SUNDAY READINGS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LX, Issue 9801, 10 May 1924, Page 3

SUNDAY READINGS.

lI.—THE DIVIDED' MIND

By the Rev. James Aitken, ALA. Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.—Matt 12.25.

To-night I wish to speak to you about Sin. I am not going to discuss with you z questions about theo rigin and matter of sin. Sin is there. And we all know it for what it is. Our ideas of what is sinful and what is not, may -not always agree. Differences in our upbringing, in our social environment, in our point Oi view, will cause us to have different opinions on details. But that there is a distinction between right and wrong we shall all agree. Moreover we shall all he willing to confess that we have our share in sin. We are quilty sometimes of feelings of pride, vanity, malice, resentment. Our words sometimes are false, impatient, unkind. "Wo lose our self-control and fall into sins of temper, it may be; or of idleness and self-indulgence—not to speak of grosser sins which need not he named. Our actions are sometimes selfish, dishonest, hurtful to others. These are faults in our own lives. Sin is a fact in our own experience.

Now, wo look at an infant child In his mother’s arms, or prattling about Iris mother’s knees, and we say > f him that lie is innocent. The child does not as yet know any difference between right and wrong. He is not able to judge of his own actions or to criticise his own life. We cannot say of any of Ins infant doings that they are sinful. And we reflect that once it | was so with ourselves. We had our j age of innocence too. Also it is far behind us. But we cannot date the close of it. We cannot look back and say: On this day or at this point we ceased to bo innocent and became guilty. The sense of sin grew in us gradually as day falls into night.. It was vague and but dimly felt at first. But by and by it began to be more clear and more poignant. We realised our share in sin, our blame, our guilt. It was a painful, but salutary experience. It has been an experience often repeated. As our moral sense grows keener, so docs our sense of sin. Of course the moral sense may be blunted" It is possible for a man by constant disregard of the promptings of conscience to silence the divine voice within him. But it has not come to that with any of us. Rather we havo known again and again and stili know the self-condemnation, e the shame, the humiliation and remorse that follow sin. And yet we continue to sin. From time to time we say and feel and do what we know to be wrong. We do the ; wrong, and hate it, and hate ourselves for doing it. There is the Divided Mind—the Soul divided against itself. That is an experience that has often been described, “I see the better way and approve it”, said the old Roman, “but 1 choose the worse”. “The good that I would I do not”, said Paul, “the evil that I would not, that I do”. And 0, for a man to arise in me, That the man I am might cease to be.” sang our own English poet. Again and again have men, acknowledging some wrong that they have done, protested that they did not know why they did it. It was as though something within themselves rebelled against themselves, and swept them away against their will. They are not masters of themselves. They do not rule in their own kingdom. Theirs ’s the Divided Mind. This condition —which we all know something of—carries a great danger with it. It is destructive of all comfort ,and peace of mind. It is incompatible with moral stability, .trustworthiness, strength of character, ,t undermines self-respect and precludes the development of a worthy personality. In a word it makes true manhood impossible. For a true man is a man who can be depended upon to think rightly and feel rightly ana speak and act rightly. But so long as there remains within us discord, division—what Paul calls a law or principle or impulse, warring against vne law of our mind and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin—we are in peril of missing our true manhood, of losing our own souls. “A kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation”, a scoul divided against itself is brought to ruin. "What then, are we to dop This experience of discord within is common to us all. We are all mo it of divided mind. We are all in danger. Where does safety lie for us? What shall we do to be saved? "What, but turn to Jesus Christ. He has been known for nineteen hundred years as the Saviour jof men—and worthily has. He borne that great title. He and He alone can heal our divisions, and save our manhood—save our souls. When we turn to Jesus Christ what do we find? Two things. First the assurance of forgiveness for all our sins. Christ brings to us a forgiveness that is full and free from comprehensiveness ; it covers everything. A.nd not only does He offer such a forgiveness to us, He presses it upon us. The Divine forgiveness is urgent. God is a God who delights to forgive. And because God forgives, we are assured that sin need not he our ruin. Escape is possible, for God is still our Friend. Now forgiveness is not a vague theory; it is not a vague fancy. It is a fact which men have experienced and which wo may experience too. Aml all we have to do is to believe in it, accept it and rest in it. And fcho other thing we find in Christ when we come to Him in this, The Assurance of Deliverance from the t power of Sin. "Not forgiveness only, but grace also He brings and offers and urges upon us. To the man who faithfully turns to Christ and yields himself to Christ, there comes a strength, a stability of mind and character, which he never knew before. For the Spirit of Christ passes into those who company with Him and manifests itself at their, lives. Now forgiveness is a fact to he accepted; but deliverance is an end to be achieved. Forgiveness is freely bestowed upon us; deliverance, we ourselves have to wrestle and fight for and win, in the strength that Christ supplies. Deliverance takes time to complete. But if we put our trust in Christ, the achievement is sure. Ho who begins a good work in us will perfect us. To the man, therefore, of divided mind, to the man who is conscious of sin and hates it and longs to be froo from it, the message of the Gospel is Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have faith in Him. Trust Him and, trusting Him, have faith in God.