The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-12-25
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"LIvE IN THE SUNSHINE"
The rev. DIR. j. Wilbur Chapman Says
Faith Produces Men, and Their Living
In tho World is Contending For the
Faith-Keeping In the Love OF God.

Faltn-Aeepfng In the Love OF God.
NEW YORK C1TY.-The following ser.
mon, entitled Give in the Sunshine" has
been furnished fol. publication by, the dis
tinguished and eloquent evangelist, the
Rev. DR.. j. Wilbur Chapman. It was
in the love of God" Jude 81.
Jude's is enc OF the briefest Of all the
letters in the New Testament, containing
only twenty-five verses. 1t is. perhaps, the
last of the epistles.. Though the date is not
definitely settled, it was probably written
after the destruction of Jerusalem. when
most Of the apostles had finished their
humility in the letter. The writer called
himself a servant. and the bondsman of
Jesus Christ and the brother of James, and
that IS beautiful modesty for, in fact,
it is generally believed that ne was the
Lords own brother and the son of Joseph
and Mary.
To no particular church or people was
the letter written, but the accounts make
it especially applicable to us. It is very
practical. The heart of Jude was stirred
because certain men were denying God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, be-
cause of this, 81 exhort you that you
should contend earnestly for the faith once
delivered to the saints" That expression
IN the Greek, however, reals for the faith
delivered "once and for alp to the saints.
So the doctrine is the same to-day as in
the days of jude and before then. Read
ing on to the twentieth and twenty-ffth
verses they indicate that we are expected
to contend as did the early disciples
1t has always seemed to me that faith
world was ccntending for the faith. We
have the pattern of the life of the apos-
tollc. Christian given to us. If you study
the Acts of the Apostle, the letters of Paul,
Peter, John, and. better still, the wonder
full prayer of Christ in the seventeenth
chapter of John. you will see that there
were three great elements in their char
acter: They were in the world. but not of
1t; they were constantly looking for the
coming of Christ, and they were filled
with missionary fire and zeal. These three
characteristics must predominant now if
the church is to have power. When one
is in the world and not of it. he realizes
he is pilgrim and stranger here, and he
endures trials and temptations because he
knows that they are but for little while
The second characteristic has just as great
an influence. The disciples were constant
ly expecting the return Of our Lord; they
remembered the testimony of the men who
had heard the angels on the slopes of Oil
vet, and again and again they opened their
eyes. expecting to behold Him face to face
1t was this hope in their hearts which in
spired their lives. TRANSPORTED the cross
and its shame and kept them pure in the
midst of all temptation and sin.
The third characteristic is equally i'm
portant. How much we need to long for
the salvation of others! Nothing so
touches the hidden springs of the Christian
heart as to feel in some measure that he is
responsible for those about him. Some one
has said, when God would draw out all the
fathomless love OF a woman's heart, He
}oxy a hn1 ola hoHo =
it is true that the church will awake to
power when she awakes to responsibility.
There is something which have in mind
which will give us all the things I have
spoken about: It is described in the text.
Ii there could be any subject growing out
OF the text to describe it. I should say that
it would, be Live in, the sunshine"
know what the sunshine does for the
clouds; it gives them silver lining.
know what it does for the grass and the
trees and the flowers; it warns and nour-
lshes until thew blossom into beauty and
fruitfulness. Take the plant away from
the light and it will gdroop and die; place
it where the sun will kiss it and every leaf
rejoices. This is the very poorest illustra-
ton as to what the love of God will do for
Cod e., 30 'e' us Keep ourselves IN the love OF
/; That word 'keep" is the key word of
Jude's epistle In it we are told that God
will keep US. but we are also told to keep
ourselves. We are told to persevere, but
it is also said we will be preserved. This
is God and man working together. and it is
preserve" and the word "persevere" ere
composed of exactly the same letters. The
literal rendering of the expression that
God will keep us is cas- IL garrison" How
secure. then, we must DEL
HOW MAY WE KEEP OURSELVES IN
THE LOVE OF GOD?
4. No way SO efficient as by prayer.
There are. different kinds of prayer. Jacob
prayed when he met the angel of Jabbok,
and Lad his name changed from Jacob to
Israel. Moses prayed when he plead with
God to look with favor again upon His
chosen people. Christ prayed in the gar
den, for it is said: Being in an agony, He
prayed more earnestly" But this is not
the kind OF prayer | have in mind; it is
rather the kind that Christ offered when
He was alone on the mountain with God.
l imagine the Father talked with Him
more than He with the Father It is the
kind that David describes when he SAYS:
My meditation of Him shall be sweet"
Faith is the eye with which we can see
God. and meditation the wing with which
we fly to Him. It is the kind OF prayer
offered when the supphant feels that he is
the only one in all the universe; it is the
hear, or the dearest friend we had on
earth. we should feel that it had been di-
verified and had not reached God. It is the
kind of prayer we offer when we let God
talk to US as well as talk to Him. This win
keep us in the love OF God
2. Few things viii so help as this old
book, the Bible. Two gentlemen were rid
ing together, and when they were about
to separate one asked the other, do you
ever read your Bible?" "Yes,'' said his
friend; II do, but l receive no benefit be-
cause | feel that | do not love God"
Neither did l." replied the other, "but
God loved me- and that answer fairly
lifted the man into the skies, for it gave
him q new thought. The question is not
at all as to how much I love God, but
rather as to how much God loves me.
Read the Bible in that way and it will help
you to live in the text.
Love dictated every word, love selected
every sentence, love presented every prov
idence, love sent Christ to die upon the
cross, and you can not read it in this way
without keeping yourself in the love Of
God
8. All the means of grace will keep us,
but it there is one above another it would
be the Lords Supper The very coming
to the table and taking that which repre-
sents His body and His blood really lifts
the soul into such condition that it is one