The Penn's Grove record., 1904-06-24

NOly PICdSiCo Oh NuIISl NllI VI luIE.
The text was taken from John x:IO: 81
am come that they might have life" Mr..
Lunn said:
l am sure that l do not ~exaggerate when
l say that no words Of our Lord are more
profoundly significant than these words of
the text. We have in a compact form a
statement of the purpose Of Jesus Christ.
All else is subordinated to this great and
predominant aim. Jesus Christ has come
into the world to give that life in ever in
creasing abundance. This is not a conclu-
sion of min worked out after special in
vestigation; it is the simple and clear and
forceful statement of our Lord Himself. l
rest upon His word as a f~nality. And l
find in this verse a fuller and richer ex-
preston of the purpose of Christ than is
found anywhere else in Scripture.
What, then, is the life which Christ
seeks to give? 1t is the life of fellowship
with God, the Father; a fellowship begun
on earth and continued throughout the
ages of eternity. 1t is the life Of spiritual
oneness with God, united to Him in
thought, in purpose, in all our varying ac-
Invites. 1t is the larger life which com
prehends our present life, enriching it with
all the holy purposes of God, our Saviour,
hitting us by S power into the purified at
mosphere of noble deeds, done for His
sake. In other words, it is the life of
which our Master spoke when He said that
to lose it was a calamity, even though a
man should gain the whole world.
l think l am right in saying that a great
many people interpret the words and work
of our Lord as applying chiefly to the other
world, not altogether, but chiefly. They
regard the religion of Christ as an insur-
ance of safety for the next world rather
than a definite program of activity for the
present. They think more of the saving
of the soul after death than of saving the
life before death. No stronger illustration
of this thought can be found than the
large numbers of men who delay their de-
cision in reference to Christ to some more
convenient season. They say, not now,
but at some future time, l will settle the
great question of nay souls relation to
God. You cannot find a man who will not
express some wish to lead a better life:
but in nearly every case they see no need
of an immediate decision. In my pastoral
work l have come in contact with this ex-
perience time and again. And as l have
endeavored to understand what is the IN
DERIVING cause of so much indecision re-
garding 4~eligious things, l find that most
OF it can be traced to this fundamental
misinterpretation of the words and work
of Jesus Christ our Lord. You may ex-
press this IN marv ways, but at heart the
point Is this-the saving of the soul after
death, instead of saving the life right here
and now; the gaining of heaven hereafter,
rather than entering into heaven now.
And because of this Interpretation men
feel no immediate necessity of getting
right with God. So long as they are rea.
eonably sure of life here, they are willing
to delay the great decision of the soul.
Against this view of religion allow me tc
bring the message of the Saviour, 81 am
come that they might have life and thai
they might have it more abundantly." You
cannot read the gospels without coming
into contact with this purpose of Christ al
every turn. Repeatedly do you find the
word life. We are struck with the fact
how constantly the word life was on the
lips of Jesus. 1t is a word which gives III
the very heart of Jesus teaching. He wai
always praising, always promising life. "I
thou wilt enter into life keep My com
hath life" Gas the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son tc
have life in Himself" Because l live ye
shall live also" eye will not come unto
Me that ye might have life" Everywhere
we find this same eager pleading with mer
to enter into life, and we further find that
Jesus identified life with goodness. Tt
Jesus life consisted in goodness. Wicked
ness is death. "The soul that sinneth, il
shall die" is not so much a threat as the
statement of a great truth. For the sin
ming soul dies by reason of the very fact OF
its shining. There is no lite for the hu.
man soul but in Righteousness. Jesus,
therefore, uses language which we may
justly call violent when He referred to the
possibility of a mans losing his higher
life. Better to cut off the offending hand
or foot if it binders the aspiring soul
Better to pluck out the eye which causes
stumbling if by that 1leans the real life o.
God may be gained. l have called thi;
language violent, and such it is. Not thai
Jesus anticipated any literal interpreta
tion and literal following. The f%orcefu
illustration Is used to emphasize a terrible
and an eternal truth. The very possibility
of a mans failing to enter into the life o.
fellowship with God, was a thought which
brought strong tears to the eyes of the Sa
viour of men. l tell you that in these day.
we are harboring in our hearts a senti
mental sympathy which overlooks sin auC
condones iniquity and seeks to apologize
for the ster7 words of the Saviour. There
was no doubt a ringing doom against sin
But it was not the doom of a threat
Jesus never threatened. He revealed
what sin Is; its very nature is death. The
open door of life in God is before men
To pass by that door does not mean thai
God will arbitrarily punish, but that tht
very passing it by is death. The issue O.
sin is doom, exile into the night, the
eclipse of desolation and abandonment.
Does there move in your hearts the sus
picion that such a doom is exaggerated anC
overdone? When that suspicion comes tt
me, and it often comes, l remember the
words of a sainted preacher: when | an
tempted to think that the doom is over
done, | must remember that the Son Of
God, my Saviour, with an infinite insight
into all things, supeTlatively sensitive
knowing the inmost heart of life, He, oul
Saviour, pronounced the doom to be just
This Christ, who gave Himself for us, who
loved us, told us in words-I venture tC
say loving words, of appalling terror-that
for the deliberately sinful, and for the de
liberately unjust, there is no place but the
night, no place but the outer darkness, nc
place but ultimate separateness, no place
but ultimate forsakenness and abandon.
ment. These are my Masters words, and
against them | will rear nc petty magma
ton of my own; | will rather silence my
own unillumined suspicion and humbly anc
quietly take my place with Him. The
wages of sin is the night" 1t is the night
now; it is the night hereafter. The es
sence of sin is death; it is exile; it is aban
donment. Jesus words were violent, but
He was not seeking to produce fear, but
to reveal fact.
Now to all of us who feel this fact Sc
keenly Jesus brings His evangel of forgive
ness and peace. The words spoken so lone
ago have their greatest significance now
for we can see, as those Jews could not see
their fuller and more profound meaning
As He spoke of the Father in such init
mate terms, bitter resentment arose in
their hearts. As He told them of His will
l~ingness to lay down His life for His sheep
they reterted: HE hath a demon and Is
mail; why hear We Him." Possibly We
would have spoken likewise had we beer
living then. But now in the light of the
centuries past, we look upon that lonely
forsaken, crucified Christ and recognize il
His face the glory of the living, suffering
God. For the "sufferings of Christ were
the true representative symbol and proc
lamation of what goes on perpetually in
God. From them God wishes the world to
learn that sin is put away only through
the redemptive suffering of holy love
which He Himself is gladly bearing, and
which Christ, His representative and ex.
preston, endured before the eyes of men"
1t is this truth which gives to the words
of the text their power. He who said. 81
am come that We might have life is Him.
self the life which He seeks to impart. He
and the Father are one. The words which
the historic Christ spoke to those Jews
then are hainu reOaatad now m ur bv the