Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1913 — How Shall a Sinner Get Right With God? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How Shall a Sinner Get Right With God?

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

Moody Bible Oiir nn

TEXT—“How can a man be Juat’i with God?" Job 9:1.

Centuries ago Job asked the question, “How* can a man be just with God?” In all ages the moral sense of mankind has been raising the same question. Many answers have been ■ given: -- 1. The heathen answered it in this way: “Make an offering to the gods sufficient to compensate so r.

the wrong done.” Hence they -brought presents of fruit and flowers, gold and ■liver, and sometimes they even offered their own children as a sacrifice to the gods. They were always looking for some way of pleasing God without right living. The heathen method is still a favorite one even in Christian lands. Many a man serve* the devil all his life, and then builds a library or endows a hospital to atone for his sins.

11. Others say that the way for a sinner to get right with God is to keep the commandments. Three things are to be said about this method: (a) Keeping the law does not atone for past sins. If one were to obey God’s law perfectly from this time on, that would not atone for the sins of the past. (b) The law never was designed to save men from sin, but only to show them that they are sinners. When Mr. Moody’s boys were young he said to one of them, “I am going down to the field, and when I return, 4* yon will have on a clean dress, and if your face is clean, I will take you out for a ride.” The little fellow ran to his mother at once and had his face washed and his clothes changed. Before his father returned however, his face and dress were Boiled again. When his father arrived the bey claimed the promised ride, hut his father said, “Ah, my boy, I promised you a ride on condition that your face and dress were clean, but they are not." "Oh, yes," said the boy. “They must be clean, for mamma put on a fresh dress and scrubbed my face with soap and water.” As the boy insisted, the father took him in his arms, and carrying him into the house, held him up before the mirror, and let him look at himself. He used the mirror to show the boy that his face was not clean, but he did not use the mirror to wash his face, did he? No, he used water for that. Now the Decalogue Is simply God’s mirror to show man that he Is a sinner, but there is no power in the law to save a man from sin. It requires grace to do that. q (c) No one ever kept the law of God perfectly except the Lord Jesus Christ, for "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This method of getting right with God is an utter failure. 111. Paul’B answer to the question is this; justification through faith in Christ. “We believed on Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by, the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Gal. 2: 16). Since man has broken away from God by sin, it is evident that if any reconciliation is made, the overture must come from God, since man has nothing to offer. When God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the aged patriarch obeyed instantly. He even arose "early in the morning,” aqd set out on his sad journey. When they had reached the appointed place, Isaac said to his father, "Behold (he fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham answered, "My son, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering,” and God did. So in all the ages the moral sense of mankind has been searching the universe for some adequate atonement for sin. The best they could find did not satisfy their own sense of justice. The position of the heathen world without the Bible Is this, "Lord, this is the best we can find. It Is not suitable nor sufficient we know, but what can we do? Behold the wood and the fire, but where Is the lamb for a burnt offering? * Revelation answers, "God will provide himself the lamb for the offering,” and be has,, even the lamb of God who tak»th away the sin' of the world. “Ha was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. All we like sheep gone astray; we have turned everv one to his own way; and the lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all.” This then is the scripture method of getting right with God—justification through faith in Jesus Christ. Three things are to be remembered: By tbe death of Christ we are delivered from the guilt of sin. By the life of Christ in us we are delivered from the power of sia. By the coming of Christ we shall be delivered from the presdnoe of sin.