Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

saved."
us."
covered!"
us."
serve."
signed, which is an individual and world program of
positive righteousness, an aggressive program for
the regeneration of man and society.
Some may believe our goal to be the preserva
tion of the Covenanter Church. It is true the church
needs members. We pray also for the day when all
shall be one in Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is false
optimism to ignore the dangers to the church. But
remember, the church has always been in danger.
Cain slew Abel and the existence of the church was
threatened. After three years which Jesus spent
with His disciples, still on the night of the trial all
forsook Him and fled. The call from Macedonia was
heard, and Paul answered that call, and the whole
new continent was opened to the Word. What hap
pened Paul and Silas landed in prison from man's
point of view, hopeless! Nevertheless, they sang
Psalms to Him whom no prison wall, nor Caesars,
nor empires, nor civilizations, nor persecutions
could stop!
We are to preach Jesus Christ and Him cruci
fied, Christ the wisdom of God and the power of God
the wisdom of God in dealing with sin, and the
power of God to transform the sinner, and all his re
lationships of life. Following John 3:16, we read:
"For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn
the world ; but that the world through Him might be
All the vows
Saved men, and a saved world !
of our Covenant are a positive effort toward that end,
and our goal is faithfulness to the heavenly vision!
We cannot agree with those views of the Kingdom
which shrug off personal responsibility for seeking
to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, by saying
that Christ will do it when He comes. We are com
missioned to go and preach the Kingdom of God!
III. We Must Run as a Church Unshackled.
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset There are many obstacles to
bar the way, many burdens to slaken our pace, many
encumbrances to hold us back. In Philippians 3, Paul
speaks of "forgetting those things which are be
hind," so he presses on. What are some of the things
which shackle us
1. The Remembrance of Past Glories. Paul had
a glorious past, but if he stopped to admire it, his
forward progress would be stopped. We too, have a
glorious past. Our Covenanter history is filled with
those who received the crown of faithfulness. If we
stop to admire their crown, we shall never receive
ours. So often I meet someone who glories in the fact
his grandfather was a Covenanter. I always wonder,
What about you
2. The Burden of Past Sins shackles us. Sin al
ways enslaves. But we have confessed our sins as a
church as well as individuals. It is written: "If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all
Did God not mean every word He said Did Christ
carry our sins to the cross in vain We ought to go
forth with all the joy of the Psalmist as he sang,
"0, the blessedness of the man whose transgression
is forgiven,
whose sin is
3. The Lures of This World shackle us. One of
the saddest sentences of Scripture is that of Paul,
"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present
world."
Was it the deceitfulness of riches I think
June 15, 1955
more likely it was the fear of persecution. In either
case Satan offered the easy way out, and Demas
took it. Jesus answered Satan's offer with these
words, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
Him only shalt thou
It cost Him the cross.
It is easy to be a Christian at Grinnell, but it
will mean struggle and hard work at home. It is easy
to visualize programs at Synod, but it is a different
matter working out the kingdom program, even in
our larger congregations ; and 0, how hard for those
in little groups where young people and others must
labor almost alone! But we are His Witnesses. One
of the most challenging records of Scripture is that
of a nameless little slave girl in the home of Naaman
the Leper. She was a captive, with all her former
dreams shattered, a prisoner in a far country, in the
midst of heathen idolatry. Yet she was true to her
God and gave her testimony, and not only was a man
cleansed of his leprosy, but the relationship between
nations was changed.
IV. We Must Run with the Endurance of Hope.
"And run with patience the race that is set before
That is the patience of expectation. There is
nothing more deadly than hopelessness. It may dem
onstrate rare courage, or dogged determination, but
to what end Ours is the endurance of hope.
Toward the end of the Civil War, President Lin
coln was asked if he had ever doubted the outcome.
"Never for an instant," was his reply. George Muller
was asked if he had ever had a doubt. He replied
that once he had doubted for five minutes. Think of
that only five minutes in a lifetime ! No wonder his
was a life of power. Martin Luther walked out of the
Diet of Worms where he had taken his famous stand
on the truth of Scripture, with his hands held high,
not as a prisoner, but in the symbol of victory. Lu
ther was standing on the Truth, which endureth
forever !
We have renewed our Covenant on the basis of
the promises of God. Does God mean what He says
concerning His Truth He calls us to a life of posi
tive goodness. Does He mean it He commissions us
as He did Paul to proclaim His Name before kings.
Does He mean it Paul believed that He did! One
of our great messages is that of the Crown rights of
Jesus Christ over the nation. If Christ does not
mean it, how do you explain 140 radio programs in
33 states today, and that backed by the meager bud
get of the Witness Committee We have the Chris
tian Amendment Bill in Congress; but some say,
"Nothing will come of it." Nevertheless, through the
"Congressional Record" it has gone into homes and
offices all over this land. God led the editors of a
national magazine to copy it, and thus millions of
copies were distributed over this land. We need to
run more with the patience of hopefulness.
V. We Must Run with Our Eyes on Christ.
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith."
When we look to Jesus in our Christian Race,
What do we see We see not yet all things put under
Dr. George Morri
Him, but we see Jesus crowned !
son has written about the hopefulness of Christ.
No where is Christ more hopeful than at the cross.
We read: "Who for the joy that was set before Him,
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