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THE WAY TO KEEP OUT OF TROUBLE
“And the disciples did as Jesus appointed
them.” Matt. 26: 19.
F I KNOW anything about Christian
life, this theme is the most important
for the Christian to consider. It is
emphasized in everything that we see,
and everythinng that we hear. The
nation, the state, the city and the in
dividual that would learn the secret
of success must first learn the secret
of obedience. No people will ever reap
I
all that is possible for them to reap until obedience
is recognized and enforced. No home will ever
prosper in the truest sense of the word until in
'that home there is recognized and enforced the
law of obedience. Somebody has got to govern,
and everybody else must fall in line. The Church
that would represent Christ in the world must be
the Church that learns the importance of obedience,
and submits itself to it. There must be some gen
eral standard of life, some outline or policy.
Somebody must direct, and everybody else fall in
line. One great trouble with the Church today
is that everybody wants to do the work of direct
ing, and very few want to do the work of obey
ing.
OBEDIENCE NECESSARY TO GROWTH.
The same thing is true with respect to the devel
opment of Christian life. The Christian life be
gins with the acceptance of Jesus Christ. That
makes a man what we call a Christian. He is
saved, not by the life he lives, however obedient
it may be; but he is saved by the acceptance of
Christ. Development of the Christ-life comes by
certain fixed laws and principles outlined in God’s
Word. No man will ever reap the benefits of the
Christian life without conformity to the laws that
govern it. No man will ever grow in the grace of
Jesus until he meets the conditions, and conforms
to the requirements laid down for his develop
ment. The great need of the present hour, as I
see it, is teaching along the lines of development
in Christian life. Our text covers, and it seems
to me, outlines what I am endeavoring to impress.
Jesus commanded his diciples to make ready the
Passover. Just ahead of him was the crucifixion.
The Jews had already bargained with the enemy
to betray him, and Jesus was preparinng himself
and his disciples for the coming event. The disci
ples came to him and asked, “Master, where shall
we prepare for thee the Passover?” He said,
“Go to the city, and find a certain man, and say
unto him, ‘The Master wants to prepare in your
house the Passover to eat with his disciples.’ ”
And the text says: “The disciples went, and did
as Jesus appointed them.”
Thank God for this example of ready obedience
to the command of Jesus Christ. How it must
have comforted Jesus as he looked out ahead to
the cross to know that his disciples were so will
ing to do as he directed them. Not a question, so
far as we know, did they raise.
THE DOOR TO DISCIPLESHIP.
Obedience to the will of Jesus Christ is the only
door of admittance into the life of genuine disciple
ship. Jesus himself said: “If any man will be
my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross,
and follow me.” The question I want to propound,
by God’s help, is this: “As children of God, have
we obeyed Jesus?” Not in some general, abstract
sense, but have we followed him in the preference
he made of his Father’s will to that of his own?
He did that when he was twelve yars of age. He
did that under very trying circumstances. When
his father and mother had taken him to the tem
ple, and were on their way home, they discovered
that he was left behind, and they immediately
returned, and found him in the presence of
the lawyers and doctors, greatly amazing them
with his wisdom. When they passed that seem
ing rebuke upon him, you will remember
Tabernacle Sermon by Rev. Len. G. Broughton.
what his answer was: “Wist ye not that I must
be about my Father’s business?” It seems to me
that right there is the first step in the development
of the Christian life; the preferment of the Father’s
business to that of our own. Oh, how careful we
ought to be about it! Have we taken the step?
Are we maintaining that position? If we have,
then we are prepared to take some more steps.
If our interest stands between us and God’s inter
est, then we are not prepared to go any further in
the development of the Christian life. We have
got to come right back to the starting point, and
fight the battle out. It may cost some of us great
struggle to win, but we must do it.
THE STORY OF A CHILD.
I was reading some time ago, the story of an
English general, who, one cold winter day, order
ed his son to meet him on London bridge at 12
o’clock. As fathers often do, he forgot his boy.
Twelve o’clock came, and the boy was there, but
his father did not turn up. The whole afternoon
passed, and still father did not come. Night came
on. and he had company to dine with him, and
when they came around the dining table, of course,
it was mother who said: “Where is Henry?”
The father said: “Oh, think of it! I forgot the
lad.” He then jumped to his feet, and said:
“Why, I ordered the lad to meet me on London
bridge at 12 o’clock today, and there he has been
standing in the cold all this time.” “Oh,” said
one of the company: “I should think he has gone
long ago!” “Ah,” said the gentleman, “you do
not know the discipline in an English general’s
home.” He then ordered a cab, and was hurried
to the bridge, and found the boy, who was still
waiting for his father.
That is preferring the Father’s business. Oh, I
feel ashamed of myself endeavoring to expound
a truth like this! ‘There is so much of self in the
best of us. It is so hard to see the Lord’s side
for seeing our own. It is so hard to rejoice at
the Lord’s victory if it requires the depreciation
of ourselves. It is so hard to say “Amen,” when
God is blessing somebody else. Have we taken the
step? Are we anxious about taking it if we have
not? We talk about the “sanctified life,” and the
“spiritual life,” but there is no life higher than
Jesus got when he was twelve years of age. The
cross itself was no higher than that. “Wist ye
not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
OBEDIENCE TO BAPTISM.
Have we followed Jesus by confessing him in bap
tism? Somebody says: “That is not essential.”
What right has any one to say that anything Jesus
did and taught is not essential? I am a bit tired
hearing people talk about the “deeper spiritual
tiism? As a believer in Christ, have we followed
Him in baptism? Somebody says: “That is not
essential.” What right has any one to say that
anything Jesus did and taught is not essential? I
am a bit tired hearing people talk about the “deep
er spiritual life,” and the like, when they positively
look with contempt upon the command of Jesus
Christ concerning baptism. What right have we
for persisting in a life of disobedience ?
CONQUERING TEMPTATION.
Again, have we followed Jesus in conquering
temptation? The greatest trial of his life imme
diately followed his baptism. The devil met him,
and offered him every possible inducement to follow
him. Jesus turned his back on him and on temp
tation, and went straight for his Father’s busi
ness. “Oh,” you say, “we are not expected to
do that. He was God. He could conquer tempta
tion.” My brethren, listen: Jesus met and con
quered the devil at that point, not as God, but as
man. The very temptation was in the form of
temptation to man. Every suggestion was a sug
gestion of temptation for man. Christ conquered
him as a man, filled with the Spirit of God; and
The Golden Age for December 20, 1200.
conquered him that he might show to the Chris
tians who followed him that they could conquer
temptation by the same power. Have we followed
Jesus in this particular?
And are we following him now, or are we patting
ourselves on the back and soothing ourselves with
the devil’s soothing syrup, that God does not expect
us to conquer temptation, because we are imper
fect? The devil has hoodwinked more people with
this excuse than anything else in the world. God
does not expect his people to triumph over temp
tation. Not that he proposes to take the root
of sin out of the flesh; never until the flesh is
cold in death, for the last enemy is death. But
while this is true, he does not expect us to live
the “overcoming life.” Not that temptations will
not come thick and fast, but he does expect his
children finally to fall back upon his power, and
triumph over temptation. Have we done it, and
are we now doing it?
THE DENIAL OF SELF.
Then, have we followed Jesus in the denial of
self? Now, catch the question: I do not say
his life of “self-denial.” He did not life a life
of “self-denial” simply; he lived a life of “denial
of self,” which is an entirely different thing.
“Self-denial” is saying: “I will not wear a gold
chain,” still, on the inside of the heart, the fires
of selfishness may be raging. The denial of self
goes down at the root, and deals with the will.
It is very important that we get the distinction
in our minds that I am trying to make: “Self
denial” does not strike at the root of what Jesus
is teaching, but the denial of the “self-life,” the
surrender of everything in the world to the Lord
Jesus.
The other day a man went to a church in Atlanta
to be present at a prayer-meeting. He was not a
Christian. One after another kept getting up and
saying what they could do to promote and extend
the interest of the church. After awhile this man
arose, and said: “I do not think I can do any
thing that you have mentioned, but, at last, I have
decided I will do this one thing: if you will have
me, I will give myself.” That is what denial of
self means. It is the self-giving. Have we done
it? It is absolutely the only thing that God is
going to be satisfied with. It is also the only
thing that the world is going to be impressed with
Lord Charles Beresford, one of the greatest
admirals in the English navy, was out on a cruise
just off the Falkland Islands, when there was a
cry: “Man overboard!” He did not ring a bell,
and summon a dozen servants to get him out, but
Lord Beresford, a brave soldier and a great ad
miral, believed in men, and loved them, and did not
care for his life when another man’s life was at
stake. The first thing he did he seized the first
strong rope that came to hand and tied it to the
boat, and took hold of the end of it and let him
self down into the sea. When he found his man,
the ship’s corporal pulled him and his man on
deck. Fifteen years after, Lord Beresford was
addressing a political meeting in England, and a
man came pressing his way through the crowd
down the aisle, and the crowd began hissing him,
crying: “Clinch him out!” But he would not
stop. Finally, the admiral said: “Let him come;
maybe he has something to say.” The man re
plied: “I do not want to say anything. I just
want to shake your hand.” Then the admiral
i ecognized the man he had saved from drowning.
I his is the way one noble sailor is willing to deny
himself for a fellow-sailor.
We hear the cry today “Man overboard!” And
instead of seizing the rope, and trying to save, we
are sitting around trying to find somebody "else
willing to do it; somebody else to do the work
and let us enjoy the fruit of it. Oh, let it be done,
and done by ourselves immediatly! Procrastina
tion is one of the most damnable curses of the*
church.