Evening journal., 1916-01-27
The Way of Salvation
sermon preached in the Taoerace last night by Dr. Lyon

Acts Is: 30-3l.-~Sirs. what must
I do to be sa,cdl And they said, Be-
Neye on the Lord Jesus christ and
chou shalt be saved"
AS / got of a suburban train in a
certain city ON my way to speak at a
gospel meeting. there stepped off just
in front OF me two young working
men. who were husily engaged IN con-
versation. One said to the other Il
believe John would like TO be a Chris
tian, but he doesn't know how.
That may be the condition OF some
one in this meeting tonight.
From the story of the conversion OF
tho jailer at Philippi LEI us derive
some practical lessons, concerning
the way Of salvation. The first ele-
ment We note in the conversion OF this
taller is that he wanted TO be saved.
You NAV ask What has that 70 DO
with the answer of Paul and Silas,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved?' I'm other words
what have our desires to do win
our beliefs. They have a good deal
more 10 do with our beliefs than
tho most OF us are willing to admit
II is very easy TO believe what You
want TO believe and very difficult to
believe what you do not want to be-
lieve. II is easy TO believe something
good about your favorlte candidate
or party. and very hard TO believe
ANYTHING good about the opposite
candidate or party. Likewise, 1t is
very hard TO believe anything bad
about your own candidate, and very
easy to believe something bad about
the opposition. Opinions are formed
not so much from information as from
inclination
Here we mark the difference be-
tween belief with the head and belief
with the heart Head belief never
saved a soul-it is heart belief The
apostle says. III thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe I'm thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead. thou shalt
be saved Believing with the head
As believing because you have to be-
iicve. Believing W ith the heart is be-
lieying because you want TO believe.
For example. supposing YOU should
receive q telegram tonight when you
were thousand miles from home.
It is signed by your family physician.
telling you that a loved one is fatally
ill. You would not want to believe
II. but knowing that the message was
genuine. you were compelled 10 be-
lieve 1t against your Will Then
lust as you we're getting ready TO
board the train to return TO your
home. suDposing you got another tele-
gram signed by your family physician.
which read. Loved one passed crisis.
Will recover" The first telegram you
believed with your head. but the sec
ond one YOU believed with your heart.
Now answer this question for your
self. do ! want TO believe In Jesus
Christi DO I want 10 be convinced
that He is the Son of God. and Chris
tianity is true? For upon your an.
swer TO this depends your etorna
DESTINY. Faith is the disposition e
believe upon sufficient evidence.
There were two things that brough
this taller TO the point where h
wanted 10 be saved. The first OF thes
was that he saw a radical diferenc
between the lives OF these two evan
golists. Paul and Silas. and the live
of the unbelicvine and ungodl.
around about You will remembe
they had gone into Philippi TO holt
union evangelistic campaign. ant
there was servant girl in that cit.
who was under the influence and con
troll OF some hypnotic power welded
by some vicious fellows, and this
girl. we arc told. was possessed o
the devil. And it seemed the mor
devn there was i'm her the more
money they made out OF her. Thi
girl plainly showed that she was un
der the control of satan. because sh
went about ridiculing the meeting
and the evangelists. and grea
crowd Of buns and toughs of IN
town followed her wherever she wen
and got great sport out OF her rud
and vulgar behavior. Al last Pau
thinking that he had endured this a
long as he ought, turned and rebuke
the devil within the girl, and salt
Il charge thee in the name of Jesr
Christ the Son OF God to come OF
of her." and the devil came out thi
very hour.
AS soon as the devil was cast out
the girl. these wicked men lost the
control over her and they saw q
hope Of their gains was gone. Tn
made them angry, and they had the
tNdNStINlS diltot'A A'i A"ANA ~ 81
with their business. You will no
these vicious men did not care he
long the eyangelists conducted q
meetinrs if il did not interfere wi
their own nefarious schemes. III
devil in this city does not care nc
much people attend church and pra
just as long as, the reign OF drunke
ness and debauchery is not interfer
. I.aHi
begin to be cast out, then the ml
that are making money out OF q
vices. such as the saloons and gar
bling dens and the disreputab
houses. will get terribly angry the
you may be sure Of their oppositio
~ that class were not opposed to Oh