The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1904-02-20

door, will come In to him. and will sup
with him and he with Me- They invited
Him In. IL those Samaritans had been
like a great many people they would
have wished to wait until they had
cleaned up their city and covered up all
| the cess pools OF sin, and whitewashed
all their dwellings. But they didn't seem
| to think about getting ready to receive
Jesus. They knew they must invite Him
to come at once or not at all So many
people hesitate to invite Jesus to come In
and abide with them because of what
Jesus will find within the heart and life.
II is one OF the subterfuges OF the devil
to make the soul believe that It must be
little better; that 1t must cut off this
sin here, and cover up that hideous sore
there; that 1t must whitewash and
houseclean, before inviting Jesus In.
| The soul that attempts that always
makes a botch OF 1t, and makes 1t in
finitely harder for Jesus when He does
come. II the Samaritans had waited to
get ready for Jesus they would have
made woeful job Of 1t, ard 1t would
have taken Jesus two months, probably.
instead of two days to perform His
cleansing, saving grace in that city. Tho
artist, who invited the miserable, ragged
beggar to come to his studio to sit as
model for the beggar In the picture he
was painting was not more bitterly dis
appointed when the beggar came the next
day all cleaned and clothed in goodly
garments, than Is Jesus when the soul
tries to clean up and fix up before invit-
ing Jesus In. He wants you just as you
are. Come out to Jesus Respond to
the invitation at once. and 1t will be re-
corded of you even as 1t was concerning
those Samaritans, that Jesus abode with
them.
6 A ND Jesus abode there two day."
| "A Those were busy days, you may be
sure, and believe the social and business
life Of that city was shaken to its founda-
tions. Was shaken until the false and
the unclean and the sinful were thrown
to the ground and buried out of sight.
We can judge something Of the moral
rottenness of the city from the life OF
the woman. whose inmost secrets Jesus
revealed. And cannot believe that
Jesus went into that city and stayed two
days without working revolution in
the lives and conduct of those people.
During those two days We know that
Jesus taught them, for their saving faith
was the result of His direct teaching.
And do not believe 1t was a lot of plati-
tudes and sweet phrases Jesus spoke.
Rather did He deal with the direct needs
of the people. And 1t is reasonably GER
tain that they Immediately obeyed the
truth, for II they had not 1t would have
stung them and made them angry even
as 1t did the Pharisees. Such Joy as the
Samaritans expressed in their testi-
mony of the Christ and what He had be-
come to them could only have come
from changed life and heart, the fruit
of obedience to the truth. Gods message
comes to my heart and reveals some sin.
some wrong doing, but instead Of obey
ing Gods Word and turning from the
sin | cling to 1t. Are there no Joy and
peace within? No, such condition Is
impossible. am of all men most mis-
cradle. AS the Psalmist says: my
bones waste away through my groaning
all the day long" But when sin Is con-
fessed and turned from, then comes joy
into the heart. This was the experience
of the Samaritans. | am certain. They
heard Jesus and they obeyed Him. The
immoral blemishes were removed. Th5
fostering plague spots of sin were healed
by contact with the Christ New Joy
and hope came into the life. No wonder
they joyfully told the woman who had
tnII Of ha bric hot s1Nnxu
we believe, not because of thy speaking;
for we have heard for ourselves. and
know~that this is indeed the Saviour of
the world"
TWO kinds of faith, head faith
l which accepts the fact of the Christ,
and heart faith. which comes from con-
tact with the Christ. What kind Of faith
is it you possess? You have heard of
Jesus. You have heard others tell OF
what Jesus has done for them. You be-
lieve in Him because of such testimony
This was the first experience of the Sa-
maritans.' But have you entered into
the second experience which came to
them, and can you say with them: Now
we believe, because we have heard for
ourselves, and know that this Is indeed
the Saviour Of the world?" II not. dear
friend, you Go not possess saving
faith. Yours is head faith instead Of a
heart faith. and again we want to re-
mind you that 1t is with the heart that
man believeth unto righteousness. !"
What you need to have Is this second
experience Of these Samaritans. You
need to go out to the place where Jesus
may be found. and this is the place OF
the surrendered will. You need then to
invite Him. yea. beseech Him. to come
in and abide with you. And having
made Him your guest, you must receive
His message and then obey 1t. 1t is
then that the heart fills with the blessed
consciousness of the presence of the
Christ. and 1t Is then that the faith
which depended upon the testimony OF
others gives place to the saving faith
which can say we believe because we
have heard Him speak ourselves, and
T. L.. a c..