Newspaper Page Text
2 (122) T H E I
SalvatioAccord
BV KEV. c. O'N.
Part II.
(Beginning at end of first paragraph on page 3
of last issue, continuing the illustration begun.)
And so 1 pressed home upon his conscience the
truth that God has made nothing so plain and
easy to be understood as the way to heaven: 'Let
the wicked iorsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts, and let him return unto
the Lord, and lie will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for lie will abundantly pardon."
(lsa. 55:6-7).
"1 went on to tell him that there are some
things in the Bible hard to understand, nay, impossible
for us to eoniprehend; and that if this
were not so, 1 could not accept the Bible as
coining from Clod. But that part of the Word
of God which tells us what we must do to be
saved is so plain that the way-faring men,
though fools, shall not err therein. Llere the
interview terminated. 1 have never seen or
heard of him since; but if he goes up to the
judgment unprepared, it will not be because
God did not make the way of life plain enough
for him to understand, but because he loved
his sins too well to give them up. The trouble
with men is not that they do not understand,
but that they are not willing to submit to the
piuill COliUlllUIlS. Alia UlilU&S IX UlilU LUlIi
from sin he does not turn to Christ. Salvation
means a change of life here and now from unrighteousness
to righteousness and holiness in
Christ and by Ilis Spirit.
Another illustration in point: In North
Carolina there was a good old Baptist preacher
who was accustomed on visiting a certain community,
to stop at the home of a Christian woman
whose husband was a saloon-keeper, but
kind and courteous, and respectful to the
preacher whenever at his home. He never let
him get away without shoving some money into
his hand, and saying: "Take this, Brother
Hodson, and put it where you can do the most
good."
One day the old preacher was at this home
again, and when lie left, the man did as before,
handing him some money, with the same re
4 J A 1 -- 1> 4l.
quest, ciiiex very earnestly. r>ruiiier i-'uusuii
took it, looked at it, and was about to turn
away, when all at once he faced the man, and
said: "Give me your hand, I just want to say
to you, I begrudge the Devil your soul," and
left him.
The saloon-keeper rushed back into the
house, and said: "Wife, what do you reckon
Brother Dodson said to me just now? lie begrudged
the Devil my soul. Wife, I don't want
to be lost; I'd like to be saved; but I'm so
tied up to this business somehow. What shall
I do?"
And his good wife said: "Oh, husband, I've
been praying so long for this hour to come
Give vour life to Jesus, and He'll save vou
right now." And he did, and was a saved
man. He got out of the liquor business, and,
in a more becoming employ, lived and labored
as a humble and trustful disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Yes, Jesus saves men from evil in this present
time and world. Let us never forget it. We
too often do, to our own injury, and that of
others as well.
Let sin tye put on one side of the house, and
the Saviour from sin on exactly the opposite
side; and don't you see that nobody can turn
from sin without turning to the Saviour, and
I * '
i
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S <
ing to the Bible.
MART1NDALE.
nobody can turn to the Saviour without turning
his bach on sin?all that he knows to be
wrong in, or as to, him. The more outright our
turning from sin, the more pronounced our
turning unto Christ. (Sec Luke 3:3-14). These
are but two phases of the same process. The
turning from sin is repentance; the turning
to Christ is faith. The result is salvation, whatever
the time element may be.
As meeting our present demand, salvation is
the imparting by Cod to us not merely the
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win, uui me ui guuuuess, wiiu regard
to daily life and work, "lie that doetli righteousness
is righteous, even as He (the Lord) is
righteous," (1 John 3:7). Under God's spirit,
testifying of Christ, a man is being saved moment
by moment, and day by day, from a sinful
habitude and course of life, is enabled to
live right.
III. In our salvation there is provision for
the Great Future: God will perfect His good
work in respect of the salvation of a man until
the day of Jesus Christ?saving him from all
evil in the future state, and giving a man a
blessed outlook towaitl the hereafter. Thus, in
Rom.. 10:9-13, "Thou slialt be saved." 1 Pet.
1:5, "Who by the power of God are guarded,
(or kept) through faith, unto a salvation, ready
to be revealed in the Last Time." 2 Tim. 4:18,
"The Lord will deliver me from every evil
work, and will save me unto His Heavenly
Kingdom."
In this view salvation from evil in a future
world is a fact yet to be accomplished, a finally
consummatable fact of life. In this aspect,
it is security against eternal evil, aud unto
eternal life and blessedness. It is equivalent to
glorification of the saints in Heaven with God
and His Christ; a being made like unto, and
blessed of and with, the- lord; a being at last
"at home with the Lord," inheriting the kingdom.
*
So that the believer can truly say, "I will
be saved"?from the presence and final woe of
sin. Matt. 10:22, "He that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved;" 1 Thess. 1:10,
"Jesus who delivereth us from the wrath to
come." Final blessedness and sustenance are
involved in real salvation. At death and the
resurrection, the work of salvation will be final,
thoroughly complete, perfect.
Ill <1 1 Aolio. *V
i. ..uiu, wcous oaves us lrom wraxn, ana
curse, and woe; from the hell of fire and its
eternal torments; and saves unto blessing and
blessedness in Ileaven, those that trust Him as
the Saviour of sinners. Ileb. 25. "He is able
to save them to the uttermost (or completely)
that come unto God by Ilim." His is a complete
salvation.
An Indian, when asked what the Lord had
done for him, gathered some dry leaves into a
circle, and, placing a worm in the center, set
them on fire. As the flames drew nearer on every
side, and were about to consume the worm,
he lifted it out, and placing it safely on a rock,
looked up and said, "This is what Jesus did
for me." Yes, Jesus delivers us from going
down into the fires of Hell, and translates us to
prepared places in Heaven on high.
Hell is a dread and great reality, and those
who will not let .Tcsus save them from sin shall
most certainly, and of their own volition, go
away into everlasting punishment. And just
as sure as there is a Hell for the impenitent and
unbelieving and evil doing,, so sure is there a
Heaven of eternal life and perfect blessedness,
awaiting each and every one who trusts and
obeys, loves and serves, the Blessed Lord.
3UTH [February 7, 1912
Is it not worth while then to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Saviour, obey Him aa our
Lord, uud follow Ilim as our example f
Conclusion: It is plain there is no need of
talking to a man about salvation in a future
life until you have talked with him about salvation
for the present life, and not of the latter
'till you show him there is salvation from the
past life, with all its sinful accounts stored up
against him.
Salvation is from evil behind and against us;
from evil within and about us; from evil beyond
and beneath us. Salvation is unto justifi
cation, sauetification and glorification. Salva
tion is from bad to good, from unclean to holy,
from defective to perfecting, from impotent to
strong, from miserable to blessed, estate.
Jesus saves the penitent and believing sinner
from evil, past, present and to come.
And herein appears the practical value of
Christianity, the salvation for the times, all
times, iu that it makes ample provision not
merely for the present, but for the future, as
well as for the past, of sinful man who turns
from his sin unto the Saviour.
It secures a man life unto God, power for
God, holiness of life, cleansing from pollution,
saving from the dominance and habitude of
evil. It secures a man the favor of, likeness
unto, and presence with God. It secures righteousness,
holiness, happiness, and glory in
Heaven as over against Hell and its torments
(everlasting punishment).
Jesus by His Death and Life (Spirit), and
Grace delivers us from the guiltiness of sin,
from the power of sin, and at last from the very
presence and penalty of sin; from all that negatives
life to all that gives positiveness to it. The
Lord Jesus puts us in a position where we will
be at our best, and up to our most in living day
by day. Christ saves the life froin whatever
tends to misdirect it, mar it, hurt it, cramp it,
ruin it, damn it; and does to it that which changes
it, betters it, helps it, perfects it, energizes
it, completes it, makes it whole, brings it to the
full of its possibility unto God. For error He ?
gives truth, for enmity He exchanges love, for
perversity (self-will) He offers self-surrender,
for evil doing lie would substitute obedience to
the will of the Lord.
He saves a man from ungodliness, unrighteousness,
uncleanness, misery and Hell-all evil.
He saves a man unto godliness, and righteousness,
holiness, happiness and Heaven-all
good.
And all this salvation by the Lord Jesus?is
conditioned on a man's repentance of sin, faith
in the Saviour, obedience to the Master.
r 4i-- 1?
uigiuiuui nguujr iciuarus: uounness,
righteousness, is life, is salvation; and it is
hardly necessary to say that the divorce of
morality and religion must be encouraged by
failing to note this, and so laying the whole
stress either on the past or on the future, on
the first call or on the final change. It is, therefore,
important that the idea of salvation as a
rescue from sin, through God in Christ, and,
therefore, a progressive condition, a present
state, should not be obscured."
Another observes: "With Luke and Paul salvation
through faith in Jesus Christ is a thing
^e iU. x ?J x ?
ol me past aim iiuure, as wen as tne present,
for the 'verb to be saved' is used in all these
tenses by them, as they were given to see the
mind of Christ, in whose special service they
wrote. They were certainly assured of the fact
that salvation is something that embraces the
past, present and future."
"Keep right that which is behind you, and
everything will be right ahead of you!" (James
Stacy, D. D.). Only through Christ by faith
can one do this; for He only saves us froa
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