T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S Supper, Confirmatibn, Penance, Orders, Matrimony and Extreme Unction. Pro testantism recognizes but the first two. But whether you observe two or seven you cannot be saved without Jesus Christ. The bare statement of the text settles this once and forever: “And in none other is there salvation.” 2. Morality. Sometimes I fear the impression is created that an unclean life is preferable to a moral life without Christ. A moral life is always preferable but morality can never be substituted for Christ. It is never taught in scripture that moral ity is a saving grace. In fact the direct opposite is the teaching of God’s word. To the young Ruler who could honestly say in reference to the commandments “All these I have kept,” Jesus could only reply “Thou art not far from the King dom of God.” Nicodemus good and true, polite, and honorable, needed Christ’s imperative “Ye must be born again” as much as the vilest sinner that ever walk ed the streets of Jerusalem. God’s ver dict of every man is given in -Romans 3:10-23: “There is none righteous, no not one—For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” 3. ' The Ordinary means of Grace. Church going is good in its way and is a healthy sign of true Christian living. All things being equal, a man jeopar dizes his right to say “I am a Christian” who habitually absents himself from the house of God. All true Christians are in the Church but all in the Church are not true Christians. In like manner, read ing God’s word and engaging in prayer are among the healthiest signs of Christ ian living. A prayerless believer is in conceivable. But a man may go to church, read the Book and regularly say his prayer just as religiously as these Jewish leaders, to whom Peter was speaking did, but we must say to you as Peter said to them, “In none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven given among
656 saved by Jesus or it must perish”. Would to God the nations, of the earth today could be brought to realize that peace and security lie not in great armies and navies and wise statesmen, but in the enthronement of Jesus Christ. The success of America depends not in her industries and commerce but in her attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ. “He came unto his own”. Israel saw Him, hesitated and finally cried “Away with Him, crucify Him, crucify Him”. With what result let the pages of Israel’s history tell. 3. Spiritual Salvation. As in Israel’s case so in ours, sin holds the soul in the grip of hellish slavery. Sin shatters every hope and aspiration. For forty years, more or less you have been a cripple through sin. Have you been pronounced incurable? Have you been given up by friend and scorned by foe? Then in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I bid thee rise and walk. “We recall A. C. Benson’s description of the famous doctor, sceptic and mate rialist diagnosing the case of a woman of high social position who had given way to drink, and delivering the verdict with a shrug of the shoulders, ‘Patholog ically speaking it is impossible’. This is the last word of science, but the last word of science is the first word of Christianity, and the Pathologically im possible is the Evangelically hopeful”. In none other is spiritual salvation. Its Source. 1. Negatively. There is no doubt but these very men to whom Peter was making these as sertions were guilty of substituting many things for Christ. “I fast twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I get”, (Luke 18:12) put them, so they thought, in line for salvation. Let me mention three things in which “salvation” can not be found: (1) The Church’s Sacraments. Roman Catholics recognize as many as seven sacraments—Baptism, the Lord’s
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