THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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if he has once heard th e good hews of the Gospel of the grace of God? The whole controversy of God w ith man is involved in th is tu rn ing from idols (no m a tte r what they are) to th e Lord Jesus Christ, the tru e God who has made heaven and earth. ( John 1:1-3) “Look away from us” says Paul, “we are men. This m iracle is only the a t testation of th e tru th which we preach. Look to God manifest in th e flesh, (Heb. 1:2, 3) worship Him, pour out your of ferings a t His feet.” This is th e faith which helps men. We m ust labor to get men to fasten th eir eyes upon Him who was lifted up, (John J5 :14 , 15) even the Lamb of God who b eareth away th e sin of th e world. (John 1:29) “ B e h o l d th e L a m b o f G o d , w h ic h away th e si n o f th e w o r l d .’ ? (4 ). The Heroic F aith , “We must th rough much tribu lation en ter into the kingdom of God.” The fickle people who were yester day ready to fall a t his feet and worship him, were to-day prepared to fell him w ith stones and put him to death. Like th e followers of Christ who changed th e ir hosannas (Matt. 21:9) to “Cruci fy H im” *(Mark 15:14, 15). “They th a t will live godly in Christ JeSus shall suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3 :1 2 ).Paul had been shown what great things he should suffer (Acts 9:16) and now he is entering into the rich experience of his heritage. His enemies supposed him to be dead, and he probably was. In II Cor. 12:2 P aul says: “ I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, w hether in th e body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such an one caught up to th e th ird heaven.” Reckoning back fourteen years from th is tim e would b ring us to about the tim e of P au l’s visit to Lystra. The in ference, is th a t P au l’s sp irit left the body and he was given glimpses of glory which it was unlaw ful to reveal.
Under th e shallow jnockery of this heathen belief lies a g reat tru th . God has come down in the form of a Man (John 1 :1 4 ):
“ A n d the W o r d w as m a d e f l e s h an d dw elt a m o n g ns (a nd w e b e h .e ld h i s glo ry, the glory as o f th e o n l y bego tten o f th e F a t h e r ) , ful l of gra ce an d t r u t h . “
and whosoever opens his h ea rt and re ceives th is Man as Lord and Master is transform ed into a glorious temple of God, (John 1:12)
“ B u t as m a n y as r e c e i v e d h im , to t h e m ga ve h e p o w e r to b e c o m e the s o n s o f G o d . e v e n to t h e m t h a t b e l i e v e o n h i s n a m e .” (I Cor. 3:16) “ K n o w y e not t h a t y e a re th e te m p l e o f G o d , an d t h a t th e Spi ri t o f G o d d w e l l - e 1 h in y o u ? ” .
The heathen faith is linked w ith sight. It sees a m iracle and a t once associates it w ith the power attend ing the worker. They believed, bu t were ignorant of the source from which the power emanated. Every h ea rt must have its God. These heathen proposed to worship two men who were about as good as any men on the face of th e earth, b u t they were as far from rig h t worship as the heav ens were above the earth. (Rom. 1: 25) (3 ). A Helpful F a ith “Ye should tu rn from these vanities unto th e living God.” • P au l and B arnabas sought for no worship from man. Indeed, they would not perm it it. (Acts 10:26; Rev. 19: 10). Herod accepted worship and was stricken of God, and it is said th a t a noted man in this country, setting him self up to be some g reat one, was strick en w ith a like disease and eaten of worms. P aul immediately repudiated any such idolatry and directed th eir minds to the tru e God. (John 5 :4 4 ). The message of P aul was a dissertation on th e tru e God. He exhorted them to tu rn from idols to th e tru e God. (I Thess. 1 :9 ). Few men stop to th ink why they wor ship false gods. W hat reason could any man give for rejecting Jesus Christ
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