King's Business - 1917-08

752

THE KING’S BUSINESS

not be put to shame.” And why not ? Because “the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him.” There are infinite riches in God, and these riches are at the disposal of the prayer of faith. Help yourself, says the Lord. And how \shall I help myself? , By simple faith and earnest prayer. Is that all? Yes, that is all, “The Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him.” Again Paul fortifies his posi­ tion by Old Testament scripture, and this passage is a favorite quotation in the Hew Testament; “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Could anything make the way of salvation plainer or more simple than that? But what is involved in calling upon the name of the Lord? Five things. (1) A sense of need of salvation. There certainly can be. no calling upon the Lord for salvation that is real andi sincere, unless we have a sense of need of salvation. (2) A sinbere desire for salvation. There certainly can be no genuine calling upon the Lord for salva­ tion unless we earnestly desire it. (3) A belief that Jesus, can save. There can be no real calling upon Jesus to save unless we believe that He can save. (4) A looking to Him and a crying to Him to save. (S) A throwing away of all confidence in any other way of salvation. IVhen that is done you are saved. Friday, August 3 . Rom. 10 : 14 ', IS- . In order to call upon the name of the Lord, and thus be saved, we must believe in the Lord. In order to believe in Him we must hear of Him. In order to hear of Him there must be those that preach Him. In order to preach effectively they must be sent of God. Millions who have, never heard of Him are waiting to hear in order that they may believe and be saved. God is willing to send, who will go and preach? Oh, “hpw beautiful are the feet that bring glad tidings of good news.” China, India, Africa, are waiting to see these beautiful feet. Have you beautiful feet? If not, get a pair and go.

Saturday, August 4 . Rom. 10 : 16 , 17 .

It is not enough to hear the Gospel, it is necessary to hearken to it, in order to be saved. But God foresaw that Israel would not hearken. In the wonderful fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, in which the prophet foreshadows the coming day of Israel’s repentance, he pictures 'them as deploring a quite universal rejection of the Messiah on the part of the people. And so when the Gospel went to the Gentiles the mass of men rejected the glad tidings. But even if man will not believe God’s word, it still remains true that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Faith does not come by merely commanding men to believe, you must give them something to believe. The something to give them is the word of God, and especially what the Word says about Jesus. It is sad indeed the way in which inexperienced workers keep telling a bewildered sinner, “believe,” “believe,” “believe,” “just believe,” and do not give him anything to believe. Stop merely telling men to believe and give them the word of God about Jesus, about Jesus crucified, Jesus risen again. If you do this in the power of the Spirit they will believe without your telling them to and will be saved. Let us never forget that “‘faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of-Christ/?’ Sunday, August 5 . Rom. 10 : 18 - 21 . The Psalmist had anticipated the univer­ sal extension of the Gospel (v. 18. Ps. 19:4). The heavens declare the glory of God in all lands and untp all people, and presaged the time when the Gospel will have similar universal extensioh. The Gen­ tiles are without excuse because they have light from nature, which they do not obey. They are not lost because of not believing truth that they do not know, but because of disobeying truth they do know. But Israel was peculiarly without excuse. They had been warned of their rejection of the truth. Israel was a disobeying and gain-

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker