Show I 1 sunday at church i j WHAT IT COSTS NOT TO BE A CHRISTIAN people sometimes refuse christ because ot of the sacrifices involved it costs too much and they are not willing to pay the price yes it does cost something to be a christian but it costs far more not to be a christian let us see what it costs to live and die without christ not to be a christian costs the sacrifice ot of peace great peace have they which love thy law thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind Is stayed on thee this is the portion of the christian he has peace with god and the peace ot of god and the god ot of peace besides the Christle qs soul knows nothing of this for there is no peace my god to the wicked he knows that he Is disobeying god and lie he Is all the who through rear ear of of death were all their lifetime sub subject eject to bondage besides he is conscious of an unseen force which is continually working against him the way of the transgressor trans is hard we are told yes god makes it hard in order that the sinner may weary of it and turn his feet into the path of right ausness ous ness behold I 1 will hedge up thy way with thorns and I 1 will make a wall against thee As surely as all things work together tor for good to them that love god so surely does god work against the sinner the same love which prompts him to send blessings to the righteous leads him to send hindrances and warnings to the sinner the sinner calls to bad luck but he suspects that it Is something more even tho the deliberate purpose of 0 god A father once said to his son who was determined to obtain more liquor my son it if you go out of 0 this house tonight you will have to KO go over the dead body ot of your father even so BO the sinner who Is lost has to fight his way down to hell bell resisted at every step by his heavenly father and finally to trample under toot the son of god can there be any peace la in such guch aliffi adlle not to be a christian Chr trUan costs coata the sa ga ereno of the highest loy joy I 1 do not say ay ULM that the Christ lese man will have no joy he way may know the joy ot of health and and domestic ure he may maya acquire money and and fanke faai bat t there ere aze are nob ler joys than these which he ha loses losea he cannot know the joy of sl sin n forgiven or the comfort and companionship of the holy Spi spirit of the joy of becoming like jesus christ it Is gods purpose that all his children shall bo be joyful full of I 1 joy these things have I 1 spoken uni to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full how different the feeling of a soul A visitor who was calling on the great bismarck er pressed the hope that lie he might live many days and this wash was Bis marcks reply there is only one ona happy day lift left tor for me it Is the one on which I 1 I 1 shall I 1 not wake up again aged friend how bow is it tuat mat an old 1 man can be so merry and cheerful 1 asked one man of 0 another because I 1 belong to the lord are no others happy at your time of life I 1 no not one then straightening up and with the glow of hope upon I 1 I 1 his countenance lie said listen please to the truth f aromo romo one who endows knows then tell it everywhere and no man of three score and ten can be found to gainsay it the devil has no me happy old men not to be a christian costs the sacrifice of the hig highest liest success in life every one wishes to make the most of himself but this la is impossible uni un i less he yields his life to christ god I 1 has a plan tor for every life and this plan alone assures the hibb highest est iwuc success does not god know ifor tor th the e creatures good better than the creature himself tt it Is folly to think that one can live in gods world and achieve success and yet disobey the laws of god remember that money and popularity and power do not constitute I 1 success one may have all these and yet be a consummate failure the true object of life Is to know gods will and do it and the soul misses that completely not to be a christian costs the loss of ones soul man was made 0 o 1 now god to enjoy him film and to become like him this Ca capacity parity he lo lobeer weer e er weakens by disuse and aad may tp bp utterly lost charles lamb claimed that samuel taylor dole coleridge ridge was the brightest brIg hest mind that england ever produced A more modern biographer calls him an archangel slightly damaged how much hla his character had bad deteriorated by holding the truth in suspense may be judged by an inscription which he write at the se fe ot of thirty thim five qa oa the fly flyleaf leaf of wh cebis mother rao had given gaiu h fm fin 1 my years were scarcely seventeen when it was hoped I 1 might be all which then alas I 1 might have been and now my years are thirty five and every other mother hopes her lamb and every other child alive slay may never be what now I 1 am 1 sin la Is doing what one wants to do rather than what he ought to do all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own wn way this habit of having his own way grows upon the sinner until even god Is unable to change it neither entreaties nor warnings nor threats can subdue his stubborn will indifference to god Is followed by disobedience defiance and sometimes the soul even curses god to his face not only does the capacity to know god and enjoy him weaken by disuse but sin eats out every trace ot of the divine image until there is nothing left but the mark of the beast nothing but the spirit of satan to whom the sinner has yielded ills his life instead of unto god when all trace ot of the divine image Is gone there Is nothing left tor for god to love and all ile he can do is to cast it out some time ago a jeweler in new york had a very hard diamond to polish usually the stones are placed on a wheel under a pressure ot of two or three pounds this stone was put under a pressure ot of forty pounds the wheel was speeded up to awen ty eight thousand revolutions a in minute in and the stone was kept on the wheel for a hundred days at the end of that time no impression had been upon the stone and all that had been accomplished was to throw the lapidary into nervous prostration the revolutions of that wheel were equal to three circumferences of the globe the jeweler gave up the job in despair and sent it to the historical society as a specimen of a diamond too hard to be polished even so BO god keeps this world spinning around on its axis not only a hundred days but seventy long years in a vain attempt to conform some souls of his image and finally sick at heart Is compelled to cast them away saying ephra Ephr ephraem alm im la Is joined to his idols let him alone not to bo be a christian costs the loss of 0 heaven th the penalty of having ones own wa way here is to be consigned hereafter r to aglace where every one has ills his own own way which Is hell that la Is what makes it he hell 11 heaven is a place where no one has his own w way ay but all delight to do gods will that Is what makes it heaven the soul has no ito hope of heaven and even it if he had he could not enjoy it heaven would be hell to one who Is not heavenly minded to one who does not love jesus and who does love sin bin the soul must prepare to part forever from all his dear ones who have chosen christ his mother who taught him to pray his faithful wife his children whose little hands have long been beckoning to woo him home to heaven when dwight L moody died ho he looked up and said Is this death it if so it la Is glorious E earth arth Is receding heaven ls is opening god Is calling me in this welcome the soul will hear the sad words depart pari from me yes it does cost something to be 6 a christian ii it may cost you the sacrifice of some pleasure some companions some money but not to be a christian will cost you the loss of peace joy and real success it will cost you the loss ot of your soul it will cost you heaven are you prepared to pay tho the price what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ROYDEN HOYDEN D ZOOK pastor methodist episcopal church sunday services sunday school 1 10 a m evening worship p D m weekday week day services wednesday 1 7 4 5 prayer meeting friday 7 3 6 p m choir practice saturday p ta in street witnessing tor for christ all who have christ are re welcome to join us in this service |