BY
A.W. PINK
SATAN IS NOT AN INITIATOR but
an imitator. God has an only begotten Son-the Lord Jesus, so has Satan-“the son
of Perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). There is a Holy Trinity, and there is
likewise a Trinity of Evil (Revelation 20:10). Do we read of
the “children of God,” so also we read of “the children of the wicked one”
(Matthew 13:38). Does God work in the former both to will and to do of His good
pleasure, then we are told that Satan is “the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Is there a “mystery of godliness”(1
Timothy 3:16), so also is there a “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
Are we told that God by His angels “seals” His servants in
their foreheads (Revelation 7:3), so also we learn that Satan by his agents
sets a mark in the foreheads of his devotees (Revelation 13:16). Are we told
that “the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1
Corinthians 2:10), then Satan also provides his “deep things” (Greek-
Revelation 2:24). Did Christ perform miracles, so also can Satan (2
Thessalonians 2:9). Is Christ seated upon a throne, so is
Satan (Greek- Revelation 2:13). Has Christ a Church, then Satan has his
“synagogue” (Revelation 2:9). Is Christ the Light of the world, then so is
Satan himself “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Did
Christ appoint “apostles,” then Satan has his apostles, too (2 Corinthians
11:13). And this leads us to consider: “The Gospel of Satan.”
Satan is the arch-counterfeiter.
The Devil is now busy at work in the same field in which the Lord sowed the
good seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat by another plant,
the tares, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance. In a word, by a
process of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the Work of Christ. Therefore,
as Christ has a Gospel, Satan has a gospel too; the latter
being a clever counterfeit of the former. So closely does the gospel of Satan
resemble that which it parodies, multitudes of the unsaved are deceived by it.
It is to this gospel of Satan
the apostle refers when he says to the Galatians “I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you,
and would pervert the Gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6,7).
This false gospel was being
heralded even in the days of the apostle, and a most awful curse was called
down upon those who preached it. The apostle continues, “But
though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” By the help of God we
shall now endeavor to expound, or rather, expose this false gospel.
The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy.
It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not
to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but
fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great
“brotherhood.” It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve
and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to “the best that is within - It aims to make this world such a
comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be
felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this
world that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It
propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and
teaches us to live for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals
strongly to the carnal mind and is popular with the masses,
because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature,
alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his
only hope lies in being born again.
In contradistinction to the
Gospel of Christ, the gospel of Satan teaches salvation by works. It inculcates
justification before God on the ground of human merits. Its
sacramental phrase is “Be good and do good”; but it fails to recognize that in
the flesh there dwelleth no good thing. It announces salvation by character,
which reverses the order of God’s Word—character by, as the fruit of,
salvation. Its various ramifications and organizations are manifold.
Temperance, Reform Movements, “Christian Socialist Leagues,” Ethical Culture
Societies, “Peace Congresses” are all employed (perhaps
unconsciously) in proclaiming this gospel of Satan—salvation by works. The
pledge card is substituted for Christ; social purity for individual
regeneration, and politics and philosophy, for doctrine and godliness. The
cultivation of the old man is considered more practical than the creation of a
new man in Christ Jesus; whilst universal peace is looked for apart from the
interposition and return of the Prince of Peace.
The apostles of Satan are not
saloon-keepers and white-slave traffickers, but are for the most part ordained
ministers. Thousands of those who occupy our modern pulpits are no longer
engaged in presenting the fundamentals of the Christian Faith, but have turned
aside from the Truth and have given heed unto fables.
Instead of magnifying the enormity of sin and setting forth its eternal
consequences, they minimize it by declaring that sin is merely ignorance or the
absence of good. Instead of warning their hearers to “flee from the wrath to
come” they make God a liar by declaring that He is too loving and merciful to
send any of His own creatures to eternal torment. Instead of declaring that
“without shedding of blood is no remission,” they merely
hold up Christ as the great Exemplar and exhort their hearers to “follow in His
steps.” Of them it must be said,
“For they being ignorant of
God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).
Their message may sound very
plausible and their aim appear very praiseworthy, yet we read of them—
“for such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves (imitating) into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing [not to be wondered at] if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end
shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
In addition to the fact that
today hundreds of churches are without a leader who faithfully declares the
whole counsel of God and presents His way of salvation, we also have to face
the additional fact that the majority of people in these churches are very
unlikely to learn the Truth themselves.
The family altar, where a portion of God’s Word was wont to be read
daily is now, even in the homes of nominal Christians,
largely a thing of the past. The Bible
is not expounded in the pulpit and it is not read in the pew. The demands of
this rushing age are so numerous, that multitudes have little time and still
less inclination to make preparation for the meeting with God. Hence the
majority who are too indolent to search for themselves, are left at the mercy
of those whom they pay to search for them; many of whom betray their trust by studying and expounding economic and social problems
rather than the Oracles of God.
In Proverbs 14:12 we read,
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the
ways of death.” This “way” which ends in” death” is the Devil’s Delusion—the
gospel of Satan—a way of salvation by human attainment. It
is a way which “seemeth right,” that is to say, it is presented in such a
plausible way that it appeals to the natural man: it is set forth in such a
subtle and attractive manner, that it commends itself to the intelligence of
its hearers. By virtue of the fact that it appropriates to itself religious
terminology, sometimes appeals to the Bible for its support (whenever this
suits its purpose), holds up before men lofty ideals, and
is proclaimed by those who have graduated from our theological institutions,
countless multitudes are decoyed and deceived by it.
The success of an illegitimate
coiner depends largely upon how closely the counterfeit resembles the genuine
article. Heresy is not so much the total denial of the
truth as a perversion of it. That is why half a lie is always more dangerous
than a complete repudiation. Hence when the Father of Lies enters the pulpit it
is not his custom to flatly deny the fundamental truths of Christianity, rather
does he tacitly acknowledge them, and then proceed to give an erroneous
interpretation and a false application. For example: he would not be so foolish
as to boldly announce his disbelief in a personal God; he
takes His existence for granted and then gives a false description of His
character. He announces that God is the spiritual Father of all men, when the
Scriptures plainly tell us that we are “the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus” (Galatians 3:26), and that
“as many as received him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12).
Further, he declares that God is
far too merciful to ever send any member of the human race to Hell, when God
Himself has said,
“Whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:15).
Again; Satan would not be so foolish
as to ignore the central figure of human history—the Lord Jesus Christ; on the
contrary, his gospel acknowledges Him to be the best man
that ever lived. Attention is drawn to His deeds of compassion and works of
mercy, the beauty of His character and the sublimity of His teaching. His life
is eulogized, but His vicarious Death is ignored, the all-important atoning
work of the cross is never mentioned, whilst His triumphant and bodily
resurrection from the grave is regarded as one of the credulities of a superstitious age. It is a bloodless gospel, and presents a
crossless Christ, who is received not as God manifest in the flesh, but merely
as the Ideal Man.
In 2 Corinthians 4:3 we have a
scripture which sheds much light upon our present theme. There we are told, “if
our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom
the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should
shine unto them.” He blinds the minds of unbelievers through hiding the light
of the Gospel of Christ, and he does this by substituting his own gospel.
Appropriately is he designated “The Devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). In merely appealing to “the best
that is within man,” and in simply exhorting him to “lead a nobler life” there
is afforded a general platform upon which those of every shade of opinion can
unite and proclaim this common message.
Again we quote Proverbs 14:12—“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.” It has been said with considerable truth that
the way to Hell is paved with good intentions.
There will be many in the Lake of Fire who commended life with good
intentions, honest resolutions and exalted ideals—those who were just in their
dealings, fair in their transactions and charitable in all their ways; men who
prided themselves in their integrity but who sought to
justify themselves before God by their own righteousness; men who were moral,
merciful and magnanimous, but who never saw themselves as guilty, lost,
hell-deserving sinners needing a Saviour. Such is the way which “seemeth
right.” Such is the way that commends itself to the carnal mind and recommends
itself to multitudes of deluded ones today. The Devil’s Delusion is that we can
be saved by our own works, and justified by our own deeds;
whereas, God tells us in His Word : “By grace are ye saved through faith...not
of works lest any man should boast.” And again, “Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”
A few years ago the writer became acquainted with one who was a lay preacher and an
enthusiastic “Christian worker.” For over seven years this friend had been
engaged in public preaching and religious activities, but from certain
expressions and phrases he used, the writer doubted whether this friend was a
“born again” man. When we began to question him, it was found that he was very
imperfectly acquainted with the Scriptures and had only the vaguest conception of Christ’s Work for sinners. For a time we sought to
present the way of salvation in a simple and impersonal manner and to encourage
our friend to study the Word for himself, in the hope that if he were still unsaved
God would be pleased to reveal the Saviour he needed.
One night to our joy, the one who had been preaching the Gospel (?) for several years,
confessed that he had found Christ only the previous night. He acknowledged (to
use his own words) that he had been presenting “the Christ ideal” but not the
Christ of the Cross. The writer believes there are thousands like this preacher
who, perhaps, have been brought up in Sunday School, taught about the birth,
life, and teachings of Jesus Christ, who believe in the historicity of His person, who spasmodically endeavor to practice His
precepts, and who think that that is all that is necessary for their salvation.
Frequently, this class when they reach manhood go out into the world, encounter
the attacks of atheists and infidels and are told that such a person as Jesus
of Nazareth never lived. But the impressions of early days cannot be easily
erased, and they remain steadfast in their declaration that they “believe in Jesus Christ.” Yet, when their faith is examined, only too
often it is found that though they believe many things about Jesus Christ they
do not really believe in him. They believe with the head that such a person
lived (and, because they believe this imagine that therefore they are saved),
but they have never thrown down the weapons of their warfare against Him,
yielded themselves to Him, nor truly believed with their heart in Him.
The bare acceptance of an
orthodox doctrine about the person of Christ without the heart being won by Him
and the life devoted to Him, is another phase of that way “which seemeth right
unto a man” but the end thereof are “the ways of death.” A mere intellectual
assent to the reality of Christ’s person, and which goes no
further, is another phase of the way which “seemeth right unto a man” but of
which the end thereof “are the ways of death,” or, in other words, is another
aspect of the gospel of Satan.
And now, where do you stand? Are
you in the way which “seemeth right,” but which ends in death; or, are you in
the Narrow Way which leadeth unto life? Have you truly
forsaken the Broad Road which leadeth to death? Has the love of Christ created
in your heart a hatred and horror of all that is displeasing to Him? Are you
desirous that he should “reign over” you? (Luke 19:14). Are you relying wholly
on His righteousness and blood for your acceptance with God?
Those who are trusting to an
outward form of godliness, such as baptism or “confirmation!” those who are
religious because it is considered a mark of respectability; those who attend
some Church or Chapel because it is the fashion to do so; and, those who unite
with some Denomination because they suppose that such a step will enable them
to become Christians, are in the way which “ends in
death”—death spiritual and eternal. However pure our motives, however noble our
intentions, however well-meaning our purposes, however sincere our endeavors,
God will not acknowledge us as His sons, until we accept His Son.
A yet more specious form of Satan’s gospel is to move preachers to present the atoning
sacrifice of Christ and then tell their hearers that all God requires from them
is to “believe” in His Son. Thereby thousands of impenitent souls are deluded
into thinking they have been saved. But Christ said, “Except ye repent, ye
shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). To “repent” is to hate sin, to sorrow
over it, to turn from it. It is the result of the Spirits making the heart
contrite before God. None except a broken heart can
savingly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, thousands are deceived
into supposing that they have “accepted Christ” as their “personal Saviour,”
who have not first received Him as their LORD. The Son of God did not come here
to save His people in their sin, but “from their sins”
(Matthew 1:21). To be saved from sins, is to be saved from ignoring and
despising the authority of God, it is to abandon the course of self-will and
self-pleasing, it is to “forsake our way” (Isaiah 55:7). It is to surrender to
God’s authority, to yield to His dominion, to give ourselves over to be ruled
by Him. The one who has never taken Christ’s “yoke” upon him, who is not truly
and diligently seeking to please Him in all the details of
life, and yet supposes that he is “resting on the Finished Work of Christ” is
deluded by the Devil.
In the seventh chapter of
Matthew there are two scriptures which give us approximate results of Christ’s
Gospel and Satan s counterfeit.
First, in verses 13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Second; in verses 22-23, “Many will say to Me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied [preached] in Thy name? and in
Thy name cast out demons, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity.” Yes, my reader, it is possible to work in the name of Christ, and
even to preach in his name, and though the world knows us, the Church knows us,
yet to be unknown to the Lord! How necessary is it then to
find out where we really are; to examine ourselves and see whether we be in the
faith; to measure ourselves by the Word of God and see if we are being deceived
by our subtle Enemy; to find out whether we are building our house upon the
sand, or whether it is erected on the Rock which is Jesus Christ. May the Holy
Spirit search our hearts, break our wills, slay our enmity against God, work in
us a deep and true repentance, and direct our gaze to the
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
SALVATION may be viewed from many angles and contemplated under various aspects, but from
whatever side we look at it we must ever remember that “Salvation is of the
Lord.” Salvation was planned by the Father for His elect before the foundation
of the world. It was purchased for them by the holy life and vicarious death of
His incarnate Son. It is applied to and wrought in them by His Holy Spirit. It
is known and enjoyed through the study of the Scriptures,
though the exercise of faith, and though communion with the triune Jehovah.
Now it is greatly to be feared
that there are multitudes in Christendom who verily imagine and sincerely
believe that they are among the saved, yet who are total strangers to a work of
divine grace in their hearts. It is one thing to have clear
intellectual conceptions of God’s truth, it is quite another matter to have a
personal, real heart acquaintance with it. It is one thing to believe that sin
is the awful thing that the Bible says it is, but it is quite another matter to
have a holy horror and hatred of it in the soul. It is one thing to know that
God requires repentance, it is quite another matter to experimentally mourn and
groan over our vileness. It is one thing to believe that
Christ is the only Savior for sinners, it is quite another matter to really
trust Him from the heart. It is one thing to believe that Christ is the Sum of
all excellency, it is quite another matter to LOVE HIM above all others.
It is one thing to believe that God is the great and holy One, it is quite
another matter to truly reverence and fear Him. It is one thing to believe that
salvation is of the Lord, it is quite another matter to
become an actual partaker of it through His gracious workings.
While it is true that Holy
Scripture insists on man’s responsibility, and that all through them God deals
with the sinner as an accountable being; yet it is also true that the Bible
plainly and constantly shows that no son of Adam has ever
measured up to his responsibility, that every one has miserably failed to
discharge his accountability. It is this which constitutes the deep need for GOD to work
in the sinner, and to do for him what he is unable to do for himself. “They
that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). The sinner is “without
strength” (Romans 5:6). Apart from the Lord, we “can do nothing” (John 15:5). While it is true that the Gospel issues a call and a command
to all who hear it, it is also true that ALL disregard that call and
disobey that command— “They all with one consent began to make excuse” (Luke
14:18). This is where the sinner commits his greatest sin and most manifests
his awful enmity against God and His Christ: that when a Savior, suited to his
needs, is presented to him, he “despises and rejects” Him (Isaiah 53:3).
This is where the sinner shows
what an incorrigible rebel he is, and demonstrates that he is deserving only of
eternal torments. But it is just at this point that God manifests His sovereign
and wondrous GRACE. He not only planned and provided salvation, but he actually
bestows it upon those whom He has chosen.
Now this bestowal of salvation
is far more than a mere proclamation that salvation is to be found in the Lord
Jesus: it is very much more than an invitation for sinners to receive Christ as
their Savior. It is God actually saving His people. It is His own sovereignty
and all-powerful work of grace toward and in those who are
entirely destitute of merit, and who are so depraved in themselves that they
will not and cannot take one step to the obtaining of salvation. Those who have
been actually saved owe far more to divine grace than most of them realize. It
is not only that Christ died to put away their sins, but also the Holy Spirit
has wrought a work in them—a work which applies to them the virtues of Christ’s
atoning death.
It is just at this point that so
many preachers fail in their exposition of the Truth. While many of them affirm
that Christ is the only Savior for sinners, they also teach that He actually
became ours only by our consent. While they allow that conviction of sin is the
Holy Spirit’s work and that He alone shows us our lost
condition and need of Christ, yet they also insist that the decisive factor in
salvation is man’s own will. But the Holy Scriptures teach that “salvation is
of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9), and that nothing of the creature enters into
it at any point. Only that can satisfy God which has been produced by God
Himself. Though it be true that salvation does not become the personal portion
of the sinner until he has, from the heart, believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, yet is that very BELIEVING wrought in him by the
Holy Spirit:
“By grace are ye saved through
faith, and that NOT OF
YOURSELVES;
it is the gift of God”
(Ephesians 2:8).
It is exceedingly solemn to
discover that there is a “believing” in Christ by the natural man, which is NOT a
believing unto salvation. Just as the Buddists believe in Budda, so in
Christendom there are multitudes who believe in Christ. And this “believing” is
something more than an intellectual one. Often there is much feeling connected
with it – the emotions may be deeply stirred. Christ taught
in the Parable of the Sower that there is a class of people who hear the Word
and with joy receive it, yet have they no root in themselves (Matthew 13:20,
21). This is fearfully solemn, for it is still occurring daily. Scriptures also
tell us that Herod heard John “gladly “ Thus, the mere fact that the reader of
these pages enjoys listening to some sound gospel preacher is no proof at all
that he is a regenerated soul. The Lord Jesus said to the
Pharisees concerning John the Baptist, “Ye were willing for a season to rejoice
in his light,” yet the sequel shows clearly that no real work of grace had been
wrought in them. And these things are recorded in Scripture as solemn warnings!
It is striking and solemn to
mark the exact wording in the last two Scriptures referred
to. Note the repeated personal pronoun in Mark 6:20:
“For Herod feared John (not ‘God’!),
knowing that he as a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard
him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”
It was the personality of John
which attracted Herod. How often is this the case today! People are charmed by
the personality of the preacher: they are carried away by his style and won by
his earnestness for souls. But if there is nothing more than this, there will
one day be a rude awakening for them.
That which is vital is a “love for the truth,” not for the one who presents
it is this which distinguishes the true people of God from
the “mixed multitude” who ever associate with them.
So in John 5:35 Christ said to
the Pharisees concerning His forerunner: “Ye were willing for a season to
rejoice in his light,” not “in the light”! In like manner, there are many today
who listen to one whom God enables to open up some of the
mysteries and wonders of His Word and they rejoice “in his light” while in the
dark themselves, never having personally received “an unction from the Holy
One.” Those who do “love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) are they in whom a
divine work of grace has been wrought. They have something more than a clear,
intellectual understanding of the Scripture: it is the food of their souls, the
joy of their hearts (Jeremiah 15:16). They love the truth,
and because they do so, they hate error and shun it as deadly poison. They are
jealous for the glory of the Author of the Word, and will not sit under a
minister whose teaching dishonors Him; they will not listen to preaching which
exalts man into the place of supremacy, so that he is the decider of his own
destiny.
“LORD,
Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us”
(Isaiah 26:12).
Here is the heart and
unqualified confession of the true people of God. Note the preposition: “Thou also hast wrought
all our works in us.” This speaks of a divine work of grace wrought in the
heart of the saint. Nor is this text alone. Weigh carefully the following:
“It pleased God, who separated
me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me”
(Galatians 1:15,16).
“Unto Him that is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
“Being confident of this very
thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it” (Philippians 1:6).
“It is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
“I will put My laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them” (Hebrews 10:16).
“Now the God of peace... make
you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well pleasing in His sight” (Hebrews 13:20).
Here are seven passages which
speak of the inward workings of God’s grace; or in other words of experimental
salvation.
“LORD,
Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought
all our works in us” (Isaiah 26:12).
Is there an echoing response in
our heart to this, my reader? Is your repentance something deeper than the
remorse and tears of the natural man? Does it have its root in a divine work of
grace which the Holy Spirit hath wrought in your soul? Is
your believing in Christ something more than an intellectual one? Is your
relation to Him something more vital than what some act of yours has brought
about, having been made one with Him by the power and operation of the Spirit?
Is your love for Christ something more than a pious sentiment, like that of the
Romanist who sings of the “gentle” and “sweet” Jesus? Does your love for Him
proceed from an altogether new nature, that God has created
within you? Can you really say with the Psalmist:
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” Is your profession accompanied
by true meekness and lowliness of heart? It is easy to call yourself names, and say, “I am an unworthy and unprofitable creature.” But do you
realize yourself to be such? Do you feel yourself to be “less than the least of
all saints?” Paul did! If you do not;
if instead, you deem yourself superior to the rank and file of Christians, who
bemoan their failures, confess their weakness, and cry, “O wretched man that I
am!”—there is grave reason to conclude you are a stranger to God!
That which distinguishes genuine
godliness from human religiousness is this: the one is external, the other
internal. Christ complained of the Pharisees,
“Ye make clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess”
(Matthew 23:25).
A carnal religion is all on the
surface. It is at the heart God looks and with the heart God deals. Concerning
His people He says:
“I will put My laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them” (Hebrews
10:16).
“Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace
for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.” How humbling is this
to the pride of man! It makes everything of God and nothing of the creature!
The tendency of human nature the world over, is to be
self-sufficient and self-satisfied; to say with the Laodiceans,
“I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17).
But here is something to humble us, and empty us of pride. Since God has wrought all our
works in us, then we have no ground for boasting.
“What hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if
thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
And who are the ones in whom God
thus works? From the divine side; His favored, chosen, redeemed people. From
the human side: those who, in themselves have no claim whatever on His notice;
who are destitute of any merit; who have everything in them to provoke His holy
wrath; those who are miserable failures in their lives, and utterly depraved
and corrupt in their persons. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, and did for them and in them what they would not and
could not do for themselves.
And what is it God “works” in
His people?—All their works.
First, He quickens them:
“It is the Spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).
“Of His own will begat He us
with the word of truth” (James 1:18).
Second, He bestows repentance:
“Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel” (Acts
5:31).
“Then hath God also to the
Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25).
“For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians
2:8).
“Ye are risen with Him through
the faith of the operation of God” (Colossians 2:12).
Fourth, He grants a spiritual understanding:
“And we know the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true” (1
John 5:20).
Fifth, He effectuates our service:
“I labored more abundantly
than they all: yet not I , but the grace of God which was with me” (1
Corinthians 15:10).
Sixth, He secures our perseverance:
“who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5).
Seventh, He produces our fruit:
“From Me is thy fruit found”
(Hosea 14:8).
“The fruit of the Spirit”
(Galatians 5:22).
Yes, He has wrought all our
works in us.
Why has God thus “wrought all
our works in us?”
First, because unless He had done so, all had eternally perished
(Romans 9:29). We were “without strength,” unable to meet God’s righteous
demands. Therefore, in sovereign grace, He did for us what we ought but could
not do for ourselves.
Second, that all the glory might be His. God
is a jealous God. He says so. His
honour He will not share with another. By this means He secures all the praise,
and we have no ground for boasting.
Third, that our salvation might be effectually and securely
accomplished. Were any part of our salvation left to us it would
be neither effectual nor secure. Whatever man touches he spoils: failure is
written across everything he attempts. But what God does is perfect and lasts for
ever: “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be
put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear
before Him” (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
But how may I be sure that my
works have been “wrought in me” by God? Mainly by their effects. If you have
been born again, you have a new nature within. This new nature is spiritual and
contrary to the flesh—contrary in its desires and aspirations. Because the old
and new natures are contrary to each other, there is a continual war between
them. Are you conscious of this inward conflict?
If your repentance be a
God-wrought one, then you abhor yourself If your repentance be a genuine and
spiritual one, then you marvel that God did not long ago cast you into hell. If
your repentance be the gift of Christ, then you daily mourn the wretched return
which you make to God’s wondrous grace; you hate sin, you
sorrow in secret before God for your manifold transgressions. Not simply do you
do so at conversion, but daily do so now.
If your faith be a
God-communicated one, it is evidenced by your turning away from all creature
confidences, by a renunciation of your own
self-righteousness, by a repudiation of all your own works. If your faith be
“the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1), then you are resting alone on Christ as
the ground of your acceptance before God. If your faith be the result of “the
operation of God,” then you implicitly believe His Word, you receive it with
meekness, you crucify reason, and accept all He has said with childlike
simplicity.
If your love for Christ be the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), then it evidences itself by constantly seeking to please Him, and by abstaining from what you know is displeasing to Him: in a word, by an obedient walk. If your love for Christ be the love of “the new man,” then you pant after Him, you yearn for communion with Him above everything else. If your love for Christ be the same in kind (though not in degree) as His love for you, then you are eagerly looking forward to His glorious appearing, when He shall come again to receive His people unto Himself, that they maybe forever with the Lord. May the grace of spiritual discernment be given the reader to see whether his Christian profession be real or a sham whether his hope is built upon the Rock of Ages or the quicksands of human resolutions, efforts, decisions, or feelings; whether, in short, his salvation is “OF THE LORD” or the vain imagination of his own deceitful heart.
“But
without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews
11:6)
“But
the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in that heard
it,” (Hebrews 4:2)
THE LINKING TOGETHER of these verses shows us the worthlessness of all religious
activities where faith be lacking. The outward exercise may be performed
diligently and correctly, but unless faith be in operation God is not honored
and the soul is not profited. Faith draws out the heart unto God, and faith it
is which receives from God; not a mere intellectual assent to what is revealed
in Holy Writ, but a supernatural principle of grace which lives upon the God of
Scripture. This, the natural man, no matter how religious
or orthodox he be, has not; and no labours of his, no act of his will, can
acquire it. It is the sovereign gift of God.
Faith must be operative in all
the exercises of the Christian if God is to he glorified and he is to be
edified.
First, in the reading of the Word:
“But these are written, that
ye might believe” (John 20:31).
Second, in listening to the preaching of God’s servants:
“The hearing of faith”
(Galatians 3:2).
“Let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering” (James 1:6).
Fourth, in our daily life:
“For we walk by faith, not by
sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7);
“the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).
Fifth, in our exit from this world:
“These all died in faith”
(Hebrews 11:13).
What the breath is to
the body, faith is to the soul; for one who is destitute of
faith to seek to perform spiritual actions, is like putting a spring within a
wooden dummy and making it go through mechanical motions.
Now an unregenerate professor
may read the Scriptures and yet have no spiritual faith. Just as the devout
Hindu peruses the Upanishads and the Mohammedan his Koran,
so many “Christian” countries take up the study of the Bible, and yet have no
more of the life of God in their souls than have their heathen brethren.
Thousands in this land read the Bible, believe in its Divine authorship, and
become more or less familiar with its contents. A mere professor may read several chapters every day, and yet
never appropriate a single verse. But faith applies God’s
Word: it applies his fearful threatenings, and trembles before them; it applies
His solemn warnings, and seeks to heed them; it applies His precepts, and cries
unto Him for grace to walk in them.
It is the same in listening to
the Word preached. A carnal professor will boast of having attended this
conference and that, of having heard this famous teacher
and that renowned preacher, and be no better off in his soul than if he had
never heard any of them. He may listen to two sermons every Sunday, and fifty
years hence be as dead spiritually as he is today. But the regenerated soul appropriates the message and measures
himself by what he hears. He is often convicted of his sins and made to mourn
over them. He tests himself by God’s standard, and feels that
he comes so far short of what he ought to be, that he sincerely doubts the
honesty of his own profession. The Word pierces him, like a two-edged sword,
and causes him to cry, “O wretched man that I am!”
So in prayer. The mere professor
often makes the humble Christian feel ashamed of himself. The carnal
religionist who has “the gift of the gab” is never at a
loss for words: sentences flow from his lips as readily as do the waters of a
babbling brook; verses of Scripture seem to run through his mind as freely as
flour passes though a sieve. Whereas the poor burdened child of God is often
unable to do any more than cry “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Ah, my
friends, we need to distinguish sharply between a natural aptitude for “making”
nice prayers and the spirit of true supplication: the one
consists merely of words, the other of “groanings which cannot be uttered”; the
one is acquired by religious education, the other is wrought in the soul by the
Holy Spirit.
Thus it is too in conversing about
the things of God. The frothy professor can talk glibly and often orthodoxly of
“doctrines,” yes, and of worldly things, too: according to
his mood, or according to his audience, so is his theme. But the child of God,
while being swift to hear that which is unto edification, is “slow to speak.”
Ah, my reader, beware of talkative people; a drum makes a lot of noise but it
is hollow inside!
“Most men will proclaim every
one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?”
(Proverbs 20:6).
When a saint of God does open
his lips about spiritual matters, it is to tell of what the Lord, in His
infinite mercy, has done for him; but the carnal religionist is anxious for
others to know what he is “doing for the Lord.”
The difference is just as real
between the genuine Christian and the nominal Christian in connection with
their daily lives: while the latter may appear outwardly righteous, yet within
they are “full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:28). They will put on the
skin of a real sheep, but in reality they are “wolves in
sheeps’ clothing.” But God’s children have the nature of sheep, and learn of
Him who is “meek and lowly in heart,” and, as the elect of God, they put on
“mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).
They are in private what they
appear in public. They worship God in spirit and in truth, and have been made
to know wisdom in the hidden parts of the heart.
So it is on their passing out of
this world. An empty professor may die as easily and as quietly as he lived
deserted by the Holy Spirit, undisturbed by the Devil; as
the psalmist says, “there are no bands in their death” (Psalm 73:4). But this
is very different from the end of one whose deeply ploughed and
consciously-defiled conscience has been “sprinkled” with the precious blood of
Christ:
“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalm
37:37)
yes, a peace which “passeth all understanding”:
Having lived the life of the righteous, he dies “the death of the righteous”
(Numbers 23:10).
And what is it which
distinguishes the one character from the other, wherein lies the difference
between the genuine Christian and he who is one in name only? This: a
God-given, Spirit-wrought faith in the heart. Not a mere head-knowledge and
intellectual assent to the Truth, but a living, spiritual, vital principle in
the heart—a faith which “purifies the heart” (Acts 15:9),
which “worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6), which “overcometh the world” (1 John
5:4). Yes, a faith which is Divinely sustained amidst trials within and
opposition without; a faith which exclaims “though He slay me, yet will I trust
in Him” (Job 13:15).
True,
this faith is not always in exercise, nor is it equally
strong at all times. The favored
possessor of it must be taught by painful experience that as he did not
originate it neither can he command it; therefore does he turn unto its Author,
and say, “Lord I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” And then it is that, when
reading the Word he is enabled to lay hold of its precious promises; that when
bowing before the Throne of Grace, he is enabled to cast his burden upon the
Lord; that when he rises to go about his temporal duties,
he is enabled to lean upon the everlasting arms; and that when he is called
upon to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, he triumphantly cries
“I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” “Lord, increase our faith.”
“I am a
companion of all that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts” (Psalm
119:63)
In the above verse we have a
description of God’s people according to the course of their lives and conduct.
They are a people marked by two things: fear and
submission, the latter being the fruit of the former. Regenerated souls obey
God conscientiously out of reverence to His majesty and goodness, and from a
due regard of His will as made known in His Word.
The same description is given of
them in Acts 10:35, “In every nation he that feareth God
and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.,” It is a filial fear which is
awed by God’s greatness and is careful not to offend Him, which is constrained
by His love and is anxious to please Him. Such are the only ones fit to be a
Christian’s “companions.” A “companion” is, properly speaking, one whom I
choose to walk and converse with in a way of friendship. Inasmuch as the companions we select is an optional matter, it is largely
true that a person may be known by the company he or she keeps; hence the old
adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Scripture asks the searching
question, “Can two walk together but except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). A Christian,
before his conversion, was controlled by the Prince of darkness and walked
according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2,3),
and therefore did he seek and enjoy the company of worldlings. But when he was
born again the new nature within him prompted new tastes and desires, and so he
seeks a new company, delighting only in the saints of God. Alas, that we do not
always continue as we began.
The Christian is to have good will toward all with whom he comes in contact, desiring and
seeking their best interests (Galatians 6:10), but he is not to be yoked to (2
Corinthians 6:14) nor have any fellowship with (Ephesians 5:11) those who are
unbelievers, nor is he to delight in or have complacency toward those who
despise his Master.
“Shouldest thou help the
ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?” (2 Chronicles 19:2).
Would you knowingly take a viper
into your bosom?
“The wicked is an abomination
unto the righteous” (Proverbs 29:26).
So said David,
“Do not I hate them, O Lord,
that hate thee? and am I not grieved with those that rise
up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies”
(Psalm 139:21, 22).
That holy man could not be
confederate with such. Evil company is
to be sedulously avoided by the Christian lest he become
defiled by them.
“He that walketh with wise men
shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).
Nor is it only the openly
lawless and criminal who are to be shunned, but even, yea especially, those
professing to be Christians yet who do not live the life of
Christians. It is this latter class particularly against which the real child
of God needs to be most on his guard: namely, those who say one thing and do
another; those whose talk is pious, but whose walk differs little or nothing
from the non-professor, The Word of God is plain and positive on this point:
“Having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).
This is not merely good advice,
but a Divine command which we disregard at our peril. In selecting your
“companions” let not a pleasing personality deceive you.
The Devil himself often poses as “an angel of light,” and sometimes his wolfish
agents disguise themselves in “sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15). Be most
careful in seeing to it that what draws you toward and makes you desire the
companionship of Christian friends is their love and likeness to Christ and not
their love and likeness to you. Shun as you would a deadly plague those who are not awed by the fear of God, i.e., a trembling lest they
offend Him. Let not the Devil persuade you that you are too well established in
the faith to be injured by intimacy with worldly “Christians” (?). “Be not
deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Rather
“follow righteousness, faith,
love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure
heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).
“Be not deceived: evil
communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
The Greek word here for “communications” properly means “a bringing together,
companionships.” And evil companionships “corrupt.” All evil is contagious and
association with evildoers, whether they be “church members” or open infidels,
has a defiling and debasing effect upon the true child of God. Mark well how
the Holy Spirit has prefaced His warning: “be not deceived.” Evidently there is
a real danger of God’s people imagining that they can play
with fire without getting burned. Not so: God has not promised to protect us
when we fly in the face of his danger signals.
Observe too the next verse which is inseparably connected with the one
to which we have directed attention.
“Awake to righteousness and
sin not: for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak
(this) to your shame” (1 Corinthians 15:34).
The word “awake” signifies to
arouse as from a torpor or state of lethargy.
It is a call to shake off the delusive spell that a Christian may
company with Christless companions without being contaminated by them. “And sin not” in this respect. To cultivate friendship
with religious worldlings Is SIN, for such “have not the knowledge of God”: they have no
experimental acquaintance with Him, His fear is not on them, His authority has
no weight with them. “I speak (this) to your shame.” The child of God ought to
be abashed and filled with confusion that he needs such a word as this. I am a
companion of all that fear thee, and of them that keep thy
precepts.” Such are the only “companions” worth having, the only ones who will
give you any encouragement to continue pressing forward along the “Narrow Way.”
It is not those who merely pretend to “believe” God’s precepts, or profess to
“stand for” them, but those who actually “keep” them. But where are such to be
found these days? Ah, where indeed. They are but “few” in number (Matthew 7:14)
one here and one there. Yea, so very “few” are they that we
are constrained to cry,
“Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men” (Psalm 12:1).
It is indeed solemn to read the
words that immediately follow the last-quoted scripture and find how aptly they
apply to and how accurately they describe the multitude of godless professing
“Christians” all around us: “they speak vanity every one with his neighbour, with
flattering lips, with a double heart do they speak” (v. 2). Note three things
about them.
First, they “speak vanity” or “emptiness.” Their words are like
bubbles, there is nothing edifying about them. It cannot be otherwise for
“out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
Their poor hearts are empty
(Matthew 12:44). So their speech is empty too.
Second, they have “flattering lips,” which is the reason why they
are so popular with the ungodly. They will seek to puff you
up with a sense of their own importance, pretend to admire the “much light” you
have, and tell you it is your duty to “give it out to others”.
Third. they have a “double heart.” They are (vainly) seeking to
serve two masters: (cf. 2 Kings 17:32, 33).
“I am a companion of all that
fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.” There is a very real sense in
which this is true even where there is no outward contact with such.
Faithfulness to God, obedience to His Word, keeping His precepts, companying
only with those who do so, turning away from everybody else, has always
involved a lonely path. It was thus with Enoch (Jude 14).
It was thus with Abraham (Isaiah 51:2). It was thus with Paul (2 Timothy 1:5).
It is the same today. Every city in the land is tilled with “churches,”
“missions,” “Gospel Halls,” “Bible Institutes,” etc., etc., but where are those
who give plain evidence that they are living in this world as “strangers and
pilgrims” and as such abstaining “from fleshly lusts which war against the
soul” (1 Peter 2:11)?
But thank God. though the path of faithfulness to Him be a lonely one, it brings me into spiritual fellowship with those who have gone before. We are to walk by faith and not by sight, and faith perceives that walking with Christ “outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13) necessarily brings into communion with “all” His redeemed, be they on earth or be they in heaven. Thus the apostle John in his lonely exile on Patmos referred to himself as “your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9). Yes, Christian reader, for a little while it means companionship “in tribulation,” but, praise God it will not mean enduring the throes of the swiftly- approaching portion of Christless professors left behind when Christ comes for His own (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). For a little while it means companionship in “the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” soon it will be in the kingdom and glory of Christ. May Divine mercy so enable us to live now that in that Day we shall receive His “Well done.”
COMMANDED
There are those who misrepresent
the doctrine of election in this way. Here I am sitting down at my table
tonight with my family to tea. It is a cold winter’s night, and outside on the
street are some hungry starving tramps and children, and they come and knock on
my door and they say, “We are so hungry, Sir, Oh, we are so
hungry and cold, and we are starving: won’t you give us something to eat?”
Give you something to eat? No,
you do not belong here, get off with you.” Now people say that is what election
means, that God has spread the gospel feast and some poor sinners conscious of
their deep need come to the Lord and say, “Have mercy upon
me, and the Lord says, “No, you are not among My elect.” Now, my friends, that
is not the teaching of this Book, nor anything like that. That is absolutely a
false representation of God’s truth. I do not believe anything like that, my
friends, and I would not insult you by asking you to come here night by night
and listen to anything like that.
1. COMPEL THEM TO COME IN
Now then, here is the truth. God
has spread the feast but the fact is that nobody is hungry. and nobody wants to
come to the feast, and everybody makes an excuse to keep away from the feast.
and when they are bidden to come they say, “No, we do not
want to, or We are not ready yet.” Now God knew that from the beginning, and if
God had done nothing more than spread the feast every seat at His table would
have been vacant for all eternity! I have no hesitation in saying there is not
one man or woman in this church tonight, but who made excuses time after time
before you first came to Christ. You are just like the rest. You made excuses. so did I, and if God had done nothing more than just
spread the feast every chair would have been vacant, therefore what do you read
in that parable in Luke 14? Because the feast was not furnished with guests God
sent forth His “servants”. Oh, put your glasses on. It does not say “servants”,
it says God sent forth His “servant” and told Him to “compel” them to come in
that His feast might be furnished with guests. And there is not a man or a woman In this church tonight or in any other church
that would ever sit down at the marriage-supper of the Lamb unless you had been
compelled to come in, and compelled by God.
Well, you say, what do you mean
by “compelled?” I mean this, that God had to overcome the resistance of your
will, God had to overcome the reluctance of your heart, God
had to overcome your loving of pleasure more than loving of God, your love of
the things of this world more than Christ. I mean that God had to put forth His
power and draw you, and if any of you know anything of the Greek or have a
Strong’s Concordance, look up that Greek verb for “draw” in John 6:44, “No man
can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” —It means “use violence”. It means to drag by force. There is not a
Greek scholar on earth that can challenge that statement—I mean—and back it up
with proof. It’s the same Greek word that is used in John 21 when they drew the
net to the land full of fishes. They had to pull with all their might for it
was full of fishes. They had to drag it, Yes, my friend, and that is how you
were brought to Christ. You may not have been conscious of it. you may not have known inside yourself what was taking place, but
every last one of us was a rebel against God, fighting against Christ,
resisting His Holy Spirit, and God had to put forth almighty power and overcome
that resistance and bring us to our knees, and if any of you object to that
strong language, then I am here to tell you, you do not believe in the teaching
of this Book on the absolute depravity of man.
Man is lost, and man is dead in
trespasses and sins by nature. Listen, it is not simply that man is sick and
needs a little medicine: it is not simply that man is ignorant and needs a
little teaching: it is not simply that man is weak and needs a little hope: man
is dead, dead in trespasses and sins, and only almighty
power from heaven can ever resurrect him and bring him from death unto life.
That is the gospel I believe in and I do not preach the gospel because I
believe the sinner has power in himself to respond to it. Well, you say, then
what is the use of preaching the gospel if men are dead? What is the use of
preaching it? I will tell you. Listen! Here was a man with a withered hand,
paralyzed, and Christ says. “Stretch forth thine hand”; It
was the one thing that he could not do! Christ told him to do a thing that was
impossible in himself. Well then you say why did Christ tell him to stretch
forth his hand? Because Divine power went with the very word that commanded him
to do it! Divine power enabled him to. The man could not do it of himself. If
you think that he could you are ready for the lunatic asylum, I don’t not care
who you are. Any man or woman here who thinks that that man
was able to stretch forth his paralyzed arm by an effort of his own will is
ready for the lunatic asylum! How can paralysis move?
Well, I will give you something
stronger than that. You need something strong today, you need something more than
skim-milk, you need strong meat if ever you are going to be
built up and grow and become strong in the Lord and the power of His might—Here
is a man who is dead and buried and his body has already begun to corrupt so
that it stank. There he was in the grave and someone came to that graveside and
said, “Lazarus. come forth”, and if
that someone had been anyone else than God Himself manifest in flesh. he might
have stood there till now calling, “Come forth”. What on earth was the use of telling a dead man
to come forth? None at all, unless the One Who spoke that word had the power to
make that word good.
Now then my friends, I preach
the gospel to sinners, not because I believe the sinner has any power at all in
himself to respond to it: I do not believe that any sinner
has any capacity in himself whatever. But Christ said, “the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life”, and by God’s grace I go forth
preaching this Word because it is a word of power, a word of spirit, a word of
life. The power is not in the sinner, it is in the Word when God the Holy
Spirit is pleased to use it. And my friends, I say in all reverence; if God
told me in this Book to go out and preach to the trees. I
would go! Yes sir. God once told one of His servants to go and preach to bones
and he went. I wonder if you should have gone! Yes, that has a local
application as well as a future interpretation prophetically:
2. PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE
Now the question arises again,
why are we to preach the gospel to every creature?—if God has only elected a
certain number to be saved? The reason is, because God commands us to do so.
Well, but, you say, it does not seem reasonable to me That has got nothing to
do with it; your business is to obey God and not to argue
with Him. God commands us to preach the gospel to every creature and it means
what it says—every creature and it is solemn thing. Every Christian in this
room tonight has yet to answer to Christ why he has not done everything in his
power to send that gospel to every creature! Yes, I believe in
missions—probably stronger than most of you do, and if I preached to you on
missions perhaps I would hit you harder than you have been
hit yet. The great majority of Gods people who profess to believe in missions,
are just playing at them—I make so bold as to say of our evangelical
denominations today that we are just playing at missions and that is all. Why
my friends, there is almost half of the human race—think of it—in this 20th century—travel so easy and
cheap. Bibles printed in almost every language under heaven, and as we sit here tonight there is almost half of the human race that never yet
heard of Christ, and we have got to answer to Christ for that yet! You have and
I have. Oh yes, I believe in man’s responsibility. I do not believe in man’s
“freedom” but I do in man’s responsibility, and I believe in the Christian’s
responsibility in a double way, and everyone of us here tonight has yet got to
face Christ and look into those eyes as a flame of fire, and He is going to say to us, I entrusted to you My gospel. It was committed
as a “trust” to you, (See 1 Thessalonians 2:4) It is required in stewards that
a man be found faithful.
Oh, my friends, we are playing
at things. We have not begun to take religion seriously, any of us. We profess
to believe in the coming of Christ, and we profess to
believe that the one reason why Christ has not come back yet is because His
Church, His Body, is not yet complete. We believe that when His body is
complete He will come back. And my friends, His “body” never, never, will be
complete until the last of His elect people will be called out, and His elect
people are called out under the preaching of the gospel by the power of the
Holy Spirit, and if you are really anxious for Christ to
come back soon, then you had better be more wide awake to your responsibility
in connection with taking or sending the gospel to the heathen!
Christ’s word, and it is
Christ’s word to us, is “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel”, He
does not say “Send ye”, He says “Go ye”, and you have to
answer to Christ yet because you have not gone! Well, you say, do you mean by
that that everyone of us here tonight ought to go out to the mission field? I
have not said that, I am not any man’s judge, Many of you here tonight have a
good reason which will satisfy Christ why you have not gone. He gave you work
to do here. He put you in a position here. He has given you responsibilities to
discharge here, but every Christian who is free to go, and
does not go, has got to answer to Christ for it yet.
“Go ye into all the world.” Well
then you say, Where am I to go? Oh, that is very easy. You say, easy? Yes, I
mean it: it is very easy. There is nothing easier in the world than to know
where you ought to begin missionary work. You have it in
the first chapter of Acts and the eighth verse: “Ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in
Jerusalem (that is the city in which they were) and in all Judea (that is the
State in which their city was), and in Samaria (that is the adjoining State),
and unto the uttermost part of the earth”, If you want to begin missionary
work, you have to begin it in your home-town, and my
friends if you are not interested in the salvation of the Chinese in Sydney,
then you are not really interested in the salvation of the Chinese in China,
and you are only fooling yourselves if you think you are! Oh, I am calling a spade a spade tonight. If
you are anxious about the souls of the Chinese in China, then you will be
equally anxious about the souls of the Chinese here in Sydney, and I wonder how many in this building tonight have ever made any serious
effort to reach the Chinese in Sydney with the gospel! I wonder? I wonder how
many here tonight have been round to the Bible House in Sydney and have said to
the Manager there, “Do you have any New Testaments in the Chinese language, or
do you have any Gospels of John in the Chinese language? How much are they per
hundred? or per dozen?” And I wonder how many of you have
bought a thousand or a hundred, and then have gone round to the houses in the
Chinese quarter and have said, “My friend, this is a little gift that will do
your soul good if you will read it.”
Ah, my friends, we are playing
at missions, it is just a farce, that is all! “Go ye” is the first command. Go
where? Those around me first. Go what with? The gospel. Well, you say, “Why should I
go?” Because God has commanded you to! Well, you say, “What is the use of doing
it if He has just elected certain ones?” Because that gospel is the means that
God uses to call out His own elect, that is why! You do not know, and I do not
know, and nobody here on earth knows, who are God’s elect and who are not. They
are scattered over the world, and therefore we are to
preach the gospel to every creature, that it may reach the ones that God has
marked out among those creatures.
From a sermon preached in Sydney during his Australian ministry in the 1920’s.
“When Jesus had received the vinegar, he
said, It is finished: and he gave up the ghost.”
John 19:30
How terribly have these blessed words of Christ been misunderstood, misappropriated and
misapplied! How many seem to think that on the cross the Lord Jesus
accomplished a work which rendered it unnecessary for the beneficiaries of it
to live holy lives on earth. So many have been deluded into thinking that, so
far as reaching heaven is concerned, it matters not how they walk provided they
are “resting on the finished work of Christ.” They may be unfruitful, untruthful, disobedient, yet (though they may possibly miss some
millennial crown) so long as they repudiate all righteousness of their own and
have faith in Christ, they imagine they are “eternally secure.”
All around us are people who are
worldly-minded, money-lovers, pleasure-seekers, Sabbath-breakers, yet who think
all is well with them because they have “accepted Christ
as their personal Saviour.” In their aspiration, conversation, and recreation,
there is practically nothing to differentiate them from those who make no
profession at all. Neither in their home-life nor social-life is there anything
save empty pretensions to distinguish them from others. The fear of God is not
upon them, the commands of God have no authority over them, the holiness of God has no attraction for them.
“It is finished.” How solemn to
realize that these words of Christ must have been used to lull thousands into a
false peace. Yet such is the case. We
have come into close contact with many who have no private prayer-life, who are
selfish, covetous, dishonest, but who suppose that a merciful God will overlook all such things provided they once put their trust
in the Lord Jesus. What a horrible perversion of the truth! What a turning of
God’s grace “into lasciviousness”! (Jude 4). Yes, those who now live the most
self-seeking and flesh-pleasing lives, talk about their faith in the blood of
the Lamb, and suppose they are safe. How the devil has deceived them!
“It is finished.” Do those
blessed words signify that Christ so satisfied the requirement of God’s
holiness that holiness no longer has any real and pressing claims upon us?
Perish the thought. Even to the redeemed God says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”
(1 Peter 1:16). Did Christ “magnify the law and make it honorable” (Isaiah
42:21) that we might be lawless? Did He “fulfill all righteousness”
(Matthew 3:15) to purchase for us an immunity from loving God with all our
hearts and serving Him with all our faculties? Did Christ die in order to
secure a divine indulgence that we might live to please self? Many seem to
think so. No, the Lord Jesus has left His people an example that they should
“follow (not ignore) His steps.”
“It is finished.” What was
“finished? The need for sinners to repent? No indeed. The need for turning to
God from idols? No indeed. The need for mortifying my members which are upon
earth? No indeed. The need for being sanctified wholly, in spirit, and soul,
and body? No indeed. Christ died not to make my sorrow for, hatred of, and
striving against sin, useless. Christ died not to absolve
me from the full discharge of my responsibilities unto God. Christ died not so
that I might go on retaining the friendship and fellowship of the world. How
passing strange that any should think that He did. Yet the actions of many show
that this is their idea.
“It is finished.” What was “finished?” The sacrificial types were accomplished, the
prophecies, of His sufferings were fulfilled, the work given Him by the Father
had been perfectly done, a sure foundation had been laid on which a righteous
God could pardon the vilest transgressor of the law who threw down the weapons
of his warfare against Him. Christ had now performed all that was necessary in
order for the Holy Spirit to come and work in the hearts of His
people; convincing them of their rebellion, slaying their enmity against God,
and producing in them a loving and obedient heart.
O, dear reader, make no mistake on this point. The “finished work of Christ” avails you nothing if your heart has never been broken through an agonizing consciousness of your sinfulness. The “finished work of Christ” avails you nothing unless you have been saved from the power and pollution of sin (Matthew 1:21). It avails you nothing if you still love the world (1 John 2:15). It avails you nothing unless you are a “new creature” in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you value your soul, search the Scriptures to see for yourself; take no man’s word for it.
“That opinion that personal
holiness is unnecessary to final glorification is in direct opposition to even
dictate of reason, to even declaration of Scripture.”—Augustus Toplady
By our fall in Adam we not only lost
the favor of God but also the purity of our nature and therefore we need to be
both reconciled to God and renewed in our inner man, for without personal
holiness “no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
“As He which hath called you
is holy; so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (behavior); because it is
written, Be ye holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15, 16),
God’s nature is such that unless
we be sanctified there can be no intercourse between Him and us. But can
persons be sinful and holy at one and the same time?
Genuine Christians discover so much carnality, filth, and vileness in
themselves that they find it almost impossible to be assured they are holy. Nor
is this difficulty solved, as in justification, by recognizing that though
completely unholy in ourselves we are holy in Christ, for Scripture teaches
that those who are sanctified by God are holy in themselves, though the evil
nature has not been removed from them.
None but “the pure in heart”
will ever” see God” (Matthew 5:8). There must be that renovation of soul
whereby our minds, affections and wills are brought into harmony with God.
There must be that impartial compliance with the revealed will of God and
abstinence from evil which issues from faith and love.
There must be that directing of all our actions to the glory of God, by Jesus
Christ, according to the Gospel. There must be a spirit of holiness working
within the believer’s heart so as to sanctify his outward actions if they are
to be acceptable unto Him in whom “there is no darkness” True, there is perfect
holiness in Christ for the believer, but there must also be a holy nature
received from him. There are some who appear to delight in
the imputed obedience of Christ who make little or no concern about personal
holiness. They have much to say about being arrayed in “the garments of
salvation and covered with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10), who give
no evidence that they “are clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5) or that they
have
“put on... bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forebearing one another
and forgiving one another” (Colossians 3:12).
How many there are today who
suppose that if they have trusted in Christ all is sure to be well with them at
the last even though they are not personally holy. Under
the pretense of honoring faith, Satan, as an angel of light, has deceived and
is now deceiving multitudes of souls. When their “faith” is examined and
tested, what is it worth? Nothing at all so far as insuring an entrance into
Heaven is concerned: it is a powerless, lifeless, fruitless thing. The faith of
God’s elect is unto “the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness”
(Titus 1:1). It is a faith which purifieth the heart (Acts
15:9), and it grieves over all impurity. It is a faith which produces an
unquestioning obedience (Hebrews 11:8). They therefore do but delude themselves
who suppose they are daily drawing nearer to Heaven while they are following
those courses which lead only to Hell. He who thinks to come to the enjoyment
of God without being personally holy, makes Him out to be an unholy God, and
puts the highest indignity upon Him. The genuiness of
saving faith is only proved as it bears the blossoms of experimental godliness
and the fruits of true piety.
In Christ God has set before His
people that standard of moral excellence which He requires them to aim and
strive after. In His life we behold a glorious
representation in our own nature of the walk of obedience which He demands of
us. Christ conformed Himself to us by His abasing incarnation, how reasonable
therefore it is that we should conform ourselves to Him in the way of obedience
and sanctification.
“Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
He came as near to us as was
possible for Him to do, how reasonable then is it that we should endeavor to
come as near as it is possible for us to do.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me” (Matthew 11:29).
If “even Christ pleased not Himself”(Romans
15:3). how reasonable is it that we should be required to deny ourselves and
take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24), for without so doing we
cannot be His disciples (Luke 14:27). If we are to be conformed to Christ in
glory how necessary that we first be conformed to Him in
holiness:
“he that saith he abideth in
Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked:”(1 John 2:6).
“Let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19):
let him
either put on the life of Christ or drop the name of Christ.
“Be ye
doers of the Word, and not hearers only; deceiving your own selves” (James
1:22)
It is much, very much to be
thankful for when the Holy Spirit has illumined a man’s understanding,
dispersed the mists of error, and established him in the Truth. Yet that is
only the beginning. The Holy Scriptures are “profitable”
not only for “doctrine” but also for “reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Observe well the order there: before we are
ready to be instructed “in righteousness” (right doing), there is much in our
lives that God “reproves” and which we must “correct.” Necessarily so, for
before conversion everything in our lives was wrong! For all we did was for the
gratifying of self, with no thought or concern for God’s
honour and glory. Therefore, the first great need, and the primary duty of
every young convert is not to study the Old Testament types, or puzzle his
brains over prophecy, but to diligently search the Scriptures in order to find
out what is pleasing and displeasing to God, what He forbids and what He
commands.
If you have been genuinely
converted, then your first concern must be to form all the details of your
life-in the home, in the church, in the world-so as to please God. And in the
actual bringing of this to pass, the order will be “cease to do evil; learn to
do well” (Isaiah 1:16-17); “Depart from evil, and do good” (Psalm 34:14 and cf.
Psalm 37:27). There has to be a breaking down before there
can be a building up (Ecclesiastes 3:3). There has to be an emptying of self
before there is the filling of the Spirit. There has to be an unlearning before
there is a true learning. And there has to be a hating of ‘evil” before there
is a loving of the “good” (Amos 5:15 and cf. Romans 12:9).
Now to the extent the young Christian does use the Holy Scriptures in a practical way,
regulating his thoughts, desires and actions by their warnings and
encouragements, their prohibitions and precepts, will very largely determine
the measure in which he will enjoy God’s blessing on his life. As the moral
Governor of the world God takes note of our conduct, and sooner or later manifests
His displeasure against our sins, and His approval of a righteous walk, by
granting that measure of prosperity which is most for our
good and His glory. In the keeping of His commandments “there is great reward”
(Psalm 19:11) in this life (1 Timothy 4:8). O how much temporal and spiritual
blessing most Christians miss through careless and disobedient conduct: see
Isaiah 48:18!
The tragic thing is that instead
of the average young Christian studying diligently God’s
Word so as to discover all the details of the divine will for him, he does
almost anything and everything else. Many a one engages in “personal work” or
some form of Christian “service” while his own life remains full of things
displeasing to God! The presence of those displeasing things in his life
hinders God’s blessings upon his soul, body, and temporal affairs; and to him
it has to be said:
“Your sins have withholden
good things from you” (Jeremiah 5:25).
God’s Word to His people is:
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
But O how little of this “fear
and trembling” is to be found anywhere today! Instead, here is self-esteem, self-confidence,
boasting and carnal security.
There are others who give themselves unto the diligent study of doctrine, but, generally,
they fail to realize that the doctrine of Scripture is not a series of
intellectual propositions, but is the “doctrine which is according to
godliness” (1 Timothy 6:3). The “doctrine” or “teaching” of God’s Holy Word is given
not for the instruction of our brains, but for the regulation of all the
details of our daily lives; and this in order that we may
“adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour in all things” (Titus 2:10).
But that can only be realized by
a constant reading of the Word with one dominant purpose-to discover what God
forbids and what he commands; by our meditating frequently on what we have read, and by fervent prayer for supernatural grace to enable us
to obey. If the young convert does not early form the habit of treading the
path of practical obedience to God, then he will not have His ear when he
prays! John states plainly one of the main conditions which we must constantly
seek grace to heed, if our petitions are to meet with acceptance:
“and whatsoever we ask we
receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
But if instead of submitting
unto God’s holy requirements, we follow our own inclinations, then it will be
said,
“Your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you,
that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
This is unspeakably solemn. O what a difference it makes whether or not we have
experimental access to God!
Not only does the young Christian, by following a course of self-pleasing, reduce his prayers to empty words, but he brings down upon himself the rod of God, and everything goes wrong in his life. That is one reason why many Christians are suffering just as sorely as the poor worldlings are: God is displeased with their ways, and does not show Himself strong on their behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9). In this connection we have sought to point out in the past the remedy, which calls for real heart-humbling before the Lord, godly sorrow, true repentance, unsparing confession, the firm determination to reform our ways; and then (and not before) faith’s counting on God’s mercy and a patient expectation that He will work wonders for us if we now tread the path of full submission to Him.
THESE were the words of the
incarnate Son of God. They have never been cancelled; nor will they be as long as
this world lasts. Repentance is absolute and necessary if the sinner is to make
peace with God (Isaiah 27:5), for repentance is the throwing down the weapons
of rebellion against Him. Repentance does not save, yet no sinner ever was or
ever will be saved without it. None but Christ saves, but
an impenitent heart cannot receive Him.
A sinner cannot truly believe
until he repents. This is clear from the words of Christ concerning His
forerunner,
“For John came unto you in the
way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the
harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that
ye might believe him” (Matthew 21:32).
It is also evident from His
clarion call in Mark 1:15, “Repent ye, and believe the
gospel.” This is why the apostle Paul testified
“repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).
Make no mistake on this point dear reader, God “now commandeth all men every where to
repent” (Acts 17:30).
In requiring repentance from us,
God is pressing His righteous claims upon us. He is infinitely worthy of
supreme love and honor, and of universal obedience. This we have wickedly
denied Him. Both an acknowledgement and amendment of this
is required from us. Our disaffection for Him and our rebellion against Him are
to be owned and made an end of. Thus repentance is a heartfelt realization of
how dreadfully I have failed, all through my life, to give God His rightful
place in my heart and daily walk.
The righteousness of God’s demand for my repentance is evident if we consider the heinous
nature of sin. Sin is a renouncmg of Him who made me. It is refusing Him His
right to govern me. It is the determination to please myself; thus, it is
rebellion against the Almighty. Sin is spiritual lawlessness, and utter
disregard for God’s authority. It is saying in my heart: I care not what God
requires, I am going to have my own way; I care not what be God’s claim upon
me, I am going to be lord over myself. Reader, do you realize that this is how you
have lived?
Now true repentance issues from
a realization in the heart, wrought therein by the Holy Spirit, of the
exceeding sinfulness of sin, of the awfulness of ignoring the claims of Him who
made me, of defying His authority. It is therefore a holy
hatred and horror of sin, a deep sorrow for it, and acknowledgement of it
before God, and a complete heart-forsaking of it. Not until this is done will God pardon us.
“He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy”
(Proverbs 28:13).
In true repentance the heart
turns to God and acknowledges My heart has been set upon a vain world, which
could not meet the needs of my soul; I forsook Thee, the fountain of living
waters, and turned unto broken cisterns which held none: I now own and bewail
my folly. But more, it says: I have been a disloyal and
rebellious creature, but I will be so no longer. I now desire and determine
with all my might to serve and obey Thee as my only Lord. I betake myself to
Thee as my present and everlasting Portion.
Reader, be you a professing
Christian or no, it is repent or perish. For every one of us, church members or
otherwise, it is either turn Or burn; turn from your
course of self-will and self-pleasing; turn in brokenness of heart to God,
seeking His mercy in Christ; turn with full purpose of heart to please and
serve HIM: or be tormented day and night, for ever and ever, in the
Lake of Fire. Which shall it be? Oh, get down on your knees right now and beg
God to give you the spirit of true repentance.
“Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
“For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death”
(2 Corinthians 7:10).
THE CURE FOR DESPONDENCY
“Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” (Psalm
42:5).
When the Psalmist gave utterance
to these words, his spirit was dejected and his heart was heavy within him. In
the checkered career of David there was not a little which was calculated to
sadden and depress: the cruel persecutions of Saul, who hunted him as a
partridge upon the mountains, the treachery of his trusted friend Ahitophel,
the perfidy of Absalom, and the remembrance of his own
sins, were enough to overwhelm the stoutest.
And David was a man of like passions with us: he was not always upon the
mountain-top of joy, but sometimes spent seasons in the slough of despond and
the gorge of gloom.
But David did not give way to
despair, nor succumb to his sorrows. He did not lie down like a stricken beast
and do nought but fill the air with his howling. No, he
acted like a rational creature, and like a man, looked his troubles squarely in
the face. But he did more; he made diligent inquiry, he challenged himself, he
sought to discover the cause of his despondency: he asked, “Why art thou cast
down, O my soul?” He desired to know the reason for such depression. This is
often the first step toward recovery from dejection of spirit. Repining arid
murmuring get us nowhere. Fretting and wringing our hands
bring no relief either temporally or spiritually. There needs to be
self-interrogation, self-examination, self condemnation.
“Why art thou cast down, O my
soul?” We need to seriously take ourselves to task. We need to fearlessly face
a few plain questions. What is the good of giving way to
despair? What possible gain can it bring me? To sit and sulk is not “redeeming
the time” (Ephesians 5:16). To mope and mourn will not mend matters. Then let
each despondent one call his soul to account, and inquire what adequate cause
could be assigned for peevishness and fretting.
“We may have great cause to
mourn for sin, and to pray against prevailing impiety: but our great dejection,
even under the severest outward afflictions or inward trials, springs from
unbelief and a rebellious will: we should therefore strive and pray against it”
(Thomas Scott).
“Why art thou cast down, O my
soul?” Cannot you discover the real answer without asking counsel from others?
Is it not true that, deep down in your heart, you already know, or at least
suspect, the root of your present trouble? Are you “cast down” because of
distressing circumstances which your own folly has brought you into? Then
acknowledge with the Psalmist,
“I know, O Lord, that Thy
judgments are right, and Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psalm
119:75).
Is it because of some sin, some
course of self-will, some sowing to the flesh, that you
are now of the flesh reaping corruption? Then confess the same to God and plead
the promise found in Proverbs 28:13:
“He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Or are you grieved because
Providence has not smiled upon you so sweetly as it has on some of your
neighbors? Then heed that injunction,
“Fret not thyself because of
evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity” (Psalm 37:1).
Perhaps the cases suggested
above do not exactly fit that of some of our readers. Not a few may say, “My
soul is cast down and my heart is heavy because my finances are at so low an
ebb, and the outlook is so dark.” That is indeed a painful
trial, and one which mere nature often sinks under. But, dear friend, there is
a cure for despondency even when so occasioned. He who declares “the cattle
upon a thousand hills are Mine,” still lives and reigns! Cannot He who fed two
million Israelites in the wilderness for forty years minister to you and your
family? Cannot He who sustained Elijah in the time of famine keep you from
starving?
“If God so clothe the grass of
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not
much more clothe you. O ye of little faith!” (Matthew 6:30).
Returning to our opening text,
let us observe how that David not only succumbed not to
his sorrows, interrogated his soul, and rebuked his unbelief, but he also
preached to himself: “Hope thou in God!” Ah, that is what the despondent needs
to do: nothing else will bring real relief to the hearer. The immediate outlook
may be dark, but the Divine promises are bright. The creature may fail you, but
the Creator will not, if you truly put your trust in Him. The world may be at its wits’ end, but the Christian needs not be so.
There is One who is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1), and He never
deserts those who really make Him their refuge. The writer has proved this,
many, many a time, and so may the reader. The fact is that present conditions
afford a grand opportunity for learning the sufficiency of Divine grace. Faith
cannot be exercised when everything needed is at hand to sight.
“Hope thou in God”—In His mercy:
You have sinned, sinned grievously in the past, and now you are receiving your
just deserts. True, but if you will penitently confess your sins, there is
abundant mercy with the Lord to blot them all out (Isaiah 55:7).
In his power: Every door may he
shut against you, every channel of help be closed fast; but nothing is too hard
for the Almighty!
In His faithfulness: Men may
have deceived you, broken their promises, and now desert you in the hour of
need; but He who cannot lie is to be depended upon—O doubt
not His promises.
In His love:
“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1).
“For I shall yet praise Him for
the help of His countenance.” Such is ever the blessed assurance of those who
truly hope in God. They know that,
“Many are the afflictions of
the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
God has told them that “weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). So Christian
reader, when the fiery trial has done its work, and your
bonds are burned off (Daniel 3:25), you will thank Him for the trials which are
now so unpleasant; Then hopefully anticipate the future. Count upon God, and He
will not fail you.
Let each Christian reader who is not now passing through deep waters join with the writer
in fervent prayer to God, that He will graciously sanctify the “present
distress” unto the spiritual good of His own people, and mercifully supply
their temporal needs.
We are rather afraid that its
title will deter some from reading this article: we hope it will not be so.
True, it does not treat of a popular theme, nay one which is now very rarely
heard in the pulpit; nevertheless, it is a scriptural one. Fallen man is
“vile,” so vile that it has been rightly said “he is half brute, half devil.”
Nor does such a description exceed the truth. Man is “born like a wild ass’s colt” (Job 11:12), and he is “taken captive by the
devil at his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). Perhaps the reader is ready to reply, Ah,
that is man in his unregenerate state, but it is far otherwise with the regenerate.
From one viewpoint that is true; from another, it is not so.
Did not the Psalmist acknowledge,
“So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was a beast before
Thee” (Psalm 73:22)
unteachable, untractable,
kicking against God’s providential dealings, not behaving like a man, much less
like a saint! Again, did not Agu. confess,
“Surely I am more brutish than
any man” (Proverbs 30:2).
True, we never hear such
lamentations as these from those who claim to have received their “Pentecost”
or “second blessing,” nor from those who boast they are
living “the victorious life.” But to those who are painfully conscious of the
“plague” of their own heart, such words may often describe their case. Only
recently we received a letter from a dear brother in Christ, saying “the vanity
and corruption that I find within, which refuses to be kept in subjection, is
so strong at times that it makes me cry out ‘my wounds do stink and are
corrupt.”’
Does the reader object against
our appropriation of the Psalms and Proverbs, and say, We in this New Testament
age occupy much higher ground than those did. Probably you have often been told
so by men, but are you sure of it from the Word of God? Listen, then, to the
groan of an eminent Christian:
“I am carnal, sold under sin”
(Romans 7:14).
Do you never feel thus, my
reader? Then we are sincerely sorry for you. As to the other part of the
description of fallen man, “half devil”: did not Christ
say to regenerate Peter,
“Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou
art an offense unto Me” (Matthew 16:23)?
And are there not times when
writer and reader fully merits the same reproof? Speaking for myself, I bow my
head with shame, and say, Alas there is.
“Behold, I am vile” (Job
40:4).
This was not said by Cain in a
remorseful moment after his murder of Abel, nor by Judas after he had betrayed
the Saviour into the hands of His enemies; instead, it was
the utterance of one of whom God said,
“There is none like him in the
earth, a perfect (sincere) and an upright man, one that feareth God, and
eseheweth evil” (Job 1:8).
Was Job’s language the effect of
extreme melancholy, induced by his terrible afflictions? If not, was he
justified in using such strong language of self-deprecation? If he was, are
Christians today warranted in echoing the same?
In order to arrive at the
correct answer to the above questions, let us ask another:
when was it that Job said, “Behold, I am vile?” Was it when he first received
tidings of his heavy losses? No, for then he exclaimed,
“the Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Was it when his friends reasoned
with and reproved him? No, for then he vindicated himself and boasted of his
goodness. Then when was it that Job declared “Behold, I am vile”? It was when
the Lord appeared to him and gave him a startling revelation of His own
wondrous perfections! It was when he stood in the
all-penetrating light of God’s immaculate holiness and was made to realize
something of His mighty power.
Ah, when a soul is truly brought
into the presence of the living God, boasting ceases, our comeliness is turned
into corruption (Daniel 10:8), and we cry, “Woe is me! for I am undone” (Isaiah
6:5). When God makes to the soul a personal revelation of
His wondrous perfections, that individual is effectually convinced of his own
wretchedness. The more we are given to discern the ineffable glory of the Lord,
the more will our self-complacency wither. It is in God’s light, and in that
only, “we see light” (Psalm 36:9). When He shines into our understandings and
hearts, and brings to light “the hidden things of darkness,” we perceive the utter corruption of our nature, and are abominable in our own
eyes. While we measure ourselves by our fellows, we shall, most likely, think
more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3); but when we
measure ourselves by the holy requirements of God’s nature, we cry “I am dust
and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). True repentance changes a man’s opinion of himself.
Is, then, a Christian today
warranted in saying “Behold, I am vile”? Not as faith views himself united to
the One who is “altogether lovely”; but as faith discerns, in the light of the
Word, what he is by nature, what he is in and of himself he may. Not that he is
to hypocritically adopt such language in order to gain the reputation of great
humility; nay, such an utterance is only to be found upon
our lips as it is the feeling expression of our hearts: particularly is it to
be owned before God, when we come to Him in contrition and in confession. Yet
is it also to be acknowledged before the saints, even as the apostle Paul cried
publicly, “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24). It is part of our
testimony to own (before those who fear the Lord) what God has revealed to us.
“Behold; I am vile”: such is the
candid and sorrowful confession of the writer.
1.) I am vile in my imaginations: O what scum rises to the
surface when lusts boil within me. What filthy pictures are visioned in “the
chambers of my imagery” (Ezekiel 8:12). What unlawful desires run riot within.
Yes, even when engaged in meditating upon the holy things of God, the mind wanders and the fancy becomes engaged with what is foul and
fetid. How often does the writer have to acknowledge before God that “from the
sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness” in him, “but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores” (Isaiah 1:6). Nightly does he avail himself
of that Fountain which has been opened “for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah
13:1).
2.) I am vile in my self-will: How fretful am I when God blows
upon my plans and thwarts my desires. What surgings of rebellion within my
wicked breast when God’s providences displease. Instead of lying placidly as
clay in the Potter’s hand, how often do I act like the restive colt, which
rears and kicks, refusing to be held in with bit and bridle, determined to have
my own way. Alas, alas, how very little have I learned of
Him who was “meek and lowly in heart.” Instead of “the flesh” in me being
purified, it has putrefied; instead of its resistance to the spirit weakening,
it appears to be stronger each year. O that I had the wings of a dove, that I
could fly away from myself.
3.) I am vile in my religious pretenses:
How often I am anxious to make “a fair show in the flesh” and be thought highly
of by others. What hypocrisies have I been guilty of in seeking to gain a
reputation for spirituality. How frequently have I conveyed false impressions
to others, making them suppose it was far otherwise within me than was actually
the case. What pride and self-righteousness have swayed me. And of what
insincerity have I, at times, been guilty of in the
pulpit: praying to the ears of the congregation instead of to God, pretending
to have liberty when my own spirit was bound, speaking of those things which I
had not first felt and handled for myself. Much, very much cause has the writer
to take the leper’s place, cover his lips, and cry “Unclean, unclean!”
4.) I am vile in my unbelief: How often am I still filled with
doubts and misgivings. How often do I lean unto my own understanding instead of
upon the Lord. How often do I fail to expect from God (Mark 11:24) the things
for which I ask Him. When the hour of testing comes, only too frequently are
past deliverances forgotten. When troubles assail, instead of looking off unto
the things unseen, I am occupied with the difficulties
before me. Instead of remembering that with God all things are possible, I am
ready to say,
“Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness?” (Psalm 78:19).
True it is not always thus, for
the Holy Spirit graciously keeps alive the faith which He
has placed within; but when He ceases to work, and a trial is faced, how often
do I give my Master occasion to say, “How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark
4:40).
Reader, how closely does your
experience correspond with the above? Is it true that,
“As in water face answereth to
face, so the heart of man to man” (Proverbs 27:19)?
Have we been describing some of
the symptoms of your diseased heart? Have you ever owned before God “Behold, I
am vile”? Do you bear witness to the humbling fact before your brethren and
sisters in Christ? It is comparatively easy to utter such
words, but do you feel them? Does the realization of this truth make you
“blush” (Ezra 9:6) and groan in secret? Have you such a person and painful
sense of your vileness that often, you feel thoroughly unfit to draw nigh unto
a holy God? If so:
1. You have abundant cause to be thankful
to God that his Holy Spirit has shown you something of your wretched self, that
He has not kept you in ignorance of your woeful state, that He has not left you
in that gross spiritual darkness that enshrouds millions of professing
Christians. Ah my stricken brother, if you are groaning over the ocean of
corruption within, an feel utterly unworthy to take the sacred name of Christ
upon your polluted lips, then you should be unfeignedly
thankful that you belong not to that great multitude of self-complacent and
self-righteous religionists of whom it is written,
“They were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in
the time of their visitation they shall be cast down” (Jeremiah 8:12).
Much cause have you to praise
the God of all grace that He anointed your sin-blinded eyes, and that now, in
His sight, you are able to see a little of your hideous deformities, and cry “I
am black” (Song of Sol. 1:5).
2. You have abundant cause to walk softly
before God. Must not the realization of our vileness truly humble us before
Him, make us smite upon our breast, and cry “God be merciful to me, the
sinner!” Yes, such a prayer is as suited to the mature saint as it was when
first convicted of his lost estate, for he is to continue as he began: Colossians
2:6, Revelation 2:5. But alas, how quickly does the apprehension of our
vileness leave us! How frequently does pride again dominate
us. For this reason we are bidden to,
“Look unto the rock whence ye
are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged” (Isaiah 51:1)
Beg God to daily show you your vileness that you may walk humbly before Him.
3. You have abundant cause to marvel at the surpassing love of the Triune God towards you. That the Eternal Three should have set Their heart upon such a wretch is indeed the wonder of all wonders. That God the Father should foreknow and foresee every sin of which you would be guilty in thought and word and deed, and yet have loved thee “with an everlasting love” must indeed fill you with astonishment. That God the Son should have laid aside the robes of His glory and be made in the likeness of sin’s flesh, in order to redeem one so foul and filthy as me, was truly a love “that passeth knowledge.” That God the Holy Spirit should take up His residence and dwell in the heart of one so vile, only proves that where sin abounded grace did much more abound. “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood; and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5, 6).
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