The Washington herald., 1918-02-10

Billy Sunday last night delivered
ne following sermon:
In Isaiah. the ffty-hfth chapter. the
seventh verse. LET the wicked for
sake his way. and the unrighteous
man his thoughts; and let him return
unto the Lord, and He will have mer-
cy upon him; and to our God. for He
will abundantly pardon"
That is a chapter that calls you
70 salvation. 1t calls US to mans
highest duty and his greatest privi-
lege. 1t shows what a man is with
out God, and then it shows what a
man becomes when he finds God. II
begins with desolation. but it ends
with rejoicing. 1t begins with a
groan. but 1t concludes with a shout.
The text h Gods imperative call.
You can refuse Me IL you wish"
oh. every one. scribe. phnrisee, pub
hcan. sinner. harlot, ricn, poor. black.
white, learned. illiterate. native born,
foreign born. male, female. old and
young, aged and decrepit. oh. every
one.
It 70 addressed to the unsaved mil
honaire. as well as the man who may
sweep the street. II is addressed to
the moralist and to .he legalist. as
well as the man or the woman who
may have transgressed every COM
mand of God. Whoever the man,
wherever the man, whatever he has
done. God calls for him to repent
Oh, every one
The first thing you notice about
salvation Is that it's a personal thing.
seek We the Lord" The ''ye" means
you Seek you the LORD. 1t doesn' t
do for the parent to seek the Lord for
the child. You can't do that. 1t won't
do for the child to seek for the parent
that ien't possible.
Must Obey Law.
I've always found the fellow that
complains about things in the Bible.
the one who can't understand. isn't
the one who is trying to obey the
things that ne can understand
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
That isn't hard to understand, is it?
Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neishbor" That isn't
hard to understand. is It. you old liar?
So don't worry about the things YOU
can't understand, if YOU are obeyinG
the things you can understand
seek We first the Kingdom of
God" then the Bible will be an open
book to you. You say. Il can't uH-
dCrstand how Christ died for my sins. q"
You don't have 10 know. That isn't
necessary. All you need 10 do is to
believe that He did. and accept the
salvation that is yours "nly through
fSi.h in Jesus Christ.
Eepentanc" does not ONE through
explaining God to the lind-nO, 'iOd
i not an C.p!ena tiOn. 'iod is reve-
lat:on
SILVA tiCn does not cOEIe. my friends.
b. comprchcnd'ny God with the mind.
but knowing Him in the heart-thats
how IT @cTncs TO you in he weird,
Character is what God approves
or opposes. not conduct. In Gods
sight. there is no difference between
being wrong and doing wrong. and
the reason YOU do wrong is because
You aTr wrong. And the reason why
you are wrong is because You won't
yield to God-;hat's the "easOn you
are wrong in the world
You get into heaven. not because
you are rich or poor. learned or il
hteTate. You get into heaven by the
password-thc password is Jesus
Christ, not money.
Give Heart to God.
You give your heart to Jesus
Christ, and l want to tell you the
church membership will take care of
itself, as sure as YOU live and breathe.
You say, Il can so to heaven and
not be a member of the church" 1"
Why, some men can live with a
woman they are not married to. but
that isn't my way-no, l live another
way.
You can lose your soul. simply be-
cause you won't yield to Jesus Christ.
Seek ye the Lord" Church men,
bership will take care of itself, and
take it from me, if you seek God, you
will seek the church, just as sure as
you live and breathe-I will bank my
life on that, no matter who you are
seek ye the Lord" God can only
he found when you do so with the
same earnestness that you would
seek health, or that you would seek
for gold, or that men seek for an
education, or to become famous in
the world. When God has not been
found, IL is because you've sought
Him tco late or you've sought Him
with a divided heart You wanted to
keep sin in your life and have God too.
and you can't do it. You couldn't do
that any more than old Herold could
have his brother Philips wife. and
he gave up Jesus Christ and kept on
living with the woman.
There are multitudes of people in
hell that never expected to be there
any more than you do. but they
waited too long and let the opportu-
nifty go by. Their hearts became
hardened and God could do nothing
10 turn them from their sins. to
yield to Jesus Christ.
Seek ye the Lord" Another thing
that people seek after is wealth. Oh,
to get gold. they will give Up every
thing. No pursuit Is too dangerous
II IL promises wealth You let an
explosion take place in q powder mill
and blow a man to atoms Some
body else IL waiting TO walk right In.
Let there be a wreck on the rail-
road and the engineer killed. The