SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13583, 12 September 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

PAUL'S GOSPEL. BT THE BEV. ABCHIBALD G. BBOWN. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie no*.—Gal., i. 20. The apostle hero is insisting on the absolute , certainty of a statement that he has made. He has recorded a little bit of personal history that we should never otherwise have known, and he has a purpose in doing so; and now to clinoh it, he says: " Before God I can declare that I am speaking the truth; I lie not." I think if Paul had not so declared it, we should still have believed him. Ho was not the man to tell a lie. There are characters, even apart from the grace of God, which forbid a man falling into this sin. Only small, mean, contemptible men lie. A manly man, oven if he is an unconverted man, cannot lie. And I will venture to say that Saul of Tarsus never lied, any more than Paul the Apostle. He could drag men and women to prison; but I am quite certain of this, that whilst he inhaled an atmosphere of slaughter, he never breathed a falsehood. BT. PAUL'S CEBTIFICATJ;. Now, if you *Vill look at the eleventh verse you will see that really our text occurs in a certificate concerning the gospel that he preached: " But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man"— is, it is not of human origin at all. We all know what Paul's gospel was. If you have any doubt look at the first verse of the third chapter of this ' very epistle, "Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified." His gospel was salvation through a crucified Lord Jesus. And in the fourteenth verso of the sixth chapter of this same epistle he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." From a certain moment in Paul's life he could never see anything but the Cross, he could never talk of anything but the Cross. Whenever he was brought before any congregation, no matter what line he started on, he always finished up at the Cross. He was pledged to it, bound by it, fascinated with it, glorified in it Now, no one disputes that Paul's gospel was a gospel of salvation by atonement, and that is the reason why Paul is so much disliked to-day, and the foolish cry raised of " Back to Jesus," as if Paul did not know a great deal more about Jesus than I am ever likely to know. Back to Jesus? Why, Paul never loft Him. We shall see directly why Paul with an oath said that what he was telling these Galatians was absolutely true, for now comes this question, "Where did ho get that gospel from?" "Well," he said, " I will tell you where I did not get it from. First, I did not get it from any human source whatever, I did not concoct it, it is not home-born, I did not make it up; secondly, I have not borrowed it from anyone. ' And then comes this beautiful little bit of personal history which you have to fit in between those two verses I pointed out to you in the ninth chapter of the Acts, verses twenty-one and twentv-two, and it is concerning this personal incident that Paul said, "On my oath, before God, I am not lying." THE GUARANTEE. He, first of all, as an introduction to it, says that Ins past life ought to be a guarantee that ho had no natural leanings towards Jesus Christ, that most certainly ho is not a partial witness, because, listen to the end of the thirteenth verso, "Ye have heard of my life in former times in the Jews' religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of Ooa and wasted it. "Well," ho says, "I know that is true, and you 'know it is true; am I likely therefore to be naturally biassed on His side? There must havo been some tremendous reason to bring mo ' round as I havo been brought, for it was I who beyond measure persecuted the church. , « Well, I think he has cleared the ground. 1 am prepared to hear what this man has to Bay for Jesus Christ now. How did it come to pass? Read the fifteenth and sixteenth verses. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called mo by His graco to feveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with nesn and blood' —now note every word— ' neither went I up to Jerusalem to them winch were apostles before me; but I wont into Arabia. Oh, I wish we had someone able to write the story of those two years, and more, spent in Arabia! This is the matter concerning which Paul says, "Before God, I lie not. Now where is the tremendous import of this visit to Arabia? Let me try and make it clear. Jesus Christ has first appeared to him on the way to Damascus; all be iSS? a V s \ his l thatesu ! is not th « impostor that he took Him for, for if He was crucified on Calvary's Hill, at all events He is living now; and He has looked out of heaven and spoken to him, and it has flung him into a paroxysm of soul-agony, and for three days in the dark he has been crying to God until-and then you have this beautiful sentence:" It. pleased God to reveal His Son » me." Ah, that is different! In the fir case Jesus revealed Himself to him, now t pleased God to reveal His Son in him. T»„„i have ad a double revelation," eavs Paul. Jesus first revealed Himself to me in the heavens, and then God gave me a special, revelation of His Son in my heart and this revelation in all its fulness was re ceived in Arabia. I did not go back to Jerusalem, but I went into Arabia." THE LOST LEADER. with h th« J?,"' "tting, before I came here, ?«i« 1 Vt 1 *! 8 on , m * kue »-t»at is often a ' help-and I have been trying as far as possible to put myself in Saul's position. Have you ever done it? He has Been converted? he has been tlsd > and ho has preached for two ° three days, not more, in Damascus, and how all the soldiers he brought with cTbaT t bee Sen 7 Way T W""finp3f w!*h - to Jerusalem as fast as they can with a. most extraordinary story. Thev will % % \l* h priest ' your leader.' All they can say is, "We do not know, wo left him blind at Damascus Something happened on . the "ad; we Jaw a blaze of light, and we heard a sound like I thunder-clap, and as for our leader, well ve have not heard. wxOdn* £ fi

but we bear ho is blindy. and he bis given us orders to come home" Well, let them go. but look at this man! \ • I can see him as ho quietly goes out of M Damascus by himself, I Hd has some', parch, ments tucked into his breatt, that is M 8 Old Testament, he was sever without 1 , that. When he was at the ifijei of Gamaliel, a young Jewish student, ho was always mighty in the Scriptures. IHo has hi« Old . - Testament with him. iThi man who came - into Damascus with a \wh«lo troop of sol- - diery goes out of Damascus absolutely alone. Where is he going? Hd has a tremendously ' : long walk before him. Whtn you get home open your atlas or your map, and you will boo he' is starting on a wait o\ some hundreds : of miles. Ho retraces hit steps all along the road that ho had previously gone with the : : soldiers. I wonder whether he came the eastern side of the JordAn or the western; I should think the eastern, as it is less frequented. There came a time when he was within a day's march of ieiusalem. ST. TAUL'S .IOtIOET. Still ho is bearing due toijth; ho goes afl through that desolate neighbourhood of ' Moab, and as he looks up ho can see Mount '• Nobo on which Moses diid|and I feel I want to whisper in his car: aid say, "Paul, whore are you off to? What is the mean- - ing of it'/". And he would m, "Don't btop me, I arc off to Arabia," fine lie walks his three or four hundred milr-s 'done until ho comes to Mount Sinai. He Wants in that vicinity, at the foot of 1 Snai, to get a , thorough grasp of the wholf plan of God's salvation. '] ' , As one writer beautifully I'lite it, to whom, I acknowledge much miedness, "He ~"■ went to Sinai with only pacltmonts and t walking-stick, but when he aiae hack from '; Arabia ho was carrying in his heart and ' brain the epistle to the Ron ails, the epistle to the Ephesiaus. the epistle to the Colos- ..f; &ians." God had revealed to him in the solitude of Arabia the mealing of the Old : : Testament; he had seen Jems in it all. Is ;; that man qualified to know yhat'the gospel .Si is? I declare 1 would ratlur accept Paul's '• declaration of what, the gosrel is, than that of any of the modem theolgians. Here is -1 a man who is able -to say. ' I did not pick my gospel up in the colleges; I did not get - my gospel from any books, t had only one .'- book, the. Scriptures, and in the solitudes of Sinai God revealed His Soi in me." The ;'■s moment this fact is accepted there is an end of nine controversies out lot ten. Paul knew what the gospel was by direct revelation. Let him answer tho question, "What \M is tho gospel?" >..•'; " I LIE not!" ,i

Behold, before God, I not, and th« j Gospel which I preach I received not froto ! man, but I received it by di net revelation from God when I was out in Arabia." Now, one step further before we close: "Neither went J. up to Jerusalem to then which wore. .- apostles before mo, but I went into Arabia K, and returned again unto Damascus," and we saw in the reading he stopped there t many days. Now comes a most marvellously interesting point, and I think he has very ■ special reference to this when he takes his oath that it is all true. " Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter." And he was with Peter for a fortnight Oh, how I wish somebody had been there who could write shorthand! What wonder- V fill reading it would he if the conversation „ between Peter and Paul had been taken % down by some good stenographer I I car \ / iinagine Paul saying, "Well, Peter, I have > come on important business. I want to ask you several questions." I think I can hear ■ Peter say, "Why, Paul, wo have lost sight ; of you for three years; where have you ■ bten?" "I have been alone with God on Mount' Sinai, and He has revealed His Son U in me; now I want to know more of Jesus' life on earth, and as you were with Him, j I have come to interview you."

THE INTEBVIEW. i , :< ;* Peter never had such a listener m all hit {■ life. See dear Paul drinking it all in and / saying, "Go on, Peter, this is what I .Want 'HS to hear. God has revealed His Son' in me; I know that Jesus is the Son of God, and now I have come to you about the earthly' details." As the writer well says, and I be- ; : >>: lieve he is correct, " You cannot understand the gospels save as you go to them through the epistles." Here is the evil of to-day, the epistles aro shelved- But God has revealed His Son to Paul out there in Arabia, ;;jj» and if I want to know the inner meaning of the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke, 'and John, I have to go to Paul and he hands me ' j the key. ' ;£§ And in Romans, Ephesians ; Colossians. tb*re I read the wondrous story, and what I . learn is this— the Man, Christ Jesus, was the Son of God. and that He died at® sacrifice for sin; that He bare our sins in Hii own body on tree; and that is what Paul - - meant when said, "These things thatLl' : !f write unto you, before God, I lie not. I * know the gospel that I preach; I know where I got it from, it is not my own. I ■ did not borrow it from anyone else. God revealed it to me away there in Arabia," Are there any of you in any doubt? 1 have been rather plagued by the devil ol late, the air is full of him and his lies,, but after I .had been thinking this subject out for some time, every doubt vanished and I felt, "Lord. lam so glad that Paul went to * Arabia!." Here is a man who can say, "Before God, I lie not, and the gospel that '.[ preach I received straight from God Him- .Si self."

What is the gospel? Look at the fourth : verse of the first chapter. " Who gave Him- . self for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to "V the will of God and our Father." That is >: the great faot, He gave Himself for our sins, and he that believeth is justified. < "Therefore being justified by faith, we have " peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." I leave the text with you. Is it altogether out of order? I do 'not know how it comes to you. but I feel as if I could 'M shout," Halleluiah I" We often thank God for which He did for Saul in Damascus: I thank; God equally for what He did for •' Paul in Arabia. He revealed to Paul the «■ I! whole fjospel— full-orbed gospel, a gospel > of sovereign srraee, based on an atoning' sacrifice, and He taught him that there is instant, eternal salvation by simple faith V on the Son of God. May Paul's certificate . on oath of this glorious gospel come -with power to all our hearts, for His Nam*'* 'sake, Amen.