1954 Keswick Week - X-tended Missions Network
Transcription
1954 Keswick Week - X-tended Missions Network
THE KESWICK WEEK, 1954 NOT FOR RESALE Reproduced by the X-tended Missions Network By the authority of The Keswick Convention Not to be reproduced The Keswick Week 1954 MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT, LTD., LONDON, THE KESWICK CONVENTION FOR NEXT YEAR will (D.V.) begin on Saturday, July 9th and end on Saturday, July 16th, 1955 First Edition, 1953 MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BYR. W. SIMPSON AND CO., LTD., 70 SHEEN ROAD, RICHMOND, SURREY CONTENTS SATURDAY, JULY 17th Crusade Impact upon the Convention Welcome to Keswick My Testimony • • REV. A. T. HOUGHTON, M.A. .. REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 3 5 SUNDAY, JULY 18th Fullness of Life in Christ The Mercy Seat T he W ay to Fruitfu lne ss .. Deliverance is of the Lord .. REV. T. M. BAMBER REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. .. REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. .. 9 12 15 MONDAY, JULY 19th Hindrances to Life in Its Fullness THE NEW TESTAMENT UNFOLDED (i) The Gospels .. When Men See God.. A Secret of the Victory Life The Christian's Attitude Toward Sin .. The Relevance of the Law to Christian Life .. The Withered Hand The Nature and Consequence of Wilful Sin The Sin of Christians REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. THE BISHOP OF BARKING, 19 THE RT. REV. HUGH R. GOUGH, O .B . E . , M .A . .. CANON GUY H. KING DR. W. CULBERTSON 25 28 31 REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, M.A. .. 35 REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. .. 39 TUESDAY, JULY 20th Yearnings for Life in Its Fullness THE NEW TESTAMENT UNFOLDED ( i i ) The Acts •• Crucified with Christ The Way of Restoration The Price of Revival My Light, and Salvation, and Strength .. " Be Thou Clean " The Way of Deliverance More Than Conquerors REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. RE V . T . M . B A M B E R . . REV. STEPHEN F. OLFORD DR. W. CULBERTSON .. REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. .. REV. E. L. LANGSTON, M.A. .. REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. .. 53 59 62 65 69 72 76 79 WEDNESDAY, JULY 21st First Steps to Life in Its Fullness THENEWTESTAMENTUNFOLDED (iii) Paul's Epistles.. Yield Yourselves .. The Summons of Love .. The Conditions of Discipleship Dedicating Ourselves to God Meeting the Challenge of the Hour.. REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. CANON GUY H. KING .. •• REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. •• DR. W. CULBERTSON .. •• THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING.. .. .. REV. T. M. BAMBER .. Obedience—God's Requirement .. REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. .. • 85 91 94 97 102 106 109 The Royal Life 112 THURSDAY, JULY 22nd Glad Experience of Life in Its Fullness THENEWTESTAMENTUNFOLDED (iv) The General Epistles, and the Revelation .. The Law and the Spirit .. The Ministry of the Spirit in Us Fire From Heaven .. God's Provision for Abundant Living The First Rule in Holy Living Christ Liveth in Me The Supply of the Spirit . REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, M.A. .. DR. W. CULBERTSON .. REV. T. M. BAMBER .. .. REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. .. REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. .. THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING . . REV. STEPHEN F. OLFORD 119 125 128 131 136 140 143 147 FRIDAY, JULY 23rd True Expression of Life in Its Fullness INTO ALL THE WORLD After Keswick— .. The Precious Blood of Christ REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. 158 REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 162 Appendices Early Morning Prayer .. Missionary Prayer Meetings Reception for Missionaries and Overseas Visitors The Ministers' Meeting .. Young People's Meetings Open-Air Meetings 163 163 164 164 165 166 SATURDAY, JULY 17th 7.45 p.m.-OPENING MEETING WELCOME TO KESWICK REV. A. T. HOUGHTON, M.A. MY TESTIMONY REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. Crusade Impact Upon The Convention THIS year of 1954 has been notable in the history of our postwar generation, for the quickening of spiritual life which has come through the blessing of God resting upon the Greater London Crusade, conducted by Dr. Billy Graham, at Harringay Arena, from March 1st to May 21st, with remarkable meetings also in Trafalgar-square and Hyde Park; and culminating rallies at White City and Wembley Stadiums, on May 22nd, drawing the largest attendances ever known at evangelistic gatherings. Not only were thousands led to Christ as their Saviour during the twelve weeks of the Crusade, but Christian people received new vision and revitalizing of faith. The impact of the Crusade upon the Keswick Convention was apparent from the start. This was to be expected, of course. During the Crusade, we experienced a "moving" of the Spirit such as we have not known for many a year. The blessing reached out far beyond the confines of London, to the very extremities of the land. Nor did it cease when the Crusade ended: all recognized it to be the beginning of a work of God which will lead, we trust, to true awakening and Revival throughout the nation. Small wonder that Keswick should feel the challenge and the inspiration of it! Some converts of the Crusade, and many more whose lives were quickened and blessed, came to Keswick, eager to take the next step of faith, and to find the secret of the life of practical holiness. Even before the Convention began, the influence of the Crusade was manifest, in the talk of it on every hand—and in the photographs of Billy Graham on the bookstalls! Throughout Saturday, Convention visitors arrived in Keswick in a steady stream, from all parts of the land; and when the "Convention special" train from London steamed in, the annual transformation of the little Lakeland town into a "place of holy convocation" had truly begun! Well before the time of the opening meeting, at 7.45 p.m., crowds were making their way, through familiar Keswick drizzle, to the large tent—where singing began early, led by Mr. P. S. Henman. "Blessed Assurance" brought echoes of Harringay: and more followed, in the introductory words of the chairman, the Rev. A. T. Houghton. In expectation of larger attendances than ever, the "small" tent, in Eskin-street, had been enlarged—or rather, restored to its original size, with three poles, and seating accommodation for about 2,500. That this was justified was apparent from the start, for the large tent was full to capacity, and the meeting was relayed to an "overflow" in the small tent—the first time this has ever occurred for the opening Saturday evening meeting. As on so many occasions in the past, the Convention was "initiated" with the singing of "Full Salvation"—which has come to be regarded as the "official opening hymn." Then, after prayer by the Rev. G. B. Duncan, and the reading of 1 Timothy 1:6-14, Mr. Houghton gave his message of welcome. With thankful, expectant hearts we sang, "I know not why God's wondrous grace," before Dr. W. Graham Scroggie gave his address. All had been wondering whether Dr. Scroggie would be sufficiently recovered from his long, serious illness to fulfil his part in the Convention: but his first sentence, expressing with characteristically whimsical humour, his gratitude for prayer on his behalf, was completely reassuring. He had been persuaded—reluctantly—to make use of a high stool, as he spoke; but his voice was vibrant, and his flashes of humour keen as ever. Hearts were stirred and challenged as, out of his own rich experience, he showed that the secret of the life of victory lies in the Lord being not only Saviour but Master. Heartfelt response was made in the singing of— Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come to Thee. 2 Welcome To Keswick BY THE REV. A. T. HOUGHTON, M.A. IT is my privilege, on behalf of the Council of the Keswick Convention, to welcome you to the seventy-third Convention held in Keswick since its beginning in 1875. There is every sign that this year accommodation both in Keswick and in the country round has been taxed to the utmost limit, and we greatly regret that many on that account have had to give up hope of coming at all. In expectation of larger numbers than ever, and especially day visitors, we have been able to extend the seating capacity of the Eskin-street tent, to accommodate several hundred more; and you will see by your programmes that every night from Monday to Thursday there will be a duplicate meeting in the Eskin-street tent. We can thank God that every year there are some unexpected by-products of the Convention: some who have always professed and called themselves Christians, who find here a quality of faith and witness in the assembly of God's people which shows up the hollowness of a nominal profession, and leads to a deep work of repentance and faith in the only Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ—a work wrought by the Spirit of God. We expect that there will be such miracles of God's grace manifested again this year. But the main purpose of this Convention is to gather together those who are assured already of their own salvation, but long to be more effective in the Lord's service. Humbly we can say with St. Paul: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have co m m itted un to H im against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). We have experienced in our own lives "the power of God: who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus." We believe that it is God's purpose that we should fulfil that "holy calling," and to that end we are gathered in Keswick to hear what God the Lord will speak. No doubt our numbers are partly swollen this year as the result of the great movement of the Spirit of God at Harringay, through His servant, Billy Graham, and those who assisted him. There may be some here who were among that vast crowd of those who made a public profession of their desire to go on to know the Lord. Night after night we came away from Harringay singing that hymn, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine !", which seemed to take on a new meaning in the light of the hundreds who had gone into the inquiry room. And now we welcome you here at Keswick, to discover, it may be for the first time, some of the riches of your inheritance in Christ Jesus. May we all make fresh discoveries during this holy week. No doubt there will be the difficult process of discovering something of the hollowness of our own professions as the searchlight of God's Word is turned upon us; but we shall, when all is finished, find again in a new and enlarged sense the "blessed assurance" that "Jesus is mine!" The prayer that all may make such a discovery is a comprehensive one, and as we welcome you to-night we realise that "all" includes many who have come from the ends of the earth, as well as those from the Continent of Europe, whom we specially welcome in Christ's Name. Our human discernment cannot go very far, though almost certainly this great crowd of people will include not only old and young, but the disillusioned who have begun to doubt the possibility of victory over sin. the weary who feel worn out in the Lord's service and long to be renewed, the critical who have come with a certain amount of prejudice, and those who have come to the end of their resources because they have been serving in the energy of the flesh. May the Holy Spirit probe each one of us, and reveal the thoughts and intents of our hearts, so that He may deal with each one according to the measure of our need. In a letter received last week occurred these words: "From the human point of view, all seems set fair for the Convention: administration, programme, platform and people promise well, but how desperately we need a visitation by the Holy Spirit which will transform greatness into godliness, human perfection into Spirit-energized and directed performance, interest into conviction, so that a transformed stream of people will flow out from Keswick this year into the far corners of the world, carrying living water to thirsty souls." May this be our deep and earnest longing, and let us wait on the God of all grace to bring it to pass! One daily paper, referring to the Convention, describes it as a "meeting of 5,000 evangelists"! What a wonderful thing it would be if that could prove to be true! It can be so, if we each take to ourselves the Lord's promise—"Ye shall receive power .. . and ye shall be witness unto Me." Show me myself, 0 Lord, that I may see, More clearly, all the unplumbed depths in me; The doubts, the craven fears the unseen sin, Now hidden from me, buried deep within, Unknown to all, even by me ignored: Show me myself, 0 Lord! Show me Thyself, 0 Lord, that I may know More of Thy beauty; let ray soul o'erflow With Thine own perfect love, Lord, only Thine, Not the poor weak affection, that is mine; Drenched, overbrimmed, Thy love through me outpoured. Show me Thyself, 0 Lord! Show me Thy precious self, 0 Lord, that I May, in my weakness, on Thy strength rely; Weak, helpless, broken, hold me by Thy Hand: I have no strength, Lord, Give me strength to stand; Thou, only Thou, canst power to me accord. Show me Thy radiant, glorious self, 0 Lord! —E. POOL. My Testimony BY THE REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. AM here to-night in consequence of prayers I and pillows, penicillin and pills. I thank you for the prayers, my wife for the pillows, could be put right. I want to tell you this evening what I discovered. I discovered the vital distinction between the Saviourship and the Mastership of Jesus Christ. Nobody can be a Christian who does not know Christ as Saviour, but there are multitudes of Christians who do not know Him as Lord, as Master of the whole life; and if I understand the innermost significance of the Keswick movement, it is to expound this matter and to press it upon those who attend. The Saviourship of Christ is not enough for victorious living: something more is needed, and ever more—and chiefly it is the Mastership of Christ over all the life. Christ's Saviourship is related to what He wants to do in us by the Holy Spirit, if we let Him. We can receive Him as Saviour and refuse Him as Master; and I take it that we are here to consider this matter in a very practical way. I knew I was saved. I accepted Christ as my Saviour when I was nine years of age, and I have never doubted that, except once when I had a bad bout of influenza! Yielding to the Mastership of Jesus Christ has constituted my outstanding spiritual experience. But that relationship involves difficulties and produces trials. God has not promised His people a smooth voyage, but only a safe landing. If we accept Him as Master we may look for trouble, and we shall not have to look long or far, because His plan for our life will cut across every plan that we have made for ourselves. One of the disadvantages of my Anglican brethren—there are a few!—is that their churches cannot turn them out! They have what is euphemistically called, a "living," and there they abide until they elect to live somewhere else. But dissenting ministers can be called by the people to the church, and the people can dismiss them. I have been dismissed twice! Sometimes people have said, "How sad!" Nothing of the kind. My two dismissals were the sources of great blessing to me, blessing that has run through my life. After my first dismissal I was invited to speak at a Keswick Reunion meeting at the Bayswater Baths in London. I had spent my last shilling on the return fare. When I went and my doctor for the penicillin and the pills. It is a grand privilege to be here once more. In Psalm 66: 16 the writer says, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." Now, I have been coming to this Convention for a period covering fifty-five years, and I have been speaking here for a period covering fortytwo years. Perhaps, therefore, you will permit me to bear personal testimony, to declare what God hath done for my soul. After my college days, and after being in my first pastorate for two years, I realized at the age of twenty-four that I had no power in my life and no message for the people, and I was contemplating returning to office work. I later found that that was not an exceptional experience, for when I was resident in the West Riding I was conducting some Bible studies, and a young minister came to me and he said, "I would like to take these studies." I told him that they were not for ministers, but for beginners, and he replied, "They are for me." He used an expression that would be well understood in Yorkshire—he said, "I'm run off my bobbin." I said, "You are run off your bobbin! How long were you at college?" "Four years." "And how long have you been settled in the ministry?" "Two years." Four years at college and two in a pastorate, and "run off his bobbin." I cannot but believe that there are many who have had some such experience. At college we learned quite a lot of things— theology, Hebrew, and Greek, philosophy and ethics, homiletics, and so forth—but we did not learn how to live victoriously. The result was that many of us found ourselves in spiritual difficulty very early, and near the start of my career I wellnigh became a spiritual casualty. Now, I couldn't preach the things that I learned at college; it was only when I had settled in a congregation that I found I really hadn't anything to preach that was vital, that mattered tremendously to me. I was spiritually bankrupt. Regeneration is not the whole of 'Christian experience, it is only the beginning; and I resolved that I must find out at any cost what was wrong with me, and discover how it I 5 into the place full of peo ple, they were singing— Jesus knows all about all our struggles; He will guide till the day is done. There's not a Friend like the lowly Jesus, No, not one. No, not one. At the end of the service a young man came up to me and thanked me for the address. He said he would like to shake hands, which he did, and he left a golden sovereign in my hand. I took a look at it. I had not seen one for a long time. I went home to my wife and said, "That is good going—get rid of a bob and come back with a quid!" After my second dismissal I had an interim period of two years, marvellously rich in opportunity to study the Word of God, During that two years the foundations were laid for all the Bible work I have done since. I could give you many illustrations of God's providing and protecting grace; I will give you one. Only once during that two years did a meal time arrive when there was nothing in the house to eat, but within half an hour of the usual time a basket was handed in. I took off the cover and on a dish was a chicken covered with sauce, and sausages all around, and some other things—some sweets of one kind and another. After my four-year-old had danced around the basket he slipped away, and I heard him talking to someone. I didn't think there was anyone else in the house, so I went in the direction of the voice and I saw him kneeling at the big armchair where we knelt together every morning for prayer: and this is what he was saying, "0 God, thank you for the chicken, but I wish it hadn't sauce, I don't like sauce, and thank you specially for the sausages"—and mind you, they were sausages in those days! The friend who sent that basket is in the tent to-night, and did not know anything about our circumstances; but God knew, and that was what mattered. "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." God looks after His people. He has not promised to pamper us, but He has promised to provide; and my experience is that "my freedom is His grand control." There must be many in this great crowd who are disappointed with their life; and maybe ministerial brethren disappointed with their ministry, who have come here anxious and enquiring, and it may be that within your hearts you are saying— The errors cancelled, and the deep shadows banished, In the glad sense of a new life begun. To be a little child whose page of story Is yet undimmed, unblotted by a stain, And in the sunrise of primeval glory To know that life has had its start again. Well, if that is your mood and experience, you can go on to say— I may go back acros s the years long vanished, I may resume my childhood, Lord, in Thee. When in the shadow of Thy cross are banished All other shadows that encompass me. And o'er the road that once was rough and dreary, This soul made buoyant by a strength divine, Shall walk untired, shall run and not be weary, To share the blessing that has made Thee mine. Jesus said, "I am come that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly." What do you know about abounding life? You do not need to wait for the end of the Convention to enter into this wonderful experience, to have what He offers you. You can have it now, and have it here, in this opening night of the Convention. I cannot believe there is anyone present who does not want to know the experience of victorious living. Is your idea of the Christian life continuous conflict, generally issuing in defeat? That is not God's purpose for any of us. But He must be trusted. and He must be obeyed, and He must be followed; and when He is, we enter into experience that can come to us in no other way. I believe that there is "a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." I will not say Revival has reached our land, but there is a movement toward it, and perhaps there are more souls inquiring eagerly and purposefully now than there have been for a long time. Do not let us miss the tide; let us gel into the current of God's grace and purpose for us—and if we do, nobody can foretell what the result may be. Now, let us have a moment or two of silent prayer, and do now what you know you should, and what you have come here to do and then you have all the week to build-up in a wonderful way for the days that are to come. I would say especially to my brethren in the ministry, the younger men who have come here with a sense of disappointment with themselves and their work: put that matter right now, and there will be a wonderful future awaiting you in God's great plan for you. O h t o g o b ac k ac r o s s t h e y e a r s l o n g vanished, To have the words unsaid, the deeds undone, 6 SUNDAY, JULY 18th 11 a.m.—CONVENTION SERVICE TH E M E R CY S E A T REV. T. M. BAMBER 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING T H E W A Y T O F R UI T F U L N E S S REV, L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. 5.45 p.m.—BROADCAST SERVICE DELIVERANCE IS OF THE LORD REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. Fullness of Life in Christ Keswick yet again with Harringay; Mr. P. S. Henman led in prayer, that any unsaved listeners might find the Saviour, and Christians rejoice in the fruit of the Spirit; Canon Guy H. King read Romans 6:8-23; and the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson gave a stirring message, on "Deliverance is of the Lord." An impressive service concluded with the singing of "Full salvation!" The second broadcast was "Sunday HalfHour" of hymn-singing, at 8.30 p.m., in the B.B.C. Light Programme—to which, it is estimated, five million people listen. The Rev. G. B. Duncan was in charge, and linked the hymns with apposite remarks indicating the way of salvation, and leading on to the life of spiritual blessing and power. He began with a word-picture of the large tent, filled with four thousand people, in the calm of a sunny evening. "Full salvation!" was once again the opening hymn, followed by the expression of spiritual longing in "Oh, for a heart." The answer to that longing was given in "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds," and the affirmation of faith followed, "Jesus, I am resting." Then, lest the im pression be given that the Christian life is soft and easy, its costliness was indicated in "Take my life." To the surrendered heart, He entrusts His power, as "Our blest Redeemer. . . a guide, a comforter bequeathed" reminded us. The outcome of all this, in effective service, was conveyed in "Sound the battle cry"; and finally, Mr. Duncan insisted that in the last resort the two most important questions are, "Are you a Christian?" and "What kind of a Christian are you?" So "Fill Thou my life . . ." was the closing note; and after it was sung, Mr. Duncan indicated in a word or two how the answers to those questions could be found, in acting upon Revelation 3:20. Still the day was not over. The vast congregation hurriedly dispersed, the young people making for the small tent, for the first of the young people's meetings, at which the Rev. Stephen F. Olford presented the challenge and invitation of the Gospel, in a stirring evangelistic address; and some hundreds to the Market Place, for the first of the open-air meetings, led by the Rev. M. A. P. Wood. A report of both the young people's meetings and the open-air meetings of the week will be found among the appendices. THE bell of St. John's Church was calling a few of its faithful members to Holy Communion on Sunday, at 7 a.m., as hundreds of Convention visitors made their way, under threatening skies, to the first of the general prayer meetings, in the small tent. The worship of the day began with the singing of "Oh, for a thousand tongues." Then Mr. P. S. Henman, who conducted these meetings throughout the week, spoke briefly from Luke 11:1-13, concerning our Lord's teaching on prayer. A fuller account of these meetings is given at the end of the book. Sunday is supremely the day of the Convention's witness to Keswick, for its speakers occupy the pulpits of all the churches. Congregations are swollen by Convention visitors, of course; but the church members have in these services a share in the Convention—and for most, it is their only opportunity, as they are fully occupied all the week in caring for their guests. Although so many attended church services, the large tent was more than half full for the Convention service, at 11 a.m., conducted by the Rev. T. M. Bamber. The sun was fitfully breaking through the clouds by the time of the afternoon meeting, over which Dr. H. J. Orr-Ewing presided. From John 12:24, the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson spoke on "The Way of Fruitfulness." While this meeting was proceeding, a children's service was held in the small tent —which was quite full, with "children" of all ages! Hymns from a "Golden Bells" hymn-sheet were sung; and Canon T. F. C. Bewes, who presided, read Matthew 6:5-15, and depicted our Lord speaking to His disciples on the mountain-side, "just as it might be on the slopes of Skiddaw." Then Canon Guy H. King told in his characteristic fashion the parable of the invitations to a supper, and the excuses the guests made. He made the "children" recite "Coming to Jesus is like going to a party," for it is so happy a thing. But some didn't want it; others wouldn't miss it; and yet others wouldn't believe it. He ended with a simple invitation to any children present who wished to do so, to yield their hearts to the Saviour. Two broadcasts followed, in the evening. At 5.45, in a half-hour service for overseas listeners, the Rev. A. T. Houghton opened with a brief word about the Convention and its setting; "Blesse d assurance" linked 8 The Mercy Seat BY THE Rev. T. M. BAMBER . The Hebrews in Andhad theemerged re will I from meetEgypt with them from such a way, by blood and the Red Sea, as to emphasize the sovereign rights of God in them. Sinai was the place where those sovereign rights were declared in commandments, and where they were acknowledged in obedience. Hence they became an organized unit, a nation, and no longer a rabble of slaves. They had a divine constitution, declared to be a repository of power against all their enemies, but equally a stumbling block should they choose the will of the nations around them rather than the will of God. The will of God is intimately associated with worship; for the man who does not worship God cannot know the will of God. Worship is the arena of revelation. Hence the Tabernacle was in the centre of the camp, for that was symbolic of the true and vital centre of the community. If a people are weak in their relationship to the Tabernacle, they will have no strength at the circumference against their enemies. The Tabernacle, carefully prepared and planned as a pattern of the reality in heaven, was central. The centre of the Tabernacle was the holy of holies. The centre of the holy of holies was the ark. The centre of the ark was its golden lid, upon which the cherubim, one at each end, perpetually gazed. None but the high priest ever looked upon the object of their wondering contemplation. The centre of the centre of the camp was therefore the golden lid, called the mercy seat, the propitiatory. The attitude of the cherubim was significant. Concerning our salvation in Christ, Peter declares that the angels desire to look down into it. The Gospel of redemption is deep impenetrable mystery even to their exalted intelligences. When, however, the nigh priest entered the holy of holies once a year and sprinkled the blood on the golden lid, the angels were amazed beyond measure, for here indeed was a strange and awesome mediation in blood. With the New Testament in our hands we turn to Romans 3: 25, "Whom God hath set 9 forth the a mercy propitiation through25:22 faith in His above seat. – Exodus blood." God has set forth Christ as a mercy seat. He is the propitiatory. The propitiatory and the blood of the propitiation are not the same thing. The propitiatory was that on which the blood of propitiation was sprinkled. In the person of our Lord in His absolute righteousness and obedience we have the propitiatory; in the blood that He shed is the propitiation. It is the shedding of the blood of the Holy One that consummates propitiation. It is not His holiness that saves; it is not blood that saves: it is the precious blood of the only begotten Son of God, the righteous One, that is a prevailing propitiation in heaven. That is the truth of the mercy seat in the light of the New Testament. All operations of the mercy seat were within the vail. The common people waited until the high priest emerged, assuring them that within the vail the ministry of propitiation had been effected. So far as the people were concerned, they depended upon that dramatic transaction hidden from their view—and the fact of the hiddenness of this ministry was significant. The writer to the Hebrews (9: 24) declares that the earthly plan and arrangement of the tabernacle was a figure of the true holy of holies in heaven; that while the high priest entered into the most holy place once a year with other blood than his own, Jesus has entered into 'heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He asserts that this ministry is now proceeding, and will be consummated with the appearing of our Lord at the end of the age. That is to say, our standing with God to-day is by virtue of His ministry within the vail. His actions within the invisible, the heavenly, are basic to all our daily life as pilgrims on the earth. Hence the centre of worship is to be found in no earthly shrine, but in heaven itself; and only as we realize this sublime truth, and seek the life within the vail, with all the deep mystery of the mercy seat, can we really know the vitalities that attend the exercise of a faith that reaches within the heavenly and the unseen. Here, then, are blessings indeed; and the first is— I. FORGIVENESS. Forgiveness expresses its solemn mystery in this golden lid, the symbol of His pure manhood and righteousness, and the blood He shed. By virtue of the shedding of the blood of this just man, offered in the power of His resurrection, forgiveness is mediated to the sinner. Forgiveness is essentially a divine act, completely independent of any human agency. It is pronounced within the vail, and is the solemn achievement of the One who shed His blood on our behalf. The camp is the place of our sin; the holy place within the vail is the arena of our pardon, forgiveness, and cleansing. As an experience for the Christian, forgiveness requires that there shall be a knowledge of sin, not as an abstract conception, not as a contingent possibility, but as guilt before God. The sense of guilt must be there in the heart. Only that sin which is uncovered before God, in His most holy presence, as guilt without excuse, can be covered by God in the mediation of the blood of Jesus. If there is the least equivocation as to whether what we have done is sin before God, or whether we have done the guilty thing, then basically there can be no forgiveness. From that, the sinner passes to a profession concerning the constitution of the propitiation. If his mind is located in an earthly confessional, or if he seek forgiveness without desiring to know anything concerning its mediation in heaven, then there can be no eternal remission. He must look, in faith, upon the blood, the blood of the only begotten Son of God, and in so doing see the exceeding sinfulness of his sin and his utter unworthiness of such a propitiation. Many Christians are altogether too casual in this matter of mediation for sin to be privileged to know the unutterable joy of forgiveness. But where these things are registered in the mind, heart and conscience, there flows the gift of faith to receive in the heart the blessing of mediation, forgiveness, and reconciliation imparted from heaven. The believer knows it in the experience of liberation Godwards, creating a new attitude to the evil of which he is guilty, whereby he hates the sin that made God mourn, loves with a new devotion the One by whose blood he has been forgiven, and so takes from within the vail the power of His risen Lord to live, not unto sin, but unto God. For the essence of forgiveness in experience is not simply a negative remission of the past, but a new invigoration for holiness for the future. Let none who comes to Keswick rest in any earthly mediation of forgiveness which ethically and dynamically will prove to be a religious cut de sac, but let all seek the blessing of the mercy seat within the vail. II. FELLOWSHIP. "There will I meet with thee." If ever a human being is to meet with God in reality, and not in imagination, then he must know the mercy seat. There, and there only, God meets with us. There is no fellowship without mediation. If this morning we seek the ministry of the mercy seat within the vail, then we may know the high privilege of fellowship where God wills to meet us. Not every Christian knows fellowship within the vail. For most people, worship is a matter of buildings and ritual; but for the child of God, all earthly situations and ceremonies have no value, except as they become stepping stones by which the redeemed spirit of the believer enters within the vail of the heavenly realm, and knows experimentally an immediate communion of Spirit with spirit—a worship in His Spirit for which the Father seeks so intensely. We have no reason to suppose that our Blessed Lord is ubiquitous; and when He assures us that where two or three are gathered together He is in the midst, we are not to suppose that that is an encouragement for a few disconsolate souls meeting for prayer, but is the assurance that when we meet in the Name our spirits ascend where Jesus is! That alone is worship and fellowship when the redeemed spirit, brought again from the dead in redemption, enters within the vail to be one with the Father of spirits. The writer to the Hebrews knew much about this aspect of worship. He tells us (Heb. 12: 22-24) that we are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The place of worship is within the vail, and not without it, no matter how grand the circumstance. There we meet with an innumerable company of angels, who look with awe upon the solemnities of our redemption. We are one with all who in any part of the world are worshipping in the same spirit with us, and finding their communion within the veil. We are come to God the Judge of all, to find Him the tenderest Friend, the Father of spirits. It may surprise us to know that in such worship we come to the spirits of just men made perfect. We leave the spiritists to their earthly manifestations and mundane considerations, while we enter into the truth of which their's is the counterpart of error. Here in the mystic silence, in the wonder of the mercy seat, we meet all who once from this side worshipped within the vail and now with greater understanding worship on that side. And finally, we come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, speaking better things than that of Abel. Great is the privilege of the child of God who knows the fellowship within the vail; the fellowship that is from above the mercy seat, where God delights to meet His people! From such an experience there comes inevitably the heavenly commentary on the earthly pilgrimage. We see all the events of time in a new way. Everything earthly is seen in its heavenly setting, perspective and proportion. The man who has no worship, or is content with the worship of the earthly sanctuary, will see life as a series of events out of which he must weave his own philosophy; but to the child of God who has met God at the mercy seat within the vail, is granted the sight of the golden thread of divine providence that links all experience to the goal which the eye of faith has seen within the eternal. Life is therefore altogether different. And while life otherwise is getting and feeling, very largely grasping of things material and an excitation of our nervous systems, we know in fellowship within the vail at the mercy seat a communion which enlarges our being for God; a capacity which, being exercised and energized, lifts us into a realm of spirit experience of incomparable joy. There is at the mercy seat a revelry of awesome fellowship with God with which no intoxication on earth can compare. It is our failure to know this joy that leads so many back to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. III. REVELATION. It was in such a circumstance that God declared that He would speak of all things given in commandment. These marvellous ministries within the vail are not traditional ceremonies, they are not landmarks of the past super-imposed upon the present, but they have life and vigour: and out of our meditation on these realities, God is pleased to grant us understanding. Light on the path of our pilgrimage is one of the blessings of the mercy seat. Then we see that through life's dark maze there may be a sure light which will bring us through. Many burdens are lifted from our hearts when we know that the one thing that matters is the divine path in every situation. Illumination of the mind for that. will not be ours in a moment of crisis, no matter how hard we pray if in the meantime we have neglected the mercy seat. It is our fellowship there that illuminates the darkness here, and lights up the path with the unerring guidance which is 11 as a cloud by day and a fire by night. Verily we are pilgrims and strangers on the earth; but we see our path and know our way, and the sure light of the eternal can be seen brightly burning in the darkest circumstance. With that, of course, is the perpetual unveiling of truth in the Word. Then we know indeed what endless glories are within that revelation of which Jesus Himself is the life centre. For every situation on earth, God gives to His choice ones within the vail the revelation of heaven. Things may be difficult within the camp; but if only the high priest emerges, all will be well. So it is to-day, as we gather in this great Convention. Conditions in the camp are terrible. When we envisage the fact that possibly without any declaration of war, without any warning, a bomb may explode which will set fire to everything within a radius of twenty-five miles, we may well tremble for the future. We cannot be surprised that men's hearts are failing them for fear as they see the powers of hell let loose. Yet from the mercy seat within the vail we hear those words: "See that ye be not troubled. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, for your redemption draweth nigh." The King-Priest whose eternal ministry is sustaining you will appear for your hilarious joy and eternal satisfaction. In such days as this we cannot tell whether another Keswick will be granted us. Who knows? God may have brought us here to bring us right within the vail, to disclose to us the profound mysteries of the mercy seat, and to unveil to us such splendours of divine revelation as will be meat and drink to us in hours the character of which we cannot now apprehend. Let us seek the mercy seat this morning. Let us know a fellowship which transcends even the glorious fellowship of this tent. God grant that each and all may experience divine forgiveness in all its richness, direct from the throne, that our fellowship throughout this week may be with the Father of spirits in heaven; and that day by day as we gather the revelation from the glory may break upon our minds and hearts with new invigoration for the pilgrim way we tread. These high mysteries are the essentials of life for the desert we are crossing. The trackless miles that lie before us, the ambushed foes, the sands that yield neither bread nor water, these are the circumstances that can be met with that life only which is ours within the vail, and finds its spring in the deep mystery of the propitiatory with its blood, the precious blood of Jesus. The Way to Fruitfulness BY THE RE V. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. "MUCH fruit" (John 12:24), that is God's plan and purpose for you; yet perhaps the very reason why you are here, is that you know your life is fruitless, and you have come up to Keswick because you know nothing of this promise in your own life. So let us face— I. THE TRAGEDY OF THE CHURCH—"abiding alone." The main cause of the shortcomings of the Church in this and every land, is the sterile Christians. How many Christians there are in all congregations who, though they know the way of salvation in their own experience, know also that the Scripture is true when it says "abideth by itself alone" (R.V.). (i) No new life. As you look back over the years that you have known Christ, you know that no other life has been touched and won through you. As regards winning souls you are barren. You may even have deceived yourself that the days were so difficult that your barrenness was due to the hardness of the days in which you are called to live, and that all you could be expected to do was to hold firm to your own faith. And now God has been at work in our midst in Harringay, through the messages of His servant Dr. Graham, relayed throughout the country; and you realise that it is not the times that are at fault: it is you. There is something lacking in you, so that God has to say "abiding alone." (ii) No hope of ever possessing the ability. The fact is, that you have by this time become content with barrenness. You have rejoiced when new converts were added to the Church; but you have been envious of what others have been doing in Christian witness. You have settled down, and have been saying, "It is the life that counts." And yet perhaps you are conscious that in reality your life is not counting either. (iii) No effective life that counts and is conquering— "abiding alone." The Saviour's presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit, is not a practical thing in your life. And really your life is in no way different from that of the ordinary godless respectable people in your road and business. (iv) The fact is, you are content to be on the shelf. If the seeds and the grains of wheat that are collected and parcelled up for sowing could speak, I am sure that one would find them anxious to be at work and bringing forth the harvest which is in them, through the life which they possess. But go hack the following winter, clean up the shelf in your potting shed, and there you unearth some packets of seeds that you had forgotten. The seeds look the same, but now they have settled down. There is still life in them, but in the packets now covered with dust they look only fit to be left on the shelf. Do you reckon, Christian worker, that you are on the shelf? That while this Convention may give you some cheer in the shelf-life, that is all that is possible? May God grant that Keswick this year may be for you a stirring on your shelf! May God come to you and say, "I purpose much fruit through you." II. THE COST OF THE PREPARATION—"death." And strange as it may seem, that is the real reason of sterility in many Christians: Death. You are not willing for its cost, and its hurt. Death. God called some of you to it in past Keswicks, or in some situation in your life, and you side-stepped it—and ever since there has been written over your life "abideth alone." There may be others who can look back to an experience of death, and God used you. Then God called you through suffering to a deeper experience of death, and you refused it, and now the fact is the same .with you also—"abideth alone." (i) Some are faced with its necessity by the realisation of uselessness and defeat. Have you come up here with deep depression on your soul? Your life has been, and is, so barren. Your life has been of no value or account to the Master. Defeat, shortcoming, and emptiness have brought you to the place of despair. If you could but realise it—that is good. For it is when you are at the end of yourself that God can begin to work. The state that is so dangerous is the one where a Christian settles into the contented state of coma; where he is satisfied with abiding alone . If God has allowed you to become depressed with yourself, and dissatisfied, there so that you only trust and love and live for is glorious hope and possibility for you, if Christ, hurts a great deal. To many the way you are willing to obey God. to death is so costly that for them the greater (ii) For some it comes through a sudden part of the Convention is a wrestling with the revelation of sin. Allowed, pampered, sud- willingness to be at an end with self, and die. It denly God lets the light of His Word reveal it requires an absolute venture of faith; but as it truly is. Or to some, even more beyond it, God says, "much fruit." And the devastating, the criticism of neighbours and way to it is "into the ground and die"—it is friends make you aware that the thing which is the only way. dominant in your life is wrong, and sin. Alone. III. THE WONDER OF THE FRUIT—"but if it Perhaps God is saying to you. "You are die . . . fruit." bound to be, until self is dead to that want, (i) It is all of God. That is the wonder of that dominance, that forbidden thing in your life. Do you want much fruit? Will you die, it. Now instead of striving and toiling, God is doing the work. You are privileged to see God there?" speaking His word through you to some seeking (iii) For some it only comes in a shattering soul. You see the blessing of God given in blow. And often it comes so suddenly that life some situation. You see the solution given to an and its meaning seem to be lost; and the absolutely baffling problem, and now you know temptation is to doubt God's love and all who that it is all the Lord's doing. have seemingly had a hand in the calamity. (ii) It is all so new and real. As you hear Unexpected angers, resentments, jealous and evil thoughts surge to the fore. Why is it the new convert speak, it is with a new allowed? Perhaps because you were not language, and he gives all the praise to God. willing to listen in any other way. Perhaps You see the breath of life coming into a dead because it was only by allowing it that God church or mission station—and it is absolutely was able to show you the deeper levels where nothing to do with a new committee's decision, self was still reigning, and where death would or mere routine administrative adjustments, have to come if you were to know much fruit. Is or the formation of another sub-committee! there someone here who deep in their heart has a Quite obviously it is the Spirit. resentment against God, or against some (iii) It is all so humbling. There is certainly a neighbour? Someone smarting under a dis- note of joy in seeing God at work; to see one appointment, a broken engagement, or a whom God has graciously used you to win. sudden bereavement? God is purposing a rich But there is, much more, the utter sense of crop out of your life, if you are willing to unworthiness, humility, and worship. Fruit. recognise that He is ploughing with a hand of What adoration you have to render back to love, and are ready to yield and die so that He God when through you God brings forth that may be supreme. which in itself has life. (iv) For some the cost is shown by the IV. THE PROMISE OF HARVEST—"bringeth laying of the divine hand on something good forth much fruit." Not one grain, but a and legitimate to test your faith and devotion. harvest. Think of Job. His family, his wealth, and his health all taken; while his wife and friends (i) This is God's promise. As the truth criticise him. Think of Abraham going up comes home to you in these days, never think Mount Moriah, called upon to sacrifice the one that it is only some vague hope and theory whom God had given him with the highest of the preacher. It is Christ Himself who purpose in view. Utter demands are made of says, "bringeth forth much fruit." And as things which are right and legitimate, so that you come to the place of surrender and death, we may dare to trust God even when the here is a sure word on which to hold. demands cut right into the seeming essentials of (ii) This is divine multiplication. What life. And God comes to the soul and says, "Are Christ promises is fruit that will bring forth you ready to die to every hope, and scheme, more fruit in its turn. This is God's vision and desire?" That is what death means. A for you; and His desire is that through you readiness to let all go, and to trust God in the new life in individuals and communities blackness of the present. should soon be begetting lives themselves. A (v) For all it means coming to the cross to harvest which grows and spreads as God finish with self. Make no mistake about it, multiplies the seed. death hurts. To be willing to accept cruci(iii) This is God's plan for the world through fixion with Christ; to leave all yourself, your you. Do not look at far-off fields. Never allow plans and your longings, your abilities and yourself to say, "If only I were not here, but in your possessions, all of them at the Cross, such-and-such a sphere, in that foreign field, 13 I should be a blessing." No; it is in this spot where God has set you to live and work; in the group of Christians in which you have been linked in fellowship—difficult though they may be; it is in that office, with all its strain and uncongenial setting; in that home where friction so easily comes in. God says, much fruit there. Do you believe it? And if not through you, who else? The promise is certain: a harvest with much fruit. The cost that is essential: death. Before we go further in this Convention, may we come to the Cross, and lay down all the rebellion which has held self to you, and be willing to die to all; daring to believe that in some way, because God is love, He will fulfil His purpose and out of you bring forth much fruit. Will you come now? Deliverance is of the Lord BY THE REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. HERE is a short but thrilling sentence in the Hebrew of Psalm 3:8, which says, T "Deliverance is of the Lord," or, as the have got used to it. Or you may determine, as it were, to roll-up your sleeves and win your freedom by your own endeavour and discipline. But self and sin are never removed by our own efforts. The whole testimony of Scripture rings out this fact, that "salvation, deliverance, is of the Lord." How many there are, too, who have accepted Christ and still live defeated lives, enslaved by fears, worries, habits and besetting sins, because they refuse to acknowledge that "deliverance is of the Lord" alone? And so new resolutions are made, new dedications are entered upon, which do not endure in times of testing. I am sure that very many in this tent and listening in on the air, can look back over a long succession of resolutions broken, dedications which have become meaningless, so that they are now at the place of either despair or indifference. They have decided that so far as they are concerned, there shall be no more surrendering, dedicating or resolving. Stubbornly they declare that "it is not for them." If you feel like this, may I say that the trouble is that you have one word wrong, as you say "it is not for you." It should be "it is not by you"; for "deliverance is of the Lord." And now note, secondly— Authorised Version puts it, "salvatio n belongeth unto the Lord"; and I want to bring you these words as my text to-night. Deliverance from the bondage of self, and deliverance into a life of liberty, is the deep heart-longing of millions of men and women throughout the world. And it is because the Keswick Convention has been proclaiming for over seventy years the Scriptural truth th at "deliveran ce is o f th e L o rd" that thousands are drawn each year to this Lakeland town to find the freedom which is God's purpose for every child of His. Deliverance— what does it mean to you? What is it as a practical reality in your life? For while it is true that "Deliverance is of the Lord," yet think first— I. How LONG WE STUBBORNLY REFUSE TO ADMIT IT. Surely if we are willing to be honest with ourselves—and how many are not—we shall have to admit that we reckon that we can win our own way to deliverance. It is only when we begin to see that our lives are missing the best, because we are dominated by self, which has the mastery over us, that we realise that we need to be set free. Still more do w e begin to know the need, when we see something of the fulness and joy of the life which Jesus Christ lived when He was here on earth. It is only when we are willing to let the challenge of His perfect unselfishness and purity, His perfect honesty and love, search and test us, as we put our lives up against His standards, that we are made increasingly conscious of the fact that we are not living as we were meant to live. It may be in the quiet of your own room, reading your Bible, or listening to the wireless; it may be at church or in the Keswick tent that you are awakened to the fact that, through some habit that grips you, you are missing God's purpose for your life—which is life abundant. The vital issue is: What are you going to do about it? You may decide to sit back and do nothing, because you have been so long in your present state that you II. How COSTLY WAS HIS COMPLETION OF IT. If the joy and liberty of the text is to come home to you, you must understand what it meant to God to make this deliverance full and free to you. The wonder of the Good News, which we bring you, is that God did not merely issue commands from heaven's heights, but in utter love and longing that you, individually, might possess His fulness, He gave His best for you. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . ." Jesus Christ came to share our life and face our temptations, so that He knows from personal experience all the things which can so easily bring us into bondage. The problems which prevent your deliverance, are those which God knows, from having faced them too. But something much more— Christ not only lived, but went willingly to actual death on the Cross, to shed forth His life blood, for "without shedding of blood there 15 is no remission of sins." There on that Cross He was made sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. There, before He commended His spirit back to His Father, He cried triumphantly, "It is finished"—and from that moment sin's power has been broken once and for all, for those who will accept His deliverance from it. And it is because Jesus Christ died, and rose again, the triumphant conqueror over the evil one and all his forces, that I can come, in His name to-night, to say that sin need not have dominion over you. "Deliverance is of the Lord," and He is so able to save to the uttermost. And yet I wonder if you are saying, "I have known all this for years, but it has not brought me deliverance?" Then let me tell you that for years I felt exactly the same. I knew the story that Christ had gone to the Cross to die for sinners, since I was a boy regularly attending Bible class. But it was only a few weeks before I went up to Cambridge University that I realized that the Cross and the deliverance which God offered from sin was something which affected me personally. It was for me, and you too, individually, that He died there. He bore my sins and yours. He shed His blood to cleanse me from all sin, and you too. And what had I to do? I had to receive as a gift all that He had gained there for me. I had simply to say a genuine "Thank You" for the completeness of the deliverance which He had won for me there. I had to invite Him into my life as my own Sin-bearer and living Saviour, in response to His call, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in." That was the beginning of my practical discovery that "deliverance is of the Lord"; and that is the way you will find it too. Will you come now, just as you are, and take Him and thank Him? But thirdly— III. How HUMBLE MUST BE OUR CONSTANT ACCEPTANCE OF IT. For because deliverance is of the Lord, or belongs unto the Lord, the daily experience of it means the continual humble acknow- 16 ledgement that without God we can do nothing. We had to say when we began the Christian life, "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I cling"; but it takes most of us a long time to realise that this must be our daily attitude as well. And perhaps that is the reason for the failure and defeat of many listening to me now. From lack of recognising our utter dependence upon God, we continue to struggle and plan and fight, until we drift again into the place of complete defeat and failure. We find ourselves standing at Wits' End Corner. And often God 'has to allow us to go that far, before we are willing to be humbled and broken of all our self-confidence and the feeling that we can do something to set ourselves free. It is a fact that many only discover at great cost, in their Christian experience, that deliverance is still of the Lord alone. Have you ever seen a child refuse his father's hand and plunge off to cross the road on his own? Then halfway over, when cars and other vehicles seem to be coming from all directions, he puts out his hand and takes hold of his father's, which he is now so grateful to find near and waiting to be taken. And at once all is different. There are just as many obstacles in his way, but he is now holding on to the one who knows how to negotiate these dangers and get him safely across to the other side. And to-night are you beset by some habit, temptation, disaster, fear or complex, and feeling in utter dispair? Will you, whatever it may be, put out your hand now, and lay hold of the living victorious Saviour, who has said, "I will never, never, let go your hand; I will never, never forsake you." Bring to Him that problem, that sorrow, that thing which holds you in bondage, and say, as you look to Him, "Lord Jesus, give me Thy deliverance now," and humbly let Him take over and be in control. And then, day by day, and all the day, bring each need and difficulty to Him, so that you may prove as a living practical reality that "Deliverance is of the Lord." MONDAY, JULY 19th 10 a.m.—BIBLE READING THE NEW TESTAMEN T UNFOLDED (i) THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY THE GOSPELS REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 11.45 a.m.—FORENOON MEETING WH EN MEN SEE GOD THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING A SECRET OF THE VICTORY LIFE CANON GUY H. KING 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING THE CHRISTIAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN DR. W. CULBERTSON 7.45 p.m.—EVENING MEETING Skiddaw-street Tent : THE RELEVANCE OF THE LAW TO CHRISTIAN LIFE REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, M.A. THE WITHERED HAND REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. Eskin-street Tent : THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCE OF WILFUL SIN REV. T. M. BAMBER T H E S I N O F C H R I S T I A N S DR. DONALD GREY BARNHOUSE 17 Hindrances to Life in its Fullness of life in Christ was once F ULLNESS again the key-note of the Convention— the Convention for this one service, during a tour of the British Isles—and Dr. William Culbertson, President of the Institute attracted so large an audience that hundreds were unable to get into the tent, and sat around outside. The Moody Chorale gave beautiful renderings of three pieces: then Dr. Culbertson delivered a searching message on the Christian's attitude to sin. This was Dr. Culbertson's first address from the Convention platform, and with it he took his place among the several speakers from America who have made notable contributions to Keswick. As he spoke of the toll which sin exacts, in this life and that which is to come, the •Spirit of God was manifestly at work in many hearts. It was well that two simultaneous evening meetings had been arranged, for otherwise hundreds would have been disappointed. The small tent was crowded, and large numbers stood outside, long before the time for beginning, for Dr. Donald G. Barnhouse was giving there his one address this year: and the large tent was almost full. Speaking on the Keswick platform for the first time, the Rev. A. W. Rainsbury stressed the relevance of the Ten Commandments to OUI generation; and then the Rev. G. B. Duncan, from the story of the man with the withered hand, drew lessons concerning spiritual impotence. In the small tent, the Rev. T. M. Bamber spoke first, on the wilful sin of Christians: then Dr. Barnhouse pointed out the difference between sin and sins. Dr. Barnhouse was not "officially" a speaker this year, but was paying a visit during a honeymoon tour in Europe with his bride. He could not be allowed to attend without speaking once, however! He had before coming to Keswick, visited France, where he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. This distinction was conferred upon him as "an ambassador of French culture in the United States," and in recognition of the large sums he has raised for Evangelical institutions in France. for this, indeed, is Keswick's unvarying theme. On Sunday, the "life more abundant" which is His purpose for every believer, through the indwelling Spirit, was proclaimed in the Churches, and in the tents; but on Monday began the serious business of the Convention, in considering hindrances to realization of this in personal experience—leading on, as the week went by, to the secret of victory and blessing. Clear skies and sunshine greeted the many hundreds who were out before 7 a.m. on Monday, to attend the prayer meetings—many making their way to the Methodist church for the first of the missionary prayer meetings led by the Rev. A, T. Houghton. As large a number as on the previous day gathered in the small tent, however, where Mr. P. S. Henman spoke briefly on the Lord's Prayer as a pattern of the right kind of prayer. The tent was filled at ten o'clock for the first of the Bible Readings. Presiding, the Rev. E. L. Langston expressed thanks to God for restoring Dr. Scroggie to health, to fulfil this important ministry for the twelfth occasion—a record no previous speaker has attained. The huge congregation then listened intently as Dr. Scroggie introduced his vast theme, "The New Testament Unfolded," and proceeded to his masterly survey of the Gospels, under the title, "The Founder and Foundations of Christianity." Young people went off to their meeting in the small tent, at 11.45 a.m., when Mr. Wilkinson gave them a challenging message on the conditions of true Christian life. In the large tent the Bishop of Barking spoke on the conviction of sin which always results from meeting with God. Canon Guy H. King took up the Bishop's theme, and showed that the way of victory is not in fighting temptation, but in "reckoning" on the Lord. A glorious summer afternoon doubtless lured many to the hills and beside the lakes: but the Moody Chorale—the Choir of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, which visited 18 The New Testament Unfolded I. THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY: THE GOSPELS. BY THE REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. of redemption; in the Acts and Epistles is its I N a s e r v i ce I w a s co n du c t i n g o n o n e superstructure; and in the Revelation is its occasion, I announced that the choir would completion. The Gospels tell of the past; the sing "Until the day break," and it was alleged Acts and Epistles belong to the present; and that several people left the building! I do not the Revelation points to the future. The think you will leave when I announce my subject of the Gospels is the Christ; of the subject, because you are too far from Acts and Epistles it is the Church; and of the home; but I trust that that will not be the Revelation it is the Consummation. reason why you do not go! In these four From this it is evident t hat the N ew mornings we are to consider, not a text, nor Testament Writings are organic and progreseven a book of the Bible, but the whole of sive, and no piecemeal reading of them can the New Testament. be a subsitute for the study of them as a I have chosen this large subject for various whole. It is ambitious, if not presumptuous, reasons: first, because of the admitted preto attempt to deal with these twenty-seven vailing ignorance of the Bible; secondly, beWritings in the three hours allotted to me, but cause of the large number of young people I must hazard the venture with humble hope. who are gathered for the Convention; thirdly, The following is the planbecause I know how eager missionaries on To-day we are to consider the GOSPELS, furlough are for spiritual information and rewhich present the Founder and Foundations of freshing before they return to their work Christianity. In the second Reading we shall again; fourthly, because I covet for the take the ACTS, which records the Greatest younger ministers present a ministry that shall Adventure of all Time. In the third Reading be at once informed and expository; and fifthly, because I trust we all shall realize that the subject will be the PAULINE EPISTLES, a unless spiritual experience is firmly based Famous Missionary's Correspondence. And upon the Scriptures—especially those of the in the fourth Reading, we shall consider what New Testament—it is almost certain to be remains of the New Testament, the GENERAL transient, and may easily prove disastrous. EPISTLES and the REVELATION, in which we Experience must be rooted in knowledge if it hear Challenging Voices, and are shown the is to last and to grow; and there is no short Goal of History. cut to Bible knowledge, as there is none to As this year the British and Foreign Bible Society is celebrating its triple Jubilee, it is any other kind of knowledge. well that special emphasis be put upon the Plans of reading based on a bit of the Old Bible, the greatest Book in all the world, and Testament and a bit of the New Testament o f al l t im e. H e who is ig no ra nt o f th e every day, will leave one ignorant of the conScriptures of both Testaments is wanting in tent and power of the Scriptures. We do not the highest culture. The day is past when read any other books in that way. If as a the Bible can be treated with contempt, and result of our studies this week many of you they who criticise it without having read it, will resolve that you will read the New only advertise their colossal and condemnable Testament sensibly, expectantly, and believignorance. ingly, you will quickly become conscious of The Bible has put our literature, our art, pulsations of new life. and our music hopelessly in its debt, and more THE NEW TESTAMENT than anything else it has given tone, colour, The New Testament is a collection of 27 and substance to the language we speak day Writings, none very long and some very short; by day. It has also motivated and energised and although these Writings treat of many the greatest deeds that have ever been persubjects they stand in an organic relation to formed. I would rather be intimate with the one another, and constitute a sublime whole. four pamphlets which are called the Gospels The Gospels and Acts are historical; the than with all the classics of Greece and Rome. Epistles are doctrinal; and the Revelation is In an essay on Dryden, it is said of the English prophetical. In the Gospels is the foundation Bible that "If everything else in our language 19 should perish, it would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power." Restrictions of time do not allow of any reference to the Old Testament, except to say that in it the New Testament is firmly rooted, and from it it emerges. FOUR GOSPELS As we turn to the New Testament we are confronted with four pamphlets, which are called Gospels. They can all be read in about four hours, yet, though so brief, they are of greater value than any other writings, ancient or modern. They record the story of Jesus Christ, revealing His Person, and showing what, by His ministry, He has done for mankind. These priceless Memoirs were not written by intellectuals or men of the Schools, but by four persons whom no selection committee would have looked at—a tax-gatherer, a batman to an apostle, a medical doctor, and a fisherman mystic. These four men have written immortal literature, and they did so quite unconsciously. . WHY FOUR GOSPELS? But why are there four records of Christ's story? Would not one have done? We must look for the answer to this question in revelation and history. T H E A N S W E R O F R E V E L A T IO N Revelation shows that the redemption which was promised in pre-Christian times, and was accomplished by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, was not for the Jewish race only, but for the whole world. "God so loved the world that H e g a v e H i s o n l y b e g o tt e n S o n . " Th e Redeemer, therefore, in His Person and work, was the complete answer to the deepest need of all mankind. His manifestations had four aspects. Officially He was both a Sovereign and a Servant; and personally He was both Man and God. It is of the utmost importance to see this, because it is the Person of the Redeemer that gives redemption its effectiveness. Now, prophecy anticipates these aspects of the Redeemer's Person. In Zechariah 9:9 it says "Behold thy King"; in Isaiah 42:1, "Behold my Servant"; in Zechariah 6:12; "Behold the Man"; and in Isaiah 40:9, "Behold your God." These are the four aspects of Christ's Person which are presented in the four Gospels. He is the Sovereign in Matthew; the Servant in Mark; the Man in Luke; and God in John. But a second group of prophecies anticipates these aspects of Christ's Person. In Jeremiah 23:5 it says "I will raise a righteous Branch— a. King"; in Zechariah 3; 8, "I will bring forth my Servant, the Branch"; in Zechariah 6:12, "Behold the Man whose name is the Branch"; and in Isaiah 4:2, "the Branch of the Lord shall be beauty and glory." Here are four passages which predict Christ as the Branch, and in the four aspects of Sovereign, Servant, Man and God, which again point to the four Gospels respectively—in Matthew the Sovereign; in Mark the Servant; in Luke the Man; and in John, God. Thus revelation shows why there are four Gospels: neither fewer, nor more. T H E A N S W E R O F H IS T O R Y But in addition to revelation, history shows why there are four. At the time of Messiah's Advent three great races represented mankind—the Jews, the Romans, and the Greeks, t.and each of these had prepared for His coming. Christ came to meet the deepest need of these races, and of all whom they represented : and how He did this the Gospels tell us. From the second century it has been recognized that Matthew's Gospel was written for the Jews; that Mark's was written for the Romans; and that Luke's was written for the Greeks; and because from among all peoples a Christian Church was to emerge, a fourth Gospel was made necessary which would be for all Christians. No one of these Gospels could present the whole truth about the Redeemer's work for mankind, but the four together do so exhaustively. These should be read continuously, with the distinctive character and purpose of each ever in view. A. THE FOUN DER OF CHRISTIAN I TY. As we read these Records we shall see that one Age is ending, and another is beginning. Judaism of the Old Testament is passing, and Christianity of the New Testament is coming; and Christ is the fulfiller of the one, and the initiator of the other. When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son. God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in (His) Son. He who was at once Sovereign and Servant, and Man and God, was the Founder of Christ ianity, and so the closest attention must be given to His Person as revealed in the Gospels. The study of this subject is not the preserve of theologians, but is the priceless privilege of all Christians. What, then, do the Gospels tell us about— THE PERSON OF CHRIST Two facts are stated with the utmost 20 emphasis: first, that Christ was human; and secondly, that He was divine. His humanity relates Him to the human race, and His divinity relates Him to the eternal God; and so He is the God-Man, bringing God to men, and leading men to God, These facts constitute the mystery of His Person, and the truth of them is not affected by our inability to understand how these two natures could be united in one Person. Let us look, then, first of all at— THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST Everywhere in the Gospels this is assumed and declared, and the first thing we must note is that— I. CHRIST'S HUMANITY WAS REAL AND NOT FEIGNED This is made evident in many ways, among which may be mentioned(i) The Physical Lif e of Christ He was born into the world; He was a helpless babe, dependent on His mother; He was subject to the authority of a home; He grew in stature; He hungered and ate; He thirsted and drank; He worked and wearied; He felt the need of rest, and slept; He learned a trade and worked at it for eighteen years; His body suffered pain and privation; He made many references to His body and its parts; and at last He died. These things can be true only of a human being. (ii) The Moral Lif e of Christ As a man Christ had an unswerving sense of duty, a penetrating consciousness of right and wrong which led Him to feel the pressure of temptation, and to resist it. He recognized and accepted opportunity and responsibility. He was loyal to the social and political conditions of His time which it was no part of His mission directly to antagonize —as, for example, the practice of slavery, and Rome's rule of the Jews in Palestine. Some of the moral ingredients in the character of Jesus were His love of God and man, self-control, self-denial, transparent sincerity, courage, calmness, patience, prudence, humility, endurance and goodness. ( i i i ) Th e E m o t i o n a l L if e o f Ch r is t As a man Christ entered fully into experiences of joy and sorrow. He exhibited wonder and surprise. He was no stranger to love and anger, nor to indignation and compassion. He sought sympathy, and felt the pain of disappointment. More than once He wept. His gratitude and zeal were unmistakable; nor must we overlook His sense of humour. ( i v ) T h e In t e l l e c t u a l L if e o f Ch r is t The foregoing characteristics could not be predicated of God, nor can what we speak of 21 as Christ's intellectual life. It is written that He grew in wisdom, and what He knew as a man He must have learned. He went to school, as did every Jewish boy, and His mind developed as our minds do, though, of course, much more rapidly. At no time did He know everything. As man He was not omniscient, for omniscience is not a human attribute. He asked questions to elicit information, and acted on information which He received. Proof of this is in the following passages— When Jesus heard of (the death of John the Baptist) He departed by ship into a desert place apart (Matt. 14:13). Whe n Jesus heard (that Lazarus was sick) He abode two days still in the place where He was (John 11:6). When Jesus came to Bethany, He found that (Lazarus) had lain in the grave four days already; and He asked Mary where the grave was (John 11 :17, 34). Before feeding the multitude He asked His disciples, How many loaves have ye? (Matt. 15:34); and on another occasion He asked: Who touched my clothe s? (Mark 5:30). He a ske d the na me o f the de me nte d Gadarene (Mark 5:9). He asked a father how long his son had been subject to fits (Mark 9:21). He went to a fig tree to see if any figs were on it (Mark 11:13). He plainly stated that He did not know the hour of a certain future event (Mark 13:32). Christ's se nse of wonde r and surprise indicated that His mental life was conditioned; but it must be affirmed that His mind was not subject to error, for it was unclouded by sin. The existence of all-knowledge and limited knowledge in one and the same person is part of the mystery of the Incarnation, of the divine and the human in one personality. No theory that we can frame can do justice to all the facts. Without His perfect knowledge of divine things, Christ could not have been to us the manifestation of God; and without the mental experience involved in those conditions of acquiring knowledge, we should not have had among as One who was "in all points tried as we are"; there would have been something wanting in the perfection of His humanity. It is for us to see and keep clear and distinct in our minds each fact of Christ's personality. Unless one's judgment is sadly warped he cannot read what Jesus said, as recorded in the Gospels, without being deeply impressed by its simplicity and profoundness; its range and qualities. His thinking was intuitive rather than discursive; concrete rather than abstract; positive rather than negative; and creative rather than critical. No utterances of man have ever been as bracing as those of Jesus, for they are dateless, infallible, and authoritative. Another evidence of the reality of His human nature was— (v) The Social Life of Christ The Gospels show that Jesus lived a natural social life. He was a member of a family, having a mother, brothers and sisters. He attended a wedding feast, and accepted invitations to dinner. He had special friends, such as Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He needed and wanted companionship, and He found it in the company of His apostles, and of those women who ministered to His temporal needs. Attention must be called briefly to one more matter— (vi) The Religious Life of Christ This is a profound and difficult subject, but the essence of it consists in His relation as man to God. Jesus revealed a deep sense of His dependence on God His Father, and apart from God He had no thoughts, desires, or will. This sense of dependence was repeatedly expressed, e.g., "The Son can do nothing of Himself," and "The Father abiding in me doeth the works." An outstanding evidence and expression of Jesus' religious life was His habit of prayer, which is prominently recorded in the Gospels of Luke and John. God the Father never prays because He has no one to pray to, but Christ's life was a life of prayer; He had much to say on the subject of prayer; and some of His prayers are on record, notably in John 17. Another evidence of His religious life was His absorbing love for His Father, a love which was the atmosphere in which all His actions were performed, and all His feelings were determined. The Gospel records, then, make it abundantly clear that Christ's humanity was real and not feigned. But a second fact must be considered which is of equal importance, namely that2. CHRIST'S HUMANITY WAS PERFECT AND NOT FAULTY The first fact is true of all men—that our humanity is real and not feigned; but the second is true only of Christ. The character portrayed in the Gospels could not have been created by any human mind, and so it must be a photo of facts. In all the realm of biography the character of Christ stands apart and alone. Study the characters of Shakespeare, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, and of all who have portrayed character, and it is easy to see in them the presence of qualities which should not be there and the absence of qualities which 22 should be there: but neither of these defects is found in the character of Jesus. Look at a few of the facts which the Gospels disclose relative to the subject before us. CHRIST HAD NO CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN Sensibilities which characterize the best of men were entirely wanting in Him. He never apologized for anything. He never said He was sorry for anything He had done. He never withdrew anything He had said, nor modified it. He never admitted having made a mistake. He never showed any sign of regret, or remorse for misused or lost opportunities. He never exhibited any consciousness of guilt. He never acknowledged sin in Himself, and so never asked for pardon. He never felt the pain of an accusing conscience. He never showed any dread of the penal future. He never manifested any trace of healed scars nor memories of defeat. In all this the difference between Him and us is not one of degree, but of type. His was "the one quite unspotted life that has been lived within our sinful race." Had He not been sinless, to have made—as He did— such a claim for Himself, would of itself have been sin. It is perfectly clear that the piety of Jesus was impenitent and unrepentant. CHRIST PERFECTLY COMBINED IN HIMSELF QUALITIES WHICH ARE COMMONLY REGARDED AS INCOMPATIBLES. Of such we may mention— Solemnity and Joyfulness (Mark 10:32; John 15:11). On the last journey to Jerusalem He was so solemn that His disciples were afraid; yet, in His last discourse, in the Upper Room, He repeatedly spoke of His joy. Aloofness and Sociability (Mark 1:35; John 2: 1-10). Rising up a great while before day, He departed into a solitary place; yet, when He was called to a marriage feast He went. Dignity and Humility (John 19: 9, 10; Matt. 11:29). Evidence of dignity is illustrated by His composed silence in the presence of Pilate; yet, of Himself He said: "I am meek and lowly in heart." Profoundness and Simplicity This is abundantly illustrated by the parables which Jesus spoke. These are so simple that any child will be attracted to them, and will understand them; yet they are so profound that they baffle every attempt to discover their final meaning. As long as language lasts these incomparable parables will draw and hold and thrill the serious mind. We must now turn to the second great truth revealed in the Gospels, namely— Severity and Tenderness He who lashed the Pharisees with His words (Matt. 23) said to the poor adulteress, "Neither do I condemn thee." He who said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan," said from the cross to the apostle John, "Behold thy mother," committing to the apostle His own mother. I I. TH E DI V IN I TY O F C HR IS T There is no time to say anything about the Old Testament anticipation of Christ's Divinity, nor of the apostolic proclamation of it; but the Gospels declare the fact in the most unmistakable way. Energy and Restfulness Th e un ceasin g activ ity o f J esus was astonishing. From dawn to night He travelled and taught, and performed works of mercy; and yet there is no evidence that He was ever flustered or irritated, though, being human, He did tire. His experience was one of unbroken peace within; the peace which at last He bequeathed to all His followers. Haste and Leisureliness One cannot read Christ's story without sensing a certain urgency in His activities, especially toward the close of His life, and yet throughout there was the atmosphere of leisureliness. He was never so busy as not to have time for those who needed Him. The character of Jesus was held in perfect equilibrium. He had no strong points, because He had no weak ones. Every one of us must be conscious of weaknesses and defects, of insufficiencies and excesses; but Jesus had no such consciousness, because His character was complete. He who is so like us in some respects is profoundly unlike us. He is alone and apart in a category of His own, He was conscious that His relation to God was unique, as when He said, "I and My Father are one." He was conscious also of His distinction from men. He never prayed with others; nor did He include Himself in the prayer He taught His disciples. He distinguished between His own and His disciples' relation to God. He never said, "Our Father," or "Our God," but "My Father, and your Father; my God and your God." CHRIST'S HUMANITY AND OURSELVES Now, belief in this Humanity of Christ is vital for Christian faith. He who believes it, believes that God has come right down to us historically. He who believes it, believes in the possibility and actuality of Atonement. And he who believes it, believes that, apart from sin, Christ is one of us, and one with us, "touched with a feeling of our infirmity"; "in all points tempted like as we are," and so He is "able to succour them that are tempted." 23 CHRIST'S CLAIMS FOR HIMSELF Christ's claims for Himself are of the profoundest importance, and it was because of these that the Jews opposed Him, and eventually had Him crucified. He claimed to transcend the Mosaic Law (Matt. 5:21, 22, 27, 28). He continuously preached Himself (e.g., Matt. 11:28-30). He promised that prayer offered in His Name would be answered (John 14:13). He declared His pre-existence (John 8:58). He claimed to be Lord of the realm of death (John 2:19). He invited men to trust Him as they trusted in God (John 14:1). He said that love of Him was proof that one was a child of God (John 8:42). He affirmed that no one knew God but Himself, and those to whom He revealed Him (Matt. 11: 27). He accepted the confession of Nathanael and of Peter that He was the Son of God (John 1:49, Matt. 16:16). He said that whoever had seen Him had seen the Father (John 14:9, 10). He affirmed that He had the power to forgive sins, and to give eternal life (Matt. 9:2; John 10:28). He claimed absolute authority for His teaching (Matt. 7: 24, 26). He declared that He had universal power (Matt. 28:18). He united Himself with the Father and the Spirit as together constituting the Godhead (Matt. 28:19); and He asserted that God and He were One (John 10:30). No one in history, unless blasphemously, has even made such claims, and if they be not true He Himself was the greatest of all blasphemers. Then, there are— CHRIST'S CLAIMS UPON MEN These are not less significant than His claims for Himself, for they too point to His divine nature and authority. He claims the undivided devotion of men and women, and declares that one's relation to Him must take precedence over every other relation. The great passage on this subject is Luke 14:25-33. Christ also declares that only by coming to Him can we be delivered from the burden of sin. He affirms that only as we become like Him can we be what we ought to be (Matt. 11:28-30); and, most astonishing of all, perhaps, He says that only they who obey Him shall never die (John 8:51). The Divinity of Christ is not merely a theological conception or a matter only of academic interest, but a fact and truth of universal, age-long, and vital importance. If Jesus was not Gad, Christianity is a fraud, and the Christian Church is a farce. If Jesus was not God, the Bible is a lie, and those who teach it are ignorant and deluded. But "the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Such, then, is the Founder of Christianity. And now a word must be said, and all too briefly, about— have before you opportunities which tie behind me of preaching great things week by week. Leave philosophy, politics and economics alone, and preach Christ, the Kingdom, Salvation, Sin, Forgiveness, Love, Atonement, and scores of other commanding themes This is what Christ did, and it is what He has called you to do. The people are tired of ten minutes of platitudes and inanities for sermons: give them the Bread of Heaven and the Wine of the Kingdom. 2 . T H E W O R K O F C H R IS T Great as is the teaching of Christ. The deepest foundations of Christianity do not He in it, but in His work, and His great work was His death. He Himself declared this when He said, "I came to give my life a ransom for many." The Gospels concentrate historically on this work, and the Epistles concentrate on it doctrinally. It was the theme of all the first preachers, as it has been of all the greatest preachers ever since; and it will be the substance of eternal song. B. THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY These relate to the whole ministry of Christ the God-Man, and are resident in His teaching and work. 1. THE TEACHING OF CHRIST This is a vast mine of riches, and invites the diligence of them who desire great spoil. Matthew says, "Jesus went about teaching," and we should want to know how and what He taught, that is, the manner and substance of His teaching. Unto Him who loves us, and loosed us from our sins in His blood . . . be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever: and the inhabitants of heaven will be these (i) THE MANNER OF CHRIST'S TEACHING His teaching is absolutely original. Heathendom had had great teachers—Confucius, Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Caesar, Virgil and others; and Israel had had Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others; but Christ owed nothing to any of them. "Never man spake like this Man." Another characteristic of His teaching is its simplicity. He always aimed at the greatest clearness in the briefest compass. His simplicity was not shallowness, as is seen in another characteristic—its profoundness. It was this that astonished all who heard Him and who said, "Whence hath this man these things?" Another feature of H is teaching is its pregnancy. Most speakers find it difficult to be compact without being obscure, but Christ taught in crisp pointed sentences which stick like burrs in the mind. Other features of Christ's teaching, which there is not time to comment on, are its concreteness, its picturesqueness, its appositeness, its practicability, its authoritativeness, and its finality. These are subjects for the preacher for a year and more to come. that... washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Christ's interpretation of His death is the only true one, and the Gospels do not leave us in any doubt as to what that was. These four records drew us to the Cross, and from there to the empty tomb and the mountain top, and their last word is, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. This is the revelation which the Gospels preserve, the revelation of Christ's Person and work, which gave birth to Christianity, and is the secret of its continuance, and the guarantee of its final triumph. The four Gospels derive their value—not from the authors of them, nor from the time at which they were written—but from what they say; and if we would know who Christ was, and what He did, we must make these Records our constant companions. and must dwell in this wonderful realm of revelation. And (ii) THE SUBSTANCE OF CHRIST'S TEACHING But of more importance than the manner of Christ's teaching is its substance, that is, what He taught. He spent no time on trifles, but dealt with great subjects only—would that all preachers had done the same! His parables and other discourses are simply incomparable and exhaustless. I envy you young men who Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen. 24 When Men See God B y ' TH E R T. R E V . TH E B I SH O P O F B A R KI N G K no wi n g therefore the fear of the Lord . . . wha t we are is known of God. 2 Corinthians 5:11, S.R.V. W E have come to this Convention hoping th a t we m ay me e t wi th God , and I would remind you that in the Bible when we read of men meeting with God, the result was fear. To choose two well-known instances: Isaiah's sixth chapter tells us of his great vision in the year that Uzziah died. He saw the Lord high and lifted up, and as a result he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And St. John. tells us of his vision, and says, "When I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead" (Rev. 1:17). When men see God, fear rises in their hearts — fear, reverence, and awe at the holiness of God; fear and shame as they recognise their own unworthiness, their sin. The vision of God brings a vision of ourselves: we see ourselves, in part, as God sees us We have come to hear the word of God at this Convention, but the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the very depths of our being—as the Revised Version' puts it, "to discover the thoughts and intents of the heart." All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. If our meeting with God is to be a genuine face to face meeting, there must come over us a mighty conviction of sin. We shall be hurt and humble and broken down before God, perhaps as never before. There must be this experience before we enter into the joy of our Lord. We have come away from the world to meet God in this holy place; to leave behind the strain and the stress of daily life, How l o v e l y i t i s to l e a v e b e hi n d th e w o rl d l y atmosphere which we usually have to breathe, and to meet together in the company of God's holy pe ople ! Yes! But we shall find our selves convicted of the very sins of the people of the world whom we have left behind, and we shall find that we are not God's holy people at all: we are unholy, unclean. Isaiah tells us that it was "in the year king Uzziah died"—that great king who had reigned for over half a century—it was in that setting that Isaiah waited upon God in a mood of anxiety concerning the future. Also, he looked back on the past, and as he thought of Uzziah there came the realisation that the king during the latter years of his life had been a leper, an unclean man, separated from his people. He had that horrible, foul disease; his flesh was rotting, foul to sight and smell. Though he had been a king, he was foul. Isaiah turned his eyes to the Holy One, and then, smitten by the Spirit of that holy God, he realised that he, Isaiah, was a leper in the sight of God. "Woe is me! for I am undone. I am a man of unclean, leprous lips; my lips are putrid. I, the prophet of God, speaking the word of God, I myself am unclean. Woe is me! for I am undone. I am cut off, I am stricken down, I can never speak the word of God again. I myself am a leper, unclean, What a terrible experience that was for Isaiah. He who had thought himself the holy prophet of God found himself leprous, sinful, unclean; never again, he thought, to be entrusted with God's message. A shattering experience. But that is the kind of experience that you and I need. In Romans 14:10, St. Paul reminds us that we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ; every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. In the verse immediately preceding our text from 2 Corinthians, he says the same kind of thing. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord .. ." This is the judgment of Christians. You and I as redeemed sinners, as Christians, must one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our work and service and character. If we will have the courage to judge ourselves now. there will be less cause for shame on that great day. 25 May I read to you some verses: And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (Heb. 12:5-7). Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous—how could it?—but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby (v. 11). I spoke just now of having the courage to judge ourselves. How are we to do that? Just a word of warning first—not by comparing ourselves with other people. That is a thing St. Paul warns us of in one passage; yet how liable we are to do it, to say, "I am not as bad as So-and-so." We say, "Thank God for that message. It fits Mrs. Brown. God has given the speaker just that message for that man over there." That is not so at all. That kind of thinking leads to pride and self-complacency, which God hates. There are far too many self-complacent Evangelicals about this country to-day. What we should do is compare ourselves with Jesus Christ: put ourselves, as it were, in the foreground against the background of His spotless purity. I sometimes illustrate it in this way. I once had a little white Highland terrier, and we used to keep him washed and brushed and cleaned and powdered. One night it snowed, and when we got up in the morning the snow had settled and the sun was shining. The garden was covered with a lovely carpet of snow, sparkling in the sun. Then I saw a dirty-looking dog walk across the snow! I said, "What is that dog doing there?" Then I saw it was my dog—my nice clean white dog. He was just as clean as he always had been, but I had never seen him before against that dazzling background of newly fallen snow. Have you ever seen yourself in the foreground against the background of that dazzling purity of Christ? You and I are called to be ambassadors of Christ, representing Him in a foreign land. The people of the foreign land judge the people of the land from which the ambassador comes, by the character and behaviour of the ambassador. People judge God by us. As children of God, we should be bearing a family likeness. Do we? Is there anything in us that reminds other people of Jesus Christ as we live amongst them? This is a terrible responsibility. Our Lord Himself gives it to us—to represent Him in the world; to reveal God to man. It is a terrible responsibility, and I wonder whether we realise how serious failure is? May I just cite one or two cases. One minister told me that when he tried to get into a factory in his parish he found the door closed. The men said, "We do not want religion. Look at our boss!" Their boss was a well known pious Evangelical. A clergyman said to me only the other day, "The work in my parish is hindered by Mr. So-andso, a farmer, a wealthy man, prominent in Christian work, but known in the village as a hard, mean man." Within a few days of each other I met two Billy Graham converts, graduates of a certain university. Both of them said more or less the same thing—"Since my conversion I have come to see that the theology of the Evangelical Union in that university is correct; but I find it hard to reconcile that theology with the lives and characters of the members of that Evangelical Union." You say, How terrible these instances are? Yes, but do you not think that in some sense it is true of you? Nathan came to David with the pathetic story of a rich man who had taken the one lamb of the poor man, and David in high indignation said, "The man who has done that, shall die." Nathan said, "Thou art the man." You are the man to whom God is speaking. There was a sinner among the Israelites in the days of Joshua, and God told Joshua to take the people tribe by tribe, group by group, family by family, man by man, and find out who he was. So we have that terrible picture of the great mass of the people, the tribe, the group, the family, the man—and God laid His hand on Achan. Jesus said to His disciples, "One of you shall betray me." They all replied, "Lord, is it I?" No; it could not be, surely. Judas said, "Is it I?" and Jesus gave him a sop. Being convinced of our sins—as, please God, we are—what are we going to do about it? If we confess it, it shall be forgiven. But what of the future? Some have been here to Keswick again and again, and have failed again and again. Are we going to continue as before, presuming on God's forgiveness? Remember Hebrews 10:26-31— For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth. no more sacrifice for sins, B ut a certain f earf u l lookin g f or of 26 Cross itself will become the place of our condemnation. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"; but it is also a wonderful thing, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Judgment and chastening lead to hope and to victory. Hosea tells us that the valley of Achor, that place where Achan had been stoned to death, becomes a door of hope. May I close by reading, without comment, a few words from Daniel 10— judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnessess: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctif ied, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? F o r we k n o w h im th a t h a t h s a i d, V enge an c e belo n geth un to m e, I wil l recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I Daniel was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength Amos 9:1 says. "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar": and then there follows from the altar words of terrible judgment upon God's people. The altar, the place of sacrifice and forgiveness. has become the place of judgment and punishment. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the place of forgiveness for the penitent sinner; but if we deliberately and wilfully, having seen our sin and seen the truth. still hold on to our sin and go on deliberately sinning in the same way, the Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself bef ore thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words .. . O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. 27 A Secret of the Victory Life BY CANON GUY H. KING Reckon . .. yourselves—Romans 6:11. IN his open ing prayer, th e Rev. W. W. Martin spoke as if we were about to enter the consulting room of a surgeon, willing to submit to whatever he directed. On such an occasion there are two things that normally happen—things that will happen here, I trust, with us this morning. In the first place, the surgeon will examine and probe, and will in due time perform the operation. He tells his patient that this must be done; then he proceeds to encourage the patient by saying that although this is a very serious thing it need not have happened, and it shall not happen again provided he goes the right way in the future. May it be that nothing I shall say shall in any sense rob this meeting of the seriousness which has come upon it as, through His servant. The divine surgeon has probed; but if you, my dear friends, are feeling disturbed and distressed, I want to say the second word, and tell you what you already know: that this condition into which you have come need never have happened; and I want to suggest to you from the precious Word that it need not happen again. Under the stress of your disturbance you seek to know what is to be done when you go down from this Convention and face life again; how are you to be sure that you will never get into the condition again ? I can tell you, because it is clear in the divine Book, in two words—"reckon . . . yourselves" (Rom. 6:11). If you and I, by the Hol y Spirit, will allow those two words to get a real hold of us, by the goodness of God we shall go down to do what we have been told, to "reckon ourselves," then we shall have learned the big lesson, and unto God's glory life shall be altered. Let me read two verses of this chapter— For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (vv. 10, 11). When you and I came to Christ, when He found us and in His sovereign grace brought us to Himself, a whole lot of amazing things happened; and one of the things that we 28 must always be thankful for is that from that moment God had a certain reckoning of us. Not just as the mass, but as the individual, God looks upon you and upon me and He reckons something concerning us; and you and I do so well if only we reckon as God reckons. I. THE DUTY OF IT. Do not miss the duty of it; for this reckoning is not something that is suggested—this is not a piece of advice: this is a commandment. "Reckon yourselves" is in the imperative mood, and God says that we are to do it. This is not something which we choose of ourselves: God says, "If you are children of mine you are to reckon yourselves . . ." Many times do we miss the significance of some of the things we are told because we do not realise that they are commands. "Be ye holy." If you and I are not holy, we are deliberately breaking the commandment of God. He is not suggesting that it would be excellent if we were holy, we must be holy: it is a command. When He says, "Love one another," that is not something for our choice or something which it would be very excellent to do; it is a command, we are to do it; and if we are not loving one another we are breaking the command of God, amongst other things. "Be filled with the Spirit." That is not something which is enjoined only upon the very high levels of Christians, it is for every single believer, and it is laid upon us ordinary folk as a specific order of God. You and I are to be filled with the Spirit. Not only is it an imperative mood, but it is also a present tense: that is to say, this matter is not something that is done once and for all, it is something that concerns every day, every emergency, every challenge. When to-morrow dawns, we are to reckon ourselves; when some great challenge comes to us, we are to reckon ourselves; when some emergency is upon us, as may very well happen during these days, we are to turn away from ourselves and we are to reckon ourselves— as I shall presently explain. You see the wording of it, and any believer here in this tent this morning who does not "reckon . . ." himself or herself is quite definitely out of the will of God—and we cannot do very much else until we have really satisfied this command. Moreover, you have perhaps come here dissatisfied with your past life, and if we do not learn the secret of reckoning ourselves we shall soon fall back into the same condition. Do you see the duty of it? II. THE DOCTRINE OF IT. Now, it is time that we got on to consider th e d o c tr in e of it, Wh at is th is "Reckon yourselves"? Let us seek to learn from the Scriptures that one of those amazing things I mentioned just now that happened to you and me when we were found of God was this: at that moment, and from that moment, we were identified with Christ. God looks upon every true believer as identified. with His dear Son. That is an amazing thing, but will you reckon on it? Think back to our text and you will see that there are three areas, if I may put it so, in which this reckoning is to be done. "Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Let us begin at that last phrase, for the word which is translated "through" is the very frequently used preposition "in," which I take here to imply its simplest idea, "reckon yourselves, not just through, but as in Christ Jesus our Lord." That means, reckon on your union with Christ; for that is how God reckons—He reckons you as joined up with His Son; reckons you as one to whom happened all that happened to His Son. What an amazing thing! There it stands in the Word; and we have so often reminded one another that it is one of the favourite themes given to Paul by the Holy Spirit, that nothing comes to a believer—nothing of privilege, of blessing —but that it is "in Him." Because we are identified with Him, if we can reckon on our union with Christ it is ours. Let us go on: in the second place we have to reckon on our crucifixion with Him. God reckons that what happened on the Cross to His Son is put to our account, and God looks upon you and me as crucified with Him. You remember Paul's words in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ." There came a moment in your life, when you began to realise something of that wondrous truth; you learned it perhaps from the Old Testament sacrifices—you learned there something of the sin offering, picture an d t y pe o f H im wh o w as f o r e ve r and completely that offering for sin; you recalled in that story how the offerer came in all his 29 sin and placed his hands upon the victim and there confessed his sin, and God reckoned that what happened to that victim was accounted to the offerer. We have sung: My faith would lay her hand On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin and, taking it on to Calvary, I have been crucified with Him. So you can reckon upon His crucifixion; you can reckon yourself as dead unto sin. Now, that is a reality; it is not just a makebelieve, but something that God reckons as true. So may you and I. There were two sisters' who had been very gay in the world and whose great pleasure was to attend all sorts of excitements. One day they were gloriously converted to God. The next morning they had an invitation to one of these evenings. They read the invitation, and at the bottom it said "R.S.V.P." This is what they wrote: "The Misses So-and-so thank Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so for their kind invitation. They are sorry that they are not able to accept, because they both died yesterday." I do not think that was very tactful, but it was mighty true! they did; so did you— and you know that a temptation is no temptation to a dead person. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin," Reckon on your union with Christ, reckon on your crucifixion with Christ, and now reckon on your resurrec tion with Chr is t. "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord"—alive unto God. You have dwelling within you a Christ who lives in you. Going back to Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live . . . and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, a n d g a v e H i m s e l f f o r m e. " A s P a u l h a s it in his prayer, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection" (Phil. 3:10). His resurrection—life abiding within us, that He may do it. Much of our trouble is that we want to do it, that we think we can do it, and in our great moments of the Convention we shall persuade ourselves it is all right, when so easily, if trusting ourselves, we may go back to the old ways and the old conditions; but if we reckon that, tied up to Christ, He does it, then we have learned the secret of the victory life. Years ago, before there was any wireless to give us quick news of events, and we had to depend more or less on word of mouth if we wanted to know what had happened, I was one day waiting on the platform of Fratton station, just outside Portsmouth, for a train. While I was waiting another train came in, and there got out a lot of men who turned out to be members of the Portsmouth Football Club. They had been playing an away match. I noticed a small boy, more privileged than most, run up to one of the members of the Club and ask a question, the answer to which caused his little face to break out in a beaming smile, When he darted off the platform I followed him into the station courtyard, where were gathered a company of his pals. As he ran I heard him say, "We've won, we've won." What had he to do with it? Listen—we've won! The battle has been fought, the opposition has been overcome, we enter into the victory of the conquering Christ: but what have we done? Nothing. We reckon ourselves as God reckons us, along with Christ. My dear friends, if there is something on which God has put His finger, go out from this tent, and in dealing with it say over and over in your mind, "We've won." III. THE DOING OF IT. To go back: having seen the duty of it, and the doctrine of it, there is the doing of it. In the purpose of God. doctrine always ends in doing. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them"—and in the doing, we shall know the truth of the doctrine. This identification we have spoken of: act as if it were true, and you will soon find that it is true. For instance, in the face of some temptation, don't try to fight it, but reckon yourself as "dead to sin"—dead people don't sin. In the presence of some challenge —perhaps to do some work for God—don't withhold your service, because of a sense of your own insufficiency, but reckon yourself as "alive unto God," with the resurrection power of the indwelling Christ, and you will find all your adequacy, for His glory. 30 The Christian's Attitude Toward Sin BY DR. WILLIAM CULBERTSON. 0 ye that love Jehovah, hate evil.—Psalm 97:10. Abhor that which is evil.—Romans 12:9. NE of the dangers against which we as Christians have to guard is that we O shall grow accustomed to sin. The peril is Indeed, they are to be f ro wned upon — especially in others. However, any spiritually sensitive soul recognizes that there are those forms of evil which are necessarily abhorrent and from which we turn away in disgust. On the other hand, many of us take the position that the more refined motions of sin are excusable. I make bold to utter this statement in view of the fact that we have many sayings, many sentences, which indicate this attitude. While I cannot speak with authority so far as your own country is concerned, I am quite sure that, human nature being what it is, it isn't too different from that which we find in Christian circles in America. Have you ever heard statements like these, or a reasonable facsimile of the same?—"Well, I'm not perfect." "After all, I'm human." "You see, some allowance has to be made." "You understand I wouldn't want to be branded as prudish." And very often we hear: "I'm not a saint." And the tragedy of that last statement is that it doesn't need to be said! But all of these assertions add up to excusing sin. They manifest a lack of spirituality, a lack of knowledge, a lack of courage for God. Now, I would remind you that the more we adopt this attitude of extenuating sin, the greater are the sins which we shall ultimately excuse. The tendency is always to minimize more and more. The man who justifies a white lie will ultimately condone a black lie, providing no repentance occurs. And the man who regards bitterness and rancour as quite legitimate will ultimately find some excuse for murder—give him time enough in his evil. Here, then, is truly a perilous practice, and I believe God would have us on our guard lest we brand ourselves as fools because we mock at and make light of sin. But let us turn to our second consideration. What will meet our need? What will help us so that we shall not be guilty of excusing sin? There is a familiar verse in the Word of God. It reads like this: "Thy Word have I laid up in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (Psalm 119: 11). There is the answer clearly that we shall become so used to sin, that our spiritual sensitiveness to that which is ungodly will become dulled by the repeated practice of evil. Sin, then, becomes taken for granted. This principle of becoming used to something that formerly shocked us may be illustrated as follows: What one of us, trained in the refinements of the etiquette of a past generation, would not be shocked to see a cultured woman walking down the street, brazenly smoking a cigarette. Yet, when it is done—and I admit with shame that it is done in America—there is the possibility that familiarity with the sight will lessen our disgust and revulsion toward the practice. Alas, I am afraid that that result is true in America. Now, just so it is with sin. We can get accustomed to it; we can become complacent about it; so that somehow or other it loses its heinousness in our sight. It seems to me that God's call to-day is to an abhorrence of sin—all sin—all kinds of sin. And, let us remember, whatsoever the Lord cannot put His seal of approval upon, that is sin. There are three things which I would like to call to your attention to-day. Let us think first of all about the practice of excusing sin. Then, in the second place, let us consider that which will help us so that we shall not excuse sin. And finally, let us look at certain considerations which ought to do much for us in giving us the holy abhorrence of sin which we should have. First, the popular but perilous practice of excusing sin. The preacher, in Proverbs 14:9, said, "Fools make a mock at sin." To laugh at sin, to make light of 'sin, is to be branded a fool. Yet when we excuse sin, when for one reason or another we become so used to sin that it no longer is abhorrent to us, we surely are guilty of making light of sin. Now most of us will agree, I am quite sure, that the gross forms of evil are to be avoided. 31 and simply given. We need the Word of God to give us clear insight into what sin is. You see, it is the Word of God that reveals sin for what it is. The Word of God designates sins. You cannot read in either the Old or New Testament very long without seeing those specific evils which God proscribes for His children. They are specifically named. Lists of them are given to us in the Bible. But not only so, we also discover in the Word of God great principles enunciated which will help us to understand what sin is, and what is sin. When God says that whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Ram. 14:23), when He says sin is lawlessness (I John 3:4), we understand that unbelief and rebellion are necessarily always sin whatever the particular form that they may take. And, further, the Word of God gives us classic living examples by setting before us men and women who have done that which met with God's approval; indeed, it has also set before us the bad examples of men, so that we shall know what to avoid as well as that which meets' with God's approbation. Therefore, it is necessary for the child of God who will not excuse sin, to live in the Word of God. Only thus will his spiritual vision not become dim. You see, the darkness of the world reacts adversely upon our sight. and it is the Word of God that will restore our vision, will correct our distorted view, will rectify to proper proportion our perspectives. If we are to preserve our spiritual perception, if we are to continue to be aware of what sin is and what is sin, we must spend much time in fellowship with the Lord. This is no new story to you. It involves prayer. It involves meditation upon the Word of God. It involves the joyful embracing of all the means of grace which God puts at our disposal, that we may be the kind of Christians He wants us to be. Yes, it is the clear white light of eternity shining from the Word of God which shows to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin. This story is an old one, but it is reported that a famous artist, who was well known for the living colours which he was able to put on canvas, was asked one day how it was that he could paint in such vibrant colours. The s e c re t w a s t h a t h e k e p t a c o l l e c t i o n o f precious gems, jewels of infinite perfection. Whenever he wanted to paint a particular kind of red, he would look at a choice ruby until the ima ge of it filled his mind and touched his heart. Or if it was a specific kind of green, it was a choice emerald that he feasted his eyes upon, and when all other colours were driven from his reflection he would put on canvas the thing that had entered his mind and soul. So it is that you and I m u s t re a d the Wa rd o f G o d . We m u s t believe it. We must obey it. And as we do, God Himself will make plain what honours Him and what dishonours Him. Now let us turn to certain considerations which ought to help to give us this holy abhorrence for sin about which the Word of God s pe ak s . We re co g ni ze a t the o u tse t tha t nothing less than the presence and power of the risen, ascended, and indwelling Christ can break sin's power in our lives. But this living Christ has given to us in His Word certain facts which ought to do much to make us hate sin. Let me point first of all to the toll which sin exacts in this life. There are some sins which are evident going before to judgment (I Tim. 5:24). The evidences of sin are sometimes quite discernible. They are to be seen on one's physical person. They are the marks of shame. There are the pock marks o f s in. The re a re the ha rd c rue l l i ne s o f iniquity. But I would remind you that all sin leaves its indelible mark, for sin saps vitality. Physically I have seen the fresh and whole some beauty of a young woman changed into the artificial beauty that really isn't beauty. Smiles that are displaced by the hard lines of sin. Yes, and I have seen young men lose their manliness and their vit ality as they became the dupes of the devil. I have seen strong men, men of power, who through lust, through appetite, through passion, have had their keen minds changed so that they were dullards and worthless. While I grant that this contemplation of what sin actually does may not take away our desire to do the thing that hurts, nevertheless it raises a flag of warning that only the most foolish will pass by. So m e y e a rs a g o , wh i l e a s tu d e nt i n a theological seminary, I had a teacher who used a phrase which I have never been able to forget. One day he spoke about the consequences of forgiven sin. In a new way I realized that when a Christian sins, while through confession he may be restored to fellowship, while through restitution he may in some measure rectify the damage which he has done by his example, nevertheless there are certain results which inevitably follow and inexorably go on. There are certain consequences of sin that cannot be arrested. There are certain sins which, once committed, set up a cycle of events which just cannot be stopped. Ofte n we talk about the Lord restoring the years which the locusts have eaten. And there is no question but that He does. However, we sometimes let that consideration blind us to the fact that in the government of God (God's providence is conducted on moral principles) there are certain powers once released that cannot wholly be 32 restrained. What about that idle tale of gossip? What about the malice that burns in the heart? What about that bitterness of tongue that shows in the scathing denunciatory malevolent speech that falls from the lips? What about that hate fulness of actions, actions which hurt and crush? What about the child born out of wedlock? What about the flagrant breaking of the seventh com mandment? And to say nothing of the reaction so far as the sinner himself is concerned, what about the force of his example? How many are those that have to cry, "Oh that I could only undo the thing I've done!" How that for the passing and fleeting thrill of a few minutes a life of honour, or of purity, or of kindness has been marred. It is true beyond all controversy that by their very nature some sins sow seeds of sorrow—mental, physical, and spiritual—and these seeds grow into a terrible harvest. Yes, sometimes God graciously removes some of the effects and other times He does not. I know Christian workers whom God is using who still suffer from the sins of their past. They are forgiven, nevertheless there are certain inevitable results of the life that the y once lived. Now it seems to me that these facts about which we have been thinking should give us pause when we are tempted to sin. I do not suppose that there is any more vivid example of the consequences of forgiven sin than that of David, There is no question that God forgave David his great sin. A mere reading of the historical passage in 2 Samuel 12 and the autobiographical passage of Psalm 32 proves beyond any question that Da vid 's s i n w as b lo tte d ou t. Bu t wa i t a minute. Look at the consequences of his sin in the force of his example which could not be erased. You will remember that God said that the sword would not depart from his house, and it did not. Let us never lose sight of the fact that God deals with us for the sake of others as well as for the benefit of ourselves; therefore there are certain consequences to what we do amiss. Remember David? The child of David and Bathsheba died. Would David commit adultery? Then his son Amnon would follow his fathe r's example. Would David have Uriah killed? Then Absalom, his son, would follow his example. Would David rebel against God? Then he would know the rebellion of his son Absalom. Oh, my dear friends, see the awful consequences, the fear, the morbidity, the guilt for ourselves; the possible suffering and disaster for others that follow in the wake of sin. Who can undo the suffering of a mother or of a 33 father in the face of a son's rebellion? Who can remedy the grief caused a good wife by a drunken, unfaithful husband? Who can undo the crime against posterity and the broken bodies of children whose whole life has been marred because of the sin of parents? Who can overcome the bitterness, the misunderstanding, the unnecessary divisions that follow when one Christian gossips about another? As Dr. Campbell Morgan has said, so often our Lord still has to go around picking up the ear of a Malchus, putting it back again after that His disciples lash out with their small swords and wound those who should not be wounded. I repeat that if these considerations do not eradicate temptation, at least they bid us stop and consider. But let us turn to another consideration that ought to help to give us a holy abhorrence for sin. See the penalty which sin exacts in hell. I don't suppose there are any more terrifying words spoken of hell than those that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus when He said, "There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13:42. 50). Here we behold that to which sin ultimately leads. Here we see it in its final phase, which mean s, of course, eternal disaster. Because I believe the Word of God I say, See sin in its awful and terrifying aspect. See what it leads to. Hear the demons' glee, and the mutterings, the sepulchral groanings, the shouts and the curses of the doomed and the condemned. "Sin, my sin, my sin," they shout with faces blanched white in terror, with faces twisted into hideous shapes by suffering, with bodies writhing in anguish and torment. Is sin a light thing? Is sin something with which to be trifled? By every contorted upturned face from the lake of fire, by every stooped writhing body, by every blasphemous shout that reverberates through the halls of perdition, by every baleful and malevolent cry of the demons, by every hopeless and dejected sob of the lost, sin is a terrible thing. Sin is a hateful thing. Sin is a soul scarring, a soul defiling, and a soul condemning thing! As we close, think with me of a third consideration, and if we remain unmoved before what has been said, may God make us spiritually sensitive and may God help us as we wa l k o n thi s ho l y g r o u nd to ha ve a n abhorrence for sin. Let us consider the awful cost of our redemption, the harrowing anguish of our Lord as He paid the penalty of sin. James Montgomery wrote, With forbidden pleasures Would this vain world charm; Or its sordid treasures Spread to work me harm; Bring to my remembrance Sad Gethsemane, Or in darker semblance Cross-crowned Calvary. which to be trifled? Every stripe welt upon His back, every livid bruise upon His blessed face, every thorn prick upon His brow, every nail wound upon His hands and feet, every taunt and curse He bore, every indignity He suffered to that moment when the soldier thrust his spear through His side—all, all cry out that sin is a terrible thing; sin is a hateful thing; sin is an awful thing. So God says, "Oh ye that love Jehovah, hate evil," and again, "abhor that which is evil." I dare not close without just this simple word. You say, "I'm convicted of sin. I have been playing fast and loose with the Lord. I have been wilfully disobedient, but God's Spirit in faithfulness has convicted me." Well then, my dear friend, God says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). So make your confession in deep penitence and love for the Lord Jesus. Make right what you can. And then, above all, thank God through the blood of Christ that cleanseth us from all sin. The six hours of excruciating pain, of unbearable agony, of incalculable suffering when He bore in His body our sin on the tree, are trenchant witnesses to the heinousness of sin. When there was no other way, when salvation could be found through no other expedient, God was willing to let His Son pay this price. Oh, behold the terribleness of sin. See the awfulness of iniquity. My sin: my covetousness, my hypocrisy, my bitterness and malevolence, my outbreaking perversity, my prayerlessness, my godlessness, my iniquity, my rebellion, nailed Him to that accursed tree. May God engrave it. yea, may He burn it deep into our minds and hearts that that is what sin cost. Oh may God give us to hate the thing that hurt our Saviour. How can we look on that cross and think that sin is a light thing, is a thing with 34 The Relevance of the Law to Christian Life BY THE REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, God spoke all these words.—Exodus 20:1. H ARRINGAY has taught us. among many other things, the relevance of the law of God to our generation. As sermon after sermon was preached on the Ten Commandments, the Spirit of God drove the ploughshare of the law through thousands of hearts, to prepare them for the seed of the Gospel. This is the first proper use of the law. It is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to reveal to us that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, but by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. But if that is the first use of the law, it is not its only use. As Calvin put it, "We are justified by faith alone, but the faith which justifies is never alone." The old covenant said, "Do, and live." The new covenant says, "Believe, and live, and do." The Lord Jesus Himself had a good deal to say about the law, but never did He say that He had set it aside, as many people seem to think. As a means of justification, yes, for ever set aside; but as a rule of life for believers—never! On the contrary, He said, `Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matt. 5:17). Lest anyone should think that these words did not apply to this dispensation, He added, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (v. 18). And lest anyone should say that He was not referring to the Decalogue, He went on, in the context, to quote from the Ten Commandments, and to say, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven" (v. 19). And lest anyone should suggest that He referred only to imputed righteousness, and not also to imparted righteousness, He went on further to warn, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven" (v. 20). And lest anyone should under-estimate the far-reaching application of the law of God, He went on in 35 that same chapter to reveal its true spiritual interpretation. As we approach this holy law, let us remember not only what Jesus had to say about it, but also that Almighty God Himself "spake all these words" in the most solemn circumstances ever witnessed by human eyes. He founded His demand for obedience, firstly, on His own divine sovereignty—"I am the Lord thy God." Secondly, on the fact that His words were addressed to a sovereignly redeemed people—"which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt." If you have been brought "out of the land of Egypt," these words declare God's standard of life for you; and by them you must examine your life, as in the sight of God. The first Table of the law concerns our relationship to God; and the second, our relationship to our neighbour. Between them they cover the whole of our lives. The first commandment defines the object of our worship—"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Please do not attempt to relegate this commandment to the formally polytheistic religions. Our "gods" are the people, the things, or the occupations which mean most to us, and which occupy most of our thought, and time, and energy. Many of us, by this definition, are polytheists. More of us are monotheists than polytheists; but alas, our god is self. For every thought we give to God, we give a hundred to ourselves— to our enjoyment, our comfort, our reputation. Is it not true to say that many of us think far more, for example, of our personal appearance than we do of God's glory— judging by the time we spend in dressing ourselves, by the thought we put into displaying ourselves to the best advantage, by the money we spend on clothes and personal adornments? Not only are we not worshipping God ourselves, but we are seeking to divert the worship of others from Almighty God to ourselves. Physical comfort, both external and internal, usurps the throne of God in many lives—more perhaps than we realize. Food and sleep and ease claim for many of us far more than their fair share of attention. How often do the cosy blankets and the easy chair keep us from the place of prayer and the call of service? Prayer with fasting is little known in the Evangelical Church to-day, not because it is unscriptural—it was practised long after Pentecost—but because it is uncomfortable. "Many walk," said Paul, "of whom I tell you, even weeping, whose god is their belly, who mind earthly thin gs" (Ph il. 3:19). Othe r Christians cheerfully make great sacrifices of time and energy and even personal comfort, and engage with great zeal in Christian work. But, if we knew their motives as God knows them — and I examine my own heart — how often is the actuating principle in all those sacrifices not the glory of God alone, but the lust to stand high in the estimation of men? They, too, worship themselves. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." God spake these words. The second commandment concerns the nature of our worship—"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . ." The essence of this commandment is that our worship of God must be spiritual, not sensual. - God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4: 24). Our conception of God , then, must be a true conception. We must worship God as He is, and not just as we "image" -ine Him to be. Many of us worship a "god" of our own creation, which bears little resemblance, if any, to "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy" (Isa. 57: 15). We do so, because it is much easier to do so. Frankly, we are so lazy that we will not take the time or trouble, through study of the Scriptures, to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the true nature and character of the glorious Being whom we profess to worship. But Almighty God will not be thus degraded into any identification with such a creature of our own "imagine"-ation, which we have "m a de u n to ou rse l ve s ." S o o u r wo rs hi p degenerates into "idol"-atry, because it is offe re d to a me ntal idol of our human conception. Secondly, this commandment condemns all worship which is sensual in character—that is, worship which merely gratifies the senses, as an image gratifies the eyes, but leaves the life unchanged. How often we come o ut of a service feeling tremendously stirred, either by what we have seen, or heard, or felt. But, as the true test of the value of a service is the permanent effect it produces in our lives, if that service does not result in a holier life we have been merely gratifying our animal senses — and that, in the name of God —which is idolatry . We he ard a be autiful choir this afternoon, I wonder what permanent difference it is going to make to your life and mine? Our senses were stirred, we were thrilled with the singing and the moving words. Will it prove to have been a true service of worship, or an afternoon's idolatry? "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image . . " God spake these words. The third commandment shows us the manner of our worship—"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain . ." True, it prohibits blasphemy, swearing, and perjury; but it includes far more than that. It means that never, never must we take the holy name of God upon our lips, in worship or in conversation, without a due sense of reverence for His majesty and glory. The Jews had such a high regard for the sacred name of Jehovah that they never used it, but substituted other names. Yet how lightly and flippantly we Christians often take the name of God upon ou r l ips ! I n add i tion, e ve ry ti me we i n sincerely confess our sins, every time we insince rely sing a hymn, every time we insincerely give thanks to God, we take His name in vain. Every time, as professing Christians, we live inconsistently with our profession, we take God's name in vain. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain . . ." God spake these words. The fourth commandment declares the time of our worship—"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy . . ." The institution of the sabbath is one of the primal laws of God, and goes back to the Creation itself. Charles Si me on wro te : "Some have thoug ht the sabbath to be a mere Jewish institution which, like the rest of the ceremonial law, is abrogated and annulled. There was something ceremonial about the Jewish sabbath, we readily acknowledge; but there was something moral also; and therefore, as to the moral part of it, it must, of course, be of perpetual obligation. It was in the appropriation of a seventh part of our time, that the morality of the sabbath consisted: and that is preserved under the Christian, as well as under the Je wi s h e co no m y ." Tho u gh the d a y wa s changed, to commemorate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the obligation to keep it holy has never been annulled. Have you always devoted those sacred hours to rest in the presence of God, to worship, to prayer, to Christian service; or have you allowed yourself to be infected with the spirit of the age? Oh, I am appalled at times to find the number of professing Christians who work on the Lord's day—students who study, and others who work in other ways on God's day. Playing polo is not the only way of desecrating the Lord's day. Equally well may it be violated 36 by gardening, or novel-reading, or otherwise is murder in the eyes of God. This morning I a letter "fi n d i n g o u r o w n p l e ahad sureto" write — wha te ve rof apology, as God convicted me of an incident particular form it might —instead last take October when I of felt a spirit of resentment toward someone. My attitude a Christ -like attitude. I did not love that person "delighting ourselves in the Lord."was Hownot many as my neighbour, and the letter of apology had to go before I dared times have we broken this law? "Remember to itspeak theGod sixth commandment. God branded me as a the sabbath day, to keep holy on . . ." murderer. Are you? "Thou shalt not kill." God spake these words. spake these words. The seventh commandment concerns our Now we turn briefly to the second Table, neighbour's chastity—"Thou shalt not commit w h ic h con ce rns ou r re la tio ns hip to ou r adultery." From the Master's own interpretaneighbour. tion of this commandment, in Matthew 5:27, The fifth commandment concerns our neigh28, we know that this crime is not limited to bour's honour—in other words, our attitude the physical act, but applies equally to the to our ne ighbour himself. Explicitly, the secret thought. Is there one at this Convention fifth commandment deals with our relationship who would not almost die of humiliation if to our parents; but even in that limited everybody else in this tent were to know, as application, have we always obeyed this comGod knows, the number of times that he. or m a n d me n t? Ne x t i n i m p o rta n c e o nl y to she, has committed that crime in heart—who worshipping God aright, is honouring our would not pray for the very ground to open parents aright. In the days of our minority, and swallow him up? Oh, how we need daily their commands to us are as the commands of to "make a covenant with our eyes" (Job God. Have we always obeyed them from the 31:1). God spake these words. heart? Have we always sought to please them The eighth commandment concerns our as we would Him? I wonder. Though with neighbour's property—"Thou shalt not steal." maturity comes the responsibility of discovering More flagrant breaches of this commandment, the will of God for ourselves, never --to our such as non-payment of debts, the nondying day—are we released from the return of borrowed property, the nonresponsibility of honouring our parents. I think that one of the scandals of our age is declaration of dutiable goods, and the falsifying of income tax returns, are too the multiplication of old people's homes. Thank obvious to require comment. Although they God for the provision for the destitute, and for are the most obvious, the y are by no what the homes mean to them, but there are me ans the most common breaches of this many in them who should never be there. Their commandment. Unpunctuality and children have written them off, and inefficiency; the acceptance of money sometimes never even bother to visit them. without adequate return in work or kind; and "Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy conversely, the acquisition of property without days may be long in the land which the Lord adequate payment—the attitude so neatly thy God giveth thee." Though this commandment expressed by Solomon in Proverbs 20 : 14, deals explicitly with our relationship to our "It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer: parents, implicitly it affects our relationship with all whom God has set in authority over us—in but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth2" All this is stealing in the eyes of school or college, in factory or office, in God. Unfaithful stewardship of God's money church or state. Have we always sought to is embezzlement in the eyes of God. "Thou please them, and humbly honoured them as shalt not steal." God spake these words. God's representatives; or have we broken this, The ninth commandment concerns our too, "the first commandment with promise"? God neighbour's reputation—"Thou shalt not bear spake these words. false witness against thy neighbour." Many The sixth commandment concerns our neighwho would never dream of blowing the safe, bour's life—"Thou shalt not kill." Murder is or rifling the till, do not scruple to rob a man the subject of this commandment; but not or a woman of that which is infinitely more only the murder that is committed with the precious than silver or gold: "that which is knuckle-duster, or the knife, or the gun, but rather to be chosen than great riches," says also the murder that is committed with the So l o mo n — hi s g ood na me . H o w o fte n b y tongue and with the heart. Jesus showed, in silence when we should have spoken, we have Matthew 5:21-26, that all feelings of causeless borne false witness against our neighbour. anger, and all uncontrolled expressions of speech, How often, when we have spoken, we have are species of the same genus as murder. St. John says, "He that loveth not his brother embellished the story just that little bit. How abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his often we have imputed false motives to others. brother is a murderer" (I John 3:14, 15). Not How often we have passed judgment without only is hating a person murder in the eyes of God, but not truly loving a person 37 37 knowing all the facts. In each and every case we have broken the ninth commandment. "Thou shalt not bear false witness . . ." God spake these words. The tenth commandment is, "Thou shalt not covet . . ." This commandment is even more searching than any of the others. As Simeon points out, the others deal explicitly with the external acts; this goes implicitly to the innermost thoughts of the heart. God says, in effect, that anyone who is dissatisfied with his own lot, or who envies the lot of another, breaks this commandment. The very first rising of the covetous thought is itself sin: the coveting, the desire—not the indulgence only, but the desire itself. This was the commandment that slew Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee, and brought him to his knees before God, a convicted sinner (Rom. 7:7). As we survey these commandments before an all-seeing God, ought we, too, not to be prostrated in the dust, seeking pardon and cleansing through the Saviour's blood? One last word. We must remember that the enormity of an offence varies with the station of the person against whom it is committed. To strike the Queen would be a very much more serious offence than to strike a commoner. Therefore, if we are rightly to assess, not only the number, but also the magnitude of our sins, we must take into account the infinite majesty of the One against whom they have all been committed. Every single violation of every commandment, in thought, or word, or deed, is nothing less than a direct and personal insult to the authority and majesty of Almighty God Himself, for we are expressly told that— “God Spake all these words.” 38 The Withered Hand BY THE REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. IN a sense I do not feel that my purpose is to say anything further, but rather in the closing moments to try to bring before you the implications of what God has already said. As I have been wondering what might be God's word, I found an incident brought to my mind. We have it recorded in St. Matthew and St. Mark and St. Luke, and I want to take the record of it in the third chapter of St. Mark, where we read these words: "He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand." As God laid this story upon my heart for to-night's closing message, I think we might bring the words of the text right up-to-date, and say, "There is a man here with a withered hand"—or it may be a woman. I want to divide this message very simply into two parts. First we shall think of the significance of the hand that was withered, and then the story of the hand that was healed. May God grant that this tent to-night may be the place where withered hands become healed hands. I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HAND THAT WAS WITHERED. When we turn to the Bible we find that the hand is associated with certain aspects of Christian experience. I am going to touch on only three, and the first concerns fellowship. In Galatians 2:9, Paul records that Peter and James and John gave to Barnabas and himself "the right hand of fellowship," and Luke's account of this incident tells us that it was the right hand of this man that was withered. This withered hand therefore speaks to me of a life where ( 1 ) T h e B o n d o f F e l l o ws h i p h a s b e e n Broken. That hand that could and should have been held out in a living and loving grasp of Christian fellowship, is hanging lifeless and powerless and withered at your side. Is the bond of fellowship broken between you and another Christian? It may be that you are a missionary on furlough, and this last t e r m o f s e rv i c e h a s b e en a t r a g i c a l l y u n h a p p y o n e . Th e b o nd o f f e l l o w sh i p has been broken between you and a fellow-missionary on the station, and at home the council of your society are planning to move taw you on your next term of service to another station. You yourself call it incompatibility of temperament, instead of a lack of humility and an unwillingness to forgive what God has long ago forgiven and forgotten. You are here in this tent to-night, a man, a woman, with a hand that is withered—the bond of fellowship is broken. But the hand in Scripture speaks not only of fellowship, but also of prayer. In 1 Timothy 2:8 we read, "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands"; and again in Exodus 17:11, 12, "It came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy: and Aaron and Hur . . . stayed up his hands .. . and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." Yes, his hands were weary hands, but they weren't withered hands! Here, I wo uld suggest that the withered hand speaks, not only of a life where the bond of fellowship is broken, but where— (ii) The Place of Prayer is Forsaken. The hands that once were lifted in prayer, are no longer lifted. It may be that I am speaking to a brother minister, and you remember the days of your early ministry—perhaps before you were ordained—when every message that you brought to the people was soaked in prayer, and every time you went into your pulpit you went from your knees., and you took with you a message that had been lifted up to God in prayer. But those hands that were lifted up in prayer so often are withered hands to-day. You do not any longer go from your knees to your pulpit. And, almost incredible as it sounds, it is true that in your ministry the place of prayer is forsaken. A man with a withered hand! Hands have one more association that I want to touch on, and that is, of course, with service. "No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom"—and scores more references suggest that the hand is symbolical of service. But what kind of a service can a withered hand give? Here, it seems to me, the withered hand speaks of— (iii) A Field of Service which is Barren. That may come far closer to many of us who are not ministers, not missionaries, but members of countless churches and chapels, missions and assemblies, Here we are to-night, men and women with withered hands. For all the years of your Christian life, you have almost nothing to show. Is it because of a lack of sensitiveness, gone from those withered hands? We are busy; we are workers; with so much clumsy and bungling activity, that only results in hurting people. We call it keenness, we call it service, we call it witness, we call it work; but it is the touch and the fumbling and the blundering and the clumsiness of a hand from which all sensitiveness has gone; and the fields of service are barren for you. Or is it a lack of attractiveness? That withered hand, deformed, twisted, caloused. Why, with hands like that, with a touch like that, with an approach like that, people only shrink from our hands. "There was a man there with a withered hand." The bond of fellowship broken; the place of prayer forsaken; the field of service barren. There was a man there that day. There is a man here to-night, and my dear brother, you are a man with a withered hand. And then, very simply— II. THE STORY OF THE HAND THAT WAS HEALED. And here may God in His wonderful way and wisdom and grace, gather up whatever this day has meant to you, whatever spiritual disability God has revealed to your heart and mine, may God gather all that into our mind and thought now, as we think for a moment of the story of the hand that was healed. (i) A Cond ition that Could No t be Concealed. That withered hand was (a) a. subject of comment by his friends. They talked about it. I wonder if some of us su ffer f rom a spiritual disability which is a subject of comment by our friends? When they talk about us, is it about our hand that is withered? They don't talk to us about it. Would to God they did! But they talk about us. It may very well be that your name is quite frequently talked about in a certain circle, and the one topic that they talk about you more than any other, is the withered hand. They all know about it; they all see it. We cannot hide it. It was the object of comment by his friends. I believe also it was (b) to himself the object of c on c e r n . He kn ew th at h is h and was withered; and my dear Christian, if this day has meant anything at all to you and to me, I am convinced of this, that you know that you have a withered hand. You know it now. You may have known it for a very, very long time, To begin with it distressed you; but you have become so accustomed to it now that you have almost forgotten about it, and on this the first day of the Convention somehow or other you have become conscious once again of the spiritual weakness of your life, the spiritual disability that is crippling your service. As you sit listening, not to me but to God, you are concerned, because you know that you have a withered hand. The object of comment by his friends; the object of concern to himself; and (c) the object of compassion by Christ. And oh, my dear Christian friends, if you are concerned about your withered hand, Christ is far more concerned. The condition that could not be concealed from our friends, from ourselves, from our blessed Lord; a withered hand. Then I read here of— (ii) A Challenge that Could Not be Evaded. And may God indeed speak to our hearts now, or I find that this man faced a tremendous challenge that day, and the challenge lay first of all in the fact that (a) the approach was personal. "Jesus said to the man." And if this Convention is to mean anything at all, it will be challenging to us in that we shall find, and I trust have already found, that here in this crowd we hear the words of God speaking to us as directly and as personally as if we were quite alone with Him. The approach was personal. The thing that is the concern of Christ is just this, that you have a withered hand. The approach was personal. and (b) the admission was humbling. You see, Christ said to this man, "Rise, and stand forth in the midst." It is one thing to have a withered hand, but it is another thing to display it before others. The size of the company before which you may be asked to display your withered hand may not be large, For this man, it was the congregation in the synagogue that day. For you, the size of the audience before which you are to stand forth and display the withered hand, may be an audience limited to three—yourself, one other, and the Lord. But I do not know any experience more humbling than to stand forth and reveal the withered hand. It may even be that there is someone here to-night like the man and during this day you have discovered that Christ has been speaking to you. I wonder if' his first reaction, when he realised that Jesus Christ had picked him out of the crowd and was speaking to him, was to put that withered hand immediately and quickly behind his back? It may be that you have your withered hand behind your back. It may be that you are no stranger to Keswick. It may be that you have come to Keswick for years, and you know what Monday means at Keswick; you 40 know it is the time of heart-searching, you know it is the time when we as Christians seek honestly and humbly to face up the fact of spiritual disability and failure in our lives. You know where you have been keeping your withered hand all day. You have been keeping it deep in your pocket, and you have been determined not to bring it out. No one, you made up your mind, shall know that you have a withered hand. Why? You are a Christian of some standing. You would not for the world admit that your hand is withered— although your friends talk about it such a lot. The admission was humbling, but, oh (c) the authority was divine. We have discovered already that we are not here to listen to addresses: we are not here to listen to men. You and I are here in order that we might hear the one thing needful, and that is the voice of Christ; that we might hear what God has to say—not what I have to say, not what ministers have to say, not what speakers have to say, but what God has to say. When God speaks, He speaks with an authority that is divine. Jesus came to the man with the withered hand, and said, "Stand forth." I would like to think that in the secret, silent places of the heart, where no human voice can penetrate, in this great gathering here to-night, we may hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Stand forth." So we come finally and very briefly to— ( i i i ) T h e C o m m an d th a t C o u l d N o t b e Ignored. He said to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole." How impossible a request! Did the words "I can't" come to the man's lips? And is there someone here conscious of a withered hand? You are con scious of the fact that Christ is calling you to stand forth in honesty and sincerity and utter humility, to acknowledge your need and failure and disability; and when He says to you, "Stretch forth your hand," you reply, "I can't." How impossible a request; and how immediate a response— "And he stretched it forth." How instant a remedy—"And his hand was restored whole." The whole issue of this Convention may for many people turn upon a very simple thing. It will turn upon the question and the measure of our obedience; for obedience is the gateway to experience. It is no good putting a healing balm on to a wound that is not cleansed; so God would probe deeply In order that we might be willing to be obedient. You see, ignorance is not our problem. We know it all. Profession is not lacking, neither life; but obedience, portrayal, health—these are what we need. There is a man here who has a withered hand; and there is a woman here who has a withered hand. Jesus is saying to you and to me, "Stand forth, and stretch out your hand." Oh, dear fellow Christian, be honest, be humble, and be healed. Where is that hand that your friends know about and talk about, and that you know about? Christ wants to heal, and heal tonight. Shall we be quiet, in order that we might take to ourselves what God has had to say this day, and give to Him the obedience concerning the command, the willingness for which He waits; and let us take that withered hand out of its hiding place and stand forth humbly, and stretch it out, that where there has been deformity and disability there may come health and healing, through the power of our living Lord. The Nature and Consequence of Wilful Sin BY THE REV. T. M. BAMBER. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no longer a sin offering.—Hebrews 10:26. T has been rightly said that the subject of sin is the most difficult for the speakers I at Keswick, and I feel this difficulty par- Wilful sin is not so easily detected as we might think. It is because it is so subtle and so often obscured, that we have to be very careful about it: but its end is decisive. This chapter ends with faith to the saving of the soul; but it also speaks of drawing back unto perdition—the child of God going on in the light will move on to the shining light to the end of his days; but the man who goes back will be a burnt-out wreck. This chapter divides quite naturally into four parts. I shall refer to them as briefly as possible. The divisions are verses 1-18, 19-25, 26-31, and 32-39, and each has something to say on wilful sin. In the first section, which is my chief concern, you have a number of pronouns which may help you to understand a very complicated passage of Scripture, In verses 5 and 6 there is the pronoun "thou," and there we are told that God has no pleasure in sacrifices and burnt offerings. It was not possible that the blood of animals, bulls and goats, could put away sin. The reason why that is not possible is that the animals were helpless, unwilling victims. They were killed whether they liked it or not; it was not possible for the blood of animals to put away sin: God has no pleasure in that! The second pronoun is in verse 7—"1." said, Lo, I come." It is a quotation, as you know, from Psalm 40, in which David speaks. David desired to do the will of God; he recognized the supremacy of the will of God, but as you read through the Psalm you discover that he has no secret of deliverance, and at the end of the Psalm he is like a bird with a broken wing. The third pronoun is in verse 5. "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared me." That is the secret. "Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God," and the will of God for our blessed Lord was that He should come in a human body and live a human life, and live that life completely pleasing to God. even to bringing Himself to ticularly to-night as I bring to you this verse of Scripture, for it has the most grievous significance. Would you allow it to fall upon your ears as if it had never fallen upon them before? Every word in the verse is weighted with meaning. I could well desire that an angel were speaking on these words to-night, for no preacher can take these words as a text without feeling a desperate sense of his own sin and failure. If there is one concern which has to be dominant in the heart of a believer, it is that he is not to sin. "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" The answer of Paul is, "God forbid"; yet how easily we do it. In spite of all our meetings, even here in Keswick there h as been an uprush of thoughts, desires and passions in the heart. Of all the things we can do easily, sin is the easiest of all. How much we need to be exercised in the ways of divine grace. Wilful sin is serious: it is serious in itself, end it is most serious in its consequences. Wilful sin is not so much an individual act as an attitude of mind and heart on the part of a person who has professed faith in Jesus Christ. The backslider does not trouble very much about sin. He had his portion of goods—that is all he wants, and he will be tolerably content in the far country until there are issues between him and the Father. The carnal Christian assumes that his habits, views and opinions are tolerably correct; and he, too, is content until he faces some issue, perhaps at Keswick, where there has to be a transition from the plane of the carnal to the plane of the spiritual. The unsaved man is true to his own nature: all his actions and thoughts are self-impelled; he does not recognize the absolute sovereignty of the will of God. The Scriptures declare that he is dead in sin, and there is no hope for him until he knows, not so much the sins that he has committed, but his state as a sinner before God. , 42 recording machine into the bent, and afterwards I heard part of the address I had given played back. I was perfectly sure that it was not my voice, because it was altogether different. Then, when I heard some of the other speakers' voices, I was sure it was their voices—but they were equally sure it was not! One discovers that one does not know how one speaks; the tone of one's voice is not known. You preachers here to-night know how sometimes you have been misguided enough to feel that a certain message you were giving would be very profitable to Mr. X. You feel it will meet his need, even if he does not know it himself; and then the first man who comes up to you after the service is Mr. X., to thank you for a wonderful sermon, and you wonder how it was! These things are significant. There is not one of us who really knows how he or she stands in regard to wilful sin, unless of course we have seen clearly that our wills were welded, sanctified with the will of God by all the ministry of the blood of Jesus Christ. That is where the next part of this chapter comes in. Verses 19-25 are designed to give you some idea of how to detect whether you are or may be guilty of wilful sin. As you look through that wonderful passage of Scripture which is the unveiling of spiritual privilege, you will see the implications. First of all, you may know wilful sin if your mind is given to earthliness. There are some people who like practical sermons; they do not like sermons which touch the spiritual side of life. You can always tell if you have an earthly mind, for "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Where is your treasure to-night? Minister, when can you pray the hardest? Why, just before you go to the service with your sermon. When you come home, the last thing you want to do is pray; the burden and the weight have gone. All of us know it—earthliness. You may know wilful sin by your attitude to the people of God, for we are not "to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." With whom do you really love to gather? Is it the prayer meeting? Do you really love the people of God? Is it with intense interest that you look forward to a gathering with God's people; is that the choice society of your heart? If not, you are in danger of wilful sin. What is your purpose and perspective in life: are you living for the day or for to-day? Are you troubled about the bomb, about business, or about God's purpose in the world? To what end are you putting your affairs, your service, your money? Is your goal social, death. In that death o n o ur behalf He abolished the blood offering of unwilling victims. Freely, in the fullness of His own perfect will, He offered Himself a sacrifice to God for our sins. The last pronoun is in verse 10—"we." "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." His will, His power of obedience in the will of God, are in the covenant of His blood. No man can effectively take salvation by His blood without also taking the power of His will to energize a corresponding attitude to sin. "By the which will we are sanctified." A covenant depends upon the mutual strength of the parties concerned; but in this covenant, made perfect by His obedience, all the power I need, all the resources of God to overcome sin, are given to me in the sacrifice of His precious blood. It is part of our redemption that the will of God concerning sin, vitalized in our human experience by the absolute obedience of Jesus Christ, shall become the covenant of every man and woman who trusts in the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, there is no longer a sin offering. The people of the Old Testament had no other way of dealing with moral issues, except by sinning and sacrificing. Now it is the essence of Calvary that a man shall at once and in the same act and process, receive the complete pardon of his sin, the energizing of his will concerning sin, and the power of Jesus Himself to live in victorious power over sin. Wilful sin, therefore, is the attitude of the man who has stepped from salvation into grace, into a new covenant, and then hesitates as to whether he really wants to take up this attitude against sin. He is trying to secure a pardon from God without a surrender of his will. Every Christian here to-night must allow his heart to be solemnly searched by God as to whether in that critical moment of the experience of his soul, when God was dealing with him, he meant it. Each must ask himself, "Did I mean that by that same blood by which there was a full and complete atonement for me as a sinner, my will was sanctified in the will of God concerning sin?" How many of us can answer that question with a clear conscience? How many at that time recognized its truth and validity; how many here to-night see it, how many realize that by that same will we are sanctified? Every child of God here present who touches the holy things of God in the blood of His Son, is irrevocably committed to the sanctifying of his will to the will of God. One of the most disconcerting experiences I have ever had occurred at Keswick some years ago, when someone brought a tape- 43 ings of redemption. You have not reckoned that as surely as God laid the sin of the world on Jesus, He also nailed your old nature on the Cross with Jesus. If in your heart there loom up continuously the old longings, the old desires, the old outlook, the old affection then you and I are more prone to wilful than any one of us has recognized. What says the writer? "For you the coming of the Son of Man to prepare a body for our salvation has been in vain; for you the blood of Christ has been ineffective, for you the Spirit has been grieved and silenced." Is there anybody here to-night like that? Apart from renewed grace, you will be quite unconcerned; but it may be that this is God's time for some to define and determine a conclusive attitude to sin; and if so, we are at the beginning of blessing. political, domestic; or is it God Himself, and the coming of His beloved Son? I have just outlined these warnings very briefly, so that every one of us may take account of them; for by them we may know the conditions of our hearts at this very moment. I have specified spiritual conditions in order that each one of us may know whether there is a tendency to wilful sin. Am I in actual fact participating in sin that I have not recognized and realized? Have I really taken control of my life in the name of Jesus, and is my heart and outlook altogether of this world? There are very serious implications if you have not covenanted with God concerning sin, if you have not recognized your will as sanctified with the will of God in the one same act by which you took in His mercy the bless- 44 The Sin of Christians BY DR. DONALD GREY BARNHOUSE And these things we write unto you, that your joy may be full.-1 John 1:4. IT is traditional at Keswick that on Monday the speakers shall emphasize the Scriptural doctrine concerning sin, and I have chosen an extraordinary text from which to speak on sin in the believer; yet I hope to show you the relationship between sins and the life of joy. God very definitely desires that every Christian shall live constantly in joy—not happiness, mind you, but joy. There. is a big difference between happiness and joy. "Joy" is a New Testament word, "happiness" is not. I know there are verses which contain the word—"Happy are ye," but the King James translators did not get to the heart of the Greek word. "Happy" comes from an AngloSaxon root, "hap," which means that the dice fell the right way, the cards came out right, or that the numbers in the pool came out the way you want them to; that is happiness. If things happen the way you like them to happen, then you are happy; but if things don't happen the way you like them to happen, you are unhappy. It is getting things your own way. Joy is something different. Joy is not on the surface; joy is down deep. I know the commander of a submarine in the United States Navy, and he told me that there has never been a storm 50ft. deep in the ocean. When there is a storm on the surface, so that the waves go over the top of the greatest dreadnoughts, 50ft. down it is as calm as a June day on the lake. That is joy—on the surface, happiness or unhappiness; but down underneath, joy. That is why Paul can say "sorrowful upon the surface but always rejoicing"-50ft. down. That is the Christian life; it does not make any difference what happens on the surface providing you know that down underneath you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and are His. This leads me to read the context of my text, beginning with 1 John 1:3— That which we have seen and heard we declare unto 'you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Chr is t H is Son cleanseth us from all sin. It is extremely important that every Christian should learn that there is a vast difference between sin and sins. Sin is like a poison in the blood stream, and a sin is like the breaking out of a boil on the body. The unsaved people sometimes try to deal with bad habits: it is like somebody with a boil on his shoulder, who gets some ointment and rubs it on with his hand and gets a boil on his hand, then he gets a boil on his elbow, then on the back of the neck. Society says it is all right as long as the boils are below the collar and above the cuffs—as long as' they cannot be seen; that is the world's attitude to sin. God says that, "At the Cross of Jesus Christ I dealt with sin; there I took it and put it upon Jesus 'Christ, and I dealt with it once and for all and for ever," and that is why the man who has been born again is saved. We may say to him, "God has nothing against you. It would be as impossible for God to send you to hell as it would be for Him to send Jesus Christ to hell. It would be as impossible for God to send you to hell if you have trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ as it would be impossible for God to send Jesus Christ there." I do not think that anyone could ever grow in the Christian life until that principle has taken hold of them and they know that it is true for ever. What did Jesus Christ do on the Cross? About two years ago I led to Christ a Roman Catholic priest, and later baptised him. When we were talking together, at first I asked him what did Jesus Christ come to do. He said, "He came to redeem mankind." "Yes," 45 I replied, "but what did He come to do for you?" "He came to redeem mankind," he said. I asked him again, "What did He come to do for you, personally?" He answered rather hesitantly, "I never thought about it personally." "Did He do anything for you?" "I suppose He did." "Well, then, what did He do?" After a pause, the priest replied, "He died to pay for our sins." I said, "He did do that. Was it a success or a failure?" "It was a success," he replied. "Did He pay for your sin?" I asked. "Yes, He did." "How many of your sins did He pay for?" "All of them," was the reply. Later I said, "Let us do a little arithmetic. If He paid for all your sins, how many are left to be removed by the waters of baptism?" "None," he said. "If He paid for all, how many are left to be dealt with by a dead piece of bread supposed to be transmuted into the body of Christ?" "None," he said. "How many are left to be paid for by your going and suffering for an unspecified time in an imaginary place called Purgatory?" He said, "None", and I replied, "You are a good Protestant already." It was not long before he was. My dear friends, it is extremely important that you learn that principle: that God dealt with sin, and that no Christian ever deals with it again; it has been dealt with at the Cross, and it is an insult to God to think about ever dealing with sin again. Now we are going to talk about sins, the breaking out; but the guilt of sin has gone for ever. A little while ago I asked a friend what was the word in English law, the accusation brought against the man who kills a pedestrian with his motor car, and he replied, "It is manslaughter." "Now," I said, I want to draw an illustration from that; what is the penalty?" "It might be two or three years' imprisonment." Suppose one of you had the misfortune to kill a pedestrian with your car; you are arrested, and charged with manslaughter. As you set out for your trial, your next door neighbour meets you and says, "I saw about your trouble. I do hope they won't have you hanged." You say, "I could not be hanged." "Well, but you killed somebody." "Yes, but I am not being tried for murder, but for manslaughter." "I do hope they will not have you hanged." "Don't be ridiculous," you say, "I am not being tried f or m urder, I am bein g tried fo r m an slaughter." In exactly the same way it is impossible for God Almighty to try me for sin, for Jesus Christ bore it in His body for me, and my guilt has gone for ever. God Almighty has nothing against those who have been perfected for ever by the suffering of Jesus Christ once for all. But sins can be dealt with. Just as a man may not be hanged for manslaughter although he may go to prison for perilous misuse of an automobile, you may be reduced to being among those who are described as being "saved, yet so as by fire." There is nothing left for me but His salvation. Oh that we might understand that great fact. Now, says God, when I am dealing with sin with My children, it is quite a different matter than when I am dealing with the sins of unsaved men. If a cricket ball came through your window one day, how you deal with the boy who threw it depends upon whether it is your boy or the boy next door! God also quite certainly deals with His sons differently from those who are apostates and not sons. God Almighty could never deal with a born-again child of His who has been made a partaker of the divine nature, other than in redemption; and having redeemed him, He now deals with him as such. We speak of sin breaking out in a Christian, and we wonder how God deals with it. Certainly not in any method where the penalty could be hell. The most important thing for a young Christian to have firmly in his mind is, that the penalty has been removed for ever; and that what God is now dealing with, is all in his life which could keep him from being conformed to the image of His Son—for this is His purpose. God says, "I want you to have joy." "These things write we unto you that your joy may be full." You never find full and complete happiness, but joy, y es, j o y. Ho w? B y t he m ai nte na nce o f fellowship. Let us look at this— That which we h av e s e e n and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: that is horizontal fellowship, Christian fellowship. Surely our fellowship is vertical with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ; so that there are two types of fellowship, the horizontal fellowship of the saints, and vertical fellowship, between our souls and God. This maintenance of fellowship is the secret of joy, by seeing to it that you recognise clearly after you have been born again that God is light, and in Him dwelleth no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ . . cleanseth us from all sin. Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin. 46 and we heard the Bishop of Barking tell us this morning, "Thank God you don't know what is in my heart, if you did you would want to get up and go out of the tent." We have all done it. You Hebrews, says this Epistle, have you sinned wilfully after the knowledge of the Lamb; there is no more lamb, what are you going to do—and that is all that verse means. In the years 40, 50 or 60, the men who did not enter the Church from Israel—there were not many, those who came at Pentecost and afterwards—if they sinned wilfully after they received the knowledge of the Lamb, they had to remember that the veil in the Temple had been torn in two and there was no more lamb; therefore how were they to meet God? That is the ex planatio n o f the f am o us Hebrews 6:6, under which many people are scared that it is possible to be saved and then lost and then saved and then lost. It is not in the Scriptures. When we understand this, we realise that there is only one way for us who sin wilfully. It is in 1 John 1:9-If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know as well as I that we have confessed and been cleansed from wilful sin. Oh, thank God, I don't suppose there is a man or woman here who has not at some time or other gone to God, confessed, been forgiven and cleansed: and it is like this— I had a son who fractured a leg in an automobile accident. When he was healed he said—he was a medical student—"I will never have another fracture in that spot; it is stronger there than anywhere else, for as the bone healed it grew thicker, and it is stronger at that point." There are many here who know that, when they have sinned wilfully and had a breaking out of sin, and have gone to God, He has mended the fracture and made them stronger at the point where they were once the weakest. Oh, the grace of God in dealing with men and women. Let us not forget that the greatest of all sins, greater than the sin of murder, greater than the sin of unbelief, than all the category of sins— All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. "His own way," that is the worst of all sin; it is the primary sin, it is the sin against the crucified Christ, it is the sin which destroys your joy. Lastly, we have to see to it that our fellowship is not broken. This word "fellowship" is a remarkable word. We often say "communion and fellowship," but they are the When I prepared this message I had no knowledge that Mr. Bamber would touch on the passage I am about to quote. I asked what he was going to talk about, and he said "Sin," and that is all I knew. I was going to use as my illustration at this point Hebrews 10:26— For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. What I am saying is not contradicting what Mr. Bamber said, but complementing it. When I teach the Epistle to the Hebrews in my Bible classes at home, I always make the audience at the beginning of each lecture repeat this phrase, "The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to the Hebrews to show the Hebrews th at they had to stop being Hebrews!" Such a phrase i s e s s en t i a l i n B i b l e s tu d y . A l l S c r ip tu r e is f o r u s - - "M an sh a l l n o t l ive by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." I do not believe in dispensational nonsense, that you cannot have the Gospel of St. John and the Sermon on the Mount. All the promises are meant for us. We kill no lambs in my church in Philadelphia; we do not keep the Lord's Day on Saturday; let the Sabbath be the Sabbath, I want the day of resurrection—we are in the age of Christ. All the Scripture is mine There was, however, one generation of Hebrews which was born before Jesus died, and who died after He was raised from the dead. The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to those Hebrews, in order to show them that they had to stop being Hebrews. They had been brought up on the old ideas— David, did you sin wilfully? Of course I did. What did you do? I brought a lamb to the sacrifice. Did you sin wilfully the next month? What did you do? I brought another lamb. Did you sin the next week, the next year; what did you do? I brought another lamb. How many lambs did you bring in your life, David? A big flock. So this Epistle was written to the Hebrews living then, and I do not believe primarily it can ever be applied in the twentieth century. In the States if I were preaching I would say, Is there a lady here who has never sinned wilfully?" And suddenly it breaks on their conscience. We have all sinned wilfully since we received knowledge of the truth—I have; 47 same word in the Greek. The only reason we say "communion and fellowship" is because William the Conqueror came here. The people in England spoke Anglo-Saxon, and William brought Norman French. French was spoken in the cities, and Anglo-Saxon in the country. That is why in the country there are swine, sheep and oxen, and when you kill them and send them to the butcher the swine is pork, the oxen is beef, and the mouton is mutton. Ours is the only language in the world which has two words for meat, one when it is on the hook and one when it is on our plate. It is very important if we are going to be Bible students to know a lot about William the Conqueror, because the merging of French and Anglo-Saxon made this delightful language, the English language. It was Bismarck, when asked what was the greatest fact of modern history, who said that the greatest fact of modern history is that the United States speaks English. You just analyse that some time. It is why we came in on the first world war, and the second world war. Although sometimes you accuse us of belabouring the English language, it is my mother tongue as much as yours. When the Bible was translated from the Greek they translated this Greek word "communion" here, and "fellowship" there; but it is the same word. What does "fellowship" mean? It is pure Anglo-Saxon, and it comes from "fee-lagship." In the time of Chaucer "fee" meant "cows," "lag" meant "putting them together," and "ship" was the quality of being together, all being friends. Our Anglo-Saxon forebears would have half a dozen cows here, and another half a dozen there; and each one watched the other to see he didn't steal his cows. Now there came a day when one said, "I will trust you with my cows; you watch my cows and let me go haying, and to-morrow I will watch your cows and you can go haying," and they had "fee-lag-ship," literally "cows going together." That is the meaning of fellowship. In Iceland to-day the cow is still called "fee." Entomologically, philo logically and scientifically that is true: you put your cows together, you trust each other, and that is fellowship. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have nothingness with My everything, and we shall get on very well. Come with your need, and I w i l l g i v e y o u M y s u p p l y . " Th e o n l y trouble is that man sometimes tries to put something else in. Commenting on this verse, J. N. Darby said something like this, "Any time a man gets out of his nothingness he gets into this." Think upon that, and you will find how wonderful it is: a man is nothing if he says he is everything; if he knows he has nothing he has everything. You are really nothing if you try to be something. But God says, "We will go into partnership. Just throw everything of your nothingness into the heap, and I will give you all My supply." But there is one thing which can bar fellowship— If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness. . . . May I bring this closing story to you. It may appear to you in the beginning to be a light story, but before I am through you will see that it is one of the deepest you can ever imagine. Over in the United States women use a great deal more cosmetics than they do here, and it is common to see a woman take out her compact and powder her face. At one of my classes I wished to use this as an illustration, so I tried to get from the women there the sequence of what one of them does when she is going to powder her face. What does she do? (i) (ii) She o pens her bag. She searches round inside for the compact. (iii) S h e b r i n g s i t o u t . (iv) S he o pen s th e co m p act. and then what does she do? Everybody said, "She looks at herself," and it was a long time before someone said that the fifth thing she does is, "She wipes the mirror." When the compact is closed the surface of the mirror gets a little powder on it, and she has to clean it off to see herself. In the city of Bordeaux there is a man who won the Nobel Prize for measuring little things; he measured the thousandth part of a millimetre. When I met him I asked, "What is the thinnest thing you ever measured?" And he said, "Talcum powder." "Talcum?" "Yes," he said, "you try it." He took a basin of water and put it on the table; then taking a needle he dipped it into talcum powder, and got the smallest quantity possible, a frac tion of the tiniest bit of grain, and moved with the needle toward the surface of the water until it touched the surface with the point of the needle with the infinitesimal bit of talcum on it. Directly the powder touched fellowship with us. We may put everything we have together as Christians, and everything that you have is mine, if I need it; and everything I have is yours if you need it. But what about our fellowship with the Father? Oh, says the Father, "I will throw in everything and you have nothing, and we will go along with your 48 your light has gone; but if you say, "Yes, Lord, you may deal with me on that matter," your fellowship is not broken. My dear friends, never fail to follow the slight movements of the Holy Spirit when He makes you restless even for a moment, for a tiny thing; go with Him. Robert Murray McCheyne said, "I have learned to examine the pointer on my prayers. I test to see if there is something of truth I have learned, that my prayers must be sanctified and my tears of repentance washed in the blood of Jesus Christ." If the mirror is to be wiped clean of even the tiniest little things, let God deal with you; then you shall walk in fullness of joy; and you shall know how terrible sin is, for when once you have known the joy you never want to live in any other way with God. the water there was a scum as big as a foot in diameter; and that surface which we could see with the naked eye was less t h a n 1 / 100,000th of an inch thick: but that is sufficient to keep you from seeing yourself in the mirror! That is how thin a sin can keep you from beholding Jesus Christ. If we say we have fellowship and walk in darkness, what is it? The littlest sin can break fellowship; the littlest sin, the littlest thing, a thing which cannot be measured in the micrometer. God is interested, only of course He does not hit you with a planet; when God begins with you it is for something small, some little farthing in your life. There is the moment when God will say, "The Holy Spirit will give you a slight uneasiness; if you push it aside you are in darkness." The fellowship is broken, 49 Sin has a thousand treacherous arts, To practise on the mind; With flattering looks she tempts our hearts, But leaves a sting behind. With names of virtue she deceives The aged and the young; And while the heedless wretch believes, She makes his fetters strong. She pleads for all the joys she brings, And gives a fair pretence; But cheats the soul of heavenly things, And chains it down to sense. So an a tree divinely fair, Grew the forbidden food; Our mother took the poison there, And tainted all her blood. -ISAAC WATTS. 50 TUESDAY, JULY loth 10 a.m.—BIBLE READING THE NEW TESTAMENT UNFOLDED (ii) THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME: THE ACTS R E V . W . G R A H A M S C R O G G I E , D. D . 11 .45 a.m.—FORENOON MEETING CR UCI FIE D WI TH CH RIS T REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. THE WAY OF RESTORATION REV. T. M. BAMBER 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING TH E PRI CE OF R EVIVAL REV. STEPHEN F. OLFORD 7.45 p .m.—EVENING MEETING Skiddaw-street Tent : L I G H T , A N D S A L V A TI O N , A N D S T R E N G T H DR. W. CULBERTSON " BE THO U CL EA N " REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. Eskin –street Tent THE WAY OF DELIVERANCE REV. E. L. LANGSTON, M.A. MORE THA N CONQUERORS REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. 51 Yearning for Life in its Fullness ECOGNITION of falling short of the fullness of the purpose and provision of R God in Christ, awakens and deepens the longing for "life more abundant." Following Monday's searching ministry upon the character and consequences of sin, come the yearnings for deliverance and victory—which find expression in Tuesday's messages, and in the experience of many a heart. The perfect weather of Monday had given place on Tuesday morning to the leaden skies and drizzle so familiar at Keswick, and heavy showers developed: but attendances at both prayer meetings were still larger than the previous day's. Telegrams from Central Africa were read at both meetings, telling of excellent reception of the overseas broadcast. Manifestly gaining in strength as the days progressed, Dr. Graham Scroggie this morning scorned the use of a stool, and stood throughout his Bible Reading. His voice, too — which had shown signs of strain the previous day—was markedly stronger. Discussing the Book of Acts under the title "The Greatest. Adventure of all Time," he gave a graphic word-picture of the "first chapter of Church history." It was with deeply stirred hearts that the great congregation went forth for the interval before 11.45 a.m., when three meetings were, on this morning, held simultaneously. In the large tent, where the Rev. G. B. Duncan presided, the Rev. M. A. P. Wood delivered his first address at the Convention. From Galatians 2:20 he indicated successive steps in the Christian life. The Rev. T. M. Bamber's subject was repentance as illustrated in David's testimony (Ps. 51). Meanwhile the small tent was practically filled with young people, who listened intently to a challenging message by the Rev. Stephen F. Olford, on the life of barrenness. The third meeting proceeding at the same hour was exclusively for ministers, in the Methodist Church—which was completely filled. The Bishop of Barking presided, and a most searching message was then given by Dr. William Culbertson. A summary of it is: given in the descriptive account of the gathering, among the appendices. There was some improvement in the weather by the time of the afternoon meeting, over which Canon Guy H. King presided with happy informality, and at which the Rev. Stephen Olford spoke on the price of revival. Both tents were full at 7.45 p.m., and in both the voice of God was heard through His servants. Dr. Culbertson, in the large tent, spoke from Psalm 27:1, stressing particularly the words "the Lord is the strength of my life." After the singing of "Oh, for a heart," the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson took the story of the cleansing of the leper (Matt 8:1-3) as a word-picture of spiritual cleansing. In the small tent, the Rev. E. L. Langston, speaking on the Feasts of the Passover and Unleavened Bread, as types of the redeeming and sanctifying work of Christ, gave his personal testimony of what his first visit to Keswick meant to him, fifty years ago. The Rev. G. B. Duncan then spoke on two words from Romans 8:37—"in" and "all," indicating respectively the sphere, the scale, and the source of our victory. As great crowds hurriedly made their way from both tents to the Market Place, for the open-air meeting, those who lifted up their eyes unto the hills beheld a vision of beauty such as even Keswick seldom affords: for the mountains were transfigured in hues of surpassing splendour. From their lower slopes of deepest purple, the summits of the mountains rose resplendent as burnished gold, in the brilliant radiance of the setting sun. This sublime ending to a day which had begun so overcast and rainy, seemed like a parable in nature of the transformation which must have come to some lives during the day, as the sunshine of the peace and glory of God banished the very memory of the fears and storms which so recently beset the soul. If thou but suffer God to guide thee, And hope in Him through all thy ways, He'll give thee strength, whate'er betide thee, And bear thee, through the evil days; Who trusts in God's unchanging love, Builds on the rock that naught can move. -GEORG NEUMARK. 52 The New Testament Unfolded II. TH E GREATEST ADV EN TURE OF ALL TIME: THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. BY THE REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. THE Book OF THE ACTS is one of the finest things in the literature of the world. In what is little more than a pamphlet the story is told of how, out of what appeared to be tragic failure—the death of Christ—a movement arose which was destined to conquer the world, and to establish a kingdom of truth and righteousness which shall never pass away. The story covers a period, not of a century or two, but of a single generation of 33 years—from A.D. 30 to A.D. 63—a period which is well within the life-time of most of us. This fact alone is astonishing because the progress of the greatest movements is generally slow. Truly this is a book of words about deeds! We may estimate the value of a book by considering what the loss would have been if it had never been written. Judged in this way, it is safe to say that if the "Acts" had never been written there would have been a blank in our knowledge which nothing could have supplied. PREPARATION FOR WORLD-EVANGELIZATION How what is called Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome, from the capital of Judaism to the capital of the Empire, is the outstanding wonder of history; and for its accomplishment there had been—in the providence of God—much preparation. This preparation is itself a historic wonder and a thrilling story, which we must look at, though all too briefly. THE JEWISH DISPERSION One of the factors in it was the dispersion of the Jews (John 7:35; James 1:1; I Peter 1:1). Moses had predicted that if they apostatized they would be scattered, and this happened when they were taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, and when later, and for other reasons, they spread Westward. This dispersion helped to prepare the way for the spread of Christianity (Acts 2:5, 9-11). SYNAGOGUES A second factor which helped this new movement was the institution of synagogues. These were places where the Jews assembled for worship, and they existed wherever Jews were found; and so, when the evangelization of the world began, the Christian missionaries secured a footing wherever there were synagogues. It was Paul's habit on visiting a place to go first of all to the Jews in their place of worship (Acts 13:14). A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE A third factor in the spread of Christianity was a universal language. To-day missionaries going abroad are under the necessity of learning the language of the country to which they go, but in the apostolic age the Greek language was the common speech of all the nations which environed the Mediterranean, and it was spoken from Jerusalem to Rome. The advantage of this to the Christian missionaries is obvious. THE SEPTUAGINT Related to this a fourth factor which assisted world-evangelization was the Greek Luke ends the Gospel which he wrote with the words— And it came to pass, while Jesus blessed His disciples, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing God. Omitting the "Acts," there follow a number of Letters which would remain unintelligible to any reader. They would be as a maze without a clue; as a lock without a key. A hundred questions could be asked to which there would be no answers. But supply the Book of the Acts, and all is clear. It records that, for thirtythree years, Jesus continued "to do and to teach" what He had commenced while He was on earth (1:1). The "Acts" is the first chapter of Church history, and the last chapter is not yet written. To be ignorant of this Book is something of which one should be thoroughly ashamed—not the Christian only, but everyone, because it is a vital part of human history. 53 translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, called the Septuagint; which, of course, could be read wherever Greek was spoken. Such a commission seemed utterly absurd Eleven unschooled men, about nine of when -. we know little, were told to c onquer the Roman Empire and the whole world. These were the men who after the crucifixion locked themselves in a room "for fear of the Jews.' That they could do what was commanded seemed like a madman's dream. But this is where the Book of the Acts comes in. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT . ROMAN LAW AND ROADS The spread of Christianity was aided also by a fifth factor, namely, the Roman Law and Roman roads. The Roman Law often pro tected the heralds of the Gospel, as the Book of the Acts shows (18:12-16; 19:35-41, et al); and the Roman roads, which have outlasted the decay of 2,000 years reached from the Euphrates to Ephesus, and from the Adriatic to Rome, and along these the missionaries travelled unhindered with the good news; and but for such roads the enterprise would have been well-nigh impossible. Ten days after the risen Lord had ascended to heaven, an event occurred which has changed the whole course of history. While hundred and twenty disciples, men and women, were gathered together for prayer is Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and the Christian Church came into being, Christianity was born. It was this coming of the Spirit upon the disciples which made possible the seemingly impossible—world-wide conquest. The Lord had said: "Ye shall receive power (the word is dynamite), when the Holy Spirit is come upon you" (Acts 1:8); and the dynamite of physics could be no match for the dynamite of Pentecost, though neither the world nor the Church seems to have learned this even yet! In A.D. 30 began a movement the aim and end of which was that the kingdom of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, who shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 11:15). THE ASCENSION DECAY OF PAGAN RELIGIONS A sixth factor must be named, which helps to account for the rapid spread of Christianity in the first century of our era, namely, the decay of the pagan religions. There was widespread disillusionment, spiritual hunger, and the quest for satisfaction. The world was crying after God, and its religions, even where they were still believed in, were unavailing (Acts 17:23). It was into such a situation as this that the Gospel went with its message of pardon and peace, of new life and conquering power. This, then, is the background of the New Testament. THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE COMMISSION When Christ ascended, the disciples might well have felt orphaned; but He had said, "It is expedient for you that I go away"; and, "I will not leave you orphans" (John 16:7; 14:18). It was necessary that Christ should depart, in order that His presence should be no longer local, but universal; and to compensate for His absence He gave to all believers the Holy Spirit, and thus a new age began. It is the Book of the Acts which records historically the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the Christian Church. Coming now to the circumstances im mediately preceding the story of the "Acts," we can realize how hopeless the outlook appeared to be—the two things which strike us most are, the death of Christ, and the commission of the apostles. The leader of this little group of followers had been crucified, and all their hopes lay dead. Their state of mind is reflected in the words—"We trusted that it was he who should redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). Verily the sun had gone out of their sky; but within half a week midnight darkness gave way to endless day. Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples; and at the end of forty days He said to them: PERIODS OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS But the change-over from Judaism to Christianity, from what the Old Testament represents to what the New Testament represents, could not be made suddenly. There has never been a clean-cut division between dispensations, but they have always overlapped—a fact to which the Book of the Acts presents most convincing evidence. The Book falls into three distinct parts relative to Christian witness. In chapters 1-7 is the Jewish Period of it; in chapters 8-12, the Transition Period; and in chapters 13-28, the Gentile Period. All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Ye shall be my witnesses . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth (Matt. 28:18, 19; Mark 1@: 15; Acts 1:8). 54 history. These features can be summarized in seven words: Founding, Testimony, Opposition, Discipline, Testing, Organization, and Persecution. These periods clearly indicate the gradual but rapid progress of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. In the first, covering seven years, the Church was founded; in the second, lasting ten years, it was broadened; and in the third, representing sixteen years, it was extended. In the first period, the Church was composed of converted Jews only; in the second period, Gentiles also were admitted into the Christian fellowship; and in the third period it was composed chiefly of Gentiles. In A.D. 30 there were only a few hundred Christians, all Jews; and in A.D. 63, throughout and beyond the Roman Empire there must have been tens of thousands. If the same progress had been made since the apostolic age there would have been no paganism in the world to-day. THE CHURCH 1. The Church was Founded on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3). By the descent and Baptism of the Holy Spirit all believers then living were constituted a Church, a Body for Christ, through which, in His absence, He can function in the world. The Christian Church is not the aggregate of the many denominational Christian churches, but the aggregate of all regenerated persons—men, women, and children, and of these as indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The New Testament knows no other. THE TESTIMONY 2. The Church thus founded was commissioned to bear a testimony (Acts 2:14-47), and, as to its character, this testimony was—and was to continue to be— twofold. It was to consist in a simple creed (Acts 2:14-41) and in sanctified conduct (Acts 2:42-47). True Christianity has never divorced these things. Belief and practice are related to one another as are cause and effect, centre and circumference, foundation and superstructure; and so, in Acts 2, following a report of Peter's Pentecostal sermon is a description of the life of the first Church. THE SUBJECT OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS Before He ascended, the Lord said to His apostles: Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the 'uttermost part of the earth.—Acts 1:8. That is the key to the Book of the Acts, and it defines the mission of the Christian Church until Christ returns. We are not commissioned to advocate the Gospel, but to proclaim it; not to argue about the good news, but to announce it; and what we are to bear witness to is—that Christ died for our sins, and that He rose again from the dead, and that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (I Cor. 15:3, 4; Acts 4:12). This was the message of the apostolic Church, and it has been the message of every spiritual revival in the history of the Church since then. The periods of spiritual barrenness in Church history are all attributable to the denial or neglect of this message. The application of the Gospel is as varied as are circumstances, but the message of the Gospel itself is unchanging. The central subject of Christian witness is the redeeming Christ; the widening sphere of it is from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth; the exclusive source of it is the Christian Church; and the unfailing secret of it is the Holy Spirit! Let us now look at each of these periods of witness which the Acts records. Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. OPPOSITION 3. But wherever Christ works the devil becomes active, and so we see that the Church just described met with strong opposition (Acts 3:1-4:31). What the rulers, who had arrested Peter and John for healing a man, lacked in weight they made up for in numbers, and for sensible argument they substituted abuse. But contempt is always contemptible, except when we "pour contempt on all our pride." If we are doing God's will and work, we should not be surprised if we are apposed, nor should we complain. DISCIPLINE 4. What, however, is much more serious than the opposition of the world, or of a spurious religion, is trouble within the church itself. The occasions of this at the beginning were Ananias and Sapphira, who together acted a lie, and brought upon themselves THE JEWISH PERIOD OF THE CHURCH'S WITNESS ACTS 1-7. There is only time to indicate the salient these first seven years of Church 55 righteous judgment (Acts 4:32-5:16). This was the first exercise of discipline in the apostolic church, but not the last (1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20). To-day church discipline seems to be entirely unknown, and surely this largely accounts for the weakness and ineffectiveness of many churches. The strength of a Christian church cannot be determined by the number of its members, but by their quality (Acts 5:12, 13). II. THE TRAN SITION PE RIOD OF THE CHURCH'S WITNESS ACTS 8-12 No one can pass from chapter 7 to chapter 13 of this Book without realizing that something is required to account for the great change that has taken place. In the first period the dominating personality was Peter, but in the third period it is Paul. In the first period the Church's activities were confined to Jerusalem, but in the third period they are reaching out westward to all mankind. In the first period the composition of the Church was entirely Jewish, but in the third period it is chiefly Gentile. How this great change came about, period two explains. In the next ten years (A.D. 37-47) events took place which were to give an entirely new complexion to th e new movement. What these events were, period two of the Acts relates. We read that Stephen's testimony and death precipitated a "great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem; and all the Christians, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judaea and Samaria"; and "those who were scattered went about preaching the word" (Acts 8:1, 4). The devil did a good thing that day for Christianity! He took the precious seed which was in the Jerusalem granary and threw it to the winds, and these carried it to new soil where it was to produce a rich harvest. TESTING 5. Now follows the first testing of the church, which arose when the Sanhedrin put the apostles into prison because of their growing success (Acts 5:17-42); and although this involved suffering, the apostles were delivered, and "ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ" (Acts 5:42), What is untested is unsafe. The bridge is tested by weight, the student by examination, the soldier by battle, and the Christian by trials (cf. 1 Peter 1: 6, 7). This is inevitable, and only what may be expected. ORGANIZATION 6. We are now shown that as the Church grew and new situations arose a certain amount of organization became necessary (Acts 6: 1-6); and this was first occasioned by complaints that certain widows did not get a fair share of the funds provided to help the poor and needy. Out of this discontent there arose in the Church the first office by appointment—that of deacon, in the New Testament sense of the word. Since then there has been much church organization; some of it wise, and some of it otherwise! PHILIP'S PREPARATION 1. Philip the evangelist went to Samaria and proclaimed Christ, and there were many converts. When Peter and John heard of this, they went down to the city and confirmed the good work; and on the return journey they "preached the Gospel to many villages of the Samaritans." Meanwhile Philip gave the Gospel to an Ethiopian court official, and in this way introduced the good news to Africa (Acts 8:4-40). This was the beginning of the preparation for the wider witness. SAUL'S PREPARATION 2. The next event was one of the most momentous in history—the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9). The greatest persecutor of the early Christians was suddenly and miraculously brought into contact with the risen Christ, and instantly became a Christian. This man, as we shall see, became the father of foreign missions, the founder of churches right across Asia Minor and in Eastern Europe, and the theologian of the Christian Church. The late Earl of Birkenhead in his book "Turning Points in History" says that Paul "altered the whole face of the world." By the PERSECUTION 7. It was out of this organization that there came the first great persecution of the Church, and the first martyrdom (Acts 6:7 -8:3). After preaching an epoch-making sermon, Stephen, one of the deacons, was stoned to death, and was the first of "the noble army of martyrs" who have refused to deny the Christian faith. Verily this was a wonderful seven years! The Church was well and surely launched on her eventful voyage. Truths were proclaimed, principles were exhibited, and standards were established which were to outlive all opposition and error, and ultimately to triumph over all evil. But the Gospel could not for long be confined to a privileged race and a single city. The new wine was bound to burst the old wine-skins, and so, in this classic record we are next told of- 56 conversion of this man the preparation for the wider witness was immensely advanced. PETER'S PREPARATION 3. The next recorded event was scarcely less momentous—the visit of Peter to Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts 10). This was nothing less than the formal recognition that all Gentiles, on equal terms with all Jews, had a right to the blessings of the Gospel, and to membership in the Christian Church. This revelation, which had been anticipated in the Old Testament, Peter received in a vision vouchsafed to him at Joppa, in which he was told by a voice from heaven that the Gentiles were no longer to be regarded as common and unclean; and when, later, he addressed Cornelius and the Gentiles gathered in his house, he said: "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him" (Acts 10:34). By this event another great stride forward had been taken in preparation for the wider witness. THE APOSTLES' PREPARATION 4. The fourth step was taken when, after Peter had related to the apostles at Jerusalem what had happened, they recognized the tremendous significance of the event, and said: "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18). THE CHURCH'S PREPARATION 5. A fifth and final step was taken in preparation for the wider witness when the whole Church accepted the new situation. A new centre of operations was founded at Antioch in Syria, where the Gentiles on a considerable scale had the Gospel preached to them; and in the Church there the great miss ionary movement commenced, the record of which constitutes the third division of the Book of the Acts. The preparation of Philip, and Saul, and Peter, and the apostles, and the Jerusalem Church for world-wide evangelization—and all within ten years—indicates what the Holy Spirit can and will do when He is given the opportunity. And now opens— I I I . TH E G EN TI L E P E R I O D O F TH E CHURCH'S WITNESS ACTS 13-28 The magnitude and marvel of this period make it difficult to outline within our appointed time, and all we can here attempt is to call attention to certain outstanding facts. PAUL 1. There is, first of all, the fact of Paul, Who Was one of the greatest men God ever made. His intellectual power, his splendid courage, his determined perseverance, his understanding sympathy, his perfect integrity, his consummate tact, and his lateral humour show him to be a man of rich personality; and for the accomplishment of the task to which he was called these qualities were essential. We can readily understand that neither Peter nor John could have succeeded in this enterprise of world evangelization. In another respect, also, was Paul providentially equipped for his great task. He was born a Hebrew of Hebrews, he was trained in a Greek e nvironme nt, and he posse ssed Roman citizenship; and these privileges made his approach and appeal universal. No other Christian of the first century who is known to us had the advantages of Semitic fervour, Greek versatility, and Roman standing which characterized Paul; but God equips and endows His servants for what He wants them to do. TRAVEL 2. Another fact which makes this mis sionary enterprise one of the wonders of history relates to travel. In those days facilities for communication, which are commonplaces to us, did not exist, There were no railways, no motor cars, no aeroplanes, no passenger ships—except such as were specially hired to take Jews to the Passover; and no hotels, as we understand that institution. The land journeys mentioned in the New Testament were made for the most part on foot, because most travellers could not afford horses or carriages, and the rate of progress was not more than seventeen to twenty Roman miles a day. W i th the s e fa c t s i n m i nd , t hi nk fo r a moment of Paul's journeys. It is not an exaggeration to say that from the beginning of the first missionary venture to the time of Paul's death, he travelled on foot 5,580 miles, and by sea, 6,770 miles—a total of 12,350 miles. Add to this that he was a sick man (2 Cor. 12), and that his sea journeys were made in cargo vessels, and we shall begin to realize the magnitude and the magnificence of what he did. FOUR JOURNEYS 3. In the light of all this, it is deeply impressive that Paul made four missionary journeys, which took him from Antioch to Spain, and on e ach of t he se he founde d churches, and appointed elders, giving special attention to such strategic places as Ephesus, Philippi, and Corinth. His pastoral concern for his converts was exhibited in repeated visits to many of his churches, and by his much correspondence by agents and letters. Flogging, stoning, shipwreck, hunger, thirst, cold, exposure, and sleepless nights did not destroy this man's love for the Lord, nor his 57 determination to proclaim the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire (2 Cor. 11:23-28). And, let us remember, if we exclude Paul's imprisonments, all his missionary work was accomplished in about ten years (A.D. 47-58). Having regard for the conditions which he confronted and the sufferings which he endured, our Christian service looks like play. To read Paul's story in the Acts should both humble and inspire us. like Peter and Paul, shine like suns in the midnight sky; others, like stars scarcely visible, have their place in the glory of the firmament. Apostles, evangelists, and deacons are here; Jews and Gentiles; and rulers like Herod, Felix, Festus, and Gallio. He re flourishing Churches arise on pagan soil, as at Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, and Corinth. It is here that we read of the first apostolic miracle; the first apostolic sermon; the first persecution of Christians; the first church synod; the first Gentile convert; the first church organization; the beginnings of Christian missions; and the origins of Christianity and the universal Church. One apostle commits suicide, and another is murdered. One Christian woman lies and dies, another gives her only son to the cause of world-evangelization, and another entertains in her home a group of travelling missionaries. Peter raises a dead girl; and Paul, a dead boy. When the preachers are flogged, they sing. A Roman centurion is converted to Christianity, and an Idumaean king is consumed by worms. Angels open prison doors, and a missionary takes charge of a troop ship. The Book of the Acts has great values, historical, literary, dispensational, doctrinal, biographical, missionary, and spiritual. It was written by a Greek doctor of medicine who tells what, in thirty-three years, the Holy Spirit did in and through men and women who yielded themselves to Christ. These people were not faultless, and were not always blameless; but God chose, and still chooses the world's foolish to confound the wise, the weak to put to shame the strong, and the nobodies to bring to nought all worldly somebodies. The greatest military achievements dwindle when compared with the conquests of the unarmed soldiers of the Cross. It is little wonder that the record of the greatest adventure of all time should end on the words—"openly and unhindered." This adventure and achievement are not something to be admired only, but to be repeated to-day by the selfless courage of Spirit filled men and women. World-wide quickening and revival are more urgently needed to-day than ever they have been; but these blessings will not come by our unbelieving hesitations. our sectarian rivalries, our ignorant criticisms. our worldly indulgences, our unspiritual prejudices, our pathetic officiousness, and our rootless faith. Apostolic success will come only by apostolic courage, and venture, and selflessness; and, be it remembered, it is the message and not the method that matters. Oh, Lord, send the power just now, and baptize every one. THE HOLY SPIRIT 4. But the outstanding fact and factor in the great missionary enterprise recorded in the Acts was the Holy Spirit. He is named fifty-eight times in these twenty-eight chapters, but He dominates the entire narrative. At every turn and in every crisis He is present in one or other of His many capacities. He is the Spirit of Promise at the time of the Ascension (ch. 1); the Spirit of Power at Pentecost (2); the Spirit of Healing to the lame man (3); the Spirit of Boldness in Peter and John (4); the Spirit of Judgment to Ananias and Sapphira (5); the Spirit of Administration in the appointment of Deacons (6); the Spirit of Steadfastness in the martyr Stephen (7); the Spirit of Evangelism in Peter and Philip (8); the Spirit of Quickening to Saul of Tarsus (9); the Spirit of Guidance to Peter and Cornelius (10); the Spirit of Wisdom in Barnabas (11); the Spirit of Deliverance to imprisoned Peter (12); the Spirit of Missions from Antioch to Rome (13-28); the Spirit of Councils at the great Jerusalem Conference (15); the Spirit of Praise in the imprisoned Paul and Silas at Philippi (16); the Spirit of Opportunity to Paul at Athens (17); the Spirit of Watchfulness in the Elders of the Church (20); and the Spirit of Courage in Paul during his many captivities (22-28). One wonders at times whether the visible churches are rejecting or silencing the Holy Spirit; whether ministers are depending more on their ability and industry than on Him who is the power of all spiritual success; and whether the registered members of the churches are relying more on organization and sundry other influences than on Him who was sent by God to sanctify and energize His people. The Book of the Acts is still the revelation and standard of what Christ expects of His Church. The great notes of the story are: proclamation of the Gospel; personal testimony; persistent prayer; courageous faith; radiant joy; world-wide vision; dedicated personality, and utter reliance on the Holy Spirit. What a Book is this! The stage of the record is crowded with people—men and women, young and old, good and bad. Some, 58 Crucified With Christ BY THE REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. BRING you a text which I pray be yo ur testim on y and m ine IwhTwill en we go Here is a reminder that we are to be born again, Our Lord tells us, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7), and this new life is the f ir st e ssen ti a l o f a l l C h r ist i an l iv in g. It all begins with trusting Jesus personally, and you cannot go on to the depths of spiritual experience until you have found the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you do this? First, you admit that you are a sinner; secondly, you believe that Jesus Christ died upon the Cross for your sins; and thirdly, you go to Him as simply as a child who goes to someone he knows and trusts, and you open the door of your heart and welcome in the Lord Jesus. He comes in, and gives you new life by His Spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and we cannot enter the Kingdom until we are born again, until we have yielded ourselves to the Lord Jesus and received Him. back from this wonderful time on the Mount of Transfiguration, into the valley of daily and sometimes humdrum service for the Lord Jesus. It is from Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ." At once we are taken to the mountain peak of Christian experience. "I am crucified with Christ." This is the life of full and total identification with our beloved Lord Jesus; and this is the life which we enter into now by faith, which one day will be consummated in the glory, when we see our Lord face to face. It is a life of identification with H im : "I am crucif ied with Christ." There is the mountain peak. This verse gives us the steps which lead to this spiritual experience of being wholly identified with the Lord Jesus. At the same time it is good to remember that God leads us gently and steadily in our spiritual experience. A friend of mine had a ten days' walking holiday with me in Scotland recently. While there, we went to the top of a mountain on a day of mist and rain. As we climbed, we saw through the mist what we thought to be the summit, but when we reached it we saw that the summit was farther on—and when we got to that, we saw a further summit! At length we reached the top, and as we looked round the mists rolled away and we saw the way we had come—it was summit after summit; we had passed them in the rain and mist, and when we got to one we saw the next ahead of us. The Lord leads us like that, gently from step to step in steady and regular growth in spiritual life. They are steps—progressive summits; and this verse shows us some of these steps into deeper spiritual experience which we have come to Keswick to find from the Lord Jesus and through His Holy Spirit and, in the good providence of God, from our Heavenly Father. II. THE SURRENDERED LIFE. "Yet not I." The paradox of the Christian faith is here again. "I live, yet not I?' There comes a time in all our experience when we find that, having proved Jesus as our sin-bearer, He asks us to trust Him as Sovereign, Master and Lord. We yield our souls to Him at our conversion, but we yield our lives and personalities to Him at consecration, when He calls us to trust Him with ourselves. It seems so strange that people who will trust their eternal destiny into the hand of the Lord Jesus, are afraid to trust the next few years into His hands, or the next moment of their lives, or the next decision they have to make. Surely, if the Lord Jesus loved you enough to die for you, He loves you enough to have a perfect care for your life. You know that all things in life will work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose. Therefore, trust Him with your whole life as you have trusted Him with your eternal soul. It is the experience of many people who come to Keswick that, when they come here in the quietness and silence of this place, God shows them one particular thing in their life which is the point of conflict. It is as though the general battle about surrendering one's I. THE NEW LIFE. Look for a moment at this verse, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live." Here is the new life: no longer the old carnal life, which was lived in the body and the flesh. 59 life becomes a particular battle in which God shows us a particular point, a particular friendship, a particular action, a particular course of behaviour, a particular direction of life, about which He says, "I now want to talk this over with you." The Lord narrows this whole question of the surrendered life down to a point where the battle is joined. If that is so with you, spend time alone with God. Yes, this applies to you alone; meet with Him that He may win the victory and you may find the joy of surrender to Him. I remember in the invasion of the island of Walcheren, in the war, after heavy action and much loss of life in the initial run-in to the coast, we got to a great chain of forts. We were held up by a great bastion called "W 13" on our coded map. On the right-hand side of us was the sea, on the left the submerged fields, and in front this great bastion; and we could not advance until finally W 13 was stampeded and taken. It was a matter of sweeping right through and meeting our other troops inland. There was that one particular bastion which needed to be conquered. The Holy Spirit so graciously takes this great crowd, all the thousands of you here in this sacred place, and He personally and gently says to you, "My child, people have different problems; your problem is this . . . and the thing I want from you is this . . . what I want you to do is this." There is no victory or spiritual advance until that problem is settled. The one thing a speaker can rely upon is that he does not have to mention any of the things by name, because the Holy Spirit takes his words and applies them to your life. You know your circumstances, your problems, your difficulties; and you know the particular point in your spiritual history where this particular fact of surrender needs to be sorted out, prayed over, and yielded. "Yet not I"— the surrendered life. III. THE INFILLED LIFE. Look at the next phrase: "But Christ liveth in me." When we yield ourselves unreservedly to the Lord Jesus, what then? Why, then comes the infilled life. We come to Him and say, "Lord Jesus, take full and total possession of my heart, my loyalty, my will, my energies, my life and personality." He floods our soul with His presence, and fills our heart with His Spirit, and becomes even more wonderfully present and real to us. "Christ liveth in me" — the infilled life. You cannot have more of the power of the Holy Spirit until the Person of the Spirit of Jesus has more of you. That is the simple truth. Let me repeat it. You cannot have more of the power of the Holy Spirit which you so desperately need to overcome your temptations, and to make you useful in God's service, until the Person of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus has more of you; the surrendered life leads to the infilled life. "Christ liveth in me." IV. THE SERVING LIFE. So, "not I, but Christ" means death to self, that we may be alive to Jesus. The Lord Jesus never asks us to do more than He is glad and willing to do Himself and, in fact, has done Himself. Turn with me for a moment to John 12:24, where Jesus says, "In very truth, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." He spoke of His death, for, as He lay His life down for the sins of the world, there flows from the Cross the river of blessing which will go on— Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more. Such is the power of one life, when it is the life of God laid down for the lives and souls of men. The servant will follow his Master, and what the Master gladly does the servant gladly does also. So there is in this phrase, "Yet not I, but Christ," a willingness to yield our lives wholly to Him, that we may serve Him more fully and more purposefully. Did you notice a phrase by Isobel Kuhn in a recent copy of the China Inland Mission magazine, in which she said, "I planted two grains of wheat to-day to die"? She had taken two new young women missionaries to a new place, and managed to find them some rickety accommodation, and settle them in a village where there had been no Christian witness before, and "there I have planted two grains of wheat to die" so that they may bring forth fruit to God in the salvation of souls. The Christian life is not comfortable. It is strengthened by His comfort, but still it is not comfortable. The One who had nowhere to lay His head, and the One who was worse off than the birds who have their nests, He is our Master; and you and I must learn that He may call us to service which is arduous and selfsacrificing and total. It is, "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The surrendered life and the infilled life lead to the life of service. It is at that vital point that the Lord refines us and trains us so that He may more fully use us in His service. So many of us are so taken up with our own spiritual interests that we spend our time concerned about ourselves, our spiritual comfort, our spiritual enjoyment: but the whole point of coming to a Convention like this is not to go back feeling cosy and happier in our souls, but that we may be purged of our selfishness, so that we may be able to give o ur whole-time service to the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be dead to ourselves, but alive unto God. He gave His promise that life would come to us; and we are called upon to live that same life of unselfish devotion to the Lord Jesus who gave all to us. You say, "I know, but it is so difficult at home; and I wonder whether I can keep it up?" Look at the verse again. This life which I now live in the flesh, with all its weakness and problems and its difficulties, how do I live it? I live it, not by struggling, but "by the faith of the Son of God." living. Do not think of the grand days there were in the past, nor of the difficult days in the future. The Christian life is the life of living to-day in the joy of the Lord, in the presence of the Master, and in faith in Jesus; holding His hand, trusting Him, keeping close to Him, with no sin between ourselves and Him, drawing all our grace and strength from Him; in fact, abiding in Him—for the branch becomes fruitful as it abides in the vine, where life is. This is the faith life. Vi. T H E L OVI N G LI F E . Yes, you say, but where is the motive power to hold me to this life? It is found in the last line of the text: "For the Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me." It is a love life; here is the only motive which first brings us to the Cross to be forgiven; here is the only motive that calls us out into Christian service, that holds us to His will when all things are dark and problematical. It is the love of Jesus gripping our hearts and holding us to Him. First, we looked at the Cross and we saw Jesus bearing our sins there, and He saved us as we looked to Him. As we have gone on in the Christian life we have looked at the Cross repeatedly, and the more we understood the doctrine of atonement the deeper we have seen what it meant to Jesus to die for us, and so the more His love has gripped us. The love which first drew us to Him to find forgiveness and salvation, is the love that continues to draw us to Him and gives us power in service, gives us joy in adversity, gives us a sense of His Presence in problems and difficulties. His love holds us to His will. It keeps us loyal to Him whatever happens, for this love is the love of Christ, who gave everything for us on the Cross. Christ, therefore, is the only Person in heaven, earth, or hell, who has the right to demand everything of you; so that you may go back to the mountain peak of the first line of our text and say, "Yes, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' " V. THE FAITH LIFE. Life by faith; we have seen the new life, we have seen the surrendered life, we have seen the infilled life, we have seen the serving life, and here we have the faith l i f e . That is the secret of it all: it is trusting Jesus, trusting Him all the time, all the way, and in every circumstance. The Christian life is very simple really: it is stretching out our hands to the Lord Jesus, and holding His hand; but it is better even than that, because it is His outstretched hand which takes ours and grips it firmly, and we live by the faith of the Son of God, our hand in His hand, and His hand holding us. Look up John 10 and study it, and see how He says, "Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand ... and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." The Christian life is faith in Jesus. How do we grow in the service of the Master? Beneath it all is this simple, irresistible fact. that the Christian faith is lived by utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus, and in no other way: it is the faith life of holding His hand and trusting Him. We read this morning in the Scripture Union portion, "Be not anxious for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself ... but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." Do not worry about to-morrow. In fact, do not worry about to-day, let alone to-morrow. Really, there are enough troubles to-day, without worrying about tomorrow! To-day is the day in which you are 61 The Way of Restoration By THE REV. T. M. BAMBER. T to be the most human document Ithatthink we have in the whole of literature and, WANT to draw your attention to what I of course, in the whole of the Bible—Psalm 51. I think I can truly say that in the course of one's pastoral ministry I have read more frequently from the Psalms than from any other Book in the Bible. I do not know what David thought sometimes of the troubles through which he passed; he must have been sorely distressed and anxious at times, but he never dreamed that the springs of grace in the Psalms which he wrote out of his sorrows would be of such wonderful blessing and help to millions of Christians throughout all these centuries. It is a wonderful thing that out of the wounds of David, as we look at them this morning, you and I all these centuries later can receive the grace and goodness and help of God. In this Psalm there is the unveiling of the heart of David in the profound experience of repentance. I have no time to tell you the story; you know it quite well. My theme is not David in his sin, but David in his restoration: and in any restoration of any human being, repentance toward God is essential. Ethically, emotionally and redemptively, the whole Psalm describes and sets forth the essential elements in human repentance. Only as conscience brings the heart and the will through this Psalm verse by verse, can we realize the state of David before God on this terrible day, and sense, perhaps, the superficial approach to God with which we ourselves may be more or less familiar. We cannot read through this Psalm without realising that it is volcanic; it is the unveiling of the sinful depths of the human soul in the presence of a holy God. I hope that out of the study of it every one here will be encouraged to read this Psalm carefully; and to those who do so, it will bring a blessing. For my part, I must be selective, and I am going to take out two or three phrases, touch on them lightly, and trust that the Spirit of God may refresh our minds and hearts accordingly. Here is one of the phrases, from verse 7— Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. I do not know what you understand by that, but hyssop was used in the sprinkling of the leper, declaring that he was cleansed. The priest gave him permission to go back to take his place in society once again; that was a tremendous blessing. Only the outcast knows what it means to be ostracised from society. My ministerial brethren are familiar with the fact that the gentlemen of the road so our names on the boards outside our churches they proceed to the nearest telephone kiosk and find our address, and the matter is perfectly simple. They turn up on our doorsteps and tell their tale of woe, which we cannot always accept at its face value: but there is one thing which is unmistakably true, whether it is a consequence of their own sins or not, they are people not wanted by society. Social stigma is very painful. If there is anybody here this morning who has had that experience, you will know what a heavy blow it is when the circle to which you have belonged turns its back upon you. There are also the circles to which we may aspire, but cannot enter. All those circles were open, of course to David the king; but there was one circle which was closed to him, the company of confessed and pardoned sinners, received back by God to be holy; and that is the most select circle in the world. You may have a trouble sometimes when you are living in a town to know which church you shall settle down in, and I imagine those who love the Keswick message must have some difficulty in determining where they should go. You cannot stop at Keswick all the year round. You may have that trouble, perhaps, about denominations; you wonder which one is the best. I cannot give you the answer to that, but there is one circle which is all important, and that is the company of those who have confessed their sins and themselves as sinners before God, and have been received back by God to be holy. There are many people in all our churches who are respectably religious, but are not in that circle, and cannot be. Nobody is in the circle without a deep experience of repentance It is the inner circle of the elite of God, who have in some way passed through the curriculum of this chapter, have sensed in some degree the reality of its depths, and have found their assurance not in their own hearts but in the heart of God. The first thing, if you are in this select circle of those who have been received by God to be holy, is that God has given you a continuously praising heart. The great wonder of your heart is this—that God should ever have had mercy on such an unworthy individual as you or me. The second thing is that the sins of other Christians are not so much the subject now of your criticism, as a mirror in which afresh you see the depths of your own old nature. I believe it to be one of the great blessings that God gives to a man who has been through Psalm 51, that he ceases to be a critic of the sins of others, for God makes them to be a mirror of His own heart and soul. The third thing is that the good in others begins to attract you; what they are, what they can do, their excellencies, their abilities, especially when they are greater than in our own connection—these command your admiration and your thanksgiving to God. Finally, in this select circle, each esteems others better than themselves; each one sees the goodness, the integrity and the honour of the other; and honestly, from the depths of the heart, each esteems others better than himself. When God has brought you through Psalm 51 and you have been purged with hyssop to go back to the society of God, these will be the marks of your joy and delight. I would say from the depths of my heart, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." It is part of the blessing of the day of restoration. If you feel you are not in that circle, then God wants to restore you. Psalm 51 is the golden way, with all its challenge, into the elite circle of those whom God has called to Himself, and restored to be holy. Following that the Psalmist said— Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Which means, I judge, a purity that David had never experienced before in his own heart. Sin is alarming; for after we have sinned, we realize what we are. The deed itself in this connection is secondary because the deed expresses what we are. After the deed is committed, what we are remains; it remains there to corrupt our characters and to poison our lives, because we are what we have done. Its influence flows back into our life, to add to our moral deterioration. David felt that and he said-Create in me a clean heart, 0 God. That is much more than mere restoration: it is re-creation. When God cleanses you and me, He does not recover our purity, but He imparts to us the purity of His beloved Son. He makes us to be what Jesus is Himself by 63 His own inherent obedience. How does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse from sin? It is a mystery and a secret which God has not revealed. We know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from sin; but nobody knows how it is done, and very often the supercilious and critical would repudiate the idea that in these enlightened days we should talk about cleansing by the blood of Jesus: yet sure it is that those who come, know a cleansing from the guilt, the power, and the contamination of sin. Its seal is always a new attitude to God. God is no longer a Judge but a Father. There is a new attitude to Jesus Christ: He is no longer on the circumference of things, He is right at the centre of my life. There is a new attitude to sin, because it is the most horrible and terrible handicap to life. There is a new attitude to holiness, for whatever else I may have in my ambitions, the greatest of all should be to be holy. "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." I have taken one other phrase in this passage because I have a special purpose in doing so, and I trust it will be a help to those to whom it may apply. Verse 8— Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. I once heard those broken bones described as the bones of the old Adam. I am not quite sure that that will fit in with the Psalm. Bones broken by God! Somewhere in life as the years go by, every child of God has to come to chastisement. If you never experience chastening, says the writer of the Hebrews, you are not a child of God, you are not a son. Somewhere in life bones have to be broken. I judge it to be a terrible experience. Sometimes, of course, it may be by illness and affliction, by sorrows or by loss. These may be the chastisements of God, and it is well for the sufferer himself to realize that his experience may be a breaking of the bones. There is one breaking of the bones which I believe always is of God, and that is when you experience the injustice of man, and particularly the injustice of fellow Christians. There comes a time in life for most of us when we pass through an experience of injustice. When we do, there is probably no experience so painful, so penetrating, so difficult to adjust oneself to as the apparent, and maybe patent, injustice of others, and particularly of fellow Christians. It is a very unjust experience—but after all, everything about the old nature is unjust; when we are dead in sin every act we do is unjust to God and unjust to others. Our temper, our covetousness, our envy, our hatred—all these things are in the old nature. Sometimes we have been going on with the old sins which have not been dealt with, and the only way God can do it is by breaking the bones. Our blessed Lord is usually the answer to every problem of mankind, certainly of every child of God. You and I have been saved by unjust suffering patiently borne by our Saviour, unjust suffering in which He committed everything to God. I may be speaking to somebody who has experienced injustice. Remember, however, that you have probably been unjust at some time, as well. It may be that God is breaking the bones. If we could only get a spiritual insight into this tent, we might see a spiritual casualty station. It is a serious thing to be unjust to a child of God. One of the worst things you can do is to be unjust to a fellow Christian: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Have you been unjust to a fellow Christian? When our Lord was speaking to the woman of Samaria, she could think of nothing else but the blessing she wanted: but our Lord brought her to the point, saying, "Go and bring your husband." In saying that He brought her face to face with the problem which stopped the blessing of the living water. If you have been unjust to any fellow believer you will be thinking of it and God wants you to put it right, or else He may have to break some bones—"bones which Thou host broken." The very first thing you want to do when you experience injustice from another Christian is to forget the Christian and the injustice, and to think of God, for God may be using the injustice of a fellow believer to break the bones of the hard thing in our souls. "The bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice." Having read this Psalm several times just recently, and felt the sense of its blessing in my own heart, I ask you to read it through, and ask God to take you, not into the heart of David, but into His heart and into your own heart, sentence by sentence, that He may bring you back to the abounding joy of child of God, restored, forgiven, made holy; to teach transgressors the ways of God, that sinners may be converted. The Price of Revival B Y T H E R E V. STEPHEN F. OL FORD. Prepare ye the way of the Lord . . . and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. —Luke 3:4, 6. EFORE and since the Greater London Crusade under the leadership of Dr. Billy B Graham, I have been reading quite a lot of men are to see the salvation of God, the way must be prepared. A way is a means of access. Have you ever realized that God intends that your life should be a way of access, a way to the Lord Jesus Himself; a way along which the Lord Jesus will be seen riding in triumphant power, in glory and salvation and blessing? I wonder if your life is a way, or an obstruction? Is it a means of access, or is it a cul-de-sac? The early Christians were called those of "the way." Luke employs that phrase six times in the Acts of the Apostles — "those of the way." Even a demon-possessed girl detected that, when she saw Paul and Silas walking down the road—"These are the men that show us the way of salvation." I wonder, my friend, if you are associated with the Lord Jesus who said of Himself, "I am the Way"? In the light of the Word of God, I want to ask you—is your life a way of triumphant prayer? When friends meet you, are they aware of God and an open heaven? Is it easy for people to pray when you are about? Are you a way into the very holiest (Heb. 9:8), because you are associated with the new and living Way? Is your life a way of challenging holiness—the way of righteousness that Peter speaks of (2 Pet. 2:21)? Not an imitation, counterfeit of holiness, but a life of transparency that makes people conscious of the beauty and loveliness and gentleness of the Lord Jesus? Is your life a way of perfect love; what Paul describes as the "more excellent way" (1 Cor. 12:31)? Is your life a way of abundant life—the new and living way (Heb. 10:20)? Are you associated with the Lord Jesus in His freshly-opened way into abundance of life? Or is your life an obstruction, a block, an obstacle? "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Now let us observe—II. WHAT IS ENTAILED. The challenge that comes to us, then, is this — Is my life a highway for the Son of God? Is Jesus seen in me? The only glimpse some Literature on Revival, for it has been my gayer and longing that this great Crusade Should prove to be the beginning of something even greater—a true, Holy Ghost Revival. In 1904, the churches were empty. Spiritual life was at a low ebb. Sin abounded on every hand, when suddenly, unexpectedly, like a mighty tornado, the wind of God blew across South Wales. A Revival of the Holy Ghost began. Meetings started at 10 o'clock in the morning, and went on until 12 o'clock at night. Infidels were converted; drunkards, gamblers and immoral people were gloriously saved; and thousands were reclaimed to respectability. Theatres had to close, for want of patronage. We are told that the mules in coal-mines refused to work, being unused to Kindness! That mighty movement of God swept through that land, and in the space of Four or five weeks twenty-five to thirty thousand souls were won to the Lord Jesus Christ. And my heart's longing is that the result of Keswick this year will be a Holy Ghost Revival. The more I think about it, however, the more I realize that there cannot be Revival without paying a price. The Word of God tomes to us with a challenge, and it says: 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord . . . and all Flesh shall see the salvation of God." You to the preparation, says God, and I will pour put the blessing of Revival and salvation. So I want to challenge my own heart and yours, concerning the price of Revival. Will you notice, first of all— C. WHAT is ENJOINED—"Prepare ye the way of the Lord." In olden times, when any great man, or king, or emperor, was to pass through the land, heralds were sent forth to prepare the highway. Isaiah and John borrow this figure, to set forth the great truth enjoined here--"prepare ye the way of the Lord." If 65 people have of the Saviour is the glimpse they see of Him in you. Thousands of people never open this precious Book, they never go to church, they do not know the meaning of prayer; and if they are ever to see the Lord Jesus, it must be through your life, because your life is the way, the means of access to the Lord Jesus Himself. What is entailed? What is demanded if this way is to be truly prepared? First of all, every valley shall be filled. I am sure that this is a reference to something spiritual and subjective—not merely the material mountains and valleys, but the obstructions in your life and my life, that block the vision of Christ, and stop people from seeing the Saviour in saving and reviving power. What is entailed? First, that every valley of defeat shall be filled. Valleys are depressions and divisions in the earth's surface, and as such symbolise spiritual experiences in life— the inward depressions and the outward divisions. Are you defeated by inward depressions; the things that prevent others from seeing Jesus in you? I th ink of temper, irritability, moodiness, the slavish fear of man, the inferiority complex—things which should never exist in a Christian's life. Tell me, for how long every week are you living in the valleys of depression, or of outward divisions? Is your life creating divisions— that is sectarianism, denominationalism, obscurantism, exclusivism, or anything that spoils the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Are the valleys in your life filled? Someone asks, How can they be filled? There is only one answer, and it is found in Ephesians 5:18, "Be ye being filled with the Spirit." For I have learned from experience, as many of you have, that it is only when the Holy Ghost completely fills a life that the divisions are mended and the depressions are mastered. But not only are the valleys of defeat to be filled, but the mountains of disbelief mast be levelled. Clearly, the mountains here speak of unbelief, or disbelief. The Lord Jesus Himself used this figure of speech when He said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence . . . and it shall remove." The Lord Jesus was speaking of moral mountains. the mountains that stop the blessing. that block the way to a personal vision of the Lord Jesus. Is there defeat in your life because of the mountain of disbelief? What is the answer? Jesus said, "Have faith as a grain of mustard seed"—take the place of the grain of mustard seed, the place of weakness and uselessness and littleness before God. For all unbelief springs from pride, and until pride is smashed the mountains of disbelief will still loom great and obstructing. So Peter says, "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble" (I Pet. 5:5), and then he adds: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." I find no injunction in the Word of God to take humility as a gift. The word is, "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God"; and if I do not humble myself God has to humble me—and the Word of God says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' Perhaps one of the most terrifying illustrations of this is in Daniel 4. When the great Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his head in haughtiness and pride before God, God had to bring him low; for those who walk in pride God will abase. You will remember how Nebuchadnezzar was made to dwell in the fields. He grew hairs upon his body like the feathers of an eagle, and his nails grew like the claws of a bird. For seven years he ate grass like a beast. God humbled him, and broke him down, because he would not humble himself under the mighty hand of God. One could illustrate this again and again in the lives of believers whom God has had to humble. It may come into your home, it may touch your children, your business, your health, or something even nearer and dearer than that; but if unbelief continues to rear its ugly head, if the mountain of disbelief continues to loom great in your life, and you refuse to humble yourself and to allow the pride of your life to be broken at the Cross of Christ, God will resist it—and I repeat, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Every valley shall be filled, every mountain shall be brought low; but that is not all— the crooked ways of dishonesty must be straightened. What are they? Well, they are legion; but I suggest three. There are the crooked ways of the dishonesty of lying, pretending to be what you aren't, living a lie— in your thoughts, in your words, in your very actions day by day, misrepresenting what you truly are. There is also the dishonesty of robbing God t, —squandering His time, mis-spending His money, wasting your life, instead of giving your best years to God, squandering the 4 energy He has given you: robbing God, "Will a man rob God?" Alas, it is so possible. And what of the dishonesty of hypocrisy?— giving a testimony when you really don't mean what you say; pretending in your prayers and your messages what you really don't experience in your own life; living a hypocritical life, a false witness. "A witness to pretence, 66 never be blessing in my life. I beg of you, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God; then flee to 1 John 1: 9, for "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Come back to that word of the risen Christ to the Church at Ephesus, "Remember . . from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." Someone says, "Supposing I do put these things right, supposing I do really prepare the way, supposing I accept what is enjoined, and fulfil what is entailed?" Then, my friend, the rest of the text becomes a reality. You will see— said the preacher in the Proverbs, "shall perish." Yes, the crooked ways have to be straightened, if the way is to be prepared; valleys filled, mountains levelled, the places of dishonesty put right in your life. But there is yet another issue entailed, for the places of dislocation must be made smooth. The word "dislocation" is an interesting one. It means, "to make strata discontinuous," or "to be out of place." It is suggestive of this thought: Are you out of place, are you out of the will of God, are you dislocated in your Christian life? Is your fellowship with God right? Or are you out of adjustment in your church life —with your minister, with your elders, with your deacons, with your fellow-Christians? Are you out of adjustment in your home life? Is there harmony and happiness in your home? Can you write over it, "The glory of God rests upon this house," or are there tensions, defeat, misunderstanding in the relationship of your home? What about your business life? Are all your books straight? Is there integrity and purity and punctuality and righteousness in your business life? What about your social life? I wonder if a fellow here is courting an unconverted girl; or a girl, playing with fire by seeking a deeper friendship with someone who knows not the Saviour? The Scripture saith, "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers," and oh, the tragedy in a pastor's life of looking into the lives of young people who have violated that law; they have become dislocated, and their lives have been spoilt and marred, and it is so difficult to see how they will ever be remade again. Oh, young people, I appeal to you; seek the Lord ever, that the life-partner who comes into your experience will be the one of God's choice, and only God's choice. Don't get out of adjustment to the will of God in the matter of your social relationships. What about your recreative life —your games, your sports? Tell me, are they pure, are they clean, are they sanctified; are they to the glory of God, or are you out of place in relation to your recreative life? "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." That is the great injunction. Every valley shall be filled, every mountain be made low; crooked ways shall be made straight, rough places be made smooth. If you are out of adjustment, get right with Him. David warns us that "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps. 66:18). That means, if I look with approval on anything in my life which is out of adjustment to the will of God, then the heavens will be as brass, I shall never win through to victory, there will III. WHAT IS EXPECTED. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God" (v. 6). In Luke 2:30, you will see that the salvation of God is embodied in the Person of the Lord Jesus. He was only an infant when Simeon bowed his head and said, "Now mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." The salvation of God, my friend, is the Lord Jesus Himself in His saving and reviving power. And what is expected? First, unlimited blessing—"all flesh." Oh, how parochial we are. how small-minded; how we confine and cabin our thoughts of God's purposes of blessing! He wants to catch us up into a wider vision. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God"—not only the British Isles, but the far parts of the earth: that is God's purpose of blessing in Revival. Not just my church. not just my area, not just my town, but my land and the world. All flesh shall see the salvation of God; and nothing less than that is the purpose of God. I am prepared to say that that word is applicable to this hour. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the husbandman and waits patiently for the precious fruit of the earth, is yet to send the latter rain before He comes to rapture His own people, and I am looking for the latter rain of Revival. Oh, that it might come! The rain of Revival is also unmistakable blessing—"shall see." It is a blessing that we shall see. "There shall be signs following." Some of us love to use those old Evangelical words and platitudes that mean absolutely nothing—"only eternity will reveal . . ." This is something that we shall see now! God wants us to see the blessing. And I believe God's purpose is that we should see it, if only we are prepared to pay the price of Revival in our own personal lives, and then in the lives of our churches throughout our land. And it is unspeakable blessing, for it is the Lord Jesus Himself, the salvation of God. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." We don't want to see a new movement start, we don't 67 God's salvation. Simeon had a sensitive heart and perceiving eyes, and he understood that though the Lord Jesus was just a babe, He was God's salvation. Thank God He is; and I trust that this evening as God's child you are rejoicing in His salvation, in Him, and in the perfect cleansing which His blood supplies. I would not want to lay my head on the pillow to-night unless I knew all was well between my soul and God; unless as a Christian I knew that the blood of Christ daily was cleansing me. That is the heritage of the saints, and that is your privilege—to know that The Lord is my salvation." Yes, as a Christian I need light; because in this world of darkness I lose my way so quickly, and issues become clouded and I do not understand the way and I get into difficulty; and I want God, the light, to show me what is right and what is wrong, and to show me how far I have strayed. He is faithful. He is faithful to you. He has brought you here to this Convention, and He has been speaking to you, has He not? You have heard His voice, and the light has shone as you have confessed your sins and as you have turned to the Lord Jesus. Our God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. The blood of Christ and the salvation of God is ours. But we rest not in our confession, we rest not in our works; we rest in the merits of the shed blood of the Lamb of God, who rose again. But the Gospel does not end there. God does not just save us or bring us to a place like Keswick and deal with us and give us a sense of forgiveness all over again, and then wash His hands of us. This third thing that is said is something I should like to lay upon your heart; for I confess it is my desperate need. The Lord is the strength of my life. That strength for living and power for living is my experiencing His faithfulness and His showing me my need, and then my entering into the joy of being cleansed of my sin. I come face to face with this wonderful fact, that He is the strength of my life; and to-night and to-morrow and for all the tomorrows He is the strength of my life. You will remember that just before He left His disciples He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." Did you get those three things? I am the way; I am the truth; I am the life. He is the strength of our lives. Let me try to illustrate my point. Let us go back in our mind's eye to the eighteenth century, and let us imagine we are in France. Let us suppose that for some reason—not really a reason but a miserable excuse—I have been arrested. Perhaps it is because there is a debt which I owe and have not been able to pay in time, and rather than being given a further opportunity I have been apprehended and dragged off to the Bastille and imprisoned. We know something of the durance vile which was the portion of the prisoners there. Let us suppose I was taken out of the bright sunlight into the prison, and down the stairways—down, down, until we come to the lowest dungeon. There the captor takes me, opens a creaking gate and puts me inside. The candle he carries he takes away, and the gate clanks shut. There I am in a dungeon. There are no windows to let the light in. There is not even a candle to burn. After a while my eyes get accustomed to the darkness, and I begin to make out in faint outline what is in the cell. I see a little pallet over in the corner, a little mattress of straw. I look around for something more, but there is not anything more. The darkness and the dampness seem to come into my very innermost being, but there is nothing to do about it. Two or three times a day the jailer makes his rounds, and he slips under the door on occasion a little plate with a piece of bread and a cup of water. That is my sustenance, Day follows day. How many days pass I do not know—there is no way of reckoning time; but weeks pass into months, and months pass j into years, and I become old. Suddenly there is a great commotion. I hear a great noise in the corridors, and finally a man comes. He fumbles about with the lock, and suddenly he is able to open the door, which has not been opened for so long, and he comes into my presence. But I am weak; I fi am emaciated. Lying on the pallet I look up w i t h a p a l e , w a n f a c e . ' He says, "Yo u are f ree! Yo u are f ree!" I look at him incredulously. "Free? What do you mean? Oh no! You cannot mean that el I am free. It is a trick. I shall go out into the t' corridor and around the corner, and there will be soldiers there, and because I am trying to escape I shall be killed. I do not believe it." The man persists. He says, "You are free," and he takes from the folds of his garment a parchment, holds the candle to it and says, "Look. This is the proclamation. The King has been put aside, and all the prisoners at the Bastille are to be freed. You are free. It is the truth." Blinking, I look at the parchment and try to trace out the writing, and suddenly I say, "Yes. I see. It is so. It is true." "Well," says the man, "go out. That is the way to go—along that corridor through which you came so many years ago. Go ahead." But I smile faintly and say, "Man, if you had come ten years ago or more I could have in it. But He being the life enables me to walk to the glory of God. He is the strength of my life. Oh dear heart, the glory of Christianity is this—Christ liveth in me. Oh believe it! Believe it! It is the word of God. It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me. Christianity is nothing if it is not supernatural. If there is not a living Christ, who comes to live in us, we may as well throw out the Word of God as a fabrication of lies, and the whole story of the Gospel as a hoax. But it is true. It is gloriously true! And in a limited and feeble way I stand to testify tonight and to say with the psalmist, "The Lord is the strength of my life." "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" You say, "Well, isn't there something more to know?" There is much more we done it, but I am weak, I have no strength. I have been lying on this pallet, hardly moving off it except to crawl over to get the bread and water that have been put in twice a day. I cannot go. I know that is the way, and I know that what you say is the truth; but there is nothing I can do." I want you now to imagine something that is utterly impossible in the human realm. Suppose that strong, towering soldier who has come to give the good news could by some mysterious process of alchemy transfer all his vigour and all his vitality and all his manhood and all his power into my weak emaciated body that has been lying on the pallet, then I would be able to get up and go out into freedom —I would have life. Hear me! That is precisely what the Lord Jesus does for the Christian! "I am the way; I am the truth." But He did not stop there. Blessed be God, He did not stop there. He being the truth would condemn me. He being the way would find me utterly unable to walk can know but, bless your hearts, that is enough. He is the strength of my life! 69 " Be Thou Clean" BY THE REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.—Matthew 8:1 - 3. (i) Knew his condition. He was a leper and he knew it, and his condition was such that he had come to know in what a desperate state he was. And God can carry you on in the spiritual life only if you are willing to acknowledge your need and if you really know the sin that is in your heart. While you excuse it, while you put it on one side, God cannot do anything further for you. Yet, how many Christians there are with prayerlessness hidden in their hearts. Sometimes they may preach to others concerning the need of prayer, while they know in their own souls how prayerless they are and how they scarcely open the Scriptures to read them and link them with daily life. The Bible is on the shelf and prayer is a neglected thing. Or it may be ambition and pride, self-assertion, hatred, jealousy and unbelief: these conscious sins are allowed and hidden up. And sometimes these things later on in life begin to disfigure the face and to spoil the very frame, until other people begin to notice it and we are unable to cover it up. I wonder, friends, if you know your condition? There is another thing to notice about this leper's conscious need, and that is— E long that as this meeting draws to W a close there may be many in this tent who will hear the voice of the Saviour saying, "I will; be thou clean." Jesus Christ's ministry of deliverance from sin is the great theme of the good news of Christ. It tells of a way to a heart and a life that is cleansed and made free from evil thoughts and desires and imaginations. To-night we long that you might be willing to come to Him, in order that the Lord might do for you as He did for this leper long ago and that you might go out of this tent every whit whole and clean. Remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, and He is as able to do in this tent in Keswick in 1954 as He did when He had come down from the mountain and the leper approached Him. The first thing I want you to notice here to-night is— I. THE CONSCIOUS NEED. Leprosy is a foul disease. It blights, it disfigures, it spreads, it kills, It is one of the great Bible pictures of sin. Yet the amazing thing is how long one can excuse it. I have talked to doctors who have come home from working among lepers, who have said to me that if only the lepers had gone to them when the disease had first started they could have been cured, but the trouble was that they were ashamed to be known as lepers and they hid the disease. They kept the spot and the sore covered for as long as they could, and many a time when they disclosed the disease it was too late to do anything by way of a cure. I wonder if there is someone here who knows his need—but is still covering it up? The first thing you will notice about conscious need is that this leper- (ii) He was open about his state. He was prepared to come out from the midst of the multitude and say, "Lord, I am a leper." The trouble with so many Christians is that they are not ready to come and declare their need. Perhaps openness is the thing you need. You have got to come out and declare that very need in your soul by, for example, sending a cheque or postal order when you get back to-night to someone you have defrauded, and declaring that you have been acting the hypocrite and posing as a Christian of a far higher standard of life than you know You 72 are in your heart of hearts. Openness is a tremendously important thing. I thank God for the first time I came to Keswick, in 1925, the Jubilee Year. It was here that I learnt many wonderful truths, and blessing came to me in the Cambridge Camp when the Rev. William Nicholson was speaki n g. He had a penitent form in the front of the tent, and he deal t with us in the Cambridge Camp in a most searching way. AL the end of the meeting, having dealt with the question of our reputation—a thing that touched me—and the needs of the human soul, he said. "If you mean business, come out and kneel at the penitent form." I remember the Rev. H. Earnshaw-Smith saying to me afterwards that it was a striking thing to notice the difference in that, while people who came out to the penitent form went on spiritually, many who did not, seemed to slip back. I am not suggesting that we should have a penitent form here to-night! but openness and being prepared to declare the need for the Lord and His cleansing was the second vital thing in the action of this leper. you are not really repentant; deep down in your heart you know that when you get back to the old surroundings you are going to go back to your sin again because you like it, and because it pleases you, and because it pays. Where there is a half-hearted repentance and unwillingness really to come clean and out into the open and declare your need to God, and to your neighbour maybe, God cannot come and God cannot bless as He would like. Better not to repent, and better not to come and ask for cleansing, if in your heart of hearts you really do not mean business. It i s a m o c k e ry o f G o d , i t i s a m o c k e r y o f Calvary, if you want only half cleansing. But he re was a man who re ally got blessed, a man who came and said, "Lord Jesus, I am a leper, and I want every bit of leprosy taken out of me. I long to be perfectly whole." The conscious need. I wonder if you have come that far with the leper? You will notice, second— II. THE PURPOSEFUL REQUEST. "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." Here was a man meaning business, and here was a man with a request that was full of purpose. (iii) He wanted full cleansing. He knew the utter loathsomeness of his own soul. You would smile if I were to suggest that this man might have come to Christ and asked for the cleansing of his face and hands only, just the parts that were open and showed to the public. Yet there are Christians who are prepared to go only half way with the cleansing of the Lord. Why? Because there are sins in their hearts which they like. which please them. which help them on in business, which pay. and they do not want cleansing and deliverance from them. They imagine that they are hidden, and that no one knows about them. They are just prepared to come and ask for cleansing for the things which the speakers from the Keswick platform name, the things they know to be wrong; but this man was prepared to come and seek for full cleansing, because he knew that sin was sin and he was desperately hungry for deliverance from suffering: and that is why he got a blessing that day. He was prepared for anything to get the cleansing; and then— (i) He came to Jesus; yet 'so many Christians do not. You may have been defeated for years. You may have been, as it were, out on the fringe of things. God has not used you, God has not blessed you; and now you have come he re s c a rce l y k no wi ng why y o u c a me to Keswick, with depression in your heart. You feel there is no hope, or that Christ does not want to come and bless you in a deep way. My friend, He does! He longs to, with the same intensity of love which brought Him down from heaven to seek you while you were yet a sinner. He loves you still, with the same intensity of love which took Him to Calvary when you were an enemy of His and hated Him with all your heart. That did not deter Him from going to the Cross, that did not deter Him from shedding His precious blood for you. If you have a conscious need, you must follow the leper and bring your purposeful request to the feet of Jesus. You will notice also that the leper not only came to Jesus, but— (iv) Wholeness. Do you notice the difference? Great multitudes followed: one leper g o t b l e s s e d . G re a t m u l t i t u d e s c o m e to Keswick, but not necessarily every one will get blessed. For it is only the truly repentant heart that really finds God's blessing. It is easy here in this tent, in the midst of Christian people, or in a house party where the whole atmosphere is of the things of God, to repent and to say you are going to get right with God, while deep down in your heart you know (ii) He worshipped Jesus. He fell down and worshipped Him. In other words, he was ready to acknowledge that he was God, and he was ready to acknowledge that He was one with all power and all might. And so, friend, as you come to meet the Saviour here in this tent to-night, will you bow and worship Him? The risen, victorious, triumphant Saviour, the 73 very God—it is with Him you have to do now. The leper did not only worship Him, but— (iii) He believed that Jesus was able to cleanse. "Lord, Thou canst make me clean." That was the vital part of the request. He believed in his heart that God was able to do it. Why? Because he had seen, no doubt, some other leper cleansed. But you know more than that. You know not only of people whose lives have been transformed, but you know what this poor leper did not know, of the wonder-working power of love at Calvary. You have proved it in part in your own soul. You have known what it is to have your past sins washed away. Friend, if He was able to take away sin in the past, He is able to come and deal with you in the present. The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin. Are you prepared to come to Jesus and worship Him, to believe that He is able to cleanse? "Lord, Thou canst." Are you prepared to say that to Him to-night? (iv) And so he prayed to Jesus. The leper brought his request to Jesus with all his heart's intensity, and with all the purpose of his soul he said, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean"—I am longing, I am desperate, I am in earnest that Thou shouldst come and cleanse me. There was purpose. There was meaning. There was reality. And the Lord wants that of you to-night, with all your need and with all your problems. For the victorious Saviour stands here waiting for you with all your need to come and make your purposeful request to Him. III. THE DIVINE CLEANSING. "And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." Of the hosts of people who have thronged this Convention for over seventy years, how many there are who have been able to say, "It was here in this tent that immediately the leprosy was cleansed." They would be able to take you away to some little place—some little corner sacred to them in the precincts of Keswick— where they met 'with the Lord, and on their knees they lifted up their purposeful request and said, "Lord, Thou canst make me clean. Do it now! I mean it with all my heart." They could take you to a place and say, "It was there the Lord said `I will'." I could take you to a little cornfield on the borders of Cambridgeshire where God brought me down to the very bottom of things and God spoke that word. And what a peace there is when immediately the leprosy is cleansed! Notice- (i) It is Christ's desire: "I will." That is what Christ would say to you to-night, for it is His earnest desire. You may think, "Christ would do it for someone else, but not for me. I have failed Him, let Him down, been disobedient so often. The leprosy has eaten right into me. Opportunities have been wasted and lost. But, Lord, if Thou wilt . . ." Why, friend, the whole of Scripture, the Old and the New Testaments. declares that the grace of God is reaching out continually, to everyone who comes seeking the Saviour. The grace of God is big enough for you. If Christ loved you and died for you when you were yet a sinner, believe me, how He longs and how His grace goes out to you now. It is Christ's desire that this very night divine healing might be yours. Notice, too, how this divine cleansing— (ii) Came directly from Christ. "And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him." We are not dealing with a theory. On this whole question of divine cleansing and holiness the devil seems to keep so many Christians from Christ's blessing and away from the experience of His cleansing, by making them think they may get it in some way which is wrong theologically. They say, "I want the Lord's cleansing, but not a second blessing, because that is unsound. I do not want it the Armenian way"—or maybe the Calvinist way! But divine cleansing does not belong to any theology or any terminology; divine cleansing comes from Christ. Get away from all these theories and ideas, and this very night, if you mean business, come and meet with the Saviour. The leper did not think of how he was going to get it so that it might be medically correct. He came straight to the Lord, and brought his request to the Saviour, and said, "Lord, Thou canst make me clean," and Jesus said, "I will." He always does. And here the Lord is waiting to bless you, and I want you to meet with Him, and with Him alone, to-night. Notice also— (iii) It was a gift. The leper came to Christ, and he deserved absolutely nothing. He was just a poor leper with his flesh rotting away from him. He had no reason to claim anything at the hand of Christ. The only thing he could claim was the desperateness of his need. And as a free gift the Lord said, "Be thou clean," and, thank God, it is always that way. Christians here to-day who are conscious of sin and longing for divine cleansing: it is the Saviour who longs to give you the gift of cleansing, and it is the Saviour who by 1-1.15 precious blood is waiting to make you clean. Notice that- on high, filled with all the fullness of God, longing to give of His fullness to you so that you may be complete in Him, and find as a practical reality in your life that the Lord is the strength of your life so that fear is put away. The One who shed His blood, the risen Saviour, the ascended Lord with all power—He comes here to meet with you, and here is His word: "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That is the promise of the Lord. How many will take that step of faith? What is faith? Faith is venturing out upon a fact. Do remember that. There are three little words some of you will have heard me mention before: fact, faith and feeling. You may have quoted them to the unconverted. They need to be said to the Christian, too, for there are so many people who seem to imagine faith depends upon feelings. So that if you feel your sins are taken away, and you have been cleansed from all sin, that is wonderful: but if you feel burdened, then it has not happened. That is quite wrong! Faith depends upon facts. Facts are the basis. The fact is that Christ died; and because Christ died and shed His blood, God waits to be faithful to the finished fact of Calvary; and God waits to be just, because sin was put away when Christ died on the Cross. There is the divine fact: the human essential is, that you should come to Christ and confess. Come to Him with a conscious need, come to Him and tell Him all the sin of your heart. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is the promise, and that is the pledge of God. If you come and confess; faithful and just to the finished fact of Calvary, God will forgive the sin of your heart here to-night, and more than that, He will cleanse you from ail unrighteousness. Will you bow as we end this service, and thank Him? Will you bow in confession and then say, "Lord Jesus, I come to take Thy cleansing as I took Thy forgiveness long ago"? Will you take the promise, and thank Him for it as we bow in prayer, and say, "Lord Jesus, as I have confessed, I am going to take Thee at Thy word. Thank you for cleansing me now from my leprosy of sin, and from all unrighteousness"? (iv) The blessing came suddenly and immediately. Immediately that man was cleansed. You will find in the Gospels that in miracle after miracle the significant word is immediately. Christ did not say—I say it reverently—"All right. You go away and take a course of training and discipline and diet, and after a year maybe your leprosy will be on the mend." Not a bit of it. The man came in need to Christ, and as a free gift that very night he was made whole. And we on this platform all join in the testimony that the Saviour is able to make you immediately whole. Right here in this tent you can leave your sin, you can leave your disability. It can happen this very night, if you will come and with purpose in your heart and true repentance in your soul, will make your request to the Lord. There is power in the blood of Christ for your deepest need. The last thing I want to say to you as we think of this divine cleansing is— (v) it came in answer to faith, and that has been the testimony of Keswick down through the years: the Lord's way of blessing is by faith. It is sanctification by faith, as it was justification by faith. You start the Christian life by faith, and you go on in the Christian life by faith. This leper had only the fact to launch out on, that Christ had cleansed other lepers. How much more you have to step out on to-night! Think of it: the glorious fact that the Saviour stands here in our midst to-night. If we could but see Him, we should see the scars on His hands. the scars on His sacred brow, for He shed His life-blood once and for all for you. He has not got to die again. Once and for all He shed His blood, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. As He died at Calvary He declared this glorious fact, "It is finished." Sin's power had been dealt with. His blood had been shed to cleanse us from all sin. Do you believe that? Then listen, Jesus Christ stands here not only as the One who shed His blood, but as the risen Saviour who on the Cross broke the power of evil; principalities and powers shrank back defeated and broken when He died, yes, and when He rose again. He stands here in our midst to-night, the victorious Saviour triumphant over all sin and all forces of the evil life. But, more than that: He comes into our midst to-night by the power of His Holy Spirit, as the glorious ascended Saviour, enthroned 75 The Way of Deliverance By THE REV. E. L. LANGSTON, M.A. IN the Old Testament Scriptures we have revealed to us God's plan for world redemption, and that plan is unveiled in Leviticus 23:4-44. There are described seven feasts of Jehovah—the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Tabernacles. To-night for a few moments we are going to study together the first two feasts, the Passover and Unleavened Bread. You remember the occasion: the children of Israel were the children of the promise. God had said to Abraham, their father, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3); yet they were a nation of slaves in the land of Egypt. God sent them a deliverer, who miraculously led the people from bondage into liberty. The method of salvation was through the blood of a lamb, which was chosen on the tenth day of the month and was kept in the household until the fourteenth day. On the fourteenth day, the day of judgment, the avenging angel was to pass over Egypt, and judgment was to come upon every household. There was only one way of escape, and that by the blood shed by the lamb. "When I see the blood, I will pas s over you." So in every Jewish house, and perhaps also in some Egyptian (for they heard of this way of salvation) the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the lintels and on the two door posts of every house. Nineteen hundred years ago the Lord Jesus fulfilled all the details of the Paschal Lamb. We will go to Jerusalem in imagination on that first Palm Sunday, the tenth day of Nisan. Early in the morning our Lord left Bethany, and stood on the Mount of Olives, looking toward Jerusalem. There across the Kedron Valley was Herod's Temple, with its white marble walls, its corinthian pillars, its golden roof. Hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into the city, for it was the first day of the Passover, the first day of unleavened bread. Everybody was happy and joyful; but our Lord, looking at that city, wept over it, saying, "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." While the Lord was weeping over the city there came a throng out from the city gates, with palms in their hands, crying out, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Little did they realise that they were choosing their Lamb, the Lamb of God. On the fourteenth day, when the head of the household was taking the lamb to be examined in the Temple by the Temple officers, our Lord was examined by the temporal officers. Pontius Pilate said three times of Him, "I find no fault in Him; no, nor yet Herod." He was publicly declared spotless, faultless. At the very time when the lambs were being sacrificed our blessed Lord, the Lamb of God, was taken to Calvary; His hands were pierced, His feet were pierced, and there He was hanged on the tree; He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, The heavens were darkened, the thunder rolled, and there came a heart-anguishing cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" There, as we look upon that Cross, we see ourselves in Him; for He took this fallen nature of ours, this sin-principle within us, and put it to death on the Cross. F i f t y y e a r s a g o I f i r s t c a m e h e re t o Keswick. I had been ordained two years, and was just going to a new parish in South Croydon. I was conscious of the many failures and inconsistencies in my life; conscious of the many times I was letting Him down. God had blessed me in C.S.S.M. work, and I had had the joy of leading young people to Christ; but inside me was a rebellion. The good that I would, that I did not; and that which I would not, I did—and I knew in my heart that I was a hypocrite and a failure. I wonder whether there is someone here feeling like that? In those days men like the Rev. Hubert Brooke and Dr. A. T. Pierson were speaking from the platform. My heart was searched through and through, and they brought me to Calvary, and for the first time in my life I saw the poss ibilities of the 76 spiritual life such as I had never dreamed. It was at the Cross—for they led me to that Cross, and made me see that in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of God, I was crucified with Him; and there came that moment which began an experience in my life to which I want to testify. There began to come into my being a deliverance from the power of indwelling sin, the overcoming of inconsistencies and many, many failures. But conditions had to be complied with: I had to renounce sin, to confess sin, and reckon myself dead unto sin; and out of a cry of despair I said, "Lord, I hand over to Thee, here and now, the right to my body, my time, my talents, my life; I want ever to live crucified with Thee, dead unto sin, dead unto self, dead unto the devil, alive unto God." To-night our Saviour is here, and He is telling us that He not only died for us, but He died that we might die with Him in order that He might live in us. I am crucified with Christ—a blessed experience, a surrender of my will and of all; nevertheless I live. We do not lose our personalities—"Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." It was like a new conversion, God Himself in all His glory living in me— Loved with everlasting love, certain rules and regulations laid down concerning this feast. There was to be no leaven found in the house, or upon any person, during the days of unleavened bread. Why was this injunction laid down? Leaven is a tiny microscopic element with remarkable powers of diffuseness. Wherever there is leaven, it corrupts and causes decomposition, and is a type of sin. In every Christian community there are two types of Christian— one type all too rare—happy, victorious Christians; and the second, those who by lip, life and conduct, are continually letting Him down. We wonder why it is that born-again Christians sometimes are so envious of one another, angry with one another, criticising one another, showing unlove, falling into lust, living in the world. Saved, yes, saved from the Egypt of this world—yet defeated! Why is this? The head of the Jewish family just before the feast went with his brush and his light or lamp, searching every room in the house, going through the ceremony of Bedigath Chametz (searching for leaven). At the end of the search for leaven—and leaven is always found—there is another ceremony. Bi-oor Chametz (purging leaven by fire). Why is it that so many of us are continuously falling into sin, and constantly the slaves of our fallen nature? We must never forget that in every one of us there is a fallen nature which we must carry through life. We do not teach or preach in this place sinless perfection; but we do teach that it is possible to have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, provided that the conditions are complied with. The Lord of the Church, and the Lord of each one of us, is the Holy Spirit; and through this Book He takes as it were the brush and the light and searches our innermost beings, and He reveals those things which cause decomposition, decay, corruption. It is the domination of self; the insistence of "I," "my," "mine” If we turn to Romans 6, we see what the Lord has done for us on Calvary, and how we may be delivered from the power of our fallen nature, to live a life of communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus day by day and moment by moment. In the sixth verse St. Paul tells us that on the Cross our Lord dealt with the great sin-principle within us. K n o w i n g th is , t h a t o u r o l d m an is Led by grace that love to know. Have you had that experience? If not, you can; we can all come to the Cross and see Him made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. After that experience, going back home and into the ministry again with a new vision, a new grace and new power, there came demands and difficulties, and I was tempted to wonder whether that transaction at Keswick in 1904 was as thorough and real as I had felt it to be here in this place. I did not realise at the time when I gave myself utterly to Him, that He still had something to do in me and with me. There were things in my heart and in my way of life and thinking which had to be put right. In daily circumstances He was teaching, He was leading, He was revealing; ever since there has been progressive revelation, and victory upon victory. That brings me to the second feast, the feast of Unleavened Bread. On the fourteenth day, the day of judgment upon Egypt, what was happening behind the blood sprinkled doors? Every family was feasting on the lamb; while there was mourning, darkness, suffering throughout Egypt, the saved ones under the blood were feasting on their Saviour. There were, however, crucif ied with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. That is to say, that the power of self in each one of us might be put out of action or 77 destroyed. Later on in the same chapter we are told, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Yet the common experience of most Christians is that sin is always having dominion over us. Are there any defeated Christians here to-night, coming short of the glory of God, longing to be set free from the power o f jealousy, pride, unlove, criticism of others, and even worse, vile sins? A few years ago, after our late chairman, Mr. Fred Mitchell, had been speaking, at the back of the tent there was a man who had a talk with me, a church officer who had been a Christian for forty years. He had been convicted that night by the power of God ministering through the Word and His servant, and he had seen the sinfulness of pride and wilfulness in his own heart. He said to me, "I want to live this holy life, but I cannot. I have consecrated myself dozens of times, but every time I have fallen. Is there no way of deliverance?" And in anguish he said, "I cannot think it is possible that a depraved and fallen nature like mine can live a life of communion with God, unbroken and unclouded; I cannot live it." I said, "Will you tell the Lord that?" It was in the other tent, and we knelt down and he did tell the Lord. "0 Lord. Thou knowest I have tried to serve Thee; Thou knowest, Lord, these forty years I have been doing service for Thee; and Thou knowest, Lord, the dominating personality I have got. I always want my own way in all things. I am a grief to my wife and family at times, and I want to be set free. Lord, I cannot." While he was praying I lifted up my heart, "Lord tell m e what to say," and as we sat down together looking at the empty platform I said, "There is not a man here who has been speaking from that platform this week who has not in some form or other been in despair about himself, as' you are to-night; and in despair we dared to say, 'Lord, I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.' Then it is that the Lord, oh! so graciously, draws near and whispers in our ears; and He says, 'I know you canna live this life; I know you have no power of yourself to make yourself holy; I know the standard is too high for you. But all I ask is this, that you hand over to me the right to control your body. "I beseech you there- fore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." If you surrender now to me your body for me to possess, I will come into your heart and live my victorious life in you.' You cannot—but God can, if you let Him have His full sway with you and in you. Will you not, therefore here and now present your body, your all to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit?" Then he prayed again, and handed over as a free will gift, his whole being; and he was set free, because God Himself had made His home in his heart. The Spirit of God freed his soul, and he reckoned himself dead unto sin. He had the inward assurance that Christ was possessing him. "Christ liveth in me.' That man went home, and his wife had a new husband, his pastor a new church officer, his children a new father: for there and then Christ came in and made His home in his heart. We need to have the leaven dealt with, Will you let the Holy Spirit take His brush and His fire, and do as the father does in the Jewish house—search every corner, every cupboard, every drawer, and even the pockets of his clothing. "Whosoever eateth leaven . . . shall be cut off." If self has any dominating place in our lives, we are cut off from spiritual relationship with God and fellowship with our brethren. Shall we not pray, "Search me, 0 God, and know my heart; try me, and see if there be any way of wickedness in me," It is gloriously possible for God in all His glory to come by His Spirit and live His life of power in each one of us, provided that every room, every drawer, even our pockets, all we are, all we have, is yielded to Him. May tonight be the night when the glory of God comes upon you, and Christ is enthroned in your life! 73 More Than Conquerors BY THE REV. GEORGE B. DUNCAN, M.A. In all these things we are more than conquerors through H im that loved us. —Romans 8:37. often for us the place of defeat is that place to which we are tied by circumstances which shut us in—circumstances that have remained unchanged for years, and promise to remain as they are for years to come. And it is in those circumstances from which there seems no escape, there is the breakdown of our Christian witness and profession. Now we are out of it just for a week; here at Keswick it is easy to be keen, to be friendly, to be gracious and kindly; to read our Bibles, have our quiet time, to enjoy fellowship. If only we did not have to go back to those prison walls! For years now our prayer has been that God would let us out; but no door has opened, and no escape has been provided. The story of your Christian witness and testimony for years has been the story of one defeat after another; the name of the Lord has been dishonoured and profaned by an un-Christlike life, until the others around us are thankful to be rid of us even for this one week while we are at Keswick, and they are almost dreading our return. These circumstances may be in your home, they may be in the place where you work, the Church where you are a member, the mission station to which you return. But this place of your defeat, this place from which no escape is provided, my fellow Christian, God has included in the sphere of your victory—"In all these things." Not "out of" but "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Yes, the sphere of our victory includes the place from which no escape is provided. The second thought centres around that little word "all": the sphere of our victory is— (ii) That Sphere in which No Exception is Permitted—"in all." Our attitude may not be that which longs for escape, but it may be that which makes exceptions—if we were asked whether or not we experienced the victorious life, our reply would be, "Yes, in a measure," and if we were honest we should have to add "except for . ." and there would be confessed a realm of defeat which has been THOSE of you who are familiar with some of the names of those who in past years have ministered from this platform, will know that the name of Evan H. Hopkins stands preeminent among them. In his book, "The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life," Evan Hopkins stresses that the difference between a convention and a conference is this, that while a conference is a time for discussion, a convention is a time for decision. I believe profoundly that God's great concern for us is that this week should be a time when we give our assent to what God has to say to us through His Word. It may well be that for some here this is the hour when God is going to call you to make as personal and as real a decision as any unconverted sinner could make in an evangelistic campaign or mission. God seems to have laid one verse on my mind to-night; a verse we know well — Romans 8:37, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." I want, if I may, to bring my life together with yours before the challenge of these words. First of all we have here— I . T H E S P H E R E O F O UR V I C T O R Y — " I n all these things." If you look back a verse or two, you will find some of the things that Paul has in mind as having a place in that sphere; but I want to take two words only out of that little phrase of four words. Each of these words brings its own particular challenge to my own heart—"in," and "all." Taking that first little word "in," we find that the sphere of our victory covers(i) The Experience from which No Escape is Provided—"in these things"—that set of circumstances from which no escape is provided. There are times when a way of escape is promised. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that "there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that Ye may be able to bear it." But, oh, how 79 Does it mean that the Christian is without sin? No; but it does mean that he can be without blame and without conscious sin-we are super-conquerors! In these days when so many of us are conscious of money matter: may we transfer the metaphor from the realm of fighting to that of finance. If Paul had been talking in terms of money he would have said, "We are multi-millionaires." May I illustrate that very simply. I have always found it necessary to run a car for my work then I decided to run a family as well, and there came a day when I had to sacrifice the car for the sake of the family. Just before I left the parish where I had to sacrifice the car in order to run the family, I had a very heavy lot of work to do, and a member of the congregation in extraordinary kindnes s offered me her beautiful car. I thanked her warmly, and she said, "If ever you want my car, let me know." But I never let her know: it happened to be a very big car, and I was thinking in terms of the amount of petro it would consume. I have no doubt that she wondered at my silence, and one day she said to me, "Mr. Duncan, I do want you to use my car; I want you to run it at no expense to yourself—every account is to come in to me.' Well, all I can say is that for the space of few weeks, out of all the years I have been running cars, I ran one with no anxiety! You see, I was running that car on other resources and while they were not the resources of multi-millionaire, they were so far removed from my resources that I had no anxiety Before that I was afraid that if anything happened to the car, a big bill might come in that I could not meet; but if any bill came in now, it would not be a worry and anxiety for me: I was running it on different resources Paul says that the scale of our victory is a scale in which there need be no doubt, for we are multi-millionaires. No delay; and no doubt. The sphere of our victory; and the scale of our victory. Just one more thought as we come to a close— III, THE SOURCE OF OUR VICTORY—"through Him that loved us." What are the elements which underlie the victorious life? We have them here, where we read of(i) A Life that is Triumphant. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Many years ago, when I was a young fellow in Edinburgh, a booklet fell into my hands, entitled "The Life that Wins," by Dr. Trumbull. I have forgotten almost everything in the book except the gist of the first page, which was something like excused and accepted for a long, long time. It may be in the realm of human relationships. We excuse ourselves in one way or another; we say it does not matter, that nobody knows; we say it is quite impossible—or we may put it, "she is quite impossible": but the verse we are considering says that the sphere of our victory is the sphere in which no exception is permitted. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." The sphere of our victory is that realm from which no escape is provided, and in which no exception is permitted. Then this amazing verse goes on to tell us— II. THE SCALE OF OUR VICTORY—"we are more than conquerors." Here again I find myself challenged to the depths of my being, for here I find that the scale of our victory is one in which— (i) Th ere Need be No Delay. Paul does not say "we shall be," but "In all these things we are more than conquerors." Those of you who remember the early years of the last war—and it is extraordinary how soon those years slip into the remote past; some of the young folk here will not remember them at all—will recall those dreary months and years of waiting before we were able to challenge the armed might of a victorious power. There were years of weary waiting while we gathered together the resources we needed in manpower and material, and victory seemed a long way off. It was promised by that calm, strong voice of Sir Winston Churchill that came to us over the radio in those dark days, but that was all; and our nation, left alone, beaten to the wall, defenceless, without weapons, blasted with bombs, wondered if victory would ever come. For how many of us in our Christian experience is victory only a remote prospect which it seems impossible ever to achieve? We say to ourselves. "If ever it does come, it will only be after years of toil and discipline and effort." Victory, to us, is as tantalising as a mirage, as unreal as a dream, and it is constantly eluding our grasp. We say to ourselves, "I shall." But that is not what Paul says. Our victory is one in which there is to be no delay. Paul does not say, "In all these things we shall be more than conquerors," but "we are." The scale of the victory of the New Testament experience is one in which there need be not only no delay but also one about which— (ii) There is to be No Do ubt. No delay! No doubt! We are super-conquerors! There is no doubt about that, is there? Does that mean that the Christian is never defeated? No; but it does mean that he never need be. 80 this—There is only one victorious life, and that is the life of Christ. The words of St. Paul from Philippians 1:21, "To me to live is Christ" were quoted, and Dr. Trumbull said that there came in his own experience the tremendous day when he realised that for Paul the Christian life was not to serve Christ, not to try to imitate Christ, not to strive after Christ; but for him to live was Christ. The secret of the victorious life is, that the only victorious life that has ever been lived and ever will be lived, is the life of our risen Lord, lived out in our lives! I wonder what is the distinctive characteristic of the resurrection life of Christ? There is one thing which I find again and again before His death and resurrection, and which I never find afterwards. Do you know what it is? Temptation! He was tempted to the moment of His death, but never afterwards. I would ask you to find your own answer to that question. For myself, I would hate to dogmatize, but would suggest that before our Lord passed through the experience of death into that of resurrection, Satan saw that there was a possibility in the humanity of our Lord, that he might frustrate the purposes of God; but after our Lord passed through death into resurrection life, He was beyond the realm of temptation. Was that it? If that be so, then does it mean that the resurrection life of my victorious Lord which I possess, has within it this distinctive characteristic of immunity to temptation; of being dead to sin? If only I can live in the power of that life, then I shall find that I am living a life which possesses the same quality, a life of immunity, "dead to sin." I know only too well that in my life there are two natures: the flesh remains, but alongside it is the new nature, and I must choose after which I shall walk. If I walk in the Spirit who mediates to me the resurrection life of my living victorious Lord, then I need not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. A life that is triumphant: that is the first source of my victory. What is the second? "Through Him that loved us." The other element in my victory and yours is— (ii) A Love that is Trustworthy—"through Him that loved us." How trustworthy is that love? Paul has just spoken of it: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" So much of our trouble lies, does it not, in the fact that we do not trust God. We will not trust His wisdom to shape our lives as His perfect wisdom sees best. We are continually arguing with Him and saying, "Lord, I do not want this in my life," but God says "It is best for you." We will not trust Him, we will not trust His love; we think that God's will is going to be the very worst thing, the enemy of our happiness, the thing which will rob our lives of the quality of richness which we want. We will not trust Him; we want our circumstances to be changed, we want God to do something for us which He is not prepared to do, that He will not do. "Through Him that loved us." Possibly one of the most difficult lessons to learn in Christian living is that God's love is trustworthy. The circumstances of your life and mine are the very best for us. Do you find that difficult to believe? Is there someone here who would give almost all he or she has if the path of life could be changed, who has learned to kneel in the loneliness of the night and cry out in their own garden of Gethsemane, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," and your sweat too has been as it were great drops of blood, when you cried in your agony of heart and mind to God? You may have cried like that to God for years, and the answer has come back, "No, my child, it cannot pass." But through Him that loved us there is a life for you which is triumphant, and a love which is trustworthy. Have I told you before the story of the little chap who went to bed and for some reason or another—I think the mother was away—he was sharing a room with his father. When his father got into bed the little fellow called out in the dark, "Daddy, can I sing?" The father gave consent, but the singing was of such a nature that it precluded sleep; so after a while the father said, "Son, I think you had better stop," and silence fell in the darkness of that room. After a little while the little chap in a strange room, in the darkness, said, "Daddy, is your face turned this way?" I wonder if there is a soul here in the dark? God's love is trustworthy, the secret and the source of our victory. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." What a victory, my dear fellow Christians, your victory and mine. 81 He died for me, that I His peace might know, And have full pardon for my every sin; But now my Saviour lives for evermore, And hath abolished death; and He hath said, "I am, the Resurrection and the Life; Because I live, ye too shall henceforth live: Death shall have no dominion over thee." And thus I live anew, and yet not I, It is the Lord of life that lives in me; For as I was made one with Him in death, So now I share His resurrection life, And resurrection power, and daily prove The far-exceeding greatness of His might. Old things are passed away, all things are new: New goodness and new mercies all the days; New joys and peace, new visions of His Love, New glories wait for me along life's ways; New power to live for Him who lives for me; New strength for all my weakness, and new grace Flows through my every need; while new, bright hopes Inspire me through the shades and mists of time; For Christ hath loosed my bonds, and set me free, And raised me from the depths of sin and shame, Of doubt and dark despair, from death's dread power. And in the heavenly places, far above The things of time and sense, I dwell with Him; His life flows through me, and His fullness meets Each strange, deep longing in my restless heart; On His sure Word I rest, for well I know His one sweet "shall" most surely will include All past, and present, and all future days, And endless ages of eternity. And thus His life and mine shall ever be So close entwined that naught hath power to part; No ill shall touch me, death must pass me by; I live, because He lives, for evermore. -RUTH THOMAS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21st 10 a.m.—BIBLE READING TH E NE W TE S TA M E N T U NF O L D E D (iii) A FAMOUS MISSIONARY'S CORRESPONDENCE : PAUL'S EPISTLES REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 11.45 a.m.—FORENOON MEETING YIELD YOURSELVES CANON GUY H. KING THE S UMMONS OF LOVE REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING THE CONDITIONS OF DISCIPLESHIP DR. W. CULBERTSON 7.45 p.m.—EVENING MEETING Skiddaw-street Tent : DEDICATING OURSELVES TO GOD THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF THE HOUR REV. T. M. BAMBER Eskin-street Tent : TH E RO Y AL LI FE CANON GUY H. KING OBEDIENCE—GOD'S REQUIREMENT REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. 83 First Steps to Life in its Fullness ONVICTION concerning sin, and longings for the fullness of life in Christ, C would be in vain if they did not result in the taking of first steps toward a life of practical holiness. So after the searching light of Monday, and the consideration of God's provision for sin, on Tuesday, came the very practical note of faith's response to divine grace, on Wednesday. Very large attendances at both prayer meetings bore testimony to great blessing already received, and eager anticipation of more to follow. At 10 a.m., the large tent was quite full for the third Bible Reading. The sun was endeavouring to dispel the heavy banks of clouds, which obscured the tops of the mountains. After the singing of the Scottish Paraphrase of Psalm 23, "The Lord's my Shepherd," Major Allister Smith—who has twice spoken at Keswick; the only Salvation Army officer ever to do so—led in prayer. Then Dr. Scroggie held the close attention of all as he spoke of Paul's Epistles, under the apt title: "A Famous Missionary's Correspondence." At the 11,45 a.m. meeting, Canon Guy H. King, returning to Romans 6, from which he had spoken on Monday, took from verse 13 the two words "Yield yourselves," demonstrating that the demand was inclusive of the entire being. Then the Rev. G. B. Duncan, directing attention to the So ng of Solomon 5:1-6:3, said he wondered if some were feeling bruised and battered. In the past days they had been hurt and wounded; but in this passage we are told of the summons, the search, and the surrender of love, the Bride at last testifying that the Beloved was "the fairest among ten thousand." The skies were still overcast in the afternoon, when Dr. Culbertson spoke to a full tent, on "Three Conditions of Discipleship." His friendly personality had already won for him a place of warm regard, and imparted to all his addresses a quality of sympathetic understanding and practical helpfulness which was appreciated by all. Following this meeting, the customary Reception to missionaries and visitors from overseas was held in the small tent: this is described among the appendices. Both tents were once more filled to capacity at 7.45 p.m. The Bishop of Barking, in the large tent, showed from Psalm 118:27 how "light"—illumination upon the things of God — should lead to "sacrifice," that is, dedication of life. The challenge of Mordecai to Esther — "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this"—was given an up-to-date application by the Rev. T. M. Bamber, in the second address. Touching upon the perils of the present world situation, he stressed that our being united to cur risen Lord entails great responsibilities, God works through men and women who are ready for such a time as this. In the small tent, Canon Guy H. King struck a very practical note as he indicated, from Romans 5:17, some things over which the children of God should reign—circumstances, insufficiency, fears, feelings, and self. Their resources are the gift of righteousness, abundant grace, and the Lordship of Christ. In the second address, individual response to the Kingship of Christ was urged by the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson, from Acts 5:2. The human requirements for reigning with Him are perfect obedience; accepting His Word only as the standard of life; and loving Him supremely. Again a great crowd gathered in the Market Place for the open-air meeting, where a number of University students answered the question, "What is a Real Christian?" 0 Saviour, I have nought to plead In earth beneath, or heaven above, But just my own exceeding need, And Thine exceeding love; The need will soon be past and gone, Exceeding great—but quickly o'er: The love unbought is all Thine own, And lasts for evermore. -JANE CREWOSON. The New Testament Unfolded III A FAMOUS MISSIONARY'S CORRESPONDENCE: PAUL'S EPISTLES BY THE REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. iiiHE art of writing is of remote antiquity; and of all forms of it, letter-writing is the most intimate and personal. A title with which we are familiar is "The Life and Letters of . . e.g., Samuel Rutherford, or Robert Murray McCheyne. This title relates Letters to Life, and not without good reason, for the letters of anyone are a revelation of himself as no other form of writing can be. Before John Morley wrote the famous biography of Mr. Gladstone he examined over 50,000 of the statesman's letters. William Cowper's letters have been pronounced "the most charming ever written in the English language," and the reason given for this verdict is that he j u s t t a lk e d o n p a p e r , w i t h n o i d e a o f publication. LETTERS IN THE BIBLE There are over fifty references to letters in the Bible, and not a few examples of such are in both the Old and the New Testament. The first Christian letter was issued by a Council in Jerusalem about the year A.D. 50, and in it occurs the statement: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28), which shows that what was written was divinely as well as humanly directed; and this applies to all Paul's Epistles. PAUL'S CORRESPONDENCE In the first century there was no postal system as we know it, and travelling was slow; in consequence, correspondence was almost entirely confined to Imperial and official needs. It should be remembered also that correspondence was written on perishable materials, with the result that much of it has been lost. This is true, not only of Imperial correspondence, but also of apostolic. It is probable that most of Paul's letters have perished, for it cannot be supposed that he wrote only thirteen. Indeed, he tells us of other letters which have not survived. In 2 Thess. 3:17—one of his earliest epistles—he says: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle." This indicates that the Church at Thessalonica was not the first to which he wrote. Also, in 1 85 Cor. 5:9 he says: "I wrote unto you in an epistle," which shows that First Corinthians was not the first to that Church. What concerns us, however, is not the Epistles which have been lost, but those which in the providence of God have been preserved. Let us feel the full impact of the fact that of the twenty-seven writings which constitute the New Testament, twenty-one of them are epistles. It will be well for us to think of them sometimes as letters, for one small boy thought that an epistle was the wife of an apostle! CONTACT BY LETTERS New circumstances create new requirements, and when Paul set out on his missionary journeys, made converts, and established churches in Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece, there arose the need for maintaining contact with the growing Christian community, and this could be done only by visitation and correspondence; and as Paul could not frequently revisit the churches he established, communication by letter became a necessity. Churches and converts needed comfort and encouragement; personal, social, doctrinal, and religious problems demanded apostolic attention; evils which threatened or existed had to be dealt with; abuses had to be reproved and corrected, and other matters were continually arising which made correspondence necessary and urgent. Religious treatises or essays, disquisitions and compendiums of theology could not meet these multiform needs; what was required was the spontaneous and unstudied contact which letters alone could provide, and so there arose a new category of literature—the Apostolic Letter. NEED AND SUPPLY Schism, immorality, marriage problems, heathen food, difficulties related to public worship, speaking with tongues, and doctrinal error in Corinth necessitated the writing of a letter to the church there. The relation to one another of the Law and the Gospel, which was a problem to the Galatian converts, led Paul to write an epistle to the group of churches in that Province. Misunderstanding about the Second Advent of the Lord was responsible for the Thessalonian letters. Heresy concerning the Person and work of Christ drew from the apostle the Colossian letter. The conversion of a runaway slave led Paul to write his imcomparable note to Philemon. Gratitude is expressed in a letter to the Philippians for some money they had sent to the apostle. From this, and the occasions of the other letters which Paul wrote, we see that his correspondence was something entirely new, and quite distinct from the classic writings of Cicero, Seneca and Pliny. Only by reading the epistles in their setting can we expect to understand them. Paul's Letters are nonliterary products, and were written in the common language of the people. PAUL'S LETTERS ARE IN GROUPS Before considering the fundamental message of these letters we should know that they fall into four distinct groups, which are separated from one another by about four years. The first group—1-2 Thessalonians—is about Christ's Second Coming. The second group—1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans—relates to the conflict of Christianity wi th Heathenism. The third group Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians—is chiefly about the Person of Christ and the life of the Christian in Him. The f o urth gro up -1 T imo thy , T itus , and 2 Timothy—is what may be called the Minister's Manual, and deals with personal conduct and Church organization. Seven of these thirteen epistles were written to churches at Rome, Corinth, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica; two of them were written to groups of churches, the Galatian and Ephesian Epistles; and four of them were written to individuals, the epistles to Philemon, Titus, and Timothy. These priceless letters, written within a period of fifteen years, show how the divinest views of life penetrate into its meanest emergencies. We cannot read them too often, or know them too well. They are both theological and experimental, and are writings absolutely unique in the religious history of the world. which first occasioned them. Beyond what the apostle could know, the Holy Spirit was inspiring these letters for the edification and sanctification of the universal Church of God till Christ returns. The local circumstances of the apostolic churches gave rise to matters of vital importance to all Christians throughout the Christian age, and so these letters are of more significance to-day than they could possibly have been eighteen hundred years ago. As much as ever it is true that "the Word of God is living and active." A boy who had received on his birthday some sweets, a watch, and a Bible, was asked what he had done with his presents, and he said: "the sweets are gone, the watch is going, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever." How right he was! "IN CHRIST" What then is the underlying and fundamental message of Paul's letters? It is found, it may be said, in two words, "in Christ," a preposition and a name which, in conjunction, give the key not only to Paul's Epistles but to the whole New Testament. In the catacombs, the subterranean cemeteries of over seven millions of Christians, including a host of martyrs, there were many symbols and inscriptions the meaning of which was known only to believers. Among these were the dove, the ark, the anchor, the palm, the fish, the hart, the olive, the harp, the cock, and the phoenix; and in one of the many inscriptions were the words "en Christo," "In Christ." These symbols and inscriptions show that to the early Christians their religion was one of joy and not of gloom, of life and not of death. Not for them were broken columns, fallen rosebuds, inverted torches, crucifixes, cypresses, and skeletons. Theirs were symbols of beauty, hope, and peace. For the early suffering Christians the words "In Christ" had a tremendous meaning, a meaning which enabled them to bear their witness to their Lord, and to endure their tortures even to death, with both courage and gladness. Outstanding examples of this are the two old men Ignatius and Polycarp; and the three young women, Blandina, Felicitas, and Perpetua. ENSPHERED The words "in Christ" or their equivalents occur about 130 times in the epistles, which shows how important they are. They declare that Christ is the sphere of the Christian's life. The believer is not encircled in Christ, but ensphered. The difference is that a circle surrounds us on one plane only, but a sphere envelops us in every direction and on THE FUNDAMENTAL MESSAGE OF THE LETTERS And now it must be said that though these letters were written at different times, to different people, and about different matters, there is discernible in them an underlying unity, a fundamental message, which transcends the local and transient circumstances 86 every plane. As the fish is ensphered in the sea, and the bird in the air, so "in Christ" the believer "lives and moves and has his being." Now, this enspherement "in Christ" implies several great truths. It means that we are s urrounded — Christ is on every side of us; that we are separated—spiritually we are not in the realm of the world at all; that we are safeguarded—we can be attacked by enemies only through Christ; and that we are supplied—all we now and ever can need is "in Christ" for us. These blessings do not attach to the idea of encirclement, but "in Christ" they are ours, whether or not we believe it and enjoy it. We have an illustration of the safeguarding in the fact that Satan had to get God's permission before he could attack Job: and he still has to get such permission. An examination of Paul's epistles will reveal that in each of them some definite aspect is presented of our blessings "in Christ." Let us look at this. sense all Christians are "saints," however unsaintly they may be. The justified person is separated unto God "through the offering of the body of C hrist" (Heb. 10: 10). The Christian is "set apart" unto God as of old animals and property were set apart. But this is not the whole truth. The New Testament teaches that there should be an internal change in the believer corresponding to his relation to God. He who is holy should become holy. What is once for all complete by the work of the Son, is to be progressively realized by the action of the Spirit, with the co-operation of the believer (2 Cor . 7:1). By regeneration a new principle of life is implanted in the soul, and by sanctification all the faculties of the soul are more and more brought into conformity to this spiritual principle: and all this is done "in Christ." Christ is the sphere and the Spirit is the atmosphere of the sanctified life. IN 2 CORINTHIANS WE ARE VINDICATED "IN CHRIST" IN ROMANS WE ARE JUSTIFIED "IN CHRIST" Paul writes: "Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is 'in Christ Jesus' " (3:24). The word Justification and its cognates occur in this epistle over sixty times. The first half of the epistle is saturated with the idea, and, more than any other epistle, it reveals the meaning of this blessing. Justification has a fivefold cause. The originating cause is God's grace (3:24). The efficient cause is Christ's blood (5:9). The instrumental cause is our faith (5:1). The assuring cause is Christ's resurrection (4:25), and the evidential cause is good works, which the latter half of Romans (12-15) proves and illustrates. The blessing of justification includes many others. It involves and assures forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God, present peace, and salvation from the divine wrath because of sin; and all these blessings we have "in Christ Jesus," so that they are absolutely secure. Paul had been viciously attacked and bitterly slandered in the church at Corinth, and in four chapters (10-13) in his second epistle to them he answers his calumniators as one who is really beyond their reach, eternally "ensphered 'in Christ'." He says: "Think ye all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you? In the sight of God speak we 'in Christ'" (12:19). From these caustic chapters we see that there are times when it is right to answer attacks made upon us, but we must be very sure that the answer is made "in Christ." No doubt, for the most part, it is better not to answer, but to leave our vindication to God and to history. IN GALATIANS WE ARE LIBERATED "IN CHRIST" There are eleven references in this Epistle to freedom or liberty; and this freedom, it is affirmed, is "in Christ." Paul speaks of certain persons who came "to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus" (2:4); and throughout the epistle he contrasts bondage and freedom, the one imposed by the Law, and the other imparted by the Gospel. Many of the Galatian Christians were in danger of reverting to the bondage of Judaism, and against this Paul warns them. The believer is a "bondslave" "in Christ," but he is not in "bondage." Our freedom is His grand control. Galatians is the epistle of Christian liberty, the charter of our emancipation, the battle-axe of Luther, and the watch-word of the true. "In Christ" we are free from the Law, free from self, and free from the world (2:19, 20; 5 :24; 6: 14), and we are exhorted to "stand IN 1 CORINTHIANS WE ARE SANCTIFIED "IN CHRIST" The church at Corinth was the least spiritual of all the Pauline churches. It was rent by schism; it harboured immorality; some members of it got drunk at the Lord's Table; the public worship was carried on in a disorderly fashion; and the resurrection was being denied by some. Yet, writing to this church Paul begins by saying that they "are sanctified in Christ Jesus. called saints" (1:2). This fact illuminated the doctrine of sanctification. It shows that it refers primarily, not to spiritual attainment, but to relationship to God. In this 87 lacking in Him there can be nothing lacking to us. We are already "complete in Him," and are progressively to become complete by the operations of the Holy Spirit in us. The Colossian epistle is addressed "to the holy and faithful bre thre n in Christ, in Colossae" (1:2). What a world of meaning is in this description—"in Christ, in Colossae"! These believers lived in two localities, one earthly, and the other heavenly. They dwelt in a small town, and also they dwelt in the eternal Lord. When the apostle John was "in the isle" of Patmos, he was also "in the Spirit." Every Christian lives in two environments, the local and temporary, and the divine and eternal; and which of these dominates our consciousness is what matters. fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage." IN EPHESIANS WE ARE EXALTED "IN CHRIST" In this Epistle of only six chapters the expressions "in Christ," "in Christ Jesus," "in the Lord," "in Him," and their equivalents occur thirty-two times, and the privileges thus spoken of are due to the truth and fact that, not only did we die in Christ's death, and were raised in His resurrection, but also we are "seated in the heavenlies in Him" (2: 6), How little we apprehend and appreciate the truths about ourselves which this epistle reveals! "In Christ" we are chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, resurrected, sealed, unified, and exalted. These are facts which are not affected by our feelings; they are truths to be trusted and tested, and because these blessings are all ours "in Christ" nought can rob us of them. IN 1 THESSALONIANS WE ARE EXPECTANT "IN CHRIST" Eve rywhe re in this Epis tle we see the shining of Christ's Advent feet, and this promised event is the hope of the Christian and of the Church. Paul begins the letter by speaking of the "patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" which characterized the Thessal o ni an be lie ve rs ( 1 :3) . H ope i n the Ne w Testament never means wistful longing, but glad certainty. That Christ will come again is a fact towards which the Christian can look with utmost confidence. "In Him" this prospect is as sure as though it had already taken place. Theories relative to the details of this truth should never be allowed to divert our attention from the truth itself, nor rob us of the joy of the prospect. IN PHILIPPIANS WE ARE EXULTANT "IN CHRIST" Philippians is the epistle of Christian joy, an idea which occurs sixteen times in its four chapters. The explanation of it is in Paul's statement—"I rejo ice in the Lord" (4:10). Christ is the source, substance, and sphere of the Christian's joy. This quality differs from happiness, which depends on what happens, for it is not determined or affected by circumstances. We cannot always be happy, but we should always rejoice. When Paul wrote this radiant epistle he was in prison; and we must not forget that it was in the shadow of Calvary that Jesus prayed that His followers might share His joy (John 17:13; 16:22, 24). Is it riot true that this quality of joy has largely dropped out of the Christian's experience! It is a "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22), and will be come our normal experience only when we realize that Christ is the sphere of our life. IN 2 THESSALONIANS WE ARE GLORIFI ED "IN CHRIST" Never are we allowed to forget that we are in the world, and in the flesh, and that we are surrounded by foes, and can meet and overcome these only supernaturally. In this epistle Paul affirms that at last we shall be glorified in Christ (1:12), and this means that we shall be fully and finally triumphant over every enemy—over sin, over suffering, over the flesh, over the world, over death, and over the devil. One day we shall trample all these things beneath our feet. The Christian's goal is not death and the grave, but everlasting glory. We are not going into darkness, but into light; not into defeat, but into victory. For the Christian the best is always yet to be. But not yet has all been said about our privileges and responsibilities "in Christ." So far Paul has been writing to Churches, but he has something to say to individuals also on this subject. IN COLOSSIANS WE ARE COMPLETE "IN CHRIST" Ephesians and Colossians are twin Epistles. In the former it is shown that the Church is Christ's Body, and in the latter, that Christ is the Church's Head; and it is here that Paul makes the profound statement: In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him (2:9, 10). Fulness is a key word and thought in this epistle, occurring at least eight times; and it is revealed that all of God is in Christ, and all in Christ is for us, so that as there is nothing 88 IN PHILEMON WE ARE MADE GRACIOUS "IN CHRIST" This little note is one of the choicest things in the New Testament. Paul introduced Jesus Christ to a runaway slave in Rome, and then he sent him back to the master he had robbed, who also was a convert of .the apostle. With him he sent this note in which he speaks of the converted slave as "a brother beloved .. . in the Lord" (15, 16). That statement was really the death knell of slavery, for "in Christ" there can be "neither bond nor free" for all are one in Him (Gal. 3:28). "In Christ" the spirit of forgiveness and of forgetfulness of wrongs done takes possession of us; and in Him all wrongs are righted and all crookedness is evened out. And now we come to the Pastoral Epistles, where the words faith, faithful, and their cognates occur upwards of sixty times. This emphasis shows that "it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful" (I Cor. 4:2). And so— IN 1 TIMOTHY WE ARE MADE FAITHFUL "IN CHRIST" Faithful to the doctrine the apostles had preached; faithful to the worship, and to the oversight of the Church; faithful also in personal walk and work. This faithfulness can be realized only "in Christ," but in Him it can be realized, as all Christian martyrs bear witness. We must not suppose, however, that Christian faithfulness is either inevitable or easy. The words faith and faithful, which occur over fifty times in the Pastoral Epistles, are rooted in the idea of belief , and be lief implies conviction. Everyone should be loyal to what he believes, and if we are living consciously and joyfully "in Christ" we shall be true to the highest we know. IN TITUS WE ARE MADE EXEMPLARY "IN CHRIST" Writing to this young man Paul says, "in all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works" (2:7). Christianity is not an ideal to be admired, but a life to be lived; it is an ethic to be preached, and also to be practised. "Example is better than precept" is a true proverb, which "in Christ" we can realize. An impressive summary of the principles of Christian conduct is given in the words— The grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope the appearing of 89 the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (2: 11-13). IN 2 TIMOTHY WE ARE TRIUMPHANT "IN CHRIST" In this, Paul's last letter, is a passage of surpassing pathos and power. He has been be fo re Ne ro , a nd i s we l l awa re tha t his ministry and life were drawing to a close, and in his second letter to Timothy he pours out the fu l ne s s o f hi s he a rt. H o w s ho u ld a Christian face death? Last words are solemn words, sometimes tragic, and sometimes glorious, as, for instance, the last words of Captain Scott, and of Nurse Cavell. As Paul faces death he saysI am already being poured out as a drinkoffering, and the time of my departure is come. I h av e f o ug h t th e g o o d f igh t, I h av e finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown o f r i g h t e o u s n e s s wh i c h t h e L o r d t h e righteous judge shall give me at that day; and not only to me, but also to all them that have loved His appearing (4:6-8). I n t he s e i m m o r t a l wo r d s t h e a p o s tl e contemplates the present with deepest interest (v. 6); reflects upon the past with calmest satisfaction (v. 7); and anticipates the future with sweetest assurance (v. 8). That is a noble way to confront death, and it can be done only "in Christ." But this great man, though conscious that the end was at hand, did not lose interest in life and the things about him. After the foregoing great utterance he asks Timothy to collect a cloak and some parchment and books which he was forced to leave behind when suddenly rearrested at Troas, and he sends salutations to some of his friends. Truly the man who was in Rome was also "in Christ," and was soon to be with Him. One more epistle must be noticed here. Though it is not known who wrote to the Hebrews, we place this writing, for convenience, with Paul's letters; and we see that— IN HEBREWS WE ARE ENRICHED "IN CHRIST" The word "better" occurs more often in this e p i s t l e t h a n i n a l l t h e re s t o f t h e N e w Testament. It tells of better things, a better hope, a better covenant, better promises, better sacrifice, a better possession, a better country, and a better resurrection. "In Christ" everything is better. This is the great fact that every Christian can test and find true— that "in Christ," and in Him alone, is fullness of life, of love, and of liberty; that out of Him no one truly lives, and loves, and is free. Christ is the Alpha and Omega of all good, and it is all ours in Him. Here, then, is wealth untold. By the blood of Atonement Christ is saving; by the Spirit of life He is separating; and by the Word of truth He is sanctifying. By these means He calls, and constitutes, and characterizes His Church. "In Him" dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and "In Him we are complete." This is the quintessence of Christianity, and it should move us to adoring wonder and devoted living. The messages of these epistles are summed up in the word of the Master Himself: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me" (John 15:4). The truth that the Christian is "in Christ" is, perhaps, the greatest revelation of the New Testament, because it presupposes and includes every other truth. Were it believed and acted upon Christians would display and the world would behold what Christianity really is. This truth includes all God's purpose for us, and excludes everything else. That we are "in Christ" should be the determining factor in our life, and it would be, if it were believed and trusted. It would determine our creed our actions, our choices, our relations to others, and our whole character. But for this truth we would never have heard of the martyrs, for there would have been none. This is the truth that has inspired the missionary enterprise; that explains why John Paton went to Tanna; why Hudson Taylor went to China; why Mary Slessor went to Calabar; why David Livingstone went to Africa; why William Carey went to India, and why innumerable men and women have sacrificed earthly comforts and temporal prospects that they might do what they believed to be the will of God for them. This truth excludes bitterness, jealousy, illwill, and lovelessness. It should shame us out of sectarian strife, out of petty rivalries and false ambitions, and should beget in us concord, harmony and humility In Christ is love abounding, In Him redeeming grace; In Him my daily manna, In Him my hiding-place; In Him there is atonement, In Him eternal life; In Him a full salvation In Him an end of strife. 90 Yield Yourselves BY CANON GUY H. KING. IN every transaction concerning the spiritual life there are always the two sides. Preeminently there is God's side, and practically there is our side. The other day I had the privilege of considering with you God's side. Led by that little phrase "Reckon yourselves," we tried to learn just how we were to take our stand upon our identification with Christ. This morning, very simply, we consider our side of it and for the text I would take you to the same chapter, Romans 6, this time, verse 13, "Yield yourselves." Therein you have what is to all intents and purposes our side of the matter. There is no measuring what God can do for us and in us and through us and with us, if only we yield ourselves; and it is to that supremely strategic thing that I want to go alongside with you this morning. Yield yourselves! Let me read to you the whole of the verse-Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Yield yourselves! You see, that makes for— I. A HOLY LIFE. That is the point of the message: that in old days, being ourselves in sin, we yielded these members of ours to the practice of sin; but if we would use those members aright, now that we have been set in the right relationship to God, then indeed we should find ourselves living to His glory in a holy life. I wonder if there is a single person in this great gathering this morning who does not long for a holy life? And how amazing it is that that is just exactly the desire of Almighty God for every single one of us; and, you know, when our purpose is linked with God's purpose, then it is all right. "Do you want to live a holy life?" I ask myself. Do you? Then for the practical outcoming of it, let us yield ourselves to God, that our members might be yielded to His service. Therein is, in practice, a holy life. Let us think of our members in detail for a moment. You will recall that Elijah on Mount Cannel, when he came to offer his sacrifice, cut the bullock in pieces, and piece by piece he placed it upon the altar; and so I would that you and I should do something of the sort this morning. Cut the being in pieces, and see what it is going to mean as piece by piece is laid upon the altar. These hands—no longer ours. There are things we might have done in other circumstances, that indeed we did in our old days: but not now. These hands will not be properly employed in writing certain letters—not now — because they are not our hands any longer. These feet. There are places that in unregenerate days they quite happily and thoughtlessly went in: but not now. They are His; and it may be, if we yield ourselves, these feet will have to cross continents and stay in some lonely outpost here or there in the world, because they are His feet. There are places we must go to, and places we should not go to, because they are His. These lips. There is a strange word in Psalm 12:4, where it says, "our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?" The fact is that He is Lord over us, and our lips are no longer our own. There are things we must not say. How easy it was sometimes in unregenerate days, how satisfying it was to give as good as we got. But not now. Now our lips are His. These knees—to be used as they bow in prayer to God; these shoulders—to be given to the bearing of people's burdens. What a lovely thing it is for a real Christian to pass through life as a burden bearer! Bear ye one another's burdens by helping to cast those burdens upon the Lord. You see, if we just yield ourselves piece by piece it leads to the holy life. In the second place, this yielding of ourselves is the way to— II. A FRUITFUL LIFE. Do you want to be fruitful? Do you not share with me the eager desire that at the end of our lives it shall be seen that we have borne fruit for God? What a difference between the two phrases: on the one hand, nothing but leaves and, on the other, bringing His sheaves. I know people who have been such an enormous inspiration and help in my own life, whose arms are burdened with 91 apostle Paul saying in such ringing and confident and glorious tones that he is the bond slave of Jesus Christ? How he rejoiced in it! Do we? If so, then it means a life of peace. All the responsibility is with Him. We need not worry. Yield yourselves. It makes for the peaceful life. But that is not all. It make: also for— sheaves. Covet to have the sheaves; covet to have a really fruitful life. But how? Here is the simple secret: Yield yourselves. That is not fanciful. There is Scripture for that, as for all else, as we shall seek to see. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Yield yourselves to the death of self, to the reckoning of yourself as dead with Him, and you shall find at the end, though you may not be aware of it as you pass through this life, that you will be surprised and gladdened by the fact that you have been able to bring in some sheaves for God. Do you want to be holy? Do you want to be fruitful? Yield yourselves! And in the third place, this goes toward— IV. AN ENLARGED LIFE. There are those things we may do, or rather that God can do with us, if only we yield ourselves, that would be quite impossible if we kept control of our own lives and selves. Here is a great company of people. As I look around the tent I think that there are almost, if not quite, as many here as there were in the company I am now thinking of5,000 men, hungry, so that they might faint by the way. But the Lord gives out the enquiry, "Has anyone any food?" and it turns out that there is a lad present who has got Eve barley loaves and two small fishes. But what are they? Do you sometimes feel your insignificance and insufficiency? This was the commonest bread of all, barley loaves— insignificant, and certainly insufficient. What are these? And veritably I expect sometimes, when you are called upon for some service, you feel like uttering the words of Moses, "Who am I?" But do you want an enlarged life? Then here is the secret: Yield yourselves. Jesus took the loaves. Then the miracle happened. The Lord Jesus took the whole lot. I can imagine that little chap when he was requested to give up his forgotten lunch. He had been enthralled by this new preacher, and he is so hungry he would like to keep one loaf for himself. But he gave all to the Lord, he yielded it all up, and then the mighty thing was done. And I tell you, not from my own self but from the Scripture, that if you and I yield ourselves to the gracious Lord, into whose hands we shall then come—those pierced hands—there is no measuring the enlargement of our lives for His glory. Yield yourselves, and it shall be done. Then in the last place, this makes for— III. A PEACEFUL LIFE. Do you know peace? Have we not all realized what a blessing a peaceful life is in this poor, distracted world of ours? I have an idea that when people who are bowed down with all their problems come into contact with a really peaceful Christian, they make their way to that one. They unburden their hearts when they find a servant of God who knows that peace. It is a ministry of helpfulness. Will you go home to be peaceful for others' sake, and especially for His sake? Here is the secret: Yield yourselves. There is a wonderful thing in a little word that comes in Matthew 6. The little word is "therefore." The Master has been talking about masters, and He says that no man can serve two masters. I could never understand that, because I have a gardener who comes to me for two days a week and he goes to someone else for another two. He is serving two masters. But I learn, of course, that the word "serve," in the original, refers to the bond slave. It is true—is it not?—that no man can be a slave to two masters. A slave is an intensely yielded person. All the responsibility rests upon his master. Unwillingly, perhaps, he has yielded to his master, and from that moment the master directs what his service is to be. The master supplies all he needs for the execution of his task. He is supposed to look after his welfare of body and mind, and do everything for him. The slave has not got to worry about anything: he is a yielded person. The Master says in this chapter that no man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. Make God your master. Be the slave of Jesus Christ. "Therefore, take no thought for the morrow . . ." It is all tied up in the mastery of Christ if we be His slaves, as veritably we are. Can you not hear the V. A HAPPY LIFE. In the sense of joyousness almost unknown to us, .a happy life. That is absurd, of course! If you yield yourself, then it is the end of real happiness! It is all right being a Christian up to a point, it is grand; but you do not want to be a 100 per cent. Christian! Do you know the Keswick hymn, "In full and sad surrender"? I thought you would not! It has not been written yet! No; "In full and glad surrender." That's it! As it says way back in the old book of Chronicles, when the burnt 92 offering began—the one offering that was a complete giving over, nothing held back, as in other offerings—then of course the misery began. No! "The song of the Lord began also." It is the way to happiness, to a happy life, if we yield ourselves. Hudson Taylor was once told by a wellmeaning friend, "You must have made many sacrifices in your life," to which he almost angrily replied, "Man, I have never made a sacrifice in my life. God has always done better for me than anything I have done for Him." Oh, the joy of yielding yourselves. Somebody says, "Yes, thank God I have done that," and yet somehow there may be one little point that has not yet been yielded. Some children were playing one day in their nursery with an old book, when a friend came up to see them. He observed the book, and in his knowledge realized it was a quite valuable volume. I am not vouching for the morality of this story, but he said, "Well, children, you seem to have played about with that book for a long time. Would you like me to give you a new book in its place?" They thought that was a grand idea. He said, "Very well. Let me have that book, and to-morrow you shall have a lovely new book." Sure enough, on the morrow they had the new book, and he had the tattered volume, with some of its pages missing. As he left the nursery on that second occasion he said, "Children, thank you for letting me have this old book, but there are many missing pages. If you should come across any of the missing pages, will you let me have them?" You have yielded the book of your old life to God. Have you discovered some missing pages, some one thing that has not been given up to Him? Yield yourself. All yourself! 93 The Summons of Love BY THE REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. I WONDER if some here have reached the stage where they are feeling bruised and battered? You have been hurt, and wounded. I want, if I may—because it is so easy to get things out of perspective—to bring you a message which will, I trust, bring home to your heart once again that it is the love of God that is seeking to draw you. The message to which we have been listening is not the demand of an angry potentate and dictator; it is the yearning of divine love. So I direct your attention to a book we seldom read; to a book that, above all, brings out the relationship of love between Christ and His Church. Turn with me to the Song of Solomon 5: 2.46. There we have, in this rather strange book, which is possibly difficult to understand, the climax of varying experiences and vacillating moods. Here, finally the bride is brought to the feet of the bridegroom in full and glad surrender. Will you note here what I would call— I. THE SUMMONS OF LOVE. It is the bride speaking in verse 2, and she recalls her experience of the summons of her beloved— I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. And the bride makes answer/ have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and m y b o we ls were mo ved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers w i t h s we e t s m e l l i n g m y r r h , u p o n t h e handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. —(vv. 3-6). 94 The voice of my beloved saying, Open to me. May I say very simply, that the voice to which you have been listening during these past days, is the voice of your Beloved. It is the voice of love, the voice of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us; and His request and His approach is, Open to me. He wants to come in in His fullness; He wants to come into us for our fellowship, and He is saying, Open to me. It is the voice of the Beloved; but I want you to note two things in the summons of love, and the first is(i) The Disturbance that the Bride Perceived. Who is this that comes? He says, "My head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." Can you see the contrast between the bride and her beloved? She reclines comfortably at ease; and the voice of her beloved comes—and who is this one? His head is filled with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night; and the voice of the beloved that comes is the voice of one who will disturb her comfort, who will disturb her ease. Are you a comfortable Christian? Have you settled down into a kind of comfortable equilibrium between the world and God, and you get along very well in the world an d moderately comfortably in the church? Al that you have, you have received from Christ This week you have found that the voice of your Beloved is the voice of one who comes in with rugged strength. He comes in out of the hard toil of the night. He comes in from the work of the field and the flock. His head filled with dew, and His locks with the drop of the night. You find this week has been a time of disturbance, and the voice of your Beloved is breaking into your ease and comfort; and you. too, perceive, while it is the voice of your Beloved saying, "Open to me, that it is going to be a disturbing thing to open to Him. She perceived disturbance, and— (ii) Perm itted De lay, for she did not rise at once. She said, "I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh . . . upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone." My dear Christians, delayed obedience is disobedience, and disobedience means withdrawn fellowship. Possibly the crucial point for many in this Convention will not be the matter of obedience, but of that obedience being del aye d ; fo r i f i t i s de la ye d, you wil l fi nd immediately that the disobedience in that delay will forfeit in your life the fellowship of your Lord, and you too will find that your Beloved has withdrawn Himself. Fancy going away from K e s w i c k w i t h a w i t h d r a w n Saviour! The summons of love . Then we find— determined that at any cost you are going down from Keswick the man or woman you came? Has your searching become desperate? The summons of love; the search of love; and then— III. THE SURRENDER OF LOVE. Note that that surrender was(i) Challenged; for the daughters of Jerusalem speak, verse 9— What is thy be loved more than another beloved, 0 thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved. that thou dost so charge us? IL THE SEARCH OF LOVE continuing in verse 6— And there comes the response— M y be love d is wh ite a nd rudd y , the chiefest among ten thousand. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. A nd yo u r s u rre nde r a nd m i ne wi l l be challenged along this very line. What is Christ to you more than your other beloved? Are you prepared to say, as you meet that challenge, "My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousand"? Are you prepared to meet the challenge by your own response and testimony that Christ means more to you than anything, than anyone else in life? Is Christ, your Beloved, more to you than another beloved? That is the challenge of this meeting. That is the challe nge of to day. Is Christ the chiefest to you? Can you give the testimony that the bride gives he re? "My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousand." Can you say that? For I tell you that your surrender and mine will be challenged by the voices of the other beloveds. Even now it may be that in your heart and mind there is another voice clamouring for your love, for your loyalty, saying, "You won't let me go, will you?" Oh my friends, are you prepared to say concerning Christ, "He is the chiefest among ten thousand"? Will you meet the challenge of your surrender? For it will be challenged. There was the challenge to her surrender; then we read of— The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. The search of love: Seek, and ye shall find. That is the promise; but note(i) Ho w D if f icult was th e Se arch. "The watchmen that went about the city found me, t h e y s m o te m e , the y w o u n d e d m e ; th e keepers of the walls took away my veil from me ." I do no t k now a n y o the r pe riod o f Christian experience so difficult and so dishonouring as that period when we are out of fellowship with Christ, and we become the object of the derision and contempt and scorn and condemnation of the world. It may well be that there is a Christian here who has been living out of fellowship with Christ, and his whole life is the object of derision among people. Although they do not smite you with their hands, they smite you with their tongues. Have you been finding the going rather difficult in your Christian life? How difficult the search; and note also— (1) How Desper ate was the Search. "I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love." Have you reached the stage where you are desperate? Have you reached the stage where you simply will not let Him go? Are you in earnest? I do not think God has much time for triflers. Are you absolutely (ii) The Completeness of her Surrender, in these wonderful words— His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem. The daughters reply— Wh ith e r is th y be lo v ed g on e, 0 thou f air e s t among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 95 then comes back the answer— My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. And here is the surrender— I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. The completeness of the surrender of love. Note, will you, the giving, "I am my beloved's" —that is always the mark of love. It always gives, and gives all. A mother loves her child, and she gives; a girl loves a man, and she gives; a child loves a doll, and she gives. A sinner loves the Saviour, and he gives. "I am my beloved's"—can you say that? Do you know what you used to say as a Christian when you were converted? You said, "Jesus is mine," didn't you? And it is true; but it is an entirely different thing to say, "I am His." There is a hymn we have sung once or twice this week, by that saint of God, Frances Ridley Havergal, with an almost unnoticeable change between the words of the first and last verses, but it is most significant. The first verse says, "Jesus, Thy life is mine," and it is true; but the last verse says, "Jesus, my life is Thine." The summons of love; the search of love; and the surrender of love. The love of God is absolutely trustworthy. Yield yourselves: Cease to struggle, cease to resist, cease to withhold. Yield yourselves! Will you do it? Do it now! 96 The Conditions of Discipleship By DR. W. CULBERTSON. Plow there went with Him great multitudes: and He turned and said unto them, any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple—Luke 14:25-27. If THE fourteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel is known to all of us as a passage on discipleship. These are words spoken by the Lord Jesus to a great multitude which followed Him. I suppose we could say that discipleship is the difference between the everyday common, ordinary run-of-the-mill kind of Christianity which we see around us, and being out-andout for Christ. Discipleship is New Testament Christianity, in contradistinction to the Christianity which we know—the light, superficial, anaemic, weak, effeminate kind of Christianity which is all too general to-day. You will notice, of course, that the Lord Jesus preached the multitude away. Most of us try to get crowds; the Lord Jesus preached them away for He deprecated rash and illconsidered discipleship. He did not want men to follow Him out of the enthusiasm of the moment: He wanted them to face the issues, make their decision, and, based on that decision, to act. This truth is brought to our attention in a very clear way in these verses. You will have noticed long since that as the tolling of a solemn requiem bell, there stands forth in this message of our Lord, three repeated clauses. In verse 26 He says of an individual described in the verse, "He cannot be my disciple"—and these words are repeated again and again. I venture to suggest that it does not matter what the individual himself pleads, it makes no difference what his profession is, how he describes himself; the Son of God says, "He cannot be my disciple." So as you and I face what is said here, whether or not we measure up will be determined by whether or not we are really disciples of the Lord Jesus. You see the same statement again in verse 27, "Whosoever cloth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." Here is another condition of discipleship; and again the Lord Jesus, I believe in a very definite way, emphasises the 97 words "cannot be my disciple." This individual does not pass muster; he does not meet the conditions; he cannot be a disciple. Turning to the close of the passage in verse 33 you find the words yet again—"He cannot be my disciple." What we have in this passage are the three conditions or qualifications of discipleship. Here are three demands which you and I must be able to meet if we are to qualify as disciples of the Lord Jesus. Let us take the first one, in verse 26. The Lord Jesus turns to this great multitude and says— If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father and mother .. . Wait a moment. This is a strange verse! Does this verse contradict the rest of the Word of God? I thought the Bible said, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." I thought that the Word of God not only encouraged but absolutely commanded filial devotion on the part of children to their parents. What does this verse mean? You have discovered, I am sure, that what we have here is an orientalism, it is a bit too strong for occidentals—we do not use language in this way. Perhaps it would help us if we turned to a passage parallel in subject matter, to see how it is given to us there. In Matthew 10:34-36— Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. There you have given in precise language as applied to family situations, the fact that the Gospel divides. The Lord Jesus always divides in this dispensation of the grace of God. When the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is preached, division always results: there are those who reject, and those who accept. (i) The Lord Jesus does not want a place in your life; (ii) The Lord Jesus does not want prominence in your life; (iii) The Lord Jesus demands pre-eminence in your life. In verse 37, here is the parallel so far as the subject matter is concerned— I trust you catch the difference. Some of us are giving Him just a place. It may be that we are faithful in going to our Sunday schools, to our Churches, to our your people's meetings; and if we were to be judge by the way we live on the Lord's Day we should be veritable angels. But woe betide him who lives close to us from Monday to Saturday! Then some of us in spiritual pride and complacency may be saying, "Oh, I give Him more than a place; He is prominent, and in the major part of my life the Lord Jesus is supreme." But that is not enough, that is not what our Lord is talking about. He demands pre-eminence, and so He says: "If an man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children and brethren, and sisters . . . he cannot be my disciple." The test is a very simple one; yet it is very searching and deep. Listen! Who actually takes precedence in your life over the Lord Jesus? Face that with me honestly to-day Young men, wonderful is it not that God has shown you a young lady, and she reciprocated at least a little—as far as it would be ladylike to do so; and you are very thrilled: you are on the very verge of something which is love or maybe you are already in, maybe you are already drowned! But it is very wonderful is it not? Yes, it is; it is a wonderful relationship when in holiness and in the will of God you enter into it; but, young man, I have known young men who missed the will of God because the young lady in whom they were interested would not go to the mission field or was not willing to become a pastor's wife or was not willing to take a lowly place service in the ministry of Christ, but wanted worldly recognition or worldly goods. Be careful, young woman, be very careful if you sense in your heart a call to special ministry. God bless you if He brings a young man into your life and together you can serve Him; but do not miss what God is calling you to do. We have a co-educational school in Chicago; we do not separate the young men and the young women in class, except for certain medical classes, but in the classes I teach the men and women are together and sometimes I turn to the young ladies and say, "Young ladies, I know how some of you are smitten so far as some of these young men He that loveth f ather and mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Such usage more nearly conforms to our manner of expression. Now we understand what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying: namely, that He must be absolutely first; that in all our relationships with people, He takes precedence over everyone else. Jealously He demands absolutely and utterly the first place in our lives. Not even father or mother may come before Him, if we are to pass this particular test of discipleship. To use the language of Luke 14—because I believe we should use it and become accustomed to it—let me put it this way : our devotion, our loyalty and our love for our parents should be, as it were, hate when compared to our loyalty and our love to the Lord Jesus Christ. So if the condition arises in which my mother opposes my coming to Christ or my serving Christ, I say, "Mother, I love you, and I would love to obey you in every particular. Even though I be past the age of responsibility to you in the sense of being a child in the home, it would please me to do the thing you want me to do. But God has spoken; the Lord Jesus is utterly the Lord of my life, and I have no alternative: I must obey God, I must obey the Lord Jesus Christ." That does not mean that we should be bitter of heart; there should be love in our hearts as we say "no" to a parent who opposes the known will of God for us. Be very careful about that, young people, and show your respect and indicate why you have to obey the Lord Jesus, for He must be first. In speaking to the ministers yesterday, I observed that I had the privilege of listening to, and being helped by, a number of speakers of the Keswick Convention platform when they came to America when I was a young man. It was my privilege to sit under Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas, a great man of God; and another whom God greatly used in the enriching of my soul was Dr. J. Stuart Holden. I heard him make reference to a sermon—I did not hear him preach it, but he told us that his points were as follows- 98 are concerned, but there is not one of them I should want to marry!" Oh, be careful, be sure that the Lord Jesus is first. It is easy to miss the will of God. I have to say this: I have been young, and I do not think I am so far removed from those days that the memory of them is dimmed in my mind and heart. Many a young person has come to me for counsel, as I have taught in various schools in the States. So often this problem arises, "It seems as though I cannot live without so-and-so but God has not given the burden to them that He has given to me." There is only one word of counsel I can give. I say, "You wait until he has the burden God has given you, or He changes it; and don't rush Him." Most Christians are like myself: they want to know the will of God before the Lord knows that we need to know His will! Who is first? You have sensed apparent disapproval of your receiving the Lord Jesus and then following Him? The test is so prosaic and common-place, it simply means this: are people more important to us—our life, what we are doing—than the Lord Jesus? If even one person comes before the Lord Jesus, then hear Him say sadly—and you are not hearing' me; this is not something I have thought of; this is the Word of God—"He cannot be my disciple." I am not saying that you are not a Christian; I am not maintaining that you are lost—that is between you and God; but one thing I am certain of, so far as I myself am concerned: that I would not want to be in the shoes of anyone who deliberately and wilfully turns aside from the call of discipleship. That far will I go, but I will not say more than that. I am maintaining that discipleship has its cost, and the first area is in the area of human relations; it is in the area of people, of our friends, of our relatives, Who is first? The Lord Jesus demands utterly and absolutely that He be first, that He be pre-eminent. So I ask you, and I ask myself, do we pass that test? Look at the second test, and for this we come to the third one as they are given in the Word of God, verse 33— thing: I do not think that is so. I have found some people who are real Christians to whom the Lord entrusted much in the way of goods, who are as free from the dominion of them as if they did not have them; and I have seen some dear people with very little of this world's goods so devoted to them and so mastered by them, and so miserly! I do not think it is the amount of goods you have which determines whether or not you have renounced them. In the United States folk come to me every now and again and say, "I wish I had a million dollars to give you for the Moody Bible Institute. " Well, try me out some time; I would be quite willing to take it! Sometimes, when I really know the individual who makes such an offer, I say, "Well, you know, I guess the Lord knew He could not trust you with a million dollars to give to the Moody Bible Institute." It is not what we have which determines our relationship to the possessions. When I first went to the Moody Bible Institute in 1942 as the Dean of Education, the Chairman of our Trustees was Henry Parsons Crowell, a great business man, Chairman of the Board of Quaker Oats and of the Perfection Stove Company—great companies in the States. I never met such a gentleman in all my life—and I have met many I rank very high. He was devoted to the will of God and it seemed as though he never was concerned about his possessions. As a matter of fact he gave great sums to the work of the Lord. I never met a man of wealth who so loosely held things of this earth. That is what the Lord Jesus is driving at. He may call you and me to sell all we have and give to the poor; He asked that of one because He knew that that one was wedded to his possessions. You will remember that "he went away sorrowful." If possessions mean so much to us that, were they removed we would be crushed, not knowing what to do, then I suggest we had better look to it. I wonder if the Lord is really first? You see, it does not matter very much what vicissitudes of life the Lord calls us to go through, if we have Him and He is first; we do not need anything else: He is enough. So the Lord Jesus gives this second test of discipleship: He says, "You must renounce all that you have." "You say 'Goodbye' to it" is the suggestion in the original language. It does not hold you any more, and you are not living just for the things of time and sense: you are living for heavenly things— He that renounceth not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple. Here is the test of our attitude toward Possessions. In verse 26 it was our attitude toward people; here it is toward possessions, the things that the world has to offer, the emoluments of life in one way or another. The Lord Jesus demands of the disciple that he renounce all that he has. I know that there are those who believe that the Lord Jesus said here that no man should possess any- Where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. 99 The test is also prosaic and commonplace: for what are you living? I know some dear Christians who are living so that they may own the home they live in. I do not think there is anything wrong in owning a home. If Mrs. Culbertson and I had not begun to buy a house in Chicago we would not have a home to live in, for houses to rent became very scarce. I do not think that is wrong. But if the objective, if the goal of life is to own a home, that is not discipleship. Whatever else it is, it is not discipleship. I know others who want the emoluments and the honours of the world; that is the thing for which they are living. "Oh," says the Lord Jesus, "hold everything loosely." You kno w th e little poem wh ich verges on doggerel : Only one life, 'Twill soon be passed, Only what's done for Christ will last. What are you living for, Christian? That is the second test that the Lord Jesus issues in this matter of discipleship. It is a very simple one to understand, though it may be difficult to answer. The test of people; the test of possessions; then there is a third test—and I have waited to deal with it last because it is right here that the matter is critical, it is right here that most of us have our greatest trouble. I find that so many people are quite willing to blame the devil for their meanness and—let me use a good Mark Twain word—their "orn'ariness." Your greatest enemy is not the devil; your greatest enemy is not the world—although they are great enemies. Your greatest enemy is yourself. You see, the devil would not get anywhere at all if there was not a fellow on the inside to let him in. The world would never get anywhere at all if there was not someone on the inside who found it attractive and alluring. The self-life is our greatest trouble! Our Lord speaks about our person, the self life, twice, in verse 26, "If any man cometh unto me and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and h i s o w n l i f e also, he cannot be my disciple," and then He goes ahead and speaks of it again— Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. What about this business of our cross? When I was a young pastor in the eastern part of the United States, I had the audacity to ask Dr. P. W. Philpot and Dr. Magee, the Gospel singer, to come to our little church to hold a mission; and they came. They were with us for some ten days, and God wonderfully blessed us. It was in winter, and the weather was terrible; but the meetings were wonderful. I remember one day Dr. Philpot was with me in my study. He came right up close to me, and said, "Young man, do your people talk about having a cross, and carrying a cross? Let me tell you a story." I was standing in the study and he came so very close I wondered what was coming. He was very much in earnest as he told me this story. "When I was a pastor in Hamilton, Ontario," he went on, "I always made it a practice to notice the families who were absent on the Lord's day, and then as quickly as possible I got to see them. I noticed that there was a family absent for a couple of Sundays, and I started out to see them early on Monday morning." (I guess he saw the surprise in my face. I do not know how it is over here, but when I tell this story in the United States I tell young ministers not to visit early on Monday morning. Dr. Philpot can do it, but not you— it is wash day!) He went early, rang the bell at the home, and waited. No one came. Then he rang again, and after a while a little lady came to the door. Actually Dr. Philpot had seen the washing hanging out on the line. The lady said, "Oh, pastor, I am so sorry I am just not dressed to receive you this morning," and she was quite distressed. The doctor quieted her and said, "As I walked up the street I saw a dark cloud, and there is going to be a shower. You have your clothes all washed; let us go out and take them down." "Oh, no, pastor," she said; "you are here now; we will trust the Lord about the clothes. I am so pleased to see you." So they went in, and he found out what the trouble was. He read the Word, and before they knelt down together he said, "I think we must go out and get those clothes in before we pray." "Oh, no," said she. "the Lord will take care of the clothes. It is wonderf ul to have yo u. " As he prayed the heavens opened and the winds blew; but the little lady was quite unperturbed as she went to the door with the pastor. The pastor looked out and his face went long; so the little lady reached out her head and looked, and her face was a picture. "Oh," she said, "look at my washing. Look at it! I got up at five o'clock this morning to do the washing, and it was so white: and now look at it!" The lines had broken, and the clothes were muddy and dirty. But then she calmed herself and said, "Well, I guess, that is my cross." Do any of you ever say anything like that Dr. Philpot put out his stubby forefinger and started shaking it under my nose, and said, "I put my finger up to that lady's nose and 100 Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free; Force me to render up my sword, And I shall conqu'ror be. I sink in lif e's alarms When by myself I stand; Imprison me within Thine arms, And strong shall be my hand. My will is not my o wn Till Thou hast made it Thine; If it wo uld reach th e 'm on ar ch 's throne It must its crown resign: It only stands unbent Amid the clashing strife, When on Thy bosom it has leant, And found in Thee its life. I said, 'Madam, don't you ever dare say "that is my cross" of anything that can happen to a n unsaved person. It could not be their cross! Your cross is what you suffer for Jesus' sake.' " A cross means suffering for our Lord; it means—death to self! The Lord Jesus said, "Whosoever cloth not bear his own cross and c ome after me, he cannot be my disciple." What a test! They tell a story back in the States of a deacon who had a pet phrase in his prayers. He prayed as only deacons can, and when he got to the end he would say, "And, Lord, clean all the cobwebs out of my life." He recognised that there were things in his life that should not be there. People listened and said nothing about it for quite a while. Finally one night he prayed, "Lord, clean up the cobwebs," and somebody said, "Lord, don't do it; kill the spider!" Well, beloved, that is what needs to be done; and as long as self is on the throne the Lord Jesus is on the cross. "I care not what claims you make, I care not the profession you claim, ye cannot be my disciple," says the Lord Jesus. Let me close with one of the most beautiful poems I know; it has meant much to me—I do not see it in many hymn books, and the hymn books I see it in have not often the right m u s i c. It is a wo n de rf ul h ym n b y D r. George Matheson— "Whosoever cloth not take up his own cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple." Oh, will you let the Spirit of God make the letters burn and flame in your heart? These are the three simple tests of discipleship. My friend, there is no use talking about victorious living, there is no use talking about power in service, no use talking about being used of God, until we meet these three r e qu i rem e nts . Go d use s H is d is ci p les. Is it Christ, or people? Christ, or possessions? Christ, or self? Who is first? The dearest idol, I have known, Whate'er that idol be, Help me to cast it from Thy throne. And worship only Thee. 101 Dedicating Ourselves To God BY THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING God is the Lord, who has showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.—Psalm 118:27. G OD has showed us light. During these last few days that has indeed been true. The light of God has shone into our hearts and minds. For some of us it has been a terrible experience. That light has been cast into the darkened cells of our nature where passion reigned within. That light has shone and showed up the ugliness of our character. It has revealed the failures of our past lives. The light of God has shone, and it has been a thrilling and wonderful experience, too, because that light has fallen upon the Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord, and we have seen Him there, our Saviour, who cleanses away all that defilement and ugliness and sin; our Healer, who binds the broken heart and heals our diseases; our Redeemer, the great deliverer from sin, the Victor over sin who will indeed give the victory in our lives. God has showed His light to us. With what result? The psalmist goes on to say, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." The result of the showing of God's light must be the complete sacrifice of our lives to Him. The light of God shines upon the Cross, that you and I have to be nailed to. The challenge of this evening hour is that we should dedicate ourselves utterly, unreservedly, to God; that we should offer to God our bodies, our spirits, our souls, our whole being, a living sacrifice; that we should place everything upon the altar. This will mean the giving up of the control of our lives in such a way that we shall no longer belong to ourselves, but to God. It will mean giving up our independence, that most precious possession of all. We have a lovely illustration of this in Exodus 21. There we read of the custom of modified slavery allowed among the Jews in their early days—and there was a great difference between this and ordinary slavery, for every seventh year the slave was offered liberty. He had six years of slavery, and then he was free. But the law which God gave through Moses provided for a strange incident. It was imagined just possible that among them there might be a slave who would become so devoted to his master that he would not want to leave him. And so Moses in the law inspired by God provides for the slave's dedication of himself to his master by his own free will. You will remember those lovely words— And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master ... I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. (Exodus 21:5-6). Of his own free will, the servant had his ear placed against the door, and the master took the aul and pierced it through; and for ever after that man was his slave, bearing his mark, his brand, by his own free will. It is rather like the strange and I think cruel custom our farmers have in some parts of the country, of clipping the ears of their cattle to show to whom they belong—the brand of the master. The cattle have no say in the matter, poor creatures; but you and I to-night have to decide, yes or no. You can go out and be your own master, if you want to. But you do not, do you? "I love my master: I will not go out free." I am sure all of us here really mean that, do we not? But before you say it, I want you to face the cost. You have got to have that wound made in your ear, a wound made in your heart, a wound made in your mind. After all, this is the logical outcome of your salvation. "Freely ye have received," says our Lord, "freely give." If the light of God's love has really shone into your heart, if you have really seen Jesus crucified for you, you have to do something about it. The love of Christ constrains us, for He died for all. They who live, henceforth live not unto themselves but unto Him. I wonder if you ever realise that some unconverted people are too honest to be converted. It is a strange thing to say, but it is 102 and his wife to Harringay, and coming back in the ear afterwards the wife said to him, "You know, I would have liked to go forward to-night. Why didn't you go?" He replied, "I would have liked to go, too, but I knew that if I went forward I would have to be honest and give everything to Christ, and I knew that if I came to Christ I would have to give up my grouse moor." He was a rich man, and he was not willing to give up his grouse moor for Christ. He was an honest man. I do not know why he should have to give up his grouse moor—there is no sin in having a grouse moor: but somehow in his own conscience he knew it was a test. It was one thing he could put his finger on that night, and he could not go and take forgiveness from God without giving God what He was asking from him. I wish some of us Christians were equally honest. "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all," Are you going to give it? My message this evening is chiefly directed to those of us who have already dedicated our lives to God in this way. In the past we have had some great crisis, and we have surrendered. My question to you and to myself is this: Have we really carried out the terms of that surrender? How different the world would be to-day if all the surrenders made here at Keswick down through the years had really been carried out! Last night Mr. Wilkinson was speaking in moving terms of the surrender he made at the Cambridge Camp in the Convention of 1925; how he went forward to the penitent form in our camp tent at the invitation of the Rev. William Nicholson. I went with him. We knelt together at that penitent form that summer evening in the tent. I gave my life to Christ, as I thought, fully. I made the great surrender. But I have not carried out the terms of it, not fully. How different these last twenty-five or more years would have been if I had really carried out fully those terms. Bind the sacrifice with cords. You laid the sacrifice at the altar once, did you not?—last year, five, ten, twenty or forty years ago you laid the sacrifice on the altar. Is it there now, still there, as literally as the animal's body had to be placed on the altar? Is your body, your soul, your life there to-night; or has it slipped off? Bind the sacrifice with cords to the altar. In Psalm 40 the psalmist says what at first sight seems a little strange, in verse 6 onwards. Ile says to God in his prayer: "Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened"—does that directly refer to the custom of the slave's ear being wounded? Whether that is so or not, the truth behind it is there, because he goes on to say, "Burnt 103 offering and sin-offering host Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God." Obedience. When Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews quotes this passage, he takes the translation from the Greek version of the Old Testament, which is different, and he says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire, but a body hast Thou prepared for me. I delight to do Thy will"—with my body. This is a dramatic thing. Sometimes our surrenders are acts that are sentimental, romantic, and almost emotional; but they should govern every moment of our lives. We should obey with our bodies, offering God a living sacrifice, and live hour by hour and day by day and year by year a life of service utterly for God. That is what this dedication means. But I want to think for a moment or two in a very practical way of what a life of service really will mean for us all. It means, first of all, a surrender of the will in such a way that we are no longer our own but God's; having no will of our own. For young people it means they will no longer say, "What am I going to do with my life?" but, "What does God want me to do?" No longer will they be looking for a job, but asking God what job He has been preparing them for. You will give up your independence, your will, entirely to Him. It may mean for some the surrender of their greatest ambition, giving up splendid prospects in a profession which would be enjoyable and would in the long run bring them money, power and influence. It may mean that someone here who has a brilliant career scholastically or in the business world will have to give it up and go out to some corner of the earth, and never be heard of again. It may mean you will have to go and devote your life in the East End of London in a slum as a district nurse. What saints they are! I know some of them—washing the filthy, spending their lives in gruesome surroundings, unknown to everybody except those whom they love and those who love them. Is some brilliant woman here going to do that, if God wants her to? But it does not necessarily mean that kind of thing. God may want you to go ahead with that idea that has been in your mind; but it is going to be difficult to be a real Christian in that position of influence and prominence. It is far more difficult to be a Christian there than in the slums ministering to the sick; far more. It is far harder sometimes to be a minister of Christ in England than to be a missionary in India. But in many cases God is not asking you to do that kind of thing at all: He is asking you to do something far more difficult—to stay at home to look after your father and mother; to devote your life to looking after a tiresome and irritating invalid. That is far harder work than being a missionary or a parson or even a bishop. But if that is what God is calling you to do, you would in obeying be doing just as much as Billy Graham does in bringing thousands to Christ. You would be doing the one thing God is asking you to do. There are many people to-day who want to be Billy Grahams. They do not know the cost of being a Billy Graham, otherwise they would not. God may be calling upon you to devote yourself to some humble and lowly task in waiting upon the physical needs as well as the spiritual needs of other people. If God is asking you to do that, will you do it? Will you surrender your will, surrender your reputation, no longer minding what other people think of you or say of you? Jesus was a man of no reputation, He was called a friend of publicans and sinners, a blasphemer. It hurts, doesn't it? It will continue to hurt; but that is the kind of sacrifice God asks of us —to be of no reputation, not minding at all, as it were, what others are going to say if we do our duty. As long as we are doing the will of God it does not matter what others say. But, I warn you, it hurts, it wounds. Also it means the surrender of our affections. If you give your life to God to -night, it means giving up to Him the control of your affections. It may mean giving up the man you are engaged to, or the girl you are engaged to. It may mean going through life unmarried. I am quite certain there are some men and women in this tent who have gone through life unmarried because years ago they gave up someone whom they realised God did not want them to marry, or because they realised that in the unmarried state they could serve God be tte r in some pa rticu lar w a y . A re you willing to do that? God is not asking you to do a hard thing really. He is trying to help you at a critical stage in your life; for if you marry the wrong girl or the wrong man, what a life lies ahead of you! God is trying to warn you, to be kind to you. He knows best. He has got the man or the woman for you if it is His will for you to marry. Only yesterday a request was handed in from some dear brother, asking for prayer for his unconverted wife and grown-up daughter, and for himself because of the unbearable home life to which he has to go back. God wants to save you from that. He asks you to trust Him with your affections. And then it means the surrender of your body. I do not mean just in the way of service and work, but the body to suffer with. In a who are suffering in body. St. Paul suffered in his body. There was a thorn in the flesh that hurt and wounded him bitterly, and he cried to others were healed, Paul was not, Thrice he cried out, but God said "No." There are those of you who have heard of others being healed by a doctor or through spiritual healing, and you have asked God to do it for you, and He has not. He said to St. Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is m ade perf ect in weakne ss. " And Paul' s response was, "Most gladly therefore will glory in my infirmities." Can you do that That is what God is asking of you to-night to trust Him, to trust His mysterious way allows you to suffer; and through your suffering, He can be glorified. Will you offer you deafness, blindness, lameness or deformity to God, as your sacrifice, instead of going about irritable and depressed, and saying, "I do not know why God has not healed me. He has healed So-and-so, but depressed and rebellious offer your body to God. Some of us have scars of battle-wounds of which we are proud. Why should you not be proud of the scars on your body which you are suffering for God? St. Paul said that he gloried that he had on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He had been scourged, and the wounds were there still, and he gloried in them. Will you glory in your deafness of blindness or other affliction you may have: God has given you a precious gift. Glory in it It means also the surrender of other people whom we love. Abraham had to be willing to husband, your wife, your child? If God took your husband or wife or child away, would you be able to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord"? Yes, it is obedience like that which God requires from us. To obey is better than sacrifice. Samuel comes to Saul, and Saul greets him, "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have per formed the work of the Lord." And Samuel in my ears, and the lowing of cattle?" Saul had been told by God to exterminate the cattle of Amalek. He had done other things, but not that. Is God saying to someone here this evening, "What meaneth this bleating of the sheep in my ears? You say you have obeyed, but what about that?” To obey is better than sacrifice. 104 St. Peter said to Jesus, "If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." And a few hours later a girl sniggered and said, "Look at that funny man. He is one of the followers of Jesus." And Peter cursed and said, "I have never seen Jesus before." He looked up, and Jesus just happened to catch his eye; and Peter broke down. That broken promise led to a broken man stumbling out into the darkness of the night. Is someone here convicted of the broken promise, going to stumble out a broken man or a broken woman into the darkness of life? Judas stumbled out into that same night, too, and went and hanged himself. But Peter did not, because there was something in the look of Jesus that gave him hope. There is something in the look of Jesus to-night as He looks at you, you with the broken promise. It is a look of love, a look of love and hope. Peter was restored, and Jesus asked him later, "Lovest thou me?" And he said, "Lord. Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee." And he was recommissioned and given a chance to carry out his promise, as he did so wonderfully. In the end, that man who had said he would die for Jesus did die for Jesus. Peter was crucified like his Master. He was girded, as our Lord said he would be, by another; and he obeyed. Do you remember that lovely passage of our Lord saying to Peter— When thou wast young, thou girdest th yself, and walkedst wh ith er th ou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou 105 shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not (John 21:18). Whether that refers to the cross and the hands stretched out, we cannot be certain; but we can be certain of this one thing now, that our Lord Jesus Christ is here asking for our hand to be held in His, that He may lead us wherever He wants us to go. Bind the sacrifice with cords. It is the same word as this word girded, here. Take your hands, that they may be girded. Give them to Jesus that He may bind them, bind them to Himself. Finally, in Psalm 116 the psalmist says twice over, in verses 14 and 18, "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people." And in between the two verses there is this, which is so lovely: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Jesus Christ wants us to join Him on the Cross, to die to self and ambition and all the other things we have been thinking about, to give our hands, that they may be nailed to the Cross with His hands. If we will do that, precious in His sight is our death. We shall never regret it, because we shall be brought into such intimate, wonderful union with Him, such as we have never dreamed possible before. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." 0 Lord, truly I am Thy servant, Thy slave. I love my Master: I will not go out free. 0 Lord, truly I am Thy servant. Meeting the Challenge of the Hour BY TH E REV T . M. BAMB ER. as possible. I am appealing to you, Esther, now you have stepped into this new position, to get in touch with the king as soon as you can." The etiquette for Esther was that she stood just outside the audience chamber and waited the king's pleasure. If when he saw her he stretched out his sceptre toward her, she could walk in; but if he did not, she must stay outside. It was a tremendous challenge to this woman. She felt that something had to be done. Mordecai appealed to her, and she said to him, "I will go unto the king, I will take the risk; and if I perish, I perish." The whole tendency of our human nature is to evade all responsibilities, and to enjoy our privileges as far as we can, to preserve our inner world in as much ease and comfort as is possible, and to draw from the outer world as much as will minister to our comforts. It was the task of Mordecai to bring home to Esther the realization that her privileged position created serious responsibility and obligations, even to the extent of facing possible death. The times are still urgent. Indeed, terrible as was the prospect of the slaughter of the Jews of Persia, that was not to be compared with the times in which we live. We are assured by those who know that we are facing possible terrestrial catastrophe. We are facing the possibility of international collapse. We are facing a world marshalling of ideas and purposes, of Communism, paganism and heathenism that may well strike terror into the heart of the most imperturbable; and unless science can discover new resources for mankind, the world's population may be brought to starvation. What a world to face to-night! What a challenge to give to the young people particularly! What a time to ask, Who knoweth whether you are the person who has come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Let me tell young Christian people particularly why this appeal comes to them. You are united in a far better union than ever Esther had with her husband; and if you pass through the experiences to which the messages of this week have been bearing testimony, then you are in actual fact united to MAY I turn your attention this evening to Esther 4:14, the words of Mordecai to Esther— For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? I must depend to some extent upon your acquaintance with the theme of the Book of Esther. Chapter 1 tells how King Ahasuerus, of Persia, held a wonderful banquet. He was very proud of his wife, and at the height of the revelry he thought it would be a fine thing if all his guests could look upon her beauty. So he sent a message to the queen, Vashti, commanding her to come in. She had not shared in the feast: she was to come in at the end. Having sent the instruction, he waited for her to come. But she sent back a message which indicated that she was not coming. Her husband was flatly defied. Though, of course, that sort of thing to-day does not cause anybody surprise, it shook the foundations of the kingdom of Persia, so that all the husbands began to be concerned for the effect of this most disastrous example in the king's palace, and a movement was set on foot to bring all the wives into proper submission and subjection. They were very optimistic in the kingdom of Persia! In consequence the queen was deposed, and another queen was brought in to take her place, whose name was Esther. She is the subject of our thought to-night. She had been brought up by her uncle or cousin, Mordecai—probably her uncle. Her parents were dead, and Mordecai adopted her. Esther settled down after the wedding to a very high position. Maids were available to wait upon her and do her the honours of her office. Suddenly her uncle acquainted her with the fact that the prime minister had a plot in hand, and that plot was no less than an arrangement by which all Jews in Persia should be slaughtered. "And," said Mordecai, "we must get the ear of the king—he is the only person who can intervene—as quickly 106 the risen Lord in His resurrection life. Paul says he who is joined to a harlot is one flesh. That is a very serious fact! Then he goes on to say he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. If you are a child of God, you are in the most intimate relationship with Jesus Christ; you are joined to the glorified Lord, one spirit. That is your position. You have the ear of the King of heaven, as other individuals have not. You can make your cry to Him in the issues of the hour in which we live. If you are standing with Him and with the mind and will of God, you can make your appeal to God in this great hour and be sure that your prayer will prevail. If you have the courage to believe that the issues may be as distinct as to perish or to prevail, you may be sure you shall test in this, one of the great hours of human history, the marvellous power of the resurrection within your own experience. Keswick teaching is very personal. We sit in the tent here all the week and we almost forget the world. If you are not careful you do not know what is happening outside. All the big issues that are going on, we seem to forget for the time being. Some people think we are dreamers, not relating our minds to the facts of the world. But, you see, there are certain things to be remembered. No man can solve the problem of time within time. No man can solve the problem of humanity within humanity. No man can solve the issues of the hour unless he sees them in the context of eternity. And therefore, now that you have had this week of personal blessing, you are in a position in the light of the truth you have heard, to present yourself to God. Your ear is attuned, your heart can be ready to receive the clarion call from God, and to yield yourself at this hour for the deepest issues that are concerning mankind. The times in which we are living are times that desperately need God. There are situations that God alone can meet. I firmly believe that God's answer to every human problem is the only answer that can prevail, and that God's answer to every human problem is in Ells beloved Son whom He has made heir of ill things. What does that mean? Certainly it means this, that God works by incarnation. Even as He worked in the incarnation of His beloved Son, so to-day He works—I think, only —through men and women who have received hat divine nature through faith by grace. The men and women who can really come to the task at this great hour are the men and women who have been born again of the Holy Spirit and have received the divine nature. That means that within the confines of this tent, and wherever the situation is duplicated in the experience of men and women throughout the world, the purpose of God is being achieved through the divine nature incarnate in God's redeemed people. Therefore, no man or woman who has been to this Convention and has entered by faith into this great truth can possibly think that in a great hour such as the world is now facing any one of us can, or any one of us dare, stand aside. It means that God works redemptively : that is to say, through men and women in the power of the Holy Spirit who know God's will, to whom the will of God means everything. When the will of God means everything in the heart, the spiritual sensibilities of the man or woman are brought into tune, and there can be a discernment and an understanding of what is the mind and will of God for the individual concerned. That means that every man and woman in this tent who by the grace of God has been moving through the spiritual experience of this week, is ready for such a time as this is. That is a staggering truth. It is a staggering truth because the world has largely ignored this Convention. Yet every man and woman outside of redemption, not sharing the divine nature of Jesus Christ, to whom the power of the Holy Spirit is an unknown experience, may be sincerely seeking to help mankind and yet the effort is fruitless so far as the purpose of God is concerned. Esther had one or two little difficulties, one of them being that she had just fallen in love. I would say that of all the spheres in which it is difficult to know the will of God, matrimony is the most difficult. An offer of marriage will shatter all the prospects that are built up at a Keswick Convention. Here was Esther, the idol of the king for the time being, and Mordecai in God's name required it should all be laid upon the altar of His will. This is the sheer, hard fact that has to be faced, that if it is a choice between the human or the divine will, the will of God must prevail. In some form or other every child of God has to face that. Esther had no easy choice. She might have said to herself, "If I do this, will my countrymen be grateful to me for it?" No! If you are a young Christian, don't ever do anything for a vote of thanks. As our Lord stood before the judgment seat of Pilate, there was not a leper who cried out, "He healed me!"; there was not a man who said, "I see because He touched my eyes." Where was Lazarus, risen from the dead? If he had gone to Pilate's judgment seat and said, "This man brought me out of the grave," what a testimony it would have been! But they all forsook Him 107 and failed Him. No, never do anything simply because it is for men; the only motive can be, it is for God. One of the most profound things to me is how a human life reaches a conclusion about its relationship to the purpose of God. As I watched our friends this afternoon at the missionary reception, and thought of all the numbers involved, and that God had moved through the mind and heart of each one individually and dealt with all their circumstances and directed their powers to nearly every country on the face of the earth, it seemed a marvel of the organizing genius of heaven. Now, if you have any issue like this in your 108 heart, it should teach you this: that life is worthwhile. Thank God that you are seeing it. No matter how costly and painful the challenge may be, be sure you mean something in God's sight; that your life does count with God. If you see it as a serious thing, do not regard it as merely a movement upon the emotions. It is the seriousness of God being transferred to your own heart, and coming from the heart of God to meet your conscience. If you see in following out the will of God to-night nothing perhaps but disaster, then be sure that God can see more. At that point where courage and faith meet, you may say, "Lord I am ready. I will." Be sure you will not perish. You shall prevail. The Royal Life BY CANON GUY H. KING. They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.—Romans 5: 17. WANT to speak to you about the royal life, a life to which God calls every I one of us, a life which it is His purpose we contrary to all the purposes of God for His children. Sin shall not, and need not, have dominion over us. As it says in v. 9, "Death hath no more dominion over Him," so sin shall not have dominion over you. The one who is reigning in life reigns over besetting sin; and if there be one here who has some such sin that is troubling them, then it is our glorious possibility and privilege to reign over it and see that it does not get a chance to spoil our life's experience of Him. Then, too, this kind of pers on may be reigning over circumstances. You will recall how in chapter eight of Romans, the apostle, led of the Spirit, has been making reference to certain of the dark and difficult experiences of life. He says in v. 37, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." I used to think that it was quite enough to be conquerors, but it would appear that we are to be more than conquerors: there is something which we may take over from those circumstances of ours which can contribute to the richness, the wealth of our Christian character. Are your circumstances difficult? Are you under the circumstances when you should be above them? You and I may live reigning over circumstances. I do not know what your t r o u b l e s i n l i f e m a y b e , b u t i f w e a r e conquerors we can be conquerors over circumstance. Reigning over insufficiency. Have you felt sometimes as if you cannot undertake that bit of Christian service because you have such a sense in your heart of your inadequacy; yet you feel in your heart that God is calling you to that service? If you are one of these royal Christians you will step out; you will do it because God is calling you, and you know that He is going to see you through. It is a remarkable thing as you go through the Bible story and see the account of the calling into great service of some of God's children, so many of them started with this sense of inadequacy. Moses has to go to Egypt; but at should all adopt. Shall we consider it, to see how far we go toward its purpose? I. THE ROYAL LIFE. God sees three great divisions among the people of this world. There is the primary division between those who are believers and those who are not. That is a line which goes through every meeting here; in the tent this evening the line is running, not straight through but bending here and there, taking a turn to the right hand or the left and going across: to the one side or the other of that line everyone is sitting to-night. It might very well be that there is one person in this great congregation who is on the wrong side of the line. Are you that one? If you turn to those who are believers, there is another division—a secondary division between Christians: those who are growing, and those who are static. Even among those who are going on, there is again a division between those who are living the kingly life and those who are submitting to one thing or another. It is the purpose of God that we should be in the, alas, quite small, company of those who reign in life. You will recall the word in Revelation I:5, 6, "Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins in His own blood, and who has made us kings and priests unto God." It is His purpose that everyone of us should be as kings, reigning in life. But if this is the kingly life, then the king must have his subjects; and now we consider that you and I as kings are appointed to reign, not over people or over kingdoms—although be it remembered there is coming a blessed time during that thousand years to which the Scriptures seem to point when the faithful ones shall reign w i th H im —b ut o v er s ub jec ts o f a ve r y different sort. E. THE ROYAL SUBJECTS. Let me mention some of them to you: reigning over sin. Romans 6:14 says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." If you are under the dominion of sin, it is quite 109 Obedience—God's Requirement By THE REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. . . . the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to those who obey Him.—Acts 5:32. GOD'S way of blessing and empowering by the Holy Ghost Himself, is obedience. And there is a minimum requirement if you a n d I a re go in g to k n o w i n p ra ct ic al experience this reigning life of which we have been thinking, and which can be made possible to us. As we shall be thinking to morrow especially of the empowering and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, this evening we must face and be willing to respond to this human requirement, obedience, if we are to enter in and to possess the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Let us first of all face— I. THE MEANING OF IT. And here quite clearly it speaks of us obeying Him. It is our response to the Lordship, the Kingship of Jesus Christ Himself; and first and foremost it means(i) His will only. And it is in the realm o f t h e w i l l t h a t t h e t r o u b l e really centres, is it not? I was t a l k i n g t o so m eo n e th e o th er d ay w i th re ga rd to a problem in her life. For months she had been waiting and longing to get the victory, but she was waiting until she felt that she wanted to do it. In her case it was the question of the quiet time. She lay in bed and waited to feel ready to get up and pray. She said to me, "It came to me in the night that it was not feeling, it was will: I had got to get up." The start of the business is will only; never waiting for feelings, but in a practical sense facing up to the will. Over and over again God comes and concentrates this requirement, this demand on us for Lordship over the will, upon some one specific thing. There may be others, but He brings it down and that thing becomes, as it were, the test point with you. It may be a thing, it may be a person, it may be a desire. Many of you during these days of meetings have b een m ade o n l y to o co n s ci o u s o f t he place of controversy with regard to your life, and as you have sat and thought over this reigning life to-night you have said, "Yes, I am prepared. It shall be God's will for me, except there." I wonder if that has 112 been so for you? I would say to you to-night that obedience means "His will only." You are saying "No" because it hurts; you are saying "No" because it costs; and so I want to ask you, How far are you going to be obedient; to what limit are you prepared to go? Are you ready to say, "Lord Jesus, Thy will only," or have you got a place beyond which you are not prepared that the Lord's will should go? Then, you know, obedience means— (ii) His Word only. No t only "His will only," but "His word only," too. I wonder how far in your life you are prepared to make God's Word and God's standard your one requirement and your one test? You know, it is possible to be the firmest believer in the full inspiration of the Scriptures until you get to some verse which just hits you too hard, and you say, "I do not know, but I am sure there is some other meaning for that," and you begin to hedge and to prevaricate with regard to that thing. Read through I Corinthians 13 on your knees, and ask yourself honestly, "Is that my standard; am I prepared to let the challenge of that chapter be the one standard, the one test, so that it is His Word only with regard to love, and loving others?" or would we have to say quite honestly, "I just cannot; there are people that I cannot love. No, it is impossible." At that point where you say it is impossible, your obedience has broken down; for obeying Him means "His Word only." So many people come face to face with such a demand as that and they say, "I only hate that person"; others get a real delight out of hating a person, or being jealous of a person, or snubbing other people, because it gives them a sense of their own importance. In so far as you allow that to dominate, obedience is not supreme in your life. It may be some verse as you are reading it, or some passage which comes home to your heart; it stands out of the text, and you know that it is God's Word for you— it may be calling you to give up the life in which you are now and venture forth in some new departure of Christian discipleship. You say, "No, that cannot be the Word; we will read another chapter this morning," and you turn over. Then it is not "His Word only." When you "gib" and turn aside from the demand of Scripture, some adventure of faith, some challenge to hold on to that truth and see it through to the end, some giving up and going forth with Him, some staying hidden away while others go, you are not obeying Him; you have failed in the test of obedience. I wonder if some verse, some passage, some section of Scripture has come and touched your heart and called you to some new place o f adven ture and trust? I h ave kno wn people who have come to conventions like this, and out of the Scriptures some completely new truth has come home to them. They never realised before that a reign ing life was a practical Christian possibility for them. They never realised that God was willing to cleanse them, and to fill them with the Holy Spirit. It has been a completely new truth and a new revelation to them, and they gib at it and say, "But that does not fit in with the teaching of the Christian friends where I am in fellowship, and if I were to venture out and let God really bless me, and enter into this reigning life, I do not quite know what they would say to me." And so you are not prepared to venture out and respond fully to the new revelation of Scripture which God has brought home to you. What is the meaning of obedience? His will only, His Word only, and— (iii) His love supremely. Dare we, at any cost believe that God is love, and that God at all times is secretly planning in love for u s? This in a way sums up the meaning of obedience, especially because it means the glad responding to any demand of Christ because we have Him first and we love Him completely. Can we honestly look back into the face of God and say, "0 God, I love Thee with all my heart, and with all my will, and with all my mind, and with all my strength. Here I am, Lord, and I crown Thee my King, and put Thee foremost and first in my life." Do you know, friend, if you would say that, it means you are prepared to love Him when your plans are shipwrecked. It is a costly thing to say to the Lord, "Lord, I give Thee my life, and I am going to make Thee the one love of my life," because God will often say, "This pledge must be tested," and He will allow you to go into the fire; your plans will be wrecked and your desires may be bruised and trampled on. I wonder if you are prepared to love Him first when your human loves are broken, and when your hopes are dashed to the ground? I wonder if you have come to that place where you are prepared to say, "Though He slay me, though He takes from me all my own planning, all my own wanting, I will still love Him and I still want to bless Him. Although everything is taken from me, and although I am called to walk right through the fire, I am prepared to venture even when the furnace is heated seven times; I am prepared to hold on, and dare to believe that in love He has planned even this for me"? Obedience— is that for you? His will only, His W ord only, His love supremely? Perhaps you say, "Such a demand is far too much. It is not possible." Then, if we have been thinking of the meaning of it, will you notice— II. THE INSPIRATION OF IT. "He became obedient unto death, even the death on the Cross," and the Christian way of obedience is seldom taught with the big stick. Sometimes God has to allow the big stick to fall; sometimes God has to put in a pruning knife; sometimes the ploughshare is allowed to cut deep down, before we are willing to get to the place where we are prepared to be utterly broken: but the Christian way to obedience is the vision of Christ and His obedience for us. Come and look at Him to-night, and see Him as He leaves His Father's home on high, out of the ivory palaces into the world of sin and woe. Why? Because it was His Father's will. And so He came; passing by the palace, passing by the home of the priest and the rabbi, He cam e to a hum ble hom e. He worked there as a carpenter in a carpenter's shop. He washed the dishes with His mother, and helped to bath the babies. Tradition indicates that Joseph died early, and Jesus had to help Mary with the younger brothers and sisters during those hidden years. Do you feel that your life is hidden among the pots and pans, bathing the babies? The Lord Jesus did that for years and years, a hidden life; and it was that life of which the Father said at His baptism, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He pleased His Father, and He never looked upon anything there in the home as a drudgery, because He was about His Father's business— and the Father's business included the sink and the wash tub and the chores and the carpenter's shop. I go and learn the beginning of obedience, as I see Him about His Father's business. The key-note of His life was, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." His delight was His Father's will right the way through; and it took Him out to touch the leper, to speak to 113 the harlot and bring the message of the Gospel to her; it took Him out to feed with publicans and sinners; to spend His life in the service of mankind. It was His Father's will, and so He chose a Judas though He knew that he was going to betray Him. He knew it was His Father's will, and so He delighted even to wash His disciples' feet; it was His Father's will, and so He took the cup, the bitter cup of 'death, and drank it. Do not believe the pictures which show Christ going out as a broken victim bearing His Cross. The Scriptures show us that He went triumphantly to His crucifixion. He told the women of Jerusalem, "Weep not for me, weep for yourselves." He was going to a final triumph; and every word He spoke was a word of triumph and victory. He prayed for those who nailed Him to the Tree. He spoke a word of forgiveness to the penitent thief. He thought of His mother in the midst of His own sufferings, and made arrangements for her. He cried, "My God, my God, why didst Thou forsake me?" and then that great triumphant cry, "It is finished." No man took H i s l i f e f ro m H im ; w h e n th e wo rk w as finished victoriously He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." The Father's will: and He was prepared to go right through to the end, though it meant the nails in His hands, in His feet, and His life-blood pouring from Him. Gladly He yielded all His life, and accepted death, because He loved His Father and delighted to do His will. There is the pattern of true obedience. If you sit here and say, "God has been speaking to me through these meetings, but His will is too hard for me; His will is almost a rack on which He seems to demand to stretch me and break me," then go to Calvary and look into that face, shrouded in death, of the One who endured the Cross for the joy that was set before Him. It was because He was lifted up that now He draws all men to Himself; and if you would share in that joy and work, if you would share and reign with Him in life, then there is only one way to the throne, and that is by the Cross. If the Saviour went that way, then His disciples must follow. It means to die to all, for love of Him. Are you prepared to do that; to yield all to Him? I wonder if you are holding back, and are saying, "If I make Him King and Lord, if I put Him on the throne, it is going to mean giving up that idol; it is going to mean giving up that friendship; it is going to mean the end of that habit," well, friend, there is the inspiration to do it, in the Cross of Calvary. 114 I w a n t j u s t t o t u r n o n ce a g a i n a n d face— III. THE COST OF IT. It means this; it is(i) His plan—and not your dream, or your castle in the air. Perhaps all the way through your life you have had a dream, a castle in the air; you have felt that somehow you ought to be someone. You have pushed yourself into the Sunday-school, in the church; you have tried to push yourself forward, because you said, "I am going to be someone." Are you willing for His plan, and not your dream? His plan may be that you should shine in the corner just where you are, His plan that you should be nothing in the eyes of the world. He may want to use you just there where He has put you. Are you feeling that you should be someone, and so you are not prepared to follow His call out to a lonely mission station where no-one will know anything of you, and you will be giving yourself to a small community in a far-off land? Are you prepared to stay at home and hold the cords inconspicuously while others go forth? Are you ready to say, "Yes, I am prepared for that, and to put away the dream and the castle in the air which I had"? (ii) It means His discipline—and not your indulgence or habit. I come back to this practical fact, because obedience to God means surrender and discipline in the practical things of daily life. Your trouble may be that you are slack in regard to time, and you have never realised that there is a stewardship of time, and that time is the most precious thing that God gives you day by day. There is His discipline with regard to time and money; with regard to keeping your body. If you are slack in getting up in the morning, slack in getting to bed at night, so that there is really no quiet time, the cost of obedience for you may be to face the discipline of an ordered life. It is going to mean putting your feet on the floor. It is going to mean cutting out some things, so that you can give God the time He requires day by day. (iii) H i s lo ve — an d no t yo ur en v ie s, jealousies, and your hatreds. And there is a tremendous cost to love the one who, you feel, has wronged you. There is a tremendous cost in taking the first step back to put things straight, and to live in love and charity with your neighbour. That is the cost of obedience. (iv) His plan, His discipline, His love, His humility and unselfishness—not your pride. The Saviour humbled Himself, made Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a bondservant, and spent His life in the service of man. Are you prepared for Him? For years, maybe, there has been a co ntro versy, there has been a lack o f obedience somewhere; there has been some one thing, a closed room in your life, a locked away cupboard that you have refused ever to let Him enter. Are you ready to open it to-night? Are you prepared to say, "Lord Jesus, here is my will; it shall be Thy Word only, Thy plan, Thy humility, Thy love"? Are you willing to kneel at the foot of the Cross and say— that are you prepared to be of no reputation, to be made a door-mat for Jesus Christ, so that other people will just rub their feet upon you? That is the cost of obedience; and perhaps some of you are saying, "The cost is so much" that you have never realized. IV. THE RESPONSE TO IT. What is God's response to obedience? Here it is in the verse—"The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." He longs to give Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit, to come and fill, when you yield to Him, your life. He waits to lead you out of a life of failure into the reigning life, as the King by the Holy Spirit comes in to indwell your life. Now my last word to you— Love so amazing, so divine, Shall have my soul, my life, my all. There at the foot of the Cross, as you see that perfect inspiration and pattern of a yielded will, are you prepared to come, friend, and give God your all and to say to Him, "Come in. Oh come the door stands open now." Are you prepared to say that? V. THE WILLINGNESS FOR IT. I wonder how far you are willing to obey 115 In Christ I find the source of all earth's loving, T h e u n iv ers e of peace, and trust divine, I find the satisfaction born of knowing Forever I am His, and He is mine! In Ch r is t I f ind a h arb ou r f rom the tempest, A refuge safe, to guard throughout the test; I find in Him a shelter from the darkness, As safely in His arms my soul doth rest. In Christ I find the bread that leaves no hunger, The wine that leaves no thirst within the heart, I find the warmth of love that Jesus givethThe blessing of its riches to impart. In Christ I find an endless realm of beauty; A garden cool, assuaging sordid heat: I f ind the matchless wonder of His presence, As I in prayer abide at Jesus' feet. In Chris t I find the greatest human treasures, The washing-white from sin, salvation free: In Him is found a joy that knows no measure, The gift of One, who gave His all for me. In Chris t I f ind all love, all joy, all blessing; I find the peace that shares with doubt no part: In Christ I find the gate to heaven's glory: “In Christ,” the Christ who dwells within my heart ! --CONNIE CALENBERG, 116 THURSDAY, JULY 22nd 10 a.m.—BIBLE READING THE NEW TESTAMENT UNFOLDED (iv) CHALLENGING VOICES, AND THE GOAL OF HISTORY THE GENERAL EPISTLES AND THE REVELATION REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 11.45 a.m.—FORENOON MEETING THE LAW AND THE SPIRIT REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, M.A. THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT IN US DR. W. CULBERTSON 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING F I R E F R O M H E AV E N REV. T. M. BAMBER 7.45 p.m.—EVENING MEETING Skiddaw-street Tent: GOD'S PROVISION FOR ABUNDANT LIVING REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. THE FIRST RULE IN HOLY LIVING REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. Eskin-street Tent: CHRIST LIVETH IN ME THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT REV. STEPHEN F. OLFORD 117 Glad Experience of Life in its Fullness NLESS Keswick led to transformation of U life in the experience of great num bers; to the joy of victory over sin and power for service through the Lordship of the indwelling Spirit—then its critics would be correct in dismissing it as a week of selfindulgent spiritual introspection. But the nearly eighty years of the Convention's history disprove such superficial judgments: and thousands of people in all parts of the land and of the 'world—in every mission field, and in the pulpits of every Evangelical denomination—would gladly testify that it was at Keswick they entered upon life in its fullness. Thursday once again saw such issues determined in many lives. The teaching of the week, concerning sin, and God's provision for its cleansing, and for the life abundant, reached its consumation in the challenge to yield heart and life to the Lordship of Christ and the infilling of the Spirit. So large were attendances at the prayer meetings, that the Methodist Church was quite filled ; and in the small tent the unbroken stream of prayer "crowded out" Mr. Henman's brief talk. For the final Bible Reading, the large tent was filled and people were unable to get in: so the meeting was relayed to the small tent—the first time this has ever been necessary for a morning meeting. The Rev. E. L. Langston, who presided, expressed thanks to God for having raised up Dr. Scroggie for his ministry at Keswick, and said how a fortnight before it had seemed impossible that he could recover from his illness in time: but prayer had been wonderfully answered. Dr. Scroggie had seemed to gain in strength as the week proceeded, and the delivery of his Bible Readings was not only an answer to prayer but a triumph of faith and of an indomitable spirit over the body. On this last morning he made several humorous; asides, which made the vast audience rock with laughter; and he was quite unperturbed by a heavy rainstorm. He must have felt amply rewarded in the eager attention of his large congregations, and the manifest blessing upon his unfolding of the New Testament. At 11.45 a.m. the tent was well filled again; 118 and the Rev. A. W. Rainsbury, in his second address at the Convention, confirmed the considerable impression which his first had made, on Monday. Two verses of "Breathe on me, Breath of God" were sung, prayerfully; then Dr. Culbertson delivered his final message at the Convention. Canon Guy King had charge of the afternoon gathering, when to a well-filled tent the Rev. T. M. Bamber spoke on Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel. It was with a deep sense of the spiritual potentialities of the gatherings, that very large congregations filled both tents to overflowing in the evening. In the large tent, the Rev. G. B. Duncan both presided and gave the final address. "0 Breath of life, come sweeping through us" expressed the longing of many a heart; and also "Jesus, Thine all-victorious love, shed in my soul abroad." Then the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson showed, from John 7:37-39, that the "living water"—the Holy Spirit—is the divine provision for daily living; for the time of temptation; and for service. Mr. Duncan, in his quiet manner, then brought home to every hearer the personal challenge of the Convention message, as he spoke from Acts 4:34-5:11. There was a deep sense of the presence and working of God as he stressed the terrible consequences of sin in the life of a Christian, and led to the personal issue: every heart was searched as he asked, "Have you lied to the Holy Ghost?" The hush of Cod was upon the meeting, and afterward a goodly number remained behind, to seek the face of God, in contrition and renewing of vows, or dedication of life to Him. In the small tent there was likewise the manifest moving and power of the Spirit, bringing hearts and minds to the place of decision and submission to all the will of God. The Bishop of Barking spoke first, on the words of Jesus to Peter, "Thou art . .. thou shalt be . . ." (John 1:42). The ever-deepening river (Ezek. 47: 1, 2) was likened by the Rev. Stephen F. Olford to the over-flowing life. The day concluded with the last of the openair meetings, at which reports of Harringay were given; and as "Just as I am" was sung, yet more lives were yielded to the Saviour. The New Testament Unfolded IV. CH ALL ENG ING VOICES, AND THE GOAL OF HISTORY: THE GENERAL EPISTLES AND THE REVELATION By the REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. IN tracing How Christianity Began, we have considered in the Gospels, the Founder and the Foundations of it; in the Acts, the Greatest Adventure of All Time; in Paul's Epistles, a Famous Missionary's Correspondence; and now we must look at what remains of the New Testament, the Catholic Epistles, which are Challenging Voices, and the Book of the Revelation, which discloses the Goal of History. ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY In addition to Paul's epistles and "Hebrews" there are seven other letters in the New Testament which are commonly called the Catholic or General Epistles—James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude. There are, therefore, twenty-one epistles in all, from the hand of six writers, and these represent different aspects of Christianity. We may say that Paul represents. Gentile Christianity; James and Jude, Judaic Christianity; Peter, Mediating Christianity; and John, Mystical Christianity. They all represent Christianity, but from different standpoints. The gem of epistolary truth has four facets. Each facet is a surface, but the gem is one; and as it is handled, now one and now another of its beauties will flash out. We associate faith with Paul; hope, with Peter; works, with James; zeal, with Jude; and love, with John. What Paul began, Peter, James and Jude continued, and John finished. Paul is theological, Peter is experimental, James is ethical, and John is mystical. No one of these writers did or could present Christianity in its manifold strength and beauty, but all of them together do so. And it is still true, though Holy Scripture is no longer being written, that Christianity needs many minds and forms of presentation for the proper understanding of it. Because this is so, it is worse than foolish to compare and criticize promulgators of the truth because they do not all speak in the same terns, or adopt the same methods. 119 THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES The seven epistles we are to consider are called Catholic or General, because, unlike most of .Paul's Epistles, they are not addressed to specific churches, but to widely scattered believers. James is "To the twelve tribes which are of the dispersion." 1 Peter is "To the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia." 2 Peter is "To them that have obtained a like precio us f aith with us i n the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 1 John has no introduction. 2 John is "Unto the elect lady and her children." 3 John is "Unto Gaius the beloved"; and Jude is "To them that are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ." Each of these seven epistles has a distinct and challenging message for Christians today, as they had for those who first read them, and it is to these messages that attention is now invited. We have seen that in each of Paul's epistles the life of the believer, a life lived "in Christ," is presented in some definite aspect. In Him we are justified, and sanctified, and liberated, and so on; and this "in Christ" life is further revealed in the Catholic epistles. We see in the epistle of James that "in Christ" we are made consistent; by becoming, not hearers only of the Word, but doers of it also (1:22-25). In 1 Peter we are shown how to become true disciples by following Him who has left us an example (2:21-23). In 2 Peter only "in Christ" can we attain to the knowledge whereby we can "grow in grace" (3:18). In 1 John we learn the secret of abid- ing "in Christ," who is the divine light, and love, and life (2:28). In 2 John we are told that they who are "in Christ" should be loyal to His person, who is God manifest in the flesh (vv. 7-10). In 3 John we are shown how we may fulfil our Christian opportunities "in Christ" and how we may default. In Jude's Epistle we learn that because Christ in His love keeps us, we should keep ourselves in His love (1:21). We have, then, in the epistles, twenty-one aspects of blessings which are the Christian's "in Christ," and in these areas of truth we may well say of ourselves, "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (Josh. 13: 1). Let us now turn first of all to— THE MESSAGE OF JAMES At the outset it is more than interesting to note that one of Jesus' brothers is the writer of this epistle, because before the crucifixion His brethren did not believe in Him (John 7:5); that is, they did not know who He was, and did not credit His Messianic claims. But in resurrection life Jesus appeared to James (1 Cor. 15:7), and after that he was, as he says, "a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1: 1). This writing is called an epistle, but there is nothing epistolary about it. The address is impersonal, and there are no salutations; and on examination it will be seen that the writer deals with a number of subjects, which are not necessarily related to one another. They may be summaries of sermons which James had preached in Jerusalem, These subjects are of an intensely practical character, and show that James is the apostle of applied Christianity. He says that hearing the Word of God is of no use unless we do it (1:19-27); that paying respect to persons because of their social position, or their possession of money, is anti-Christian (2 : 1-13); that a claim to faith is of no value unless and until it is demonstrated by works (2:14-26); that if we do not control our tongues we are like horses without bits, like ships without rudders, like untamed beasts, and like a match that sets a forest on fire. Gossip, and lying, and duplicity, bear no relation to Christianity, and of these no Christian should be guilty. Secondly— THE MESSAGE OF PETER This apostle wrote two epistles, and each has its distinctive message. The design of the First Epistle was to comfort and strengthen his fellow-believers in the sufferings to which they were exposed, and to assure them of final triumph; and this is his message to us also. The epistle is full of consolation, and it assures the believer that, in spite of inevitable sufferings, the horizon is bright. It is pre eminently the epistle of hope. There is here no make-believe about the Christian life; the facts, however, should not depress, but rather should stimulate to a greater reliance on, and enjoyment of Christ who is our example; who, "when He was reviled, reviled not again; and when He suffered, threatened not, but committed His cause to Him that judgeth righteously" (2:23). Summarily, the apostle has three things to say to us: first, that the vocation of the Christian is salvation (1:3-2:10); secondly, that the behaviour of the Chris tian should be characterized by submission (2:11-3:12); and thirdly, that the discipline of the Christian is by suff ering (3:13-5:11). The ideas of salvation, submission, and suffering constitute Peter's message. Salvation was the theme of the past; it is the joy of the present; and also it is the hope of the future. In Peter's presentation, salvation is much more than regeneration: it embraces the whole of Christian experience until this is consummated in glory. Submission, as here taught, is not weakness, but strength; submission civil, social, and conjugal. It represents an attitude to life which is based on principle and not on the Christian's changing moods and circumstances. Suffering in this epistle is not penal, but disciplinary; and the spheres of it are the world (3:13-4:6); the church (4:7-5:7); and the heavenlies (5:8-11). The design of the Second Epis tle is to remind us of the things we already know. Peter saysI will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them. I think it meet to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. This is now the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remem brance (1:12, 13; 3:1, 2). The message, then, of this epistle is remem- James speaks also of false wisdom, of censoriousness, and of profanity. His idea of Christianity does not consist in hymn-singing and meeting-attending, but in carrying out in detail, everywhere, and all the time, the faith we profess. 120 ber what you know; and this goes well with the message of James, do what you profess. In 2 Peter the knowledge of God is related to the Christian's growth (1:2-21); to his peril (2:1-22); and to his hope (3:1-18). Relative to the growth, a famous passage is chapter 1:5-11, where its progress is traced from faith, through virtue, knowledge, self control, patience, and godliness, to love. When the Christian thus grows he will be preserved from the ever-present peril of false teaching (ch. 2), and will continuously rejoice in the prospect of Christ's Return (ch. 3). Jesus said to the regenerated Peter, "when you are converted strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:32), and truly this he has done. The man who denied his Lord three times has written two epistles of superlative importance to all Christians. He is an outstanding proof of the fact that none of us needs to be paralysed by the past, and also of the truth that even our failures can be turned to account for the safeguarding of our brethren, and so be made to promote the glory of God. Thirdly— THE MESSAGE OF JUDE That the Christian is ever in peril Jude affirms. He had intended to write about "salvation," but news reached him which changed his purpose and constrained him to write a letter of warning, and of denunciation of evil persons who privily had crept into the Church (v. 4). In the light of this peril the Christian has a threefold duty. The first is Biblical; we must study the Scriptures (17-19); the second is Personal; we must "keep ourselves" in the love of God by "building up ourselves on our most holy faith; and praying in the Holy Spirit" (20, 21); and the third is Relative; we have a duty to them who are in doubt, to them who are in danger, and to them who have departed from the faith (22, 23). This short epistle is of great importance, and its benediction is second to none. Gospel he shows that the Man of Galilee was God; in the Epistles he shows that it was God who became Man; and in the Apocalypse he shows that ultimate victory over all evil will be by and for the God-Man. In the Gospel, Christ is in the world; in the Epistles, He is in the heart; and in the Apocalypse, He is in the Church. The Johanniiie writings are the last in the New Testament, and are, in a very real sense, a summary of the whole. JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE The apostle states clearly what his object was in writing. It was that we Christians may have fellowship with one another; that our joy may be full; that we may not sin; that we may know, upon confession, that our sins are forgiven; and that we may have full assurance of eternal life. The epistle is not like any other writing in the New Testament, but is in a category by itself. In it profoundest thought is presented in simplest language; its style is rhythmical and antithetical; and it is characterized by calm serenity, by a tone of authority, and by a sense of finality. All its subjects are great, and are treated greatly; Christ, sin, the world, antichrist, hate, love, error, truth, righteousness, belief, and eternal life. Broadly speaking—for the Epistle does not lend itself easily to analysis—we may say that here three subjects are treated— the Ch r is ti an 's A d v an c e in th e L ig h t Divine; the Christian's Attitude toward the Love Divine; and the Chr is tian 's Affinity with th e L if e Divine. The subjects of sin and sinning are handled by this apostle with a firmness scarcely found elsewhere. He says— If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1:8). If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar (1: 10). If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father (2:1). Whosoever abideth in Christ sinneth not Now unto Him who is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for evermore. Amen (vv. 24, 25). Fourthly— THE MESSAGE OF JOHN The apostle John has contributed to the New Testament five writings—a Gospel, Three Epistles, and an Apocalypse. In the (3 : 6). The Christian. cannot sin because he is begotten of God (3:9). Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin (3:9). These statements are not contradictory, nor are they expressions of wishful thinking; but they clearly distinguish between the committal of single acts of sin, and continuing in a course of sin. The epistle does not teach that sin is 121 extracted from our nature; neither does it teach that we must keep suppressing it, and with little effect; but it does teach, as does Paul, that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and of death (Rom. 8 : 2). This is the great truth o f counteraction, of o ne law negativing another. "Sin is lawlessness," John says; and when we sin we break the law in three directions-Godward, selfward, and manward. John's teaching on truth and error circles round the Person of Christ. Rival spirits must be tested, and the test is their attitude to Him Every heresy in the world is an attack, in some way, upon the Person and work of Christ. Evolution makes Christ the mere product of a sinful race. Theosophy places Him on a level with Confucius, Plato and Buddha as a great teacher. Christian Science declares that Christ was not God, but only a divine ideal. Spiritualism affirms that Christ is nothing more than a medium of high order. Russellism denies the Deity of Christ, and His resurrection. Rationalistic Criticism rejects the infallibility of Christ, and sits in judgment on His pronouncements. Modernism denies the Virgin Birth, the Deity, and the Atonement of Christ. Nazism puts the State in the place of Christ. Communism dethrones Christ by enthroning Karl Marx. "Jesus Christ is the storm-centre; the battle sways this way and that about the person of the King. Every kind of antipathy that Christianity excites, in the modern, as in the ancient world, impinges on our Lord's name and person; its shafts strike on the great shield of the Captain of salvation, from whatever quarter they are aimed." The importance of this First Epistle of John cannot be exaggerated. JOHN'S SECOND EPISTLE The value of this letter of only 244 words is not to be determined by its length. It strikes two great notes, and strikes them firmly— the notes of love and truth. Love is the energy of the Christian life, and truth is the principle of it. The conjunction of these ideas is impressive. To walk only in truth would make one hard; and to walk only in love would make one soft: but to walk in them both makes one strong. The apostle points out that Christians are in danger of departing from the truth in respect of the Person of Christ, who is the crucial test of all doctrine (7-11). The foundation of Christian fellowship is laid in the divine-human Person of Christ, and His atoning sacrifice; and if these are denied there is nothing left on which to build. To-day there is much talk about reunion and ecumenicity, and many Christians are in doubt about their relation to all this, and wonder if there is any sure guidance. Well, there is. Paul and John make it abundantly clear that there can be no Christian fellowship where the New Testament doctrine of the Person and work of Christ is denied or compromised. "What communion hath light with darkness, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" He who denies the true divinity, the sinless humanity, and the atoning sacrifice of Christ is an infidel, whatever his ecclesiastical profession and standing may be; and a true Christian can have no fellowship with such. There are people who claim to be advanced thinkers in matters related to the Christian religion, and who regard with more or less of pity those who are not. Touching one matter the apostle John has something to say about such people, and this is it: Every o ne leading-forward and no t abiding in the doctrine which is Christ's hath not God (v. 9). This word "leading-forward" includes two ideas : first, going beyond the line of truth in what seems to be an advance; and secondly, leading others in this so-called advanced direction. With these advanced thinkers we are to have no fellowship. There is such a thing as heresy, and to tolerate it is sinful compromise. There are times when intolerance is simply loyalty to Christ. We must, however, be very careful not to regard as a heretic everyone who differs from ourselves in any and every matter. Orthodoxy and heresy are determined by one's doctrine of Christ. The supreme question is, "What think ye of Christ?" JOHN'S THIRD EPISTLE Here three men are brought to our notice —Gaius, Diotrephes and Demetrius. Gaius i s a we ll - to -do l a ym an , n o te d f o r h is hospitality. Diotrephes is a church official, noted for his haughtiness and arrogance, and Demetrius is an evangelist, noted for his humility and faithfulness. These are persons of the first century, and of the twentieth also. Perhaps some of you have all three in your church! Well, read what John has to say about them; especially about the person who loves to have the pre-eminence, and call the attention of your Diotrephes to this latest 122 photo of himself. But do not forget to thank Gaius, and to encourage Demetrius. These two epistolary notes should be carefully studied. It is impressive that in the canon of Holy Scripture should be included these two brief private letters, one to a woman, and one to a man; but together they condemn two evils to which Christians and the Christian Church are ever exposed, the evils of heresy and schism. The "deceivers" represent the one, and Diotrephes, the other. But side by side with these condemnations are generous commendations—of Kyria, and Gaius, and Demetrius. Condemnation only is unjust, and commendation only is unwise; and so we should pray for insight and courage. THE GOAL OF HISTORY And now we come to the last book of the New Testament, the Revelation, in which the veil is drawn aside to show us the goal of history. Not without reason did the early Church study this Book. Practically the whole of it is reproducible from the Christian writers of the first three centuries, and it is probably true that this cannot be said of any other New Testament writing. The interpretation of the Book has always been a subject of controversy, but it has values which rise above all controversy, and which make it a Book of superlative importance. It is with these values that we are now concerned. Whether or not this was the last Book of the New Testament to be written we cannot say, but in being put last it certainly is in its right place, for it takes us to the goal of history, and beyond that we cannot go. As no other Book, the Revelation stands in certain relations to all other parts of the Bible, a fact which gives the seal of finality to it. Take two illustrations only. First— ITS RELATION TO THE WHOLE BIBLE In Genesis is the foundation of God's redeeming purpose, in Exodus to Jude, the superstructure of it, and in Revelation, the completion of it. Genesis is the beginning; Exodus to Jude is the way; and Revelation is the end. In Genesis are origins; in Exodus to Jude are processes; and in Revelation are issues. The Old Testament is about the Kingdom; the Gospels are about the Messiah; the Epistles are about the Church; and the Revelation is about them all. The second illustration is- 123 ITS RELATION TO THE BOOK OF GENESIS The first and last Books of the Bible present most striking comparisons and contrasts. By way of comparison: In Genesis are the first heaven and earth, and in Revelation, the last. In Genesis is the first rest, and in Revelation, the final rest. In Genesis, Paradise is lost, and in Revelation it is regained. In Genesis are trees and rivers, and in Revelation the tree and the river. In Genes is are husband and wif e, and in Revelation, the Lamb and the Bride. But the contrasts between these two Books are even more striking. In the first, Satan is victorious; in the last, he is defeated. In the first, judgment is pronounced; and in the last it is executed. In the first, the divine face is hidden; and in the last, we see His face. In the first, the gates are shut against us; and in the last, they are never shut. In the first, Adam and Eve were banished from the tree of life; and in the last, we have a right to it. In the first, we were exiles from the earthly garden; and in the last, we are inheritors of the heavenly city. Whatever interpretation of this Book one follows—Praeterist, Historicist, Futurist, or Idealist—it has values which all interpreters must acknowledge. We mention two only of these. First of all, this Book is— AN UNVEILING OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST Its opening sentence declares this, and the whole Book proves it. In three distinct ways is He revealed—in His nature, in His activities, and in His manifold relations. As to His Nature: this is revealed in His names and titles. He is the Lord, the Word, Jesus, Christ, Master, King, Lamb, Lion, Morning Star, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, First and Last. As to His Activities: He is revealed as chastening the Church, restoring Israel and judging the world. As to His Relations: these are to heaven, and earth, and hell. To the Father, the Holy Spirit, and unfallen angels; to saints and sinners; and to fallen angels and doomed people. Only the Gospels reveal Christ more fully than does this last Book of the Bible; but whereas there He is seen in humiliation, here He is seen in glory. Of all aspects of the revelation of Christ in this Book, none is more wonderful than the presentation of Him as the LAMB. There are two words in the New Testament for "lamb," but the one used throughout this Book means "the little Lamb," and it occurs 28 times. The idea of the lamb in the Bible is related to sacrifice and redemption; and this last Book shows us that the Lamb that was slain on Calvary is now on "the throne of God" (22:1, 3). The Cross triumphs at last. In the second place this Book is— Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." A great voice in heaven will say: Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the k ingdom of our God, a n d the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb (12:10, 11). And God shall wipe away every tear; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more. He that sitteth on the throne will make all things new (21:4, 5). The last thing will not be the intellect of Athens, nor the luxury of Babylon, nor the power of Rome, nor the fashion of Paris, nor the commerce of New York, nor the splendour of London; but the New Jerusalem, which stands for religion and character, which shall descend out of heaven from God. The last thing will not be bombs, but blessings; not war, but peace; not uncertainty, but confidence; not sickness, but health; not weakness, but strength; not longing, but satisfaction; not sorrow, but joy; not weariness, but vigour. There's a great time coming: so let us lift up our heads and our hearts, for the day of our redemption draweth nigh. A REVELATION OF THE ISSUE OF HISTORY It is full of sharp contrasts of persons and forces in conflict with one another: Christ and Antichrist; the Church and the World; Living Creatures and Beasts; Angels unfallen and fallen; the Deity and the Dragon; Jerusalem and Babylon; Righteousness and Iniquity; Truth and Error; Light and Darkness; Holiness and Sin; Paradise and the Pit. Such contrasts and conflicts have characterized all the ages, and are particularly pronounced at the present time; and people of all nations are wistfully asking—"what will the end be?" This Book answers that question. It tells us that Christ, not Antichrist, will triumph; the Church, not the World; the Deity, not the Dragon; Truth, not Error; Right, not Wrong; Light, not Darkness. The day is assuredly coming when "the kingdom of this world will become the 124 The Law and the Spirit By THE REV. A. W. RAINSBURY, M.A. I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.—Psalm 40:8. MY subject is the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the law of God. Now, if one were trying deliberately to devise an opening sentence which was calculated to send the congregation straight off to sleep, that one would be hard to beat! It reminds me of an operation I once had. The surgeon sat me up on the table, produced an injection syringe, took hold of my arm, and said, "Count ten." Then, jab went the needle. I counted, "One ... two ... three ... four . . ." and I was asleep! That opening sentence, "My subject is the relation of the Holy Spirit to the law of God," would have a similar effect on many a congregation. To begin with, the "Holy Spirit" is Someone who is experimentally unknown to the majority of people in our churches today. The very reference to Him would be unintelligible, and—being unintelligible—would have an effect similar to that of the surgeon's anaesthetic. Is that not a terrible thing—and most of us here know that it is true—that in our churches to-day the Third Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity is regarded as only a name—a dead, meaningless, theological term, which is summarily dismissed as irrelevant to daily life in this twentieth century? The church is as she is to-clay because that is so. But what about the rest of the congregation? I believe that most of the rest of the congregation too, including many Christians, would immediately lose interest at that opening sentence. Not because, to them, the mention of the Holy Spirit is unintelligible, but because, to them, the reference to the law of God would be unacceptable. It would be rather like the jab of the needle... and—since most of us do not like to give our attention to something which we regard as painful—they would immediately turn their inward attention to some more entertaining topic, and completely ignore the existence of the preacher for the rest of the address. This, too, is very revealing—this involuntary recoil as from a jab, at the very mention of the law of God. It demonstrates the essential antipathy which exists between the human heart and the will of God, whether that will is expressed in terms of the Decalogue, or in any other way. There are many glorious offices fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, but I am going to confine myself to this one aspect, the relation of the Holy Spirit to the law of God, because it is so fundamental, and because the primary object of these Conventions is the promotion of practical holiness. First, then, let us discuss— I. THE POSSIBILITY OF VICTORY. Many of us were here on Monday night when we took a glance at the law of God, I wonder what yo ur reactio ns were? I know what mine were. Did we feel that we stood before some insuperable Everest? But, given the right men, the right training, and the right equipment, Everest was conquered. So can this immeasurably higher Everest be conquered. Please do not think that I am advocating "sinless perfection." Extravagance of statement such as "sinless perfection" have done more than anything else to bring the whole doctrine of holiness into disrepute. There has been only one absolutely sinless perfect Person in the world—the Lord Jesus Christ. The man who claims sinless perfection is denying the claim by the very claim, because he is telling a lie. As was said many years ago in this tent, "sinless perfection is the devil's scarecrow to keep God's children from the finest of the wheat." But, despite our indwelling corruption, despite the power of Satan, and despite the inflexible demands of God's law, I believe that God has such a life of victory in store for every child of His as most of us have never even dared to dream about. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said that he could not remember his communion with God having been broken for more than a quarter of an hour in his whole Christian experience. Mrs. Hudson Taylor, as she was dying, said to her husband, "You know, my dear, that for the past ten years there has been no shadow between my Lord and me." "Oh, but," you say, "there were giants in the earth in those days." Is the God of the giants dead, too? 125 Three weeks ago—not three centuries ago— I was speaking to an old saint in my parish, a man of eighty-five, who has spoken from this platform. We were discussing the subject of sanctification. I knew that I had so much to learn from him. In the course of our conversation he quite casually remarked that as he knelt by his bedside night after night, and surveyed the past day with his Lord, rarely did he find a day when he had consciously contravened the will of God. It was the very casualness of the remark which brought it home to me with such force. He was not even aware that he was making a remarkable statement! To him it was not remarkable. To him it would have been remarkable had he found a day in which there was a sin to confess. Knowing the man as I do, and as some in this tent know him, I knew that this lack of conviction of sin did not arise (as with others) from his ignorance of the law of God but, rather, from his knowledge of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. "These things write I unto you, that ye sin not," said St. John, He regarded a life of unbroken victory as the normal Christian experience. No one is going to suggest that St. John took a light view of the requirements of God! Had he not just said that he had "heard" and "seen" and "handled" the "Word of life"? Had he not lain in the bosom of the very incarnation of the law of God Himself? Yet, that man regarded the normal Christian experience as a life of unbroken victory! "These things write I unto you, that ye sin not." "If any man sin"—that was regarded by him as a tragic abnormality, and for that pathological condition gracious provision had been made, as he went on to say, "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:1, 2). Victory is, indeed, gloriously possible. We turn, secondly, to-II. THE MEANS OF THAT VICTORY. If God has made supernatural demands of us, He has also made supernatural provision for us—in no less a Person than God the Holy Spirit. Have you ever noticed the connection between the law of God and the Holy Spirit? It is a widely held Jewish tradition that the feast of Pentecost took place on the anniversary of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and there is scriptural evidence to support that view. Is that not very significant, "Sinai" — "Pentecost"? Be that belief as it may, it is certainly true that the great object of the new covenant is not only forgiveness through the blood, but obedience by the Spirit. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after 126 those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Heb. 10:16). What is this? Not only does the new covenant promise the transference of the law from the tables of stone to the mind, but to the heart—the seat of the affections—making us not only know what we ought to do, but love to do what we know we ought to do. This is the supreme miracle of the grace of God. It was the very purpose of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing less than that. "Jab," did I say? "Involuntary recoil," did you feel? Is the mention of "the law of God" still to you as the painful, unwanted intrusion of a sharp external instrument? "Into their hearts," replies God. No longer a slavish, fearful, begrudged obedience to an external, objectionable law, but the glad spontaneous expression of a new loving heart upon which God has written His law by His Holy Spirit. "Idealism," did I hear you say? "His life bore a peculiar radiance by reason of his adoring obedience to his lovely young Friend, the Carpenter of Nazareth," so wrote Dr. Day of Spurgeon. Note that, "His adoring obedience." I would like a heart like that, wouldn't you? Turn to Ezekiel 36:26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." What heart is this? It is the heart of the only One who ever perfectly did His Father's will, the only One who could always say, "I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart." It is the heart of Jesus that the Lord puts within us by His Holy Spirit. "That Christ may be formed in your hearts by faith," was the prayer of St. Paul. "But, Mr. Rainsbury, you have forgotten something. What about the old man?" No, I shall not forget him until the last sod is laid upon him. "0 wretched man that I am!" cried Paul in Romans 7:24, "who shall deliver me from this body of death?" That was a reference to an ancient torture of tying a dead body to a captive, and compelling him to bear it about with him, until he succumbed to the dreadfulness of the experience and the poisonous gases emitting from the corpse. If God has spoken to you at all in this Convention, you will recognize that this is a true photograph of your heart—of your indwelling corruptions. Have you got to that point? If not, God cannot take you any further, till you get to the place where you, too, cry from your heart, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?" And the triumphant answer comes back, "I thank God through Jesus Christ." And the explanation, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law"—note these words—"might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:2-4). There it is. Forgiveness through the sacrifice and emancipation by the Spirit. And, finally, the cost? Just that: "walking after the Spirit." And what does that mean? It means a life lived under the complete control, and in the fullness of, the power of the Holy Spirit. How does that come about? Two words, "yielding" and "claiming." May I give you a testimony? I do not enjoy talking about myself, but doctrine divorced from experience is of little practical help to others. My "El Alamein" was fought out in my rooms in Trinity College, Dublin. El Alamein, you will remember, was not the end of the war, but it was the decisive battle. Some of us are coming to it now. Twenty years have not effaced the memory of the fierceness of that fight. But by the grace of God, I yielded. I soon discovered what the practical application of that yielding meant for me. My seat in the University boat was more precious to me than anything else in life, Jesus Christ included. It was my idol, and as an idol it had to go. Since, it has meant a pathway not always understood by my friends, and—even harder—not always understood by myself. But, "Everything, for always": those were the terms on which I yielded, and this was the outworking of those terms. On those terms I not only "yielded," but I "claimed." I claimed the fullness of the Spirit, and He who was in me from my conversion took possession of me at that hour. 127 For seven years I had been a Christian, but a very "barographic" kind of Christian. A barograph is an instrument, usually in a glass case, which with a pen records the fluctuations of the weather on a revolving drum. That pen is at the mercy of the elements. My "pen" had been at the mercy of the elemental passions of my being. But from that day, although there was no very dramatic change, and no great emotional experience, it was as though someone had put a magnet inside the top of the glass case. The "pen" was steadied, and the graph began to rise. Jesus became more real and precious. I was "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." I do not want to be hypocritical and imply that that was the end of the story. For the "pen," ever since that day, records deep and lamentable plunges every time that anything has been allowed to come between the Magnet and me. It was not long before I discovered the mistake of relying upon a past experience, and the necessity of being "filled" every day, and every hour of every day. To me, the most significant and wonderful thing since "Alamein" has been the difference it has made to the general appearance of the barographic line. No longer does it look like the Bay of Biscay in a storm! But by the power of the Spirit it has become steady in its course, that barographic line. "Barographic"? Perhaps "cardiographic" would be better. For a cardiograph is an instrument which records the pulsations of the heart. And the work of the Holy Spirit is to "put my laws into their hearts." Insofar as he has been "filled with the Spirit" that ertswhile undergraduate has been enabled, in some small measure to say, "I. delight to do Thy will, 0 my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart." Will you not "yield" and "claim" to-day? The Ministry of the Spirit in Us BY DR. W. CULBERTSON IF this Convention is anything like conventions I have attended in the United States, about this time many of us are disquieted because we do n o t think the experience we have had measures up to that which is in our minds and hearts; our feelings are not quite what we think they should be. You have learned long since, have you not, not to depend on your feelings, There is a bit of doggerel from America—it does not rhyme correctly, its metre is notable by its absence, and the only thing that can be said for it is that it contains a great truth. It runs like this— Three men were walling on a wall, Feeling, Faith, and Fact; Feeling got an awful fall, And Faith was taken bock. Faith was so close to Feeling, He fell too: But Fact remained and pulled Faith up, And that brought Feeling too! Well, that is it. If it is in the Book it is true, whether you feel like it or not! Woe betide the child of God who places his confidence in his feelings. I have admitted before that I am rather simple, and I find that most people are rather simple too. You know, even in this matter of salvation, when I am tempted to doubt, I very often come back to Scripture, to a verse which God has used wonderfully for me, John 5:24. I go back and let God say it to me, "He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life," and I say, "Lord Jesus, I have heard Thy word; Thy blessed word has come to my heart, I have heard it." You know that the word "hear" does not just mean to hear with our outward ears: it means to obey. The classic text is, "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." In that parallelism you have "obey" and "hearken" as equivalents. That is it; I have obeyed, I have come: "L ord Jesus, I have heard Thy word. Furthermore, I believe what Thy Father has said about Thee; I trust Thee as the Son of God, the Saviour of my soul: so, Lord, I thank Thee th at I h ave etern al life." It is as 128 simple as that. I may not feel like it, but John 5:24 never changes! In this matter of the fullness of the Spirit of God, it is just as simple. Why do we labour it, why do we make it so difficult? What my brother has just said certainly agrees exactly with what God has taught me. If I am utterly yielded, if there is no known area of controversy between me and God, if I have yielded all I know to Him and I trust Him, the rest is His work! I must confess there was a time in my Christian life when I knew about this matter of surrender and yieldingness, and my experience was much more spasmodic than it is now. The missing note was the matter of claiming, the matter of belief. Actually that is the meaning of the word "reckon" in Romans 6:11. You believe God. Oh, you say, you are living in a fool's paradis e. I reply, "Blessed fool's paradise!" But want to say, it is very real! I found that the Holy Ghost does His part when we surrender and when we believe. It is not the experience, it is the Word of God; He does it. What does He do? I-am very thankful for the emphasis we have just had that the Spirit of life living within us makes it possible that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. He brings forth the fruit of godliness. It is not human effort, trying and striving. It is the blessed Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the adorable and holy Trinity, who lives out the life of Christ in the child of God who has surrendered and who believes. Do you know that the Holy Spirit is living in us not only to do something in us, but to do something throu gh us? For a few moments I want to turn to one of the passages relating to what our Lord has said about the Holy Spirit. If we had time I would read several passages of Scripture, but I shall have to ask you to do that on your own. Have you noticed that in what we call the Upper Room discourse recorded in John 13-16, as our Lord talked to the disciples there is a recurrent theme? He speaks of the Holy Spirit; He goes back to the same theme again and again. There is a reference in 14:16, another at verse 26; in 15:26 and a fourth in 16:7. It seems to me that our Lord, by this very repetition—not of ideas but of reference to the Holy Spirit—is suggesting to us the importance of this message. I really believe that it was the most important thing that the Lord Jesus had to say to His disciples on this occasion. To what did He refer? The first three references spoke of the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us; the fourth, of His ministry through us. This passage has been a great corrective to me, for quite naturally—at least, everybody that I have talked to seems to agree—when we think about the ministry of the Spirit of God we think about His spectacular gifts, the so-called charismatic gifts of the Spirit of God. Or if we are not thinking specifically of those gifts of the Spirit, we think of a preacher's preaching a great sermon, or the Sundayschool teacher's captivating his students. But actually, that is not the first thing the Spirit of God wants to do through us. Would you look at John 16:7— Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient f or you that I go away: f or if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you. And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. I confess that I was a number of years in my Christian experience before I realised that I had misread what the Lord Jesus talks about here. I had the idea that here was a wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit, convicting people of sin, entirely apart from me! I am not going to embarrass you, but I wonder if there are a few others who have that idea? Yet I am constrained to believe that is not what this passage talks about. Would you notice the emphasis of the Lord Jesus. He says, "It is better for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come—notice the next two words—unto you." Then, as though to emphasise it, "but if I go, I will send Him unto you." "And He, when He is come"— where? By all the laws of grammar and syntax, by all the laws of logic, there is only one answer: "and He, when He is come unto you will convict the world." Suddenly I realised that here was the ministry of the Holy Spirit, not apart from me but through me. I was not a spectator, as it were, sitting in the stadium looking at the Holy Spirit doing something on the field. I was on the field, and the Holy Spirit was doing it through me. How does He convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment? First, to convict the world of sin—I am glad the Holy Spirit has recorded for us through John these wonderful words of the Lord Jesus in explanation—"because they believe not on me." Let me ask you very briefly, has anyone in the world ever been convicted that it was a sin not to believe on the Lord Jesus, by your life? Is there any of the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus, the winsomeness of the Lord Jesus, the loveliness of the Lord Jesus, in your life? Do others want to know Him, because of your life? Do they realize that it is a sin not to know Him? In Romans 11:11, the apostle tells us that salvation is given to us Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. I have seen very few Jews made jealous by our Christianity. But the Holy Spirit has come to do that. When the child of God lives in sweet fellowship with his Lord, and the Spirit of God begins to live out the life of Christ, instead of being repellent, instead of being objectionable—I know the Gospel divides, I understand that—the life of the child of God can be sweet, serene and peaceful. And there will be some in the world who will say— very inaccurately—"I do not know what it is, but whatever it is he has, I want it." It is not "it," it is the blessed Lord Jesus convicting the world of sin. He comes not only to convict the world of sin through us, He comes, in the second place, to convict the world of righteousness. Why? Because "I go to my Father, and ye behold me no more." My friend, if the world is to see the righteousness of God to-day, it will not see it in the Lord Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father; it will see it in you and me—and that is the only way it will see it. What about our honesty, what about our sincerity, what about our righteousness? Is the world rebuked in its immorality and dishonesty and its profligacy as we children of God walk among them? Or are the people of the world left utterly untouched because our lives are very much like theirs? The Holy Spirit is living in us; and when He is living in us in fullness He will convict the world of righteousness. Look at the third point. He comes "to convict the world of judgment." Many people in the United States misquote this verse; it is often said that "He comes to convict the world of judgment to come." Judgment to come is a very real and Scriptural topic. The apostle Paul talked about it, and you will find the phrase in Acts; but it is not here. The fact 129 that the mistake is made shows that we do not know what is involved. This is not a future judgment, but a past judgment. We are to convict the world of judgment, "because the prince of this world hath been judged." The evidence to the world that we are out and out Christians, that the Holy Ghost is living in us in fullness, will be the that the devil is beaten in our lives; that we are not the dupes and bondslaves of the devil. We may know, thank God, in great measure freedom from the thraldom and dominion of sin. We may know in experience that God, through the Lord Jesus on Calvary, overcame the evil one, and by the merit of His blood and by the word of our testimony, we too may enter into His victory. That is what this passage is talking about. He will "convict the world of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged." That is what the Holy Spirit has come to do. I think our spectacular preaching is meaningless, and our thrilling Sunday-school lessons utterly fail, unless the Holy Ghost is with us in our living. To c o n v i c t th e w o r l d o f s i n , a n d o f righteousness, and of judgment! Would you say this morning, if your heart is yielded, if your life is in the hands of the Lord Jesus, if every known area of controversy is settled, "Lord, it is too much for me, but not too much for Thee. Lord, I believe, I believe." May it be so; and it will, for He is faithful. 130 Fire from Heaven BY THE REV. T. M. BAMBER. Then the fire of the Lord fell . .--1 Kings 18:38. T is only a chapter or two before our text, at the beginning of chapter 16, that Elijah Ifirst appears in Scripture, stepping out from the unknown. Scripture has no record of him before: he has no antecedents of which we are aware. We know nothing about his upbringing or his education. He is one of those many laymen of the Old Testament who were ordained of God to be prophets, to speak in His name. But, of course, behind every public manifestation of the mind of God there is always a secret revelation. No man ever presents the truth to his fellows, authorised by God so to do, without first having had from God in many ways a secret revelation of God's mind concerning him and his work and his testimony. You can exercise your imagination to some extent and realise that he must have been greatly burdened about his people of Israel—a nation divided, as you know, into two kingdoms; and, worst of all, a nation given over to idolatry. Throughout the Old Testament it is made abundantly clear that the great issue for God is not between religion and no religion, but between religion which is false and religion which is true. It is that that comes as a burden to Elijah; and as God brings it home to him, he understands that God wants to use him in a way that will tax his faith and his courage. When God calls upon you to do something that is easy, you should always check up the credentials of the voice! A little while ago someone came up to me after a meeting and spoke to me very confidentially and said, "I have heard a voice from God which tells me I am destined to be the Archbishop of Canterbury." When you get calls of God of that kind, always check up the credentials! To Elijah this was a matter to challenge his courage and faith. He gave himself to prayer, and in prayer God made clear to him something of what He had in mind; that out of his praying there should come a drought —that would be God's judgment upon the nation because of its idolatry—and then there should be on Mount Carmel a vindication of God in a particular way; and after that, there should be a prayer which would deliver the people from drought. The rain should come, but it would be upon the nation to which a testimony had been borne and where light had been acknowledged. It was with this that Elijah was obviously bowed down with a sense of great responsibility as he stepped out to make his announcement to Ahab and the court, and to the people in general. What I am concerned with, is the issue of this matter: for evidently God had told Elijah that it should be determined by fire. In verse 24 of this chapter he says— And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God. Now we all feel somehow that is the sort of vindication we should like to see to-day: we should like to see fire, You represent, I expect, in this tent this afternoon, most of the counties of England, and in your towns and villages you know churches that are, as we say, dead. At one time, perhaps, seventy years ago or less, they had fine congregations, people with a great joy in the Gospel: and souls were being saved. Now those churches and chapels all over the country are just carrying on. They look so much like a grate that has had a fire in it and has not been cleared up since—a very dismal affair. And not only are we troubled by many churches and chapels without fire, but we are challenged with a lot of false fire. It is very difficult sometimes to determine which fire is false and which is real. It is always a good plan, if you want to test false fire, to be sure you respect another's convictions as you wish him to respect yours. You may be sure of this, that among God's people, as we seek to know the truth of God, the fire of God will fall if we are true to Him. God knows what we want, and God knows how to meet our need with the fire from heaven. It is about that fire that I want to speak, indicating certain things which I think are germane to our thought on this the final teaching day of Keswick. You will notice, in verse 30, that Elijah first of all repaired the altar of the Lord that was 131 broken down. We do not know why Carmel was chosen for this great testimony. There is no indication, except that it must have been in th e mind an d will o f G od. It was a deliberate choice. It was chosen, I think, because this altar of the Lord—broken as it was — indicated that Carmel was a meeting place of God's people. It was remote from Jerusalem, because the Government were against the worship of Jehovah; and so in the northern kingdom there were places where God's people in the true Israel of God met, and Mount Carmel was one of those secret meeting places. There the altar was already erected, and there they gathered together. Possibly as the drought period went on the numbers were small and the occasions when they gathered together were less, but the altar remained. Now the priests of Baal have been leaping upon it (v. 26) and that operation has been going on and on, but there has been no answer from Baal. There is nothing manifested but the evil and the falsity of all that for which they stand, because of course no fire of falsehood can really come upon a revelation of God. If there is falsehood in the heart of a Christian, the falsehood will never draw a fire. It may be a picture of one's own heart. One may have had a good upbringing, godly parents, a faithful minister and teachers in the Sunday-school; and then there is a broadening of outlook, and one comes to believe in what is actually a false religion: and because there is a false religion superimposed on the old basis, there can be no fire. It may be that you will have to repair your altar of the Lord before you finish with Keswick, in order to see that the old foundations on which you were brought up, and the truths that God gave you (which perhaps you did not really value as you should), are re-established in the heart. The altar needs to be repaired. I am firmly convinced that worship is the secret for God's people. God makes His revelation in worship. The deepest things that God has to say He will say through His Word to a worshipping heart. It is the worshipping heart that learns the secrets of God. A minister may have all the commentaries that are available, and he may have acquired a store of knowledge; but he will never get to the heart of the Word of God until there is an altar in his study, and he worships God there, and God knows his heart. There and then is the revelation made. After the priests of Baal had finished, we read that Elijah erected an altar; and he made it of twelve stones—twelve stones for the tribes of Israel. As you know, the kingdom was divided. Carmel was in the northern kingdom There were ten tribes in the . northern kingdom, and two tribes in the southern kingdom. They were a people hopelessly divided after the reign of Solomon, and never reunited. When Elijah has to deal with them, he does not select ten stones for the northern people; he selects twelve stones, because he is thinking of the true Israel of God, the one united people to whom God has spoken. May I suggest to you that at Keswick we have that principle here in actual working operation. There is no distinction between ten and two. When you are rightly taught of God, there is only one church. In every town there is only one church. The Lord's people may be going to different churches, but as I judge, God looks upon every locality and He thinks of all His own redeemed people in that locality. So if you are a Congregationalist and you go past a Methodist church on a Sunday morning, you ought to offer up a word of prayer for the Methodists, the Lord's people in the church. They may not all be the Lord's people. I doubt if there is any church in which all are the Lord's people; but you should pray for those who are the Lord's people. You might even do it, of course, for the Roman Catholics. There may be some of them who are struggling for and seeking light. We know there are. I have, happily, known recently two or three Roman Catholics who are keen and eager and sincere and are longing to know God. You may pass a Roman Catholic church and inside there may be some—perhaps not many—who are really seeking to know God as you and I desire to know Him. There is an altar at Keswick. We are comprehensive in our love for the Lord; we are comprehensive in our one experience of the resurrected life of Jesus; and we are at Mount Carmel this afternoon, where the twelve stones have been put in order. We declare and affirm our spiritual unity; and we thank God that our Elijah has brought the altar into being, because it is on this altar of the people who are one in Jesus Christ, undivided, that the fire of heaven will fall. If ever there is to be an experience of the fire of heaven, we may rightly believe the fire is destined for some company of God's people who represent the spirit of all those who are one in Jesus Christ our Lord. So there is the altar. The first thing Elijah did. was to dismember the bullock. Hebrews 4:12 says— For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 132 The dismembering of the bullock was the dividing asunder of the bones and the marrow, and was typical, as I judge, of this dividing asunder in the believer of soul and spirit. That is an experience first of all in truth. The soul is the seat of your affections and selfinterests. Your spirit is that faculty which was dead in sin but is brought to life by Jesus in the operation of your faith in Him. A man outside Christ has a spirit which is out of function and out of commission. His spirit is dead in sin. He is controlled by his emotional life, and his whole outlook on life is temporal and earthly. When a man is born again of the Holy Spirit, his spirit is brought to life, and it is in that spirit he can seek God and have fellowship with Him. The soul of a man has its interests in the sphere of the earth; the spirit of the believer has its interests in Christ. And every child of God is to come to the altar in order that he or she may know, by the dividing hand of the living Christ, the division and separation of soul and spirit. Every child of God should know that. Young people need to make a note of it, because one can have a religion which is of the soul, in which you are interested in ritual and ceremony and perhaps in preaching and perhaps the preacher; whereas the religion of the spirit will be a fellowship with God. It is heavenly; it belongs to the heart of God, wherein His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. When we come to experience, we shall find that the dividing of soul and spirit will mean that we shall no longer be carnal, interested in the things of the flesh. We shall understand Romans 8. We shall not be "soulish"—a word we have not in our language, but is the nearest we can get to it—that is to say, controlled by our moods and feelings, our emotions and temperament. We shall be spiritual, living in perpetual union with the Holy Spirit; joined to the Lord. Every child of God should ask the Lord to use the knife in his or her own heart, that he or she may experience in his or her own life this dismembering of the soul and spirit. We may have to acknowledge that we do not understand this division of soul and spirit; but we may ask in faith that the truth of it may be revealed in the heart, and may become an experience. God will do it! You may safely leave it to your Lord. He will accomplish it for you in a way no other can. It will not be a matter of the Book, or theology, but it will be an experience of death in Christ and with Christ; an experience of life in Christ and life in Christ alone, and you will know as He dismembers the soul from the spirit a life in God which is in fullness of joy. The bullock was placed upon the altar. The sacrifice was drenched. Four barrels of water were poured over the sacrifices three times. I do not know if you have asked yourselves where they got the water from. Some think that it was sea water, that Carmel was near the sea and that these barrels of water were brought up from the sea. I judge it would be rather hot work to drag four barrels three times from the shore up the steeps of Carmel. May it not be that on Mount Carmel there was a spring? It is suggested that there was a spring from which the water was taken for the drenching of the sacrifice. Why Elijah did this I do not know, except that possibly he wanted to prove to the people there was going to be no trickery. Twelve barrels of water were poured upon the sacrifice until it was absolutely drenched. What it meant I do not know; but I can only say what it means for us to-day. When the Holy Spirit, received, desired and longed-for, comes to bless you mightily, you will be in such a condition of mind that you will say, "It is absolutely impossible for the fire of God to take hold of me. I can hardly think, as God knows my heart, that it is possible the fire of God should fall on me." It is for such that God has this message. If the fire of God is to fall upon Keswick to-day, it will fall upon the man or the woman who feels himself or herself most unfitted and most unready for such a wonderful blessing and experience. That was the preparation of the sacrifice. Then Elijah began to pray, such a simple prayer. First of all, he wanted the whole declaration to be one of glory to God. He was just God's servant carrying out His orders. and he wanted to affirm that everything he was doing was in God's will. He had not planned Carmel, he had not thought out this witness, he had not been making an extensive programme in anticipation; all he was doing was coming out from God where God had spoken to him. He had prayed, and the drought had proceeded from his praying; now he was praying that the fire of God should fall upon the sacrifice. I have had to learn to my cost, not in one or two instances but many, that it is the easiest thing, especially if you are upon a committee, to make tremendous plans to glorify God, to make them very carefully, to pray about them. Yet so often God has had little part or purpose in the plans, and theref ore the f ire o f God does no t f all. You come to a religious stalemate. It is true that the false has had no fire; but it is a tragedy that the true altar should also be untouched. That seems to be the condition in England 133 to-day. I feel it in my own heart that God is wanting an altar after His own mind. He is wanting plans of His own carried out by men and women who are willing to be obedient and to pay the price. God does want to send the fire, and when we are each one of us doing what God wants us to do, and making as sure as we can that we are not anticipating His will but meekly and quietly obeying, then the fire of God will fall, whether it be collectively or whether it be just individually. The fire of God will fall on the individual heart and life. In spiritual experience there is a magnetic power at work. When you offer to God all that you are and all that you have, you draw to yourself all that God has to give. When you have no further interest in your own plans, no further interest in your own future, and you can say to God, "Here is the altar, and here is the dismembered sacrifice: what I am longing for now is the fire, and it represents my all," the all of God will be drawn to the sacrifice. When Joshua was outside Jericho, laying his plans to take the city, a stranger drew near. Joshua asked him, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" and the stranger announced Himself as the captain of the Lord's host. Joshua thought he was the captain of the Lord's host; but immediately the stranger declared Himself, Joshua worshipped Him. All his plans were swept aside, and new plans came into operation such as Joshua would never have conceived—and in the course of a few days as the people encircled the city, the walls fell down and Jericho was taken. It is always the case. Lay aside your own plans. Make it your business to know what is God's plan. God will surely show it. God will call forth the faith and the courage. Let the altar be there and the sacrifice upon it, and it will draw the fire of God. So the fire descended, and it consumed every part of the sacrifice. The animal itself was burnt up completely. In the sight of all the people, all it represented was consumed. One often hopes when God is asking for a big sacrifice that God at the last moment will save one from it; but God is wanting on the altar that which you want to be consumed. He does not want on the altar that which you are willing to be consumed if it is inevitable. He wants you to place on the altar that which you want to be consumed. The fire not only burnt up the bullock, but it burnt up the wood. For all that is temporal in our lives, all that is governed by the sense of things, all that is governed by time—all will be consumed when the fire falls. Not only did it do that, but it burnt the very stones of the altar. I wonder how many of us realize and believe that in our old nature there is something that is hard and unrelenting? Men of Elijah's stamp, men who have to stand and make a testimony, men who fill the prophetic office, are very often hard. Very different was Elijah from Elisha. Sometimes that hardness is more apparent than real. Even so, in the apparently sweet and gentle people there is sometimes that which is very hard, something that is unrelenting, something that is insensitive, something that is unforgiving. Everything of the old nature is hard. It looks harder in some than in others, but it is hard. When the fire of God falls, it is going to sweeten the temper and disposition of every man and woman who passes through the experience. It will make the nature really kind and loving and true and loyal. It not only consumed the stones, but also the very dust. I do not know what that means, except that dust is the serpent's meat. There was only one man to whom Satan came and found nothing in Him. In the rest of us there is some dust, which is the serpent's meat, something upon which evil can thrive. We may not be conscious of it. Most of the sins obvious to others, we ourselves are unconscious of. But when the fire falls, the dust will be burnt up! Not only that, but it licked up the water: the very enemy of fire was licked up by the fire. What that meant to the masses, and what happened to the priests of Baal as a result of it, we will leave; but we come back to Elijah, with his prayer, vindicating God. He was a man of like passions as we are. Casting himself down on the earth, putting his head between his knees, he called out to God for rain upon his land. This man in his ministry of prayer called down the fire from heaven, and then brought water on the parched and needy earth. Does God do anything like that to-day? Does He give clear directions now? He certainly does. Go to work first of all in the known will o f Go d. B y the grace o f Go d yo u have reckoned yourself to be dead unto sin. The life you are now living is the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. You have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. You have come to Keswick and you have seen where the altar needs to be repaired; you have seen the neglected things of life that have to be put right, and all this you have done in heart and spirit. You have seen the necessity for a dismembered sacrifice, the very separation in your own being of soul and spirit, until the spirit is really alive unto God. You are not concerned to discern between pleasures that are possible and pleasures that are not, to spend your time try- 134 ing to pick out the difference between A. and If films. That is for the carnal Christian. The spiritual Christian is concerned with only one separation: the separation of soul and spirit. You are ready now to be truly offered to God, and you long that God shall now do a consuming' work in you. The stones, the dust, the water— everything that withstands the work and will of God, you desire to be consumed. From the moment that your desire is real in the heart, the fire of God will be drawn to do the work of God within. Plead for the fire! Take the opportunity between now and the evening meeting to see whether the altar is in order. Have we come to Keswick for this experience? Is this what we really want? Do we want a fire from God that really consumes, and makes the way for the showers of blessing from God Himself? We may be sure that as sincerely as we go to work with God, God will as sincerely give the blessing we need and which may be ours. Get the altar ready in faith for the fire to fall. The blessing for which we have longed for years can be our experience. 135 God's Provision for Abundant Living BY THE REV. L. F. E. WILKINSON, M.A. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)—John 7:37-39. I SUPPOSE that some of the most serious ailments of Christians to-day are dryness, depression, and despair; and if we could take a census of people gathered here in this great meeting to-night we should find that these things exist in many a heart. Dryness, even after these days together. Somehow you are still outside what you know God is longing to give, and you are still conscious of dryness. Some of you came up here with depression because of the dreariness of your life. You have heard much of what God is waiting to give you. but you are still outside and even more depressed. I wonder if there are some here who are almost despairing? Well, here is God's picture of what He wants of you, and the picture of the place to which He wants to bring you. I wonder if you believe it: that out of you shall flow rivers of living water—and that that shall be the experience not merely while you are here at Keswick, but as you go away from Keswick back to that home, that church, that mission station, wherever it is that God has set you to live. So will you think, first of all, of— I. THE DIVINE PROVISION. There it is in verse 38, "Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water . . . the Spirit." That provision of God is first of all meant(i) For daily living. There are people who seem to imagine that when the Scriptures speak of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, that it is only something for ministers in pulpits or missionaries on the foreign field. No, no; it is first and foremost for daily living. After all, ministers have to live daily as well as get into pulpits, and missionaries have a lot of humdrum things to do—you ask any of them here! The fullness of the Holy Spirit is for you in the everyday. 136 As I was saying to some of you in the other tent last night, remember that when Jesus Christ came to this earth He lived in an ordinary home, and He spent the majority of His life doing ordinary jobs. They said of Him as He went out into His ministry, "Is not this the carpenter?"—they said it as a slight, but it was part of His glory, for He had toiled, He had earned His daily bread, and He knew what it was to balance the books and please the customers; and that is not always easy! He had had to turn out work which was practical, and I am afraid some people think that to be filled with the Spirit means that you become completely unpractical, so much in the heavenlies that you are of no earthly use at all! He was of earthly use, May I say it reverently? He stood the test of the carpenter's shop. The ploughs that He sold ran true, and the yokes that He made never chafed the necks of the oxen. When they spoke of Him they said, "He doeth all things well," and that included the work that He had turned out with His hands. He was thorough in His work; and although I know this text has a far wider meaning, I am sure the carpenter's shop is bound up in the words when He said, "I have finished the work that Thou gayest me to do." The fullness of the Spirit is for you, friend, in your practical daily job, that you may make up the books better; that you may turn out the work from your hands in a way that pleases Him; that you shall be thorough in your work. I think it is obvious from the Scripture, and certainly from tradition, that Joseph, the father of the home, died when that little family at Nazareth was quite young. You find that there is no mention of Joseph later on; and so the Saviour was the bread-winner in Nazareth for many years. I often wonder if He went out on His ministry only when He had trained His brother to take over the carpenter's shop? There was a widowed mother to look after, and He knew what it was to help in the kitchen, with the washingup, He knew what it was to help bath the babies. I put it on this level because I want you to realise that the enabling of the Spirit and the purpose of God start right there. Don't think that the blessing which God gives you here will lift you above all that sort of thing. God longs that you go back to do it better; that you may begin to see the ordinary jobs in a new light. A friend of mine has written over her sink: "Divine service held here three times daily," And that should be true; so that when you wash your plates there is no mustard left on the rim, because you have washed-up to the glory of the Lord; there is no egg between the prongs of the fork, because you have washed up to the glory of God. The Holy Ghost is God's provision so that throughout what you might term the chores or the daily drudgery you shall know the enabling of God. Day by day He would have you get up saying, "Another day with the pots and pans, but praise the Lord, I can glorify Him in the way I keep my kitchen and sitting-room." Some years ago a servant girl came from a mission and told her mistress, "Madam, I have been converted," and the mistress, who was not a Christian, said somewhat dampingly, "I will wait and see." At the end of the week she said, "Mary, I am quite sure you have been converted: you sweep under the mats now!" I wonder if you sweep under the mats; I wonder if you keep the front door step so that it is a praise and glory to God? If not. God is longing to come and bless you and enable you by the Holy Spirit so that first and foremost He is there in the daily life, the daily job; and the neighbours, and the boss, and everyone will see that there is something new in the way of living. Waters flowing through you: and there will be a lift and freshness about the way in which you tackle each daily job. The divine provision for daily living in the home and in the carpenter's shop and in the factory, wherever you work, is the Holy Ghost; and not only for daily living but— (ii) For the present temptation. There are many people who can withstand a sudden temptation, but who find that the continuous temptation that comes again and again is the thing to which they finally succumb. You may say, "It is all very well for you, shut away in a theological college: but if you knew the job I am in, there is temptation coming at me every day. I am in the midst of callous people, and temptation presses upon me insidiously day by day." Well, God knows all about that, and right in the 2ndst of that need God says, "I want to give to you the Holy Spirit to keep you free, to keep the connection between my power and your need living and vital and fresh all the time, so that though temptation comes upon you, there will be the continuous sustaining power of the Holy Spirit helping you in the midst of that temptation." You know, friend, it is the divine provision also— (iii) For the testing furnace. If God has blessed you here at Keswick, I am sure that in some way, perhaps before very long, you will know what it is to go through the furnace. I daresay some of you have been to see Crown Derby china made. I remember going through the factory, and through an almost open shed where they paint on the china. There it is—a drab-looking blue, dirtylooking red, nothing at all attractive; and round the edge and into the design they put a black-looking paint. Then they put it into the furnace, and when it came out again the black was bright gold and the blue and the red had that deep wondrous colour which is Crown Derby. When I was watching and before the paint was fired, I saw a hand slip while painting, and the design was smudged. But when the piece came out of the furnace the colour was fast; it had been burnt into the china. If, when God comes and blesses you, again and again, He allows you to go into the furnace in order that there the new understanding of Him may be burnt deep into your heart. And as you enter fully into the fresh knowledge, you learn to thank God for all that He has given to you in the furnace. I am quite sure if we were able to go to Babylon and meet Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego we would have heard them praising the Lord that they had ever been put into that furnace, for they learned to know the Lord in a way they did not know Him before He walked with them in the fire and protected them, so that not a hair of their heads was singed, and their hosen—that is the only place where stockings are mentioned in the Bible— were not scorched. They came to know God in a new wondrous way. And when God puts you into the furnace and allows you to go through the fire, you will find that the rivers of living water are God's provision for refreshing you, and you will be able to pass the blessing on to others. It is God's definite provision, too— (iv) F or Ch r is tian s e rv ic e . God never sends any of His children out at their own charges. When God sends you out on personal work, or to speak at some meeting, His intention is that rivers shall flow through you, not because they are by nature in you, but because 137 of His provision to put words into your mouth so that it may be true of your Christian service, true in the midst of the furnace of affliction, through temptation and through the daily drudgery of ordinary life in the home, that rivers of living water shall be flowing out continuously. That is God's purpose and provision for you. II. THE HUMAN CONDITION. "If any man thirst." That is the fundamental condition. When I was at Cambridge, like so many students I had read one or two books on sanctification, and reckoned I knew it all from A to Z. In fact, I scarcely knew it from A to B, but I did not realise that at that time! An honoured saint of God came to speak on the subject, and I invited him to coffee at night, meaning to deal with him and put him straight on this whole doctrine. I argued with him for a long time. He was patient and sat and listened, and at last he said to me—and I remember his words as clearly to-day as when he said them, "When you are really thirsty, you will get it." I was filled with rage at the time; I reckoned I had got it all: but he was absolutely true. You have been here through these meetings, right through the days of this week, and God says to you, "If any man thirst"—and you have got to be really thirsty if you are going to know this definite provision for every need. (i) When you are thirsty you don't sit and argue. The fact was, that at that time I was not thirsty at all for God's fullness; I just wanted to show off what I had picked up out of books—my theories, my ideas; I just wanted to sit and argue about sanctification. If you want to sit and argue about the Holy Spirit and His possession of your life, then you can argue for ever, but you will still be outside the experience. For God's requirement is thirst: "If any man thirst, let him come . . ." not, "If any one wants to sit and argue and beat theological drums." (ii) When you ar e th ir s ty yo u do no t merely think that it is interesting to have a Keswick blessing, or some other kind of blessing; you desire nothing else but God's blessing, because you know a deep thirst, a deep dryness, a deep despair in your heart. And God says to you to-night, "Are you really thirsty?" Have you heard the voice of the Spirit during this week? Have you dis covered the barrenness of your life, the dryness of your soul? Are you thirsty? "If any man thirst . . ." and when a man is thirsty it is because of his utter need. If you can go back from this convention satisfied that with a few new talks you are going to get along a bit better; that because you have made a few friends and had a bit of a "pick up" spiritually you will go back, roll up your sleeves and get on with your work: if that is your attitude, you will never know the divine provision in the fullness that God is waiting to give it to you. It is when a man or woman comes in utter need that he is received. The thirsty man says, "It is water only that I must have, for my tongue is parched and dry, and I cannot go on for another hour: I must have water." If you have come to the place like that, where you are really thirsty, you will get it—or perhaps I should express it better by saying, you will get Him in all His fullness. (iii) Are you thirsty because you know you cannot get on without Him? Thirsty because you know that back there in that job, back there in your home, perhaps with that difficult child or that awkward mother-in-law, you will be back in the same old grind, and you say, "I cannot face it." Then, friend, are you prepared to come thirsty, conscious of your desperate need, and take God's blessi n g f o r yo u r ne ed ? I ho p e, as yo u ar e thirsty, you do not come here in despair; for God knows, and God is waiting to bless, and He says to you to-night, "If any man thirst." My last word is to those who are really thirsty. May I say very simply that we find in these verses— III. THE DECLARED WAY. Three steps are mentioned here, and you can take them and have your thirst satisfied. The first step is in verse 39(i) Glorified. I know that, first and foremost, that verse refers to the Ascension, but now as truly it refers to the place that Jesus Christ is given in heart and life. "Jesus was not yet glorified." Is that so of you? Is there something in your life, some section in your life, some room, a cupboard with a skeleton in it? No one knows. It is locked away; but God has been speaking to you about it, and even to-night, God is not glorified, Christ is still held without, and the Holy Spirit has not yet come because Jesus is not yet glorified. What place are you prepared to let Jesus Christ have by His Spirit? Every room, every corner, every department, every friendship, everything in your life? Is He glorified, or are you prepared to glorify Him here in your life to-day? That is the first step of the divine, the declared way. The second is— (ii) Come. "If any man thirst, let him come unto me." That is the invitation that God gives you to-night. Why? Because all things are now ready. That is the grand truth of the Gospel for us. "Come," because Christ 138 prepare the heart. And when I glorify Him in all things, when I come repentant and yielded to Him, God is waiting to cleanse by the precious blood of the Saviour. And when God cleanses a heart, He does it perfectly; and what God cleanses, God will fill. I invite you to come and drink; to come and take the promise. Will you say, "Lord Jesu s, come and fill with Thy Holy Spirit that which Thou hast cleansed," and then rest on that verse. Say to Him, "Thank you, Lord, that You have come, and Thy Holy Spirit has come to fill what I have yielded and Thou hast cleansed." Sometimes it is a real crisis in a person's life when they can look back and tell you the very place where they were filled; but that crisis must lead to a process, and moment by moment as you go back to your home, there must be a day by day, moment by moment glorifying—going to Him for cleansing, and taking from Him His fullness for the job in the home, at the desk in the office, the work at the bench, the facing of temptation, the going through the furnace, and the opportunity of Christian service. And thank God that day by day, moment by moment, by faith as you come and the Saviour is glorified, you can take and drink of the Holy Spirit; and out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Oh, that you may know it in your experience as a practical and thrilling reality; for His Name's sake, Amen. has died, "Come," because in all your need and all the consciousness of your shortcoming and failure, all the consciousness of the darkness of the parts of your life where Christ has not been glorified, the Saviour is ready to come if you will invite Him. Come to Him with your need and say, "Lord Jesus, come. Thou has died for me and shed Thy precious blood; come in now, and cleanse my life. Come in, Lord, and do the work which Thou alone canst, of breaking down the barriers, of cleansing away the sin, and of purifying the heart." Come, then, as you are willing to glorify the Saviour. Will you come because you dare to believe that His love and His grace are for you; that you can possess the gift of the Holy Spirit to-night? That is the second step: you must come. The third step— (iii) Drink, or receive. "Come unto me. and drink"—come unto me, and receive. You say, "How can I receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness?" Look at Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" I used to be puzzled about this. I used to say, "If I ask the Holy Spirit to come in His fullness, how can I know that He has come? I do not know that I have surrendered enough; I do not know that my heart is prepared enough." Then I came to see that it is the Saviour Himself who has to 139 The First Rule in Holy Living BY THE REV. G. B. DUNCAN, M.A. I WONDER whe the r we have really got to the place to which God means to bring us? If we have not, then this week has been a time of failure, on God's side and ours. Are we going back in that spiritual condition in which we are at this moment? Is that going to mean a change in the life of our churches, in the quality of our own witness? Are we satisfied? My dear friends, let us pray that in t h e s e c l o s i n g m o m e n t s o f t he t e a c h i n g ministry of this Convention, God may bring to life in our hearts and wills and consciences all that He has taught us during this week; that in these closing minutes we may come to grips with our living God. I find it difficult to believe that God is satisfied with your life and mine as it is at this moment. Will you turn with me to the closing verses of the fourth chapter of the Book of Acts, and the opening verses of chapter five. We have here, in the setting of the life of the early Church, one of the most searching stories concerning one particular relationship with the Spirit of God that God cannot stand: the relationship that lies behind the defeat and much of the spiritual powerlessness and fruitlessness in the life of the Church of Christ. We are just taking, as it were, a passage out of the record of the events that marked those days when God was beginning to move. First of all, we have here— I. A SITUATION WHICH WAS CHALLENGING. Two elements entered into the challenge of the situation in the early Church at this juncture, and the first was(i) T h e S e n s e o f G o d ' s P r e s e n c e . The y were wonderful days. If you look at Acts 4:31 onwards, you will find that they were days when the sense of God's presence was unmistakably felt in the life of the Church. "When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart ... and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." A situation which was challenging, in that it was fraught with a sense of God's presence and God's power. I wonder whether you have sensed God's challenge to your life, when God has brought you into a situation whe re you have sensed the pre sence and power of God? If any of you went to Harringay, if any of you saw the crowds that thronged into that Arena, if any of you saw the response made to the appeal when the folk thronged forward in their hundreds, if any of you were able to witness what God was doing in answer to prayer through the preaching of His Word, through the ministry of a servant of His, were you not challenged? Did you not feel rising up in your heart a great desire — "If this is the tide of the power of God beginning to move in our country, I want to be in step with God"? It may be that here at Keswick, in your house-party, in your own heart, in one or another meeting, you have sensed the presence of God, and there has come into your heart a desire that you might know, that you might begin to see these things, that you might be caught up in the tide of the movement of the Spirit of God; and it has come to you with a sense of challenge to your own life, to the standard of your own Christian experience. A situation that was challenging, in that it was fraught with a sense of God's presence. All I can say is that when I went to Harringay I felt challenged to the very core of my being. Why wasn't I seeing something like this in my own ministry? Why didn't the church of which I was vicar see answers to prayer such as we we re see ing the re? Why did the ministry of God's Word in my lips not bear a commensurate measure of fruit? I felt challenged. There was something else in the situation of the early Church that was challenging, and that was, not only the sense of God's presence, but— (ii) T h e S t a n d a r d A m o n g G o d ' s P e o p l e . There was an amazing courage in witness. There was a real intensity of prayer. There was an amazing unity of mind, and purpose of heart; there was an extraordinary costliness of giving. Have you come up against a Christian the standard of whose life has been a tremendous challenge to you: and there has arisen a great longing in your heart, "Why am 140 I not like that?" I fee l it ve ry difficult to think that we have been here during this week of Convention without having some sense of challenge. It would be a tragedy if that were not so. Have you been challenged in your own life rece ntly? A situation which was challenging. Then, secondly, I want to note with you — II. THE SIN WHICH WAS COMMITTED. We re ad he re of(i) A Profession which was Dishonest. "A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." A profession which was dishonest. "Thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost." Have you ever made a profession which was dishonest? The Holy Spirit has come into your life and mine and convicted us that a certain thing is sin; but we liked it, so we argued and we reasoned, we excused and condoned, until finally we said, "It is not wrong," and we lied to the Holy Ghost. We we re at a meeting when a call went forth to surrender our all to God, and we picked up our hymnbook at the end of the service and we sang the words, "In full and glad surrender I give myse lf to The e ," and we lie d to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit prompted us to prayer. The time for our quiet time came round, and we knew that a Christian ought to pray, that the Holy Spirit ministers to prayer. We said to ourselves, "I know I ought to pray. The urge has come and I have been reminded in my heart; but I am too busy to pray. I am too tired to pray. I haven't got time to pray." And we lied to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit said, "I want to instruct you, for that is my purpose; I want to instruct you in the knowledge of God and in the things of the Spirit." But we replied. "We haven't time to re ad our Bible s." We 've time to liste n to wireless programmes, we've time to chat on our doorstep, we've time to gossip at our shopping; but we haven't time to read our Bibles: and we lied to the Holy Ghost. Again, the Holy Spirit said, "I want you to speak for Christ, for that is my ministry, to testify of Him." And we said: "I cannot speak; I cannot talk about spiritual things. I'm not made that way. I can talk about anything else; I can talk about my children, I can talk about my home, I can talk about my hobbies, I can talk about my business, I can talk about anything, but I cannot talk about Christ," and we lied to the Holy Ghost. A profession which was dishonest. As a great saint said many years ago, "The first rule for holy living is—Don't lie to God." My dear fellow Christians, I believe with all my heart that one of the greatest needs among Evangelical Christians is that we should be honest and stop lying to the Holy Ghost, with professions which we make to God which are dishonest. Have you been absolutely honest with God? The sin which Ananias and Sapphira committed lay in a profession which was dishonest, and which had its roots in— (ii) A Premeditation which was Deliberate. "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?" and later on—"How is it that ye have agreed together?" Isn't it quite incredible if we didn't know our own hearts — how deliberately and protractedly and premeditatedly you and I can conceive and plan and agree to lie to the Holy Ghost. Has this week been for someone here a time of deliberate premeditation, so that when you get back home you can make a profession—it may not be to men, it may only be in the sight of God — which will be dishonest, and which will constitute a lie to the Holy Ghost? You have been exercising all the ingenuity of your mind and your knowledge of the Bible so that you will be able to reach that stage where you can carry it off, and make your pro fession. Is that your sin? A profession that was dis honest, lying to the Holy Ghost. And lastly— III. A SENTENCE WHICH WAS CARRIED OUT. T he s e nte nc e wa s d e a th . A na ni a s a nd Sapphira were taken out of active service in the life of the Church, and were taken Home. I be lie ve the y we re conve rte d; the y we re Christians, and they were taken Home, their physical life ended. But, you know, there is a tremendous amount in the life and experience of a Christian that can die, apart from the experience of physical death. Your love for the Lord can die; your love for His Word can die; your effectiveness in God's service can die; your joy can die; your likeness to Christ can die. The wages of sin is always the same—death. Why are the re so many dead churches to-day, so many dead Christians? Am I right when I say that the reason there is so much death in the Church to-day is that there is so much lying to the Holy G h o s t ? Note(i) How Swift the Execution. How terribly quickly things can die! Just a year ago in your Christian life and profession everything 141 as gloriously alive, but you began to lie to the Holy Ghost; you made a profession which was dishonest, and oh, how swiftly those things that once were flourishing in your own soul, are dying out. Though your spirit is safe, the fruit of the Spirit is withering fast away. How swift its execution; but— (ii) How Salutary the Effect. We read that "great fear came upon all the Church"—fear! I trust that we shall all go away from Keswick with a great peace in our hearts, for peace is God's gift to His child. But, you know, Paul, that bravest and most courageous of all Christians, had all the time one great fear. Do you know what it was? "I keep under my body, lest that, having proclaimed the rules to others, I myself should be disqualified." The one thing that Paul was afraid of, was that he should come to that condition in which God could not use him. And I tell you that one of the most subtle dangers that dogs the steps of Evangelicals who glory in the forgiveness of sin and the perfect cleansing of the blood of Christ, who glory in the promise that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," is that we should begin to think that sin doesn't matter, and that we can lie to the Holy Spirit with impunity. You and I might do well if we went away from this Convention with a real fear in our hearts—not a fear about the ability of God to keep; no fear about the amazing miracle of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, no fear about that—but a fear about sin. Familiarity breeds contempt. Some of us have become so familiar with sin in our own lives that we don't worry about it. "But great fear came upon all the Church"—fear, and f ruitf ulness, for "believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." Was it D. L. Moody who said, "When God wants a vessel He doesn't want it a golden vessel, nor a silver vessel, but all He wants is a clean vessel"? What is holding up Revival? Is this the answer—Sin in the Church? I hesitated to bring you this message. I felt in some ways that we were going back to the beginning of the Convention; but most of you have heard the Convention message in its completeness, leading up to the message we have just listened to: but my dear fellow Christian, have you been honest this week? You are a church member, a Christian of many years' standing, but if God should speak to you to-night with audible voice, He would say, "Thou hast lied unto the Holy Ghost." My dear fellow believer, are you a liar—am I? Remember the sin that was committed led to the sentence being carried out. Thank God that as long as physical life is spared to us, then there is always the opportunity for forgiveness, for restoration, for renewal; and it may be that God's purpose in the closing message to-night is that fear should come into your heart, and fruitfulness into your life. Has God got something to do in you to-night? Will you let Him do it? Our time has gone, but I want to say this. If you feel—no,, not if you feel, if you know God has something to settle in your life tonight, don't be in a hurry to leave the tent. Right now, as others go out quietly, stay where you are, bow your head in prayer, and know that Christ is by your side. In His infinite love and amazing grace God is waiting to catch your life up into the floodtide of His power. You may not like to wait in the tent. Get away quietly alone, and if any of us can be of any service to anyone, we shall be here and willing to help you if we can. But oh, remember the word of Jeremy Taylor—"The first rule in holy living is, Don't lie to God." 142 Christ Liveth in Me BY THE RT. REV. THE BISHOP OF BARKING And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.—John 1:42. O UT of this verse I choose five little words, "Thou art . . . thou shalt be." Andrew brings his brother to Jesus, and our Lord sees standing before Him a fine but rough and tough-looking fisherman. But as our Lord looks into the eyes of that man, He also sees what he could and would become—Peter, His apostle, the leader of His Church, His martyr. God always sees the end from the beginning. I find that rather a disturbing thought. It means that He knows what I shall be like at the end of my life here on earth. He knows what I am now, and that is very disturbing; but I find it still more disturbing to know that to God my future is known, my end is known. So many Christians have fallen by the way after a good start; so many Christians in middle age or old age are castaways. God has a plan for your life. Is it going t o b e f u l f i l l e d ? H e a l o n e k n o w s . I t is rather like a sculptor who has brought into his studio a rough, shapeless mass of stone. He puts it in the middle of the floor, and looks at it and walks round it; and gradually in his mind's eye he sees what that rough, ugly, shapeless mass can and will become under his hand. Then he takes his hammer and chisel, and hour after hour and day after day he taps away, until at last he produces that beautiful statue which he has seen in his mind's eye all the way through. And as God looks at you and me in all our ugliness tonight, He sees what we can and, please God, will become. "Thou art . . ." We had better not think about that any more! "Thou shalt be . . ." Let us think about that. Let us look back at this story of the rough fisherman. Simon Peter at the beginning of the story was quite obviously a very difficult character—as difficult as some of us, and that is saying a good deal, is it not? He was boastful and proud; he was fickle and unreliable, pushing himself forward, and so talkative! Before he could become rock-like in character he had to learn many difficult and painful lessons. 143 I want to think of two of those lessons. First, the lesson of his own exceeding sinfulness. I think it is possible to see, if we read between the lines of the story, that when Peter obeyed the call of Jesus to follow Him, he did so in a rather patronising way, thinking he was doing Jesus a favour. At that time Jesus was an unknown man, a carpenter from Nazareth. Strange rumours were going round about Him, but no one really knew what He was. But everybody knew Simon, the fisherman. He was a personality, a leader among men. And when Jesus told Simon He wanted him, I think Simon may very well have got up and followed with an almost patronising smile on his face, thinking he was doing Jesus a favour. Whether that be so or not, this is quite true: as the days went by, Peter began to feel very uncomfortable. The more he lived with Jesus, the more he realised his unfitness to be His disciple. At last there came an incident which made Peter feel he could not bear it any longer, and so he fell down on his knees before Jesus, and said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinf ul man, 0 L o rd. I a m not f it for your company. You had better let me get back to my fishing. That is all I am good enough for." Peter had learnt his first lesson, his unworthiness to be a Christian. I am not going to dwell on that, because I think we have learnt that lesson. Those of us who have been at this Convention from the beginning have had some hard times when the light of God has shone in our hearts and shown up the ugliness of our sin, and in some measure we have seen ourselves as God has seen us; and we have done what Peter did. We have fallen down on our knees to God, and cried for mercy and said, "We are not fit to be Christians." But Jesus has laid hold of us. We have fell the grip of His love, and tonight we are rejoicing in the fact that though we are so unworthy to be His, we are. But Simon Peter had another difficult lesson to learn—a lesson which we all have to learn, it was the lesson of his own weakness, his own inability to do the will of his Master. I think that after Peter had learnt the initial lesson of his sinfulness, he began making rapid progress in his discipleship. He found himself singled out by our Lord for special privileges. Then one day he did something which was absolutely magnificent. The disciples were crossing a lake in their boat spy night, and Jesus was not with them. Somewhere around midnight, when they were about half-way across the lake, they were terrified to see a light moving on the waters. They cried out, "It is a ghost!" They were terrified, as you would be. The light came nearer, and then a voice came from the light: "It is I. Be not afraid"—the voice of Jesus their Master. And Peter, rash man that he was, called back, "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee on the water." And the voice said, "Come !" Then I think poor Peter would have done anything to take back those rash, stupid words. But he was challenged, and he rose to the occasion magnificently. He got up from his seat in the boat, went to the side and put one leg over, and then the other — holding on tight, I am sure! But then came the moment of absolute obedience. He let go, and found himself standing on water, doing an impossible thing. But Jesus had said, "Come", and so very gingerly he took a step forward, and then another, and then another, and found himself walking on water to go to Jesus. Wasn't that wonderful? I think there began to surge up in Peter's mind thoughts of pride. "Just look at me walking on water! I wonder wh at brother Andrew back there in the boat is saying? He is probably saying he is proud to h ave Peter as a bro ther. Isn't Peter a splendid man?" But he was not splendid at all. The next moment he was a poor drowning wretch. He was down in the water, struggling for his life; a drowning, desperate creature. And in his emergency he just managed to blurt out, "0 Lord, save me!" Jesus was there immediately, and caught hold of his hand and pulled him out of the waves; and together they walked to the boat. Peter learnt that there was nothing intrinsically wonderful or powerful about him, and that he had simply been lent the power of his Master, that he might learn the lesson that of himself he was helpless, but with his Master he was all-powerful. He learnt that lesson. Have you learnt it? Many of you — perhaps all of you, please God—have made great promises and pledges this week. Do you honestly think you can keep those promises? You cannot. You can no more keep the promises you have made here at Keswick than Peter could walk on the water, by himself. I want to press home this lesson, because it is so vitally important. You cannot lead the Christian life. It is impossible. You cannot do it. If you are going home from Keswick buoyed up with these great promises you have made, and thrilled with your experiences, you are going to find yourself drowning in the waters of despair and defeat. If because of those promises you are going to leave Keswick with a song in your mouth and a spring in your step (as Billy Graham used to say), you will be down in the water, friend. Peter learnt the lesson, but he did not learn it properly. He had to learn it all over again, and in a far more tragic manner. Months had gone by, and his Master had told Peter and the other disciples that He was going to leave them, and that they would all forsake Him in His moment of crisis. Peter in high indignation said, "No. I will never forsake Thee. Though I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." Wasn't it splendid. magnificent courage? Some of you have shown magnificent courage here at Keswick. You have had a mighty battle, and yielded yourselves to God. Through the grace of God, you have won a great victory. You have given your life to Christ, for better or worse. But within a few hours of Peter's affirmation, a girl sniggered and said, "Look at that funny man. He is one of the followers of that madman Jesus." And Peter cursed her and said, "I don't know what you mean. I have never seen that man before." With those very words and curses upon his lips, Peter looked up and saw his Master. The Master just happened to turn and see Peter. He had been near enough to hear Peter's curses, and He looked at Peter. And Peter stumbled out into the darkness of the night, a broken man. As I said to some of you last night, into the darkness of that same night there stumbled another man, Judas, who had betrayed his Master; and he went and hanged himself when he realised what he had done. He could not bear it any longer. I wonder why Peter, too, did not go and hang himself? Some of us have felt like that in our moments of shame: we cannot bear it any longer. I think the reason was that Peter had seen the look of Jesus—Judas had not; and that look of Jesus was a look of love: of hurt love, but of love. There was something about that look of Jesus which stopped Peter from committing suicide. Will you look up into the face of Jesus Christ? Have the courage to do it. Do not 144 bow your head in shame. Look up, and you will see such a sight as will save you now and all the days of your life. Poor Peter stumbled out that night; and the next day he looked back upon that awful Good Friday. The next day was the Jewish sabbath. How those long, silent hours must have dragged as his conscience bit deeper into him, a man in agony of soul and mind. Then, with the dawn of the following morning, one of the disciples comes rushing in. "Peter," she says, "Jesus is alive; and He told me to go and tell Peter." And Peter ran to the graveside; but Jesus was not there. Some time during that first Easter Day, Jesus and Peter met face to face. We are not told what happened, it was too sacred an interview; but something happened to Peter. I want to urge you—those who have had some great spiritual crisis: Get alone with Jesus. If you are in a camp or in a house party, that is splendid; but you are going to miss the best unless somehow you get alone with Jesus, perhaps on the mountain side, or beside the lake. Get alone with Jesus, and face it out. So Peter was restored; and we have a lovely story of his restoration to discipleship. In the next Book you find Peter, the same man, so different. Peter, who was once a coward, is now standing up in the streets of Jerusalem confessing his Master, accusing the Jews of murdering the Son of God. When they tell him to stop talking, he says he cannot. They put him in prison, and as soon as he gets out he does the same thing again. They beat him and scourge him, but nothing can stop him. Year after year there are scourgings and beatings, but nothing stops Peter. He is a man of courage and spiritual wisdom and humility and power. And the end comes. The end for Peter is dying on the cross, like his Master. Long years before he had boasted, "I shall not deny thee." Though he broke that promise pathetically, he kept it in the end gloriously. What is the secret? What happened to Peter? It is quite simple. Jesus Christ came literally into St. Peter, literally so. Our Lord had told the disciples what was going to happen. You read of it in John 14:17. Our Lord said He would send the Spirit of truth, who would literally dwell within them. That is what happened on the day of Pentecost. Jesus Christ came into the disciples through the Holy Spirit. They were suddenly conscious He was there. They could not see Him, they could not hear Him, but they knew that "Christ is in me." As St. Paul put it later on, "We have the mind of Christ." Their minds were inspired with good, pure thoughts, desires, and intentions. They were conscious of a great transformation in their hearts toward others. No longer did they struggle to be kind to this person who was so nice and that person who was so horrible. No, it was not a struggle. They were possessed by good. They were now conscious of a great power, a power not of themselves but of Christ. And again to quote St. Paul, they could say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." In one sense Peter was the same as ever. He was a sinful man to the end of his life. Even as he died a martyr's death on the cross he was a poor, miserable sinner. When Peter did wonderful things or said wonderful things, it was not him—it was not he who was doing those things, but Jesus in him. It is St. Paul who makes that quite clear, in the inimitable passage where he says, "It is not I, but Christ." Says St. Paul, "I am the chief of sinners." We call him St. Paul, but he says, "I am the chief of sinners, and in one sense he was so. No longer were they struggling to be good disciples. They just handed over their entire being to Christ, and He came in and took control. Christ found He had liberty to live His life in His followers. That is the experience which millions of people have had ever since, down through the centuries; and even to-day, thank God, there are millions or ordinary men and women like ourselves, sinful men and women, who can humbly say, "Christ liveth in me." Other people may say what wonderful Christians they are. They are not; they are sinful men and women, but Christ has liberty in them to live out His character. Oh my dear friends, have you grasped this truth? Christianity is not a matter of trying to be good, thank God. If it were, we should all be in despair. It is trusting Jesus, and allo wing J esus libert y to live o ut His character in you. When our Lord was on earth, He w as tempted, but He never gave way. He was always victorious over sin; and He is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Where is Jesus to-night, this victorious Saviour? His glorified, risen body is in the heavens. But we can also say with absolute truth that Jesus Christ is here to-night, in your heart and in my heart. He is the victorious, triumphant Saviour; just as victorious over sin now as He was in Galilee: and if only we will allow Him He will manifest that victory in your life and mine. Have you got hold of that truth? Is the burden of worry beginning to go? Are you beginning to get this sense of relief? 145 It is not I, but Christ. I cannot keep the promise, but Christ is in me, and He will do what I cannot do. We can sum it up this way: If I give myself to God, God gives Himself to me, It is so simple. You have given yourself to God this week, some of you for the first time, others in a far fuller sense than ever before. Well, God has—not will— has given Himself to you. You have opened the door, and He has come in. He is tapping 146 on all the doors of the house now, saying, "I want to go into that room, and that, and that." And you must say, "All right, Lord. Here is the pass-key to every nook and cranny of my life." If you do that, you will have the experience of Peter in trusting in the triumphant Saviour. Thou art a poor defeated Christian; thou shalt be a man or woman in whom Christ lives out His life. God grant it be true of us all. The Supply of the Spirit BY THE R EV . STEPHEN F. OLFORD altar in that temple-life of yours? Is the Saviour increasingly becoming to you the sacrifice upon the altar? Remember, the supply of the Spirit is inseparably associated with the altar. If there is no altar of Calvary in your life, there can be no river of Pentecost. To know Christ as your altar and Saviour is to accept God's daily sentence upon sin. Hence Paul's familiar words, "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:11). Having considered the altar, both in thought and experience, we can now proceed to— strengthen," was a priest of the family E of Zadok, and one of the captives carried away ZEKIEL, whose name means "God will by Nebuchadnezzar, along with Jehoiachin. He settled at Tel Abib, on the Chebar river, and prophesied during a period of twenty-two years (i.e., B.C. 592-570). Among the many visions he was given, is the one concerning the future establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, when Jehovah Himself would dwell in visible glory in the midst of His people. The temple he depicts, with its ordered round of worship and social duties, is full of spiritual lessons. Particularly is this true of chapters 43:1-7 and 47:1-12, where the temple is described as the source of a miraculous river, which flows, in ever-widening and deepening abundance to the needy parts of the earth. From the viewpoint of spiritual interpretation, we have here the river of the Spirit of God, or what the apostle Paul calls "the supply of the Spirit" (Phil. 1:19). (ii) The Throne. Ezekiel 43:7 speaks of the temple as "the place of God's throne." Who is it that you have enthroned in your life? Remember that God, in Christ, claims the throne of your temple-life and, until He has it, the waters cannot flow. This is why Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:38-39). Jesus must be enthroned and glorified as King in the life, if the supply of the Spirit is to issue from us in blessing to others. Just now we were reminding ourselves that to know Christ as Saviour means accepting God's daily sentence upon sin. Let us also recognize that to crown Christ as King means accepting God's daily sentence upon self. This means praying earnestly from the heart— I want you to notice, first of all— I. THE MIRACLE OF THIS SUPPLY. "Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house" (47:1). In some mysterious way, the miracle of this supply is associated with a door, a temple, an altar, and a throne. To the believer, this figurative language means much. The temple is obviously a symbol of the body of the believer, in which the Lord Jesus dwells by His Spirit. "Know ye not," asks Paul, "that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?" (I Cor. 6: 19). The door, of course, is the means by which the Saviour finds access into the believing heart. "Behold," He says, "I stand at the door and knock . . ." (Rev. 3:20). Then it is most important to note that, associated with the precincts of this temple are an altar and a throne. Let us look closely at these two. (i) The Altar. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that "we have an altar" (Heb. 13:10). The reference here is to Christ, and is one which portrays Him as the Saviour: for where there is an altar there is a sacrifice, and where there is a sacrifice there is the Saviour Himself. Tell me, my friend, do you know such an Witnessing Thy power to save me, Setting free from self and sin; Thou hast bought me to possess me, In Thy fulness, Lord, come in. And the miracle is this: as you daily realize Christ as Saviour, setting up the altar; and as you daily recognize Him as King, giving Him the throne, the river of living waters begins and continues to flow out of your innermost being. Observe in the second place- 147 The next measure was— (iv) The waters to swim in (v. 5), suggestive of the fulness of the Spirit, or what the apostle calls "being filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). This is when the whole man is controlled and carried along by the river of the Spirit, within the banks of truth. Nothing is seen but the head, and "the head of every man is Christ" (I Cor. 11:3). As the banks of the Word of truth deepen, so the supply of the Spirit increases. Is this the measure of the Spirit's control in your life? In other words, how deeply have you entered into the fulness of the Spirit? In the third place, I want you to consider— III. THE MINISTRY OF THIS SUPPLY. Wherever the river flowed, there was blessing(i) The dead were quickened. "Whithersoever the river shall come, shall live" (v. 9). Are you a carrier of divine life? There are men who are dead in trespasses and in sin all around us, and in their desperate need they wait for the quickening streams from those who know the supply of the Spirit in their lives. Do you leave a trail of life and blessing, as you pursue your way through a world of sin, darkness and death? (ii) The hungry were nourished. "The fruit thereof shall be for meat" (v. 12). Hungry souls are all around us, longing to be fed with spiritual food, but how often they are sent away starving. They come asking for bread, and so often are given stones. And yet it is within the potential of every Christian to provide food for the hungry. God make us each a feeder of souls, as well as a winner of souls. The hunger for spiritual food in the world is evidenced by the modern attempts that are being made to satisfy it—the theatre, with its revival of religious plays; the cinema, with its pictures of Bible stories, such as "Samson and Delilah," "David and Bathsheba"; the radio, with its increasing religious pro grammes; Harringay, with the phenomenal attendances and blessing. (iii) The wounded were restored. "The leaf thereof shall be for medicine" (v. 12). Thousands are dead in trespasses and sins; multitudes hunger around us; but what about those vast numbers of wounded souls who turn longing eyes to those of us who know the secret of healing and restoration? Oh, that we so lived, that out of our lives issued forth healing streams to broken and bruised humanity! What a ministry! Tell me, which of us does not want to know a life flowing in such abund- II. THE MEASURE OF THIS SUPPLY. In graphic, symbolic language, we notice in the following verses of our chapter, that the supply that flows from the temple, in which Christ is Saviour and Lord, measures up to every n eed. Th ere are (i) The waters to the ankles (v, 3), suggestive of walking in the Spirit. Paul exhorts, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). The first evidence of the healing of the lame man who was laid daily at the Gate of the Temple which was called Beautiful, was that immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and that leaping up, he stood and walked. Walking implies life, activity, direction and progress. Are these characteristics of "walking in the Spirit" manifest in your life? Remember it can be seen, whether or not our walk is in the Spirit. The next measure was— (ii) The waters to the knees (v. 4), suggestive of praying in the Spirit. So we have the New Testament reminder, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18); and "Praying in the Holy Ghost" (Jude 20). When speaking on prayer, I often remind folk of James, the brother of our Lord. Tradition has it that, when he died, it was found that he had great callouses on his knees. He was such a man of prayer that his knees had worn hard! Here was a man whose spiritual life was at least knee high. Tell me, is that the measure of your experience in the Holy Ghost? The next measure was— (iii) The waters to the loins (v. 4), suggestive of the f ruit of the Spirit. When God expressed His desire of fruitfulness for Jacob, He said. "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. 35:11). What was primarily physical then, Paul interprets spiritually when he says, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22). Is this the measure of your fruitfulness? Have you love, when faced with hatred? Have you joy, when faced with depression? Have you peace when faced with anxiety? Have you longsuffering, when faced with misunderstanding? Have you gentleness, when faced with unkindness? Have you goodness, when faced with evil? Have you faith, when faced with unbelief? Have you meekness, when faced with success? Have you self-control, when faced with temptation? 148 ant blessing? Let us not forget, however, that this ministry is dependent upon the measure of supply, and the measure of supply is in turn dependent upon the miracle of supply. And the miracle happens when and while the altar and throne of our temple-lives are honoured by Christ, as Saviour and Sovereign. Let me emphasize again, Sovereign as well as Saviour! There are so many Christians who know what it is to have honoured the altar, but not the throne. When Jesus is truly enthroned in the life, then He is— Lord of every thought and action, Lord to send, and Lord to stay; Lord in writing, speaking, giving, Lord in all things to obey. Is there some part of your life which has not been brought under the control of the throne? If there is, may your prayer be— Enter my life more fully, Take now complete con tro l; True, Thou hast been my Saviour Thou shalt be Lord of all ALL WHO are interested in Keswick and its message should read THE LIFE OF FAITH, a weekly paper for the deepening of the spiritual life, which has been closely associated with the Convention from its earliest days. It brings the "atmosphere" and teaching of Keswick into the homes of its readers, all through the year. Fullest news concerning the Convention is given, and reports of similar gatherings throughout the world. Keswick speakers are among its frequent contributors; and its regular features include a Bible School, to which well-known Bible students contribute series of lessons; daily notes on the Scripture Union portions; news of Evangelical work in all parts of the world; reviews of books of interest to Evangelicals, and the answering of readers' questions in "Christian Workers' Forum". A full descriptive account of the 1955 Convention will appear in the special numbers next July. It is a most informative and helpful paper for Christians of all ages. Published on Thursdays at 3d., THE LIFE OF FAITH is obtainable from all newsagents provided a regular order is placed for it. Full particulars of delivery by post, and of the Bible School, are obtainable from Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd., 33, Ludgate Hill, London, E.C.4. 149 My soul is not at rest. There comes a. strange and secret whisper to my spirit, Like a dream of night, That tells me I am on enchanted ground: The voice of my departed Lord, "Go, teach all nations," Comes on the night air, And awakes mine ear. Why live I here? The vows of God are on me, And I may not stop to play with shadows, Or pluck earthly flowers, Till I my work have done and rendered up account. And I will go! I may no longer doubt to give up friends and idol hopes, And every tie that binds my heart to thee, my country. Henceforth, then, it matters not If storm or sunshine be my earthly lot, Bitter or sweet my cup, I only pray, "God make me holy, And my spirit nerve for the stern hour of strife." And when I came to stretch me for the last, In unattended agony, beneath the cocoa's shade, It will be sweet that I have toiled For other worlds than this. And if one for whom Satan hath struggled As he hath for me, Should ever reach that blessed shore, Oh, how this heart will glow with gratitude and love. Through ages of eternal years, My spirit never shall repent, That toil and suffering once were mine below. -NATHAN BROWN. 150 FRIDAY, JULY 23rd 10 a.m.—MISSIONARY MEETING IN TO ALL THE WOR LD 3 p.m.—AFTERNOON MEETING A FTER KES WIC K REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. 8.15 p.m.—COMMUNION SERVICE THE PR EC IOUS B LOOD OF CHRIST REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. 151 True Expression of Life in its Fullness IT seems incredible that there ever was a time when Keswick had no missionary meeting! Certainly the Convention was immeasurably enriched by the introduction of the missionary note: and in the great missionary meeting to which the whole of Friday morning is devoted, the Convention finds the expression of its essential message. For life in its fullness must find outlet in Christian service; and unreserved submission to the Lord will lead many "unto the uttermost parts of the earth." The day began, of course, with the final prayer mee tings. Both were very large ly attended, despite heavy rain. Praise and testimony mingled with prayer in the small tent, at 7 a.m., when so many wished to take part that once again there was no time for even a brief address. Something of the blessing which had come to very many lives, was expressed—not least in the fervent "Amens." The large tent was quite full by 10 a.m., and for two hours a composite pictu re of world-wide need and opportunity, and of varied aspects of the missionary effort to meet that need, was graphically presented. It was moving to see, at the close, a larger number of young people than for years past, stand up to signify their readiness for the Lord's service, wheresoever He might appoint. A meeting intended especially for those who had entered into blessing during the week, to give instruction in the next steps in the way of practical holiness, drew people of all ages to the small tent, which was almost full, at 3 p.m. The Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson presided; Mr. Timothy Buckley sang a solo, "Lie still, and let Him mould thee"; and an address of great practical value was given by the Rev. M. A. P. Wood. At 5.30 p.m., there was again a good ly number in the small te nt, for a Keswick Fellowship meeting. Mr. A. W. Bradley, from the chair, sketched briefly the origins of the Convention and of the Fellowship; and Archdeacon R. B. Robinson, of Sydney, told of the influence of "Keswick" Convention "down under," and especially of the Katoomba Convention, of which he is chairman. Dr. E. L. Catteil, who had spoken at the missionary meeting in the morning, described the two kinds of Conventions held in India—those in the vernacular, for Indian Christians; and in English, for missionaries and English-speaking Indian Church leaders. Finally, the Rev. E. L. Langston, who has travelled extensively as a "Keswick deputation" speaker, gave a brief "report" upon his journeyings, and the blessing which the Keswick message carries far and wide. The day, and the Convention, were brought to a close with the great united communion service. It had been a day of incessant rain; and it was in a teeming downpour that long queues formed outside the closed gates an hour before the service began. Only by sitting tightly together could all be accommodated in the large tent. The service began with the singing of three verses of "Here, 0 my Lord, I see Thee face to face": then Dr. Scroggie led the great assembly to the Throne of Grace, and afterwards spoke upon the words, "the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:19). "Precious, precious blood of Jesus" was the appropriate hymn, before the remembrance of the Lord's death "until He come." Dr. Scroggie suggested that, as the bread and wine were ministered, all should meditate on John 6: 5358: and in quiet contemplation the elements were partaken by all. Then in the final act of worship, "It may be at morn" expressed not only rejoicing in the present blessedness of the "life more abundant," but also the longing for His coming, when we shall see Him face to face—and never more need Conventions, for we shall be li k e Him, when we see Him as He is! The world will look for glamour. God will mark His own by loss, By weary hours of patient toil, and at the end—the Cross. But faith has clearer vision than the logic of the wise. For the Cross is crowned with glory, and a scarred hand holds our prize. -THELMA STERRY. 152 Into all the World A COMPOSITE picture of missionary witness throughout the world, was presented once again at the great missionary meeting. Thirteen speakers represented different fields, and varying kinds of witness—medical, evangelistic, Bible translation, and specialized activity, like that among women. Together they showed how vast is the effort being made to take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth: but also, in telling of millions yet unreached, they sounded forth the note of challenge, for the Lord's great commission to His Church is not yet fulfilled in all its range of obligation. Missions to Jews It is the custom at this great meeting to have as the first speaker a missionary to the Jews; so the responsibility of giving the opening "glimpse" of this world-wide survey fell upon Archdeacon I. Dunbar, from Tunis. He said that in Jewish work one could not speak of mass movements; but he could testify to the wonderful working of the Holy Spirit in individual lives. One young Jewish lad bought a portion of the Scriptures and, in spite of persecution and being turned out of his home, had continued in his search for the light, until he found in Christ his Messiah and Saviour. To-day as this young man went round Tunisia he bore witness to his own people, taking always copies of the Scriptures with him. Another young Jew was converted at a camp run by missionaries of different denominations, and finally confessed his new faith openly in baptism. Opportunities abounded; and there was as yet complete freedom to preach the Gospel. In the State of Israel there was an ever-increasing demand for the Scriptures. Missionaries, doctors, nurses and teachers were needed there. The Moslem, World The second great non-Christian monotheistic religion, Islam, presents perhaps the supreme challenge to Christian missions. Witness among Moslems was represented by Dr. R. B. Smith, who referred to a man he had met five months previously, in the Aden Protectorate—the nearest mission station to Mecca, the very "cradle of the Muslim faith." That man prayed five times a day to a god with ninety-nine names, none of which was Saviour. He regarded Allah as a stern judge, and as the Creator of evil as well as good. Allah was referred to as merciful, but never as God of love. The man himself lacked love. His dagger had maimed a man for life in a quarrel over a goat, and the rifle in his hand had killed an old man and a youth in a dispute over a shilling. Did Christians really pray in earnest for the hundreds of millions of Moslems for whom Christ died; and for the missionaries among them; and the few converts, in all their trials and temptations? There were only five baptized men Arab converts in the whole of South Arabia, and they were very much alone: they needed our prayers. Medical Missions Healing of the body has, since the days of our Lord Himself, gone hand-in-hand with the preaching of the Gospel; and in most mission fields medical work is an integral part of evangelistic witness. Experiences typical of most mission hospitals were mentioned by Dr. A. Iliff, who works among the wild tribes in the hill country of the North-West Frontier. He told of one young Moslem who, after being badly injured, had in mind only thoughts of revenge and further bloodshed. He was typical of many others. They belonged to a country which considered war a game. But medical mission work had been launched, and not only were men being won for Christ but a gallant band of Christian women were helping the needy womenfolk, too. Never were they so short of staff, however; during the speaker's furlough the only doctor at the hospital was his Afghan colleague. One night at the hospital a lantern slide was shown of the picture, "The Hope of the World," depicting our Lord in the midst of a group of children of all nationalities. One of the little patients cried out when she saw the picture, because she identified herself as the child in the picture who was sitting on the knee of Jesus. That little girl had been blind, and until that moment she had given no indication of being able to see. Apparently the first thing that her eyes had seen was a picture of Jesus, and she identified herself with a child who was being given His special attention. 153 Japan Speaking upon a land now open as never before to the Gospel, Miss J. McCormick described the Japanese as great lovers of all that is beautiful in nature. Most of Japan's dense population lived in small country villages, and the great scourge was T.B. It was a sorry experience over the years to see many young people graduate from college or university to a sanatorium. The main religions of Japan were Buddhism and Shintoism. Evangelical missionaries had been going in large numbers to Japan from America, the Continent of Europe and Australia; but Great Britain was lagging behind. Evangelistic work was being carried out through the media of the radio, Bible schools and students' organizations. The missionaries there thanked God for the ef f o r ts o f th e B ib le S o ci et y a nd o th er societies to get good literature into Japan, a land of readers. Christian literature could be put to very good use there; and there was a growing need for Christian Japanese writers. Women of India In Indian costume, Miss Sarah Paul said that among the many millions of women in India, the Christians were a very small community; but they were radiant and filled with the jo y of the Lord. The majority were devoted to their gods and goddesses. For 150 years missionaries had been working in India; teachers were trained in mission schools, and nurses in mission hospitals. At a recent investigation, 90 per cent. of all the nurses in Indian hospitals were found to be Christians, and a large number of the women working in the schools were Christians, upholding Christian ideas and principles. But the need of India was very great. Millions had not yet even heard the name of Jesus Christ. Many more were needed to preach about Him. India Introduced by the Chairman as one who Has been greatly used of God in Convention work throughout India, Dr. E. L. Cattell said that the most significant development in the last four years was that through the Evangelical Fellowship of India, Evangelicals in that land are now vitally co-operating. One might ask how long they would be in India, and it was difficult to speculate, but restrictions were being imposed and moves were made to get the missionaries out. Nevertheless, it would be a tragedy to panic when the opportunities in India were as great as they now were. The eight to ten million Chris- 154 tians in India amounted to twice the number in China. There was the problem of nominal Christianity, however; and the greatest need of the Church was Revival. Efforts were being made to do something in the literary field, while the Communists and purveyors of pornography were flooding the country with their poison, He wanted to give profound thanks to the Keswick Council which would be sending the Rev. G. B. Duncan to India next summer to minister in half a dozen hill stations. Would they all pray that a great outpouring of God's Spirit in the Church might come speedily? Burma Now that Burma is an independent nation, Miss K. McKellen said that the Church there was following the pattern of politics in the country and becoming independent, and ready to be freed from missionary control. There was, however, a great need for the Christians to be thoroughly grounded in the Word of God, and for the development of Christian leadership. Missionaries were called to work in co-operation with their Burmese brothers and sisters, to that end. She had been enriched in her own Christian experience through contacts with the Christians of Burma. One was humbled when seeing the faith in God of some who, because of civil war, had lost their possessions and seen their dear ones shot down before their eyes, yet remained steadfast in faith. A great challenge was presented by the sixth World Buddhist Conference being held in Rangoon. Great efforts had been made to promote Buddhism as a unifying force: it was said that the Christian West was responsible for two global wars, and that Buddhism would produce peace. What a tremendous challenge that was to the Christian Church, and to those who loved the Lord Jesus. While a missionary offering was taken, Dr. W. Y. Fullerton's missionary hymn, "I cannot tell," was sung. Europe Referring to the ,turmoil in Europe over the last forty years, Mr. K. Wiesener described the Continent as a mission field with 300,000,000 waiting to be evangelized. Militarism had failed to bring peace to Europe, and the diplomats were unable to achieve anything. There was an appearance of plenty in Germany, but official figures showed that three-quarters of the population could not get the necessities of life. Was God going to use Communism as the scourge of a faithless Church? A Revival in the land of the Reformation would mean the breaking of the Iron Curtain, the dispersal of the war clouds, and money and man power for the evangelization of the world. Bible Translation A son of one of the renowned "Cambridge Seven," Dr. A. Stanley Smith spoke about the work of those engaged in translating the Scriptures. As the translator put his pen to paper, he was writing down what would be to readers the very words of Christ. What a privilege, and what a responsibility! Words that were preached were soon forgotten and could not be recalled, but the Book spoke day and night, in the city and hamlet, in free countries and beyond the Iron and Bamboo Curtains. He gave a g r a p h i c description of the search, by missionaries and their national helpers, for precisely the right words, and he asked for prayers that intelligence and understanding be given to translators. The Sudan From Southern Sudan, the Rev. Nikanora Deng told how he had entered into a mission school from a pagan home, and become a nominal Christian. Later on, through a fellow-scholar, he had given his heart to Christ. At first he wished to be a teacher, but later heard the call to devote his life to the work of God, so he became a clergym an . M uch w o r k rem a in e d to b e d o n e among his own tribe of 2,000,000 people. There were only four mission stations, and three clergymen. The people had a hunger for education, which could be met on Christian lines if only the teachers were available. The Moslems were trying to extend their influence in the Sudan; and the Roman Catholics were infiltrating. There was a great need there for those who were willing to help win souls for the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as for doctors, teachers, nurses and technicians, Tropical Africa The Bishop of Central Tanganyika, the Rt. Rev. A. Stanway, said that there were still thousands upon thousands of Africans living to-day in very much the same way as they lived a hundred years ago—perhaps the coming of the hurricane lamp and bicycle was th e o n ly dif f eren ce. Fro m the day Livingstone went to Africa, the country had had a large and open door for missionaries— doctors and nurses and pastoral workers. What a privilege it was to preach the Gospel to those who had never heard the name of Christ before! As well as the untouched and the backward tribes, however, were the advanced tribes. These need missionaries with gifts and grace to work alongside educated Africans. In passing through Nairobi he had spoken to some who were witnessing in the camps of Mau Mau suspects. It was a great experience to come into contact with people who had risked their lives for Christ's sake. South America Recalling his previous address at Keswick five years ago, Mr. David Glass told of the great changes which had taken place in South America since then. Now, he said, as never before, doors were opening and new spheres of service were offering themselves to those who would serve the Lord. Dealing with the rapid growth of the Church in South America, he referred especially to the wonderful work of the "Voice of the Andes" Radio Station, in sending out the Gospel in many languages. In Brazil, a mighty work of God was proceeding; and in Peru, the goal of establishing a truly indigenous Church was being achieved. Colombia, where the Evangelicals were so cruelly persecuted over the years, had now granted them a measure of liberty, in that they were allo wed to meet in their own premises to worship. The Argentine recently witnessed the unheard-of spectacle of an American evangelist taking over a football stadium at Buenos Aires for the purpose of preaching the Gospel. Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile all showed steady progress; but Brazil was perhaps the most promising of the South American Republics. Brazil was the second country in the world in its demand for Bibles, and was now printing its own. South America still had a need of, and opportunities for, missionaries. Nepal The last of the missionary speakers, Dr. L. O'Hanlon, said that the task of evangelism among the seven and a half million people of Nepal would be arduous, because good roads outside the capital of Khatmandu were nonexistent, and the bridges were very primitive. People lived in fear of spirits all their lives, and the land was ruled over and in the grip of Satan. There was not opportunity for open preaching, but personal work could be done; and since 1951, when Christians were allowed to go back to live in the land, a number of hearts had responded to the Word of God. She believed God meant to do wonderful work in that little land; but without 155 believing and focused and intelligent prayer, there would be no advance. The hymn, "The Master comes," was sung; and then the Rev. A. T. Houghton summed up the challenge of the messages which had been presented. Here is his address, in full. Chairman's Address "The Master calls." Surely for many of us those words have taken on a new meaning this week. We have made the Lord Jesus, Lord of our lives; and now the Master calls to His servants—and, with the background of what we have heard this morning, how great is the need and how utterly helpless we feel to make an adequate response to meet that need. Why, if every one of us here this morning were young and fit and able to go, what a small number it would be in comparison with the need ! These messages have stirred our hearts. I do not think we have been emotional or sentimental; but God has been speaking to us through His servants, and I want to draw your attention to two lines in the hymn we have just sung. Perhaps there are people here who, at 50 or 60, are frustrated and think, "What can I do to help forward God's Kingdom overseas ?" Verse 4 of the hymn says— And if thou canst not go, yet bring An offering of a willing heart. Surely that is the least the Lord can demand from every one of us. If your heart is willing, and if you are prepared to make your resolve to God, that you will to the best of your ability help forward His work, then He will undoubtedly call you into new channels of service for Him. It may be the ministry of intercession. Some of us have been meeting every day to pray for the needs of the world, and for the missionaries. Are we going down from here thinking, "We have done our bit in the way of missionary intercession. Now we can put it all aside until next year"? God forbid that that should be the unspoken thought in any heart. There are some who could perhaps give more time to the ministry of prayer. It is an essential ministry. Every missionary will tell you how much he or she depends upon the prayers of God's people at home. Will there be some to-day who will resolve, before God, that from now onwards they are going to pray in a new way, to give up time to pray, to sacrifice in order that they may be able to pray intelligently?—and that means reading missionary literature, and studying the Word. I am sure, too, the Master calls for more sacrificial gifts. If you could see behind the scenes of various missionary societies, you would see that opportunities are teeming but the finances are not sufficient to meet them. Though there are many thousands of God's people giving sacrificially to His work, the vast majority of professing Christians are giving negligibly. The scale of our giving is nothing like commensurate with the need; nor with the scale of expenditure on selfindulgence. You have just heard of a group of indigenous Christians in Burma who were giving as much as one-third of their goods to further the work of the Lord. How does our giving compare with that ? The call also is 0 have "a willing heart"; to dedicate our loved ones to the Lord. Sometimes there are those who stand in the way of people who are ready, with their lives before them, to offer their services. Parents stand in the way because they are not prepared to make the sacrifice. This week I heard of a new recruit who, on returning to his home, was going to face his parents with the news that he had heard God's call to the mission field. It was not going to be easy; but they knew what he was going to ask, and they told him that they had stood up, here at Keswick, to offer their loved one to the Lord. Though we have not done it for some years, there may be parents here this morning to whom it would be a blessing if they were asked here and now if they are prepared to offer, perhaps infant children, so lovely and so precious, or older ones who are growing up, if God should call them to His service overseas. Will you stand if you feel God's call in that way? (A large number did so.) God bless you. But there is a call to service here at home, in the mission field on our doorstep—and that field of opportunity is brought home to us more forcibly every day. Some of us live in the London area or in big towns, where we see students from overseas. They belong to lands in which they have been accustomed to seeing the effect of other great world religions. They come to this country friendless, not knowing a soul, and are longing for friendliness to be shown to them. There is a mission field on our doorstep among those students. Thank God for those who have been in our midst this week; thank God for those who here have found the Saviour for the first time, and for those who have testified to His saving power in the Market Place and in the camps and elsewhere. B ut yo u have a responsibility toward them, to show friendli- 156 ness, to show the love of Christ, to commend the Gospel of Christ. The closing moments of this meeting have always belonged to the young and fit, those who have their lives before them, who have it in their hands to offer their lives in wholetime service to God. I want you to look again at the hymn we sang— The Master calls! Shall not thy heart In warm responsive love reply, "Lord here am I, send me, send me— Thy willing slave—to live or die: An instrument unfit indeed, Yet Thou wilt give wh at I need." I am quite certain that there are those here this morning who are not just stirred emotionally by what we have heard, but who are stirred to the very depths of their heart. They have heard the authentic voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to them, "I want you." Are they prepared here and now to stand up and confess in so doing that by God's grace they are ready to respond to His call, and to offer their lives in His service overseas wherever He will lead? Are you prepared to stand? (Very many stood.) Thank God. While the need overseas is enormous, there is also a great need in the homeland to-day for whole-time Christian service, for those who will put aside their ambitions for worldly success and who will give themselves perhaps to the ministry, or to whole-time Christian service in some other direction. It is easy enough to find an enormous need on our doorstep to-day for those who feel God's call. Will you join your brothers in standing, if you are willing to give that service? In response, still more stood; and the chairman commended all to God in prayer, for His guidance and blessing as they sought to fulfil His will in responding to His call. Thus the meeting ended, in an act of dedication embracing all who had made their response, "Here am I. Use me!" The time is short: If thou wouldest work f or God, it must be now; If thou wouldest win the garland for thy brow Redeem the time. With His reward He comes; He tarries not; His day is near; When men least took for Him will He be here: Pr epar e f or H im ! --HORATIUS BONAR. 157 After Keswick— BY THE REV. M. A. P. WOOD, D.S.C., M.A. I FEEL rather like the proud fathers and anxious mothers among you who, when just about to go home, have remembered their seventeen children who are all hoping for presents! You have started rushing round the shops buying rather cheap-looking but expensively priced toys, and you hope you have got something for everybody! I feel like that, because here at the last ordinary Convention meeting I feel, as I hope you do, that God has so blessed us this week that we want to go forward in His strength to make a success of the coming days in a way we have never made a success of our Christian lives before. But we are all at different stages of our Christian experience. There are probably people here who have accepted Christ in, say, the last two years. Two years ago they did not know Christ as their Saviour. How many of you have come to Christ during the past two years? [Here many young people stood.] Oh, many of you. May the Lord bless you, and bless you greatly. Will you all read with me our text: Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. —Hebrews 13:13. We have been on the mountain top of a spiritual experience. To-morrow we go into the valley, where after the transfiguration the disciples were wrestling with the boy who had a dumb spirit. At the time they could not deal with him; and that is so often the experience of Christians. We may be wonde ring what it will be like when we get home again. Earlier to-day I said that this had been a glorious Convention, to which a Scot replied, with the hard and clear thinking of the Scots, "Not a glorious Convention, but a gruelling Convention!" God has been speaking to our hearts, and he would be a most insensitive person to whom God has not spoken clearly and deeply. This afternoon we pause for a moment. The wonder of the great meetings is over now. Our future life is in front of us, and we are just quiet in God's presence. What sort of Christians shall we be after Keswick? I. SENSIBLE CHRISTIANS. It may sound very hum-drum, but I suggest we should be sensible Christians. Re me mbe r them wh ich have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the wo r d o f G od : wh o s e f aith f o llo w, c o n sidering the end of their conversation. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. —Hebrews 13:7, 9. We are to be sensible Christians. When we get home again we are to avoid spiritual pride, behaving in an odd way, and excesses of every kind. We are to let the atmosphere of our lives be rather like the Bible Readings Dr. Scroggie has given us. I think that is quite a good description of the atmosphere of a sensible Christian life—scriptural, orderly, and balanced; and at the same time spiritual, sweeping, and with a sense of humour! We are ordinary people going back from a wo nd e r fu l e xp e ri e nc e . We a re s t ra i g h t forward Christians who know a wonderful God, and we go back, therefore, to be sensible Christians. My grandmother, who had a whole string of sons and one solitary daughter, wa s once asked how she brought them all up. She replied, "Differently!" The answer seemed to show good psychology. She had another apt expression. She used to say, "Let your spiritual life be natural, but let your natural life be spiritual." It is clear and simple. In fact, be a person committed to the Lord Jesus. When you are talking to your Christian friends, be the same as when you are in your office talking to your non-Christian friends. II. SPIRITUAL CHRISTIANS. Secondly, we are to be spiritual Christians. Our meetings seem to have had a flavour and a quality all their own. Somehow it seems easy to pray at Keswick; the Word of God 158 takes on a new intent for us. We read it avidly. Our hunger for the Word is deepened: we desire it more than ever. The meetings have been wonderful; the addresses have been helpful. And yet, you know, the experience has been greater if you have had time to get a little way out of the town and up on to the mountains to read the Bible alone. Something we can never do in Islington is to read the Bible alone. There are so many people to the square mile, and they think you are odd if you read it out aloud! But God wants us to live in that same close communion with Him. He wants us, above all things, to be spiritual Christians, to be abiding in Christ. Read again John 15, and see how it has a new meaning for you now that you have been at Keswick this week. Abide in Christ. The Lord Jesus says, "I am the true vine .. . Ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you . . . Without me—or severed from me— you can do nothing." That is the secret of real spiritual life! As the two halves of Tower Bridge were rising some months ago, a bus went across it. Those who drive cars know that one's instinctive reaction to danger is to stamp a foot on the brake, and stop. The driver of this bus did not do that: he stamped on the accelerator, speeded up the bus, and it jumped the gap and landed safely on the other side. That driver lives in my parish. Afterwards we had prayer in the church together. He felt that God had suddenly stepped into his life and helped him. No one was killed, but one girl in the bus was shaken, and the result was that she lost her nerve when crossing To w e r B r i d g e . W h e n s h e c a m e o u t o f hospital the driver got in touch with her, and said, "I got you across all right in that time of danger. You trust me." So he drove her in fear and trembling across Tower Bridge again, and then she was all right. The only person she would trust was the person who had saved her life. A spiritual Christian is someone who recognizes that the future may be difficult, certainly problematic, and that it may well have sorrow and joy in it; but who has come to know Jesus who died to save him. He has learnt to abide in Christ. He does not only have set times with Him in the mornings— though of course that is vital—but always trusts in Him, moment by moment. The Christian life becomes very childlike. It is my hand in the hand of Jesus. If He loved you enough to die for you, be certain that His will for you is best, and He is going to lead you through the future as you abide in Him and keep close to Him. But at the same time, your abiding in Jesus depends for its power and its grip and its usefulness on those fixed times you have with the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was serving in the Commandos we used to go on island raids up the coast of enemy-held Holland, and there would be a continuous listening watch at headquarters. The signal section, with its powerful transmitters and receivers, would be sitting at headquarters hour after hour, from the moment we left our shore to go out in the landing craft, until we got to the other side. Then during the action and the taking of prisoners and the return, they continued listening always. As soon as one man had to stand down, the next man listened. The Lord Jesus has placed you in this world, and some of you He has placed in difficult circumstances. But Christ has a continuous listening watch for you. Make use of it. He is waiting not only for your formal times of prayer, but for your other prayers to Him— when you are in doubt, in fear, in sorrow, under strain, in direct temptation, in loneliness; when you have other problems which may press upon you and seem to be bigger than your strength. On our Commando raids we had not only the continuous listening watch, but also we had fixed moments when we went on the air and when they came on the air. We had only little "walkie-talkies" with us, and at those special fixed moments we knew they could listen to us while at other times we could listen to them. We would tell them how the operation was going. We would ask for the reinforcements we might need—artillery support, aircraft support, and so on. They were waiting for us and we came on the air to them. In the same way, Jesus wants to hear from you, for you are so precious to Him. He matters so much to you, and you matter so much to Him. He will miss your not going to Him in the morning, just as you will miss the help of that time. To Him it will mean sorrow, and to you it will mean a lack of that spiritual power you will need for the day. We all need unhurried time for prayer. Let us go away with the determination that we will be spiritual Christians who will rely not upon experience, not upon ability, not upon natural background or gifts, but upon Jesus only; and that we will keep our trysting time with Him. It will be of great help to you if you join the Scripture Union. I have been a member of it for years, and it is a constant help to me. One may take part in other forms of Bible study, but somehow the Scripture Union is something that God has honoured and blessed 159 in a special way. It is a wonderful fellowship of a million members the world over, going steadily through the Old and New Testaments together. And if you are a member who has stopped reading, well, you go back to it. Can I give four phrases for the young Christians to remember when they are reading passages in the Bible: (i) Read it through: (ii) Dig it up; (iii) Pray it in; (iv) Live it out. In that way you will mark and learn Scripture, and then it will take hold of you and affect your actions in detail. Let the Word of God speak to you, and then you respond in prayer. If you want a very simple book on prayer, you should get "How to Succeed in the Christian Life," which speaks of our friendship with Christ once we have received Him, and tells you a little about prayer and Bible reading. Those two things go together. Bible reading without prayer leads to formality, and prayer without Bible reading leads to a sort of wooliness in our doctrinal knowledge. We have to steer between those two things. Prayer and Bible reading must go together in our Christian lives. III. SERVING CHRISTIANS. Thirdly, we must be serving Christians. We must be sensible, spiritual, serving Christians. Our local churches are never perfect. In fact, I do not see how they can be, logically. They are made up of Christians, and the old nature is not taken out of our lives. But the new nature is implanted in our hearts by our response to and our faith in Jesus Christ. As the old nature is subdued, and the new nature breathes the air of the presence of Christ, so we grow in Christ. The wonder and the glory of the Keswick message is, that God means us by faith to lead a victorious life moment by moment because of the spiritual riches He gives us. Do you know the story of the young convert in the mission field who was given a responsible post at his mission station? But he failed, and stole. A missionary sadly asked why he had done it, and the best way he could answer was by saying, "It wasn't really me. It was grandfather in the bones." That was really quite an apt description of the old nature! He was forgiven by God and the mission station, and years later the missionary came and saw him again, now in a position of real spiritual leadership. Remembering the old days, the missionary asked him, "How is grandfather in the bones?" to which came the reply, "Well, grandfather in the bones isn't dead yet, but he doesn't get about like he used to!" Remember that if that is true of each one of us, it is true of our local churches also. When we have been blessed at Keswick, it is easy for us to go back and expect our church, which has been ticking over quietly, to pray with a bit more dash, and that there should be a bit more light and sparkle in the vicar's face. We tend to be a little impatient. But let us go back with a tremendous thankfulness for being allowed to be here, by God's grace and providence. Think of all the things which might have prevented you from being here. Think of all the wonderful things that got you here. And thank God that you are a serving Christian in your local church—and don't wander off and get tied up with one of those queer proud movements which say that all denominations are wrong, and you must join their fellowship! It does not matter to which section of the church you belong, none is perfect. It is part of the joy and happiness of Keswick that we here lay aside our differences of administration because we have so much agreement in the Lord Jesus, which binds us together in joy and happiness in the realization that we are "All One in Christ Jesus." We are to be serving Christians. What a joy it will be for us to be back in our own churches, our own assemblies, our own chapels, back with our own people again, rejoicing in all that Christ has meant to us and looking for work to do for Him. All the churches in the New Testament have something wrong with them. That is why Paul spent such a long time writing so many letters. Very gently we must pray for our church and our minister and our people, that they might be more like the pattern of the Church we find in the Holy Scripture. That means we shall be in action together. If you have never done a job of work for God before, or if you are a young Christian and you have never liked to push yourself forward, go and see your minister when you get back, and ask him if there is not something you can do for the Lord Jesus. Say that you have been so helped and blessed here that you want to share that blessing with others. We are not meant to be stagnant pools; we are meant to be running rivers from whom blessings may flow to other people. IV. SOUL-WINNING CHRISTIANS. Be also a soul-winning Christian. This week we may have had a sense of preoccupation with ourselves. We came to Keswick unfitted for service, and God has met us and dealt with us and blessed us; therefore it has been right for us to be preoccupied with ourselves. But we must not go on being preoccupied in this way. We are saved to be ourselves soulwinners. 160 In John 3, you will find seven principles of personal work : (i) Keep the conversation to the Lord Jesus; (ii) State the doctrine of the new birth; (iii) Open the Scriptures with the seekers; (iv) Give your testimony (preferably to-day's); (v) Trust the Holy Spirit; (vi) Stress the need of a decision; and (vii) Shepherd the new born lamb. failed Him, and recognize His power, that you may lead the life of sanctification by the Spirit, of abiding in Christ, of obedience to Christ, of trust in Christ. We do not know what the future holds; but our hand is in the hand of the One who holds the future. V. SANCTIFIED CHRISTIANS. We should be soul-winning Christians, yes; but beneath it all we should be sanctified Christians. I believe, and you believe with me as Christians, that life gets better and better. There is no anti-climax, there is no looking back to the good old days, but always looking on to Jesus, who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. You and I get to know Him more intimately as the days go on. Therefore, for the Christian who is growing in grace, who is moving on into an experience of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, the Christian life gets better as the days go by. God wants us always to be climbing. Two evenings ago I was going up Waller Crag and I met one or two of you with a slightly superior smile on your face, coming down! At the top I had a wonderful view of the whole of Keswick, and as I was coming down I met a number of you climbing up— then 1, too, had a smile of triumph on my face as I said, "Go on I It's worth it, higher up." And so it is in the Christian life. God never asks you to give up anything unless it is better for your spiritual health that you should, He wants to do the best for you, and to make the most of you; and He asks for your utter loyalty, and He asks you to seek His face. You should surrender your life to Him. You should recognise where you have God holds the key of all unknown, And I am glad; If other hands should hold the key, Or if He trusted it to me, I might be sad. The very dimness of my sight Makes me secure; For, groping in my mis ty way, I feel His hand; I hear Him say. My help is sure. I cannot read His future plans; Bu t th is I kn o w: I have the smiling of His face, And all the refuge of His grace, While here below. Enough; this covers all my wants, And so I rest: For what I cannot, He can see, And in His care I saved shall be, For ever blest. Let us go forth, ther3fore, into the fellowship of the Gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the providence of God, our loving and heavenly Father, and in the love of our only Saviour, to serve Him faithfully and loyally until that moment when Christ comes again, to receive us to Himself. What a Keswick reunion that will be! Let us work on for Christ till then, in His grace. 161 The Precious Blood of Christ BY THE REV. W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE, D.D. THERE is no need for me to say much at this gathering, because the service itself is the message: but I would just for a moment or two call your attention to a phrase in 1 Peter 1:19—"The precious blood of Christ." I hope we shall think much of that, until something of its meaning dawns upon mind and heart. "The precious blood of Christ." What is it that makes Christ's blood precious? I suggest a threefold answer to that question. First. because it was the blood of Christ, having regard for His nature, His human nature. God has not blood. Jesus, of course, was also God; but the reference here is to His humanity. In resurrection life, He said, "A spirit has not flesh and bones, as ye see me have," but He made no reference to blood. "The precious blood of Christ." He, whom we have been considering this week—He whose humanity was real, and not feigned; perfect, and not faulty; and because the blood was His, it is precious. The second answer to the question is, it is precious because it was shed. He said, "This is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many." I suppose we understand that, perfect though Christ was, wonderful as His life was, wonderful as His teaching was, if, without dying, He had gone back to heaven, His blood could not have been precious to us. To be precious to us it had to be shed. In the early Church there were those who so believed in Christ's divinity that they denied His humanity; and there were those who so believed in His humanity that they denied His divinity. Well, mysteriously, beyond our comprehension, though not apprehension, He was both; and His blood is precious because it was shed. If He had not consented to be crucified, nobody could have crucified Him; but He came to give His life a ransom for many, and we read that "the life of the flesh is in the blood," so that when Christ shed His blood He gave His life. That is what it means. "The precious blood of Christ." The table before us, and the purpose for which we have gathered, indicate how precious that blood was because it was shed for us. The third thing I would say about it in answer to the question is, that the blood of Christ is precious bec ause of wh at it h as accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish. Years ago a young man in the Army in India, was in this tent, and I spoke on the subject "Come ye after me, and I will m ake you . . ." Before he went out he was converted. I said, "What was it particularly that struck you?" He replied, "The illustrations. What Christ had made of Augustine, the libertine; of Newton, the trafficker in slaves; and of John Bunyan, the drunken tinker, and of multitudes." What has that shed blood not done for the individual? And not only for the individual, but for society also. Children have been safeguarded, women liberated from a degraded life, slavery largely abolished, and a multitude of other things. What do men not owe to the precious blood of Christ who do not believe in Him at all? And much yet remains to be accomplished, and will be. "The precious blood of Christ." Let us think much about it. 162 Early Morning Prayer IT would be expected that a Convention for the deepening of spiritual life would be steeped in prayer; and undoubtedly much of the blessing attending "Keswick" year after year is the prayer on its behalf ascending from Christians in all parts of the world, as well as the united prayer of those spending the week in holy convocation. All the same, the early morning prayer meetings are, for most newcomers to Keswick, an experience surpassing all their expectation. To see a thousand people, and more, gathered in the Eskin-street tent at 7 a.m. for an hour of prayer, is a most stimulating, stirring beginning of the day Preliminaries are curtailed to a minimum, to allow practically the whole of the time to be spent in actual prayer. A hymn, followed by a Scripture reading and brief comment thereon—even this was further abbreviated as the week went on, and the comment reduced to a word or two. In one way this was a pity, for these short talks by the chairman, Mr. P. S. Henman, on our Lord's teaching concerning prayer, were most practical and helpful, and appreciated by all who heard them. The customary simple rules—to be brief; to speak up; and to face the greater number —were well observed, allowing many to lead audibly in prayer, and all to ad d their "Amen." In addition to the Convention itself, there were appointed topics for prayer each day, relating to various aspects of Christian witness, of national life, and of world affairs. Also, specific requests submitted were read and committed to the Lord by a member of the Convention Council or one of the speakers. Finally, all united in "the family prayer." Friday's meeting was, as usual, primarily for praise; and thanks for blessing received at the Convention was the dominant note. Missionary Prayer Meetings N EITHER pouring rain nor the early hour nor the overcrowding in the houses deterred large numbers from their daily attendance at the missionary prayer meetings. It is remarkable that more than one referred to these as the highlight of the Convention for them, for as missionary intercessors they found themselves in the daily atmosphere of a crowd of praying people, among whom there were always a considerable number with first-hand knowledge of the fields concerned. Such a prayer meeting is probably unique in the world, and is one of the happy and profitable by-products of Keswick. It was only on Monday morning, when probably many were not yet aware of the existence of the missionary prayer meeting, that there were a very few vacant seats among the extra seats down the aisles. On all the other days the Methodist Church in Southeystreet was packed out, and people were not only massed round the organ but in the pulpit too. As usual Africa drew the largest crowd, and at the outset the Australian Bishop Stanway of Central Tanganyika, on his first visit to Keswick—though no stranger to Upwey in Australia—led in prayer. Only second to the crowd on Tuesday was that on Wednesday, when India, Pakistan and Ceylon were the topics for the day. We were privileged to have with us to lead in the opening prayer Dr. E. L. Cattell, well known all over India as an acceptable Convention speaker, and chairman of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. While China called forth much earnest intercession, the lack of information was obviously a restraining influence, and in spite of the increased attention drawn to new fields in South East Asia, Keswick was still without returned missionaries from those areas where the Gospel is now being preached, in some cases, for the first time. As usual there were many who had not been before to a prayer meeting of this nature, and were not only thrilled with the singing and the continuous stream of fervent prayer, ending with the opportunity of naming before the Lord hundreds of workers in lonely places overseas, but gave evidence of a desire to join the ranks of missionary intercessors. It was good to see and hear in prayer many nationals of overseas countries, making this unique prayer meeting not only interdenominational, but international and world-wide in s c o p e . A.T.H. 163 Reception for Missionaries and Overseas Visitors VER fifty different countries were represented at the Convention, a roll-call of O missionaries and visitors from overseas revealed, at the Reception held for them, according to custom, in the Eskin-street tent, on Wednesday afternoon. Some colourful Eastern garments and animated conversations in different tongues, imparted something of the atmosphere of a truly ecumenical gathering, and expressed the reality of the Convention motto, "All One in Christ Jesus." After a happy time of informal fellowship, the Rev. A. T. Houghton—himself a former missionary and now secretary of a missionary society—expressed a cordial welcome to all the guests, on behalf of the Council, and then recalled his own first attendance at the Reception as an accepted missionary candidate; and how, during his first furlough, he "felt too big for his boots" because he shook hands with Dr. Scroggie ! He little thought, he added, that he would ever be chairman of the Convention Council—and in a delightful way, bridged any gulf which might remain between any visitor and the speakers and leaders of the Convention. Warm tribute was paid to Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Bradley, who do so much for missionaries attending Keswick, in promoting the Missionary Hospitality Fund, arranging the missionary house-parties, and the Reception, and then the sending out to missionaries of presentation copies of "The Keswick Week." During a heavy downpour of rain, Dr. Donald G. Barnhouse stressed, in a characteristically vigorous and forceful message, based on Nehemiah 8 : 9-12, that joy should be the distinguishing quality of every Christian life. The Ministers' Meeting NE of the most impressive gatherings of O the Convention week, was the meeting for ministers on Tuesday morning, for which message on the physical blemishes which, under the Law, barred a son of Aaron from fulfilling priestly service (Lev. 21:16-23). These are typical, he said, of spiritual disabilities which render spiritual service impossible. He instanced two—blindness, and stunted stature. These prevent functioning at the brazen altar, and in the holy place— representing the bringing of sinners to God; and fellowship with God. The answer to our need, however, is just what Keswick proclaims—humbling as we see our sin, and yielding of life to the Lord, henceforth to walk with Him. It was manifest that God had been speaking through His servant as all bowed in prayer: and in that solemn moment doubtless some confessions of shortcoming and failure were made; some vows of re-dedication were affirmed; some assurances of re-commissioning were received. It was certainly a moment of dealings with God: and His servants quietly dispersed, in the consciousness that He who calls into His service gives the grace for its fulfilment. the Methodist Church was completely filled. Here, more than at any other meeting, the range of influence of Keswick could perhaps be visualized: for here were clergy and ministers from practically all denominations, and from all parts of the land—and not a few from overseas. "Ye servants of God" was sung; and then the Bishop of Barking, who presided, read and commented briefly upon Hosea 4:1-9, stressing the responsibility of ministers not only to preach, but to exemplify the Gospel in their lives. He touched solemnly upon the possibility of their being stumbling blocks instead of a means of spiritual help and blessing; and emphasized the message of the prophet, "Like people, like priest." The hymn, "Lord, speak to me, that I may speak in living echoes of Thy tone," was most appropriate after this challenging word. Then Dr. William Culbertson gave a searching 164 Young People's Meetings IT was fortunate for the young people's meetings that the Eskin-street tent had been enlarged, as the numbers this year would never have been accommodated in that which was used previously. The attendances ranged from 1,600 to 1,800 each day. The meetings this year were under the joint leadership of the Revs. L. F. E. Wilkinson and Stephen Olford; and the series of talks had a connected theme relating to "Life and Life Abundant." The series opened on the Sunday night with an address by the Rev. Stephen Olford on "The New Life." Speaking from John 3:1-15, he stressed that this new life is (i) Essential; (ii) Effectual; and (iii) Eternal. Despite the fact that this meeting was squeezed in at the end of an evening in which two broadcasts had been given in the large tent, at which many of the young people had been assisting in the chair, a number stayed behind at the close for a brief explanation of the way of salvation: and some professed conversion that night. On the Monday morning the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson spoke on "The Essentials of Christian Growth," basing his talk on Psalm 62:1 and 5. He stressed (i) The Constant Source of the new life—"from Him cometh my salvation"; (ii) The Daily Essential of the new life "wait thou"; the vital importance of the daily Quiet Time was stressed, and practical guidance given concerning how to make the best use of it. (iii) The One Focus of the new life—"Wait thou only." (iv) The Regular Habit of the new life—"My expectation, is from Him." At this meeting the League of the Morning Watch was introduced to those attending, and during the days of the Convention some 175 new members joined, many also linking up with the Scripture Union. At the Tuesday meeting the Rev. Stephen Olford dealt with "The Hindrances to the Development of the Christian Life" which result in barrenness. The hindrances stressed were found in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah. (i) Barrenness is the Consequence o f D iso bedien ce to the Wo rd o f G o d —Jet'. 11:3. (ii) Barrenness is the Consequence of Distrust of the Power of God—Jer. 17:5. (iii) Barrenness is the Consequence of D e c e i t f u l n e s s i n t h e S e r v i c e o f G o d Jer. 48:10, and the example of this was found in the incident of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. On Wednesday the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson spoke on "God's Way of Cleansing and the Fullness of Life," and based his talk on Ezekiel 36:23-27. He stressed (i) The Realization of Captivity, that no deliverance will become ours until we are awakened to our need, and desire to be set free. (ii) The Preparation of Grace (vv. 22, 23). G od comes to bless out of His grace, and not because we deserve anything. He does it for His name's sake, and for the heathen. (iii) The Renewal of Desires (v. 26). He removes the evil heart of unbelief, and gives a new heart and a new sympathy. (iv) The Enabling of God (v.27). He gives Himself by His Spirit, and a living power and desire to perform His will. At the final meeting on the Thursday, the Rev. L. F. E. Wilkinson spoke first, from 1 Peter 5:8, 9, on "The Conflict we Face each Day." His points were (1) The Foe to Watch. (ii) The Discipline to Maintain—"Be sober." "Be on the alert." (iii) The Conflict to Wage. The closing talk was by the Rev. Stephen Olford, on "The Daily Plod." From Hebrews 12:1 and 2, he stressed (i) The Instructions for the Race—"lay aside every weight." Disciplined elimination and disciplined endurance. (ii) The Inspiration for the Race — "compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." (iii) The Imitation for the Race— "looking unto Jesus." (iv) The Incentives for the Race—"Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Special choruses were used during the meetings, and on most days a solo also assisted in emphasizing the theme for the gathering. Judging from the number of personal interviews to which the meetings gave rise, they clearly provided teaching and guidance which was the need of many of the young people who attended the Convention this year. 165 DESPITE the fact of 1954 having perhaps the worst summer in living memory, God wonderfully over-ruled the weather for the open-air meetings at Keswick. Each evening during the Convention week there was a lovely sunset, no wind, and a quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the Market Place for a series of open-air meetings on the general theme of "The Offer and Demand of Christianity." On Sunday, July 18th, the theme was "The Evidence of Personal Experience," and Convention speakers gave testimonies. This was the first opportunity which many had of hearing Dr. Culbertson and the Rev. A. W. Rainsbury; and Dr. Barnhouse also spoke clearly and forcibly. On Monday night, "The Paradox of Christianity" was presented by an international team. That Christ offers all, and that Christ demands all, was clearly brought out in testimony by a Chinese student who escaped from Shanghai before the Communists arrived, and who was converted in this country through the text, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14: 6): he said— the Rev. Maurice A. P. Wood gave the closing message, followed by an appeal for decision. As the great crowd, filling every corner of the Market Place, bowed in prayer night ofter night, the presence of Christ was experienced in real power. There were clear-cut professions of conversion as a result of every one of these meetings. The Moot Hall was used as a Counselling Room, and workers were often there after 11 o'clock dealing with seekers. Of the people who came forward for booklets or who sought counsel during the week, nineteen professed conversion. A Chinese student and an African student came to Christ—these both were in the I.V.F. camp. Most of the other converts were not visitors to the Convention. A young married couple were converted, and by the end of the week gave their testimony to another young couple on their honeymoon, and they also accepted Christ into their hearts. A coach driver who had brought a coach all the way from the Midlands found Christ one night; and an Austrian girl staying near Keswick, with a brilliant academic record behind her, came to Jesus. Some local young people professed conversion, and others who were seeking Christ came from as far away as Kenya and Australia. We felt in the open-air meetings that God was at work in many hearts, and already we know that a number of the converts are really growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. When I led the open-airs two years ago at Keswick, we had many seekers and many people interested in the message, and some conversions. This year the open-airs were symptomatic of the whole new movement of the Holy Spirit of God in our land. We who preach the Gospel, since we have seen God at work at Harringay, are now expecting clear-cut results in a new way; and Christians taking part in open-air meetings are doing so with a new air of faith and prayer, and are really expecting conversions also. God honoured that prayer and faith, as He loves to do, and we had the joy of saying with the apostles every day of the open-air meetings, "The Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved." Will you who read this report lift these new converts to the Throne of Grace in prayer, that they may be blessed because you have heard of their conversion, whether you are reading this report in England or away in the mission field? MAURICE WOOD. Jesus said it, He is God: He cannot lie, I trusted Him,. A minister from Singapore, and Bishop Stanway of Central Tanganyika, also spoke. On 'Tuesday, "The Power of the Cross" was the theme of the meeting, and a young officer told how he had been drawn to Christ at Keswick a year ago, and now was planning to come out of the Services to be ordained. A Corporal and an Army Scripture Reader both bore testimony to Christ's saving and keeping power; and six young men and women in uniform gave a verse of Scripture which meant much to them. On Wednesday night the question was asked, "What is a Real Christian," and testimonies were given by a number of undergraduates, some of whom had only recently accepted Christ as their Saviour. On the final night, under the heading, "How can I find God," reports were given of personal blessing received at Harringay during the Greater London Crusade; and two of the Harringay converts, interviewed at the microphone, told how they had come to trust the Lord Jesus, and had already begun to witness and to grow in the Christian life. Each evening Mr. Tim Buckley sang, and 166