THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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Jesus is the-' Christ, the Son of God, and ever patronizes or condescends to Him (v. 5, 20, 21). ’ ih e real Christian, conscious of his sinfulness (not merely of his sinsb finds in Jesus Christ one who bore his sins “in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24), his substitute Saviour, and accepts Him as his own (v. 14). “O break, O break, hard heart of mine! Thy weak self-love and guilty pride His Pilate and His Judas were: Jesus, our Love, is crucified.” The real Christian surrenders his life to Jesus Christ as his Lord from whom he receives directions for his daily life, and delights in doing His will (15, 16.) The re^l Christian shuns the alco holic spirit of wine with its false and fleshly exhilaration, and seeks to be “filled with the Spirit” of Christ the Holy Spirit (v. 18). The real Christian enjoys the fellow ship of those who love his Saviour, and finds his sweetest enjoyment in uniting with them in singing His praises in “psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,” from his heart and not merely wtih his lips (v. 19.). The real Christian is a praising Christian, and even his praises he offers to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (v. 20). IV. A New Experience with Tempta tion. The real Christian is a triumphant Christian. He not only assumes a new attitude towards evil, but he enters into a new experience with it. He meets temptation and now overcomes where formerly he fell. He is so busy doing the Lord’s will that he “buys up every opportunity” for saying or doing some thing for Him. The busy man may be tempted by the devil, but the idle man tempts the devil. The secret of his victory is that his life is lived in the sphere of the Holy Spirit. «Notice well that name— the Holy Spirit. How can anyone whose life
is directed and filled with the Spirit who is the Holy Spirit consciously, deliberately, willfully, walk in the way of darkness of the flesh? V. A New Standard of Values, see 1 Kings 21. To the real Christian eternal things assume a higher value than earthly things. No real Christian ever spoke slightingly of Heaven and its glories and its fellowships, or set the present above the future. All the saints of the past counted themselves to be strang ers and pilgrims passing through this world to a better one. They felt bound to resist evil, even though it might mean the spoiling of their goods and the loss of life itself, and they endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Naboth lost his life and Ahab gained a vineyard from a human point pf view. Prom a real Christian point -of view Naboth gained the victory, and* entered in to “the joy of (his) Lord/’ and heard His blessed commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Ahab lost that which would have made the pos session of the vineyard a pleasure; the day dream became a nightmare; the blessing became a curse; his life went out on a lost battlefield; his dynasty became extinct; he lost all and gained, nothing. What is your standard of values? In this theme we have a great les- son a study in human nature, varied in character, and some unusually dra matic features which will afford an opportunity t o HEART OF THE p a i n t graphic LESSON AND pictures. PRACTICAL POINTS Contrast t h e weak, cowardly Ahab and the strong, selfish, devilish Jezebel; the crafty, servile elders with the sterling religious nature and the strong courage of Elijah. Here is a revelation of th e. conse- - quences of dallying with sin and trifl-
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