THE DAY OF REST. TWO LETTERS FROM GOD. 1 John ii.12; v. 13. (By H.M.H.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 287, 4 August 1888, Page 6

THE DAY OF REST. TWO LETTERS FROM GOD. 1 John ii. 12 ; v. 13. (By H.M.H.)

I suppose all my readers havo- received at least one letter in their lifetime ; and if the letter was from someone that you had conlidonce in, you would believe the contents of tho letter, and the cflect upon you would be according to the contents. If the letter contained sad news, you would feel Fad ; if it contained good news, you would teel glad. But did any of you ever get a letter from hor giacious Majesty Queen Victoria? Why, if she were to confer such an honour upon any of my readers, what a stir would be made about it ! There would bo an account of it in the daily papers ; and one paper would copy ib from another, until it would be spread all over the world. The recipient of the loyol letter would have it put into a costly frame, and it would be carefully handed down from iron oration to generation. I ha\e another question to ask you ? Have you ever received a letter fiom Mod ? 1 have received two from Kirn, and should like to say a lit'le to you about them. I will ghe yon the first in full " I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." 1 have left out the word " little," which, though it occurs in our most excellent translation of the Scriptures, is not in the original. The address is to children of Cod, and is a term which includes father* in Christ, young men in Christ, and babe* in Chiist. Just as in a large family all are children, from the first bom to the youngest, but all are not little children. This fir-fc letter, then, from God is addrested to His childien. Aio you one of His children 9 It is possible that you may ask, "How do we become His chddicn?" and lest my poor words should mislead you, I will ask yon to look at two scriptures which answer your question most simply : " As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons (or children) of God, even to them that believe on His name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.' 1 John i. 12, 13. "For ye are all the childien of God by faith in Chiist Jesus." Gal. iii. 26. I beg you to notice very closely, because of the ritualistic and infidel notions of the day, that the Scriptures we have just looked at do not say we are the children of God by creation or by baptism, but " by faith jx Chki^t Jeshs." Now have you received Christ by believing on Him ? If you have, then ynu are one of the favoured class called •'children of God," to whom the first letter is addressed. For what purpose has God written this letter to His children 1 Thai they may know their sins are forgiven them for Hia (Christ's) name's sake. There are thousands of people in Christendom who regularly say every Sunday, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins," who, if you were to ask them if their sms wero forgiven, would at once say, "No, and I don't believe that anybody can know their sins are all toignen in this world." What a solemn mockery it is for such per-ons to be saying, as they do, " I believe in the foigiveness of sine !" Now don't you think the woman in Luke vii. knewhei sins \>eie forgiven? Of course •ahe did. But how did she know it ? Because Jmis told hw so. And how is any child of God to know that his or her sins aie foi given ? Because He has written them a letter that they might know it ; and now they are to know it, not from their feelings and hope*, but from the infallieble letter of their Father and Lrod in Christ. "Ye-," ssi\s =ome one, "1 know all my past sins are forgiven me, but what about my present and future sins?" How many your >ins were past, how many present, how many future, when Chiist died? Suiely they weie .ill future ; and if He had not all our sins upon Him when He died, He ne\er will have them upon Him, for He will ne\er die again, and therefore we must go to the 1 ike of tire for them. If you are a child of Gofj Ihrousrb faith in Chii-t, thank God yom Fathei for His letter to >ou, ami thank the Loul Je^iu- for ha\ing loved yon and washed you horn all jour sins in lfi<own mo>t piecious blood. 1 John n. 12; Rev. i. 5, 6. God's ob|cct in wiiting the hrst letter is, that all Hi> children may Lnoir thai all thcil nin.s auk h"»km\ i,v Hut Hin object in writing the second lettei i-, that all who believe on te name of the Son o\ God may know that they luue ceinal life. J will gi\e the second letter in full: "These thino have I written unto you who bclie\e on the name of the Son of God, thai y may know that ye ha\e eternal Lite." 1 .John, \. 13. Ha\o you ever thought of the. difieience between forgiveness and eternal life? Suppose a nun in the debtoi's piison for debt He cannot pay a farthing thei o A kind and rich friend procures all lm bills, and satisfies the claims of all his creditors. The man is let out of prison, thankful that all his debts are paid, but he is not happy ; for, though he knows that all his debtb are paid, not having any money, he also knows he mv.st go into debt again. But he is informed that the friend who paid all his debts has placed a running account to his name in the Bank of England Now he is filled with thankfulness, happiness, and satisfaction. First, because all hi.s debts are paid, but most because he is not likely to get into debt again, and lias a good capital to commence again upon. And .^o the fii.st letter let« u^ into the seciet that all our debts are paid — our sins art forgiven ; and the second letter that our fin tune is made— we have eternal life. •' But," says someone, " I don't/e</ 1 have eternal life.' God doe& not ask you to feel. Which is be-t — to be trusting 1 to a fickle, shortlived, and unucitain feeling, or to the unalterable and everlasting woid ol God ? When we iecei\e a letter from home tiunty hiend do we write back a^ain to ask him to send us some feeling to believe what he wrote us is true? Who would think of treating any valued friend after such a fashion ? Then wh_y should tteat God an w« would not think of treating any human friend ? God writes a letter to all who believe on the name of the Son of God, that they may kxow (not feel, hope, or doubt, but know) that they have eternal life. Suppose 1 get a letter from New Zealand, telling me that a friend has died and left me some property. I find tour thing in the letter. First, that a property has been left me : second, where the property is ; thirdly, what the property is ; and lastly, that it is mine. I find the same four things in 1 John v. In the eleventh verse God tells me He has given me eternal life, and where the l'fe is. In the twelfth verse He tells me who or what the life is. And lastly, he writes me a letter (if I am a believer on the Son of God) THAT I MAY KNOW THAT I HAVE ETKRNAL LIl'K. Could anything be more simple ? Are you a child of God through faith in Christ? and are you a, believer on the Son of God ? If you are able to say, "By the grace of

God, I am," then the two letters are addres^fcd to you, that you may know that you have the forgiveness of all your sins, and that you may knoio that you have eternal life in the Sou of God. All that is loft for you to do is to accept the two letters from God, believe their contents, and praise Him for them, and now look to Him for grace to glorify Him in your own words, ways, and walk, until His Son comes to take you, with all hit. blood- washed ones, to glory. Have you ever received these two lhttkrs kkom God ?