The record-union., 1899-12-25

cannot evade it. You must lace II ana
lanswer it. Jesus is before you even now,
Ito be crowned or crucified. What Will
you do with Him.
Remember, too, you must meet ana
answer this question in the way Jesus
is presented to us in His gospel. Jesus
lcomes to us as a teacher sent from God.
He claims to be an infallible teacher
of divine truth. He is before the
prophets and above the apostles HIS
word is final in religion. The one SUI
preme thing we want to know IN re-
ligion is, what did Jesus teach? Wnat
did He teach about God, about man,
about the future life? When we know
what He taught we know what to De-
!. llieve and do The question, therefore,
! takes this form, what will you do with
Jesus as a teacher sent from Goo ne
claimed to possess a perfect knoWleuse
of God. claim that no merely human
being would dare to make. He claimed
such equality with God that He coulo
say, HE that hath seen Me hath seen
: the Father The problem before you
is this, what will you do with Jesus
as the Divine and eternal Son or Gou
Jesus is revealed in the gospel as the
Savior of men The angel announcing
His birth said: Thou shalt call HIS
name Jesus because He shall save Ills
people from their sins" Again ana
again He declared that He came 10
! seek and to save. John pointed HIM
out as 1.-THE Lamb of God that taketn
away the sins of the world In the
Language of Scripture HE appeared 10
nut away sin by the sacrifice OF HIM
: self" He was delivered for our Of
lenses and was raised again for our
justification" He said that He came
to give His life a ransom for many.
We will never know this side OF
heaven the full meaning of the death
of Jesus on the cross But this we may
know, for the scriptures affirm it, He
died for us. He offered Himself sac
rifice for mans sins. He put away SIN
nv hearing it Himself He bore our
! sins in His own body on the tree. There
is an intimate relation between the
/ death of Jesus on the cross and the sal
/ walton of our souls. In a great and dl-
vine wav HE was wounded for our
transgressions He was bruised for our
, iniouity, the chastisement of our peace
| was upon Him. and by His stripes we
| are healed" Jesus is Gods sacrifice
for mans sins. He is the Lamb OF
God that taketh away the sin OF the
world He died for the ungodly He
died for us. He suffered in our stead,
in our behalf, for our benefit. We are
, a redeemed people and we are re-
, deemed with the precious blood OF
Christ Him that knew no sin COD
made sin on our behalf that we might
become the righteousness of God in
, Him."
, do not comprehend the atonement in
its fullness. 1t is higher than my high
est thought can reach. It is deeper
than my intellect can fathom. 1t rs
wider than my imagination can COM
pass. But I accept it; and rest on it.
I throw to the winds every other hope
:, of heaven and cling alone to the cru
Gifted and risen Redeemer. Other re-
fuge have none. He died for me, He
rose again for my justification.
!, In my place condemned He stood
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
At the last analysis, when I go back
to find the final ground of my hope of
eternal life, I find it in the death and
resurrection of Jesus. In my sanest
moments, when I think most calmly and
deeply on things divine, L am con-
strained to say with Wesley.
Forever here my rest shall be.
| Close to Thy bleeding side,
This all my hope and all my plea,
For me the Savior died.
The great and awful fact that faces
US in human history and in life around
US, as we'll as in the divine revelation,
is the fact of sin and guilt The other
great glad fact that faces us in the di
vine revelation, is the fact of redemp-
ton from sin and guilt through the
atonement of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. The browning revelation
of God is in the Cross of Jesus. The
message of the Cross is a message of
redemption. 1t declares that sin may
be forgiven and man restored to the
divine favor 1t is true as a modern
writer has pointed out that "our for
giveness has an objective ground, and
is inseparable from the death of
Christ" Jesus came as revelation of
| God to man. He revealed God not only
by what He said and taught, but also
: by what He was and did His death
! was a revelation as we'll as His life.
His death is a revelation of Gods an-
florence of sin. Jesus did nothing that
was not necessary. 1t was necessary
that He should die, and He died, the
just for the unjust that He might bring
US to God. Jesus did for US what we
could not do for ourselves. We could
not atone for our own guilt. Jesus the
divine and eternal Son of God under
, took for us, suffered for u.s. in our
stead, and on our behalf We are saved
not by our repentance, nor by our faith,
nor by our goodness. We are saved if
saved at all, by the grace Of God as re-
vealed in the atoning death of the only
begotten Son of the Father. We can
not too highly magnify the grace that
pardons, and that pardons in order to
purify. Pardon is central and essential
in salvation
Jesus comes to you therefore as Gods
atonement for mans sin. The blessings
of redemption come to us through Him.
He is the way. There is no other name
given under heaven among men where
by We may be saved If you are ever
to be at peace with God, you must ac-
. tcept Jesus as your personal Savior.
To turn away from Him is to turn away
from Gods forgiving grace.
| l speak to men and women who have
sinned and who have a sinful nature.
l say nothing as to the degree of your
guilt. I simply affirm the broad scrip
ture truth that man is a sinner and
| that your sins separate you from God.
You need divine forgiveness. You can
J not grant forgiveness to yourself, any
more than a convict can sign his own
pardon. You have no authority to erase