The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-25

Just rs ne Is. when the priests entered the
ancient Tabernacle one glance at the bur
nished side OF this LAYER showed them their
need OF cleansing; so this Gospel shows the
soul its need OF divine washing. "All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That Is one sho wing. "All we. like sheep,
have gone astray" That is another show
ing. From the crown of the head to the
sole of the foet there is no health in us. y
That is another showing. The world calls
these defects Imperfections or eccentricities,
or cratic behavior, or wild oats" or
thigh living" but the Gospel calls them sin,
transgression, flth-the abominabIe thing
that God hates 1t was just one glance al
that mirror that made Paul cry out: oh.
wretched man that am; who shall deliver
me from the body of this death2' and that
made David cry out: purge me with hys.
sop and shall be Clean" and that made
Martin Luther cry out, "Oh my sins, my
sins" am not talking about bad habits
You and do not need any Bible to tell us
that bad habits are wrong; that blasphemy
and evil-speaking are wrong. But am talk.
ing of q sinful nature, the source of all bad
thought as well as of all bad actions. The
Apostle Paul calls their roll in the first chap
ter OF Romans They are regiment of
death, encampiDg around every heart hold
ing il in q tyranny from which nothing but
the grace of God can deliver it,
Here for instance, is ingratitude. Who
hand as a glass of water. we say, Thank
you" but for the ten thousand mercies that
we are every day receiving from the hand
of God, how little expression OF gratitude
for thirst slaked, for hunger fed, for shelter
and sunshine and sound sleep and clothes to
wear-how little thauksl L suppose there
are men fifty years of age who have never
yet been down on their knees in thanksgiv-
ing 10 God fo- His goodness. Beside that
ingratitude Of our hearts, there Is pride
who has not felt it? Pride that will not
submit to God; that wants its own way a
nature that prefers wrong sometimes instead
OF right; that prefers to wallow instead of to
rise up. L do not know what you call that;
l am not going to quarrel with any theolo
gian or any man who makes pre-
tensions to theology. do not care whether
you call it total depravlty" or something
else; / simply make the announcement of
Gods word, affirmed and confirmed by the
experiences of hundreds of people in this
house. The Imagination of the heart of
man is evil from youth. There is none
that doeth good; no not one" We have q
bad nature. We we're porn with it; we got
it from our parents; they got IT from their
parents. Our thoughts are wrong. Our &C.
ton is wrong Our whole life is obnoxious
to God before conversion, and after CONVEX
sion not one good thing in us but that which
the grace of God has planted and fostered.
i "Weil +" you say. Il can't believe that to be
So" All, nv dear brother, that is because
you have never looked into this
LAYER OF LOOKING GLASSES.
i IL you could catch a glimpse of your nat.
urai heart before God you would cry out in
amazement and alarm. rhe very first thing
this gospel does is to cut down our pride and
self-sufficiency. III a man does not feel his
lost and ruined condition before God he does
not want any Gospel. think the reason
/ hat her fo in do
is because the tendency OF the preaching Is
to make men believe that they are pretty
good any how-quite clever, only wanting q
little fitting up, few touches OF divine
grace and then you will be all right-instead
of procleining the broad, deep truth that
Payson and Baxter and Whitfield Numbered
to q race trembling on the verge of infinite
and eternal disaster. Now" says some one,
can this really be true? Have we all gone
astray? Is there no good in us?' in Hamp-
ton Court / saw q room where the four walls
were covered with looking glasses, and 1t
made no difference which way you looked
/ you saw yourself. And so it is in this Cos
pei of Christ. II you once step within it's
full precincts you will find your whole char
acter reflected every feature of moral de-
formity every spot of moral faint. II un
derstand the word of God its first announce
ment is that We are lost. / care not, my
brother, how magnifcently you have been
born, what may have been your heritage
or ancestry, you are lost by reason of sin
But" you say, what is the reason of all
this-of showing a mans faults when he
can't get rio of them?'' Nonel What was
the use OF that FURNISHED surface to this
LAYER of iooking.glasses spoken of in the text
il it only showed the spots on the counte-
nance and the need OF washing and there
was nothing to wash with? Glory to God,
1 find that this laver of looking glasses was
filled with fresh water every morning. and
the priest no sooner looked ON its FURNISHED
side and saw his need of cleansing than he
washed and was clean-glorious type of the
gospel of my Lord Jesus, that fret shows q
man his sin and then washes it al away
| / want you to notice that this laver in
which the priest washed-the laver of look
ing glasses-was filled with fresh water ev-
cry morning. The servants OF the Taberna-
Gle brought the water in buckets and poured
| 1t into this laver. So il is with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ; it has a fresh salvation
every day. 1t is not stagnant pool filled
with accumulated corruptions. 1t is living
water which is brought from the eternal
rock to wash away the sins of yesterday-of
one moment ago oh" says some one. II
was q Christian twenty years agoi" That
does not mean anything to me What are
you now? We are not talking, my brother,
about pardon ten years ago, but about par
don now
FRESH SALVATION.
Suppose a time of war should come and l
coulu show the Government that had been
loyal to 1t twelve years ago, would that ex-
cuse me from taking an oath of allegiance
now? Suppose you ask me about my physi-
cal health, and | should say was we'll fifteen
| years sgo-thss does not say how / am now.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes and de-
msnds present allegiance, present fealty,
present moral health and yet how many
Christians there are seeking to live entirely
/ in past experience, who seem to have no
Experience of present mercy and pardon
When / WIS the sea and there came up q
great storm and officers and crew and pas
sci gers all thought We must go down, began
10 think of my life insurance and whether,
! il / were taken away. my family would be
cared for; and then / thought, is The prem
ium paid up2 and 1 said yes. Then felt
comfortable Yet there are men who, in re-
ligious matters, are looking back to past in.
suranoe. Thew have let il run out and they
have nothing for the present. no hope nor
pardon-falling back on the old insurance
policy of ten. twenty, thirty years ago. III