Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1914-05-28

the people Of God who lave escaped
from the bondage of sin and death, and
have come into Christ as New Crea-
lures, have become overcharged with
worldly cares, and thus may fgura-
lively be said to have fallen asleep
again. The sleepy ones will not be
of the Kingdom class, he declared. St.
Paul says that the true Church are not
Of those who are asleep, but are chill
lren of the Day; and therefore they
are to remain awake and be sober,
looking for the great salvation which
is to be brought unto them at the Sec
ond Coming Of our Lord.
Those of the Church who go to sleep
now are those who are overcharged
with the cares of this world and with
the deceitfulness of riches-whether by
intermarrying and thus having the
world brought so close to them that
they are overcome by it's influence; or
whether by business entanglements or
alliances or partnerships, or what not,
that may be unfavorable to their spir-
itual interests and their conservation
oughly awake. and has become men,
Der of the Body of Christ, there is
great danger that such one may be-
come overcharged with worldly cares
and the deceitfulness of riches One
may get the deceitfulness of riches
without having the riches; for the eff
fort to get the riches may develop the
deceit.
Tho Awakening Of the World.
The Pastor then discussed his text
from the standpoint of the future. At
the beginning of the New Day of
Christ the world will be asleep-some
in death, others in ignorance and gu
perstition. But the tumult Of the Time
of Trouble, with which the Scriptures
everywhere declare the change of dis
pensation will be accompanied, will
certainly awaken the majority of those
who are not in their graves. Some are
awakening now; later, the whole world
will awake, and Christ will give them
light
The thousand years of the Messianic
Kingdom will be a time of rising from
the dead. Not merely those who are
in their graves will arise, but all who
| are living at the time of the establish
| ment of the Kingdom will be awak-
ened, before the awakening of those
in the tomb. When awake both classes
will begin to rise out of sin and death
conditions, trying to get little higher
and more awake, in order that they
may receive some Of the blessings of
that glorious time.
The Scriptures declare that at that
time the Sun of Righteousness-Ch
and the glorified Church-will arise
with healing in its beams. Then the
poor world, that have been in sorrow,
pain, crying and dying, afflicted of the
Devil for six thousand years. will be-
gin to look up to the great Redeemer
| for deliverance from the power of Sa-
tan. For the thousand years of the
Messianic Kingdom the Devil will be
bound and have no power to deceive
the people. The true light will then
shine out, and the darkness of su.
tered.
WORLDS Trial Future.
The Pastor then drew soul-inspir.
ing picture of future conditions as fig
uratively shown in the Scriptures. The
New Age will not bring in full light
all at once. The great Sun of Right
eousness = Christ and the gloritied
Church-will have a gradual rising.
like the natural sun Gradually its
rays will dispel the darkness and
clouds; gradually the light of day will
Increase. During the thousand years
the world will be rising gradually from
the dead 1t will require the entire
period of thousand years to accom-
plish the resurrection of the world
now dead in trespasses and sins
The Pastor strengthened his argu
ment with description of the per
sonal test which God will bring t,
each member of the restored race a
the close Of the Messianic Reign, wheI
Christ will have delivered up the King
dom unto the Father. and mankind
will have been left to themselves
Those who have learned really to low
the right and to hate the wrong viii
be ready for such Il test; those VIII
have not developed such characte
will not be ready.
The nature of this test we may no
yet know definitely the Pastor said
In the Revelation it is represented a
the loosing of Satan, to go forth to de
] ceive the whole world of restored hu
mainly. Everybody who has any sym
I pathy whatever with evil will be dc
ceiyed into taking the wrong course
Doubtless those who have reached pei
lection of human nature would nc
5 take that course if they realized tina
q it would bring death upon them
A therefore they would dodge the wron
9 course merely for fear of the const
quences. But God is not pleased t
give life everlasting to those VIII
would merely dodge the penalty c
;. wrong doing Only those who low
= right as He loves right will receive tn
. boon of life.