Great Falls tribune., 1922-02-20

ton on the blessings Of the gospel. He
spoke in part as follows:
THE text is a statement of Paul,
the apostle of the gospel, who bad for
a long time carried in his heart the
hope of preaching the gospel in the
city of Rome. We meet this great
parsonage for the first time, when as
a sympathizcr with those who stoned
Stephen for his adherence to Jesus, he
kept their clothes while they did their
cruel work. AS man who had the
hate of Jesus and his followers we
meet him again on the road of Damas-
Gus under the name, Saul of Iarsus,
trying hard to wipe out the name or
Jesus and doing harm to His people.
On this same road he met Jesus and
was overcome by Him both in mind and
heart. The love for Christ led him to
greatest self sacrifice and to true
loyalty for the gospel which he Is now
not ashamed to preach.
Confidence in Message
KNOWING the power of the gospel
and that. the~city of Rome was the
center of power and wealth, Paul de-
sired to preach there as he had in
Athens. the home of wisdom. With
great confidence, not in himself, but in
bis message. be sets forth to combat
what was then the strongest thing IN
the world, the city of Rome. We see
the empire and institutions melt be-
fore him like the carbon rods in an
electric lamp: and the little hillock Of
Calvary is lifted higher than the throne
of Caesars.
Dear friends. listen to him in our
text as he stood with his face turned
toward Rome: the mistress of ma
tons; the seat of culture; the place
of poets, with its wealth Of power.
In Paul no one can fail to see a true
disciple of Jesus, burning with un
auenchable love for Him. For UNDER
standing the gospel as the power of
God and to be fired with some spark
of Paul's enthusiasm for and glorying
in. the gospel of Jesus Christ. we may
first ask, what Paul thought Of the
gospel.
Record Of Facts
"In the fifteenth chapter of the
first epistle to the Corinthians he has
given us in his own rapid way, sum
mary statement of what he meant by
The gospel-tbe facts of the death and
resurrection of Christ. He declares
that the gospel is not q. statement of
principles, but d record of facts, things
that have happened in this world of
ours. But should we stop with the
death Of Jesus, then that death may
be a beautiful act of heroism; an in
stalice Of innocent suffering as an e1
ample of the worlds wages TO the
worlds teachers. But it is little
more according to what the apostle
saws. Dear brethren, I declare unto
you the gospel, which I have preached;
how that Christ died according to the
scriptures This declaration flashes
up into solid beauty and becomes
the gospel Of our salvation. Paul ex-
plains that Christ died for our sins.
And unless we admit the atoning na-
t,,re Of His Sacrifice for us, our sins
cannot be swept away; we cannot be
delivered from. them. We are told
that we must go back to the Christ of
the gospel, the historical Christ. If
you do, you will go back to the Christ
who said, The Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give His life in ransom for the
many, You will be back to the Christ
who said, And ], if ! be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto Me-
Power Unto Salvation
Further, God thought the gospel
was the power of God unto salvation.
He knew that the power of God is
higher than men and that the people
nf Rome needed this power. What is
salvation? Negatively, the removal