April 1929
169
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
than sounding brass and tinkling cymbals because they have left out of their mes sage the only things that could produce music and joy. Whát is the matter with the evangelistic program of the world? You can not carry on such a program unless it is carried on .under these doc trines. These doctrines are not only essential to salvation; they are essential to the world’s evangelization. Sin is a fact. Not sins. I am not worried about sins. The Holy Ghost was sent into the world, not to convict you of lying. You are not a sinner because you lie, but you lie be cause you are a sinner. The Holy Ghost came into the world to convince the world of sin as a fact. The heinousness of sin is. that it has its source in that great mon ster who hates God. Jesus Christ came into the world to destroy his works. Now you come out, if you please, to evangelize the world. And what are you going to evangelize it on? You must convince men of sin. You can hot preach Christ with out presenting the Virgin Birth, His cru cifixion, resurrection, and second coming. It is impossible! Therefore, those who are not doing it are not preaching the Gospel. On these doctrines this School must rest. It would be worse than Judas Is cariot if it eliminated or minimized in any way its teaching of these doctrines. Glo rious has been the work of this Institute, because it has been on these doctrines that its work has been done. May its future be unclouded; may its history become more glorious; and may its field of opera tion be extended until the whole world shall feel its influence because of these facts and these doctrines. Defenders Convention The Defenders of the Christian Faith held a national convention in Cadle Tab ernacle, Indianapolis, February 3rd to 10th. This event marked the launching of the Defender Movement on a nation-wide basis. Until recently its efforts have been concentrated upon the Middle States. It plans now to invade every State of the Union, establishing nerve-centers in each. Eventually The Defenders expect to con duct forty-eight conventions a year, one in every State. Cadle Tabernacle, in which the Conven tion was held, seats 10,000 people, It was well filled every night, the services being broadcast over the radio. Rev. Charles E. Fuller, President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, was one of the speakers. Several young people in Indianapolis expressed the opinion that they would enroll as ¡students of the Insti tute next year.
fice. You ought to be very appreciative that you are a Christian and that Christ redeemed you. Your, bodies shall be raised. There is no power in the universe that can pre vent the resurrection of your body. When the angel shouts, “the dead in Christ shall rise first." Those of us who remain shall have our bodies changed in the twinkling of an eye. Fourth: The Premillennial Coming of Christ. Jesus Christ came into the world for a definite purpose: namely, to estab lish His Father’s kingdom. The kingdom was rejected; the King was crucified. When He was rejected, He, out of His own substance, builded His church and set it in between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The church is His master piece. It is His Body. He must come for His church and He will come with His church to reign a thousand years. When He will have finished the steps that fol low, He will take His church into the new heavens and there will dwell with the re deemed forever. These are the essential and controlling doctrines. They are controlling in the following ways: First: You can not preach the Gospel without preaching these doctrines. You can not teach the, Bible without teaching these doctrines. Whenever they are elim inated, the teacher occupies a false posi tion; the church loses its spiritual power and the unsaved become hardened in their sins. During the first hundred years of Christianity there was not a sermon preached where these doctrines were not emphasized. If you want the key to the failure in the preaching of today it is in the fact ttiat they have eliminated these doctrines as essential. You can not build up the church if you eliminate these doctrines. Second: These doctrines are essential to the evangelization of the world. You may ask me, “Do you mean to claim that these doctrines absolutely control the whole evangelistic program of the church?” I mean to say that it is abso lutely impossible for you to evangelize the world and eliminate these doctrines from your program. What do you do when you preach the Gospel? You first of all magnify sin. You can not preach if you leave out sin. You can not preach if you begin with relativity or social service or reform. I am not interested in the reformation of the world. I am not interested in cutting off the boughs of the tree, but in chang-. ing the life of the free. You can clothe a swine in fine raiment, but the nature :of the swine is not changed by silk and satin,1
“Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God." —Job 37:14. by jewels and gems. I want a supernatural power that will lift the swine out of the nature of swinedom. The church can not bring the world to Christ unless these doctrines are taught. Third: You can not indoctrinate the church if you omit any one of these doc trines. I am not interested in the polished, educated, philosophical and legal man, Nicodemus, and if you will permit me, when Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again,” in the preceding conversation He said, “We do not need any more Nicodemus. We need á new man, not Nicodemus.” Therefore, “Ye must be born again.” “Wherefrom?” said Nicodemus. From a supernatural force, from above, from God. Ye must be born a new creature in Christ Jesus, baptized into His body by the Holy Ghost, which is His seal, which means “folded over.” And there is no power in the universe which can take a human being out of the hand of God. Fourth : You can not grow spiritually if any of these doctrines is minimized. Therefore, on these doctrines the church must rest and in their propagation she must evangelizé the world and develop her members. The evangelical church is today suffering because some of the pul pits, have iceased to sound these notes." There are ministers who are no more
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