King's Business - 1950-06

keep him going. If we had a daily “ vival,” we should not need a yearly revival. Let us walk as children of light and we shall not need to be awakened every now and then. Let us cultivate spiritual health all the time and we shall need no shots in the arm at any time. Finally, Jesus is passing by in sal­ vation and men do not know the time of their visitation. Now is the accept­ ed time, now is the day o f salvation. “ Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” That verse clearly indicates that there will come a time when He may not be found, a day when He will not be near. To the woman at Jacob’s well Jesus said, “ If thou knew- est the g ift o f God and who is it that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked o f him and he would have given thee living water.” If only you knew the Gift and the Giver! Today men seek satisfac­ tion at broken cisterns that can hold no water while our Saviour says, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” To Thomas He said, “ If ye had knoum me, ye should have known my Father also.” Today men say “ God is nowhere,” but through Christ we who believe can say “ God is now here” ! Philip said, “ Lord, shew us the Father and it sufficeth us.” Our Lord said, “ He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” For He is Emmanuel, God with us. “ I f thou knewest” . . . “ i f ye had knoum me.” Today Jesus is passing in salvation in a visitation o f grace. There is coming a day when He will visit us in judgment. God help us to know the day of our visitation! There was a king who liked to visit his subjects incognito, dressed as one of them. One day a stranger appeared at the home o f a peasant, was rudely treated and presently de­ parted. Soon another peasant hurried over to that home. “What did the king give to you?” he eagerly in­ quired. “ The king?” asked the puz­ zled man who had treated his guest so badly. “ Yes, the king. He came from your house to mine, gave me his blessing and left a present!” And from then on the wretched peasant who had spurned his guest could only- say, “ If only I had known it was the king!” The King passes among us today. Shame on us if we know not the time o f our visitation! “ Pass me not, 0 gentle Saviour, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.” Page Twelve

SECOND IN A SERIES O F MESSAGES

By William W . Orr, D.D.

meant with all my heart what I had previously said. The next day I would repeat the same and the next day and the next. Why? Will God forget? No, God will never forget, but you may. And this daily commitment is a splen­ did way to remain yielded to God’s will. God's Master Plan What’s the reason behind the world ? What’s God’s purpose in the creation just to go on and on with war after war and disappointment after dis- o f this vast universe? Is humanity appointment? Oh no! my friend, God has a master, over-all, irresistible plan! Let us go back a bit. In the be­ ginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1 :1 ). Everything was beautiful and everything was perfect, as is always the way with the handi­ work o f God. Then something sinister and mysterious happened (Jer. 4:23- 26). Many Bible students believe that the beautiful and bountiful earth be­ came a wilderness o f waste and deso­ lation because o f God’s judgment upon the sin of a certain high-ranking angel named Lucifer (Isa. 14:12-17). How many centuries rolled by until God restored the earth and placed Adam and Eve in the world we do not know; (Gen. 1 :2 ). But we do know that hu­ man tenure on the earth has been comparatively recent. The story o f our first parents is a sad one. With God doing almost every­ thing to make them want to choose the right and turn from the wrong, we find them disobeying God and choosing the way o f selfishness and sin. At this juncture the virus o f sin entered into the life blood o f the race and every person born into the human family since that day has been born a sinner (Rom. 5 :12 ). You can read the story. Cain slew his brother, Lamech committed mur­ der. At the time o f the flood the earth was just filled with violence (Gen. 6 :5 ). At the Tower o f Babel man was T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

a FTER you have been genuinely saved, there is a further step to A A. be taken in order to insure the right understanding, and the full ap­ plication o f the will o f God. This step is that o f complete yieldedness or sur­ render to the will o f your Heavenly Father (Rom. 12 :1 ). One of the greatest tragedies in the Christian life is the failure, either through ignorance or unwillingness, of one to turn over the complete guidance o f his pathway to an all-wise Father. You can easily understand how im­ possible it would be for God to direct a life that did not want to be directed. For here is one thing God simply will not do. He will not come in and ruth­ lessly seize the reins o f direction over your will. Rather, He waits until you, of your own free will, turn over the leadership to Him (Rom. 6 :13 ). Surely you do not question His ability to lead. Nor can we question His purpose in leading. How utterly foolish for any Christian to endeavor to guide his life over life’s unchar­ tered seas! We know next to nothing. God not only knows all, but controls all. Now, if I had never yet seen this truth and had not yet yielded my life to God, this is what I would do. After meditation upon God’s invitations in the Bible, and after careful examina­ tion o f the sincerity o f my own heart, I would tell my Heavenly Fa­ ther that I wanted Him to fully and completely direct my life from now on (Col. 3 :1 -4 ). I would ( if my heart really meant this) further tell Him that in view o f His love and His omniscience, I was willing to go where He wanted me to go, and be what He wanted me to be. I would make this a definite step in my Christian ca­ reer, and I would note down this de­ cision in some safe place, perhaps on the fly leaf o f my Bible (Heb. 12:1,2). But that’s not all. The very next morning after this complete surren­ der, I would again pour into the ears o f my Heavenly Father the same con­ fession, reminding Him that I still

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