Without Strength.

 Excerpt-

 

'One motive only should actuate the minds of those who study the word of God and that is that they may by this study be drawn nearer to God.

 

God is no respecter of persons. He will give His Holy Spirit to any and to all who ask for it. He is just as willing to make the truths of the Bible plain to one as to another.

 

Peace and light may come into your hearts from what is spoken from the desk; but if you do not know the word for yourselves, that peace and light will not stay with you. The Holy Spirit spoke the words of the Bible, and it is only by the aid of the Holy Spirit that it can be understood. Any man who will submit himself to the Holy Spirit may understand the Bible for himself.

 

There is but one true help to the Bible--the Spirit of God.

 

If you get your ideas about Christ and His work from the writings of other men, you get it second hand at best. Draw your light straight from the Bible. Learn the Bible from the Bible itself. When our minds are illuminated by the Holy Spirit, although the word will appear simple, at the same time there will be heights and depths to it that will fill us with amazement. All eternity will be spent in studying the plan of salvation and the longer we study the more we will find to study.

 

Last evening our study brought us to the close of the fifth verse of the fifth chapter. We will commence this evening at the sixth.

 

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

 

Rom_5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

 

Mark the words "without strength." There was a fixed time in the history of the world when Christ was offered on the cross of Calvary. But that was not the only time when Christ availed for the ungodly. Who are the ungodly? They are those who are "without strength." The human family has been without strength from the fall, and they are without strength today. When men find themselves without strength, Christ is to be lifted up, and He says that He will draw all men unto Him. So we can look to Jesus as a crucified and risen Saviour today, just as much as could the disciples.

 

We sometimes think that we look back to Christ and that the patriarchs and prophets looked forward to Him. Is it so? We look up to Christ and so did they.

 

We look to Christ a loving Redeemer by our side, and so did they. Said Moses to the children of Israel: "It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? . . . But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it."

 

The Word, which was Christ the Redeemer, was nigh unto them, and He is nigh unto us.

 

They all drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ.

 

The Israelites did not need to look forward to Christ. He was nigh unto them. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He is and ever has been a present Saviour to all who made Him so. He was a present Saviour to Abel. "By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." "By faith" in what? In the Son of God, for there was no one else for him to have faith in. So it was that Enoch walked with Christ by faith. He did not look away beyond to some future time for the help of the Redeemer. Christ was to him a present Saviour, and they walked along together.

 

So in every age of the world, when men have felt themselves to be without strength, then Christ has been a Saviour to them. Notice how plain are the words: "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

 

Abel was without strength, and Christ died for him. Enoch was without strength, and Christ died for him. Abraham and Sarah were without strength, and Christ died for them. His death was a reality to all of these. How remarkably powerful was Christ to Abraham! That Christ, the Messiah not yet come and who was to come through Abraham, that very Messiah was so very powerful that faith in Him brought forth the son to Abraham and Sarah in order that He might come through that son. At every period of the earth's history, Christ has been a present Saviour to those who were "without strength."

 

To be continued… 

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #8 A.T. Jones.

Hope and Rejoicing.

 

 

(Excerpt) Romans 5 -  A Chapter of Hope and Rejoicing.

 

Chapter five contains a partial enumeration of the blessings which are fruits of such a faith as that portrayed in chapter four. It shows the Christian development of the life of anyone who has the faith of Abraham.

 

Two words form the keynote of the chapter--much more.

 

If you have the glory, the patience, or the Christian experience spoken of in this, or any other chapter, know that God has them in store and is willing to give much more, for He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."

 

Eph_3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

 

"Therefore being justified by faith," that is, being made conformable to the law by faith, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

Rom_5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

 

The only way that man can be made conformable to the law and live free from condemnation is by having faith in the promises of God.

 

In Christ there is no unrighteousness, therefore there is nothing but righteousness. By believing on Christ, the Christian has the righteousness of Christ.

 

But does not James say that there must be works or the faith is of no avail? It is true that faith is made perfect by works. James 2:22.

 

Jas 2:22  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 

 

But it is by faith and faith alone that men are justified. The very text which speaks of Abraham's being justified by faith, states that the works were only the outgrowth of underlying faith and that by this work the scripture was fulfilled which says: "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." Works are the outgrowth of faith.

 

"It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

 

We give ourselves into the hands of Christ. He comes and takes up His abode with us. We are as clay in the hands of the potter, but it is Christ who does all the good works and to Him belongs all the glory.

 

"We have peace with God."

 

What is peace? It is not a feeling, but a fact.

 

Many think that they must experience a "certain feeling" which they will know is the "peace of God." But they have never had the peace of God, and therefore cannot know what kind of feeling it ought to be.

 

Satan might give a certain happy feeling, and if the Christian had only the feeling to go by, he would be deceived. The Lord does not deal in feelings but in facts. Peace is the opposite of war, strife, emulation. We are either at peace with God or else at war. If at war, it is because we are carrying on rebellion.

 

How do men fight God? By following sinful practices. Anyone knowingly indulging in one sinful practice is warring against God.

 

God is a God of peace. Christ left His peace with His followers. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." Between God and His dear Son in heaven there is a "counsel of peace." They counsel for the peace of man. There is only one condition on which man can have that peace--unconditional surrender, surrender all to God and then there is peace in the heart, no matter what the feeling may be.

 

"Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them."

 

"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea."

 

What rich comfort in these words! Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday and today and forever." So His peace is likened to the continual flowing of the river and the never-ceasing roll of the ocean wave; therefore it matters not what the feeling is for if all sins have been confessed God is faithful and just to forgive them and we are at peace with Him.

 

The condition of peace is the condition of being justified by faith.

 

"By whom [Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace [unmerited forgiveness and favor] in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Righteousness can be wrought in men day by day by the same power by which Isaac was born of parents who were practically dead. When people once gain this experience, the next thing, they will be constrained to rejoice in the hope of the coming of the Lord.

 

How often do we look forward to the coming of the Lord with fear? If we do not rejoice in the Lord in the present life, we have no hope that we will rejoice in Him in a life to come. Why should Christians "rejoice in hope of the glory of God?" Because they are at peace with Him. *omitted*  are bidden "when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." We praise Him that He is coming soon; it is one of the most glorious and cheering assurances we have.

 

We live in the present, not in the future. Read 1 Peter 1:5-9.

 

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

 

Salvation belongs to us today just as much as it will when in the kingdom of God. No one but ourselves can deprive us of it. Says Peter, "Receiving [present time] the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Our present salvation is our only hope of a future salvation. "Kept by the power of God" is the expression used by Peter, and it denotes precisely the same condition--"being justified by faith"--in the fifth chapter of Romans.

 

The same power that will make men immortal in the life to come, justifies them--makes them conformable to the law--by being in harmony with it, every day. Says Paul in the letter to the Philippians, chapter three, and verse twenty-one: "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."

 

In Ephesians 3:16, Paul in an inspired prayer prays that they might be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, according to "the riches of His glory." The grace of God is equal to the glory of God. God's throne is a throne of glory and the grace wherein we stand is backed by the glory of God.

 

"We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience."

 

Some say that tribulation worketh impatience. This is not true. If a man is not justified by faith, tribulation will develop the impatience that is in him. How is it, then, that tribulation worketh patience? Let these texts answer: "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." Psalm 55:22. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.

He takes the heavy loads away. What is that burden? Anything that worries or vexes us. It matters not whether it be a small thing--a little trial--or a great one. Cast it on the Lord. We rejoice in tribulation because we have Christ with us, and we cast all the burden on Him. He is able to bear them. He has already borne them for all the world, so we cannot add to His burden.

 

How do we get rid of the burdens? Give them to Christ and then say, "He has them." And He has them whether you feel any different or not. Then you will experience the truth of the words, "I will give you rest." It is rest even though the physical pain still racks the body. For Christ bears that tribulation, and you are lifted up above all pain.

 

How did the martyrs go to the rack and the stake with songs of joy on their lips? Was that mere bravado? No, Christ bore their burden and in Him they had peace. Out of a full heart they sang their praise to Him. Thus they were happy and joyous and scarcely noticed the pain while the flames crept around them. We will have to "pass through great tribulation." It may be the lash on the naked flesh or it may be the thumb screw. Human nature shrinks from such torture. In Christ we can bear it. Gain an experience in Him now and in the trying time He will not forsake you. He can bear that great burden as well as a small one.

 

Christ will be ours then as well as now, and the life we live will be in Him. No man in this world will be able to stand in that time unless he has previously learned the lesson of faith. Now is the time, while the lesson may be learned under easy circumstances. Great as will be the tribulation of that time we will pass through it with rejoicing. That rejoicing must be learned now.

 

"Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect, wanting nothing." Patience shows us to be perfect men.

 

"Patience worketh experience." It is a Christian experience that is referred to.

 

"Experience" signifies that men who have it have been proved and tried. They have laid hold upon God and proved Him.

 

Experience, or the fact that we daily prove God, develops hope--hope in God.

 

If God is proven every day, then every day there is hope. That is, we have reason to expect the things we desire. We have present salvation, therefore we glory in the hope of an eternal salvation. This is indeed a chapter of hope and rejoicing.  

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #7 A.T. Jones.

Do You Set Yourself Up As A Little God?

 

Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer

_Meekness and Rest_

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.--Matt. 5:5

A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, "Here is your human race." For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.

In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing"; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command.

Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed. The atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature has been created to justify this kind of life as the only normal one.

And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh.

Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead, and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say "blessed" with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom for us to listen.

As was often so with Jesus, He used this word "meek" in a brief crisp sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it.

In the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our lives. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us.

The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest.

Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within.

First, there is the burden of _pride_.

The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed.

Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them.

Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, "Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think."

The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is willing to wait for that day.

In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness brings.

Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of _pretense_. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-called "society" runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better.

Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, "Ye must become as little children." For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.

Another source of burden is _artificiality_. I am sure that most people live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never been.

This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of pretense. "Courses" are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not. Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then _what we are_ will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.

The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of God Himself. He calls it "my yoke," and He walks at one end while we walk at the other.

_Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that through it I may find rest. Amen._

Believe In Christ's Righteousness.

 

(Excerpt)

 

In the fourth chapter of the book of Romans we have faith in a concrete form. The narrative of the lives of Abraham and Sarai in connection with the birth of Isaac furnish a practical example of justification by faith.

Abraham was not justified by works, but he believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham received the seal of circumcision. Why? To cause him to believe? No, but because he had believed. It was a seal of the righteousness which he had by believing. The promise to Abraham and to his seed was that he should be heir of the world. This promised inheritance was to be for an "everlasting possession." Genesis 17:8.

 

Gen 17:8  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 

 

Therefore it was a covenant of righteousness, sealed by a seal of righteousness, and the inheritance was to be a righteous inheritance, which none but the righteous can gain. 2 Peter 3:13.

 

2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

 

How can God give us righteousness when we are so sinful? We cannot understand how nor do we need to inquire. It is just as great a miracle for God to make an unrighteous man righteous as it was for Him to create the world.

 

If a man calls a thing which is not as though it were, he tells a falsehood; but when God calls a thing which is not as though it were, the very fact of His calling it makes it so.

 

God not only makes our hearts righteous, when there is no righteousness there but He does more than that; He makes our hearts righteous, when there is nothing there but unrighteousness.

 

A man is just as much an infidel who does not believe that God can speak righteousness into his heart as a man who, by the theory of evolution, does away with the Mosaic record of creation. No limit can be put upon the power of God. If there were a huge mountain, which was to set itself up against the power of God, He could take nothing and break that mountain all to pieces.

 

"We brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." We get to be the children of God in the same way as Isaac was born--by believing, as Abraham and Sarai believed. The promise is to him "that worketh not but believeth on Him, who justifieth the ungodly."

 

Rom_4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

 

There was much implied in the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Through no other son could the promise of the inheritance come. Christ could not come into the world except through Isaac. Cut off Isaac and what hope of a Saviour? None. Abraham to all appearances would cut off all hope of his own salvation.

 

Wonderful is the faith here exhibited. Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac up again and yet, the very one (Christ) through whose power he believed Isaac would be raised up, had not come and could not come except through Isaac. Nevertheless God had promised and Abraham believed, although he was called upon to do that very thing which to human sight would cut off all hope of ever having the promise fulfilled.

The promise itself was immutable, and that immutable promise was confirmed by an immutable oath. Therefore God is under obligation to fulfill His promises to all who claim them. the very throne and existence of God are pledged to this, and not to do it would be for God to deny Himself.

By and by, God will come and say, "Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

 

Psa_50:5  Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

 

Christ is the sacrifice here referred to. It is through Him we come. He is the surety of the covenant.

 

The promise to Abraham depended upon one thing--his having a son. Twenty-five years elapsed from the time the promise was made until it was fulfilled. "Abraham staggered not at the promise of God," but Sarai did, and Abraham hearkened unto the voice of Sarai." She undertook to help the Lord to carry out His plan. But Hagar was a slave, and her child could be nothing but a slave, born after the flesh.

 

The seed promised Abraham were to be free men, not slaves, therefore nothing was gained by this plan of Sarai's. The time came when Sarai realized that the only thing for her to do was to believe that God was able to carry out His promise without her help. Then, "through faith" she "received strength to conceive seed." The birth of Isaac was a miracle.

 

From a human standpoint it was utterly impossible for Abraham and Sarai to become the parents of a child. She conceived by the power of God.

 

Abraham and Sarai did nothing to gain the promise, except to believe, and yet the child of the promise was their own child.

 

So with Christians. Nothing can be done to gain the righteousness of Christ, save only to believe the promises. It is wrong to put forth efforts to secure the righteousness of Christ. We are told to believe the promises. God has promised to make us righteous, and the only way to obtain that righteousness is to believe that God is able to input it.

 

When men are content to believe God and submit themselves to Him, there is power in His promises to work out their righteousness for them, without any power of their own.

 

How are men made righteous, or partakers of the divine nature? "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakes of the divine nature."

 

2Pe_1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

 

The power lies in the promise of God. How can we make the promises effectual to us? By believing them. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess your sins, believe that God forgives them as He has promised, and the promise is yours, your sins are forgiven.

 

The promises of God may be likened to "promissory notes." How many may have these notes? "Whosoever will." They are good for a certain amount of blessing. That amount can never be drawn in full, because God is able "to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think." Men take a promissory note to the bank and get the gold on it. Christians take the promises of God to Him and cash them for a blessing.  

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #6 A.T. Jones.

He Gives the Inheritance and the Righteousness to Receive.

 

(Excerpt)

 

'The principles laid down in preceding lessons cause us to wonder that any should ever suppose that the doctrine of justification by faith is going to lower the law of God.

 

Justification carries the law on the face of it.

 

The only danger is in not getting it.

 

It establishes the law in the heart.

 

Justification is the law incarnate in Christ, put into the man, so it is incarnate in the man.

 

The third chapter presents the principle of justification by faith. In the fourth chapter the principle is illustrated by the case of Abraham. So far as Abraham had any righteousness, he could glory in that; but as an actual fact, he had nothing to glory in. He was justified by faith alone.

 

Rom 4:1  What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 

Rom 4:2  For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 

Rom 4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 

 

Chapter 4:1-3.

 

If a man could do a deed meriting the approval of Heaven, he could boast to that extent. But no flesh will ever be able to glory in God's presence. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; Jeremiah 9:23, 24.

 

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 

1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence. 

 

Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. 

 

Rom 4:4  Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 

 

If a man can work righteousness, then when God gives the reward of righteousness, the man simply receives what he has earned. But eternal life is the "gift of God." Eternal life is the reward of righteousness and since it is the gift of God it can be so only because the righteousness is the gift of God. Verse 4.

 

Rom 4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 

 

Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness. Verse 5.

 

The forgiveness of sins is not simply a book transaction, a wiping out of past accounts. It has a vital relation to the man himself. It is not a temporary work.

 

Christ gives His righteousness, takes away the sin, and leaves His righteousness there, and that makes a radical change in the man.

 

No man can do any works that would stand in the judgment for a moment. Whether he is a professed Christian or an atheist makes no difference in this point. There is no believer in Christ who would dare go before the judgment with the deeds of any day, demanding an equivalent, and risking his case on the works. Verses 6-8 describe the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord, when he is working in the cause of God, will not impute sin in that work.

 

Rom 4:6  Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, 

Rom 4:7  Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 

Rom 4:8  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. 

 

First, righteousness was imputed to Abraham because he believed, and then he received the sign of circumcision, as the seal of the righteousness of faith which he had. Verses 9-11.

 

Rom 4:9  Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 

Rom 4:10  How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 

Rom 4:11  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also

 

Those who make a high profession, must not stand in profession but must walk in the steps of the faith which Abraham had. Verse 12.

 

Rom 4:12  And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

 

The idea obtains that in the Jewish age God did draw a distinction between peoples. But God never has been and never can be a respecter of persons. It was the bigotry and self-righteousness of the Jews which led them to hold themselves aloof from the Gentiles. They were set to be the light of the world, to be the salt of the earth. They refused to do the work and became as salt without savor, themselves needing to be salted. The salt must permeate the mass which it is to preserve. The same principle applies today.

 

The promise to Abraham was one, though it was repeated a number of times. It was that in him all the nations of the world should be blessed--that he should be heir of the world. Verse 13; Genesis 12:1-3.

 

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

 

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 

Gen 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 

 

The gospel brings to view an inheritance. It brings salvation from death; it brings life, and the fact that life is given implies a place to live in. So we can say, as comprising everything the gospel brings that it gives to men an eternal inheritance.

 

The doctrine of the saints' inheritance is the doctrine of justification by faith and if we do not preach justification by faith in preaching the saints' inheritance, we are not preaching the gospel.

 

The inheritance promised is the same as that promised to the fathers (2 Peter 3:4; Acts 7:5), and this does not relate to this present world.

 

2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 

Act 7:5  And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 

 

This inheritance is not through the law but through the righteousness of faith. But it will only be for those who are righteous, that is, conformable to the law. Yet "if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect." Verse 14.

 

Rom 4:14  For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect

 

Not only can we not work out the inheritance ourselves, but just in so far as we attempt it we are putting ourselves further from the inheritance; "because the law worketh wrath." Verse 15.

 

Rom 4:15  Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 

 

If the inheritance is by works, it is not by promise.

 

Yet it is for the righteous only and righteousness is obedience to the law.

 

In other words, we have perfect obedience to the law which doesn't spring from obedience.

 

Chapter 3:21 Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets

 

This is a paradox.

The whole gospel is contrary to human reason; it is infinitely above reason. Yet it is reasonable with God. Christ has promised the inheritance and His promises are yea and amen. He will give not simply the inheritance, but the righteousness which is to merit the inheritance. And so life, righteousness, and the inheritance are all gifts of God.

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #5 A.T. Jones.

Christ Is Our Righteousness.

 

Christ OUR Righteousness.

 

That doesn't say… Our righteous because we have NO righteousness of our own. That says- CHRIST our righteousness.  Christ IS our righteousness. Christ died for us to BE our righteousness.

 

*******

(Excerpt)

 

The basis of the lesson of the evening is the latter half of the third chapter of Romans, beginning with the 19th verse.

 

Rom 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 

 

"Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God."

 

Verses 21-23

 

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

 

…contain in condensed form all that is treated of in the remaining verses of the chapter. The remainder of the chapter is an amplification of that which has gone before. In this chapter also occurs the climax of the thought of the epistle. In the first part of this chapter is emphasized the fact that God makes no distinction of persons; works alone are taken into account in the judgement. But while it is true that a tree is known by its fruits, it is also true that it is not within the province of men to judge of those fruits. God alone is judge. He looks upon the heart while man can judge only from appearances; therefore, while the works of men may seem good to their fellows, to God, who sees what man cannot see, they are known to be corrupt.

 

Again, the just shall live by faith.

 

How much of a man's life must be just? All, every moment, for the just shall live by faith. But by the deeds of the law shall no act be just. This is a hard saying, but one that must be believed, for it is what the Bible says.

 

No deed that we can do can be just by the law only. By faith alone can a man or any act of his be just. The law judges a man by his works, and the law is so inconceivably great that no human act can rise to its height. There must therefore be a Mediator through whom justification shall come. And that justification properly belongs to him to whom it is granted by reason of his faith.

 

The heart unrenewed is desperately wicked. Only evil can come from a wicked heart. To bring forth good deeds there must be a good heart, and only a good man can have a good heart. But, as all have sinned and come short, therefore all the deeds of humanity are vitiated.

 

The law itself is the standard of perfect righteousness, but Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.

 

In Christ is the perfect righteousness of the law, and the grace to bestow the gift of His righteousness through faith.

 

And of this the prophets themselves are witnesses, for they preached justification through Christ, by faith.

 

When a man seeks to justify himself by his deeds, he only heaps imperfection upon imperfection, until, like Paul, he counts them all as loss, knowing that there is no righteousness but that which is of Christ by faith.

 

There is but one thing in this world that a man needs and that is justification--and justification is a fact, not a theory.

 

It is the gospel.

 

That which does not tend to righteousness is of no avail, and not worthy to be preached. Righteousness can only be attained through faith; consequently all things worthy to be preached must tend to justification by faith.

 

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

 

It is well understood that no act of ours can make right that which is past, but it is just as true that we cannot be justified in any present act any more than we can render the past perfect.

 

We need the righteousness of Christ to justify the present just as much as to make perfect the imperfect deeds of the past.

 

In the case of the publican and the Pharisee, the one who put no trust in his own works went down to his own house justified, but he who desired to assume righteousness in himself failed of justification. Every one can have it who will ask for it, but each must come to the level of all other sinners and there receive it with the rest, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

 

"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

 

What is "redemption"? It is repurchasing.

 

Righteousness is an infinite gift and bought with an infinite price.

 

It is a free gift to us, but it has been paid for.

 

The blood of Christ has paid for it.

 

We are exhorted to consider His greatness that we may know that although the thing to be done is beyond our comprehension, the power which is to accomplish it is also beyond our knowledge.

 

"To declare His righteousness" for the putting away of our sins. It is He that puts away our sins and if we but yield ourselves to Him, they will be remitted utterly. Christ grants no indulgences, but His righteousness remits the sins that are past, keeps the heart free from sin in the present so long as His righteousness fills that heart.

 

Faith is the beginning of all wisdom; it lies at the foundation of all knowledge. The child would never learn anything, if it did not believe what it is told. Now, that being so in physical things, why can we not be as reasonable in spiritual things?

 

Redemption comes through the creative power of Christ, and that is why I love to think that he is the Creator of all things, for He who created the worlds out of nothing and who upholds all things by the word of His power can by that same word create in me a clean heart and preserve that which He has created. To Him is all power and also all glory.

 

It is God that worketh in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure.

 

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law."  

 

 

Nothing to Boast Of.

 

We have NOTHING to boast in and of ourselves, absolutely nothing. None of our supposed goodness is truly good. Any act of goodness that comes from us, if we are blessed to have any, are a result of Christ in us, our hope. The credit for all goodness belongs to God. When we mourn our lack of goodness, what we should really be mourning is our lack of our being clothed in Christ's righteousness. We should mourn our lack of faith. Never mourn our lack of goodness, because we are not supposed to possess goodness of our own. We should know that Christ will work in us, and any good act we commit is to HIS glory. By faith Christ will work through us having given us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us, works His works through us, again - they are not our works, but God's. All glory to GOD, not to us.

 

CHRIST'S Righteousness- which Christ alone possesses and will give to us- not for us to possess as our own, but forever His Righteousness upon us, coming from Him, the source of all righteousness. Christ in us, always, never us without Christ acting good on our own. Our connection with Christ is to be eternal, His righteousness ever ours by His grace, never our own, never.

 

Someone possesses a coat, a coat that you need, and this coat is one of an endless supply of coats this person alone has to give to people. You can ask for, and receive a coat. The coat must be placed upon you, you can't put it on yourself and you will forever know the coat is from that person. The person is not giving you the coat for you to possess on your own. The person wants you to know that the coat will forever belong to Him, but can always be yours to wear, by His grace.

 

You will never be able to manufacture a coat for yourself, no matter how long you try to do so. You can come up with a lot of things that look like coats, feel like coats, but they will never be the coat you truly need, never. We need the coat of Christ's righteousness, us connected with Christ, us living through Christ's power. All through faith.

 

For His Glory.

 

*******

(Excerpt)

 

In our study of the first and second chapters we have found that knowledge without God is foolishness and immorality and that a high profession or, as Paul states it, circumcision of the flesh profits nothing, where the thing which that sign was given to indicate--the righteousness of God by faith, the circumcision of the heart--is not present.

 

Chapter 3:1-4.

Rom 3:1  What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 

Rom 3:2  Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. 

Rom 3:3  For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 

Rom 3:4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

 

"What advantage then hath the Jew?"--"Chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." Abraham was led out from amidst heathenism, from faith to faith, and his descendants were beloved for their father's sake. To them God committed His truth. They failed to realize what the profit of being a Jew was and rested confidently in their high profession, with the thought that God must think more of them than any other people. God had given them the light that they might carry it to other. But filled with pride they did not do the work, and God bore with them generation after generation.

 

During the captivity He revealed to Daniel that He would yet wait 490 years longer for His people to carry the light to the world.

 

The carrying of the gospel to the Gentiles was a work which God all along the centuries had been working with the Jews to get them to perform, but they refused. Yet God cared for the Gentiles, and "left not himself without witnesses."

 

Do we not see a tendency among us as a people to boast of the light we have and to feel that the Lord must have a special regard for us as a people? But He has given us the light only that we may carry it to others. If we boast of the light but do not carry it to others, God will bear with us long, but finally some one else will take our place and do the work.

 

God has sworn to Abraham and His promises will be fulfilled, even though men do not believe. Verses 3 and 4. If none are found with the faith of Abraham, God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Him. God is Himself on trial before the universe and Satan and evil men have always charged Him with being unjust and arbitrary, but in the judgment all the universe will say, "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

 

Rom 3:9  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 

Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 

Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

Rom 3:14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 

Rom 3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood: 

Rom 3:16  Destruction and misery are in their ways: 

Rom 3:17  And the way of peace have they not known: 

Rom 3:18  There is no fear of God before their eyes. 

 

Verses 9-18. All are in sin. There are no two ways of salvation. "The way of peace they have not known." Here is the touch-stone, showing the difference between the true Jew and the Gentile. The children of faith will have this peace--the peace which Christ had--continually with them.

 

Rom 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

 

Verse 19. "Under the law" is a mistranslation. It means in the law, or within its jurisdiction. By this law all the world becomes guilty; no man has any advantage over any other in the sight of the law.

Verse 20. Some people feel apprehensive lest laying stress on such texts as this should discredit the law. But God who wrote the text, may be left to care for the honor of His own law. It is to the everlasting credit of the law that it cannot justify the transgressor. The law requires in man the perfect righteousness manifested in the life of Christ. No man ever lived as Christ lived--all are guilty. The perfection and majesty of the law leads sinners to cry out, "What shall we do?"

 

Sometimes the idea obtains that if Christ would only wipe out the record of the past, the individual might then get along very well. That was the trouble with the Jews. Romans 10:2, 3.

 

Rom 10:2  For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 

Rom 10:3  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. 

 

There is not a man on earth who in himself can do one deed as pure and as free from selfishness as though Christ had done it. "Whatsoever is not of faith in sin."

 

A sermon not preached by faith is a sin to be repented of.

 

Much missionary work has been done by us all that is to be repented of.

 

There never was a better man than Paul, as a man. If any man outside of Christ ever did a good deed, Paul did. Yet he had to count all things he had but loss, that he might win Christ. (Philippians 3:4-8).

 

The psalmist says that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. If Paul, before he found Christ, had had something in his nature that was good, he might have taken these things along with him. But he counted all as loss.

 

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets

 

Verse 21. The law will witness in the judgment to the righteousness that the sinner receives without the law, testifying to its perfection. Only instead of getting the righteousness out of ourselves, where there is none, we go to the fountain-head.

 

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference

 

Verse 22. All men are on a level. We will be thankful that God is willing to save us as He saves others.

 

The plan of salvation is one of giving and taking; giving on the part of God and taking on the part of man.

 

The pride of the heart resents this dependence upon God, but we are pensioners, beggars, miserable and poor and naked. The only thing for us to do is to buy the white raiment. This is offered without money and without price.

 

The prophet rejoiced in the Lord, because God had clothed him with the garments of salvation and covered him with the robe of righteousness. We are not to put on the robe ourselves. Let us trust God to do that. When the Lord puts it on, it is not as an outward garment merely, but He puts it right through a man, so that he is all righteousness.

 

Sometimes we hear people talk as though we must ourselves put on a fairly presentable garment before we can ask for the white raiment. But it is the very need and helplessness of the beggar that recommends him to charity.

"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." All men stand on the same level and offer of mercy is to whosoever will come and partake of the water of life freely. We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Verse 24.  

 

 

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #3 A.T. Jones.