The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-12-11

which is reproduced in this Issue.
call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins"
In defining his own mission he said:
'The Son of man is not come to be
ministered unto, but to minister and
give his life a ransom for many. l
came not to call the righteous but
sinners to repentance"
The church of today needs new
vision of its mission. We have that
in these words of the Apostle Paul:
4To the weak became | as weak, that
/ might gain the weak" That must
characterize the ehurc hof today that
is to win.
First-The church that is to win in
this day and time must be church
that stands for and breaches without
compromise the old doctrine of sin
and salvation.
l wish to say right here that / am
not speaking of the church as pes
simist. l am not at all pessimistic or
doubtful when it comes to the church;
nor am speaking as reckless, sense
less ptimist who refuses to accept
thing when he sees it with his eyes.
And whenever / hear men speak of
the failures of the church and what
that church has failed to do, l say
to myself no institution can be spoken
of as a failure that can do for men
what the church has done for me.
When l look over my life and when
j realize what l have gained from
other institutions and compare that
with what l have gained from the
church, say that no institution which
can do for other men what the church
has done for me can be spoken OF
and regarded as a failure. But we
are face to face with this fact that
the church has not done all of the
work which Jesus Christ intended that
it should do.
Now hear a great deal today about
the church losing its grip on the
masses, and l have made a personal
study right here in Kansas City. Here
and there you will find dwindling
congregation. Here and there you will
find a church with a good congrega
ton in the morning and no congre
CATION at night. But l want to say
right here that no church which
stands for and breaches unflinching
ly the old doctrine of sin and saliva
ton, evinces any decay. Crowds in
the morning and crowds in the even
ing. Yes, know there is a way tC
preach these doctrines so as to drive
men and women away from the church
and way to preach them so as to
win men and women to the church.
The pulpit is sometimes criticised
for not preaching the terrors OF hel
as fervently and as frequently as die
the church of old. The question II
asked: "Does the church believe II
hell?" The answer is: YES" Th'
church still believes in hell, and th'
only difference is a less literal inter
probation Of that hell. The church als'
believes that to preach hell as thougi
we were glad that there was hel
to which men must go to suffer Il
worse than never to preach hell a
all. The miss' of the church is no
so much the deliverance of men from
a possible future hell as their de
liverance from an actual present he'll
The mission of the church is to g
to men and women who are living i
an actual present hell and to lea
them out into heaven of rest an
peace, spiritual contentment. In othe
words, the church that is to win mus
be church with human spirit. !
human church. ITO the weak becam
| as weak, that l might gain tn
weak"
There are two instances in tn
Scriptures which have seized me wit
grip that will not let me go On
of the instances is where Jesus
being entertained at supper by Pha
isee, and there also sat at the tabl