The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-08-25

mics they feared
But Il We think
Of tisis Incident
Al IN another way.
the shut door
- = suggests th e ef-
forts man make u keep Christ ont OF
their lives, and the fact that though
th@ door was shut Christ stood In
tibsir MIDST reminds us CT the flLiIity
81 their sfrorts-
Vast numbers Of people persistently
ard steadily resist the supreme claim
that Christ Endeniably makes upon
them. Yet Christ stands in their midst
aaaf demands from them a right inteI-
lactuaI Judgment. His old question to
the PhariSees is the question he puts
To them: what think ye Of Christi
Whose son Is hep Now, no thinking
Ezan can get away from these persist
emf questions; try as he may, they ever
refsFIr, and fnststenrIy do they cIan0r
fGr an answer. Christ IS a fact and
nat fabrication, and az such demands
an explanation. Dismiss him today and
he ls here tomorrow; turn him down
ng'v. and he confronts yoG in the next
Kffaent. There Is no door thick enough
nar bolt heavy enough to shut Christ
ont Of the reason. Even now, as you
reid these words IT Is Christ who is
asking you, "Wh0 say ye that 7 amT'
arp what pray, Is your answer Have
yof passed your final and absolute In
te.beetual Judgment upon Christi Do
y say "EoP' Then I answer, you
mtg for Christ stands in the midst Of
yofk reason, even though you have
skFH against him that door, and con-
DEF ms you to the task Of explaining
Resisting the Love Of God.
q also shut the door Of their affec-
hoI against Christ. But even so, he
sta 3 In the midst and asks the heart
ri ion: Lowest thou meT" What a
AZ sed thing It is to be able to re-
3haffss. Tssf lord, thot knoWest that I
Ao7e thee But aIasl that is not the
answer of those who have barred the
door of their affections against Christ.
His great love for them finds no re-
spouse in their hearts. Yet, the APP
peal of Christ's love is there just the
same, and If men are honest they will
acknowledge it, for all human hearts
are sensitive to love, and within is an
unsatisfied love and longing that can
never be satisfied without Christ. And
50, though the door be shut, he stands
In the midst and In the Old Testament
word says: "Son, give me thine heart ~
Men shut as well against Christ, the
door Of their viii. eve viii not have
this man to reign over US" is the cry
they raise; as IL he were some auto
cratic despot who desired their sub
serviency that he might crush them
under his iron heel. Not so, the King
Of Kings and Lord Of Lords longs
to have men subject to him that he
may have the joy Of setting them free.
Giving Up to Receive.
Men are 50 fearful of the restraints
u the Christian life and for some rea-
son seem to feel that a will yielded to
the master means a life of seryitude.
To be sure, there is no true Christian
liberty without restraint; to be freed
from sin Is to be restrained from prac.
tieing II. Christian liberty is not Ii.
cense; 1t is freedom from the domino.
ton Of the powers of evil without and
within and when one enjoys it, he Is
set free for a richer, fuller life, wider
usefulness, a greater joy. Such is the
idea in the word Of Christ when he
says: Il am come that they might
have life and have it more abundant.
Iy.. Men do not really live, in the es-
ti1nation of God, until they have that
life which Christ came to give. Why
then do they not have it if Christ came
to give it? Simply because they shut
against him the door Of the will. eye
VIII not" he said TO men Of old, "come
unto me that ye may have life" And
that is his word to men today.
Becomes an Open Door.
While Christ asks You to permit him
to pass over the threshold Of your will
into your heart that there he may
abide, he also says that he will, If you
DO this, be to you an open door, a way
Of entrance into salvation and a way
OF egress into service. 81 am the door
By me If any man enter In, he shall be
saved, and shall go In and out, and find
pasture" Open to Christ the door Of
your heart and he is then to you the
open door into safety and security and
the open door to fuller Christian life
Why longer then shut the door %
your intellect, your affection, your viii
against Christ? Though you do, he
stands In the midst, the door being
shut unrecognized by you, but there
tust the same; not to condemn, but &C
save; to give you
The fr.er step. The fuller breath,
svfe wide harszOn's grander view,
rae sense Of life that knows 10 death,
The isse that suaketh all things nav.