St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-15

How can the Sword OF the Spirit, which
Is the Word Of God, be effectively uset
unless you become familiar with it.
Neglect of the Bible will make Demas
Of any Christian.
Forgetfulness Of the cleansing power
OF Jesus blood. We do forget it. w,
unconsciously take our eyes of thu
cross of Christ and soon get away from
Him. We ought to pray with Paul:
God forbid that should glory save
In the cross Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
David cries: Restore unto me the Joy
OF Thy salvation" And the same CRY
needs to go up from our hearts. We
need daily renewal of the consciousness
OF what God has done for US through
His crucifed and risen Son. II we keer
our eyes on Him, we will never wande,
Tar. We will be nerved to face trial
and danger. Demas had his eyes turned
towards the worlds pleasures and had
lost the vision of his Lord crucified for
him, and it was not strange that he
could desert Paul in his distress and
seek ease and pleasure instead of the
hardships and prosecutions of the Chris
tian life. Keep your eyes on Jesus! ,
II 1SOBEDIENCE to the Spirit
IL "Grieve not the Spirit" God cells
us. The Spirit operates on the con-
science, like the magnetism Of the north
pole acts upon the compass. II the con-
science is tender towards God, the voice
OF the Spirit can be heard whispering:
This is the way: walk We in it, To
disobey that voice is to scar the con-
science, to stifle the voice of the Spirit,
and drive Him In grief from the heart.
Demas, long before his final forsaking
OF Paul, had been rejecting the leading
Of the Spirit How plainly the ac-
count Of Paul and the spread of the
Gospel, as recorded in the Acts, sets
forth the Importance Of the Christian
being filled with the Holy Spirit! The
first question Paul asked on visiting
believers in Christ was, have We re-
eeived the Holy Ghost?
And the work was carried on BY
Spirit-fllled disciples. That is the rea-
son there were such faithfulness and
mighty results. But Demas, by disobey-
ing the voice and leading Of the Spirit,
lost the presence of the Spirit from his
heart. He ceased to strive with him
and OF he goes to Thessalonica, leaving
Paul behind in prison. We must obey
God promptly, as He speaks to us by
His Spirit, If we would walk safely.
NJ EGLECT Of personal work for
IN Christ will also lead us to the fall
ure of Demas. This last is drill ground
on which is proved the faithfulness of
our praying, our Bible reading, our real
ization Of the saving power of Jesus;
our yielding to the leading of the Spirit.
Here is where the need of all these con-
ditions are realized and here is where
their efficiency Is manifested. Demas,
no doubt, ceased to be the personal
worker for Christ he had been. Per
haps when he got back to Thessalonica
he observed In perfunctory way his
religious obligations. He mixed
enough religion with his worldly pleas
ures and love Of ease to keep up his
standing in the church and community,
but he gave up personal work for Christ.
He went to church, perhaps. He felt
proud that out Of his worldly prosper
lty, which came to him at Thessalonica,
he could give to religious work. But he
had long since ceased to deal with lost
sinners and seek to lead them to Christ.
But, Notwithstanding his share in the
world, its prosperity and pleasures.
Town deep In his heart there was un-
rest, and unhappiness. The unhap-
,iest person in the world is the Demas
who has forsakel the Lord, whom he
has professed and served, and gone back
% the old life There is desperate eff
.ort to forget 1t all. To ease the trou-
,led conscience. To say peace, peace:
but there is no real peace. The unrest
md unhappiness follow to the valley
Il the shadow OF death, and the bitter
less and despair Of faithless life rise
,pecter-like before the dying eyes, and
he soul goes out to meet its God. Let |
is not attempt to follow. Let US who
cad these words. resolve that, God |
lelping us. we will not join the ranks
# Demas, but will remain at the side
Il the Paul whom God has called us to
abor with, and viii choose hardship,
nd trial and persecution, yea, even
eath, with Christ, rather than all the
iches and honor and pleasure which
be world can offerl