The record-union., 1899-12-25

Der no more. Tne Son OF man ndtH
! power on earth to forgive sins.
In the light of the fact that you are
sinner, that you cannot save yourself,
that Jesus is Savior, a sufficient
| Savior, 1 ask what will you do with
Him? He stands at the door of your
| life even now and knocks. To-day II
you listen, you may hear His sweet
voice saying, Come unto Me and I
will give YOU rest What will you do
with that invitation? What will you
do with Jesus? put the question i'll
another form. What will you do with
out Jesus?
| What will you do without Him, in the
oe long and dreary way. 10, ,, 40
VI trouble and perpiex1ty, Wnen you 90
not know the way?
And no one else can help you. and no one
| guide you right,
| rest comes not with night.
| Jesus is presented to us in the gos-
pei as the rightful ruler of our lives.
The question before US is, What shall
do with Jesus as a King who claims
| the right to rule my life? He who ac-
| cepts Jesus as a Savior must submit
| to Him as king. The cross on which
| He died for the world has become a
| throne from which He rules the world.
1t is as necessary to salvation that we
obey His commandments as to trust
His grace. He is the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him"
The Christian life is life of loyal
obedience to Jesus Christ. The best
way to answer the question, what shall
do with Jesus is to say,
will go where you want me to go, Lord,
Over mountain and stream and sea,
L Will do what you want me to do, LORD,
Will be what you want me to be.
| Jesus is presented to us in the gospel
as our great and divine example. He
says. Il have given you an example.
Follow Me. Make your life like My
| life. Become partaker of My nature.
Reproduce My character in your own.
See in Me what humanity may be-
come" 1t is possible for you to come
to perfect manhood, to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The great law Of Christian conduct is,
what would Jesus do?" We are to
do what He would do if He were in
our place. The great hope and goal Of
the gospel is, 1--WE shall be like Him."
! Young men and young women, you
are standing on the threshold of life.
You are outlining your careers, you are
moldfng your characters, you are de-
Gliding your destiny. You have high
ambitions. You want to make the most
of your life. You want to reach the
highest levels of character and service
1t is possible to reach. 1t would break
your heart to be told your life would
end a wreck. At this point in your life
ask, what shall you do with Jesus?
What place will you give Him in your
| life's thoughts and plans?
! In character building you recognize
the need of a high ideal, noble model,
a lofty example. To excel in literature
men study the writings of Homer and
| Virgil, of Milton and Shakespeare To
become excellent in music musicians
study the symphonies of Beethoven and
the oratorios of Handel and Mozart
Artists cross the seas to catch inspira-
ton from Phidias and Raphael and
others. In every department of life we
feel the need of high ideal and lofty
example. The great and the good, the
wise and the noble from their shining
nights, beckon us upward. They are
heroic encouragements to u.s. They re-
veal to us the divine possibilities of our
nature. We need the inspiration of
their example.
In this connection I ask, what will
you do with Jesus? Can you select a
higher, nobler, purer model of charac-
ter; can you imagine a higher type of
manhood than is represented in Him?
Among the wise, He is the wisest;
among the humane the most philan-
thropic; among the valiant, the most
heroic. There are great names on the
pages of the worlds history, but there
is one name above every name. The
largest, noblest, swisest, purest that ever
lived are dwarfed in comparison with
Him. Names noblest for heroism,
brightest for benef1cence, put side by
side with His name, fade as stars fade
when the sun rises in meridian splen-
dor Jesus is helier than artists have
pictured Him, nobler than poets have
sung Him. He is more merciful than
dying saints have felt Him to be- He
is the Son of Man-all manly qualities
of character are in Him; Son of Mary
all womanly qualities of character are
in Him; Son of God-all divine quail
ties of character are in Him. And, lis
ten This Jesus full of gentleness, wis
dom and purity; this Jesus who gave
the Sermon on the Mount and trans
formed a Magdalene into a saint; this
Jesus boundless in sympathy, universal
in love, glorious in power, grand in
mercy, transcendent in goodness; this
Christ of God, in all His divinely hu-
man excellence, stands before you as
He stood before Plate waiting your de-
cision. He is saying to you, My son,
my daughter, give me thine heart, I
will purify it; give Me thy intellect, I
will enrich it; give Me thy life, I will
ennoble it; give me thy character,
will make it strong with the strength
of God, and beautiful with the beauty
of God
! What will you do with Jesus as He
stands before you with these promises
of the gospel? Will you not decide and
say from this hour I take Him for my
guide and example? I will form my
life by His will seek to become like
| Him.
| My brother my sister, when you
think Of the perils there are to charac-
ter, when you think Of the many who
have made shipwreck of life and char
acter because they took not the counsel
and followed not the example of Jesus,
do you not feel your need Of His help
and companionship? If your heart
spoke the truth to-day, you would say,
alone,
! 1 have no strength or goodness no wis
dom of my own.
! But Thou, beloved Savior, are all in all to
me,
| And perfect strength in weakness, is
j theirs who lean on Thee