The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-08-14

sands with our brilliant and eloquent
man-made sermon based upon Gods
Holy Word, and yet not receive one
ray of light ourselves from Gods
throne, or give out one single gleam
that will light some poor, dying soul
to Heaven. For God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit; for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God"
The Office of the Spirit.-And if the
distinguishing mark of the sons of
God is the Spirit by which they are
led, how does the working Of that
Spirit manifest itself? Jesus, on the
eve of His sacrifice for the sins of the
world, told His disciples that upon His
departure to be with the Father He
would send His Paraclete or Repre-
sentative back to earth. and" said
He, "When He is come, He will con-
vince the world of sin, and of right
eousness, and of judgment; of sin, be-
cause they believe not on Me; of
righteousness, because / go to My Fa-
ther, and ye see Me no more; of judg-
ment, because the prince of this world
is judged" The Office Of the Spirit is
therefore threefold, and, in His opera
tion on the human heart, marks the
sons of God. First of all the Spirit
is sin convincer.
The world, consciously or uncon-
sciously, is striving to get away from
this thought of sin. Culture and in
tellectualism would seek to lead the
world to believe that it can uproot
and outgrow sin. The process of
veneering the sin-sick, sin-marred
world so as to make man presentable
to mans eyes goes busily on in the
workshop of Satan, who is no more
pleased with the disgusting rags of
filthy wickedness than you are, but
is seeking to turn out a polished prod
uct which he imagines he can hold up
against the blood-washed product of
Heaven and God not detect the sham.
"And He will convince the world of
sin"-not because it is seething cess
pool of crime and horrible vice-but
because the world in it's polished ele-
gance and refinement, believes not
on Me" (the Christi.
False doctrine is insidiously at work
robbing the world of the God-sent mes
sage that sall have sinned and come
short of the glory of God," and again:
eff we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us. If we say that we have
not sinned, we make Him liar, and
His Word is not in u.s." The fundamen-
tai doctrine of one of the modern-day
false religions, which is one of the
anti-Christs Gods Word declares shall
become manifest in the last days, is
that there is no such thing as sin, and
that the thought of sin only exists as
a mistaken notion in the material mind
of man. Oh, what heresy in the light
of Gods Word, which from Genesis to
Revelation progressively develops
Gods marvellous plan of salvation from
sin! Take away the Divine indictment
of the world for sin and what further
need have we for the Christ or His
matchless sacrifice as the sin-bearer
of the world?
Again, careless indifference and self
centered ease and qualification are
binding the world and hindering the
Spirit in His work of convincing the
world of sin. This is what kept the
prodigal in the far country and made
him an alien and no longer son of the
father out of whose loins he had
sprung. In the far country amidst its
sin, and yet not conscious Of sin! What
a pitiable condition! How day and
night the heart of that father was
wrung with anguish for that wayward
boy! How during the troubled dreams
of the night and the anxious hours of
the day his thoughts followed that
boy as he went needless and headlong
to the miry depths in which the swine
were wallowing! All, we who are ia
theirs can feel the fevered pulsation
of that agonized heart, and you, young
men, in whom is planted the seed Of
fatherhood, can in some degree under
stand; yea, all, young and old, mothers
and daughters, are moved by the deep
sorrow of that home! All! how the
tenderest chords of the human heart
are set to vibrating in minor strain un-
der the sad story! But, turn you to
a sadder picture and try to understand
in faint degree what that sorrow in
Heaven must be as the Heavenly Father
sees His sons in the far country and
they turn deaf ear to His tender
pleading to return home to the Fa-
TIERS House.
Undoubtedly the father of the
prodigal exhausted every means at
his command to win his boy back
to the homeland and the old roof
tree; but God has done infinitely more
to win the wayward sons of men
back to sonship with God and right
to place in the Fathers House,
ssfor. He so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.'
In the counsels of Heaven the Faith
er's heart went out to the sons in
the far country, and as Jesus, the
Heayenly-begotten Son of God, saw
the anguish of His Fathers heart
He offered Himself as an Ambassador