'er it be, Still I can trust His love to give W hat will be best for me. I do not know what may await, O r what the morrow brings, But with the glad salute of faith I hail its opening wings! For this I know— that in my Lord Shall all my needs be met, And I can trust the heart of Him W ho has not failed me yet.
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