Î Ü Ë K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
258 | Self-delusion as to our sta te before God Is one of th e cleverest trick s of the devil. He keeps the sinner igno ran t of his lost condition. He pushes even be lievers to .th e extreme and makes the Christian’s h eart lie to itself. Im agina tion of our own perfection is an inward lie. “ If WE SAY th a t we have no sin ’’ we deceive ourselves. If th e word “we” in verse 9 means believers, what righ t has one to say the word “we” in-verse 8 means “Gnostics” ? If th e perfect man existed, he would be th e last one to know it, much less to SAY it, for the higher one gets th e lower becomes his descent in hum ility. Hum ility is the very essence of Christian character. T rue piety always feels how imm easur ably far short it is of th e holiness of God. No man can really know God as “L igh t’* and then testify th a t he had already attained perfection in any way. The g reat object of th e Gospel is to keep us humble, yet anim ate us by the Holy Spirit. The most saintly men of all history have ever confessed th e ir own weakness and frailty. John Bunyan would fre quently cry out, “Nothing but a great Saviour would suffice for such a man as I am ”.—yet he was w riting and preach ing and achieving a marvelous work. Robert Murray McCheyne a t his desk often wept over his own sins— yet he did more for Scotland th an any preacher of his day. Saintly Henry Martyn, pio neer m issionary to India, often wept as his soul struggled w ith th e corruptions of th e mind. Samuel Rutherford, Scot tish lover of Christ, cried out, “Oh th a t I were where it were no longer possible for me to sin.” Were they g reat sin ners? No— bu t they knew God, and th e b etter they knew Him th e more th eir own shortcom ings were magnified, so th a t they dared no t for one moment put themselves on a level w ith th e sinless Christ. But what does John mean?— “Whoso
ever abideth in him sinneth n o t” ? The several passages of th is n atu re found in John’s epistle are all, in the original, in the present tense. “Whosoever abideth in him IS NOT SINNING." Sin is not his practice. “Whosoever is born of God IS NOT SINNING fo r his seed re- maineth in him and he CANNOT BE SINNING.” Sin cannot be the prevail ing h ab it of a born-again person, for the practice of sin belongs to th e un renewed natu re. However, if through frailty the believer sins, John would not for a moment have him believe th a t he is excluded from the fam ily, for he says, “If we sin we have an advocate with th e F a th e r.” Jo h n ’s trea tm e n t of th e sin question viewed as a whole is perfectly consist ent. It is only when one seizes upon a verse h ere and th ere (and usually a poorly tran slated one a t th a t) th a t he gets into trouble. THE MISSIONARY’S WORK The Missionary Review says: When someone asked a m issionary if he liked his work in Africa, he replied, “Do I like th is work? No; my wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably re fined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile hu ts through goal refuse. We do not like association w ith ignorant, filthy, b ru tish people. But is man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him, if not. Liking or disliking a th ing has nothing to do w ith it. We have orders to ‘go’ and we go. Love constrains us.” Such a love begets th e streng th to do the “ all things.” :^!uui!iii|iiiiumiU!uiiiiiiii[|HMiiHiijiiijuMMtHnMnHunMtnniHiHnmiiiiiiNH'iitinuuiuiiiHiiiNiiniiiuH^ | Remember the Lonely Mis- | I sionary. M o n th ly v isits o f th e | j “ K . B .” a re a g re a t h elp . A | 1 few d o lla rs in o u r K . B. fu n d |
| s p re a d a b ig b lessing . ffiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiii|iiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiuHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiii]iiuiiini!iiiiiuiuiiHiiiii!iiiiiiuiiiiiuiiiiiiiii;ifuiiimM HELP SOME WORTHY YOUNG PERSON PREPARE
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