St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-06-18

grave. He was saved from death in thu
water, but that salvation did not pre-
vent his finally losing his life by drown
ing. God does not save man and the1
leave it possible for him to be lost
Gods salvation is of the eternal brand
This is the reason it transcends thu
| mere human. It becomes operative il
this life and continues in force through
| out the endless ages to come. How
could God call it other than 80 grea1
salvation" -z-es.s-~ 3
4 ND further. 1t is $50 great saliva
"A ton" because it is costly and
glorious. Costly, not in the coin Of
this world where nearly everything is
tested and measured by the gold
dollar; glorious, not in aazzling dis
play of external trappings; but cost
ly in that Heaven gave her best to
the earth, and Christ. the Gift, gave
His best, His very life's blood. that
salvation might be accomplished for
man, and glorious because it revealed
the love, mercy and righteousness of
God to the heart of man. Costly!
Gods only begotten Son was the price
of mans redemption. When the cruel
civil war was raging in this country
many home was bereft of its brave
sons who went forth at the nation s
call never to return. Was it not a
costly gift which the mothers and IA
theirs gave in the persons of their sons?
Anything, everything else in the
world would have been easier to give
than the beloved sons, the pride and
joy of the home. Costly gifts to the
nation, indeed! The home impover-
ished that the nation might be saved!
Heaven impoverished and emptied
that lost mankind might be saved!
A costly salvation, surely! Oh, soul,
just contemplate all that this saliva
tion means in priceless treasure!
The human heart is unable to even
encompass the fullness Of it's meaning.
1t will take eternity to reveal it.
And the glory of it! How would
we ever have known Of the love and
mercy and Righteousness of God If 1t
had not been for the salvation which
He gave to the world? We know it is
80 great salvation" because it re
veals the infinite love of God, because
1t brings the inexhaustible mercy of
God to meet the desperate need Of the
human soul, and because that saliva
ton is the open door to the righteous
ness which Is in Christ Jesus, the
expressed and manifested righteous
ness of God. What conception has
the unsaved mantle unregenerate
man-of the love and mercy and
righteousness of God? A warped and
twisted and unreal conception at best.
But salvation in Christ Jesus reveals
the infinite depths of love that could
go out after poor, lost, unworthy
sinner; it shows His tender mercy
that could forgive and cleanse and
make new again through Jesus
blood; it makes the soul realize the
righteousness of God, and to hunger
and thirst after that righteousness.
Surely, it is $50 great SALVATION that
could do all this, that means all this.
DUT we have not done yet. : It Is
I'D complete salvation, and this Is
one of the strong evidences that it
is great, a marvellous salvation A
complete salvation! God mas not left
His work half done. Christ did not
come to earth, and live a spotless
life, and suffer and die for sin, and
rise from the grave victor over
death, and then ascend to the throne
at the right hand of God in Heaven,
leaving His work of salvation incom.
plete. No, praise God, He declared
with His dying breath: 1T Is fin
ished," and it was finished Atone
ment for sin was fully made. Saliva
ton was complete. And this fact
ought to put joy in the heart and
song in the mouth. The "hope-I IN
saved" Christians have either got a
weak kind of salvation. or else they
are willfully binding themselves to
the fact that Christ's work wassa fin
ished work, and that to the saliva
lion which He offers there is nothing
to be added to make that salvation
sure. Is there nothing for the Chris
tian to do. then? perhaps you ask
Is there nothing for the babe to do
after it is born? Yes, it must grow.
It must feed its stomach, it must fill
it's lungs with air, SO as to keep that
life which was given it at birth. But
It does not have to keep being born,
any more than the Christian has to
keep on being saved. Salvation's
work was complete as soon as the
work of Christ was
in the heart by faith, and
after the new birth there was need of
growth, but that was an entirely diff
ferent thing from salvation. Growth
Is not birth. but follows birth.
Growth in the Christian life is
distinct from salvation in that 1t
follows salvation, and the former can
not take place until the latter condi-
ton aas been realized.
40, .1hen, salvation which God offers
y the lost sinner h complete, the
natchless work of God. Human effort
cannot add to it OF make it more ct
'ective. But Paul makes use Of the
,erm salvation" in speaking to those
Who have been saved by faith in Christ |
Jesus which has different meaning.
rhe Christian is told to work out his |
,wn salvation" But this is not the |