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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
There is not a cloud between, me and Him, not a cloud; I look up into His face and I say, “ My Father,’’’ and He smiles down into my face, oh, what a smile, and says: “ My son!’’ That is what salvation means. It is glorious. But even that is not all. 3. In the third place, We are saved from the condemnation o f our own con science, we are saved from remorse. It is a dreadful thing to be under the condemnation of your own con science. The memory of sins and vile deeds done in the past haunts you, and fills, you with wretchedness, even in the midst of circumstances that would nat urally fill you with joy. Oh what mis ery some of you who are in this audience tonight are in this very moment because of your guilty conscience. I have seen a strong, brainy man throw himself on the floor of my room and wallow and groan as his conscience lashed him. I have seen people walk on "the floor and shriek as conscience did its work. I had a friend who journeyed from city to city and state to state in agony from his torturing conscience within. At last one night, moved by the cease less gnawing of remorse, he plunged from a steamer’s deck out yonder in the Pacific Ocean. Did he find peace then? Alas, no. But there is a place where peace can be found, a place where any conscience-stricken sinner can find peace, that place is in Christ. I have known a man whose conscience gave him no rest day nor night for two long years, and who had sought peace every where else and could not find it, who found it in a moment by simply believ ing in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning blood. Saved means saved from remorse. How often I have seen men thus saved. A woman in Minne apolis came to me for weeks in wretch edness that I could not understand. At last she told me her story fully, an aw ful story of siih. I told her what she must do, she refused to do it then, but
she did it the next day and she found peace. A man of my acquaintance in the city of Chicago whom Satan and Con science had driven to attempt suicide five times, I at last succeeded in leading to Jesus and he was saved by that simple act and entered into a wonderfully joy ous Christian experience. I knew him for years afterward, and instead of aw ful condemnation,'he had “ peace with God” and “ the peace of God.” That is what salvation means. It is glorious, but even that is not all. 4. In the fourth place, we are saved from the power of sin. That is one of the best things about the salvation which we obtain in Jesus Christ, it sets us free from the awful bondage of sin. The sinner is the slave of sin. Our Lord Jesus said: “ Every one that committeth sin is the slave of. sin” (Jno. 8:34), and we all know that is true from our own personal experi ence. What man or woman is there here tonight who has not at some time felt as the result of having sinned, the degrading, the terrible bondage of sin. You have longed to live right, you have longed to be holy, but sin held you in its remorseless grip. With some of you it was one sin, with some another, with some of you it is the appetite for strong drink, with some a bad temper, with some selfishness, with some lying, with some impurity of thought or speech, or act. But whatever it is, sin is your master. Salvation means deliverance from this degrading power of sin. Jesus sets free from the power of sin all those who believe in Him, and as He Himself said, If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (Jno. 8 :3 6 ) How happy the black people of the South were when freedom came, how happy recently were the people of Bel gium when delivered from the awful bondage of the German tyrants, who had ruled them with merciless severity, how happy they were when freedom
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