625
T H E
K 1 NC ’ S
B II S LN E S S
October 1924
vast and blessed work for our own land and lands across the sea. In order to extend and continue this work there is need at this time of some hundreds of thousands of dollars. The money, which is required is now in the hands of Christian men and women. They should speedily invest it in Chris tian schools where a Christian education may be furnished to the needy young people of our land. The institution owes a debt to the Bible schools of our country. The super- iitendents and faculties of these schools have been loyal friends of this College, which is ‘seeking to be true to the Word of God, and at the same time enlighten people respect ing the works of God. We are very grateful to these great Bible schools which are doing such a vast service to the church and the world. Not the least of the good things they are doing is to inform men and women respecting a place where their children may be trained for service in the Kingdom of God. For information regarding Wheaton College address the President’s Office, or confer with any of the officers of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. How easy it is in these days of contending for doctrines to be silent on the most vital theme. The enemy of souls is ever'present to suggest that there are no unsaved persons in the congregation or that one should not weary a large number of people with the familiar subject for the sake of a few stragglers. Possibly there are hut few men who could say with this man that they had heard hundreds of sermons but not once had the plan of salvation been simply expounded. It makes a difference where a person attends church, of course. Yet it was not long since that an investigator for a well known magazine reported having listened to 800 sermons by well known ministers and only 43 of the 800 could be listed as even “ Biblical.” The others were on cul ture, ethicsf current events, science, literature, civic right eousness and social service. About half a dozen were listed as evangelistic. Many of these preachers would be counted among the orthodox. It is not altogether strange then that the man whose letter we have quoted had to get in jail before salvation was preached to him. It is recorded that a noted English surgeon once visited France, where he .saw the Chief surgeon of that country, who asked him how many times he had performed a certain feat in surgery. “ Thirteen times,” said the English sur geon, whereupon the French doctor said he had performed it 160 times. “ How many of your cases survived the opera tion?” the English doctor was asked, and the reply was that eleven out of the thirteen had been saved. “ And how many did you save?” he asked in return. “ I lost them all,” said the Frenchman, “ but the operations were so inter esting.” The English doctor had operated to save lives. Are we preaching to save or merely to qntertain and display our own brilliance? All the brilliance of our speech counts for nothing unless we are able “ to save some.” Two men went out to shoot deer for food. One took a case of cartridges while the other took but one cartridge.
2nd—That those who give instruction in it should hear in mind who are Christian people in confession and life. “ Put the lamb to nurse with the wolf” is like ¡sending little children to' godless, worldly people for an education, No Christian father or mother has a right to send a child to a pagan school unless it is impossible to avoid it. There are a few Christian schools in our country. Of course there should be many more, and Christian people should consider it their privilege and duty to establish and maintain the many Christian schools which are , needed,. Meanwhile, they owe it to their children, to themselves, to the church, and to the world to keep their children in schools where the essentials of Christian character are continually insisted upon. Wheaton College This institution is an attempt to satisfy the tremendous heed which is indicated above. God has given a certain measure of success in its work. Its hundreds of stjjidents come in general from homes where parents áre motó ánx- ious about the characters of their children than about any thing else which concerns them. The institution háá' doné A minister’s little hoy, who had attentively listened to the morning sermon, followed his father into his, study after the service and said, “ Papa, do you know you left Jesus out” ? The question went like a dart to the heart of this man, who numbered himself among the orthodox. He fell to examining some of his recent sermons. He found that his little boy was right. He had very often left Jesus out. He had preached good sermons in defense of the Faith but many of them were minus the note of salvation through the cross of Christ, that which alone can save the souls of men. The words of the Christ came back to him-|§T, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” He saw that sinners seeking to be saved must come to the Cross and that saints seeking higher ground must also move out from the Cross, and he determined, as did Apostle Paul, that the Cross should he the heart of every sermon he would preach thereafter. This little, .story was brought to mind as the result of the following paragraph taken from a letter received by a friend. The man who wrote the letter is. in jail. ¡“ I am 41 years old, have a fair education, have attended many churches, was treasurer of a Sunday School in my youth for three or four years, and went to one church regu larly for the last three years. I came to prison to be saved. I must have heard hundreds of sermons, many of them by high salaried ministers, but not once that I remember did any of them say anything about regeneration or tell the story of Jesus’ talk to Nicodemus. I never knew the real reason Jesus came into the world, neither did I know that ‘if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.! I did not know that I was lost.” This is the kind of a letter that gives a preacher a jolt. Brethren, we need it. It would be well if we could “ listen in” on some of our own preaching. Perhaps we should be surprised to find that the salvation note had dropped out of it altogether.
U» a» ~ds> “You Left Jesus Out” Rev. Keith L. Brooks Secretary Correspondence School Bible Institute of Los Angeles
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