IN SINCERITY AND IN TRUTH.
By Wm. Penniman
“FEAR the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth.” Josh. 24:14. Many try to serve the Lord in sincerity, and claim that this service is acceptable, since they are sincere; but it is evident that a person may be sincere in believing a lie. It is quite probable that those who will say to our Saviour in the day of final reckoning, Matt 7: 22, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?” and to whom he will say, “I never knew you,” were sincere. But if they had served the Lord in sincerity and in truth, the Saviour would not have spoken thus to them. No doubt this class were believers in the “Makes-No-Difference Theory.” Those who advocate this theory will do well to read the following from Mr. Moody:— “There is a class of men who say it does not make any difference what men believe if they are only sincere. I have men say to me every day, ‘Why, Mr. Moody, you don’t pretend to say it makes any difference what a man believes, so long as he is159sincere and earnest in his belief.’ And, my friends, I don’t believe a greater lie ever came out of the pit of hell than this. It makes all the difference in the world whether we believe a lie or not, and this is all the devil wants. He will be quite satisfied if he can delude you in this way. I think the most earnest men I ever read of were those noisy people on Mount Carmel. They could be heard for miles off; for they made the mount tremble with their shouting. They were terribly in earnest, but they were all wrong and perished in their sin. A man was once asked what he believed, and he replied: ‘Oh, I believe just what my church believes,’ and being asked what his church believed, he replied: ‘Just what I believe;’ and that is about as near as hundreds can come to telling what they believe. “Now we must know in whom we believe. Jesus tells us to have faith in God, and that will carry us through all the darkness, and affliction, and trouble, and trial, that may come upon us. But if we put our faith in churches, and dogmas, and ministers, we shall come into darkness and trouble before we get through our pilgrim journey. But if our faith is in God, the light will shine brighter and brighter across our path, until we are ushered into the gates of glory. A great many are putting their faith in good men—a minister or an elder, and making them their models. And if these deviate a little from the path, they think they may deviate a little more, and the result is that they drift away from God’s standard. If you had a child whom you wished to make a good writer, you would place before him as perfect a copy as you could find. And if you, as a Christian, are seeking for an example, you must have Christ alone.”