SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 73, 16 September 1911, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

"COMPANIONSHIP WJTfI. JESUS." (Extract of sermon preached by Rev. R. J. Liddcll, in the Queen street Primitive Methodist Church.) Jcxt:"And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus."—Acts IV. l;i.

A notable miracle had been performed I at the gate of the Temple at Jerusalem, | a miracle that caused no small amount . of stir, amazement, and opposition. Peter and John; the two opposites in the.band of diseiples, went up to the | temple at the hour of prayer. As they were about to enter the sacred portal they were arrested by the appeal of a ■lame beggar, a poor, helpless, deformed, unhealthy, unlmppy man. The cripple asked alms and perhaps a momentary disappointment swept over his being as Peter said: ''Silver and gold have I none." That was what lie iioped to receive from the worshippers. lie might have said in reply, "Of what use are you to me if you have neither. silver nor gold; make way for some other person who will throw me a coin. Pass on, diseiples of the carpenter of Nazaieth. But the next sentence from leter was of infinitely more value than either silver or gold. "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, and Peter, taking him by the hand, assisted him to liis feet, which immediately received strength. Then the lame man entered with the Apostles into the temple, "walking and leaping and praising God."

This aroused opposition. It is a noteworthy fact that when ever a good work is being done, those who are engaged in carrying it on will meet with opposition. You many expect that Satan will not give up an inch of territory if he can possibly avoid it, and the more his kingdom is assailed the fiercer will be the opposition.

Peter and John are imprisoned as a result The priests and Sadducees thought if the Apostles were confined in a prison it would retard the advancement of the gospel. But it could not seal the lips of the disciples, and Peter, with all boldness, preached to them of Jesus and the Resurrection, preaching with such telling effect that all who heard listened with amazement and marvelled at such words proceeding from unlearned and ignorant men. "And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus."

REFORMED LIVES. Companionship with Jesus is the guarantee of a reformed life. We know very little concerning Peter and John previous to the time when they became disciples of Jesus, but the few Hashes we have reveal failings and imperfections in each of them. When they commenced to follow Christ they were far from perfect. We see their short-sightedness, selfishness, unbelief, cowardice, but companionship with Jesus gradually but surely ate these things away, until at last, as they stand revealed to us in the Acts of the Apostles, we see them thoroughly reformed men. What is the secret of their reform? Nearness' to Jesus. Illustrations of this are apparent everywhere in the history of the Clnistian Church. Look at Zacchacus, the publican. He was a dishonest man, collecting the taxes for the Roman Government. He took good care to collect more than was due. which he put into his own pocket. But one day Jesus passed by, and called Zacchacus down from the tree into which he had climbed to get a view of the Master, and they went home together. What their conversation was we know not, but that brief companionship Zacehaeus had with Christ reformed his life. His liberality was then unbounded, and restitution was made to those he had robbed. Again, look at Saul of Tarras, a persecutor of the church, but he met Jesus and the persecutor was changed into the Apostle of the Gentiles. Think of John Bunyan, low, vulgar, blasphemous, and said to have been one of the most godless and abandoned men of his day. But look at him in Bedford gaol, looking towards the cross, and the gate of the Celestial Oitv, writing a book to charm the hearts of thousands. How do you account for the change for the reformed life? Companionship with Jesus. But why go so far? Are there not those in this congregation who once rejected the Bible, qarnd not for God', talked against Heaven, hated His house? But to-day all your hopes are centred in the cross. One form is more glorious to you than any other, the form" of the Son of God. The reason is not far to seek. You have .been with Jesus and the company of the Divine has reformed your life.

COURAGE TO WITXESS. Peter and John had a glorious testito give. and without fear they Save it. Their theme was not n popular one on the occasion. Their audience was certainly not a sympathetic one, but the Apostles, filled with the love of Christ, ennhl not he guilty of the crime of bein" ashamed of Ilim. So looking the frowrfrulers in the face they began to tell out the story of the cross, preaching through Jesus the resurrection of the (lead.

Conversion and witnessing go hand in hand. Peter and John were threatened, beaten, imprisoned by the people with a view to silence them, but everv attempt was unsuccessful, and Peter exclaims: ''Whether it be right in the sight of f'od to hearken unto you more than unto Cod judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." We must be a witnessing church, one that has seen and heard something to declare, and one that cannot but speak out what, it has seen and heard. A church that is not a witnessing church and that does not stand as a living protestation 1 against present day evils, is as the church in Sardis, of which Christ said, "Thou hast, a name that thou livest and art dead." What is said of the church applies with ecjual force to the individual Christians. Ft is manifest to all that there are cowards in the church. They sing bravelv enough '•stand up for Jesus." but when there is a risk of it bringing ridicule or persecution they are wanting. Jf .a mail has been ill the company of Jesus it will bestow courage to confess Christ.

LOVE FOR MEN'S SOULS. Why did tlio Apostles speak such words in the presence of the high priest, rulers, elders ;md scribes? Whv did Peter exclaim. "P.epent dint your sins may be blotted out?" and declare, "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved?" Tt was because companionship with •Tesns had awakened a great love for the souls of men about him. and he longed for their conversion. ,So to-dav the power of lhat supreme companionship will be a spiritual force streaming through our nature, enabling us to see the value of a soul; to see the possibility of that soul being lost to (,'od or saved for Cod ami eternal blessedness. This accounts for the earnestness of Clod's servants, ''knowing (he terrors of the bird we persuade men." Earnestness 011 the part of Christian workers at times has been misunderstood. Hestus, seeing Paul's earnestness, said. "Paul, thou are beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad." It was not maifness. Tt was the yearning of a heart for the conversion of Hestus, and the saving of a soul from death. Now, if we are walking in daily intimacy with

Jesus, love for souls will be predominant in our life. Saved ourselves, then a yearning to save others. CIIRTRTTAN HEROISM, Peter and John were heroes of the grandest type. They were facing men who had had a hand in the death of Christ, and if they could slay the Master, the servant stood in a perilous position indeed. Yet they stood firm while Peter accuses, reproaches, and rebukes almost offensively; charging them with having "killed the -Prince of Peace," and in one great burst of defiant faith he says, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the corner."

From whence comes the noulest heroism in this age? From those who have companionship with Jesus. They are those who endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. The world has never acknowledged them. They have faced nd guns, conquered no cities, and yet in the great day of accounts their names will stand higher on the muster roll of Heaven than those whose names startled nations. What made John Brown, the Edinburgh carrier, heroic w the presence of the notorious Lord Claverhouse? What enabled Ridley and Latimer to go triumphantly to the stake and burn? or John Williams, the hero of the South Sea Islands, to' devote the best of his days in the interests of the heathen? Think of what James Chalmers said after twenty-one years' of danger and toil: ''Recall the twenty-one years; < give me back all its experience, give me its shipwrecks; give me its standings in the face of death; give it me surrounded with spears and clubs; give it me back again with spears lly-ing around me, with the club knocking me to the ground; give it back, and 1 will still be your missionary." The secret of this heroism is the fact that these men had been with Jesus; they had seen a vision, so they counted not their lives dear unto them.

SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD. These two disciples had separated themselves as far as possible from the world, as it is founded on an antiChristian basis. They were separate, distinct, Spirit-filled men. Therefore the people "took knowledge of them that they had been with .Tesus." It has ever been Cod's condition of imparting Spiritual Life that we be separate from the world—in the world, but not of it.

"When the children of Israel came to the foot of the mountain, Moses ascended its slopes and remained away from the camp forty days. When he returned he was astonished and pained to discover that the people during his absence had made a golden calf and were worshipping it. Moaes, after upbraiding them, said: "Who is on the Lord's side let him come unto me." [t was saying in effect, "Leave your sin, your idolatory, and come to the side of God." So' there are two camps still in the world —God's camp and Satan's. They represent truth and falsehood, holiness and sin.

Where do you stand? Come out from among them and be ye separate. No middle course, 110 neutral ground. "If God be God, serve Him." Companionship with Jesus means that leave your godless associates if you would have Christ, for to retain the companionship of. one means giving up the other. "Ah," says one, "that is why I am not a Christian; it means giving up too much." Yes, it does mean giving up, but it only demands that you give up those things that injure, that are unsatisfying to obtain tl|iit which is most satisfying. You give up brass to get gold, you give up the hunger, degradation and misery of the ''far-olf country" for the Father's welcome and sumptuous feast. Christianity compensates by the bestowment of peace and joy; promise ffir the life tha,t now is and promise of that life which is to come.

L pray you live such an exemplary life in tlic church, homo, workshop, place of business, place of recreation, that all your associates will take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus.