The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-11-11
that the majority Of people today on
o'sr church rolls are men and women
who have made this decision before

Wat the majority OF people today on
o,r church rolls are men and women
vino have made this decision before
they We're 20 years old. There was a
time in my ministry when I was not
much concerned when boy or girl
took their stand for Jesus Christ. I
was far more anxious about leading
banker, or doctor, or lawyer, or bus
mess man, but God has opened my
eyes to see and to taketthe right view
ot things. I am old fashioned enough
now to believe that fence around
precipice is much better than a
hospital at the foot, and, while it is
true that the majority of men and
women make their decision for Christ
before they are 20 years old, it is pos
sible for a man to be born when he
is old for when Christ says it must
be. it may be.
Then this church member did ex-
actly what some of you are doing-he
started to ask fool questions. and said,
"How can it be?" 1t is remarkable
that when you begin to press a man
to make his decision for Jesus Christ
he begins to talk lot of nonsense.
II you talk to him about business, or
politics, or the war, or social things,
or fraternal things, he can talk sense,
and you may enjoy his conversation.
But as soon as you begin to try to
put your finger on the cancer spot
iE his life, he begins to try and ques-
ZION you by asking foolish questions.
How can it be?' Do you think it
possible that if God were to explain
It all to you, you could grasp it?
.'esus said to this man, You feel the
wind you see the results of the wind,
tus you cannot see it, and you don't
know where it came from, and you
can't tell where it is going to, yet
you believe it.
BY the same argument, I may say
to you see mems lives transformed.
see them form new lives new hab-
It's. don't know how. l don't know
wfnt made them do it. but they do it,
and I don't disbelieve it because
don't know how it was done. / don't
d""b+ II for moment. | don't un-
derstand the electricity, nor how il
works. You don't. Edison himself
l;nows nothing about it. Yet we don't
,Hf'-sn +" rse it because we can't un-
derstand it. And so ask you mil
on questions Of things you accept
every day, but do not understand.
Dear friend, stop trying to measure
Cod With YOU two by four mind. You
can't measure God with human
!ardstick. You are finite. He is in
erite. And the carnal man canno
understand spiritual things. And
then. will you let me say that thi
thing IS perfectly logical, for it stands
to reason that if you ever expect t.
get to heaven there must be changed
man somewhere sometimes. You hav,
passed on smutty stories, you hav,
b'asphored G"d's name Do you thinl
il sensible now for a moment to thinl
that everything would be all righ
If you were drawn into heaven at thi.
moment? You would be in hell, fo,
you would not have things in common
with the folks that are there. They
would not appreciate your filthy Ian.
euage; they would not appreciate
your ideals, and so you would be mis-
cradle. And common sense tells you
that, if you ever expect to get there
there must be changed man first.
The way is not by asking questions
tie way is not by Charlottesville, Oh
Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton, Of
Cambridge, or Oxford. The way is
over the old-fashioned hill called Cal
vary.
Now let me ask you this question
!to"c Won Neer born again? Not
what church are you a member Of
not what position do you have in the
again? You say you are not sure
But you can be sure, and you ought
to be sure, and you oughtn't to sleep
until you are sure, becase if Christ
teaches anything in the third chapter
of st. John He teaches the certainty
of religious experience, and you will
br tossed hither and thithcr by every
wind that blows until you have set.
tied this one fundamental thing-yor
must be born again. You say, "Car
know it," Certainly you can, fol
just as the manufacturing firms o:
this country stamp their trademark
or all their goods. so God puts Hi!
mark on His children.
These are one or two of the marks
of the new birth. He that is borr
o! God overcometh the world Sec.
,nd'y He that is born Of God loveth
the brethren Thirdly, He that is
born Of God doth not commit sim HE
that is born Of God abideth in Him.
think the purest thing, the love-
lest thing this side the gates OF
heaven is to see mother with her
first baby. Her heart is its nursery
She lives for that child. and nurses
i, coaxes it, and pets it and fondles
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