The Daily Missoulian., 1913-02-12
CONFESS|NC CHRIST
BEFORE MEN
PRACTICAL SERMON UPON I'M.
PoRTANT THEME DELIVERED
BY EVANGELIST.

A prominent business man said of
Evangelist Smiths sermon of last
evening: 1T was the most practical
evangelistic sermon I ever heard y
Mr.. Smith spoke upon "Why People
Should Openly Confess Christ Before
the World" He read the story OF
shrists healing a withered hand. a
story found in the first five verses OF
the third chapter of Mark The man
was commanded to stand forth in
the midst and to stretch forth thine
hand" With these two significant
commands the evangelist added Ro-
mans 1919 70: IF thou shalt con-
TESS with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised Him from the dead
thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteous
ness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation"
Said Mr. Smith Il do not believe
that in all the Bibla there is a more
important passage IF scripture for the
seeker after salvation, for here you
have clearly defined the steps you
must take in order to obtain salvation,
to believe in the heart and to confess
with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and
the story of Christs healing the with
cred hand gives you an illustration
of both of these steps He commanded
the man to stand forth in the midst
That was an act of open confession.
Then he commanded him to stretch
forth thine hand and no finer illus
tration Of faith can be found any
where, and if one command is bind
Ing in entering the Christian life, then
The other surely is.
| am not going to dwell upon the
Importance of faith as an essential to
salvation, tor you all believe in its
Ii cesslty, but in spite of the fact that
one command is just as binding as the
other, scores of people are not willing
to openly confess Christ before the
World. Therefore, l am going to speak
upon Why openly confess Christ be-
fore the world or Why stand forth
in the midst.
Let me put myself on record at
the outset as not beng a stickler for
any one method. Many evangelists
and many Christian people make them
selves ridiculous and useless because
they insist that their way is the one
and only way OF openly Confessing
Christ. Any way that will lead the
sinner to forsake his sins and openly
confess Christ before the world is
good enough method for me, and [ in
SlSt that it is good enough method for
anybody.
The first reason l name why men
should openly confess Christ is be-
cause it is direct command of Gods
Word-and that is enough to convince
anyone who is willing to be convinced
and proves beyond an answer that
people simply do not want to take an
open stand and not because they have
a reason for not doing 50. Fact is,
mere is their ground for refusing to
do so. When we are face to face with
the What saith the Lord there is no
ground for argument, so we leave this
point at once. 1t must be done be-
cause God says SO.
The second reason is because 1t
gives victory over ones self, and l
know of nothing more needful. This |
say from the standpoint of the seeking
sinner himself. If | could get you to
step out boldly tonight, / know l would
bring to you such a blessing as you
never have enjoyed before. At Hamil-
ton man past 70 years of age, who
said he had fought against this thing
for 60 Years, said to me just before
leaving for Missoula: Tell all of my
old soldier friends and all others not
to make the awful mistake l have
made l have just begun to really
live That old gentleman was right, as
every person in this audience will wit
ness who has taken definite out
and-out stand for Christ
The third reason is because it will
give one strength. Again | am speak
ing from the standpoint of the person
who takes the stand and not for the
glory of the preacher, or even of God
Himself. Twenty years of eX-