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T H B K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
July, 1940
are in so great a hurry that we are un willing to wait upon the Lord and renew our strength and be supplied with holy boldness. But “he who waits on God loses no time,” and Elijah cannot pray down fire at Carmel if he has not first hidden himself at Cherith. Wesley said, “I do not have time to be in a hurry.” If we. could learn that, we would not so often run ahead of the Lord to our cer tain defeat and shame. Then, having waited upon the Lord for holy boldness, we need to arise, be lieving that we have received, remem bering that while in ourselves we are but worms of the dust, yet after wait ing upon the Lord, we are not worms but eagles, and it is time to mount up with wings. Too many Christians live like worms and wonder why everybody steps on them. We stand at the crossroads today as -the forces of evil assemble. We can compromise with them and save our lives only to lose them. Or we can pray down holy boldness to rise above a mere respectable orthodoxy and to be fools for Christ’s sake. And an unbelieving world, seeing our boldness, shall take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. Mind you, that is the impres sion we c.re out to make, not merely to impress others with our boldness. The boldness is but a means to an end, to show them that we have been with the Lord. Natural courage and human reck lessness never produce that sort of ef fect. But boldness sought by the church and supplied by the Spirit testifies to Christ when seen by the world. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEWS [ Continued, from Page 246] sible. On the other hand, the sharp Soviet realization that an unchal lenged Hitler sitting atop the heap in Europe would place Russia in the position of a satellite if, indeed, Hitler did not decide to bite off a part of the country or assume con trol of the regime, has reached a point, it is felt here,1where Stalin may well decide to join the Allies if they check Hitler now.” In this view, Stalin may well be plan ning to desert the Nazi war machine if it can safely be abandoned. “Briefly, signs "are discerned that what is termed ‘the party line’ will be shifted sharply if the Nazi drive is checked or peters out.” In the Making A Christian woman who had been buffeted by inexplicable circumstances, complaining to a friend about the hard ness of her life, said in anger: “ Oh, I would to God I had never been made!” “My dear child,” replied her friend, “you are not yet made; you aVe only being made, and you are quarreling with God’s processes!”—Selected.
Bold— In Christ’ s Strength Any man who has made an impres sion for God on this hard world has had to throw his own safety to the winds. • We Christians are in danger of revis ing the prayer of the early church (Acts 4:29) to read: “Lord, grant unto Thy servants to be more discreet in their testimony, that with all caution they may speak Thy Word so as not to offend the powers that be.” • Fear, fear, fear! It has haunted men ail down through the years. No wonder the Lord continually exhorts believers: “Fear not them which kill the body . . . Fear not, little flock . . . It is I; be not afraid . . . Be not afraid: go tell my brethren . . . Fear not; I am the first and the last.” He has not given us the spirit of bondage to fear, but th,e spirit of boldness in Him. • We plot and scheme and strike bar gains to avoid offense. Such procedure as this may “ save the necks” of saints, but it does not lead to the saving of the souls of sinners! • We are not to serve the Lord in our poor weak way, but in His strong way. The church and ministry need 'no new plans and programs and propaganda so much as to seek that holy boldness by which we stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Before bold ness can be seen, it must be sought. In Acts 4:31, we find boldness supplied by the Spirit. The place was shaken; they were all filled with the Spirit and spake the Word of God with boldness. We need such a filling of the Spirit today. Like Robertson of Brighton, we need not to resign our commissions from the Lord in discouragement, but to have them re-signed by the Lord. Like Jere miah, we need a fresh experience of the fire in our bones. We are too afraid to tackle the world in a head-on colli sion today. We plot and scheme and speak softly and strike bargains to avoid offense. Such procedure as this may save the necks of saints, but it does not save the souls of sinners! “Though Love repine and Reason chafe, There comes a Voice without reply— ’Tis man’s perdition to be safe When for the truth he ought to die.” What would happen if we who call ourselves fundamentalists, so snug in our orthodoxy, would recover the reck lessness of Pentecost and would move out from behind closed doors into the market place to declare with holy aban don “'the wonderful works of God” ? We Boldness Supplied by the. Holy Spirit
HOLY BOLDNESS \Continued from Page 247]
make known the mystery of the gospel. He rejoiced that In Christ we have bold ness (Eph. 3:12). His hope and expec tation was that he should not be ashamed, but that with all boldness Christ should be magnified in his body (Phil. 1:20). Deacons who use their of fice well purchase gfeat boldness in the faith (1 Tim. 3:13). Through Christ we have boldness to enter into the hol iest, to come boldly to the throne of grace, and to have boldness in the day o f judgment. “He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5, 6). Truly God hath not given us the spirit of fear, nor the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of boldness. Boldness Sought by the Church Not only do we have, in this chapter, boldness seen by the world, but we have also boldness sought by the church in the prayer of verses 24 to 30. If we have lost our boldness today or if we need more, we have only to go to the Father's house where we may receive as many loaves as we need. We try to untie knots that we ought to cut by a bold and venturesome faith. We seek signs and visions and discuss ways and means, when we need most to stir up the gift of God within us, simply daring to be Christians in all the implications of that word. Why is it that, with all our churches and schools and equipment and knowledge, we have no revival? Have we not let the spirit of the times sub due us into a false humility so afraid of sensationalism that it never arouses the devil? If it be argued that times have changed, we submit that times are darker today than in the days of the early church, and we ought to be more at contrast with the world around us than ever before. The Southern evangelist, Sam Jones, while still a Methodist pastor on a hard country circuit, had preached so boldly that his congregation had deserted him, and his wife urged him to give up such plain preaching before the family should starve to death. It was a crisis for Sam Jones, and he went out alone to face the issue with God. He was so im pressed to continue preaching as he had begun that he returned next Sunday to his church to preach more fearlessly than ever. His congregation returned, and his success dated from that time. I have wondered what would have hap pened if Sam Jones had listened even to his wife on that matter.
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