Omaha daily bee., 1897-06-21
WAY TO SECURE SALVATION
Rev. Dr., senseney Points Out How to Get to
Heaven.
CHRIST is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
BEST of Lives without Him Are I'm Vain
So Far a. the Future of
the soul is Com
cerned.
.HRISr is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

The sermon Of Rev. J. H. Senseney OF
Broadway church yesterday morning was a
description OF the worldly and the Christian
life. The text was from John xii: "a. 25.
Verify, verify. 1 say unto you, except a
corn Of wheat fall into the ground and die
it abideth alone; but II it die, it briugeth
forth much fruit. He that loveth his life
shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal
A certain number OF Greeks desiring to see
Jesus and know something more of him had
come to the place where he was and had
made known their errand to the apostles.
The apostles informed Christ Of the Greeks
desire and on hearing 1t Christ turned to
them and began to instruct them in the ways
OF life. and the words OF the text are taken
from his discourse These Greeks were rep
resentatives to Christ OF the great gentle
world, which was to be saved and these were
to be the first fruits or samples of the great
harvest which was to spring out OF His own
life and death.
All men may be classified under two types
OF character. which is represented by the
seed germ mentioned in the text, and which
grows under proper conditions. or re-
mains nonproductlve if not used. Grain
nonproductiye, and remains single grain, or
"abideth alone but grain that is planted
and apparently dies is productive of life.
Every human life may be represented by one
Of these grains of wheat We either live a
golly life and produce good TO others and
ourselves, or we live lie Of selfshness and
preserve our lives unto ourselves and abide
alone, no benefit to those around us and
causing ourselves to lose eternal life in the
end. selfish life Is confined to this world
alone and makes no definite plans for the
future. We may be loyal to moral laws,
which are in accordance with the laws of
God, but We do it through no love to Him.
IL a man is honest it is not because he
has made himself honest but because God
has given him that virtue and he has cul-
tivated it possibly for his own interest.
MUST HAVE GODS GRACE.
We may live a high moral life and con-
tribute Of our means tosard the education
and civilization of our fellow man, but IL
our hearts are not touched by the grace of
God and we do it expecting as great or a
greater return We are still as the seed germ
that remaineth alone ami IS nonproductiye.
This IS the life most manifest in the world
and is the natural consequence Of sin, from
which We may be saved only through Christ.
We must ali die unto ourselves or be sub
missive to the will of God or be planted, as
ii were, If We would be productive OF good
in this world and gain eternal life for our
own souls.
The true life is represented by the seed
sown, losing identity or losing life. The
true life is to hate this worldly life or count
1t as nothing as compared 10 eternal life.
Not being dissatisfied With it, but counting
1t f3r below life eternal. Self-denial is the
supreme mark OF the Christian life There
Is nothing that rises above his virtue. True
life is characterized by supreme self-denial.
Il l. Gods will that IS to decide what man s
character is to be. II We would reach the
h rks-r E.f b. .f1, - I, t. - ~
greatest perfection we should bow to the
will Of the divine God. II We owe submission
10 Gods will We should be content with
the work given lis and thereby work out
cur salvation. If We are called upon to SUI
fer for ChriSt's sake let US suffer gladly. In
this the seed will be sown in this life and
the harvest will be reaped in heaven. The
true life is a life lived to God forgetting
self and all its interests.
Our part in this life is to SOW the seed
Of self-denial and God will give the har-
vest in season. Jesus ~ the example the
greatest seed of all You and I may fol-
low. He was great in what he was what
he did, and what he said yet he was humble
and simple in all his ways, and his deeds
will roll onward throI sh years TO come
waking souls into immortal life. With all
ais greatness he was imperfect till after
death. His divine nature was perfect, but
through suffering and death only in this
world was his life perfected and through
this he received power to forgive sin. God
himself has not the power to forgive sin.
Through the suffering Of Christ comes all
the joys of this earth and the glory in
heaven. Unless We begin the true life in
his world and SOW ourselves or die unto
self We shall lose our life through eternity.
The man that hates this life shall save 1t
TO eternal life, and he that loves this life
shall lose it. Let us be seed not garnered
and which abideth alone, but corn planted
that shall produce happiness and good in
this world and life eternal.