July 1931
297
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
hands of a Presbytery does not make a man a preacher with power. This only comes.through travail of soul. The sooner great institutions for training men for the ministry learn this, the better for the church: One important thing remains to be said. Paul pro posed to discharge this debt by preaching a gospel that revealed God’s righteousness. T h e P reaching that R eveals G od ’ s R ighteousness There is a preaching of the cross that modifies the gospel, inflates the ego of man, and makes the cross of noneffect. We imagine that religion rnusf be kept abreast of the times. Hence, the shears of human expediency get busy cutting down the message of the cross. Instead of being good news to men in need, the proclamation now is good advice, a helping hand to unfortunate people. Sin is declared to be, not guilt, but misfortune. It has been said that we have almost “lost the sense of God’s glorious, austere holiness, and have so abused the idea of love that we have behaved as if God were indif ferent to moral distinctions.” Yes, we are losing our reverence for sacred things-v the Bible, the church, the Lord’s Day, the courts of our land, the marriage altar. We; are desecrating them all. In stead of a holy day, we have a holiday. The church, in stead of being a place for spiritual attainment, is now a place of public entertainment; the pulpit that was once the throne for divine proclamation is now a platform for political propaganda. Once we prayed earnestly for the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we are urged to put more pep into our program. And as a result of it all, the radi ance of Christian experience has faded from our lives. It is a glorious truth to believe and preach, that Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. Let us never forget, however, that first of all, Christ died for God. Let us remember that the first and most important fact at- the cross of Calvary, in God’s sight, is not that the sinner should be justified, but that God, in justifying him, might Himself be just.
If Paul’s gospel were preached faithfully today, it would .bring conviction of sin; because, in preaching the cross: and the holiness of God as manifest at that cross, men*would see the depths of His heart, for in the light of that cross, sin is revealed in its true character. There is an. old hymn which expresses the truth for u s : “There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.” Many there are who do not like the figure which runs through that verse. Scores find in these words an offence. The great Dr. Jowett says: “I dislike the figure in that verse. But I want my dislike to be safe, illumined. If I drop the particular phraseology, I want to retain the tre mendous sense of sin which lies behind it. If I refine the word, I don’t want to gild the sin. If I find a more cul tured vehicle, I want it to express the same horrible and loathsome presence. I covet no phraseology which will lend respectability to sin. It is possible to obtain finer poetry at the expense of convicting power. We may in tensify the polish and glitter, and lose the lightning. Pol ished speech will not satisfy those held by a sense of the exceeding bitterness and loathsomeness of sin. Does that sense pervade our preaching ? Do we impress people with the feeling that we are dealing with trifles, or with blind ing and appalling enormities? Conviction of sin has passed in most of our churches because we fail to preach a gos pel that reveals the cross in the true light of God’s holy character.” “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty!” God’s righteousness is declared when the lightning of God’s wrath strikes His own, beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. There is peace by the blood of that cross, with a pardon to the whole world, to be proclaimed wher ever man is found. And that is the gospel that Paul preached. throughout the Bible, in all the phases of His work—a clearer and more glorious view than ever before seemed possible. In these times of prevalent false teaching, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles stands like a lighthouse, point ing the way to the only safe belief, because it shows God’s truth as revealed in His Word. Error has crept into the church because Christians have not known their Bihles and have not read them intelligently. There are distinct advantages offered by a corres pondence course. The student receives individual instruc tion. He may also determine his own rate of speed in the matter of the completion of the course. While there is always danger that correspondence study will be post poned, yet for many, as for me, a systematic delving into the Word of God would never have been possible: by any other method. * * * A prospectus describing sixteen systematic, compre hensive, and inexpensive Home Bible Study Courses will be sent upon request. Address: Secretary of the Corres pondence School, Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 536 So. Hope St., Los Angeles, Calif.
THE VALUE OF BIBLE STUDY BY CORRESPONDENCE B y a S t u d e n t of t h e C orr espo n d en ce S cho ol
I t was for some time my ambition to become acquainted with the books of the Bible, but they remained a mystery to me until I enrolled for a correspondence course with the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. I found that the lesson sheets were carefully prepared by the instructors, so that any one who really wished to learn, and who had
a mind opened by the Holy Spirit, would be able to u nd e rs tand God’s dealings w ith men and to g rasp something of His plan for the world through out the ages. The study material is n o t stereotyped, but is deeply devo tional. The lessons are not' extreme in their teaching or forced in- their exposition. The . full gospel is taught,
in line with the best of sound scholarship of today. More than that, the lessons enable the student to see Christ
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