Catoctin clarion., 1916-04-13

-. - eszS word of that great
Inspired sentence. He" 1t is no
mere man OF whom this pronoun
speaks, but the mighty God, the Fa-
ther of Eternity, the Prince OF
Peace" as Isaiah testifies. "lmman'
uel, which, being interpreted, is God
with u.s. as Matthew echoes. ON,
wonder Of wonders, that the Eternal
God, in the person of his Son, should
have become incarnate of the Virgin
Mary. 1t will take us all eternity
to grasp the thought
Was delivered Who delivered
him? We think of Judas, who be-
tr2yed him, of the Roman soldiers who
arrested him, of the Jewish sanhedrin
who prosecuted him, of Pontius Pi-
late who illegally tried him. OF the
cruel executioners who nailed him to
the cross. And yet it was the hand
and the counsel of his Father that had
before determined it should be done,
or else these wicked men had had
no power. Far back in the counsels
of eternity God so loved us as to
freely offer his Son on our behalf.
For our offenses" We are born
into a state Of sin, but that is not
all, for the moment we arrive at
point of moral consciousness, we ac
tually transgress the law of God. In
many things we offend all as the
epistle of James says. There is none
righteous, no, not one, we are taught
in Romans. Men do not like to hear
this, They resent 1t, they hate it.
But. Oh, what love, that while we
were vet sinners Christ died for US.
The very ones who hate to hear OF
mans sinfulness, are those who talk
about divine love. But who can sound
the depths of that love until he ac'
cepts the truth Of the cross of Cal
vary. And it is that truth which this
text presents most fully.
"And was raised again" The same
one who died was the one who was
raised. This truth must not be mini
mized. We must hold with all the
tenacity of faith to the bodily resurfec-
tion of our Lord and Savior. We must
do this not because our peace de-
pends upon it, but because the Bible
teaches it, and because history proves
it. He showed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs.
Historic Christianity is a testimony
to Christ's resurrection which cannot
be accounted for unless he arose
from the dead. The change or the
day of rest and worship from the sew
enth to the first is another proof
which meets and challenges the skep-
tic 50 times year.
For our justification" That word
"our," how we should love 1t and
praise God for 1t. Deliver for our Of
fenses," raised again for our justifica-
ton" What kindness to the human
race is in that word! How close 1t
brings the heart of God to our hearts
What interest it should awake on our
part to learn all we can about it from
the Holy Scriptures.
And Justification" what does that
mean? Sometimes when Christians
thing of salvation, they get no fur
ther than the forgiveness of sin; and
indeed that were glorious enough even
if it stopped there. But one might
be forgiven for the past and still be
very wretched for the present and the
future. Justification therefore is a
bigger word, and stands for greater
thing than simply forgiveness. The
justified man is one who stands IN
Gods sight free from the guilt, the
penalty OF all sin, past, present and
TO come! The reason of this is that
his penalty has been paid, not by him
self, but by another, whose resurrec-
tion from the dead is the proof of it.
That event is Gods testimony, to his
acceptance of the atoning sacrifice OF
his Son.
This is what the song calls The
Old, Old Story Those who know 1t
best seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest" and no apol-
ogy need be made to them for repeat
ing it, especially at this season of
the year.
There are others. however, who
have heard it and whose hearts are
hardened against 1t. One pties them
because they have cut away their
only hope.
Let me lovingly urge them to
yield to step over the line today, to
make this the acceptable time for
their salvation. Oh, that the resurrec-
tior Of the year might witness the
awakening of faith and hope, and life
within them through receiving Jesus
Clrist as their Savior and Lord!