The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-10-02
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"A NARROW ESCAPE"
Wonderful Indeed is the Plan of Saliva
ton For the Sinner, Yet Exceedingly
Simple-To Have Christ Save Us We
Must Believe In Him.

Must Believe in Him.
New YORK CITY.-The following reada-
bic and helpful sermon is by the Rev. Dr.
y. Wilbur Chapman, the best known evan
gehst IN the country and one OF the most
popular pulpit orators of New York. 1t
is entitled "a Narrow Escape" and was
preached from the text, How shall we
escape, if we neglect so great salvatlon!"
Hebrews g 5.
The wonder of wonders in this world is
the plan of salvation for the sinner
through Jesus Christ. 1t is SO wonderful
that the man with the greatest mind the
world has ever known has never yet been
able to think his way through it, and at
the same time it is so simple that the
smallest child in your home can appreciate
enough of it to be saved.
The first chapter of Hebrews presents to
us the dignity of Christ. He is at the right
hand of God; He is better than the an
gels; when the elements have melted with
a fervent heat, He still exists; when the
heavens have been rolled together as a
scroll, He shall still be the very power of
God With such a description as this in
the first chapter we come naturally to the
first part of the second chapter. There
fore we ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard
lest at any time we should let them slip.
across the Atlantic Ocean when the pas
sengers were startled with cry of imam
overheard" Immediately every one was
filled with excitement. One man sprang
to the edge of the vessel and shouted, Il
will give thousand pounds to any one
who will save the man that is sinking for
he is my brother" Every sailor was ready
to throw himself into the sea if only he
could win the reward and save the man.
N+oiY ho
a cheer went up because they had laid
hands upon the sinking one. The hfeboat
came near the great steamer, ropes were
fastened around the man and the signal
was given to lift him up. Just as they
were reaching out their hands to make his
salvation sure the ropes slipped, and fall
ing he struck his head upon the lifeboat,
bounded into the sea and was gone for
ever. The writer of the Epistle to the He
brews must have had some such picture as
this in his mind when he said, owe ought
to give the more earnest heed lest at any
time we should let them slip" I have
known of people coming nearer to the
kingdom of God than that, just one step
and they would have been saved, but they
slipped away, and then gave up hope.
There are three words around which my
thoughts would centre, Great, Escape and
Neglect.
|. 1t is a great salvation because it dis
closes to us great Saviour, shows us how
we may be saved from great sin. and also
reveals how we may be restored to great
holiness and happiness.
First, it is great in its author The name
OF an author will frequently sell a book.
and the name of the author of the plan of
salvation ought to commend it to every
one. # He is the author two things are
true. First that we need not be afraid OF
Him, For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son."
Luther tells Us of the little girl, the child
OF the man who printed his first Bible
He was a member of the Church of Rome,
and the child had been taught that God
could only be approached by means of pen
ance and sacrifice. One day in the print
er's office she found a little crumpled piece
OF paper which contained a part of this
verse, which Luther called the Gospel in
a nutshell" all she found was, God so
loved the world that He gave 1t
produced great impression upon her One
day her mother heard her singing and
asked the secret of her happiness She an
swered by showing her the little piece Of
paper, and her mother said, "What does it
meanw for, she said, sit does not tell ua
what He gave" The child's reply was,
anything, we need not be afraid of Him"
Again, if God is the author, His is the
only way of salvation. Men decide to
come to God by the way of reformation, or
by the power of resolution, but this profits
nothing, for reformation may touch the
present, and may possibly avail for the fu-
ture, but 1t cannot touch the past. If a
man is in your debt $500 and comes to
tell you that he has decided never to 90
into debt again, you may tell him that he
Is making fine resolution, but you will
not tell him that his good resolution pays
has indebtedness to you, for that is trans
action OF the past. The wonderful thing
about the plan of salvation is that it pro-
vldes an atonement touching the sins of
the present, makes provision for the flu
ture, and blotting out the transgressions
OF the past. It is great also in its sacrifice
The way back to God has always been
lament and you will find this is true. But
when the sins of men became so great that
the blood of bulls and goats would not
suffice then Christ died for our sins, &C.
cording to the Scriptures.
1t was my privilege some time ago to
preach to the convicts in the State Peni-
Tertiary of Tennessee. / said to them I
can give you the secret of getting almost
any amount of money, and their faces in
were IN prison for trying to get money in
their own way. But this is the secret J.
gave them. Take a piece of paper and
write down upon it the amount of money
you want, the length of time you want it,
sign your name to it and carry it to the
bank. But this will profit you nothing, be-
cause you have not found the secret. It is
thus frequently that. men stand before
God and ask to be saved. If you will take
that piece of paper to some one whose
name stands for money, then have him
write his name upon the back of it and
carry 1T to the bank, you will be surprised
to see what different position you have,
and you will receive the money, not be-
cause OF what you are, but because of what
your security is. 1t is thus we have our
standing before God; our security is per-
feet, and simple faith unites us to Him.
1t Is great also in its pardon and for
glveness. Pardon means more with God
than with men. With men a pardon NAV
open the prison doors and send the guilty
one back to his home, but if he is a mur-
derer the chances are he will have a few
peaceful nights, and then in his dreams as
well as In his waking moments his sin will
be before him. This is because he IS mar
doned and not justified. When God par
dons us He justifes freely and forever
And forgiveness means more with Cod
than with man. When we forgive we con
ssantly remember the one who has sinned
against Us, but God forgives and remem-
bers against US our transgressions no more
forever.