El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-24
Increases the Attendance At All Churches
MANS Defeat the Result of a Lost IDEAL;
4VA God Has Given World Perfect Example
See the Signals Along way sTewn the Path Time With
Human Wreckage Who Have LOST dIS C1s
Rev SIZE WEBDETI Pastor Of

children to lose the way We are so prone
to investigate others; to bisect and trisect
our neighbors and then examine the pieces
under the microscope.
Should Search Our Own Hearts
But what we ought to do and what God
commands US to do Is to search our own
hearts and discover II possible whether we
are measuring up to Gods standard or not
We are not left in the dark as to this
point, for there is a natural and a divine
outline to every mans life. Sin depraves,
but does not Obliterate the organic powers
and the natural pecularities and tendencies
Of the individual There is some outline Of
what might have been, left in each individ-
ual. There are diversities Just as we catch
a glimpse Of the sun on a cloudy day, Just
so, now and then, in a supreme moment
we have caught glimpses Of what we might
have been.
The lost self is the self that must be
found and we must find that self in the
light which streams from the cross or else
happiness and eternal JOY will not be found.
The text reveals that heaven mourns over
this lost ideal. My text indicates that It Is
not a matter Of Indifference with God as to
how men live. God feels deeply and our
failure Is a source Of pain and deep sorrow
and regret, and with a yearning love and
the longing Of a fathers heart, he says:
"Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my COM
mandments; Then had thy peace been like
a river, and thy righteousness like the waves
Of the sea-"
welfare would have been like a river, which
fills and OverflOWs its banks, spreading fer
ulry IN It's course. and tiny nervousness
"a term here used in its larger sense for
universal good, truth and honor, like the
waves Of the sea" A much greater and
grander picture than that Of the river, re-
svealing to US how great and grand God
would have mans life to be. No life which
has failed to measure up to the gospel idea
as given to the world by Jesus Christ, can
be beautiful or grand or helpful
Our own experience and observation and
the bible teach US that we have all sinned
and come short Of the glory Of God. What
are we going to do about IT. Is there no
help for US?
Let me call your attention to Gods pro-
pOsal for restoration. In our text, God
stands in the first fnstance-as with upiifted
hands-pathetically lamenting over a great
loss and ruin Listen to the reading Of the
18th verse: 'Thy seed also had been as
the sands, and the offsprings Of thy bowels
like the gravels thereof; his name should not
have been cut off nor destroyed from be-
fore me"
II things were all hopeless and beyond
redemption, would God have exhorted them
to do anything at all2 He gave them to
understand that though they had deserted
him and gone off into idOlatry, he would
not desert them, and that the work OF re-
demption must 20 on to ultimate success.
That is exactly what God is doing to all dis
couraged and hopeless hearts today. He Is
placing before them the great gospel Of good
news and of divine guidance and strength
Do the nearest thing that you know to be
right. Forsake sin and take the path that
is open. Open your heart for all that God
has for YOU. looking unto Jesus VINO is your
redeemer. who is the author and finisher OF
your faith If you Will do this your spirit
uaI sight will be restored; the dead VIII live
again. and the long lost self will be found,
for when you find Jesus, and crown him
lord Of lords and king Of kings in your
heart you will then again catch view OF
Iife's high and holy ideal.