| Show A NEW SERMON by REV JAMES M GRAY DD tab tf A ND now lord what wait I 1 foi 1 psalm 39 7 another twelvemonth has almost gone and we are yet in the land of the living it we give this earlous consideration we must regard it as remarkable some think death the strangest wonder of human history but Is not life stranger when we reflect upon our frame and the shocks of life it must endure roust we not exclaim young strange that a harp of thousand should keep in tune so long Is it to bo wondered at if like david we too should put the question what watt I 1 tor the mastery of being here Is not profounder pro founder thin the of staying heie let us ask god the question the psalmist felt he not trust his own conclusions and so he said lord ft hat wait I 1 for it may be sou are waiting to be saved god is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and live 0 ephraem Ephr alm how can I 1 give aliee up how shill I 1 leave thee cudih behold him weeping over holy city 0 jerusalem how often would I 1 have gathered thy together as a hen gat hereth her brood under her wings and ye would hotl he Is so pleading with some of you today to go back no farther than alie past year has no sermon no invitation or warning no supplication or exhortation that has appealed to 5 our intelligence or moved sour emotions plead ing with ou to accept christ have 1 on lost no friend or neighbor by death i during that period have you had no ties cipe from bodily peril or no illness art remind you of the uncertainty of life can you conscientiously say that in all thee respects god has left you alone lias he done not a thing to startle you out of your false security t convince vou of sin to invite ou to the I 1 repeat has god left you absolutely alone ah you cannot say tant lie in how long halt ye between two opan ions god pushes for a decision and an immediate reply today it ye will hear his voice harden not bour hearts it may be you are waiting to bear fruit lou are by the grace of god already saved let us suppose hut for whit purpose were ou saved since gad loves jou with a love that pass etli know lodge and since to depart and be with christ were far better alsin to remain acre did he not call you to himself at bour conversion liy are vou here instead of liar presence there hal be some raeda yo ave not chosen me sail christ hut I 1 have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that sour fruit should remain may it be to give you another opportunity to glorify his father by bearing fruit that you are still hae ha e it may be you are waiting to be perfected I 1 ought to explain this because there Is a sense in which every christian Is perfected the moment he accepts christ as his savior he Is perfected in that he Is both justified and sanctified his sin Is put anav and by the holy spirit he himself Is set apart for god forever the new testament Is very clear on this notice paula words in his epistle to the co bolans for example ft hit then do we mean by saying we may be waiting to be perfected do i e mean the attainment of a state of this side of heaven no for if a christian lived to be as old as methuselah would he not still require to pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us we only mean that in the sense of a ripeness for the sickle which comes in the lives of some as if a crown of glory bad been vouchsafed to them even before they passed into the unseen and so mis it be with some of sou though now your pruning your dig gang and perhaps conr growing days are over yet the quiet but potent rays of divine grace are accomplishing a maturity in your experience so that bour christian life never will have been so attractive as in the hour that you depart hence e all do fade as a leaf but the fall of you ye glory crowned ones Is to be illumined by the grandeur of an autumnal sunset god bless you aged brethren 1 god bless sou young and old rich and poor saint and sinner 1 may you have n happa new year in the highest and truest sense happy Is the peo pie whose god Is the lord accept him serve him wait for him it la only ns we stand in such relationship to him tint after employing the psalm ast 1st a question and now lord what wait I 1 tor we can confidently apply the consolation in his words that fol low my hope Is in thee |
