Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-05-21
Behold, / Stand at the Door and Knock
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plea for sinners to come to Christ in
his sermon on Behold I Stand at the
Door and Knock" at the tabernacle
"Wednesday night. At times he grew
most eloquent as he urged those who
were far distant from Christ, and
church members who had forgotten
their vows, to unbolt and open the
doors of their hearts so that Jesus
might come into their lives. The SER
mon in full is as follows:
ICopyright, 1908, by William Ashley
Sunday
In the third chapter of Revelations,
the twentieth verse: Behold, I stand
at the door and knock; if any man
will come to him and and will sup
with him, and he with me-"
This is a part of the message Of
Jesus thru the Apostle John, written
while on the island of Patmos, to
which he had been banished by order
of the king, and was given to the back
slidden church. There We're many
who were on earth in those days who
enjoyed wonderful and exalted priv
ileges that are not ours. They had
seen Jesus Christ in the flesh; they
had heard him speak; they had been
the recipients of his miracles and they
had associated with the most marvel
Gus parsonage that ever trod this earth
They heard the precepts as they fell
from his lips, and had imbibed the
power that came from association, and
he sent this message thru the Holy
Spirit and John to bring them to a
realization of what they should be and
what he wished they should be.
Jesus Waits.
II want you to know I am not a
pessimist, but I am an optimist of the
optimists. Churches are rising and
the memberships increasing, and the
wave of religious zeal started at the
close of the seventeenth century, I'M
der the preaching of Wesley and
Whitefield, has not lost its power, al
tho it is having tremendous odds with
which to contend, but it is going on
with triumph and gaining victories.
And yet something seems to be lack
Ing. We are increased in goods, yet
there are the same poor and naked and
blind, and | believe that Jesus Christ
stands at the door of the church life
and I believe that there is no music,
there is no ritual, there is no progress
in material matters that have a fea-
theirs weight of worth with God. We
admit philosophy; we admit educa-
tion and ethics. God would not re-
pudiate you; the Lord would not say
you nay. You admit society, and you
admit hundred and one things God
would keep OF, ana things which you
admit and mako a religion out of don't
amount to a zap CT Your finger, and
yet you compel Jesus Christ to wait
without.
If you would let him come in, out
would go suspicion, jealouses SLAM
lions, feuds, quarrels that wreck the
church and disgust God and the neigh
borhood. If Jesus Christ should come
in these would all go out. Not only, in
my opinion, does 1t apply to the
church, but to every soul that shuts
Jesus Christ out of his or her life.
There he stands at the door pleading;
there you are, a careless inhabitant, a
careless attendant, boiling the door of
your will and refusing Jesus Christ
the privilege to enter. Your religion is
in your will, not in your handkerchief.
If your will or your life is not in har-
mony with the revealed will of God,
then you are not religious, you are not
christian. Religion comes from the
word "religio," and means the con-
scious relation between man with God.
Man forfeits his standing with God
when he sins. God looks upon a sin
ner as if he didn't live, and he doesn't
live spiritually. A sinner is rebel.
Religion Most Reasonable.
q don't have much to say in my
sermons about poor sinners. You
won't need your handkerchiefs very
much. l want to show you that re-
ligion is the most reasonable thing
In the world. Drops of grief can
meier repay the debt of love owe."
Therefore, a sinner is rebel. A sim
ner in his attitude toward God and the
church is just the same as the confed-
crates in their attitude toward the
government. They sought to set up a
government of their own contrary to
our government, and until they laid
down their arms of rebellion, they for
feited their standing as citizens-they
forfeited their right to protection by
the government, but when they sur
rendered and said, I'VE YIELD" all they
lost thru their rebellion was theirs
again, until today the south is as much
under the protection of the Stars and
Stripes as is iowa. And until you lay
down your arms of rebellion and tell
God you are sinner and accept Jesus
Christ as your Savior, you are a rebel
and God will deal with you as a rebel
Don't forget that for a minute. That
is your attitude toward God if you are
q simmer. So don't swell up like a
poisoned pup If you have little mon
ey. That makes no difference to God.
That cuts no ice.
Get Acquainted With God.
Some people say: "Well, it's hard
to get acquainted with Cod" It's
the easiest thing in the world to get
acquainted with God, and If you are
here tonight and are not christian,
it is because you don't want to be a
christian. If you are here tonight
without the touch Of God on your life,
it is because you don't want it. If
you are here tonight rebel against
God, it is because you would rather
be a rebel against God than to be a
Gods disciple. If you are here tonight
an old libertine, it is because you
would rather be impure than be pure,
that's all. You are what you are be-
cause you would rather be that than
the other.
Some men say to me: "How am
to know God wants to come into
my life?" will play the Yankee aud
answered your question by asking one.