Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-04-05
Week in the Churches

PROVE OWN CLAIMS |
Sermon by the Rev. Burtis r.
MacHatton.
John 20:25-"Except I shall see in his
hands the print of the nails, l will not
believe"
Thomas was right Right in this: that
without indisputable proof to be seen
only in the marks of the cross and the
print of the nails he would not receive
this or any other man as his Messiah
and Lord. He was right in what he de-
manded; he was wrong in the way he
demanded it, and in limiting the method
of it's demonstration. Except l see
and Except l feel is an unwarrantable
limitation Of evidence. The man who
makes his eyes and his fingers the
measuring line of his creed will have
the shortest creed OF which any man
ever heard, and he viii not have that
very long, for he will soon find that
the last thing to be believed is his
own sight and his own touch. 1t is not
right to limit the evidence or circum
scribe the method; but Thomas was
right in insisting that he should be
personally assured that the marks of the
nails were there before he could be-
lieve.
There can be no assurance of faith
without personal revelation to the in
dividual soul. tell you that l know
that Jesus is mighty to save because he
saved me. That is no final proof to
you. l tell you that the Bible has given
me light and life, and therefore. it is
divine. That does not make it divine to
you. Every man must prove the testl-
the full assurance of his faith, and the
only way in which you can prove that
Jesus is the all-sufficient Savior is by
finding Him to be your own; and the
only way in which a man can prove the
Bible to be the true word Of God is to
appropriate it. Every man must behold
the risen Christ for himself before he
legitimate demand-that he should see
for himself; that he should have the
consciousness within him that came, not
Of the testimony of man, but by direct
personal revelation to himself. Thomas
wanted the test of reality.
Let Us this morning leave the exact
meaning of the text as 1t applies to the
as applying to the reality Of our own
claims as followers Of Christ.
What are these claims? Surely the
most important claim of the Christian is
that he has been crucificd with Christ,
that he bears the marks Of the stigmata.
the symbol of self denial and self -Eacri-
flee. We sing with great JUNCTION, Jesus;
follow Thee. destitute, despised. for.
saken, Thou from hence my All shalt be.
And as We sing it. We feel about in the
pockets of our eight hundred dollar fur
coat for a dime to place in the offering
for the poor, and then me jump into our
5000 limousine to go to our luxuriously
appointed apartment-and then m we
says, Except see in your hands the
print of the nails, will not believe in
all this talk about giving up everything
for Jesus" Christ claimed that He had
died on the cross to redeem suffering
humanity Thomas said, prove it, And
the proof was Forthcoming. Christs fol-
lowers says that they are obeying his
follow. The world says, Prove it. TX
cept we shall see the print of the nails,
we will not believe"
The supreme evidential value Of any
cause, and especially of the cause OF
Christ is in the Willingness to suffer, for
that cause. The world tests everything
and everybody by the nail prints, and
what will not stand that test is thrown
into. the scrap heap. The world never
believes in any man until it has crucified
him. II he can survive its cruciflxlon
then he will command it's attention, its
admiration and its allegiance.
The man who talks about patriotism
and the flag and devotion to country,
but who when danger threatens that
flag is found wanting can never make
anyone believe that he is real patriot.
1t is the patriot that goes down to
Gethsemane and up to Golgotha for his
country that the world comes to be-
lieve in.
Not long ago the minister Of very
wealthy church preached sermon. on
the gospel of poverty. It was printed
great sermon And it was great and
brilliant. 1t breathed self-denial and
cross bearing in every line. He preach
ed from the first sentence to the last
that the great need of the church and Of
the world to-day was that some apostle
Of Jesus should renounce the world,
give up its comforts, surrender its
prizes and literally without purse or
script 60 forth to preach the Gospel.
was not there to see the response Of
his congregation, but will wager all
possess that the sermon did not produce
conviction. 1t is safe to say that the
Tlcn MeIAOel6 Oh MS AIuEA u'u nOt Tusn
pell-mel offering to do as he had
preached They probably smiled a. they
sank little deeper into their luxurious
pews. Why? They looked at the
preachers hands, and they saw there no
print of the nails. In their hearts the
people probably Knocked his message. A
man who lives in luxury is mockery
and lie when he breaches gospel of
sclf-denial and poverty.
We 60 home from series Of revival
meetings and we tell the home folks that
we have received great blessing, and
that we expect to attain 4 higher stand
ard of excellence than we ever dreamed