Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1920-03-29
JUST ONE OF sALENrs
Sunday Sermons
Rev. 1. G. Lee, Highland Avenue
Friends Church

Text, Col. 2:6, I. Ae We have there
- received Christ Jesus the Lord,
vslk We in him: Rooted and built
:, in him, and established in the
t.th. . . Astounding therein with
thanksgiving.
The Christian life begins in q per.
.ors, reception of Christ; and not ir
mere intellectual belief in the his
,orical statements concerning him.
paligion is not a self development #
mate human goodness, for the soul of
man is poisoned through and thru
,,;,b sin, Hear the description that
Goa gives of the u-nregenerate hear1, |
Genesis 1921, "the imagination of
MANS heart is evil from his youth"
jeremiah. tells US that 'the heart is
d~eeeitful above all things and desper-
otalv sick" or sick unto death. JESUS
aid "out of the heart proceed eyil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, forni-
cations, thefts. false witness. plas-
nbemies." In the face of these fea,
ful sentences concerning the natural
heart together with the statement of
theApostl e Paul. that every mouth
.tonnad and all the world guilty be-
Ill. tod" # is evident that all nero
human effort of the unregenerate
sou, can only tend towards the deye,-
opment of its own Unborn corruption
No matter how much we educate the
mind and refine the tastes of the un-
regenerate. we only increase the ca
nac;tv for evil: and, although they
NAV never fall into the gross immor-
ali,ies that some people with less ad-
vantages have done, they are non
tho less sinners than the poor outcast,
and as certainly lost as the down an
ont.
Salvation is receiving a Divine gits.
Then the growth and development Of
the supernatural man. What all men
need. and what all must have, is
Christ in YOU the hope of glory
To receive Christ means to receive
Him in all that he claimed to be. and
in all that he came to do. Jesus
Christ claimed to possess all the Dl-
vine attributes; He claimed equality
with the Father, II and my faith n
are one" the father is in me, and L
in him. "All things that the father
hath are mine.'' Before Abraham
was, | am" Father glorify thou me
with the glory which / had with thee
before the world was" No mai. ran
receive Jesus Christ who puts him on
a plane with other good men. No man
can receives Jesus Christ who be-
lieves Him to be divine, only in the
same sense that all men are divine.
Jesus Christ is ina class all by him.
self. He is divine in an uniquesensu.
and to receive Him in salvation, is oil
believe on Him as such. One grows
weary, in these days, of the beautiful
sentiments that men are expressing |
about Jesus Christ, of "his self sacri-
ficIng life" ''of his devotion to the
cause he espoused," "of his splendid
example in He service OF humanity"
when at the same time they deny the
efficiency of the blood. These are the
days when men are minifying sin, and
magnifying culture; when men are
humanizing Christ, and defying fai-
len humanity; when much is beinG
said about the ability of nan to lift
himself by intellectual attainments
and ethical culture. But, friends, men
are lost, hopelessly lost in sin and
if. they are ever saved, it must b.
through the redemption that is in
Jesus Christ. This redemption is dt
vine, as God is divine; it is infinite
as God is infinite-and yet it was
purchased with blood. Not the bio ID
Of bulls or goats; but with the blood
of the infinite Son of Cor. I'VE were
not redeemed with corruptable things
as silver and gold, but with the pre2-
ious blood of Christ"
Jesus came to save us from sin.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus for
he shall save his people from their
sins" This salvation from sin is ac-
eomplished, first, by the new birth.
Jesus said to the Jewish ruler "yet
must be born again." born anew, born
from above, born of water and of the
spirit. This is not a mere mental as
sent to the great truths of salvation.
but a supernatural work of grace
wrought in the heart by the Holy
Ghost, This means a new creature-a
new creation. IF a man be in Christ,
he is a new creatures; old things are
passed away; behold, all things are
become new. Second. while the new
birth" produces n new nature. veLl