The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-05-08
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A SERMON AsG4
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Subject: The Faultless Christ.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Preaching at the
irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme 1.-THE Faultless Christ"
the Rev. Ira Wemmell Henderson,
pastor took as his text Luke 23:4, Il
find no fault in this Man" He said:
This honest answer of Pontius Pr
late to the statements Of the lying
multitude is the testimony of all men
who study, with insight and under
standing, the career of Jesus Christ.
Put to any test and Judged by whatso-
ever standard you may will, the Mas
ter of us all will be found without
flaw, fault or spot. Measured by any
rule you may suggest, Jesus meets
requirements to the full. Does your
ideal of manhood demand more than
mortal men reveal Of virtue and of
worth, there the Savior stands to
supply your souls desire. Do you
ask for weight of mind or depth of
thought, who car outmatch Jesus?
Do you seek for clarity Of vision and
for spiritual force-there is none
like Him. For downright manliness
and for that halloWedness Of heart
which marked Him: as divine, none
can compare with the Son Of God.
Each of us must declare Him fault
less. all of us must admire and
should initiate His perfectness OF
life; Pontius Pilate' pronounced Jes-
us free Of guilt after a limited dis
cussion of Jesus regal claim. In
this day and hour millions OF men,
after careful analysis and close scru-
tiny of His life and claims, glory IN
His perfectness and hail Him Son OF
God and saving Lord. Shall we not
do honor for a moment to this self
declared Messiah, whom we have
crowned as King?
To the faultlessness which Plate
ascribed to Him let us add the testi-
mouy Of St. John, who has preached
Him as the fulpess Of truth and
grace.
Faultless, the possessor and the re-
vealer Of divine truth, powerful IN
His wealth of grace, so was u Lord.
For His excellency in these three
winning virtues let US pay Him hon.
age now.
''Then said PLATE to the chief
priests and to the people, I find no
fault in this Man" Faultlessness
is perfection. To be without fault
is to free from defect. AS the 1tal-
ians would phrase it, to be faultless
is to be lacking in nothing. Jesus
was a faultless man-only sucn
could have been the mouthpiece OF
the convincing oracles which the
Savior brought from God. Fau!t1-
ness, which is but another name Tor
falseness, was apart from His ma
ture. Jesus made no p~retens1ons.
He was Just what He claimed to be.
Sincerity rang from His every word
and made eloquent His every deed.
| Deceit and deception were not in His
line. Often the Lord sent His truth
home yelled with we'll chosen words.
| But at no time did He use deceit to
gain His ends. True enough 1t is,
that plain statement Of the truth
made Him so many enemies at times,
that It is a wonder that, now and
then, He did not pare the truth to
save Himself friends. But no, the
Christ was not on earth to trim or
to cut the truth to suit those whom
1t hardest hit. His mission was TO
preach the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, as com
ing from the mouth of God. Inc
Savior was no trimmer. Oftentimes
His words laid bare the soul secrets
of the men to whom He spoke. Now
and then, He cut them to the very
quick. But because their hearts were
hard was not His fault. His was the
blameless, faultless life and theirs
were the hearts that were dead IN
sin and to shame. Without gulle
and without guilt is the judgment OF
our minds and hearts upon this man
in whom PLATE found no fault.
John tells us in the verse Whlcn
we lust read that Jesus was full OF
grace. Grace is graciousness, lowell
ness. Coming to us as the dispenser
of the love of God freely bestowed
mon men in sin Jesus eXempl11es IN
His own life that gracious loneliness
which He breaches. Pure, gentle,
noble. upright, kind and true, Christ
Is a foy to eye and soul alike. 10
gaze into His face must have been
to walk with God to those who under
stood. And those to-day within the
unhindered influence Of the Master
may bear upon their own faces the
marks of inward loneliness OF life.
The power of Transforming grace
will change not only the spiritual
nature of a man, but also vii! re-
mold and transigure the very feat-
ures Of his face. A c~ountenance tnat
is hard with sin will mellow into
! g%entleness and peace through the
Welding of the soul to the Savior.
That quiet charm Of manner which
must have been our Lords, and
which is the badge of Cody living
which many Christians bear, may be
the possession Of each Of US, do we
want it. You know the gracious
cast of countenance I mean. That
quiet, holy, sanity look which nils
the faces of many men and women
in whose hearts the spirit moves.
Who does not want it?
Grace is kindness. Maltbie BAD
cock put it we'll when he said kind
ness is recognizing another's kin
shin" Jesus saw the same ances-
try in other men which made Him a
Son of God. Seeing the need of dy-
ing men, His kinsmen, u Lord
yearned to give them life forever
more. Not His own convenience
but their need, moved Christ TO &C.
ton. Personal ambition crept into
His soul but once, only to be sacr1-
feed forthwith to human need. Sa-
tan offered power. but Jesus hun
gered after souls. Satan preferred
money, the Savior chose men. Kind
ness proved the inner grace OF Christ.
And a Christly kindness exercised by
each of us will not only makes us
friends, but will also cause us 10
grow in grace.
Grace is goodwill. This is not to