The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1904-04-16

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EI%&RNR &.tSzH from Pauls letter
kHXTNHNSR <H&A4 to the Galatian
A<<szSSI2M Christians, a n d
sd AN conveys C o m =
ENEM mendation for well
iLM. VK#ANl doing and then re-
=: !: ! !: :: :: ! !. !: !: !: ): J" !. !: !: !: !:
MS%G N1B, HaE4Add buke for having
lMS%NSMNGANA turned aside from
Es6&AA fHM%%ES1w$sSAu obeying the truth.
M&SM&SM WIZ They had been pro-
LlAyEegS{%s% SSEN crossing nicely in
MNNAEk -~SaEWFT the Christian life,
ulE.E1EA3 ss1kaha0N following faithful
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS " the teaching and
~TgQ4AVl doctrin Of the
~"r:l great apostle
when certain conditions and influences
and individuals had combined to Ora"
them away from obedience to the 'luln'
And Paul goes on to tell them plainly
that they have not been persuaded Oh tHe
Christ who had redeemed them anu
called them into His service. IL was
something counter to the will and pur-
pose of God which was hindering tnem
In the Christian race they were run
ming. He is concerned for them, ana
longs to guide their erring feet back into
the way marked out by the LORD. Inc
Galatian Christians to whom Paul sent
this message have passed away, out
Christians to-day manifest the same
tendencies which troubled the inspired
apostle, and the message which he wrote
to the Christians of that early day is as
much needed now as then. 1t is Gods
Word-convicting, convincing, authorl-
tative-for Christians Of all time. And
how often God has to say to the Chris
tain: Eye were running we'll; who him
dered you that we should not obey the
truth? This persuasion came not of Him
that calleth you" 1t may not be that
JudaiSers are busy among us leading us
into error as they were among the Gala
tians, but the Judaisers of the apostolic
days have given place to a multitude of
other conditions and influences which
operate with exactly similar results in
hindering the Christian in his obedience
to the truth, and in turning him aside
into sin and error. How many, many
Christians there are who have run we'll
and her been turned aside into the way
of disobedience and ~disloyalty to the
Christ. There is hardly a follower of
Christ but has had such experience. Per-
haps wen now you, who have run well
and faithfully. have turned aside and are
not now treading the pathway of obedi-
ence and truth. who hindered you
that We should not obey the truth? This
persuasion came not of Him that calleth
you"
IN the thirteenth chapter of the first
| book OF Kings We find a striking
illustration Of our text. Read it, for
we shall use the story to illustrate our
text. 1t tells of a prophet of God who
did run we'll, but who was turned aside
and met disaster and death. We do not
know his name or the particulars of
his life. We only know that, intrusted
with a most important mission by God,
he did s~plendidly for a time, but fell
short of complete obedience and suf-
fered a sad and bitter end. The facts
in the story are these: Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, the first king over Israel
after the disruption of the kingdom
under Rehoboam, had with wicked
cunning established two places of sac
riice and WOrShip-One at Dan and the
other at Bethel-so that the children OF
Israel would not continue to go up to
Jerusalem to make their offerings.
And, regardless of the sacredneSs of
the office, and the fact that the sons Of
II Ani uynrn fhn hi WI ~ 4 u aDDoi~%al
priests, he formed a priesthood of his
own and he himself became the high
priest, as well as king. He established
regular feast days, and upon one of
these occasions, while he was oficiat-
ing at the altar at Bethel and burning
incense, God sent His prophet from
Judah to utter the Divine Judgment
against the altar. And in passing we
must note the fact that this is one OF
the most remarkable prophecies in the
Scriptures, and, "in it's clearness, cir
cumstantial minuteness, and exact
prediction of an event that took place
800 years after, it stands in striking
contrast to the obscure and ambiguous
oracles of the heathen."
LAYING spoken the word which God
| | had commanded him, and having 1t
confirmed by the rending of the altar by
invisible hand, the man of God start
ed obediently to return to Judah by a
different way from that by which he
had come. ~Jeroboam, who had felt the
whitening power of Divine judgment
upon his arm, and had then been gra-
ciously restored in answer to the prayer
of the prophet, sought to stay him, and
invited him to the royal palace to dine.
But the man of God had his explicit d.
rections. and plainly told the king that,
If he should offer him half of his king
DOM, he could not tarry, for God had
told him to neither eat nor drink until
ne had returned to his own home. And
so, mounting his ass, he started. Thus
far he had run well. He had obeyed.
But he loitered upon the way. He allowed
temptation to overtake him in the form
of a man who came to him with sancti-
monious. face and r~eVcrential manner
and told him that he had had a revela-
o. -rLsl