December, 1941
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S Are We Still in the Age of Grace? By LOU IS T. TALBOT
v the grace of God so overrules that souls are con victed and saved even in this day! Grace Exemplified As evidence that the age of grace— the period of God’s salvation of souls— is still continuing today, may I bring the following letter? “ Dear Dr. Talbot: “ It is now ten weeks since I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour . . . “When I was twenty-three years of age, I was graduated from M cG ill University, Montreal, Can ada, as .a pharmacist, came to Los Angeles in 1920, and worked for The ---------- Drug Company. I rose to be store manager, then district manager, and then buyer for the Company. It was then I fell. As I had to associate with different other executives that drank, and as I did not, I was the subject of much kidding. I did not seem to fit in with them; so I got the idea that it would not hurt me to take a drink with them to be sociable. “ This was my undoing, as it was not long before I became a drunkard. I. just could not help myself. I lost position, friends, and everything that meant anything in life. I drifted down until I was just another lost soul that frequents the missions in Los Angeles. I knew that I needed Christ in my life, but like many others, I kept putting it off. How ever, ten weeks ago 1 went to the altar at- one of the missions and yielded my heart and my life to Him who died for me. “ I am sure that in the first place yoqr radio min istry had a lot to do with it. 1 had a small radio in my room, and I used to listen to your broad cast. But lots of times I had to turn it off, as your message would bring me bitter tears when I thought how helpless my situation was. “ 1 have had much help spiritually from a Chris tian man in your, church. He has been tireless in his efforts to .teach me to live the life and to pray. Please pray that God will use me, that 1 may win souls for His kingdom, and that people will see Christ living in me. I have recently joined the Men’s Bible, Class at your church and find it a great help. “ Thanking you for your radio ministry, and praying that God will richly bless you, “ Yours in Christ, Yes, it was all of grace— grace in the Holy Spirit’s convicting power in a radio gospel mes sage; grace in a decision at a mission altar; grace in a layman’s faithful instruction of a new-born soul, and now, grace in a saved man’s longing to witness.
f T ^ H E QUEST ION has been asked, “ Are We still in the age of grace?” The answer to A this query is determined by that of another, “ Is God still saving men?” If so, then grace con tinues, because grace is the only method by which men are saved. Tw o tremendously important words in the Bible are “ sin” , and “ grace.” They lie at the heart of the gospel. If the first is misinterpreted, the second will be misunderstood. The man who accepts God’s definition thanks God for Calvary. Sin, in the Bible sense, implies man’s responsi bility. Sin is a missing of the mark. It is a trans gression of the law, both the moral law and the revealed law of God. “ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” ( Rom. 5 :8 ). This is grace! The grace of God is wholly undeserved by man; it is God’s “ unmerited favor.” From beginning to end, our salvation is all of grace: “ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6 :23 ). The Majesty of Grace While sin and grace are very great words in Scripture, the greater of the two is grace, for “ where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5 :20 ). Grace is greater than sin. Thank God we are still in the age of grace, and to Christians everywhere we can say, “ By grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2 :8 )., Grace not only saves; it also transforms. It is grace for today, for tomorrow, and for evermore. Not until we get into the glory shall we fully understand the meaning of grace, for God says that “ in the ages to come” He is going to show “ the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2 :7 ). But grace saves and transforms now; it is the secret of all Christian growth. T o know that it is God who does the work and that His grace is sufficient— this gives the Chris tian, whether pastor or layman, both boldness and assurance as the days grow darker. Ask of any soul-winner that is seeing souls saved through his person-to-person witness, “ Are we still in the age of grace?” In reply, he simply will point to the soul he has most recently seen born again, and will say, “ It was all of God’s grace.” Perhaps few kinds of Christian testimony make a minister of the gospel more conscious of his utter dependence upon the grace of God than does a radio ministry. In the .first place, a man cannot see his “ congregation” —cannot observe what re sponse his words may be arousing. The radio lis tener has in his hands the power to stop the sound of the gospel instantly if he so desires. And yet
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