The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-09-07

other genius imam Onakespeare must ue
Forthcoming. And yet with all our wall
about the decadence of the church and the
failure Of Christianity, every Sunday in
Manchester more people are gathered to-
gether to sing the old hymns and hear. the
old sermons--I beg your pardon. to hear
sermons on the old texts-and listen to
the old, old story of the cross than for any
other purpose.
Let us begin with the last. When Christ
was as fond OF a phrase as He evidently
was of that phrase Follow Me-" there
must be some deep Specification in it.
have been going through my New Testa.
ment during the last few months. tracing
that phrase. 1t has been a very interest.
ing study to see how constantly Christ
used it. It was the almost perpetual for
mula, Of His call to individual soul-"Foi'
Now what is it to follow? Two things
are involved. Neither of them covers all
quired.
First, to follow, must trust. I shall
never follow any one / haven't confidence
in. | may trust and yet not follow.
Secondly, not only is trust necessary, but
obedience is necessary. Christ confronts
the individual soul, bringing that soul out
from the crowd, as He is calling some man
here this morning. He says, Would you
trust Me? Then obey Me"
How am / going to do it? What does it
mean, this trusting and obeying?- DENY
yourself, take up the cross" 1t seems
to me that is the point which must be OBJ
served first, that to deny self is the only
way in which you can follow Christ, How
shall | follow Him? Deny thyselfl The
two things are intimately related. and it
seems to me that everything is said when
Follow Me" is said and yet it is neces'
sary to say the other in order to under
stand what He means by following Him
What So ~ (thriot nalla pna tn2 To Ipny
myself! Not to practice self-denial; that
is very cheap business, but to deny self
a very costly matter. He says, Deny
yourself. Listen no longer to the call OF
your self. but listen to My call. Don't con.
slider any more whether this thing will
minister to your pleasure or to your ag-
grandizement. or answer the cry OF your
ambition. But Me first" Christ says,
Deny yourself and follow Me. Put Me on
the throne and dethrone yourself. Don't
let the question of the morning be, What
shall like to do. but What will Christ
it hasten the coming of the kingdom of
God. Don't let the underlying, mastering
passion of your life be your own selfish
desire; crown Me, follow Me-"
1t is a superlative call, and the call OF
Jesus is always imperial. He will brook no
division of your loyalty, and that is what
He means. "You must hate father, moth
er, wife, child. That means that when the
soul comes into contact with Me l must be
absolutely first" Let me stop here to say
that whenever a soul does that he gets
back hundredfold lands and fields and
mother and father and children. Jesus
Christ said He must be first, and He has
never lowered that standard, and the re-
ligion that is simply an addendum is worth
nothing to Him.
Jesus Christ comes and says, "Deny
yourself but there is the other word,
Take up the cross" Well. what is it,
Christ cross? No. No man can carry
| Christs cross What then? Your own.
What is this cross? | don't think that il
| is ever the same in two persons Tho
cross is that in your life which immediate.
" costs you something if you crown
Christ There is business man here this
morning who is saying in his heart, We'll,
if that is Christianity, | will have to go
home and change my method OF business"
That is your cross. There is young man
mere says that, "If that is Christianity, i
it means putting Christ first, then l will
have to go home and give up that compan'
ionship." That is your cross; Some one
here says, "If that is what Christ means,
| that | am not to listen to the call OF my
own life, / shall have to go home and say
| was wrong and confess my wrong tc
those to whom it is so hard to confess it"
| That is your cross And somebody else
says, "If that is Christianity | shall have
to go back on my history, throw up every
thing | am doing and go into the minis
try" That is your cross.
You know what your cross it. Don't let
any one come and ask me. You know that
thing which right in front of you this
morning challenges your allegiance TO Jesus
Christ. You cannot play tricks with God
You cannot deceive your own conscience
when you stand in the clear light OF the
call Of Christ. He says, Deny yourself;
take up that cross land you know what it
is) and follow Me"
But why are Christ's terms so drastic !?
For two reasons. First, no man ever gets
to Christ but by the way OF the enthronee-
ment of Jesus Christ. 1t is possible to ad.
mire and cheer Him, possible to patronlze
the crowd that gets to Him, but the cross,
bearing soul. And if you read on you will
say, 'Whosoever would save his lie shall
lost 1t; whosoever will lose his life for My
sake shall find it,
Christ confronts the soul and says virtu.
ally this you don't understand your own
life, dear heart. You cannot realize your
own kingdom. You cannot build your own
character and carve out your own destiny,
but l can do it, though | can only do it
! when you have put Me absolutely on the
| throne for your own life's life, For ITS
founding and ennobling and developing
you must come to Me, and by the way OF
whole-hearted surrender
But there is another reason why Christ
makes His terms drastic. He wants men
and women upon whom He can depend IN
| the day of battle. l am quite sure there
is nothing Jesus Christ wants at this mo.
ment so much as men and women who Will
| go through darkness and death for Him,
| You remember that picture of JalrH be-
| seeching Jesus to save his child who was
dying, and how, with the people thronging
about Him, the Master suddenly ex-
claimed, "Who touched Me?"
Now don't let us be angry with the dis
ciples. We should have said the same
thing. "a hundred people have touched
you in the last five minutes. The multi
| tude throng Thee and press Thee, and say
est Thou, who touched Mew
| But Jesus Christ always knows the diff
ference between the crush of curious
mob and the touch OF a. needy soul that
has come near Him. And this morning as
this service closes hear His voice speak
| ing once again-the attractive Christ that
| has drawn this crowd - this exclusive
| Christ-and He says. "Who touched Me-"
| We have all jostled Him this morning.
We have all looked into His face again.
We have all had new consciousness Of
the infinite music Of His voice. Have you
got anything out of Him? Has any virtue
healed you this morning? II not, even
now stretch out your hand and touch Him.
And to do that you must deny yourself,
cruelty your pride. Having done that, lis
ten to the cry Of your own life, and listen
to His imperial call and crown Him Lord
Of all.