The Southern herald., 1912-10-18

like case BY the
thought OF the
outcome Of them all in the far more
exceeding and eternal weight os
glory" This glory ls certainty, for
be goes on to add; I'VE know that
L the earthly house Of our bodily
frame be dissolved, we have . build
Ing from God. an house not made with
hands, eternal, in the heavens" There
are so many things which Christian
nay know II he will only take Gods
word for them. and this thing. 90 fun
of comfort, Is one OF them. We who
are in the present body sroan In Il
for many reasons, but our desire IL II
We are Christians not merely to BE-
rid Of It but to be clothed upon" L
D., to receive our new resurrection and
glorifed body. In other words, the hope
~. before the regenerated man Ia not
deSth but that which sooner or later
follows death, the resurrection and all
that II implies. II is then that what IL
mortal shall be swallowed up Of life.
Assurance OF NeeurrOcuon.
After speaking Of the hope set b.
tore the Christian the inspired writes
goes on to show how assured Il is In
verses s to 8. He that wrought ~
Tor this very thing is God." he sayH,
The very object God had In view in
the salvation Of any man and all hla
work OF grace in him was to this very
end. A great theologian has said
"The end of Gods way are corpe-
riety," thought which Paul sets be-
fore us here as applied to the reuur
nectlon from the dead. Moreover, 0od
has not only wrought US to this END.
not only is this Gods purpose con-
cerning US Christians, but he has
given uB . pledge Of II in the dwell.
Ing Of his holy spirit within us. The
holy spirit In every believer is an
earnest" or foretaste OF this thing
his indwelllng certlfes to our resur
rectlon, 30 that I'VE are always con.
ndsnt" or Of good courage concerning
It.
Wherefore, says the apostle, I'VE Ia
bor," or rather We make II our aim
or ambition, that whether present OF
absent we may be accepted OF him"
Paul was always looking for the re-
turn Of the Lord Jesus Christ. and II
he, Paul, were present In the flesh on
the earth when he came, he wanted to
be found accepted or well.pleaslng In
his sight. It was possible, however.
that he might be absent from the
earth and from the body when the
Lord came, but in that case also he
wanted to be accepted Of him. Wheth.
er he we're present in the body or alb
sent from the body he expected to
stand before him. I'VE must all ap
pear before the judgment-seat Of
Christ" he says, that everyone may
receive the things done in his body
whether It be good or bad" The ref.
erence here is to Christians. They
will not have to stand before Christ's
judgment-seat in order to have II de,
termined whether they are lost Or
saved, that Is determined the momens
the Christian takes Jesus Christ b.
faith to be his savior but they must
render an account to him Of their
stewardship as Christians In order to
determine the matter OF their re-
wards. Il was for this reason that
Paul wished to be found well-pleasing
to him, and this reason sets before
US the power Of the Christians hope
to produce holy life.
Reason for Evangelism.
But there was one special matter in
which Paul desired to be well.pleasinK
to his lord, and that was In the saw
Ing Of lost souls such as he had been.
and such as all men are by nature.
knowing therefore" he says, the
fear Of the Lord" ~. e., having our
eyes on the judgmentseat OF Christ
when we must give account OF oar
service with reference to our reward
I'VE persuade men,"
This was The motive for such serv-
ice with hiiA. He was not thinking
Just now of the peril and retribution
: that would fall upon the lost, though,
y Of course, at other times he empha,
} sized that motive for saving such.
but he was thinking Of his own ac.
countability when, raised from the
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