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VITAL QUESTIONS S 3 ND ANSWERS
12. If salvation is a gift and you can’t lose it, why
not accept it and choose the pleasures of the world,
rather than reward in heaven?
13. But suppose, after sincerely committing my
heart and life to God, I should commit a black crime?
31. Can you lose your salvation?
Your reward depends upon you, therefore
you may lose it. Your salvation depends upon
Christ, therefore you can not lose it. This is
the message: “Look unto me and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God,
and there is none else.” Isa. 45: 22. “Look to
yourselves that we lose not those things which
we have wrought, but that w r e may receive a
full reward.” 2 John 8. The believer in
Christ is as sure of heaven as Christ himself.
“He that hath my w r ord and believeth on him
that sent me hath (not, shall have) everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed (notice the tense) from death
into life.” Jno. 5: 24. If life stops, is it
everlasting? Read Jno. 6: 47. “No man (Not
some men, but no man) can pluck them out of
my hand . . . John 10: 28-29. Notice Christ
and God have the hold on the child and not
the child has hold on them. Which is safest?
Read 1 Cor. 3: 11-16, especially 15th. Verse.
Christ said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born
again.” Jno. 3: 3. Is it reasonable to think
that you can get yourself unborn?
12. Then if you can’t lose your salvation or eternal
life, and you get it by just receiving it as a
gift, w’hy not just accept it and get to Heaven
and choose all the pleasure you can get in this
world rather than reward in heaven?
In the first place, you have missed the
meaning of being saved. Saved from what?
Being saved means more than missing hell.
“Ye can not serve God and Mammon.” Matt.
6: 24. “Where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also. Matt. 6: 21. “Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righte
ousness.” Matt. 5: 6. “If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me.” Matt. 16: 24. The
PAUL ON SELF-DENIAL—WORLD’S
TEMPERANCE LESSON.
November 28, 1909. Rom. 14:10-21.
Time: 58 A. D. Place: Corinth.
Golden Text: “It is good neither to
eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor any
thing whereby thy brother stumbleth,
or is offended, or is made weak.” Rom.
14:21.
SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS.
What should I do?
First, Don’t judge your brother. Vs.
10 to 12. Paul is here speaking of eat
ing meats offered to idols. It was al
right to eat meat, but wrong to eat
meat offered to idols. They might see
two brethren side by side eating meat,
one guilty of wrong, committing sin,
while the other is doing right. The
motive and purpose for eating the
meat determined whether it was right
or wrong. As man could not read the
heart and know the motive, therefore
he must not judge his brother that he
sees eating meat. This principle is ap
plicable at the present day. We must
not set in judgment on our brother
and condemn him, when we see him
do something that may be right or that
may be wrong. Each one is the serv
ant of Christ and “to his own Master
he standeth or falleth.” (Rom. 14:4.)
All Judgment is committed to Christ.
(John 5:22.) He will judge the world
in righteousness. (Acts 17:31.) All
must stand before His judgment seat.
SUNDA y SCHOOL LESSON
Every one shall give an account of
himself to God and a righteous judg
ment will be given.
Second, Don’t put a stumbling block
in your brother’s way. Vs. 13 to 15.
While my brother is not to judge me,
yet I must not put a stumbling block
in his way or do anything that will
lead him into sin. If I do, I not only
wrong him but I sin against Christ.
(1 Cor. 8:12.) I have liberty but I
must not so use my liberty that it will
become a source of evil. I may have
liberty to do 'many things but if the
doing of them will cause a brother to
stumble I must give up my liberty, so
as not to destroy him “for whom Christ
died.” I must not wait to be sure that
my act will cause my brother to offend,
but if I am doubtful, I must give up
that which otherwise would be lawful
for me. (Rom. 14:23.)
Third, Give up doubtful things. Vs.
14 and 20 to 23. If we doubt the law
fulness of an act and yet do it, we sin
and are condemned before God and
must repent or be damned. If God has
so far enlightened our minds as to
make us doubt whether the act is right
or wrong, we must take Gcd’s word
and praying for the guidance of His
spirit seek to know what is right be
fore we act. We can not do for the
glory of God that which we are in
doubt about its being in harmony with
His will and law. This principle can
be applied to various things. It is not
necessary to prove a thing is wrong.
Th* G«l«len Age fer November 18, 1909.
rich young ruler wanted to be saved, but was
not willing to obey Christ. He wanted Christ
to be his Savior, but not his Lord, and so went
away sorrowful.
The man that is born again (Jno. 3: 3) is
“born of His Spirit.” Jno. 3: 5. “Is a new
creature.” 11 Cor. 5: 17. Gal. 6: 15. You have
become God’s child if you are saved. John 1:
12. Rom. 8: 14. We are now on a different
basis. After Christ bought us from under the
law and placed us under grace, Rom. 6: 14
He says to us “If ye love me keep my com
mandments.” Jno. 14: 15.
18. Well suppose I sincerely commit my heart and
life to God but through neglect, carelessness,
or weakness, commit some great sin, or at
least fail to follow his guidance?
“Also I will make him (meaning Christ) my
first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him forever more,
and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
His seed also will I make to endure forever and
his throne as the days of heaven. If his
children (not hypocrites but children) forsake
my law and walk not in my judgments; if
they break my statutes and keep not my com
mandments, then (listen!) will I visit their
transgressions with the rod and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kind
ness will I not utterly take from him, nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant
* will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holi
ness that I will not lie unto David. His seed
shall endure forever, and his throne as the
sun before me. Psa. 89: 27-37.
But suppose I commit some heinous sin?
Take the case of David. Read the 11th.
chapter of 11 Samuel. If you will read the life
of David, you will find that he prospered in
everything that he did until the great sin.
Then read from 11 Samuel 11th. on through the
book. His sufferings were terrible! You can
almost track him by blood to the grave. God
called David a man after his own heart. He
< B. Lacy Hoge.
but simply prove enough to make us
doubt whether it is right. When the
doubt arises we must stop and investi
gate and be satisfied what is right be
fore we act. Drinking wine or other
liquors at banquets, in the home or
elsewhere has led some astray. Now
for the sake of the argument admit
that a glass of wine or other liquor
will not harm you, as it is often claim
ed. Are you perfectly sure that your
drinking a glass of wine will not harm
some weaker one? If you doubt you
are condemned if you drink. (Rom.
14:23.) Are you perfectly sure that
when you vote for the sale of liquor
that the liquor so sold will not be the
ruin of some one? If you doubt you are
condemned if you vote for the sale of
liquor. Are you perfectly sure that
your using of tobacco will not lead
some one else to do so and thereby
injure their health and destroy their
usefulness? If you doubt you are con
demned if you smoke. I heard the
pastor of one of the leading churches
of the South tell the following inci
dent. He said: “When I was pastor
in , I made a pastoral visit to the
home of one of my leading members.
While there, the brother’s little ten
year-old boy came in smoking a cigar
ette. His mother said: “Why, son, are
you smoking? Don’t you know it is
very wrong to smoke?” The little boy
replied: “Brother (calling the pastor’s
name) smokes.” In that home the
father and mother loved the pastor*
carried him through fiery trials and burned
out the dross. Notice, this was done in lovd;
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb. 12: 6.
“Deserted! who hath dreamt that when
The cross in darkness rested
Upon the victim’s hidden face,
No love was manifested?
What frantic hands outstretched have
E’er the atoning drops averted
What tears have washed them from the soul
That one should be deserted?
“Deserted! God could separate from His
One essence rather:
Yet Adam’s sins have swept between
The righteous Son and Father.
Yea once, Immanuel’s orphaned cry
His universe hath shaken.
It went up single, echoless,
‘My God I am forsaken.’
“It went up from the Holy lips
Amid his lost creation,
That of the lost, no son need use
Those words of desolation.”
When Ashley Cocke was hanged for taking the life
of his fellowman, his mother sat in the jail and
waited until she was told that all was over. Then
she started for her carriage. The heart of a gentle
man went out in sympathy for the aged mother, and
he stepped forward to open the carriage door and
help her in. The woman drew back and said: “If
you are a friend to my son, you may help me, if not,
stand back, don’t touch that door.”
It is possible for a human being to have more
love and loyalty for a wicked son than God has®for
his righteous Son?
My friend, after God has made such bountiful
provision, after “He so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,”
(Continued on Page 9.)
were loyal to him and taught their
children that he was God’s servant and
a man whose example could be safely
followed. This boy followed his exam
ple, learned to smoke, injured his
health and finally died from the use
of tobacco. Can you go to the theater
and be sure you are doing right? If
you doubt you are condemned if you
go. Can you play cards and be sure
that you will not be the cause of some
one becoming a gambler? If you doubt
you are condemned if you play. This
principle will settle these questions,
also the dance question and many oth
er questions. We are not to be sure
a thing is wrong. The question is, are
we sure it is right? When we have a
doubt as to whether anything will
please God, we must not do it, because
it can not be done in faith and “what
soever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom.
14:23.)
Fourth, Seek to help your brother.
Vs. 15 to 19. We have not fully met
our responsibility to our brother when
we have abstained from putting a stum
bling block in his way. We must go
farther and do something to help him.
We are called to follow the example
of our Lord who went about doing
good. Therefore, let us “follow after
the things that make for peace and
things wherewith one may edify an
other.” If we do these things we serve
Christ and are acceptable to God and
will be .filled with joy “in the Holy
Ghost,”
