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THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
tation, and if there was ever a time when we need to proclaim the old, old story of the Cross, the vicarious sac rifice of Jesus Christ, it is today. Fourth: power by grace. Another ele ment of life that has been made prom inent through this conflict is the need of deliverance from present sin. The soldiers are looking for means of vic tory over sin. Christianity is a life or it is nothing. The civilian is sur rounded by the things that help to maintain a high standard of living, but these are practically all removed from the soldier. He finds that he must have life from within, power by the grace of God. The man who is saved by the Lord Jesus Christ may be sanctified and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life hath made me free from jthe law of sin and death.” “For me to live is CHRIST.” Moment by moment, God’s message to the Christian is “My grace is sufficient.” We need as never before to proclaim the Gospel of the present tense, power by the grace of God to give victory over sin, a very essential part of the glor ious Gospel of the grace of God. Fifth: Comfort in sorrow. Its need is now to be seen on every hand. Fam ilies are broken. Only sons are taken. For many, life will never be the same again. In Christ alone, real comfort is possible. Read the inscriptions upon the stones out in the cemetery. The cross is seen everywhere and the inscriptions are from the Bible. They are never taken from paganism or infidelity. Let us never fail to sound out the words of the Lord Jesus, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Sixth: Courage in death. ’That note must never be far from our preaching. There is constant and pressing need of this in the situation which we now have before us. A young fellow in Toronto who had been going the round of all the dances and card parties, went to .the front. After he had been there for a while, a young girl at home wrote
his crops had been far more plentiful than those of his neighbors. “What do you think of that?” he asked the edi tor. The editor printed the letter with this footnote. “God does not make up His accounts in October.” “The mills of God grind slowly, * * * but with exactness He grinds all.” Third: the doctrine of salvation by vicarious atonement. For some years this doctrine has been described as a revolting dogma, entirely outworn. Much has been said about the individ ual and the importance of everyone representing himself. But war has emphasized the thought of one suffer ing for another; vicarious sacrifice. A writer, entirely outside of the church, not a believer in the Scriptures, has said, “As for me, there is one thought with me constantly—-others are dying for me, better men, men with more hope. I think of young men whom I taught, and something says to me— someone who loves you is dying for you.” There is no theological problem that has caused greater hostility than that of Christ’s vicarious sacrifice. It has been the pet diversion of unbelievers. Missionaries have said that no doctrine excites greater opposition. War helps to illustrate this truth: true they are faint but real illustrations of the sac rifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We turn afresh' to Isa. 53 and rejoice in the faint but unique illustrations of sacrifice that we are hearing on every side. Some have been telling soldiers that they will surely go to heaven if they die on the battle field. I have been assured that the soldiers themselves do not believe it, and that they have little use for those who are -not true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John MacNeil has said “A German bullet will send an English soldier to hell as quick as any thing else,” We are enabled as never before to proclaim the Gospel without any hesi
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