South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-06-20
BARRIERS TO SALVATION.

BARRIERS TO SALVATION.
1. \ Mere Desire VIII not Bring
Salvation. OF course there is desire
and desire but the desire for salvation
must be greater than every other de-
sire, and greater than all other desires
com bined. The young man who was
rich, who came to Jesus asking what
he should do to inherit eternal lie,
was, no doubt, sincere in his request,
but when Jesus told him that the thing
for him TO do was TO sell all his earthly
possessions and follow him, his desire
was not strong enough TO pay the
price and he turned away from Christ
sOrrOwfully. Good desires are good,
so far as they go, but a desire for sal
walton which is not paramount or the
chief craving OF a mans heart, VIII
not be effectual. There are very Few
sinners who have NO good desires or
one kind or another, and indeed II Is
likely that most men have more or
less desire for Christ's salvation, and
intend to accept of IL some day, but
such desires are, / think, worse than
useless. as they tend to make man
feel that he is not as bad as he IS.
Good desires are sometimes made a
reason for SHINING. i can imagine the
devil encouraging man in any KIND
Of good desire which falls short OF
that 1.-THE road to hell is paved with
good resolutions" / beg of you. my
friend to improve upon the good de-
sires which the young man in the par
able had; that you no longer live 10
serve mammon, but to serve God. II
YOU have riches it we're better Tor you
to throw them into the sea than miss
your SOULS salvation.
.. A Man May BE Moral and Not
BE saved The young man in the
lesson story vas very moral He SAID
that he had kept all the command
ments from his youth and Christ
seems TO have believed what he said,
for as he looked upon him he loved
him. But he lacked the supreme pas
sion, the all-absorbing desire neces-
sary for salvation, and when il came
to the test he loved money more than
he did God. He seems to have thought
that there was a way for him 20 serve
mammon and to serve God at the same
time but of this he was disillusioned
by Jesus. 1t is true that a man cannot
be a Christian and be immoral, Dut
one may be moral without being a
Christian. God will admit of no rivals
in our love for him; he must have the
first place in our affections, and fail
ing that we reject salvation. me
practical question for YOU, my beloved.
is have YOU surrendered yourself
wholly TO Jesus? Do YOU in your plan
and purpose give up all things in or
der to purchase the pearl OF great
price?
3. Riches and Greatness Are Great
Handicaps 40 Salvation. When the
young man turned away from Jesus
because he could not surrender his
great possessions. Jesus looked round
about, and saith unto his disciples,
how hardly shall they that have
Ii, y1r.r,, Of NsN6f
Later in the conversation he went so
far as to say. at is easier for a camel
To go through the eye of needle
than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom Of Cod" His disciples were
greatly astonished at this, but after
wards Jesus explained his meaning.
As a matter of fact. the rich and the
learned cannot he saved as such. They
must forget their possessions and their
learning, and he saved like any other
poor sinner. Hun. ility is a prime ne
cessity for salvation, and those VINO
cannot humble themselves like little
children cannot come into the kingdom
of God. Jesus modified statement is,
How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God
Experience proves this to ne true, Tor
not many rich men. not many mighty.
not many great men stoOp to accept
of salvation on the terms which Jesus
makes necessary.
4. The Surrender of All Things TO
God Brings Great Returns. When we
comply with Gods demands to give
up all things for him, il is then the
first time in our lives that we possess
anything All our possessions. preVi-
Gus 10 this, no matter how rich or
how learned or how influential we may
have been. were fictitious or useless
possessions. All things which we may
hold without the favor of God are so
many handicaps in life: but when We
surrender all to him. he gives us all
things back again, plus his blessing
and the wondrOus grace of God in
our hearts We then are made rich
toward God. being in possession OF
the pearl OF great price. which is more
valuable than all other things COM
bined. To receive the forgiveness OF
our sins. and adoption into tho family
of God. TO have our hearts made clean.
to be indwelt with the peace of God
which passeth al unders1 anding. TO
come into the real possession Of our
selves 90 that we can control our
selves. and be content with little or
much. is TO possess riches whose value
is beyond computation. The rich
man. Zacchaeus. after he had given
half Of his goods 10 the poor. and had
restored fOurfold TO all those from
whom he had taken anything wrong
fully, entered into infinitely greater
possessions than those he had surren-
dered.
I Copyright. 1914. by E. S. Davidson