The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-09-21

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ser is more cor
cerned, on having the Lord on hi
side than about being on the Lords
side.
The natural tendency of man is to
seek his own or the things of human.
lty, rather than the things of the Lord,
and man is simply asking what some
particular course will bring to him, OF
what it will bring to his time. The
chief end of man in these days is not
to giorify God. In this, grievous wrong
is done. When a course of action is
before one, the chief question should
not be, "How will it affect me?" nor,
indeed, "How will it affect my neigh.
bor? but 'How will it affect God?"
The great need of the day is a new
sensing of God-God at the beginning,
God in the middle, God at the ending.
The right thing for man is to ask
where God is, and to go where he is.
Ii man would do that many of his
great theological questions would be
settled. God manifests himself
through his Word, and if men would
go to the Word Of God with these
questions they would soon be substan-
tally correct on all of them.
The text suggests the question, 'Who
| is on the Lords side?" or rather,
What man or woman has a right to
say that he is on the Lords side?"
In the particular case before us, the
people had made a golden calf and
were worshiping it. To do that was
to break the first two commandments
of the Decalogue, and it became open
idolatry. 1t is inevitable that man
| worship. If he does not worship God
he will worship some thing, or some
| one else. Nor can a man be on the
Lords side if he does those things that
the Lord hates.
If a man would know his dity to the
Lord he should seek to know what the
Lord thinks of certain things, and here
again he must take the Lords judg-
ment through his Word, for he cannot
know what the Lord thinks unless he
knows his Word. AS to particular ac-
tons, a man may be left to his own
| Judgment, but as to the great princi-
pies that lie at the root of things, the
Lord makes clear declaration in his
Word. Does the Lord love a liar, bru-
| tality, deception? The remnant of
Gods image in man says at once, mo!
No" Does the Lord favor truth, lib
| erty, kindness? That same remnant
of Gods image says, Eyes! Yes!" And
consequently, the duty is clear, and he
should stand for these things. We
might sum up everything by saying,
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
The scene connected with our text
was probably this: There was
D golden calf and people were
dancing about it. Moses stood aloof
and made the cry, "Whoso is on the
Lords side, let him come to me-" Ac-
| cording to the constitution and nature
Of man we make appeals to him as to
his conscience, to his sense of duty or
privilege, and he must make choice.
What is it to be on the Lords side?
1t is a natural inheritance from our
SHINING first parents that we will either
be Indifferent to Gods commands or
we will positively refuse to obey
them. Fundamentally, the issue is the
same. In the case before us, the wor-
shipper of the golden calf either con-
tinued his dancing and worship, or
just endeavored to be neutral. A man
must "come across;" he must take
positive stand. The position of neu-
trail is the position of the enemy Of
God. There are no neutrals in our
country nowas to Germany. Political
ly we were neutral until the president
said that state of war existed, but
now the neutral is a pro-German. We
must be out and out for the United
States of America. A mans religious
obligations could be illustrated by tax
ing the two sides of an imaginary line,
and to an imaginary line there can be
only two sides. 1t is one thing or it is
the other. We must be positively,
clearly, professionally on Gods side,
or We are against him. In the day in
which we are living the ideals and mo-
tives are to be more sharply defined |
than in former days.
An eloquent man said very recently
that heretofore men were living to
make money, and now they are dying
to preserve righteousness, tremen-
dous reversal Of form. Precisely so
OF mans actions; if their character |
is to be determined by whether they |
are right in the sight Of God rather
than whether they have been person
ally or socially beneficial, man will ar
rive at the realization of the purpose
OF God and at the realization of his |