The L'Anse sentinel., 1903-02-14
ALONE WITH JESUS.
The Privilege of Gaining the Divine
Presence Is Open to All.
Sometimes the Devil IL Instrumental
In Getting n Soul There-ser-
mon by the "Highway
- and Byway" Preacher.

TeXt:-'An0 Jesus was lett alone, anu
the woman standing in the midst."-John
SO.
The Unexpected.-Theu unexpected is
always happening in the presence Of
Jesus. The human mind or heart can
not compass or anticipate the methods
or purposes of the Son of God, and be-
cause it is true, as God. declares, that,
"as the heavens are higher than the
earth, SO are My ways higher than
your ways, and My thoughts than
your thoughts" 1t is not strange that
the soul of man as it comes in touch
with God should experience the unex-
pected. The incidents surrounding
our text are striking illustration of
this fact. The accusing Scribes and
Pharisees had their surprise which
shook the whited sepulchers of their
hypocrisy and set the dry bones of
hidden sins within to rafting an ig-
lently away. The sinful woman had
her surprise, for instead of the crush
ing stones of just condemnation of
which she was worthy she felt the up
lifting hand of Jesus and heard Him
say: $50, and sin no more" The
company of disciples and others stand
ing around and witnessing the strange
and remarkable scene had their sur
prise, for never before had they seen
such dignified, uncompromising con-
demnation of sin and such compass
sionate tenderness toward the sinner
as was revealed here. Surely, sit was
never so seen in Israeli before. The
Scribes and Pharisees had it all out
lined in their minds how their
wicked, disgusting plotting would
succeed; the unfortunate woman un-
doubtedly had her mind made up that
condemnation and punishment would
be meted out to her. and the assem-
bled company Of people surrounding
Jesus hastily concluded that at last
a trap had been sprung from which
Jesus would not be able to extricate
Himself; but as the Divine and sur
passing wisdom and grace, the digni-
fled silence and the tender word, were
SO skillfully manifested, all were
silenced and subdued in the face of the
unexpected.
1t is always so. The soul comes into
the presence of Jesus with it's mind
made up just how He is going to deal
with it, just what is to take place, and
always finds that human reckoning
falls short of the infinite resources
and methods of God. God always deals
with the soul according to it's needs
and not in accordance with its eXpec-
tations, and thus does for it Exceeding
abundantly above all that it could
ask or think" The unsaved soul that
makes up its mind just what kind of
an experience it is going to have when
it accepts Christ as Saviour is always
disappointed. In the presence of
Jesus and alone with Him the human
programme is discarded and Gods
programme is marvelously carried
out. And If the soul will not yield the
programme it has arranged and ac-
cept that which God has prepared for
it in His infinite wisdom and love, it
needs must abide in the darkness of
it's own mind and withdraw from the
presence of Jesus, even as the self
righteous Pharisees did in the Incl
dent before us.
The matter of experience is one
which troubles more souls than per-
haps any other. Almost invariably
the mind is made up to this or that
condition OF feeling or circumstance,
in connection with conversion, and be-
cause it is not realized doubt and unhap
piness prevail, and sometimes a COM
plete rejection Of Christ and His prom
ises follows. Again one is impressed
with the striking and beautiful ex-
perience of friend and makes up his
mind that he must have a similar ex-
perience If he is to come to Christ,
and becayse such Is not vouchsafed to
him, he fails to find any comfort in
the promises of salvation, and fails to
receive from God an unexpected and
blessed experience of his very own.
That rich young ruler who came to
Jesus asking the way of salvation un-
doubtedly had a beautiful programme
all made out as to just what Jesus was
going to tell him to do, and because the
unexpected happened and Jesus told
him to sell all that he had and give
to the poor he went away disappoint-
ed. Whether the young man ever did
find salvation or not Scripture does
not tell us. have always hoped that,
on sober second thought, as he
weighed the things of time with the
weightier things of eternity, he did,
but be that as it may, one thing is GER
tain, IL he did II was along the line of
Gods programme for him and not in
accordance with his own.
How many, many Christians fail to
find light or blessing in their Christian
experience, because their human plans
and ideas and purposes are carried
into the presence of Jesus and clung
to, and then carried away again to dis
tress and harass them as the days
drag unhappily by, and to bring sad
disappointment In the end. The rea-
son so many Christians fail to get real
light and sure leading when they go
to God and talk over with Him the mat
ter they have in their minds and upon
their hearts is because they tell God
all about it and then try to argue
Him around to their preconceived no.
tion and purpose in regard to 1t. They
do not realize 1t, probably, because
they have not patiently and submis-
- Ioo - Aox a..