T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
209
the streets now, while I am talking, th a t you passed on your way to church. You walked out of your hotel, ou t of your ap artm en t house, or even from your own home and left some unsaved man. This whole picture brings th a t man before you as an indictment. He will never en ter unless “no m an” picks him up and brings him in. Why didn’t you do it? I say to you, b reth ren , th a t had you no t failed to pick up th a t man whom you came in contact w ith this morning, who is not a Christian, and had you brought him in, believing' and praying, he would have been saved this morning, and would have joined the church. I go out on th e stre e t tomorrow and say, “Why w eren’t you a t chu rch ?” “No man b rough t me in.” You walked out of your hotel lobby th is morning, your ap a rtm en t house or from your home and left some man to whom you have never talked about his soul’s salvation. You have never asked him to be a Christian. You le ft the cook in your kitchen, the nurse to whose care you have in tru sted your precious children, to whom you haven’t said a word about Christ. You have no t tried to bring h er to Christ. You sit here th is morn ing, the poor man lies a t th e pool and Christ says, “Why a re n ’t you saved?” He says, “No man p u t me in the w aters.” You reply th e man ought to have gone in himself. I will adm it, but, as I said the other day in talk ing to a group of women, th e re are two things in church work you m ust remem ber1—two fundam ental principles: F irst, you are dealing w ith hum an n atu re as it is, not as it ought to be. You have to ta k e a man as he is. He is an unsaved, peculiar, irascible being. Sec ond, you cannot apply hum an rules, hum an proprieties or guides of social etiquette in doing evangelistic work. Go th e mile, go th e e x tra mile, go the ex tra ten miles. Go! Go! Go! un til you reach him and save him. It does not make any difference w hat it costs to
do it. T h at is Christianity; th a t is the meaning of th is text, “No Man.” My friends, somebody is going to say in a m inute, as somebody w riting on th is subject once, said, th e re is a g reat deal of room in th e world, b u t it is being occupied rapidly. There is tru th in th e statem ent. There are very few vacant places in business today. Banks and stores are crowded and positions are h ard to secure, bu t le t me say, h ere is one place you can always occupy, the “No Man’s” place. There is not a single spot in all th e world where th is place is crowded, There is no t a single place in all th e world where a man who und ertakes to fill th e gap between the needy and the th ing to be adm inistered cannot find someone whom he can help. There is no t a place where th a t gap is so completely occupied th a t you can no t get in. Is th a t not tru e? Did you .ever th in k abou t it? You; say the places are full in th e church, b u t here is one place where you can fit, th is “No Man” place. You ask why so many are going astray. Because th e false doctrines, heresies and o th er fraud s which are coming into the congregations, are talked about by th e ir adheren ts inces santly. They ta lk th e ir heresy morn ing, noon and night. They ta lk it everywhere they meet. A poor woman came to me th e o th er day disturbed abou t one of th e fundam entals of Chris tianity, because a certain man belong ing to a certain cult had been going to h er home d istu rb ing th e religious th o u g h t of. th e family. She was so dis tu rbed and unsettled she was a b o u t to qu it all Christian work. I said, “My friend, why were you not talk ing about Christ, about your • Christianity and about your church? Why w eren’t you testifying of Jesu s’ power to keep? Why w eren’t you working ou t all the tim e the living testim ony of th e eternal Son of the eternal God, and th ere would no t have been tim e to listen to the world? My friends, you have something
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker