Evening journal., 1916-01-04
Luke 3: A. prepare We the way
Of the Lord. make his paths
straight"


Of the Lord, make his paths
straight"
am going TO speak to you tonight
ON the work of lohu the Baptist, as q
preparation for the work OF Christ, or
in other words the part of man IN max
ing operative and effective the plans OF
god. Two features stand forth espe-
.iallv prominent in the life of John the
Baptist. They are first the man; and
second the message And they must
come In this order for what a man D.,
is OF vastly more Importance than what
he saws or what he docs. Let us for "a
little while sit at the feet OF this great
character aud strive To eaten the ihsp-
ration of His noble life.
There are three clements ia this life
that especially command our attention
and that every Christian worker might
wcll emulate. First of these was His
humility. ly humility ! do not mean
ohseauiousness. sycophancy or fawning
aattcrv. but rather true humble spirit
which is always Characteristics oi a
,rrcat life. John was one of the most
popular preachers the world ever knew
The multitudes ilocked TO his meetings
from places high and low and hung
eagerly upon every word hc uttered
Very few are strong enough 10 stand
success. II takes but little praise "a
make the average person proud. Chaun'
ccv Depew once said about benjamin
Harrison, Gle is the greatest lawyer M
America" How can you prove itf put
in me one. do not have 10 prove
II nretoricd Depew. lie ADMITS IT" II
does not take much argument 60 con
vince The average man that he is some
thing extraordinary. Tie will admit II
at the outset.
Where did John get this humble
spiritg He got il where true humility
is always gained, by comparing him-
self with a greater. Oliver Wendell
Holmes says some where. that YOU can
Judge your own success or failure in
life by comparing your achievements
with those who started out with you
Have they attained greater eminence
than you or have YOU Outstripped them
in the race? This might be fair worldly
standard, but It Is not Gods method
OF Judging men. You ask a man are
you Christian? And with a SINUS
self-satisfaction, he replies, no ! can
not say that / am. But I am a good
deal better than my neighbor. and h'
Is a church member. too. There are
things that he does that would mo-
think of doing But the Lord is moi
going to Judge us by our neighbOrs
Paul was wise when he said, "For We
dare not make ourselves OF the mum
Der. or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves; but the,
measuring themselves by themselves
and comparing themselves amonl
themselves. are not wise A lot looli
big until it sees the plain. A hill look
high until il sees the snow-cappe,
mountain. The pond will deem itsel
great until II hears the roar or The
foam-capped ocean billows. When th'
young prophet Isaiah went into th'
afternoon temple service and saw th'
vision Of God high lifted up. it cause'
him to exciaim, "Woe Is me, for / an
undone" Just one burst OF vision o
the goodness and glory OF God woul'
cause every one i'm this congregation
to fall on his knees and exclaim, GO
he merciful to me a simer." Whe
John the Baptist contrasted his ow
spiritual weakness and poverty Wit
The greatness of his divine Cousin
Jesus. il caused him TO exclaim. 9TH
latchet OF his shoes ! am not worth
to unloose.'
John Was UnseliiSh.
In the next place John evidenced
spirit of unselfshness. He was con
tented TO be simply a voice in tn
wilderness, and to say OF Jesus, q
must decrease that He may increase.
John at one time preached a greg
sermon. lt was not a long sermon
You cannot always tell the value c
q sermon by its length. One of Nj
Spurgeons students once asked hin
about?" He replied. About fort
minutes" Few preachers ought I
preach over forty minutes. Mot
preachers ought to preach over thirt
minutes and some preachers ougl
not to preach at all. If man car
not draw, he ought to Withdraw
Some sermons are like loads Of ha
they are good. but they are bulk
II you could just trade that homilet
cal hay for a FIVE dollar gold piece an
stick il down in your intellectu
pocket you would have somethir
worth keeping. Many sermons ha'
a subject but no object This Sc
mon of Johns was a good one, first
all. because it had a good text. "B
hold the Lamb of God" IL talk,
about Jesus. You hear one ml
preach and you so away eXclaimin
What great preacherl You he;
another man preach and you go awi
oxclaiming What great Savior
When Abraham took Isaac up to on
him as a sacrifice, the son inquiries
Father, where Is the lamb?"
took centuries TO answer that questio
John answered it when he said, "B
hold the Lamb"
This was a good sermon also. |
cause il had results. For we are tC
that when he had finished speakiI
two Of his disciples quit following h
and went to follow Jesus. II in o
day on some Sunday morning, when
pastor had preached what he thoul
was a fine sermon, two OF his be
members would come and ask Il
their church letters and join a neil
boring church, he would think IN
sermon was a fiat failure. But Jo
rejoiced in the glory Of Jesus. Eve
Christian worker can learn a less
from this unselfsh spirit Of Jol
We ought to be like panes Of windl
nH.-nn----.--....u-a.-uu-- -a.-uu--''-.s.a...-.--uuu-snu~