The Penn's Grove record., 1907-03-22

Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme, "Christ's Agony and
Ours" the Rev. Ira Wemmeil Hem
derson, pastor, took as his text Luke
1874, And ye would not" He
said:
The lamentation of Jesus over the
City of Jerusalem was occasioned by
His clear vision of the depth of her
need, of the completeness of her re-
lection of Himself and the revelation
of and from the Father that He
brought, and by His firm conviction
that disdain for His Gospel meant
death for herself. Feeling in His
1nmost heart that His was the truth
that could save the city of His people
from its sin; knowing, as He did,
that He vas the lo~ng-heralded Mes
siah who should lead His countrymen
into the liberty of that life within
Jehovah which should satisfy their
souls; and experiencing, as He had,
the temper of the minds of the &C.
clesiastical and clerical leaders of
the synagogues, Jesus was sick at
heart over the spiritual doom that
was sure to overtake His people. To
Jesus sin vas the most awful, the
most terrifying, the most fearful
thing in the world. For Him the
word "sin" summed up, short and
quick, all those agencies which were
anti-GoGly and which led men far
from the Father. Sin meant d~estruc-
tion, disapproval in the eyes of God,
and its wages were the seeds of
death. The Gospel, on the other
hand, held for Jesus the kernel and
the conclusion of all those forces that
should gain men life eternal and the
full, enthusiastic favor of the King,
their Guide. Being born again of
God and entering into the freedom
of the spiritual life divine, Jesus con-
ceived these men, His brethren, as
obtaining deliverance from eternal
death.
With this philosophy and this Wis
ion of the need and the issue-both
of which Jesus had direct from God
is it any wonder that He wept over
the City of Jerusalem? Sin is death.
My Gospel is the way of sure saliva
tion-the only way-and the true
guide unto life that is eternal. Thus
reasons Jesus. These men are bound
in and unto sin. How gladly would
/ teach to them those spiritual truths
that should save them, but they will
not. Sin is their choice, separation
from the Father is their self-willed
death. Do you wonder why the Saw
for suffered unto bitter agony and
tears? His was the wide and com
p~rehensive view of the world, it's sin,
its need, it's salvation, its denial, its
destruction. = Any smaller or less
comprehending insight would have
been of none avail. a great, limit
less, universal understanding of the
situation as it was-and is-was the
one means to stir the soul of the
Christ to it's depths. A weaker mar
with a smaller horizon would have
become discouraged or disguised. A
big man, full of heart and grit, with
the richness of Gods love flooding all
his being, was the only one who could
mourn. Jesus wept-not from dis
gust, or Encouragement, but because
His whole soul yearned to lead His
dying brethren into life for eyermore.
The weight of their guilt, the GER
tainty of their dying, the uselessness
and the wickedness of it all came
upon the soul Of Christ with resist
less force and wrung His heart in
agony.
And now, beloved, this lesson from
the life of our Lord points a three
fold duty for each of US. The accept
ance by US of this triple obligation
which the agony of the Master calls
to our attention, will prove to the
world about US that our Christ wept
not in vain. And the duties three
are these: First, we must be convict
cd of the awfulness of that sin whose
logical outcome is death. Secondly.
we must have an experimental and
distinct knowledge that the only sure
salvation from this death-dealing sir
Is through Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we
must, with weeping hearts, go forth
into the world as living evangels tt
preach to all mankind salvation from
this deathly sin through Jesus Chris
our Lord.
The awfulness of sin is a bywort
rather than a belief among men to
day. In our earnest and quite legtti
mate endeavor to publish the glory
of the love of God for the sinner, WI
have lost to a great extent our con
seriousness and our former denuncia
ton of the hideousness of sin. II
our endeaYor to escape from the I'M
reasonable curse of a bodily hell We
have, many of US, rushed to b othel
extreme-that is to say, no hell a.
all. In our earnest preaching OF thu
love of God toward the sinner WI
have become, 1 fear, too lenient Will
sin. My friends, the love of God il
a reality. The punishment and th'
death of man brings no Joy to tn
Fathers heart. Jehovah wants ever!
man to live within the light of His
countenance of love. To the end tina
we might have life and that more
abundantly He sent His Son u Say
ior to reveal Himself to US. But sill
is always hateful to God. His whole
nsture shrinks from it, as should oul
natures, as from a thing unclean. ii
can have no communion with it-no,
should we. It's pleasures are deaC
fruit, it's enjoyments are transfer
and a mockery, its wages Is death
Human experience has proved th1
to be so, and the word of the living
God sustains the charge. Sin i
death. In strict union within God !
life. Sin and God a have no com
merce. Where sin is, God cannot be
Where the Father is, sin is eclipsed
for with Him there is no evil, bu
only the fullness of eternal life. Sill
is death. Death is the lack of life
The rudy apple drops from the leafy
living bough and dies. The seeds o
quick consumption strike the human
he9r; and death ensues. In each cas-
the element of destruction has en-
tered. And as with the physical, 81
with the spiritual.
Goodness is life. Life is uniol
with the principle of life. The daint,
ap~ple-blossom holds closely to thu
budding branch and soon we plucl
the sound and luscious, wholesom,
fruit. The life that seems sc nea
the brink of deaths dark stream, tn,
heart that weakly beats, the blooC
that boils at fever heat, all seize upol
the remedies that cure, and health
and healing vigor rush through tn
weakened frame. In each ase tn,
principle of life has been at work
AS with the natural, so with thu
spiritual.
All, yes, beloved. sin is bondage
death, disgrace, improbable. God
illness is great gain and it will surel,
bring contentment. Sin is distanc,