The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-09-04
DIR. CHAPMAN'S SERMON
A SUNDAY DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
PASTCR.EvANcELIsT.
Subject: The Seeking Saviour and Seek
ing Sinner-The Son of Man, With Tears
in His Eyes and Sorrow in His Heart,
is Trying to Save Every One of Us.

is Trying to Save Every One of Us.
New YORK City The sermons of the
Rev. Dr. j. Wilbur Chapman are now
heard and read by more people than are
those of any American pulpit orator. His
style seems to have made a deep impress
sion on that portion of the public which
likes to read its discourse in the weekly
paper For these admirers DR.. Chapman
has prepared the following sermon. enti-
tied 1'The Seeking Saviour and Seeking
Sinne".o 1t is preached from the texts.
"Iaccbeus. make haste and come down. :"
Luke 10: s. "The Son of Man is come t.
seek and to save that which was lost"
Luke 10: 10.
These two texts form a part Of the story
of the meeting of two men. each very DIFF
ferent from the other The one is Fac
cheus. the publican. a rich man because he
was the tax oatherer and had defrauded
the people The other is the Son of God
who was rich yet for our sakes became
poor. The one comes from the presence
of God and the company of the angels
the other down from the sycamore tree
and from his doubt. and the result Of the
meeting Of the seeking sinner and the
seeking Saviour was the salvation of the
sinner. This he's ALWAYS been the result.
IF any one reading this message is not a
Christian to-day it is simply because he
has not sought Christ in the RIGHT way.
Ye shall seek Me and shall find Me when
YOU search for Me with oil your heart In
the book of Proverbs when men seek for
God as they seek for silver or for any hid
den treasure then He will be found for
them.
1T was my privilege once in Colorado to
enter what is called rocket NINE. ]
saw a man engaged in work there who was
pointed out to me as a graduate of Har-
ward College. vet he was tolling away SO
industriouslv that he did not bear nv ap-
preach in the mine, and when ] asked him
why he was thus working he simnly
stopped down and gathered IN handful
of dust and held it out at arms length so
that the liqht in his miners hat would
strike unon it. and there I saw the glisten
ing particles of silver This was more e,o
duent thar anything he could have said.
and the wise man spoke truly. Put two
locomotives upon the same track, both
going IN the same direction and at the
same rate Of speed. and if the track is long
enough one cannot overtake the other eX
cept in case of accident. but if thew are on
the same track headed toward each other
and one of them is going with the speed Of
the wind. while the other travels with the
proverblal snalls pace, it will be but q
short time before they will come together
The Son of Man has been seeking Sa
v;our ALWAYS. with tears in His eyes and
sorrow in His heart He has been seeking
every one Of rs The very moment we
turn toward Him that moment He will
claim us as His own.
The division of the New Testament into
chapters is sometimes embarrassing Not
infrequently the division is in the midst OF
a story Sometimes between an introduc
tion in the story as is the case here. Turn
baclS to the close of the eighteenth chapter
OF Luke and YOU read the story of Barti
maeus. Mr.. MOODY used to describe one
OF his friends stopping to say,."I have good
news for you. / have seen the Galilean
prophet. and | saw Him cause man blind
as yourself to see. and He is coming this
way speedily" We can only imagine how
Bartimaeus listened for the approach of
the Saviour: but finally when He did come
near enough he began to shout, 'Jesus
Thou son of David. have mercy upon me-"
md the Master gave him his sight instant
y. Following this healing of the blind
nan certain rich man in the city hearing
# the approach of this notable character
determined to see Him, but as he passed
,ut OF his Office and mingles with the
rowd he realizes that the task is hope
ess. he is a man small of stature and the
,thers tower head and shoulders above
lin, but suddenly bright thought strikes
md climb some elevation and then behold
him as He comes near. So he climbs the
celebrated sycamore tree and waits for the
approaching multitude. At last his eve
lights upon the Saviour. A strange fascin-
alton must have held him until suddenly
Jesus standing underneath the tree looks
up and says. "Zaccheus, make haste ana
come down, for to-day must abide at thy
house,, and he made haste and came
n 10 I.
immediately the Saviour sa,d ''The Son
of Man IS come to seek and to save tina,
which was lost"
He is the Son of Man. Whatever other
Interpretation may be given to this ex-
preston IN Scripture this at least is true
lie is presented to us in such a way that
no one need shrink back from Him. I car
well understand how men could be afraid
OF God. He holds the winds in His fists
and in the hollow of His hand the seas
wash to and fro. but we need not be afraid
of the Son of Man. Homer tells us that
when i1a Hector was parting from his wife
with all his armor on he walked by her
side through the streets of the city unit!
he reached the gates. Following them
came the nurse with the soldiers little
child IN her arms, and as he turned to
leave them putting out his arms, having
kissed his wife he would take his little
child to his heart and say goodbye. The
little fellow looked just an instant then
burst into tears, threw his arms about his
nurses neck and refused to be comforted.
Hector had fathers instinct. Lifting
his hand he removed the helmet from
which the plume was flying, and when the
child could see the face of his father he
smiled through his tears, sprang into his
arms, and Hector kissed him and was
gone. So Jesus comes not simply as the
Son of God, but as the Son of Man, or, as
it were, with the helmet and the plume
laid aside. He was the Babe of Bethle-
hem, the man Of Nazareth, the carpenter
laboring at the bench. He was tempted
in all points like as we are that no one
might shrink back from Him. Then let il
not be forgotten that He came to seek. It
would be a great thing that He simply
came from the lost to seek them, but thai
is not Scriptural, and it would be good
news if we could say that He came simply
to look for the lost, but that is not accord
ing to the word of God He is the seeking
Saviour by day and by night With tears
in His eyes and blood upon His brow He
seeks the lost, and as they make their way
finally out toward Bethany where He is
to ascend from them all He tells them that
they must begin their message of the risen
Christ and His forgiveness at Jerusalem.
This must have been startling news to His
o,,,1o foy