Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1903-02-11
ALONE WITH JESUS.
The Privilege of Gaining the Divine
Presence Is Open to All.
Sometimes the DeviI IL Instrumen Z n I
I'm Getting a Soul Thcrc-Ser-
by the "Ii ghwRy
aud Byway" Preacher.

The UneXpcctcd.-T unexpected i
! 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 he
earth, so are My ways higher than
| your ways, and My thoughts than
your thoughts" it is not strange that
| the soul of man as it comes iu touch
with God should experience the uucN-
p,ctcd. The incidents surrounding
our text are a striking Illustration of
| this fact The accusing ScribeS and
Pharl>ccs had their surprise which
shook the whited scpulchcrS Of their
| hypocrisy and set the dry bones of
hidden SINS within to rattliug an IL
| nominiouS defeat as they >ncakcd 81
lcntly 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: 60, 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 digniiiod, uncompromising con
demnation of sin and such compass
flonate tenderness toward the sinner
as was revealed here. Surrey, sit was
never so seen i'm Israeli before. The
Scribcs and Pharisees had it all out
lined in their minds kow their
wicked, disgusting plotting would
succeed; the unfortunate woman un-
doubtcdiy had her mind made up that
condemnation and punishment would
he meted out to her. and the assem-
bled company of people surrounding
Jesus hastily concluded that at last
trap had been sprung from which
Jesus would not be able to eNtrici.G,
llimsclf; but as the Divine and sur
passing wisdom and grace, the digri-
fled silence and the tender word, were
so skillfully manifested. all were
silenced and subdued in the face of the
unexpected.
1t is always 80. The soul comes into
the presence of Jesus with its mind
made up Just how He is going to deal
with il, just what is 10 take place. and
| always finds that human reckoning
| falls short of the infinite resources
| and methods 81 God. God always deals
! with the soul according to it's needs
and not i'm accordance with lis cxpec-
tatious, and thus does forit "eXcccdinp
abuudantiy above all that it could
| ak or think" The unSavcd soul that
makes up it's mind just what kind of
an experience it is going to have when
| 1t 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 weld the
| programme it has arranged and ac-
| ccpt that which God has prepared for
II in His infinite wisdom and love. it
needs must abide i'm the darkness of
its 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 eXpe rience is one
which troubles more souls than per
haps any other. Almost invariably
| the mind is made up to this or that.
condition or feeling or circumstance.
IN connection with conversion. and be
| 'ause il is not realized doubt and unhap-
| piness prevail. and sometimes com
| plete rejection of Christ and His prom
Uses follows. Again one is impres, ed
with the striking and beautiful OK
| perience Of a friend and makes up his
| mind that he must have a similar cx-
| pericnce if he is to come to Christ.
and because such is not vouchsafcd 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 uu-
| doubtcdly 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 10 sell all that he had and give
| 10 the poor he went away disappoinf-
| 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 il may. one thing Is Ger
tain, If he did it 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
md ideas and purposes are carried
! into the presence Of Jesus and clunp
10. 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 10 get real
| light and sure leading when they 90
10 God and talk over with Him the mat
ter they have in their minds and upon
! their hearts is because they tell God
al about it and then try to argue
Him around 10 their preconceived no.
| ton and purpose i'm regard to - III.