466
August 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Baccalaureate Sermon Delivered June 10, 1928 B y T he D ean of T he B ible I nstitute of L os A ngeles
follows this very significant statement: “And seeing. the man that was healed standing with them they could say nothing against it." Peter said Christ could heal and save a man. The man standing there by his side, healed and saved, was his wit ness. There he stood; a healed and saved
dear friends of the Graduat ing Class: This is the farewell ser
My Witnesses Acts i:8
mon to you as a class. In a few days the school year will be over and you will receive your diplomas and turn your faces to a new
man with life pulsing in every fiber of his being, an unan swerable demonstration o f what Peter said. It was not what Peter said that carried conviction so much as what that man was. He was a living witness to what Jesus could do with a poor, lost and lame man. He was a new cre ation, and his enemies had no answer for that kind o f an argument. Standing, walking and leaping, he. did not have to say very much in order to convince the multitude he was a healed man. In other words, he lived the. power of Jesus Christ to heal and to save. W e are witnesses only as we live Christ and our great privilege and opportunity in life are marked out by the possibility o f being His wit nesses. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost. He claimed to have power to forgive sins and to save men from the law of sin and death. Paul, speaking o f this, said: “ The law o f the spirit o f life in Christ Jesus makes me free from the law o f sin and death." The evidence of the fact was not in what he said, but in the fact that he actually was a free man and had the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This meant he was a new man,a new creation. In this new life he had the sense of the forgiveness of sins and lived a new kind o f life. , The world is skeptical about the possibility of such a fundamental change. The popular! philosophy in our day is determinism, and the popular psychology is behav iorism. In neither one is there a place for such a radical and vital change as is represented by the forgiveness of sins and regeneration. Christ, in opposition to this con ception o f life, claims to be able to save a man from the past and to, make him a new creature. He is depending upon His disciples as witnesses of this fact. Therefore, the power the Holy Spirit gives is not a mere power to talk, but the power that makes .a man a new man and enables him to live a new kind o f a life, which gives to him something very definite and real to talk about. This was literally fulfilled in the case of the disciples. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they stepped forth, new men and new women. Out o f the ordinary and defeated life they spring forth into an uncommon and victorious life, which was a witness to Christ and His claim to save men from sin, failure and death. It was not what they said, but what they were that proclaimed the Gospel as the power o f God unto salvation. It is true that they preached the Gospel as the power of God, but it was a Gospel that was demonstrated in their own lives and experience. I nterpreters of C hrist This means we are the interpreters o f Christ, or, as Paul puts it, in 2 Cor. 3:3 ;—“ Ye are an epistle o f Christ written . . . with the Spirit o f the living God." This epistle is known and read o f all men, and very many have no other idea o f Christ than that which they get from the lives of those who confess Him.
chapter in life, each o f you seeking the place of his or her appointment. Such a moment is a high time and should cause you to pause and seriously face the great issues and challenges o f life. In order to help you to do this, I wish to face with you in a frank way a word spoken by Christ in one of the great and solemn hours of history. He was going away and He .was committing to His disciples a world task. They were not clear as to the nature and immediate issues of this task. They had a local and provincial program in mind and it was most difficult for them to rise above it. The question uppermost in their thought was. as to whether or not this was the great moment when that pro gram was to be realized: "Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Christ answered them, first by pointing out that it was not for them to know times or seasons, which the Father has set within His own author ity. Their first and superlative task was not that. He did not deny the kingdom would be restored to Israel, but He made it very clear it was not for them to know the ap pointed times or seasons. That part of the answer was negative, but Christ always deals in great positive truths and brings men face to face with the immediate chal lenges o f life. Hence, in the, second place, He told them, “ Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." They were thinking o f one kind of power,' but Christ brought them face to face with a new thing, the power that is the dynamic o f the new order, the power o f the Holy Spirit. This is the thing that makes the difference between the old and the new and is the chief characteristic o f the kingdom o f Jesus Christ. It is the power that makes possible a new creation and a new order of men and women. These men and women o f the new order are His witnesses. “And ye shall he my witnesses" There can be no real witnessing to Jesus Christ apart from the Holy Spirit, and these words reveal the high privilege and re sponsibility of the Christ-life. They mark the thing that gives life its deepest meaning and significance for us. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples they became new men and women, with a new vision which determined their mission and message. W hat I s W itnessing F or C h r is t ? These words are usually interpreted as meaning that when the Holy Spirit is come upon men they have power to talk about Jesus Christ. A careful study o f them in their, context will reveal that they meant much more. It is quite possible for men to talk freely, earnestly atid eloquently about Christ and still not be His witnesses. In the fourth chapter of the Acts we are told that when the authorities asked the disciples about the healing o f the lame man, Peter told them he was healed through the power o f Jesus Christ, who alone can save men. Then
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