Grace to Save.

 

Satan's Goal- to cause the destruction, the complete and utter destruction of any human being he possible can. 

Jesus's Goal- to save any and all human beings He can from the destruction of Satan, by GRACE.

*******(Excerpt)

'But every believer, by his very profession, says that he has received the grace of God. 

Then if in the believer grace does not reign instead of sin, if grace does not have dominion instead of sin, it is plain enough that he is receiving the grace of God in vain. If grace is not bringing the believer onward toward a perfect man in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, then he is receiving the grace of God in vain. Therefore the exhortation of the Scripture is, "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." 2 Cor. 6:1.

The grace of God is fully able to accomplish that for which it is given, if only it is allowed to work.

We have seen that grace being altogether from God, the power of grace is nothing but the power of God. 

It is plain enough therefore that the power of God is abundantly able to accomplish all for which it is given--the salvation of the soul, deliverance from sin and from the power of it, the reign of righteousness in the life, and the perfecting of the believer unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ--if only it can have place in the heart and in the life to work according to the will of God.

But the power of God is "unto salvation to everyone that believeth." 

Unbelief frustrates the grace of god. 

Many believe and receive the grace of God for the salvation from sins that are past but are content with that and do not give it the same place in the soul to reign against the power of sin, that they did to save from sins of the past. 

This, too, is but another phase of unbelief. So as to the one great final object of grace--the perfection of the life in the likeness of Christ-- they do practically receive the grace of God in vain.

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed." Nor does this word "ministry" refer simply to the ordained ministry of the pulpit. It includes everyone who receives the grace of God or that has named the name of Christ. For "as every man hath received the gift,  even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 

Therefore he does not want anyone to receive the grace of God in vain, lest that grace and its blessed working be misrepresented to the world and so men be further hindered from yielding to it. He does not want His grace to be received in vain, because when it is, offense is given in many things, and the ministry of grace itself is blamed. Yet when the grace of God is not received in vain but is given the place that belongs to it, "no offense" will be given "in anything," and the ministry will not only be not blamed but will be blest.

And now to show how complete and all-pervading the reign of grace will be in the life where it is not received in vain, the Lord has set down the following list, embracing "all thing," and in which we shall approve ourselves unto God. Read it carefully:

   In all things approving ourselves unto God,

   In much patience,

   In afflictions,

   In necessities,

   In distresses,

   In stripes,

   In imprisonments,

   In tumults,

   In labors,

   In watchings,

   In fastings;

   By pureness,

   By knowledge,

   By longsuffering,

   By kindness,

   By the Holy Ghost,

   By love unfeigned,

   By the word of truth,

   By the power of God,

   By the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

   By honor and dishonor,

   By evil report and good report;

   As deceivers, and yet true;

   As unknown, and yet well known;

   As dying, and, behold, we live;

   As chastened, and not killed;

   As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;

   As poor, yet making many rich;

   As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

This list covers all the experiences that can ever enter into the life of any believer in this world. It shows that where the grace of God is not received in vain, that grace will so take possession and control of the life, that every experience that enters into the life will be taken by grace and turned to making us approved unto God and building us up in perfection unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."'

Excerpt - Advent Review and Sabbath Herald A.T. Jones Sept. 22, 1896

The Work of Grace Must Be Believed.

 Frustrating the Work of Grace.

Excerpt- Advent Review and Sabbath Herald A.T. Jones Sept. 22, 1896

Can every believer have grace enough to keep him free from sinning? 

Yes.

Indeed, everybody in the world can have enough to keep him from sinning. Enough is given, and it is given for this purpose. If anyone does not have it, it is not because enough has not been given, but because he does not take that which has been given.  

For "unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. 4:7. The measure of the gift of Christ is Himself wholly, and that is the measure of "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." To the fullness of the Godhead there is, indeed, no measure; it is boundless. It is simply the infinity of God. 

Yet that is the only measure of the grace that is given to every one of us. The boundless measure of the fullness of the Godhead is the only thing that can express the proportion of grace that is given to everyone who is in this world. For "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom 5:20

This grace is given in order that "as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord," and in order that sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are under grace. Rom_5:21

It is given also "for the perfecting of the saints." Eph_4:12 

The object of it is to bring each one to perfection in Christ Jesus--to the perfection too, that is fully up to God's standard, for it is given for the building up of the body of Christ, "till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  Eph 4:13 

It is given to "every one of us," "till we all come" to perfection, even by the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Again, this grace is given to every one where sin abounds and it brings salvation to everyone to whom it is given. Bringing salvation in itself, the measure of the salvation which it brings to everyone is only the measure of its own fullness, which is nothing less than the measure of the fullness of the Godhead.

As boundless grace is given to every one bringing salvation to the extent of its own full measure, then if any one does not have boundless salvation, why is it? Plainly it can be only because he will not take that which is given.

As boundless grace is given to everyone in order that it shall reign in him against all the power of sin, as certainly as ever sin reigned and in order that sin shall not have dominion, then if sin still reigns in anyone, if sin yet has dominion over anyone, where lies the fault? 

Clearly, it lies only in this, that he will not allow the grace to do for him and in him that which it is given to do. 

By unbelief he frustrates the grace of God. So far as he is concerned, the grace has been given in vain.

To be continued.

We are not our own hope, Christ is our hope!

 Joy unspeakable. 

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

We don't see Christ, but we know Christ. Christ is in us, our hope. 

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

Christ in us as our hope is a reality we must latch onto. We are not our own hope!!!

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN HOPE! You and I cannot save ourselves! 

CHRIST IS OUR HOPE! Christ IN US.

Christ has all the power in Him, power given to Him by the Father God. Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us with the Hope of Christ IN us.

Christ our hope this is joy unspeakable! Christ who we love! Rejoice! All glory to God!

(Excerpt)

'It can never be repeated too often, that under the reign of grace it is just as easy to do right, as under the reign of sin it is easy to do wrong. This must be so, for if there is not more power in grace than there is in sin, then there can be no salvation from sin. But there is salvation from sin. This no one who believes Christianity can deny.

Yet salvation from sin certainly depends upon there being more power in grace than there is in sin. Then, there being more power in grace than there is in sin, it cannot possibly be otherwise than that wherever the power of grace can have control, it will be just as easy to do right as without this it is easy to do wrong.

No man ever yet naturally found it difficult to do wrong. His great difficulty has always been to do right. 

But this is because man naturally is enslaved to a power--the power of sin--that is absolute in its reign. And so long as that power has sway, it is not only difficult but impossible to do the good that he knows and that he would. But let a mightier power than that have sway, then is it not plain enough that it will be just as easy to serve the will of the mightier power, when it reigns, as it was to serve the will of the other power, when it reigned?

But grace is not simply more powerful than is sin. If this were indeed all, even then there would be fullness of hope and good cheer to every sinner in the world. But this, good as it would be, is not all. It is not nearly all.  There is much more power in grace than there is in sin.

For "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom_5:20  

And just as much more power in grace than there is in sin, just so much more hope and good cheer there are for every sinner in the world.

How much more power, then, is there in grace than there is in sin? Let me think a moment. Let me ask myself a question or two. Whence comes grace? From God, to be sure. 

"Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."  1Co 1:3 

Whence comes sin? From the devil, of course. Sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Well, then, how much more power is there in grace than there is in sin? It is as plain as ABC that there is just as much more power in grace than there is in sin, as there is more power in God than there is in the devil. 

It is therefore also perfectly plain that the reign of grace is the reign of God, and that the reign of sin is the reign of Satan. 

And is it not therefore perfectly plain also that it is just as easy to serve God by the power of God as it is to serve Satan with the power of Satan?

WHERE THE DIFFICULTY COMES IN, IN ALL THIS, IS THAT SO MANY PEOPLE TRY TO SERVE GOD WITH THE POWER OF SATAN.

But that can never be done. 

"Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt." Men cannot gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. The tree must be made good, root and branch.  It must be made new. "Ye must be born again." "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

Let no one ever attempt to serve God with anything but the present, living power of God that makes him a new creature, with nothing but the much more abundant grace that condemns sin in the flesh and reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Then the service of God will indeed be in "newness of life." Then it will be found that His yoke is indeed "easy" and His burden "light."  Then His service will be found indeed to be with "joy unspeakable and full of glory."

Did Jesus ever find it difficult to do right? Every one will instantly say, No. But why? He was just as human as we are. He took flesh and blood the same as ours. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." And the kind of flesh that He was made in this world was precisely such as was in this world. "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." "In all things!" It does not say, In all things but one. There is no exception. He was made in all things like as we are. He was of Himself as weak as we are, for He said, "I can of mine own self do nothing."

Why, then, being in all things like as we are, did He find it always easy to do right? Because He never trusted to Himself, but His trust was always in God alone. 

All His dependence was upon the grace of God. 

He always sought to serve God, only with the power of God. 

And therefore the Father dwelt in Him, and did the works of righteousness. 

Therefore it was always easy for Him to do right. But as He is, so are we in this world. He has left us an example, that we should follow His steps. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure,"as well as in Him. 

Php_2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Him, and He desires that you may be strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power. "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," and He strengthens you with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith, that you may be "filled with all the fullness of God."

True, Christ partook of the divine nature and so do you if you are a child of promise and not of the flesh, for by the promises ye are partakers of the divine nature.

There was nothing given to Him in this world and He had nothing in this world that is not freely given to you or that you may not have.

All this is in order that you may walk in newness of life, that henceforth you may not serve sin, that you may be the servant of righteousness only, that you may be freed from sin, that sin may not have dominion over you, that you may glorify God on the earth, and that you may be like Jesus. And therefore "unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. . . . Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." And I "beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

2Co 6:1  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.'

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald September 1, 1896   A.T. Jones

Grace

 Does keeping yourself from sin give you power over sin? It would depend upon how you keep yourself from sin, wouldn't it? All our power lies in FAITH in God, in our ability to BELIEVE. Even our ability to believe lies in the comprehension of our existence as creatures of God. If we for one moment do not believe that we are created we have no ability to have faith in God and the power that comes with that faith.

We exist with the ability to reason. With this reason we make choices of belief. You can reason in many ways, but our Creator would have us reason in His truth. Our Creator will not force you to reason towards belief in Him because that would negate the love He is. We cannot reason that we don't exist, not in any form of logic whatsoever. You can argue you exist in different ways, but the fact you exist remains. With that fact you reason how you exist and from there you make your choices. When you make the choice to BELIEVE in the Creator, you've taken a first step towards FAITH in God.

From our FAITH in God we recognize that He took great pains to offer us the ability to keep from sinning. That ability lies at the very heart of faith. Believing that Christ alone can keep us from sinning, that it is the POWER of God that can keep us from sinning. We have NO power of our own. So the question at the beginning, does keeping yourself from sin give you power of sin? Yes, it does, if you keep yourself from sinning by your FAITH in Christ's power to do so in you. 

Should you recognize a temptation blatantly staring you in your face, give that temptation to Christ, give it to His power to overcome.  If you give into that temptation should you despair? No, you still need to TRUST that Christ is working towards your being able to overcome. Satan would have us give up in despair of EVER ceasing from our cherished, hated, habitual, evil sins- once we yield to despair we are dead in those sins. We must earnestly seek forgiveness and cry out to the only ONE who can keep us from sinning, trusting that HE WILL. We may not even recognize when the overcoming occurs, we aren't to take ANY credit for ceasing from our sins. We are to give ALL GLORY to GOD for any overcoming. We are to constantly realize Christ is the power, the glory, the honor forever! We are never to embrace sin, we are to ever abhor our weakness towards it in whatever form it takes. 

Grace comes from our LORD, Grace comes from our GOD. It is by grace we are saved through faith, and NOT of ourselves…

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast

All glory to God!

(Excerpt) Advent Review and Sabbath Herald  A.T. Jones

April 17, 1894

"Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Eph. 4:7. The measure of the gift of Christ is "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." This is true whether viewed as the measure of the gift which God made in giving Christ or as the measure of the gift which Christ Himself gave. For the gift that God gave is His only begotten Son, and in "him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Therefore, from this standpoint the measure of the gift of Christ being only the measure of the fulness of the Godhead bodily and this being only the measure of the grace that is given to every one of us, it follows that unto every one of us is given grace without measure, simply boundless grace.

Viewed from the measure of the gift in which Christ Himself gives to us, it is the same, because "he gave himself for us." He gave Himself for our sins, and in this He gave Himself to us. And as in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and as He gave Himself, then the measure of the gift of Christ on His own part is also only the measure of the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It therefore follows that from this standpoint also the measure of grace that is given to every one of us is only the measure of the fullness of the Godhead; that is, simply immeasurable.

Thus in whatever way it is viewed, the plain word of the Lord is that unto every one of us He has given grace to the measure of the fullness of the Godhead bodily; that is, boundless, immeasurable grace--all the grace He has.  This is good. But it is just the Lord; it is just like the Lord to do that, for He is good.

And this boundless grace is all given, given freely, to "every one of us." To us it is. To you and me, just as we are. And that is good. We need just that much grace to make us what the Lord wants us to be. And He is just so kind as to give it all to us freely that we may be indeed just what He wants us to be.

The Lord wants every one of us to be saved, and that with the very fullness of salvation. And therefore He has given to every one of us the very fullness of grace, because it is grace that brings the salvation. For it is written,  "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus 2:11. 

Thus the Lord wants all to be saved and therefore He gave all of His grace, bringing salvation to all. The marginal reading of this text tells it that way, and it is just as true as the reading in the verse itself. Here it is: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared." 

All the grace of God is given freely to every one, bringing salvation to all.  Whether all or any one will receive it, that is another question. What we are studying now is the truth and the fact that God has given it. Having given it all, He is clear, even though men may reject it.

The Lord wants us to be perfect, and so it is written: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Desiring that we shall be perfect, He has given us, every one , all the grace that He has,  bringing the fullness of His salvation, that every man may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus. The very purpose of this gift of His boundless grace is that we may be made like Jesus, Who is the image of God. Even so it is written: "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. . . . for the perfecting of the saints. . . . till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 

Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

Do you want to be like Jesus? Then receive the grace that He has so fully and so freely given. Receive it in the measure in which He has given it, not in the measure in which you think you deserve it. Yield yourself to it, that it may work in you and for you the wondrous purpose for which it is given, and it will do it. It will make you like Jesus. It will accomplish the purpose and the wish of Him who has given it. "Yield yourselves unto God." "I beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

 Rom_6:13  ..yield yourselves unto God

2Co_6:1  … beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Help Me Learn to Be Content In You, Christ.

 Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

1Co 4:11  Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; 

1Co 4:12  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it.

1Co 4:13  Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

2Co 6:1  We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 

2Co 6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 

2Co 6:3  Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 

2Co 6:4  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 

2Co 6:5  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 

2Co 6:6  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 

2Co 6:7  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 

2Co 6:8  By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 

2Co 6:9  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 

2Co 6:10  As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 

2Co 8:9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 

2Co 11:23  Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 

2Co 11:24  Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 

2Co 11:25  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 

2Co 11:26  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 

2Co 11:27  In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 

2Co 11:28  Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 

2Co 11:29  Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 

2Co 11:30  If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 

2Co 11:31  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. 

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

Heb 10:32  But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; 

Heb 10:33  Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. 

Heb 10:34  For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. 

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 

Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 

Christ- Abraham's Hope.

 We have hope only because of Christ. We should never hope in our own ability to do a single thing. Our hope must be in Christ and His ability to do all things. 

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Christ will not strengthen us to do our own will. If you imagine the above verse means that you can do absolutely anything, you are sadly mistaken. It means that Christ will strengthen us to do all things according to His will, not ours. 

Paul said this -

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 

Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

Paul was hungry and he suffered need- both two states of being that are undesirable. One might say that if Paul could do all things through Christ then he had no reason to be hungry or in need of things to make his life comfortable. Yet Paul's idea of being comfortable was a spiritual comfort, not a physical comfort. We truly can do all things through Christ because no matter what we are to go through here and now, we will have eternal life in Christ. Saying I can do all things, means I can do all the things that come my way- because CHIRST strengthens me. Christ gives me the hope to get through all trials and tribulations. 

All by HIS amazing grace and love, all through Him, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior now and forever!

Amen.

*******

'The fourth chapter of Romans is one of the richest in the Bible in the hope and courage which it contains for the Christian. In Abraham we have an example of righteousness by faith and we have set before us the wonderful inheritance promised to those who have the faith of Abraham. And this promise is not limited. The blessing of Abraham comes on the Gentiles as well as on the Jews; there is none so poor that he may not share it, for "it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed."

The last clause of the seventeenth verse is worthy of special attention. It contains the secret of the possibility of our success in the Christian life. It says that Abraham believed "God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." 

This marks God's power; it involves creative power. God can call a thing which is not as though it existed. 

If a man should do that, what would you call it? A lie. If a man should say that a thing is, when it is not, it would be a lie. But God cannot lie. Therefore when God calls those things that be not, as though they were, it is evident that that makes them be. That is, they spring into existence at His word. 

We have all heard, as an illustration of confidence, the little girl's statement that "if ma says so, it's so if it isn't so." That is exactly the case with God. Before that time spoken of as "in the beginning," there was a dreary waste of absolute nothingness; God spoke, and instantly worlds sprang into being. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . for he spake, and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33:6-9. This is the power which is brought to view in Rom. 4:17. Now let us read on, that we may see the force of this language in this connection. Still speaking of Abraham, the apostle says:

Who against hope believed in hope,

that he might become the father of many nations,

according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

And being not weak in faith,

he considered not his own body now dead,

when he was about a hundred years old,

neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb;

he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;

but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised,

he was able also to perform.  And therefore

it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Rom. 4:18-22

Here we learn that Abraham's faith in God, as one who could bring things into existence by His word, was exercised with respect to His being able to create righteousness in a person destitute of it. Those who look at the trial of Abraham's faith as relating simply to the birth of Isaac and ending there, lose all the point and beauty of the sacred record. Isaac was only the one in whom his seed was to be called, and that seed was Christ. See Gal.  3:16. When God told Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth should be blessed, He was preaching the gospel to him (Gal. 3:8); therefore Abraham's faith in the promise of God was direct faith in Christ as the Saviour of sinners. This was the faith which was counted to him for righteousness.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 

Now note the strength of that faith. His own body was already virtually dead from age and Sarah was in a like condition. The birth of Isaac from such a pair was nothing less than the bringing of life from the dead. It was a symbol of God's power to quicken to spiritual life those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Abraham hoped against hope. There was no human possibility of the fulfillment of the promise; everything was against it, but his faith grasped and rested upon the unchanging word of God, and His power to create and to make alive. "And therefore it was imputed unto him for righteousness." Now for the point of it all:

Now it was not written for his sake alone,

that it was imputed to him; but for us also,

to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe

on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

who was delivered for our offenses

and was raised again for our justification.

Rom. 4:23-25

So Abraham's faith was the same that ours must be, and in the same object. The fact that it is by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ that we have the same righteousness imputed to us that was imputed to Abraham, shows that Abraham's faith was likewise in the death and resurrection of Christ. All the promises of God to Abraham were for us as well as for him. Indeed, we are told in one place that they were specially for our benefit. "When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself."  "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,  confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Heb. 6:13, 17, 18. 

Our hope, therefore, rests upon God's promise and oath to Abraham, for that promise to Abraham, confirmed by that oath, contains all the blessings which God can possibly give to man.

But let us make this matter a little more personal before leaving it. Trembling soul, say not that your sins are so many and that you are so weak that there is no hope for you. Christ came to save the lost, and He is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by Him. You are weak, but He says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. 12:9.

And the inspired record tells us of those who "out of weakness were made strong." Heb.  11:34. That means that God took their very weakness and turned it into strength. In so doing He demonstrates His power. It is His way of working. For "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Cor. 1:27-29.

Have the simple faith of Abraham. How did he attain to righteousness? By not considering the deadness and powerlessness of his own body, but by being willing to grant all the glory to God, strong in faith that He could bring all things out of that which was not. You, therefore, in like manner, consider not the weakness of your own body, but the power and grace of our Lord, being assured that the same word which can create a universe and raise the dead can also create in you a clean heart and make you alive unto God. And so you shall be a child of Abraham, even a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

"The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:17.

Signs of the Times Articles - by E.J. Waggoner

October 13, 1890

Out of Weakness- Made Strong.

 'It was not physical foes alone that faith enabled the ancient worthies to conquer. We read of them that they not only "subdued kingdoms," but "wrought righteousness, obtained promises," and, most wonderful and most encouraging of all, "out of weakness were made strong." Heb. 11:33, 34. 

Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 

 Their very weakness became strength to them through faith, because the strength of Christ is made perfect in weakness. Who, then, shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? since it is God that justifieth, and we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. 

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Rom. 8:35, 37.'

March 25, 1889  "The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:17.

Signs of the Times Articles - by E.J. Waggoner