February 1932
65
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
manifested to them the thorn-crowned brow, pierced hands and feet, and wounded side. His precious blood had been shed for the redemption of lost humanity and for complete restoration of a world accursed through sin. Therefore, since He hath purchased by His blood, everything on earth, nothing longer can belong to any one apart from Him.
THE R IVER O F LO ST SOUL S [Continued from page 57]
of their horror with nothing to cling to—no God to help and no Christ of an empty tomb to give them hope. Second, there is the stream o f alluring pleasure. God desires that men shall be happy, but God never intended that men should be “ lovers of pleasure more than lovers o f God.” The latter phrase is becoming a crowning characteristic of our modern civilization. The Lord Jesus Christ never intended that His disciples should prostitute themselves with the world. Lie decreed that there should be a moral, a spiritual, and a social difference. He in tended that thç church should be a saving influence in the world, and that it should raise its voice in protest against those enterprises which are contributing the souls of men to the damnation of hell. It is not a question of curtailing the happiness of man or o f putting grave clothes upon the spirit o f youth. It is simply a matter of insisting upon the rights of God and reminding men that the true and abiding source of happi ness is in God alone. “ When the Argonauts drew near to the Flowery Isle, they saw, or thought they saw, a company o f fair maidens sitting on the beach among beds of poppy and asphodel. But these were the sirens, half woman and half vulture, whose songs had lured many to destruction. And such entrancing music the mariners had never heard before. They dropped their oars to listen, and a drowsiness fell upon them. And they said one to another, ‘Let us go ashore and listen to their songs forever.’ “ But on board thé Argo was Orpheus, sweetest singer of all the sons of men. He said, ‘I will match my song against theirs.’ And he took up his golden harp and swept its strings and began to sing. He sang o f heroism, of noble deeds, of fair renown, of untarnished names, o f the honor of manhood and the purity of womanhood. And lo! the song o f Orpheus drowned the song of the sirens. And the sailors cried, ‘ Sing on, Orpheus, sing on, that we may for get the sirens and be men and heroes to the last.’ And as he sang, they dipped their oars and sped away from the enchanted island. Sensual, sinful pleasures are the sirens which beckon and sing to us to lure us to destruction. But Jesus is our Orpheus, whose song is sweeter than the siren voices. And if we listen to His song of heroism and high honor and immortal glory, we shall be inspired tô live pure and noble lives.” Third, there is the stream o f delay. The last tributary to pour its waters into the River of Lost Souls is that of delay. Jts waters are choked with such sentiments as these: “ There is plenty of time for me to become a Christian” ; “ I’ll take care of this matter tomor row, not tonight.” On the bosom of this stream are men and women who are too honest to deny the rights and propriety of Christ’s claim upon their lives, and who are too respectable to live with infidels and prostitutes in open rebellion and sin, but who are not brave enough to do the thing they know they ought to do in taking a public stand for Christ. You can make all sorts of excuses for not becoming a Christian, but you cannot advance a single reason. You can build a multitude of moral makeshifts, but you cannot sat isfy God with a single validated conviction. T he E nd Like every other river, the River of Lost Souls has an end.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood o f Jesus, What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood o f Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood o f Jesus.
The material, physical blood of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ is the only material substance He left to the world. Gamblers gambled for His clothes. The blessed Mary who gave Him birth was committed to John, the beloved dis ciple. The precious bleeding body, so tenderly buried by friends, was not left to see corruption in the tomb. The very cl6thes in which He was embalmed were left as a silent testimony that He had taken His body away. Therefore the material contribution which Jesus Christ left in the world was nothing more nor less than His precious blood. This He gave for our redemption. “ Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. . . . But with the precious blood of Christ.” Our blessed Christ is appealing today to those who will enter into His sacrificial succession. He pleads that we might become flaming heralds of His passion and devout exponents o f His compassion. Thus we may “ fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” When that noble patriot of colonial war days, Nathan Hale, was captured as a spy and led forth to death, the enemy, looking him in the eye, said, “ Now, what have you got to say ?” The splendid young patriot, ready to pay the full price of his supreme devotion to his native land, looking straight into the eyes of his enemies, said, “ I regret that I have but one life to give to my country.” Jesus Christ had but one life to give for the world’s re demption. That life was given in the ignominious death o f the cross. And there He died, a King crucified, T o save a poor sinner like me. Through that sacrificial death, it was possible for Him to offer to the world, not only full and free redemption from sin, but to offer also to the redeemed His precious words which are spirit and life ; His precious church which is His bride and body; and the sweet heavenly peace which the world cannot give and which the world, thank God, cannot take away. Beloved in Christ, what could be more appealing than this blessed sacrificial succession which Jesus Christ offers to those who do love and will follow Him? Shall we not join Peter, who said, “ Lord, we have left all and fol lowed thee” ? Where He leads me I will follow, I’ll go with Him all the way. Signs of Revival Beecher said, "W e used to know a revival was coming by the lint on father's knees.” Are you praying for a re vival in the body of Christ?
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