Strangers and Pilgrims On Earth.

Heb_11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

March 3, 1897

Missionaries for God. - No. 2.

A. T. Jones

(Wednesday Evening, March 3, 1897.)

OUR lesson last night closed with the founding of the first state known to history; indeed, the origin of the state. The Scripture says of Nimrod's kingdom:-

 

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh. 

Our translation reads: "Went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh." But the true idea is, as the margin gives it: "He [Asshur] went out into Assyria and builded Nineveh," and the other towns there named. So that the beginning of his kingdom was in Shinar, and the extension of it was to Assyria. 

Nimrod was not simply a mighty hunter of beasts; but also a persecutor of men. And the power which he had acquired, which he got into his hand by this establishment and extension of his kingdom, he used to compel people to recognize his power and the god whom he served. So that from the first state that ever was in the world until the last one there will ever be in the world, every one of them has used against God the power that it had. 

I will state that again: Every state, from the first one that ever was, that is, Nimrod's, until the last one that will ever be, that is, this one, has used its power against God, against his truth, against his people; to compel people away from God.

From the beginning to the end, that is the record of every one of them. When the world shall be ended, that will be the record of the kingdoms and the states of the world.

Here is a statement from the first-page article of the Review, April 14, 1896: The arch-deceiver "seduced the people to bow to idols, and thus gained supremacy over earthly kingdoms. He considered that to be the god of this world was the next best thing to gaining possession of the throne of God in heaven." In the history cited in the previous lesson, you can see the working of the scheme thus revealed in the Spirit of prophecy. First, men went into idolatry, then to monarchy. And the first one that did that established a state, and was himself a persecutor of men by the power that he had thus gained. That is the history. You will see it worked out in other nations as we go along.

 

It was not long after Nimrod until in all that country God was forgotten by all but Abraham alone. Abraham alone sought and found God; and with Abraham God started the race once more in the Lord's way. Now mark what he said to Abraham. In view of what we have studied, in view of what was before us in the previous lesson, and what I have called your attention to just now, consider what God said to Abraham when he began with him a new nation; that is, a nation of God. Gen. 12:1 tells us what the Lord said to him at first. "Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of"-what?-"thy country." What first? 

(Congregation) Thy country. 

"And from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." Three things God said Abram must leave. First, he must leave, what?-His country. Next?-His kindred. Next?-His father's house. His father's house were idolators. His country forced people to idolatry; it was against God. His country, his kindred, and his father's house, were idolators, and he had to leave all. The Lord showed him the land; but did he give him possession of it?-"No, not so much as to set his foot on." When God called him out of that country, did he bring him into another one?-No; "but he promised that he would give it to him and to his seed after him." Then when God called him out of his country, and did not bring him into the other one, where did that leave him? 

(Congregation) A pilgrim and a stranger. 

That left God's representative in this world, absolutely without a country in this world? 

Yet was he absolutely without a country?-O, "He looked for a better country, that is an heavenly." 

Let us turn to the eleventh of Hebrews, and look at that. Eighth verse, beginning:-

By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 

But from what did he go out?-From his country, not knowing where he went. "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." You know he gave him no inheritance, no, not so much as to set his foot upon; and yet he promised to give it to him and to his seed after him. He brought him out of his own country; and of no other country on earth did he give him so much as to set his foot upon. Thus he was left absolutely without a country on earth. Of this we are certain; but remember what God was saying. Who was Abraham at this time?-He was "the friend of God," "the father of all them that believe God." Is he your father? Have you a country in this world?

 

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises. 

What did God promise when he brought him out of his country? Did he promise him a country?-Yes. But he did not get a country in this world; "but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country." Can a man seek a country when he has one?-No; for a man can no more have two countries, than he can serve two masters. 

Well, says one, Abraham was out of his. Yes, but he had an opportunity to go back if he wanted to. If he had counted that his country yet, so that it was upon his heart, and he had become homesick when he got eight hundred or a thousand miles away, and there was a famine in the land, and there was not as much of an excursion about it as he thought there might be, he could have said, "I would like to see the folks there just once more, the dear old plains and familiar trees. If I could only do that, then I would be willing to come back and stay in this field awhile." If he had thought thus, he could have had opportunity to return; for it is written: "Truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned."

 

Mindful; what is mindful?-If they had had their minds full of that country from which they came out, they could have had opportunity to have returned. And they would have had it, too; for then they would have made it. 

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore [wherefore, for this reason] God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Have you gotten out of your country? Turn to Rom. 4 : 1-12:- 

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 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: 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. 

Now that faith of our father Abraham, which he had yet being uncircumcised, was this faith that he had when God called him out of his country, from his kindred, from his father's house, and was left hanging in the hands of God, without a country in the world. And he is father to all those who believe, even though they be not circumcised; and all the others, too, provided we all walk in the steps of that faith which he had when he was uncircumcised.

"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."  "Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs." Are you his seed? Are you the seed of Abraham because you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you a stranger in the land where you are?-If you are his seed, you are. Why?-Because it is not your country. It is not your country any more. 

Now this is not theory. This comes down to practical, every-day religion now. Brother Dan. Jones yesterday, you remember, was talking about missionaries going to Mexico, and he wanted missionaries that would go there and take their hearts along. Those who would leave their hearts in the United States, or whatever State it might be, when they went down there to do missionary work, he does not want; for then they cannot do missionary work. 

The Lord wanted Abraham to be a missionary to all people whom he should after meet on the earth; and he was that. But God knew, and every other one does know who sees this as the Lord sees it, that no man can be a missionary in this world, who has a country in this world. You and I cannot be missionaries in any other country if America is our country. We cannot be missionaries in America, so long as America is our country. You cannot be a missionary even at home, if you have not first got out of your country. That is so. It is so in the nature of things. 

Question.-How do you make that out? 

We cannot make it out. I do not propose to make it out. The Lord has made it out, and you and I are to get it and believe it. 

For what are we missionaries in the world? Let us look at that. Why are we sent to be missionaries? Missionaries of what? What is our mission work? What is the object of it? Are we missionaries for America, or are we missionaries for God? Is America God's country, independent of all others on the earth? It is not good enough to be God's country; and it is not good enough for God's people, however good it is.

You and I are to be missionaries for God, to call people unto God; to call them from where they are unto God, from sin unto righteousness, from darkness into light, from the country where they are, into the better country which God has prepared. 

Now if Germany is my country,-and if my heart is there, it is my country,-how can I call people to a country where I do not belong, which is not mine? If America is my country, how can I do missionary work in behalf of another country?-It cannot be done. When God wanted Abraham to be a missionary for God, a missionary in behalf of a country to which God calls all people, he put him where he could be a missionary indeed to all people. God called him to be a missionary, and in this he set an example for all people who should come after, of what it means to begin to do missionary work. The first thing is to get out of your country. So if you are going to be a missionary in Nebraska, get out of your country. If you are going to be a missionary in Mexico, get out your country first. For if you are going to be a missionary on the earth at all, the Lord says to you, "Get thee out of thy country;" and then he follows it up, and says, "from your country, and from your father's house." All these things hinder missionary work, until you have got away from them and out of them. But when you have got out of your country and from your kindred and from your father's house, then wherever you are on earth, you are a missionary. You do not have to be that; you are that.

"Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." And "he that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me." "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." 

Now I said a moment ago, and I say again, that this is practical Christianity every day as it always has been by those who believe God. 

How can a man stay in Nebraska, and yet get out of his country? 

By being born again. If he was born in Nebraska, he needs to be born again. If he was born in America, let him be born again, and he will be out of his country. If he was born in Germany, let him be born again, and he will be out of his country. 

Now, brethren, there is very much in this. There is nothing in this world that has hindered our missionary work so much as this repeated going to a foreign field of labor, and preparing to return almost immediately. Every man among Seventh-day Adventist missionaries that has been in a foreign country, knows this is a fact. And he does not have to go out of the United States to find it out. It has actually been suggested that it would be an advisable thing to get a second ship to bring home the missionaries that the "Pitcairn" takes out; as the "Pitcairn" takes them out, let another ship follow around in a short time, when they get homesick, and bring them home! Now this thing will have to stop, or we will never be missionaries on this earth; the Lord does not want any such thing as that. 

If your heart is in this country; or if your heart is here with your kindred; if your heart is here in your father's house,-then for your soul's sake, and for the sake of the cause of God, do not go away from it till you get your heart away from all this. For where your heart is, there will your treasure be, and you will want to get back as quickly as possible. 

If you go to another country, while your heart is not there, you cannot do any good while you are there; you will be a nuisance to yourself, and to all that are around you. You need not think you will not be; for you will. 

What we are to do, is to know where our home is,-our rightful home,-and that it is nowhere on this earth; that it is in heaven, and that we are to go there soon. And then, wherever you are called on this earth, bear in mind that you are going home.

Then if it be to the South Sea Islands, if it be to Mexico, you will be at home; and you know it, and are there to stay at home and work for God where you are until he calls you to another field; and when you get there, you will still be at home. In that way you will never be in a strange place, and the people will not be strangers to you. 

Now this idea of having any country in this world, works just this way. With reference to countries, that country that is yours is the leading thing in your mind; and if you go to another country, you will constantly be drawing comparisons between that country and your own country. The lessons that you give, the sermons that you preach, the very influence that accompanies you will be so tinctured with it, unconsciously to yourself, that the people will recognize it all the time. Thus there is a barrier between you and them that you never can get over until you get out of your country. 

As long as that thing is in you, there is a barrier between you and them. Your work cannot be effective until that barrier is broken down between you and the people, and they see that you are separated from your country, from your kindred, and from your father's house. But when you have got out of your country, when you have been born again, your nativity is in that heavenly country; your home is there; and that is the only land you have any heart for. Then there will be no barrier between you and anybody on this earth, and you can take the gospel to every man in this world. You will meet a friend in everybody that you meet on earth; they will not be strangers to you. 

As a matter of fact, you can go among people in other countries, and you will find that they are just as good as the people in this one. A year ago last summer, I was in several of these other countries. I was in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Holland, England, Ireland, Scotland,-in all, sixteen different countries. Every one of these countries, every one in its place, was to me just as good as this country ever was. 

In many things they are exactly alike. The water over there is just like the water in this country. Grass grows there exactly as it does in this country,-the top grows up. Trees grow there exactly as they do in this country, and are exactly like the trees in this country. Even human beings are in shape and general appearance exactly as they are in this country. Well, when the hills, the rocks, the water, the trees, the grass, and the people over there are precisely like they are in this country, are they not just as good as these? I fail to see any difference. 

Elder Ballenger.-Would you be just as free to talk these things in all those countries as you are here? 

Certainly. I did preach just these things in those countries. You can preach the gospel anywhere. Brethren, I found good people every step of the way, and nothing but good people. I did not find any other kind. Honestly, I did not. People who were perfect strangers-whom I never saw before, whose language I could not understand, and who could not understand mine-would do everything they possibly could to help me along and show me, and help me in every way they could. In the places where I was, the money that I had in my pocket was their kind of money. I could not read it. When I went to pay street-car fare, buy a ticket for the train, or anything of that kind,-all I could do was to hand out enough to be sure of it, and let them take what I ought to pay for it, and they took it, and took no more than that, and gave me the right change. 

I tell you, brethren, mankind are just alike everywhere. The only difference is that in some places they are little better than in others. That's all the difference I find. And the gospel-the gospel is the same, we know, everywhere in the world. There is no question about that. And that gospel being the same everywhere, it is provided for all mankind. And all mankind being just as much alike and just as much the same as the gospel is, when you take the gospel in the Lord's way, and go to the people in the Lord's way, you will find it works just this way all the time and everywhere. 

While I was in Denmark, that, to me, was really the best country on the earth; and I enjoyed it with the people all around about me! While I was in Norway, to me that was the best country in the world. When I was in Turkey, to me that was the best country on earth; and if I were to seek a mission field, I would go straight to Turkey. The Turks are just like other people,-clever and gentlemanly when they meet you on the street, and through the country as they meet meet [sic.] you on the road. 

Brother Holser and I had to wait while the ship lay at anchor in Smyrna, Asia, and we went out to visit the ruins of Ephesus. He went further than I did, but we went together about six miles out in the country alone. We went just as you go out into the fields here. We met people on the highway just as you do here. I did not feel in danger of any kind, and I do not think he did. We found nothing to be scared at. We walked around there just as we would here. We were at Nicomedia when the Armenians said it was hardly safe to go out of the house, and above all, for any one to be found out walking upon the hills; but we went out of the city and up on the hills, while waiting for the cars. We met Turks on the road with their wagons and oxen; we found them resting by the road. We did not feel afraid.

There was no danger to us. There was safety everywhere. 

I say to you, that in every one of those countries the people are good people, clever people, kind people, accommodating people. They will drop their work to do you a favor, to show you the way, to get you through a street, to go with you a block or two to show you the way, although they never saw you before, and never expect to see you again. My heart went out in kindly feeling toward those good folks all around, and I wish that they could go with us to that better country where we could be together, and kind to each other all the time. As I said a moment ago, and as D. T. Jones told you yesterday, this lies at the root of missionary work. It is that. There have been those sent away, willing, glad to go on a foreign mission. That is what they started upon, that is what their pretensions were; at large expense they got there. Only a little while, and a letter is received, pleading to come back. "O, only let me come home! I don't ask you to pay my way home; only let me come back." 

(Voice) Does the Foreign Mission Board give such ones opportunity to come back? 

Certainly. How could they do otherwise? This is no ideal tale. It is fact, brethren. But that is not missionary work. Of course the Foreign Mission Board would not wish such persons to remain there. The best thing they could do was to let them come home; for the only place where they could do anything was at home. Their heart was at their home in America. 

In fact, some were so afraid they would die if they stayed there, that they came home and died. This is a fact. I am not using that expression, or putting it that way to make a play upon your feelings, or anything of that kind. Some persons have been so homesick that they were afraid they could not live there; and they came home by their own request, and not long afterward died. They could not have done any less than that if they had remained abroad.

I know, and you know, too, that many have gone on foreign missions with more of an idea of going on an excursion, than going for hard missionary work. And when they found, at the end of the journey, that it was not an excursion, but hardship; that it meant self-denial, sickness, and burning fever, that took all the excursion out of it in a little while. That was not what they had in mind when they started.

 

I know, and you know, that there is a halo in this idea of missionary work, at the beginning. But we want to get to solid facts, to get our eyes off the halo, and remember that there is a hard substance just back of it. There is somewhat of a halo in getting aboard the train or ship, with a large crowd of people, and much parade, as we start on the mission, honored like that; of course that is all right, but those who go must be sure that their minds and hearts are on something more solid than that. They need to bear in mind that, while the brethren are willing to escort them to the train or the ship, and shed tears, if need be, at the parting, that beyond all that, each one of those missionaries must not forget that he is going out to meet hardships, to meet perplexities, peril, and sicknesses. 

And let him remember that he may not only meet all these things, but go through them, and not be afraid that he will die. Let every one be perfectly sure that he is dead before he starts, and he will not be afraid that he will die when he gets there. But if you have not died before you start, then don't start until you are dead; because otherwise you will do no good either to yourself or to the cause. You will be only a burden to those who are there-if there are any there before you go who are faithful. 

Now that is the truth, and you know it. Then why should we allow that thing to be lost sight of? Such a thing as that has been needed in our work all these years. Large sums of money would have been saved if such a thing as that had been insisted upon before you started. Great mistakes would have been avoided, and an immense amount of misery, if this thing had been insisted upon, and insisted upon before the laborers left. 

As I said a moment ago, if you are really dead before you go, and while you are there, you are not going to be much disturbed by the prospects of death. It doesn't follow that you are going to die because you get sick, very sick,-burning with a fever. It doesn't follow that you are going to die, and that you should think that you must pick up and start home just as soon as you get out of that, or get well enough to start. 

I know of missionaries, perhaps you do too, one in particular, and his wife, whom I have in mind, who went on a foreign mission. They were both young people. Neither of them, I think, over twenty-two; the husband was probably twenty-three at the most. They went to their field, and entered upon the work. In the course of time, sickness came to them. The wife was attacked first with the native fever, and was terribly sick-as sick as they get, I suppose, and live; but neither of them got homesick along with the fever. They stuck right to it bravely; the husband nursed the wife through her sickness, and just as she was barely able to sit up and walk around, he himself was stricken with the same fever as severely as she had been; and she, in that weak condition, nursed him through. But they went through it all like brave Christians, thank the Lord. They are in that field yet; they are a success in that field where they are, and have been a success from the day they landed there. That is to be our ideal. 

Now I do not say that none of those who went away should never have come back. I do not say that none of them should have come back immediately after they reached the field. But I do mean to say, brethren, that they should have known before they went away, whether they were to come back right away or not.

That the Mission Board thinks you might make a good missionary isn't evidence enough for you to act upon to go on a foreign mission. You want to know for yourself that God calls you to go there; and that you go there because God wants you there in that place. Then when you go, you will go because God calls you, and you will know that he is with you while you are going. You will know that he is with you when you get there; and you are not going to be scared by any difficulties, nor discouraged by any hardships, nor turned back by any sicknesses, nor even at the prospect of death. 

If it should come to the literal fact of dying a physical death, you do not know how you are defeating the cause if you run away to escape it. You and I, every Christian, and especially every Seventh-day Adventist Christian, because it is Christian experience, must get hold of this one living principle, that the Christian's work isn't done when he dies the physical death. If he is faithful to his work while he lives, and dies at his post, his work goes on after he is dead. 

Now that is a fact. If you go with God's call, if you go with God with you, and if you die before you leave, if you are the kind of missionary that God calls,-the kind that Abraham was,-you yourself are to know for yourself, before God, under God, and with God, that this is his will concerning you. 

That you have a conviction to-day that you are to go as a missionary, is not evidence that you are to start from this Conference to go to that field. If your conviction is a right one, and good, it will keep. If it is not the right kind of conviction, it ought not to keep. It ought to spoil as soon as possible. And if you have to keep it a little while, and it spoils, it is better to spoil here than after you are in the field. 

If your conviction is from the Lord, it is a good one and will keep. David had a conviction for twenty years that he was to be king of Israel. But he was not anxious at all for the time to come when he would be king of Israel. He didn't hurry up the thing. When all things were in his hands, he would not move a finger to put himself upon the throne. He had a conviction that was good enough to keep for twenty years; and when the Lord had tried him and could trust him, he brought him to the throne himself. 

So you may have a conviction concerning a certain field. It may be from God. Now, do not attempt to carry out your own idea whether the Mission Board believes in it or not, or whether the Conference believes in it or not. Just wait for God, and let him tell other people that this is so. When we wait thus for God, and then go, the Lord goes with us, and we know it; and he is with us while we are there, and we know it. That is our post, and we will stand at that post until God calls us away. And if he has used us there as long as he can, effectually, alive; and he can use your influence better if you are dead; then the thing for you to do is to lie down to die just a happy Christian; knowing that God will carry on your work after you are dead. The conviction that God put upon hearts by you while you were alive and talked to them, will be deepened and strengthened and quickened by your good example, after you are dead; and by it they will be brought to Jesus Christ. 

Are you willing, then, that God should preach the gospel by your death as well as by your life? Are you willing that he should preach the gospel by you, dead, physically dead, and in the grave, as certainly as you are willing that he should preach the gospel with you alive and walking on the ground? If you are not, you are not ready to go on a mission.

 

Now I am going to read that from the Scriptures. Turn to the first chapter of Philippians. There is the example of that missionary whom God called, as a pattern to you, as an example to all who should afterward believe on Jesus Christ, to everlasting life. You remember the hardships of Paul. You remember his vicissitudes, his trials, his persecutions, his scourgings, his perils everywhere; and you know that he never faltered in any place where he was. 

But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places. Verse 12.

When this was written, he did not know what day the decree of the emperor would be carried out, and he would be executed. He was expecting that. Now think of all these things he passed through. The scourgings, the trials, the persecutions, the perils, the robberies, stoned once and dragged out of the city and left for dead. Now he says, I would that ye should understand that these things have happened unto me for the furtherance of the gospel. What was God doing through every one of these trials, sufferings, and perils?-He was using the man, to preach the gospel by him, so that when those people stoned him and dragged him out of the city and left him for dead, God's Holy Spirit was fixing upon their hearts the seal of his truth, that that man was of God, that the message he brought to them was of God; and if they rebelled against it, their perdition was sealed; and if they surrendered to it, they were saved. 

That is what God is to do by us. All that we are in the world for, is that God may preach the gospel by us. Not so much we doing it, as God doing it by us, whether by word or by influence; and God can do just as well by influence as by word. God will put gospel into our influence as well as in our words. We are always preaching by our influence just as well as by our words. 

And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: the one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 

Is it not written, then, that God will use a dead man to magnify the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ? Are you willing that he shall do it by you, when he can do it better with you dead than if you are alive? Dead indeed, but alive unto him. Then do you not see that in that good sense the Christian never dies. "For all live unto him." "Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Are you? If you are the Lord's while you live, you are the Lord's when you are dead. And as certainly as God uses you while you are alive, to preach the gospel, he will use you when you are dead, to preach the gospel. And your work will not stop when you are dead. As certainly as yours is the work of Christ while you are alive, it will go on when you are dead. Your influence will tell, and God will do things by you after you are dead, that he cannot do so well while you are alive. 

Suppose Paul should die. He expected it. Look at the seventeenth verse of the next chapter. But, by the way, in view of this, what was he doing all the time? "I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 

"And if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all." What did he refer to when he said, "If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith"? He was expecting daily that he would be offered up as a sacrifice of the faith of Jesus Christ. What was he doing about it?-"I joy, and rejoice with you all." What were they to do?-"For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me."

Did he expect the Philippians to rejoice with him when his head was cut off? Yes; he says so. Brethren, when we get hold of the fact that the Christian's work does not stop when he is dead, we will not have so much of this resolving and sending sympathetic resolutions to people because somebody has died. Thank the Lord, that, though he is dead, his work is going on. Be glad of it-not glad that he is dead, but glad that his work is going on; that God is using him better that way than if he were alive. 

Therefore let God come in and have all the place, so that we shall be loving God with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength. That is what it is to be a missionary. 

And the first thing of all, in order to be that kind of missionary, is, "get thee out of thy country." 

Know God.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

The First Great Commandment. - No. 1.

A. T. Jones

(Tuesday Evening, March 2, 1897.)

Continued…

Now, you can see that this commandment covers the whole ground of everything, and that we cannot touch a single thought in the whole realm of thought that does not come into this text with which we have started. So, then, we must look at everything in our thinking, we must look at everything that our mind is called to, in the light of that scripture, the first of all the commandments. 

Everything that we are called to put our hand to, we are to look at it in the light of that greatest of all the commandments. Is it a thing that in the fear of God I can enter with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength? If it is not, then do I want to touch it?-No. If it is such a thing that I cannot enter upon with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and with God, what then have I to do with it? If God cannot go with me, then I am breaking the commandments. I am not devoting everything to him. All my strength is nothing if it is engaged in something that he cannot enter, or cannot touch or approve of, or that he cannot accept. 

I know that this is straight, but it is Christianity. It is Christianity, and you and I

must not be content with one-sixteenth part of anything short of exactly that.

We must not allow ourselves to be content for even the shadow of a moment, with anything in this world, less than that everything we enter into, we shall do it with God with us, and then enter into it with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength. And I tell you when we come to that, all of us, if all in this house will surrender to him right now, and will hold fast there, we can't imagine what power of God will be manifested in the world. 

The great difficulty from the beginning has been that men would not allow God the place in their hearts that belongs to him.

God started man that way, and he turned away to everything else, and shut out God entirely. God set him free from that darkness, set him free to choose, and called him to choose, whether he would love God with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength. He was set free to choose to let God have his place again; but so many chose that the Lord should not have his own place, that the flood swept them off the face of the earth.

 

Then the Lord started the race again. And the only thing that he asked of each was that he should love the Lord God with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength, and his neighbor as himself. That is all he asked of the eight who went into the ark, and who came out of it. If the first man had loved God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength, no sin could ever have entered. 

After he had sinned, and the Lord had released him from that thralldom, if Adam and all his children had loved God with all the heart, soul, might, mind, and strength, what would have been the condition of the world?-They would have been keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and righteousness would have covered the earth as the waters cover the sea. Is it impossible that that thing can be fulfilled in man under the bondage of the curse, under the bondage of sinful flesh? Can God so deliver the sinner from the power of sin in the flesh that he can love God with all the heart, soul, might, mind, and strength?-Yes.

Sin could not have cursed the earth, as it is, even with men under the bondage of the flesh which is sinful, if they had believed in God, and kept the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. That is the truth, for that is Christianity.

So, then, you see that all the Lord ever wants in us, all he ever wanted in man since Adam sinned, was and is, that he should keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And the first of all the commandments is, Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. 

In Rom.1:21, it tells that at the beginning "they knew God."

Look at this: man in the starting out of his career knew God. Adam knew God to begin with, but did not retain this knowledge. When Adam sinned and was again started, he knew God. When the race again started after the flood, it knew God to begin with; so that mankind have departed from God all the time. The world was so sinful, is so sinful, and will be so sinful, because it knew God and rejects him, and not because it knew not God. So that the world is not in wickedness because of darkness; the world is in darkness because of wickedness. 

The world began with light; and that darkness has come in, is because of the choice of men; "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."

Now notice; what first?-

They knew God; but they did not glorify him as God; they did not give him the place in them that belongs to him.

They did not glorify God,-did not reveal him to man, did not make him manifest on the earth; for Jesus said, I have glorified thee on the earth, and he was God manifest in the flesh.

These men who knew God, would not allow God to be manifest in the flesh. They were not thankful. Then they became vain in their imaginations; then their foolish hearts were darkened; then in their darkness they professed to be wise. That wisdom was foolishness, and then they made images.  Thus you see that the image that is set before men's eyes, in his idolatry, is only the outward manifestation of idolatry, the outward representation of it. The idolatry is already away down in the heart, and has been working several steps of the way out.

Think of it. Where does idolatry begin?-In the heart. Where in this course does idolatry begin?-When they knew God, they glorified him not as God; right there they all begin. Then where is there any middle ground between the knowledge of God, and idolatry?

Think carefully now. They knew God, and, "This is eternal life, that they might know thee."

The knowledge of God is eternal life; that is settled.

They did know God; they had eternal life in the knowledge of God.

That is written. But they went into idolatry. How many steps from the knowledge of God did they take to get into idolatry?-Only one. Then, how many steps from loving God with all the heart, might, mind, and strength, need to be taken to reach idolatry?-Just one. Then if I do not love God with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my mind, and all my strength, what am I?-An idolater. 

It may be I have no graven image before me. These people did not in the beginning. But they did have an image, a conception, formed in the mind, and when they made their graven image, it was simply a representation to stand before the eyes, of what they already had in the mind. The first man who made an image had a conception of that in his mind before he made it. The first man who made an image had the conception that it should be his god, and that conception was there before he made the image out of wood or stone. Then that image of stone, that he set before his eyes, was only the outward form which he made to represent to him in that shape what the god was that he already had in his mind. Then did he not have a god before he made that graven image?-Yes. Where was it?-In his heart. 

They became vain in their imaginations. Whose imaginations?-Their own. Here is that man who is imagining something; he makes an image of his imagining, and sets it before his eyes outside of him. Imagining is simply mental image-ing. And the image in stone is but the tangible form of the image-ing in the heart. Where was the image first made?-In his mind; in his own imagining, in his own thinking. But who was there when he had separated from God?-None but Satan and himself? Then, whence can his thoughts come?-From himself and Satan only.

 

So then, you see plainly enough that idolatry is in the heart; the conception, the image, is already there before the image can appear outside. Though his god be the sun, moon, or stars, this conception, his idea, his imagining, is there before he puts it into outward form in the sun, moon, and stars. 

All that appears in idolatry is simply the reflection of what is in the heart. And God must be in the heart, with all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the strength, or else idolatry is there. There is no middle ground. 

In fact, after the flood, when men first left the true God and went away and had gods of their own-they allowed these gods to occupy the place of God to them, thus showing that when they knew God they recognized him as their only ruler. When I love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength, who alone will be my God?-God.

Who will be my only authority?-God.

Who alone will have authority over me?-God.

Is he capable of exercising right authority?-Yes.

Is he capable of keeping man straight?-Yes.

When a man loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, he does not need any other law or authority to keep him straight in the world. Who is his governor?-God.

And is God able to govern when we love him supremely?-Yes.

But, when man leaves God, and goes into idolatry, is he capable of governing himself?-No.

 

Now after the flood, while they yet knew God, they recognized him as their only King and Governor. They had no other ruler. When they first departed from God, and put other gods in his place,-I mean at the beginning, when they went away from God, and put other gods in God's place-they allowed those other gods to occupy the place of rulers. They professed that these gods were their rulers. They had no kings; men did not yet profess to set themselves up as rulers. Men professed that the gods were the kings; and the men who were in authority were only the representatives of the gods, while the gods were the real kings. 

The evidence of this you will find in "Empires of the Bible," page 50. Here are the first records that were found in Babylonia, where the race started, and where the confusion of tongues took place-where the race forgot God. I read:- 

To Ninridu, his King, for the preservation of Idadu, Viceroy of Ridu, the servant, the delight of Ninridu. 

Here the ruler, Idadu, in writing an inscription to his god, professed that he was simply the viceroy of his god. He did not claim to be a king. Thus you see that the god was this man's king. The god was held to be the king of the people, and this man who was in authority, was only the god's viceroy, or lieutenant. 

This shows that the knowledge of God as the rightful Ruler, was so recent that no man had the courage yet to set himself up for king. Do you see that? Think carefully. When God was the only ruler, he was, of course, their only king; but when they turned away from him and took other gods, their knowledge of the true God was so recent, his relationship was so recent in their knowledge, that when they put other gods in the place of God, and set up these false gods as their king-a man in authority amongst men had not the courage to take the title of king; but chose to be known as the viceroy of the god who was to be the real king. I repeat it. The knowledge of the true God as the only King was so recent in the minds of these men that no man had yet the courage to take the title of king. Their recollection of God as the only King and Ruler was still so clear that it was too much like an attempt to dethrone God, for any man to take the title of king. 

I will read another inscription from this same land, from the same time:- 

"To Ninip the King, his King,

Gudea Viceroy of Zirgulla, his house built."

"To Nana the Lady, Lady splendid,

His Lady, Gudea, Viceroy of Zirgulla . . . raised." -Empires of the Bible, p.50. 

Here is a man who built a house in honor of his god. This man says he is viceroy of this god, who is king. This man Gudea does not profess to be king. He is in authority, but he does not profess to be king. Who is the king?-His god. That shows to you again that the knowledge of the true God as the only King was so recent in their minds, they had not gone so entirely away from God and from the idea of God as only King and Ruler, as to be willing to set aside the idea of God's kingship, and allow a man to take the title of king. 

A. F. Ballenger.-The man in place of authority, then, claimed to be the viceroy of his god, and not a king? 

Yes. There were no kings yet. We are not speaking of man as king. There were no kings yet amongst men. There were men in places of authority. A man was ruling over others. He had power, but he did not call himself king. He was not known as king, and would not yet allow himself to take the title of king. Why? Because he had not yet got so far away from the idea of the true God, as sole rightful King, as to be brave enough, as to have wicked courage enough, to set aside all idea of any godship as king, and set himself up for king. 

These are the earliest records that have been found in that land. You can see that they are amongst the very earliest. They are records from the time before men took the title of king at all, and when they had the idea of the true God as being King. 

But here is a record a little earlier than that, which speaks of the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. On the fourth page of "Empires of the Bible" you have the Bible account of the confusion of tongues. This is the account that the people wrote amongst whom the confusion of tongues occurred. In the Bible you have the Lord's record of it. In this inscription on the bricks that were buried in the ruins of Babylon and have been discovered, you have their account of it. You can set it alongside of the account in the Bible, in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, and you will see the two things exactly alike. Here is what they said about it:- 

". . . Babylon corruptly to sin went and small and great mingled on the mound.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Their work all day they founded, to their stronghold in the night entirely an end he made.

In his anger also the secret counsel he poured out to scatter abroad, his face he set he gave a command to make strange their speech.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Violently they fronted against him. He saw them; and to the earth descended, When a stop he did not make.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Violently they wept for Babylonvery much they wept. 

This is one of the earliest accounts there is. These others are next to it. But these others show that there was a time when there was no king yet amongst men; that the man in authority would not take the title of king; that his god was his king; and the idea of the true God being king was so recent that he was not courageous enough to say that he was king. As yet it was usurping too much authority in the face of his idea of the true God.  \

That was before Nimrod. Nimrod was the first man who had the courage to take the title of king in the face of the idea that God was king. So I read on page fifty of "Empires of the Bible:"- 

Nimrod was this bold man. The name that he bears signifies rebellion, supercilious contempt, and, according to Gesenius, is equivalent to the extremely impious rebel. And "he began to be a mighty one in the earth." Or, as another translation gives it, he "was the first mighty one in the earth." 

Nimrod was the first man who ever took to himself the title of king; the first one to hold kingly authority and openly wear the title of king. And his name signifies exactly what that thing meant amongst the people over whom he set himself. 

Now, not my statement, but the statement of an authority upon this subject, says this:- 

With the setting up of Nimrod's kingdom, the entire ancient world entered a new historical phase. The oriental tradition which makes that warrior the first man who wore a kingly crown, points to a fact more significant than the assumption of a new ornament of dress, or even the conquest of a province. His reign introduced to the world a new system of relations between the governor and the governed. The authority of former rulers had rested upon the feeling of kindred, and the ascendancy of the chief was an image of parental control. Nimrod, on the contrary, was a sovereign of territory, and of men just so far as they were its inhabitants, and irrespective of personal ties. Hitherto there had been tribes enlarged families-Society; now there was a nation, a political community-the State. The political and social history of the world henceforth are distinct, if not divergent.-Empires of the Bible, p.51. 

What, then, was the origin of the State? 

The First Great Commandment- Do You Keep It?

The First Great Commandment. - No. 1.

A. T. Jones

(Tuesday Evening, March 2, 1897.)

YOU know that the Lord has said of this time and of the people who live at this time, that "here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." You and I rightly profess to be that people, and we stand where we profess that it can be said of us by the Lord, to the universe, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." And it will be a fact, not merely because he says it, but he will say it because it is a fact. 

That text applies fully to you and me who are here in this house; and the Lord wants it to become a fact now and remain a fact straight along, so that he can proclaim it to all the world and to all the universe continually: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 

That is what we are to study. We are to study in these lessons, to know whether we keep the commandments of God or not; so that the Lord can say of us, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 

In keeping the commandments of God, assuredly the first one comes in, and that assuredly we are to keep. And here is his word: "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." 

Now, can the Lord say of you and me in respect to that commandment, Here are they that keep it? 

Has the Lord all your heart, so that you have no heart for anything but him and that which is his? 

Has the Lord all your soul, in a devoted love, so that there is no sentiment of your being that is not his? 

Has the Lord all of your mind, so there is no thought of your mind, no working of your mind, no part of your mind but that is his,-devoted to his service? For with the mind we serve the Lord our God. Not with some of it, not with a part of it, but with all of it. So that you have no mind to devote to, or put upon, anything that is not of God. 

Is all your strength his, so that you have no strength to put anywhere but upon that which is God's, and to his service? 

If all this is true of you, then it is truly said of you, "Here are they that keep the commandments." 

"The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." When the love of God is in our hearts, as in the first commandment, it will be easy enough to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

As was brought out in Brother Kellogg's talk the other day, of that little boy in Chicago who went to a man, a perfect stranger, and said to him, "Do you know that you are the greatest sinner in the world?" And when the man in surprise asked how that could be, saying that he had never murdered anybody, had never committed any great crime, the little boy said to him, "The greatest commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Do you do that?" He answered, "No, I do not. I can't say that I do at all." "Well," said the little fellow, "that is the greatest of the commandments. You are breaking the greatest commandment; then you are the greatest sinner." The man admitted it, and was led to God and full salvation. That is straight enough: as this is the greatest commandment, he who breaks it is the greatest sinner. Is it you? 

You and I are professing to keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Are we breaking the first of all the commandments of God? If we are not keeping the greatest, the first, of all the commandments, we are breaking it. If we are breaking this one, we are not keeping the commandments; that is settled. You and I must decide now, and we must decide forever, whether we will serve the Lord with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength. 

It is written, "The kingdom of God is within you." The realm that is within us, is the realm of God; it was so when man was made, but the enemy usurped the place of God; and the Lord set man free again to choose whether God shall have his own place in his own kingdom, or whether the usurper shall have the place of God in God's kingdom. The kingdom that is in you is the Lord's. It is for you to say whether the Lord shall rule there, or whether the enemy shall rule there. And if you do not choose that the Lord shall rule there, you do choose that the enemy shall rule there. It is altogether upon man's choice as to who shall rule. 

Somebody must rule. Man was not made to rule himself, independent of God. He was made to be himself with God, and cannot be himself without God.

The man was made to stand with God. God's kingdom was within him. God ruled within him. But he started out to have his own way by following Satan. But a man can have his own way only by following God.

The kingdom of God is within you. We must choose that God shall take his own place in us, in his own kingdom in our hearts. He will take his place there, and he will rule there when he can have his own place in his own kingdom. 

You know with reference to God's kingdom on earth that it shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. The kingdom of God, this kingdom that is to come when the Lord comes, you know is to cover every inch, every particle, of ground that there is in this world. Now the kingdom of God is within you. Does that kingdom inside of you where God rules-does his rule cover every bit of space, every particle of ground in your heart? Does it? That is the question, and these questions are for us in more ways than one. 

I am simply reading the commandment, and calling your attention to what the commandment says. And this in order that you and I may have our minds and hearts open always to the question, Is it true of us, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength? 

What your mind is resting upon, what it is studying upon, what it is working at is God in that thing? Is it for the glory of God? The research that you are making, the studies that you are following, the whole thought of your mind-is it that the image of God may be impressed there? Is it to find God more largely in the mind? Is it to glorify him more? Is he the first and the all in all, in your intellectual efforts. Do you love him, serve him with all the mind? 

And with all thy strength. The field that you are plowing, are you plowing it for God? The plane that you are shoving, to make smooth a board, are you doing that for God, so that whatever you receive is God's and not your own at all? Is your strength so entirely devoted to God that you are working in the cause of God wherever you put your hand? 

It has been a prevalent idea that a person needs to cease working at his trade, or whatever he is employed at in manual labor, before he can be a worker in the cause. Many say, "I want to get out of what I am at. I wish I could see out. I wish I could get out of this shop. I would like to be a worker in the cause." If you are not a worker in the cause where you are, you will not be a worker in the cause when you get where you want to be. If you are not a worker in the cause as you are plowing the field, you would not be a worker in the cause if you were trying to preach in the pulpit. If you are a blacksmith, and at the anvil day by day if you are not a worker in the cause as thoroughly, as heartily, as whole-heartedly, as I am in the pulpit, then you would not be a worker in the cause if you should be distributing tracts somewhere. 

There is an example set before us of what mankind may be; and of what every believer in Jesus is to be. The Son of God came to this world to show you and me just what it is to keep the commandments, and just how it is done. And he worked at a trade about six times as long as he preached. Beginning at the age of twelve, when he could begin to work with Joseph at the carpenter's trade, when he could do considerable,-as a twelve-year-old boy can do a great many things assisting a carpenter. Beginning therefore at the age of twelve, he was baptized and began preaching at about thirty years of age; that makes eighteen years. These years he was working at the carpenter's trade. From the age of thirty to thirty-three and a half, he spent in the public ministry, preaching. So you see it was nearly six times as long that he worked at the carpenter's trade as he did at preaching. 

Now was he just as much the Son of God those eighteen years that he worked at the carpenter's trade, as he was the three and a half years when he was engaged in preaching?-You know that he was. Was he my Saviour and your Saviour when he was there sawing a board, and making a bench and putting legs in it,-was he just as much my

Saviour and your Saviour then, as when he was upon the cross?-You know he was. "For we are saved by his life." 

Do not forget that it was at the close of these eighteen years, when he came to be baptized, and was baptized, at the beginning of his ministry, and at the close of his carpentry,-it was then that God said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Was he not, then, just as much a worker in the cause those eighteen years, as he was the latter three and a half years?-You know he was. Then if you are a carpenter, and a professed believer in Jesus Christ, can you not be a follower of him? Are you not to be his follower and a worker in the cause just there, as really as though you were in the pulpit? I do not say that you are obliged to remain always a carpenter. He did not. I do not say you will be obliged always to remain a blacksmith or a farmer; but I do say and insist that while you are a carpenter, while you are a blacksmith, while you are a farmer, you are to be a worker in the cause as truly as you shall ever be, wherever you may be. 

Thus Jesus has shown to every one of us, what it is to be a Christian, and what our life is to be, at whatever our minds, our hearts, or our hands may be employed. He loved God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength, when he was a carpenter. When he sawed boards, when he made tables, when he made doors and set them up, it was to the glory of God. God was all in all to him. When a man came to him as a carpenter, seeing him only as a carpenter; not seeing him the Saviour of the world as such,-when a man came to him only as a carpenter, and sat down with him and said, "I want a table made. Will you make it for me?" and he answered, "What kind of a table do you want?" and the man described it to him, and Jesus said, "Yes, I will make it for you;" when Jesus had made the table and carried it on his back to the man's house, and took it into the man's house, and set it down there for the man to use-in all that transaction Jesus was altogether God's. God was in all his actions. In every joint that he made in that table there were no cracks, none were covered up with dust, nothing was covered up, it was an honest table. It was throughout such a table as God could approve. 

And when he made the bargain to make the table, he made such a bargain as was honest, such a one as God could look upon and say, That is an honest bargain. He did not ask the man to pay more than was justly due for such a piece of work as that. The man asked him, "Will you make such and such a table?" "I will." "What will you charge for it?-what will it cost?" He would calculate upon it, and he would say to the man, "The lumber will cost so much, and it will take such a length of time to make it, and my work is worth so much. Do you not think so? Do you not think my work for the length of time it will take, will be worth so much?" And the man would say, "Yes, I do. I think it is worth all that. That is honest. That is a clear bargain." And when he took the table on his back and took it over there and set it down, the man paid him what the bargain called for, and God could look down on that whole transaction and say, "That is honest. That is all that any one can do." 

Is that the kind of a carpenter you are? You profess to be a Christian. Is that the kind of a workman you are, whatever you are doing? 

Do you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength? Whatever you do, or are called to do; whatever business you transact with your neighbor, be he heathen or Christian; is it done in such a manner that God can look at it and say, "That is good enough for the kingdom of God;" because all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, is in it to the glory of God.

Are we keepers of the commandments, or not? That is the question. And it is time that we find this out so thoroughly that the Lord can certify in the message that he speaks, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God." 

To be continued…