T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
April 1928
216
the big guns that are heard to thunder out from the pulpit casements every time they open fire.” Nathanael knew Christ had him in mind when He spoke. Nicodemus knew He had him in mind when the Lord used the imperative. The woman of Samaria went into the city and said to her friends, “ Come, see a Man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?” Jno. 4:29. Preaching is necessarily general, but personal work is painfully direct. Dodging the question is utterly impossible; shifting the application to another cannot be done. It is. Nathan using the parable o f the ewe lamb to gain the interest o f David and then forcing the personal application in the direct attack, "“ Thou art the man.” So much o f our appeal is wasted because we aim nowhere. Is not an object o f greater importance than a subject? It has been well said that the rude fishers of Galilee knew but little o f defense, but were formidable in attack. They said little on the possibility of miracles, but directly answered the question, “ What must I do to be saved?” They were painfully dogmatic, those early personal workers, fresh from the school of Jesus Christ. They never apologized for their Christ-given message and method. Why should we, their descendants in this holy cause, cringe and fawn? Hold to God’s Word, and speak that Word with no uncertain sound. I do not ask, is yours an eloquent tongue. It may be that, and yet lack in winsomeness. I do not ask is yours a cultured tongue; such you may have, and confuse a poor, wandering soul seeking the way to God. I do not ask, is yours a ready tongue, able to carry through your given speech without let or hindrance ; this you may possess and yet not be able to tell accurately the way to the cross. What we are concerned about is whether you have learned from your blessed Lord the ability to simply and definitely, without any confusion, lead the soul of the inquirer to the Cross and to Home. Anglo-Israelism Dr. Gaebelein strikes at the root of Anglo-Israelism, when he says that if the Anglo-Saxon race is Israel, they should be bearing the judgments predicted in Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28 and other Scriptures. The very fact that these national judgments are not inflicted upon the Anglo-Saxons proves that they are not Israelites. But it is strenuously claimed that the Anglo-Saxon race is receiv ing marked temporal blessings from.God. But this fact proves, if it proves anything, these are not Israel’s bless ings, for they are not in Israel’s land; furthermore this is not the time o f Israel’s blessing at all. ¿We. gte ate No Evolution About the Jew Dr. Mark A . Matthews rightly says that the Jew is not a product o f evolution. He is not a climatic product. No climate in the world produced a Jew. He is not the pro duct o f any geographical section— though he has a geo graphical destiny and a geographical beginning. But the geographical beginning and setting, and the geographical destiny of the Jew did not produce Him. He is not the result o f chance; he is not the result o f climatic condi tions; but he is a God-created, God-decreed, God-called, God-elected, and God-protected individual. He stands before God, separated from all nationalities o f the world, from all the histories of the world, and from all the peo ples of the world. He is a separate and distinct entity.
above he cannot see the kingdom o f God.” “ What do you mean?” asks the ruler, much perplexed. “ How can these things be? I can understand very readily how your teaching can be applied to those without the pale of Judaism, but, Master, I belong to one of, the most exclu sive, cultured, highly respected religious families in Jeru salem.” “ Ah,” I can imagine Jesus saying,’ '.“ external ceremonies, circumcision, altars, benevolences, prayers, sacrifices, are o f no worth in meeting the need o f your dying soul.” And with that courage, deepened by the meaning, o f the shadow of His cross, Jesus pressed God’s imperative “ Ye must be born again.” I leave the development of the thought in connection with the unnamed woman of Samaria to your own reason ing and imagination. O f the many whom I have met, but few have found the task o f winning men to Christ an easy business. To save a soul from death is to storm the very citadel of the being and take it for God. Think of the forces arrayed against that possession: the world, flesh and devil, will, habits, desire, unholy associates and asso ciations, vicious hereditary passions, the challenge o f un cleanness already in control, ignorance, training, environ ment. It is easier to. keep the stars in their course than to save a single soul from death. Physical light was cre ated by a word, but the death o f Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, was necessary to produce spiritual light and life. “ Not all the blood of beasts, On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain. “ But Christ, the Heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away, One of the saddest elements in the make-up of a Chris tian worker is an overbearing, dead-sure confidence in his own skill and ability to win men to Christ. If that atti tude is manifested, then the work o f the Holy Spirit is sac rificed and the power of God’s Word nullified. Have cour age and faith in God, but place little reliance in personal qualities, genius arid skill. His E xplicit D irections JESUS CHR IST AS A SOUL W INNER W AS EXPL IC IT IN HIS DIRECTIONS , WH ICH A L W A Y S W ERE W ITH IN TH E COMPASS OF THE INQU IRER ’S INTELLIGENCE . Writing on the subject of Personal Evangelism in his book, “ Taking Men Alive,” Trumbull says, “ My expe rience in active service in the Civil War taught me, as I am sure it taught others, on both sides in that conflict, that the thunder o f the artillery was likely to be most impres sive, but that the rifles o f the sharpshooters brought down more men. This was peculiarly the case in the siege life, before Charleston and Petersburg. The shriek and crash of the bursting shell told in their impressiveness, espe cially upon those least experienced, but the quiet “ hum” or the “ whiz” o f the rifle o f the sharpshooter did execu tion as ten to one, or as a hundred to one in comparison. So it is with those who address individuals for Christ. Sharpshooters may bring down more individuals with their telling, single bullets, but they cannot make the im pression in the surrounding atmosphere that is made by A sacrifice o f nobler name And richer blood than they.”
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