The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-07-17

medium of the conscience. so as to
| grieve Him away; neglect Of personal
| work for Christ All these are steps to
the final forsaking of God and the get
| ting back into the world The failure
| of Demas was not sudden catas-
| trophe in his life. 1t had been the
| growth of months and perhaps years.
Gradually, step by step, in the face of
all that Paul could do. he moved will
fully and steadily on to the final de-
sertion of the apostle and the return to
| the pleasure and ease of the old life
at Thessalonica. The neglect of pray
er will as surely lead to the failure of
Demas as the setting sun will draw on
the deepening shades of night. Pray
er to the life and health of the soul
is as essential as breath to the body.
| NJ EGLECT of Bible Reading.-The 1iv-
IN ing Word of God is the only thing
that the soul can feed upon. AS surely
as it is fed upon the husks of mans rea-
son, it will starve and die. There is aw-
| full peril in this our day with its multi
| piled newspapers and magazines and
books.
What man has written is so volumi-
nous that when the daily newspaper and
| the magazines are read there is no time
for the reading of Gods Word. How
much time each week do you devote to
newspaper and magazine reading, and
how much to the Bible? Be honest with
| yourself, look the question squarely in
the face, and see if you are not treading
! the pathway over which Demas walked
| How can the Bible be a Lamp unto
your feet and Light unto your path
| unless you let 1t shine daily in your
life? How can 1t 'be the power of God
unto salvation" unless you know it well
enough to tell out the Gospel story?
How can the Sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God, be effectively used
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. We
unconsciously take our eyes off the
cross OF Christ and soon get away from
Him. We ought to pray with Paul:
| God forbid that 1 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 crucified and risen Son. If we keep
our eyes on Him, we will never wander
far 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 1t 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
tan life. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
II ISOBEDIENCE to the Spirit
~ "Grieve not the Spirit God tells
us. The Spirit operates on the con-
science, like the magnetism of the north
pole acts upon the compass. If 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 stif1e 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-
ceived the Holy Ghost?
And the work was carried on by
Spirit-filled 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 off 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
~ Christ will also lead us to the fail
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 a 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
ity, 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,
down deep in his heart there was I'M
rest, and unhappiness. The unhap-
piest person in the world is the Demas
who has forsaken the Lord, whom he
has professed and served, and gone back
to the old life There is desperate eff
fort to forget 1T all. To ease the trou-
bled conscience. To say peace. peace;
but there is no real peace. The unrest
and unhappiness follow to the valley
of the shadow of death, and the bitter
ness and despair of faithless life rise
specter-like before the dying eyes, and
the soul goes out to meet its God. Let
us not attempt to follow. Let us who
read these words. resolve that, God
helping us, we will not join the ranks
of Demas, but will remain at the side
of the Paul whom God has called us to