Your ShelfYour Projects

If This Is the Truth

4%

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 16, 1902

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 50.

Read the full edition

If This Is the Truth

By I. H. Evans

I. H. EVANS
“If this is the truth, then”—who made that statement?
O, I heard that in the church the other Sabbath. It was in a testimony meeting. The brother was speaking in his usual way; the same words had often been said in that same church. It was the elder leading the meeting who was speaking. He said, “If this is the truth, then we ought to show our faith by our works.” Several good brethren and sisters said “Amen.”
A minister was preaching the other Sabbath. God had touched his heart. As he grew earnest and enthusiastic in his talk, he cried out, “If this is the truth, we ought to be the most zealous people in the world.” The congregation said “Amen.”
A brother holding a prominent position in the work said to me to-day, “My brother, if this is the truth, we ought to cut loose from every worldly entanglement, and throw our whole power into the proclamation of this message.”
In a committee meeting the other day a brother said, “If this is the truth, then, brethren, it is time to give the trumpet a certain sound.”
What do all these expressions, “If this is the truth,” mean?
An infidel said to me once, “If there is a God, then surely all men should worship him.”
A skeptic once said, “If the Bible is true, then you are right.”
But the infidel still denied that there is a God; and the skeptic still held the Bible uninspired.
Brethren, do you know whether or not you are following “cunningly devised fables”? whether or not this third angel’s message is of God? If it is only human devising, it is a mirage, an ignis fatuus, and must prove a failure. Do you know to a certainty that God’s Word is its foundation? Have you settled convictions that have taken hold on God that there is a message for this day to a lost world?
Do you think that just prior to the second coming of Christ the waiting company will thus exhort one another: If this is the truth, then Jesus will soon appear?
Do you expect to hear the minister saying, If this is the truth, then we ought to hold on till the end? Such sayings seem preposterous.
What would you think if Peter andJohn and the other disciples had kept saying, If Jesus is the Son of God, then we ought to follow him? What would Paul’s success in preaching the gospel have been, if he had said, If this gospel is true, then I ought to go into all these heathen countries and proclaim it? Had Martin Luther said, If this doctrine of justification by faith is true, then I ought to give it to the world, whence would have come his power to stir all Europe as he did?
A young man was preaching the third angel’s message. He had been saying, “If the Bible is true, then this is the truth.” Going home one night after the meeting, he overtook a group of men and women talking about the sermon that night, and not knowing that the speaker was near, they passed their comments freely. One said, “He does not believe what he preaches.” “Why?” asked another. “Why?—Because he kept saying, ‘If the Bible is true, then this is so;’ and if he had believed the Bible, there would have been no ‘if’ about it. It would be just as the Bible says. I do not take any stock in such preaching.”
There are no “if’s” in the language of faith. “If” implies a doubt. It wavers from solid assurance. There is no anchorage in it. “If” cuts the cable rope, and sets you adrift. It begets no confidence. It carries a doubt with it, and paralyzes action.
On Lake Michigan during a storm one time all passengers were sick. The waves were leaping over the boat. Some one asked the captain if we should ever get to land. He answered, “If the engine does not fail us, we are all right.” In ten minutes it was open talk that the engine was faulty, and we were liable to be wrecked.
No man can say, “If this is the truth,” without weakening himself in the eyes of those who hear him, and destroying the force of his message.
The times demand a positive message. If God has revealed a truth to you, declare it. What you know, that teach. What you would persuade others to believe, you must know for yourself.
Why not drive those “if’s” from the camp, and go to the world with a positive message of salvation? Are you still doubting whether this message is from God? You are paralyzed for service until that matter is settled. Do you ask, “How can I settle it?”—On your knees with God’s Word. Pray till God answers you with a message of peace and hope.
Your doubts are proof that you are not in touch with Heaven. Seek by confession, by restitution, by every Bible means, to put your soul in harmony with God; and then rest on his sure Word. Believe his promises.
This message is to be heralded to the world. Christ is coming. There are no “if’s” about it. God calls you to service. Surely we can pray,—
“Have I long in sin been sleeping? Long been slighting, grieving Thee? Has the world my heart been keeping? O forgive and rescue me!”