Evening star., 1918-01-21

OF Jesus to encourage him to do the
right and manly thing.
Influences Toward Right Decision.
''Pilate had these three things to in
huence him to right decision. They
were trying to pull him over on the side
of Jesus, but there were influences pull
ing MIN the other way, and SO, while
God is trying to pull you down these
atsles to confess your sins and acknowl-
edge Jesus Christ, all hell is trying to
pull You back. No man ever tried to do
right that the devil did not try to drag
him down.
Now for the reasons that tempted
Plate to condemn Jesus: First, he
asked: What will the Jews say if l
let Jesus go?' The Jews hated Jesus
.h ana the Jews hated PLATE; They were
the rich men, the Influential men, and
P1late feared their enmity. They had
sent committee Of their leading men
to Rome to ask Caesar to recall PLATE
and send more humane man In his
place. The Romans, who had conquered
cruel and lustful.
The money to pay the taxes came
mostly from the hard-working Jews
who were greatly oppressed by PLATE
and men like him. PLATE thought. If !
let Jesus go, these Jews will be more
bitter than ever against me and I will
lose my job
Second, PLATE thought, What will
Caesar say? Caesar is suspicious of this
man Jesus and if he hears that l have
let Him go he will think that I think
Him right and Caesar will be angry
and I will lose my job and maybe my
head. but if Caesar hears that l gave
this long haired evangelist to the Jews
he will think am onto my job and am
looking after Romes interests down
here
What a shameful consideration. Many
a man today is just as low down. sac
rificing Jesus because he is afraid to
sacrifice his job, sacrifice even his hfe
in Him and was convinced that He was
an innocent man.
Calls plate Politician.
I'll tell you what old PLATE was. He
was standpat. free-lunch, pie-counter.
pliable, lickspittle, tin-horn. peanut
grating. ward-heeling. weasel-eyed.
rat hole of whisky-soaked. God.
forsaken politician. He was a typical
machine politician. the direct product
of the politician system of Rome and
Jerusalem. Ies and there are lot of
fools today who are so low-down and
ack-hearted that they let the world
spit in the face of Jesus Christ tor
fear of their jobs.
'It was not the common people who
led that mob Il was the temple thieves,
the high priests, the Pharisees and the
politicians who wanted to Kill Him.
The common people cast their coats
before Him to walk upon and tore
palm branches from the trees and cast
them at His feet as He walked. 1t
was not the common people who cried
Kill Him. No. the common people
cried Hosanna"
"It's the God-forsaken gang that run
things today who are letting the
church go to hell. not the common
people. Never mind what society says.
If the world is against Jesus Christ;
then I'm against the world. I'll stand
pat for Him, if I have to slap your
face. and you. and you.
"Pilate knew how to stand pat with
the political machine at Rome, SO he
sent Jesus Christ to death to please
'.They work the same old graft. the
same old gang today. They will use
it today by relegating the faitn1ul
preacher to some corner. II pfeacher
dares to come out against the SINS Oh
his influential church members they
pull strings with the bishop or other
presiding officers and have him re-
moved. Christianity is progress: II IS
a progressive movement ana VIII over
turn the political hierarchies OF the
world, 1t is bound to win, and it will
win, even if all hell is against it
Address to Men only.
Billy Sunday addressed the men
only" meeting yesterday afternoon on
when Chickens Come Home to Roost.'
He spoke. in part:
I'm the one-hundredth and fourth
Psalm the thirty-fifth verse. Let the
sinners he consumed out of the earth.
and let the wicked be no more
That's a very peculiar text, but / did
not select it because OF its pecullarlty,
q nf fS \
ofttimes misunderstood. y good many
mec have given as their reason for not
believing in the Bible the fact that the
statement therein contained did not aD-
pertain to their idea Of what 1t ought
to be.
"It is often used by some men to JUS
tify them in sneering at God and mock
ing at Him. for saying, Let the sinners
be consumed out of the earth. and let
the wicked be no more Doesn't God
want them to be saved?
Now, that verse contains the germ
of the thought that I want to develop
this afternoon. l have never found 1t
so expressed in any other verse OF
my text.
Unjust Criticism Of David.
"At first it would seem as though a
righteous man sought to bring the
curse of God down upon all men that
did not pelleFe as ne dld or see ana
live as he did. That would be an un-
just criticism of David, the author of
that psalm, because in another psalm
he says, % God, let the wickedness of
the wicked come to an end. and Riv-
ers of water run down mine eyes, be-
cause the people keep not the law.
He said. L would have tainted if il
hadn't been for the hope that l had in
me that some day would see the sal
walton of God. If | thought that men
were going on to live as they are now
and would never repent and turn from
their sins, l couldn't stand it. 1t would
have killed me. l would have tainted
i it hadn't been for the hope that l
lad in me that some day man would
see that he was wrong and turn from
his evil to righteousness
But there were men that would not
- saved. They were breaking Gods
Jaw as they did that. They rejected
Gods offers of mercy. They turned to
their lusts. They gratified every am