by
ELDER STANLEY C. PHILLIPS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The felt need for salvation
Chapter 3 Some components of the gospel simply put
Chapter 4 Christian experience simply put
Chapter 5 EFFECTUAL_CALLING
Chapter 6 EFFECTS_OF_GOD’S_DRAWING
Chapter 7 The_Living_Union_of Christ and his People
Chapter 8 The_Christian_Before Divine Quickening to Spiritual Life
Chapter 9 THE_BEGETTING_TO_DIVINE LIFE
Chapter 10 THE_SENSIBLE_SINNER_AT_AND AFTER DIVINE QUICKENING
Chapter 11 A PRIMARY FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN DIVINE QUICKENING
Chapter 12 EXPERIMENTAL FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT: Little Faith, Faith and Great Faith
Chapter 13 ASSURANCE_AND_FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH
Chapter 13 CONCLUSION:
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THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST SIMPLY PUT
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION
As Luke wrote his epistle and the Book of Acts to
someone named “Theophilus”, to “set forth in order a
declaration of those things which are most surely
believed among us,” it seems good to me also . . . to
write to you “in order”, my “most excellent Theophilus”
the things which compose the Gospel when simply put.
(Luke 1:23). We intend this treatise as a “primary
book” of the historic Christian faith for anyone
interested in the basic knowledge of that faith.
The word “Gospel”, simply put, means “glad tidings”.
In the framework of the Christian religion, then, it
means “glad tidings of salvation by Christ Jesus,” or,
“good news” about the salvation of sinners. It is, for
sensible sinners when it is revealed to them, joyful
news about the accomplishment of Christ for their
salvation. It tells of how Christ came under the law to
redeem such as were under its condemnation; of His
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passive and active obedience in their behalf; and the
imputation of their sins to Him and His consequent
suffering the penalty of those sins; and of His charging
His own righteousness to them for whom He suffered.
In the broadest sense, the Gospel includes all things
that the triune God did in the salvation of His elect. In
the more narrow sense, it tells of how He saved His
elect by the sacrifice of Himself in their stead.
The message brought by the Gospel cannot be glad
tidings to anyone who does not have a feeling need for
salvation from sin. Indeed, the apostles tell us that
while it is “savour of life unto life to them that believe,” it
is also a “savour of death unto death to them that
perish.” Certainly, to unbelievers, it cannot be good
news. In order for one to believe it as such, God must
give him an evangelic faith, “for all men (by nature) hath
not faith.” Simply put, faith is a prerequisite to the
message being good news, and this “faith is the gift of
God.” (Eph. 2:110.) A prerequisite to this Godgiven
faith is spiritual life which in turn shows one his
sinfulness and need of salvation.
From God’s standpoint, salvation commenced before
He created the world. It was then that He set forth
Christ as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world.” It was then, that “He chose us in Him before the
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foundation of the world that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:16.) It was
that early that He “prepared a kingdom” for them “from
the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34.) But let
us be very clear: We were not saved before the world
began. If that were so, then Christ needed not to have
suffered and died; nor would He be the Savior of
sinners. The earliest indication that one was chosen in
Christ is seen in the fact that eternal life in its seed
substance was in Christ eternally. It is by that
“incorruptible seed” that one is begotten to life and
salvation in this time world.
God’s people were all actually, and legally, saved two
thousand years ago by the active obedience of Christ in
perfectly keeping the law for them; and in His passive
obedience on the cross when He finished and
accomplished all their salvation by bearing the horrible
penalties of their sins. It was on this basis that He
imputes His righteousness to them. This is also the
foundation of the Gospel, or “good news” to sensible
sinners. In Christ, simply put, salvation is “finished.”
In time, the Holy Spirit quickens to life those saved
by Christ, giving them spiritual life and nature. This life
in them produces various effects: They now feel their
sinfulness. They now know their need for salvation.
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They are brought under the condemnation of the law.
They mourn over their sinfulness. They have spiritual
eyes, and yet walk in darkness. They become beggars at
mercy’s door, longing for a hope in Jesus. Simply put,
they are alive! They are in the process of “being born
from above.” And this will ultimately and unfailingly be
produced in them “at the appointed time.” They are
sinners, and as such, they are the only kind of people
Christ came to save! “I came” He said, “not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.” “Christ died for
the ungodly” (I Timothy 1:9.) Simply put, the Gospel is
that Christ died only for sinners – i.e., those who are
made feelingly so. And it is the work of the Spirit to
reveal this to them.
God’s revelation of Himself to man is threefold. First,
all of creation reveals the power and glory of the eternal
Godhead. There are none without excuse; none but the
fool can say that there is no God (Psalm 14:1.) And this
revelation is found universally in the race of man. Men
must be taught or persuaded to be atheists, for atheism
is an unnatural perversion. All the early Christian
confessions declare this as an article of the Christian
faith. All of them point out that while this is so,
nevertheless, nature is insufficient to reveal salvation in
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Christ Jesus. It can only reveal God’s eternal Godhead,
power, and glory.
Second, God reveals Himself to all who can read,
have access to His inspired written Word, and read it
the Holy Bible. As the first type of revelation, this too, is
insufficient to reveal Christ to a poor sinner within
itself. It is a sealed book without the enlightenment of
the Spirit of God. This second form of revelation has
always existed. God has never left Himself without a
witness since the formation of Man. Adam, even in his
depraved nature, knew much about his Creator.
Through his son, Seth and his offspring, through Noah,
Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and especially Moses
and the prophets of Israel, this revelation has been
faithfully preserved. Among the Gentiles, the Magi of
the East, Job, and others, had this revelation to a
limited degree. Lastly, by Christ, His apostles, and the
ministers of the New Testament, the early church kept
this revelation alive, and extended it throughout the
world. Simply put, since God created Adam, this
revelation has never been broken. The apostle could
write: “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are
lost” (II Cor. 4:3.) And the reason the apostle gives for
this is: “The god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
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Gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine
unto them” (verse 4.) Therefore, God reveals Himself to
natural men in His written Word, so that they, too, are
without excuse. But God does not reveal Himself
through His written word to all mankind. Millions have
never had the Gospel, or the Bible, directed to them.
And many more read it as a “sealed book.”
But the written word is, within itself, unable to
reveal salvation to sinners. It must be “given” to them
to believe. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God (not
everyone) may be throughly furnished unto all good
work” (II Tim. 3:16.)
Thirdly, in addition to the light of nature in rational
creatures and the written word to educated people, it is
necessary that there be an extraordinary and inward
revelation of God by the Spirit of God. Without this,
there can be no “Gospel” or glad tidings. “But God hath
revealed them (the things which God has prepared for
them that love Him) unto us by His Spirit: for the spirit
searcheth all things, Yea, the deep things of God.”
“Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:1016.) Again, “Before faith came
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we were kept under the law, shut up unto faith, which
should afterwards be revealed” (Gal. 3:23.)
The following application will appear very
unorthodox to Evangelicals, or, followers of Andrew
Fuller (the father of the Missionary Baptist
denominations), but it is necessary to set forth the
value of this third kind of revelation. Isaac Backus, in
his massive and extensive history of the Baptists and
New England colonies, cited case after case where the
Spirit of God worked in the absence of the Gospel
during the Great Awakening (1720 1760.) The
followers of Andrew Fuller introduced a scheme of
salvation conditioned on the merits of men, rather than
the accomplishment of Christ by His death. A necessary
part of Fuller’s scheme is an absolute necessity of the
Gospel reaching a sinner before the Holy Spirit can do
His work. This is not the experience of quickened
sinners. His elect are made spiritually alive in order to
believe the Gospel of what Christ has done for sinners.
For the child of God to understand anything
spiritually, he must first be made spiritually alive. “The
dead know nothing.” Simply put, he must be quickened
or begotten spiritually – born of God. The only One
able to beget spiritually, must Himself be a Spirit. “The
natural man,” or fleshly man, “receiveth not the things of
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the Spirit of God: for they (the spiritual things) “are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they (the spiritual things) are spiritually
discerned” (I Corinthian 2:14.) “But he that is spiritual
judgeth (discerns, or understands) all things, yet he
himself is judged (discerned, or understood) of no man”
(I Corinthians 2:15.)
What might be considered unorthodox by many is
this: At what point in time is this spiritual revelation?
Our answer: Whenever one is quickened, or begotten,
or spiritually conceived. God begets him to life in his
spiritual birth, very much as his natural father did in
his first birth. It is a time of love, and God visits him in
mercy and grace. That thing born of God within him is
called the “new creature”. It is implanted in the “Old
Man”, or fleshly man, and thus he now has eternal life
which life never had a beginning. The spiritual life
knows the things of the Spirit of God within itself,
whether it can express or understand them perfectly or
not. Such a person, then, “has the mind of Christ” (I
Corinthians 2:16.) But, one may justly ask, “How early
in physical life is this revelation possible?” Answer:
Whenever it pleases God to reveal it. To illustrate: When
Herod sent and killed “all the children that were in
Bethlehem, and in all the coast thereof, from two years
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old and under,” (which had to be a very great slaughter)
it is written: “In Rama was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children, and would not be comforted,
because they were not” (Matt. 2:1618.) But what was,
and yet is, the Gospel revelation relative to these little
slaughtered and mangled babies? “Thus saith the Lord;
Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord:
and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope in the end, saith the Lord, that thy
children shall come again to their own borders”
(Jeremiah 31: 1517.) In the Matthew text, the writer
said that this dreadful event was the fulfillment of that
prophesy. The above is a wonderful and almost
unknown prophesy. It settles more than one theological
dispute. First, onehundred percent of these infants
dying in infancy are saved by the death of Christ.
Second, the message, or glad tidings, i.e., the Gospel
has no part in making it so! “It is the Spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63.)
Since there is but one way of salvation, such a
salvation must invariably fulfill this prophesy. Who will
argue that these infants repented and believed the
Gospel, or “accepted Christ as their Savior”? They were
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elected, redeemed, ransomed, justified, called, and
quickened exactly as are all other elect who come to age
of understanding. Hearing the message of this salvation
is a very great blessing to sensible sinners; but, simply
put, the message is about this salvation not the
cause of it! The hearing does not do the saving; nor
does the believing. Christ is the Savior of sinner not,
will be if they will “let Him.” It is too late to do any
“letting.”
To summarize this point: God has given a record of
Himself, His creation, and of His salvation. The Gospel,
simply put, is that Christ “came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13.)
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of
whom I am chief” (I Tim. 1:16.) The message of the
Gospel is good news, or glad tidings, to feeling or
sensible sinners. The only way that one can become a
feeling and sensible sinner is for God to quicken him to
life, spiritually, so that he can see himself from God’s
vantage point. From man’s point of view, the Gospel
begins in the revelation by the Spirit of one’s sinner
ship within his very being. Such sinners experience a
dreadful and fearful sinfulness and guilt stirring within
them. It is here where the need of salvation is driven
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home to the heart of a quickened, yet unconverted elect
child of God. As Paul said of his own experience, “For I
was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died.” “For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it slew me” (Rom. 7:9 & 11.) Now he could be
feelingly and sensibly a needy sinner!
Chapter Two: THE FELT NEED FOR SALVATION
When we consider that, as David confessed, men are
“shapened in iniquity; and in sin” did their “mother
conceive” them (Psa. 51:5,) and that “the wicked are
estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as
they be born, speaking lies” (Psalm. 58:3,) it becomes
certain that man is in no way able to save, or help to
save, himself. He has always been depraved. Before
the flood, God saw that “every imagination of man’s
heart was evil,” and after the flood it remained
unchanged (Genesis 6: 5 and 8: 21.) Today, “The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:
who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9.) “The natural man”
is totally depraved, “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph.
2:16.) In fact, the highest and best part of man is his
conscience, and “even their mind and conscience is
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defiled” (Titus 1:15.) This condition being so, natural
men cannot grieve over sin. “Sin is the transgression of
the law.” And the “carnal mind is enmity against God:
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God” (Rom. 8:78.) Being dead to spiritual things,
natural men cannot be alarmed over sin; cannot feel
poverty stricken, or “poor and needy,” nor can they
“hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Yet, it is these
very conditions which identify those who are the objects
of the Gospel message: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew
5:6.)
The overwhelming numbers of religious people today
seems to have never felt themselves to be the “chief of
sinners” and standing in dire need for God’s salvation.
They are satisfied with being manmade “Christians.”
This is abundantly evident in the simplyminded
schemes they invent and press upon others to “get
saved.” The Gospel of the grace of God declares Christ
to be the Savior of sinners. Nowhere does the Bible set
forth plans of salvation, decisions for Christ, nor bits
and pieces of the law or “Gospel” to be the saviors of
righteous folk. On the contrary, the Bible sets forth a
very ugly and pitiful condition in which sinners are
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born. They are born “dead in trespasses and sins”
(Eph. 2:1.) They had their “conversations in times past
in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind; and were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3.)
That “at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in
the world” (Eph. 2:12.) Simply put, that is a woeful
and helpless condition. Such men cannot be feelingly
sensible of their sins, and consequently, of their need
for salvation. Yet, the Bible sets forth the condition of
natural men even worse than the above. Let us look at
some.
First, “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom.
3:10.) So none have anything by which they can
commend themselves to God. God owes none of them
anything but strict justice. While they may boast of all
kinds of goodness, charities and political correctness,
“there is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God” (Rom. 3: 11.) That destroys the
whole fabric of evangelical motivation. It is sometimes
said that no matter what it cost, if only one sinner is
saved, it is worth it. [but, they can spend fortunes on
palaces in which they praise themselves in willworship
– and nothing they spend money upon saves any
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sinner!] “They are all gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; [worthless] there is none
that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:12.) And how
descriptive of too many “Christians” today: “Their mouth
is an open sepulcher [grave]; the poison of asps is under
their lips” (Rom. 3:13.) “Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood:
destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way
of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God
before their eyes” (Rom. 3: 1418.) Paul concludes:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in His sight” (Rom. 3:20.) And this is said
of GOD’S LAW! What of man’s plans of salvation? Can
any one think they could they be better than God’s?
If the above can be said of God’s law, what then can
legitimately be said of manmade plans and schemes of
salvation? If by the deeds of God’s law no flesh can be
justified in His sight, then we must readily conclude
that by Andrew Fuller’s plan of salvation, no flesh can
be justified in His sight. Surely, if by that law that Paul
says “is just holy and good,” no man can be justified,
then, it stands to reason that by mental decisions for
Christ, shall no flesh be justified in His sight. Is that
not a reasonable conclusion? Simply put, none of these
things can redeem us from the curse of a broken law;
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none of them can provide a needed ransom in order for
the captive to go free, neither can any of them pay the
debt accrued by the transgression of the law for
sinners. There is nothing a lifeless carnal person can do
to help attain salvation. And in fact, since salvation is
completed in Christ’s atonement, these plans and
programs are not needed anyway.
As Paul said again, “I do not frustrate the grace of
God: for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is
dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21.) One may extrapolate
readily from this divine principle: Can one walk down
an aisle and make a decision whether Christ died or
no? Yes. Can one believe in Christ as readily as in
Caesar, George Bush, Billy Graham, or anyone else,
without Christ dying? Of course! These manmade
works even if those that are commanded of God
cannot save a man from the power, dominion, penalty,
or love of sin. “If righteousness came by any plan of
salvation, verily, Christ died in vain.” Repentance did
not die on the cross. Faith, or moral suasion, (merely
believing something) did not suffer for our sins.
Decisions are activities of the carnal mind, and cannot
atone for sins. Walking down a church’s aisle can only
make one a member of a religious institution; but none
can walk into the kingdom of God. He must be born
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into that! These things are not good news to sensible
sinners, for they do not put away, or remit sin. They
cannot deliver from sin, wrath, death, or hell. Good
news must be a message of what did do this for
acknowledging sinners.
Paul wrote: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed
from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another Gospel: which is not another; but there be
some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel
of Christ,” and then he adds, “let him be accursed”
(Gal.1: 69.) Or, as said more clearly: “for if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, of if ye receive another spirit, which ye have
not received, or another Gospel, which ye have not
accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (II Cor. 11:4.)
There is a Gospel of Christ which is good news; and a
counterfeit message which tells people to do what they
need not; there is a Jesus who “has power over all
flesh,” and one who does not; there is a Spirit that
“quickeneth whom He will” and one that cannot. One
set of these is valuable to sensible sinners, and only it
can satisfy the demands of a broken law for needy
sinners. The other set the perverted Gospel is
valuable in making church members or manmade
“Christians,” and is an economic boon for religious
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enterprises. But it has no everlasting value.
Simply put, there are people who feelingly know
what they are by nature, and have a vital need for the
Gospel of free and sovereign grace. There are other
people who imagine they have at least sufficient
goodness to deserve God’s favor, or at least sufficient
power to help Him save them selves. These have the
perverted Gospel preached to them regularly. But of
this latter “Gospel,” Paul corrects himself, saying,
“which is not another Gospel.” It certainly is not the one
he preached. The one he preached, he said, was “the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”
(Romans 1:16). It should be noted that Paul did not say
it was the power of God to salvation to any one that is
an unbeliever. Only to a believer can it be the power of
God to salvation.
Chapter Three: SOME COMPONENTS OF THE GOSPEL SIMPLY PUT
The Gospel is the message of what Christ has done
for the salvation of His elect people (Eph. 1:4; I Thess.
The Gospel is the message of what Christ has done
for the salvation of His elect people (Eph. 1:4; I Thess.
for the salvation of His elect people (Eph. 1:4; I Thess.
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1:4; II Thess. 2:13, to mention a few passages.) To
declare what Christ has done will involve many things,
for He did a great deal. He obeyed the law for, or in the
stead of, His people, because they could not keep it. He
died for their sins, because they could not die and yet
be saved. He ransomed them from captivity, because
they could not free themselves from the captivity of sin
and death by anything they could think of doing. He
redeemed them from the curse of the law, for they had
no price sufficient to pay their debt of sin. “The wages
of sin is death.” So He died. He did that two thousand
years ago! He sanctified them because they were unholy
and unclean, and could not wash away their sins. He
propitiated their sins because they could not appease
the wrath of God against them, and make satisfaction
to the wrath of God’s justice. That too, He did two
thousand years ago. He justified them because they
could not justify themselves before God. He reconciled
them to God because they were by nature His enemies,
and could not gain His peace by anything they could
think of, or do. These are some of the things Christ did.
All these things Christ accomplished two thousand
years ago. Therefore they are not predicated upon any
of our doings, or even believing. We believe it because it
is so, not to make it so. This list of seven things (there
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are more than these) we will present as ingredients of
the Gospel:
1. Christ’ obedience for His people
2. Christ’ death for the penalty of their sins
3. Christ’ shed blood as a ransom for their sins
4. Christ’ redemption of His people
5. Christ’ sanctification of His people
6. Christ’ propitiation for their sins, and
7. Christ’ reconciliation of His people to God
You will get an early preview of the true Gospel if
you will here note that everyone of the above was
accomplished two thousand years ago while Christ was
on earth. Simply put: The elect have a perfect obedience
and righteousness, a sacrifice (death) for their sins,
which ransomed and redeemed them, which also
sanctified them by being their propitiation, and thereby
satisfying the justice of God, they are now reconciled to
God by the death of Christ. That statement, within
itself, is the Gospel of Christ. Since too few today even
understand these seven terms, we will elaborate on
each to make them as simple as we can without
sacrificing the truth and beauty of them.
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1. Christ is our obedience
It is both reasonable and Biblical that anyone going
to heaven must be without sin. “The soul that sinneth it
shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4.) Since sin is the “transgres
sion of the law” and the “wages of sin is death” (1
John 3:4 and Romans 6:23) and “all has sinned and
come short of the glory of God,” a poor feeling sinner
cannot help but think: “Who, Lord, then can be saved?”
And the answer to that question by our Lord on another
occasion is good here also. “With man it is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.” It is right here
that a convicted sinner often falters. “If I must be
sinless, or if I must be holy, then there cannot be any
hope for such as I.” How long, and how often God’s
children are plagued by this condition. Yet, when the
apostle set forth the reason for divine election in
Ephesians 1: 4, he gave the reason “that we be holy
and without blame before Him in love.” Not that we
become holy and without blame; but be such “before
Him,” or in His sight. In our nature, we know we are not
holy nor without blame. So, simply put, in some way
God must deal with our violations of His law. He must
find a way to “be just and the justifier of him which
believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26.)
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Now the sweet mercy of God led the apostle Paul to
deal specifically with that problem, hence it is a basic
aspect of the Gospel. “Wherefore, as by one man
(meaning Adam) sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned.” This point a feeling sinner can
easily understand. But look what mercy applies to
such sinners: “Therefore as by the offense of one,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even
so by the righteousness of one (meaning Christ) the
free gift came upon all (manner of) men unto
justification” (Romans 5: 12 and 18.) Now watch
what he says about our obedience. “For as by one
man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one (meaning Christ) shall
many be made righteous.” Adam disobeyed God and
all of his offspring yet in him were made sinners. So
also, Christ obeyed the law to its jot and tittle and all
in Him by divine election and seed substance are
counted to have obeyed also! That is good news isn’t it?
See! That is how He “made us holy and without blame
before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:26.) Since we
ourselves have not been perfectly obedient, God
ordained that Christ be the obedience for all His elect
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children. Isn’t that pure grace? “The wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23.) When this is
given to us to see and believe, it is surely the Gospel, or
glad tidings to our souls.
2. Christ’ death for the penalty of their sins.
This aspect of the Gospel is the most familiar of all
those listed, and yet strangely, so little truly believed by
most people. “For I delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scripture.” (I Cor. 15:3.)
Some people recognize what that passage says, and yet
do not want to receive the force of it. So they modify it
by saying, “Christ died for all our sins except the sin
of unbelief.” Now, the text does not teach this, nor
could it possibly mean it. It teaches that Christ died for
all our sins. Not some of our sins. If Christ did not
include the sin of unbelief in His propitiation, then all
men would still have that one sin for which to die! And
who is sufficient for that? Becoming a believer would
not remove the previous sin, and the wages of sin is
still death. In such a case as that, no man would be
saved.
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In the 15th chapter of I Corinthians, Paul sets forth
the death, burial, and resurrection as “THE Gospel”
itself. Why? Because everything and everyone Christ
died for is included in that great event. The death of
Christ is the sacrifice made to God by the Eternal Spirit
for our salvation. By it, our sins were “put away as far
as the east is from the west” and “He will remember our
sins no more.” Paul compared Christ’ death and its
effect on His people to Adam’ death and its effect on his
offspring, saying: “For AS in Adam all die, EVEN SO
in Christ shall ALL be made alive” (I Cor. 15: 22.)
That is, as it is true that all that were in Adam’s seed
died when he died; so of a truth, all that are in Christ’
seed shall also be made alive. They are in Christ by
divine election, not by their decision or works. They
“were chosen IN him before the foundation of the world”
(Ephesians 1:4) As you can see, that choice was long
before two thousand years ago!
3.
Christ shed His blood for a ransom for
their sins
Usually most people know what is meant by a
ransom when reading about a kidnapping in a daily
newspaper. However, when they hear the word in the
26
context of the Christian faith, they are as blind as if
they never heard the word at all! It means what it
means in both settings! The ransom price is paid, and
the captive goes free! That is the Gospel! Again, that
price was paid two thousand years ago! By definition, a
ransom is a price paid for the freedom of one that is
held a captive against their will. In reality, sinners are
held captive by sin and Satan, and when they are
quickened to spiritual life, are not willingly so to be any
longer. To put it plainly: The ransom price frees the
captive! And when was this ransom paid? You already
know the answer. Two thousand years ago on the cross
of Calvary! Who paid it? This, too, you already know!
Jesus said, “Even as the Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
His life a ransom for MANY” (Matt. 20:28.) So, by
definition, many are freed from their captivity to sin
and death, as of when He paid that price. That is good
news!
But, one might ask, “Does not the Scripture say:
‘Who gave Himself a ransom for ALL?” Yes, it does. But
does “all” mean “everyone”? No. “All” is an indefinite
pronoun, and thus refers to “all” in some context. In
this context, it is for “all” for whom Christ stands as a
Mediator. And since He only mediates for His people,
27
the “all” are His people. In fact, in the full context it
means all sorts of men. “For kings, and for all that are
in authority,” etc. (I Timothy 2:2.)
[It is too hard for us to omit James North and Hugh
William’s’ study of this text. So we borrow their
information that they used against Charles H.
Spurgeon’s misleading sermon on this text. It is this, in
a nutshell:
“The word “all” in the Greek is pastas. In the set, it
has these five meanings: “all,” “any,” “total,” “whole,”
and “every kind of”. Now which use of these definitions
will fit the doctrine taught? It cannot be “all without
exception,” for if so all without exception are ransomed,
and thus saved. Few people believe in universal
salvation. Will the word “any” fit the doctrine? He gave
His life for any. No, that will not work either. Does it
mean total? That, too, will not fit. Does it mean whole?
Whole what? No, that cannot be its meaning. So we are
left with: “every kind of.” Will that work? Of course;
that is consistent with what Christ taught in the text
quoted from Matthew. The “many” for whom He died.”]
Putting arguments aside, the beauty of the doctrine
is obvious. Our precious Lord loved His people with an
everlasting love, and with loving kindness He draws
28
such to Himself. To free them from their enslavement,
He lovingly and willingly laid down His life, shedding
His precious blood to ransom them from their captivity.
In time, He gives faith to His quickened feeling sinners
to believe that He is their salvation their Deliverer!
How gracious to such unworthy sinners! Again, simply
put, Christ has already ransomed His captive people
from the condemnation of sin, death, and hell. Oh,
wondrous grace!
4. Christ’ redemption of His people from their
sins
Under this heading, we will expand it in more detail,
since it is a very important subject. Redemption is the
crowning achievement of our Lord in the full and free
salvation of His people. We will, therefore put additional
emphasis upon this topic.
Redemption is similar to a ransom. It also sets
someone free. Two major differences are worth noting: a
redemption sets a slave free, whereas, a ransom
releases a kidnapped captive. Secondly, redemption
applies only to someone who has a prior right to the
slave – its owner, whereas a ransom may include
29
anyone. As shown already, it involves all sorts of
people.
Redemption considers the poor sinner held in
bondage by sin and Satan. “He that committeth sin is a
servant (bondslave) of sin” (John 8: 34.) Again, “Know
ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness”
(Romans 6:16.) If a sensible sinner knows anything at
all, he knows that he is a bondslave to sin. Ah! How he
has fought the lusts of the flesh, and how he has been
confounded! Try, try, try, as he will, sin “is ever present”
with him. He knows exactly what Paul meant when he
said, “I find a law, that, when I would do good,
evil is present with me” (Romans 7:21.) And, Oh,
how many times has he felt as Paul, “But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members” (Romans 7:23.) With
Paul, he has inwardly mourned, “O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” (Romans 7:24.) Paul’s answer is the Gospel:
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Satan being such a “strong man”, both he and sin
have such a hold that the slave needs a Redeemer to
30
buy him back and set him free. As quoted before, we
quote again, “Being justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” In Galatians,
Paul teaches, “Christ hath (passed tense) redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree” ( Galatians 3:13.) It should be
noted, that for it to be glad tidings, the word
“redeemed” has an “ed” on the end of it! Like all things
else in the Gospel, it is a message of what Christ has
already done for those that He loved! How glad is the
feeling sinner’s heart when he no longer has to work at
saving himself, and hear the joyful news that he has
redemption through the shedblood of the precious
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What wondrous love is
this, Oh my soul! I could not pay anything toward my
release from the power and dominion of sin [see chapter
on the Sovereign Dominion of God], but bless the Lord,
Oh my soul, He had the power and will to pay that debt
and set this old slave free from that cruel taskmaster!
And He did just that! Two thousand years ago, legally,
He redeemed all He would ever redeem. “It is finished!”
In time, in one’s conversion, He experimentally does the
same.
Predestinarian Baptists some of which
31
are called "Old Order Baptists," and others as
Calvinistic Southern Baptists and
Independents emphasize the basic doctrine
more than the evangelical fervor so often
characteristic of freewillbelieving Baptists. To
us, true religion is a direct and individual
experience with God. Second in importance is
a love and delight in His precious word, which
is: knowledge of doctrine, or teaching; and
living consistently with His word, or Christian
morality.
Baptists of past ages have left us a rich
heritage of what they believed relative to God's
word. Almost every local church has articles of
faith, and almost all associations and
conventions have them as well. The Appendix
A, to this article is a good example of an early
draft for the Georgia Baptist Association. It
was also adopted by the Georgia Baptist
Convention when it was constituted. Later, the
same was adopted by the Southern Baptist
Convention when it divided from the earlier
Triennial Baptist Convention in 1845. And,
here in Mississippi, it was generally adopted
by associations as the Baptists migrated into
32
the Yazoo Strip, and adopted by the
Mississippi Baptists as well. I will, at first, cite
from these, merely to show that my topic is
very well documented historically in the annals
of the Baptist people. I will use bold letters to
emphasize various free grace concepts I wish
to use in this letter. The reader can reference
such citations in the Appendix A, the Articles
of Faith of the Georgia Baptist Association of
1792.
First, the oldest Baptist Association
in Mississippi is the Mississippi Baptist
Association, constituted in 1806. Quoting from
the original 1806 Minutes of this association,
we read: "Article 3. We believe in the fall of
Adam; in the imputation of his sin to all his
posterity; And in man's inability to restore
himself to the favor of God."
"Article 4. We believe in the everlasting
love of God to His people; in the eternal
unconditional election of a definite number
of the human race to grace and glory."
"Article 6. We believe all those who were
33
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world; are in time effectually called,
regenerated, converted, and sanctified; and are
kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation."
That is what our first Baptists who entered
this frontier State said they believed in 1806.
Modern Baptists still print the above annually
in their associational minutes, even though this
generation of them seldom ever hear a sermon
advocating these precious truths.
Second: the oldest State Baptist Convention
affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention
is the Georgia Baptist Convention formed in
1800, by the Georgia Association which was
previously formed in 1792. Their articles are in
the Appendix. I select the following to elaborate
upon:
"Article 3. We believe in the fall of Adam,
and the imputation of his sin to his posterity:
In the corruption of human nature, and the
impotency of man to recover himself by his
own freewill." Examine that carefully. It is a
very concise statement of divine revelation.
34
"Article 4. We believe in the everlasting love
of God to His people, and the eternal election
of a definite number of the human race, to
grace and glory: and that there was a
Covenant of Grace or redemption made
between the Father and the Son, before the
world began, in which their salvation is
secure, and they in particular are saved."
This is based upon many passages of Scripture,
but chiefly Ephesians 1: 16 and verse 11. Why
not read that chapter now?
I have yet to discover any Baptist churches
or associations that better state the doctrine of
salvation than the above. It is clear and very
precise. Of all statements of faith I've read, this
is my favorite expression.
In considering the doctrine of
unconditional election and predestination,
notice how our forefathers predicated it upon
God's own purpose before the foundation of the
world. They were correct in stating it, and by
basing the need of it on the total inability of
man to recover himself from his fallen
condition. If Adam by his sinful fall passed his
35
corrupt nature to all of his posterity, so that
they are now totally unable to do anything of a
spiritual nature to recover themselves by their
own will, then our forefathers saw clearly that
God Himself must recover them. Otherwise,
they all must perish. It was, and is, very
obvious that He does not recover all of
mankind; but only some of them. Thus, as you
may see, these Baptists pointed out that in
recovering some, (His covenant people, the
elect, or those whom He loved with an
everlasting love) He entered into a Covenant or
an agreement with His Son before He ever
created the world, that they (a "definite
number," as the Baptists said) would be called
by the Holy Spirit, or bornagain, and
converted to a new life, and sanctified by God
who works mightily in them. They expressed
what most Baptists still teach, that is, that His
people will be "kept by the power of God unto
salvation" through faith a gift of God. That is
what presentday Baptists call, "Once saved,
always saved," or "eternal security."
The major difference in doctrine between
the modern Baptists and the primitive Baptists
36
today is that Predestinarians still actively
believe and preach the above articles of God's
word. To them, it is not a mere confession of
faith, but a living and precious belief system.
Modern Baptists, today, seldom mentions these
important and foundational doctrines, or
worse, some will actively oppose them, and
speak evil of God's doctrine and/or those who
love them. They have become very much in
agreement with the Arminian school of
Methodism on all points except "once saved,
always saved." However, as you can see,
originally the Baptists were much closer to the
Calvinist Methodists in England, than with the
Arminian (Pelagian, or freewill) Methodists in
America. On the American frontier, Baptists
and Methodists were in total opposition in each
others’ doctrine. Today, they can exchange
ministers and members with very little
modification of either's belief system.
When Peter wrote: "Wherefore the rather,
brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye
shall never fall" (II Peter 1:10,) he commanded
two things worthy for us to notice: First, to give
37
diligence to make our calling sure, and second,
to give diligence to make our election sure. To
give diligence to this certainly implies these two
things are highly important, and ought not to
be taken lightly. If Baptists heeded this
admonition, they would still be Predestinarians
today. If they failed to do so, then, according to
Peter, they would likely "fall." And this they
surely did! True religion is indeed a serious
matter: the eternal happiness of a soul is at
stake! Peter places calling, in this verse, before
election. Both from the Scriptural standpoint,
as well as our forefather's, election was "before
the foundation of the world, whereas effectual
calling is in our timely experience. But, one
cannot ascertain his election before he was
born, without first being called to salvation.
Without that effectual call in time, one cannot
have any evidence of divine election. Therefore,
Peter's instruction is extremely important: the
very evidence of divine election is our
experience in effectual calling by the Spirit to a
knowledge of our sins, and of our Savior, and a
love for both He and His doctrine. Thus, the
articles of faith, and the Bible emphasizes
38
both.
I suppose most modern Baptists will still
agree with our forefathers that Adam fell from
his former state of happiness in the Garden of
Eden (at least those that are not followers of
Charles Darwin.) But many will no longer go so
far as their forefathers and ourselves in saying
that Adam passed his corrupt nature to "all his
posterity." Yet, the Scriptures so declare:
"Wherefore, as by one man (meaning Adam the
first) sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned” (Romans 5: 12.) And, "Therefore as
by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation” (Romans 5: 1 7.) And
again, "For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God” (Romans 3:23.) Sin is the
transgression of the law of God, and death is the
wages of sin. Since infants die, then their sin is
from their natural parents, and Adam's sin is
imputed to them, for they were seminally in him
when he fell. Thus sin leaves man in a state from
which, as our Baptist forefathers declared, he
cannot "recover himself by his own freewill
ability." Consider that Adam was originally
39
made in the image of God, and yet he fell! Nor
could Adam ever recover himself, for God barred
him from the Tree of Life "lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
and live for ever" (Genesis 3:22.) If such is true
of Adam, how much more helpless are we who
were born of his "corruptible seed?" (1 Peter
1:23.)
This, I hope, is easy to prove. Do infants
die? If so, why? "The wages of sin is death.”
Whose sin, then, brings them into such
condemnation? theirs or another's? "As by one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin." Again, do we have to teach children to lie?
Families, churches, and schools constantly
work together to try to teach children to be
honest, with varying degrees of success but
none are fully successful, considering the time
and effort invested in that training. On the
other hand, "The wicked are estranged from
the womb: they go astray as soon as they be
born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3.) That is pretty
early, wouldn't you agree? Why? they are
"estranged from the womb." Estranged from God
40
that early! No wonder Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye
must be born again," and "born from above" (John
3:36, and John 1:1213.) Man is in a far worse
condition than he ever supposes he is in,
principally because he grew up daily, little by
little, "waxing worse and worse." He is quite
adapted to his native corruption. It is so natural
to him that he can't believe he is totally unable to
recover himself by his own natural ability
whenever he "gets ready." Why? Because: "The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked, Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9.)
The point I wish to make at this place is
this: If we consider the race of man in the
condition of sin and rebellion which Scripture
and common observation demonstrates, then
there has to be, yea, must be some intervention
made by God Himself on any man's behalf,
else, hell would await us all, for "all have
sinned" (Romans 3: 1023.)
But, seeing and believing that God has
demonstrated His mercy (at least to some of
the fallen undeserving race,) what moved Him
to do anything at all? Strict justice demands
41
their full execution. But God is also a God of
mercy. The Articles state that it was because:
"He loved His people with an everlasting love."
Jeremiah said it this way: "The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee"
(Jeremiah 31:3.) Did not Jesus also say quite
the same: "No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day"? (John 6:44.) Also, do
we not read Him saying: "Therefore said I unto you
that no man can come unto Me, except it were
given unto him of My Father"? (John 6:65.)
Consider that Jesus Himself said that "no man
can come unto Me." Yet, almost in every sermon
today, some preacher is begging people to
"come to Jesus." There are two things Jesus
put upon one's coming to Him. One must be
drawn to Him by the Father, and one must
have the given to him to come. Jeremiah
placed this drawing by God squarely upon
God's own everlasting love to the one drawn by
the Father. Surely the love of God is the
moving cause of anyone being drawn to Him
42
by the Holy Spirit, for otherwise, none would
come. It is not that God draws everyone to Him,
and then they must decide about it. No! As you
see, the same ones that are drawn are the
same ones raised up in the last day. This
drawing is effectual to their salvation. Surely
God cannot fail, or else He is very frustrated all
the time. And what kind of god would stay
frustrated?
I can almost hear an objection here from
some reader. "But doesn't God love everybody?"
I have no idea where such an idea originated. It
is not supported by Scripture or by common
rational observation. Since He is God, doesn't
He have power sufficient to keep one that He
loves from going to hell? If He does have such
immense power of creation, yet does not prevent
it, then what kind of love is this that He is said
to have? Of what value is universal love in the
face of impotency to deliver from His own
created hell? What kind of logic is that? Yet, the
Scripture answer is an emphatic "No!" And the
doubting reader will think, "Prove it!" "I have
loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein
hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
43
brother? Saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I
hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the
wilderness" (Malachi 1:23). So, that is one
place where Scripture refutes a universal love
of God. Again, "For the children not yet being
born, neither having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of Him that
calleth; It was said unto her (Rebecca), The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated"
(Romans 9: 1113.) Most Christians read the
New Testament, and isn't it strange they some
how miss this text? It too, refutes the universal
love theory. And what of this text: "The foolish
shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5.) "All workers
of iniquity" embraces most of mankind! And
God hates them, according to this Bible text.
The principle of discrimination between the
wicked and righteous is pervasive and
prevalent throughout the Bible. "All their
wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated
44
them" (Hosea 9: 15.) And yet another: "The
mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is
abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein"
(Proverb 22: 14.) According to this text read it
carefully one frequenting adulterous and
fornicating women is hated of God. No!
Scripture knows no concept of universal love.
The whole tenor of divine revelation is this: "He
loved us, and gave Himself for us." Never do we
read that He "loved them." Invariably, the love
of God is always placed within the context of a
personal pronoun! For example: in the fiftythird
chapter of Isaiah, where the personal pronouns
are used throughout relative to those for whom
Christ would die. "He died for our iniquity," "He
died for our sins," etc. Why these personal
pronouns? So that true religion might be
founded upon a personal vital experience with
God. Never once is it said that He died for
"them." Thus the Articles quoted in the
Appendix, always referred to "His people,"
according to unconditional and eternal election.
Divine election is placed upon the dark
backdrop of hopeless sin, corruption, and the
inability of man. From there, it shines the
45
brightest and glorifies the love and mercy of
God! Can anyone in his right mind look upon
the drowning inhabitants of the old world in the
days of Noah and say that the scene before us
is evidence of God's universal love?
Leaving that objection, consider this: That
since man is by nature corrupt, and that if God
does not love all mankind, the necessity for
election and predestination can be better
presented. If we see that man's corruption is so
total that he "cannot recover himself by his own
will and ability," as the Baptists of the South
wrote, we find him left in a hopeless state
unless God does the whole work of saving him.
That man is in this condition both the Bible
and common observation prove. Something
dreadful has certainly incapacitated him
spiritually. No one can possibly come to Christ
savingly unless his will is actively involved in
this coming. That is one cardinal reason
Baptists do not baptize unwilling infants! Yet
Jesus said:
"And ye will not come to Me that ye might
have life" (John 5:40.) Why is it they are not
46
willing to come that they might have life? "And
this is the work of God, that ye believe in Him
that sent Me.” It is only by the righteousness of
Christ imputed to them that they have any
righteousness before God. Of the flesh, they
have none to present. (See Article 5).
Finally, it is impossible for one of His sheep,
His elect, His children to finally deny the
doctrine of Christ, because even if they do not
understand all things, yet they believe all things
revealed in His word to them. And because "God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
the truth” (2Thessalonians 2: 1314, and
verses 812) in time, God will grant them both
the sanctification and the belief of the Truth.
May God grant a revival and return to the
"faith of God's elect" by those that follow after
the early frontier Baptists and the revelation of
the truth of free grace demonstrated in their
historic record preserved to us down to this
day. That is one basic reason they left us this
record of their faith. May we honor it as the
Truth of revelation from the Spirit of God to
47
them for us?
5. Christ’ sanctification of His people
By definition, sanctification is the setting of
someone or something apart from others for an
exclusive and holy use. In the old temple worship,
almost all things were sanctified by the sprinkling of
blood. The Eternal Godhead is involved in the
sanctification of sensible sinners. The Father sanctified:
“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of
James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”
(by preserved is meant kept in seed substance IN Christ
until called by grace in the new birth Jude1). This
sanctification, we believe, refers to the Father electing
and giving those elected to His Son Jesus Christ that
He should redeem, save, and call them to salvation.
They were set aside for a holy use, as “vessels of
mercy afore prepared unto glory” and receptacles of
God’s bornagain offspring (Romans 9:23.) Their bodies
48
are “earthen vessels” designed to hold the heavenly
treasure deposited in them at their second birth from
above (II Cor. 4:7.)
They are also sanctified by Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. Paul addressed his epistle to the Corinthians,
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints, with all that in every place call upon the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and
ours” (I Cor. 1:2.) We understand that such as are
taught that they are sinners in a feeling way
experimentally, are sanctified by divine election which
put them in Christ Jesus, and being in Him, all that He
did is accounted to them also, as if they had done
them. All His works are good, and being sanctified IN
Him, all their good works therefore are those that He
did. He also particularly sanctified them through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit also sanctifies them when He calls
them to life in Christ when they are born from above
by the Spirit. “Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be
multiplied” (I Peter 1:2.) A sensible sinner will search
49
often for these evidences within himself. And, true,
sometimes he can’t seem to find sufficient in which to
rejoice. A very sweet and precious truth is hidden here:
“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30.) We said
“hidden here.” For it is Christ Himself Who is our
sanctification. We are set aside IN Him to be an
exclusive and holy people unto God. We are no longer
the servant of unrighteousness, but the servant of
Christ, who is our Wisdom, Righteousness,
Sanctification and Redemption. Sanctification is not
something new when one believes in Christ. He has
ever had it in Christ before he heard the Gospel of it,
and rejoiced in that truth. Paul puts the stroke of
finality to this subject, when he wrote: “Then said He,
Lo, I come to do Thy WILL, O God. He taketh
away the first (covenant of the law), that He may
establish the second (covenant of grace); by the
which WILL we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”
(Heb. 10:10.) Simply put, that sanctification took place
when Christ died, two thousand years ago. Now, while
so often we find ourselves polluted by sin and out of the
way of holiness, our blessed Lord knew this would ever
50
be so. Therefore, He Himself sanctified us “forever” by
the offering of His own precious body as a sacrifice for
sin. Under the law, these sacrifices prefigured the
putting away of sin; purification from the defilement of
sin; and to sanctify the comer to the offering as one of
God’s own people. “They are Mine, saith the Lord.”
6. Christ’ propitiation for their sins
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift
up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon
his breast, saying, God be merciful (propitious:
center margin reading) to me a sinner” (Luke 18: 13.)
The word propitiation means to appease divine wrath,
and render satisfaction. To be propitious, or to be
merciful. Our dear Lord, two thousand years ago,
actually did appeased the frowning Justice of God, and
render satisfaction for His elect. He died the death of
the transgressor to fulfill its just demands. Blessed be
His name, He did it for His people because there was no
way they could do it for themselves. Again, He did this
gracious work two thousand years ago. Our believing it
does not establish it. It is already done, and our
51
believing (and faith is God’s own gift to us) it is God’s
way of comforting us and causing us to magnify His
own grace by the manifestation of this sweet and
gracious work.
We know the text the worldly religionists will go to:
“And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.” (I John 2:2.) Immediately they jump onto the
words “also for the sins of the whole world,” because
they do not know what a propitiation is! One thing is
for certain, that if Christ is the propitiation for everyone
on earth, then He has already satisfied the just
demands of the law, and appeased the wrath of God
against everyone on earth, and therefore everyone on
earth is saved and safe! The phrase “the whole world”
is certainly no universally all inclusive phrase. Read
this passage written by this same apostle: “And WE
know that WE ARE OF GOD, and the WHOLE
WORLD lieth in wickedness” (I John 5:19.) Need
we point out that the “WE” are a different group of
people than the “whole world” in this text?
Christ Jesus is our Advocate with the Father, and as
such He alone stands as the Propitiation of our sins. All
that He did while on earth was to this very end. His
standing before the Father for us is the crowning glory
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of our salvation. John wrote: “Herein IS LOVE, not that
we loved God (for we didn’t, and can’t in the flesh),
but that HE LOVED US, and sent HIS SON to be
the PROPITIATION FOR OUR sins” (I John 4:10.) If
only we could always believe and rest in this! How
comfortable would our souls be! But in those times
when God grants us to recall it, believe it, and rest in it,
it is the Gospel to our burdened souls. How gracious is
our Lord not to lay this task upon our fickle, feeble
faith, repentance, or works! He made this doctrine a
stable finished one two thousand years ago! “It is
finished!” This is referred to as “the accomplishment of
Christ on the cross.”
7. Christ’ Reconciliation of His People To God
This, too, is a most precious doctrine! How great is
the need for a feeling sinner to be at peace with God?
And to ever be at peace with God, in some manner, he
must be reconciled to Him. By nature he is born a
rebel. In fact, his “natural mind,” or “carnal mind is
enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:78.) That
was not merely what condition we were in before divine
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quickening to spiritual life: It still IS our condition
relative to our fleshly being. That condition has not yet
changed. This being so, how can one ever expect to
have peace with God? Again, “with man it is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.”
Do you see how God has everything needful
covered? This is surely a testimony to the perfection of
His Wisdom! He left nothing undone that is needful for
our salvation. This, too, is a finished work from two
thousand years ago. Let us look at the testimony of the
Scripture.
Paul connected the elects’ reconciliation with their
justification by His blood, and put both of them in the
past tense when He shed his blood two thousand
years ago! “Much more then, being NOW justified by
His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
RECONCILED to God by the death of His Son,
(See, His death was two thousand years ago) much
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
Life” (Romans 5: 910.) That is as plain as one can
make it; yet very few can believe it. Strange, isn’t it?
However, in believing it, the Gospel, or glad tidings,
gives the believer much comfort and joy. Deep within
our carnal nature we would think that we should do
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something to reconcile ourselves to God. Simply put, it
is too late, and not necessary! Christ has already done
that for His people because they could not do it for
themselves. “And not only so, but we also joy in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
NOW received the atonement (or reconciliation : KJV
marginal reading Romans 5:11.)
Again, in II Cor. 5:18 and 19, Paul put reconciliation
in the past tense, and timed it to the event on the
Cross. “And all things are of God, Who HATH
RECONCILED us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them; and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation.”
We believe we have proved the doctrine. Now let us
apply it. We need peace with God, not only in reality,
but also in our conscience. A sensible sinner is greatly
comforted in those times that he is enabled to view
himself already reconciled to God. In that way he is
made a friend to God and God is made a friend to him.
This is one of the reasons that Christ came in the flesh,
so that He could be a perfect High Priest for us, and
make this reconciliation. As the writer said, “Wherefore
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in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto
His brethren, that He might be a merciful and
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He
is able to succour them that are tempted” (Heb.
2:1718.)
Under the law, the high priest’s business was to
make atonement (atonement) for the sins of those he
represented. He finalized all the sacrificial offerings
made by the priests. He made intercession for the sins
of the people. So our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ has done all these things needful for His people.
What He accomplished, and the ways in which He
accomplished them, simply put, is the Gospel, or glad
tidings of our salvation.
That, and much, much more, my dear young
“Theophilus” is the Gospel Simply Put.
Chapter Four: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE SIMPLY PUT
In my former treatise, O Theophilus, (“Theophilus”
means: “a friend of God” in the Greek), the Gospel was
presented as the “glad tidings,” or “good news” of what
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Christ has already done in his active and passive work
while here on earth. In the second, the official doctrines
of our fellowship of churches were simply stated. In
this, treatise, we shall attempt to apply the whole.
Setting forth the Gospel and the doctrines of
Christianity without the application of these to a poor
sinner would be to neglect a vital point for which the
former are designed. But, where to begin is difficult to
determine. If we begin where Christian experience
begins, it must be in the eternal love and decree of God
from which it rises. But how deep is that sea! How wide
that topic! We shall spend eternity wondering at its
vastness. So we will only “hint” at this and pass on.
[See page 26-29, on Effectual Calling .]
As with Jeremiah, the same can be said of every
sensible sinner: “The Lord hath appeared of old unto
me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love: and with longing kindness have I DRAWN thee”
(Jeremiah 31:3.) It is from this everlasting love that
God moved to save such wretched sinners. As he said
of Ephraim, His work is the moving cause of salvation:
“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus;
Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, as a
bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: TURN THOU ME,
and I SHALL be turned; for Thou art the Lord my God.
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Surely AFTER that I was turned, I REPENTED; and
after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I
was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did
bear the reproach of my youth” (Jeremiah 31:18,19.) If
one would look closely at the order and arrangement of
this text, one should be able to see the Christian
experience laid out consistently with what every
quickened child of God has experienced. First, God
moves in the quickening of sinners, giving them eternal
life. He applies the law, thus chastening him for sins,
and the sinner now desires that God turn him. He
cannot turn from what he is by nature. So he begs God
to turn him. He recognizes the effectual work of God’s
Almighty power as necessary: “Turn Thou me, and I
shall be turned!” There is no dispute here. If God turns
a man, that man is turned! The reason he is turned is
because the “Lord is my God.” God is GOD, and He
surely can turn whomsoever He will.
But what follows next? “After that I was turned, I
repented.” That is totally reversed from the order
modern religions teach. They teach that if you would
but repent, God then would turn you, or let you turn
yourself! But that, simply put, is contrary to
experience. Since a man is born “dead in trespasses
and sins,” he is unable to turn himself, and also unable
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to evangelically repent. But when God turns him he
most certainly will repent, for repentance is God’s work
too! “Him haht God exalted with His right hand to be a
Prince and a Savior, for TO GIVE repentance to Israel,
and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31.) Again, upon the
report of Peter to the church at Antioch, the church
rejoiced and “glorified God, saying, Then hath God also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts
11:18.) Paul rebuked natural men for “not knowing
that the goodness of God LEADETH THEE to
REPENTANCE” (Romans 2:4.)
Are you then a feeling sinner? Has God chastened
you to feel as if you were a stubborn bull
unaccustomed to the oxyoke? You just cannot do good,
but are condemned for not doing it? There is solid
comfort here if the answers to these questions are
“Yes.” One of the earliest declarations of our Lord
Jesus was this: “I will have mercy, and NOT sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
REPENTANCE” (Matt. 9:13.) Why would our Lord
reject sacrifices? Sacrifices were commanded of Israel.
The reason is to display His MERCY. And how is His
mercy displayed? by calling SINNERS, rather than self
righteous folk, to repentance. The Lord “delights in
mercy.” It is one of His sweetest attributes, or
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characteristics. If He made salvation, whether faith or
repentance, to be conditional, then the “righteous”
would have it. But no! Ten thousands times no! He
made it a matter of His own sweet mercy! He does the
chastening; He does the turning; He gives the results:
repentance; and He does it to and for sinners! What
solid comfort this is to a believing sinner. No wonder
the saints love to sing of His free grace and mercy!
While “repentance and remission of sins is to be
preached unto all nations,” it is never to be predicated
on creature merit. Christ is the Savior of sinners; not
repentance or faith the savior of sinners. All of the
above flows from God’s everlasting love and loving
kindness. We now move to the topic as it is applied to
experience.
The one prerequisite for all Gospel benefits is
spiritual life within an individual. Without spiritual
life, he cannot believe. Without life, he cannot evangel
ically repent. Without life, he cannot know he is a
wretched miserable sinner. Without life, he cannot
“hear the joyful sounds” of the Gospel. Without life, he
cannot mourn over his sins. Without life, he cannot see
any real need for Christ. Without life, simply put, HE IS
DEAD, SPIRITUALLY. Life, then, must precede all
these things “which accompany salvation.” And, from
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whence comes this LIFE? Jesus said, “Ye must be born
again” (John 3:3.) Or, “Ye must be born from above”
(center margin.) As in John 1:13, “Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of GOD.” It makes perfectly good sense to an
informed Christian. Your father and mother brought
you into this world. They were natural, and so are you.
Bovines have calves, but goats don’t. If you are ever to
be spiritual, you must have a spiritual birth. Your
Father must be spiritual. So you come into this new life
by a spiritual begetting and birth; and whoever begat
you and brought you forth unto spiritual life, is your
spiritual and heavenly Father! For the God of all grace
to give this life to one, that life must be in Christ’ seed,
for it is the “incorruptible seed, the word of God that
liveth and abideth forever” (I Peter 1:23,) that begets one
to eternal and everlasting life. And this life has always
been “is hid in Christ in God.”
But of concern by many poor sinners is the
question, “Am I His or am I not?” Are there any
indicators by which one may find comfort? Yes. “Jesus
said, “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE” ( John 5:24.)
That is good evidence. Notice that it did not say that if
you believed that you would receive everlasting life. He
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is showing one that he already has everlasting life!
Faith is the substance of the things hope for; the
evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1.) Paul
spent much of his time in the seventh chapter of
Romans on this very subject. It is worth reading many
times over. Are you alive, or are you dead? Perhaps
your comfort can be found there. “I was alive without
the law once: but when the commandment came, SIN
REVIVED, AND I DIED.” Have you been there? Again,
“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that I
do not; but what I hate, that I do.” Has he described you
yet? By his own experience, the fact that he did those
things which he otherwise would not do, he had a
witness that the law was good. But he also realized
something else. If he was actually doing those things
that he would not do, then something else was doing it.
And that something else was “but sin that dwelleth in
me” (verse 20.) Are you with him yet? He explained it
further, saying: “I find than a law, that, when I would
do good, evil is present with me” (verse 21.) If he has
reached your condition, then take comfort that these
give evidences of spiritual life within you.
With the commencement of that spiritual life within
one who was previously dead in trespasses and sins,
there also begins a spiritual warfare. Comfort can also
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be found with that experience, even if it a trying
experience. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the
one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would” (Galatians 5:17.) Is this clash of positive and
negative forces in you? That would be good news, for
surely if the Spirit is not within one, that description
would be invalid. It is a mark of God’s living children.
We have presented the work of Christ for sinners, as
well as the Father’s sovereign decree in salvation. When
viewing the experimental work within the child of God,
we are expressly concerned with the Holy Spirit’s work.
Jesus promised the Spirit as a Comforter, saying: “I will
pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide WITH you forever, even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye
know Him; for He dwelleth WITH you, and shall be IN
YOU” (John 14: 16, 17.) Now there is a contrast made
here. The child of God has the Spirit of truth, whereas
the world does not. We would not conclude that
everyone with a headknowledge of the five points of
grace is saved, but we can say that if they love and
cherish such precious truth, then grace is dwelling
within them.
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The living child of God has an “infirmity” in praying.
The world can say a “prayer” at a football game, beer
joint, sick bed, or anywhere and at any time they wish.
But the infirmity in prayer makes a child of God totally
dependent upon God, even for his prayers. “Likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God” (Romans 8:2627.) In your experience, are you
there? Is your prayerlife easy and at any time? Or
must you wait for the unction of the Spirit to indict
your heart before God? Such individuals are “poor in
spirit,” and our Lord promised that such were “blessed”
already. Simply put, being poor in spirit is an evidence
of one’s blessed state. Is that your present state? Then
take comfort in it.
Another good test of one’s sonship may be by
looking within with the most basic and honest
examination: What are my values? What are those
things I really honestly prize deep within? Well, you
might say, “I prize righteousness and as Lot, am vexed
daily by the unrighteousness of the wicked.” How is
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that weighed by the Lord? “Blessed are they which
hunger and thirst after righteousness. . .” (Matthew 5:6)
Is that what you are saying? You hunger and thirst
after it. If you do, again, our Lord said you were
“blessed” already. It too, simply put, is an evidence of
one’s sonship. But the Lord’s answer should be of even
more comfort. That is, “for they shall be filled.” You’ll
never attain it in your flesh, or outward man, in this
present life; but in the spiritual creature within, that
“inner man,” you have a perfect righteousness imputed
to you by the faith of Christ Jesus. His righteousness is
yours and that by a free gift of God. That is as “full” of
righteousness as one can be!
There is another precious work within God’s people
that can be of comfort to a living trembling sinner.
God’s people invariably mourn over their sinfulness. It
is one of the most cutting of their experiences. They are
“dead to sin,” but find that sin is not dead to them. It
confronts them daily, and is the most troubling
experience to test their faith. Sin dwells within their
flesh, and sin grieves their spirit without. Sin is ever
present with them, which gives them no rest day or
night. Their rest can only be in Christ Jesus and His
sustaining presence. They do, unlike the happygo
lucky manmade “Christian,” mourn over their awful
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condition in the flesh. But here, too, the Lord’s words
are of great solace: “Blessed ARE they that mourn: for
they SHALL be comforted” (Matthew 5:4.) So again,
simply put, mourning over sin is an evidence of one’s
blessed state. It is from this condition that the Lord
promised they would be comforted, for He is ever their
strength and shield. He delights to help those who
mourn and in comforting them, He thereby proves His
love for them.
So, dear “Theophilus,” may you find your comfort in
the Lord and the precious work of the Holy Spirit
within. There is your rest, which remains for the people
of God. Christ is your Sabbath, or rest, and you enter
into that rest, when you cease from your own labor as
He ceased from His. May the eternal God graciously
bless you and all His elect people among whom you
live.
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Chapter Five: EFFECTUAL CALLING
“Draw me, we will run after Thee” Song of Solomon
1:4
“Come to Jesus. Come just as you are! Jesus is
waiting! You must, indeed, you can come this very
night,” purred the “evangelist.” Jesus therefore
answered and said: “No man can come unto me, except it
were given unto him of My Father” (John 6:65.) The
evangelist responds: “Jesus said that “he that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out.” Jesus answers: “All
that the FATHER GIVETH ME, SHALL COME to me; and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John
6:37.) “Don’t listen to anyone” says the evangelist, “who
says you can’t come to Jesus. He wants you to come
right now!” “Jesus therefore answered and said, . . .
NO MAN CAN COME TO ME, except the Father which
hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the
last day” (John 6:44.)
What a shocking discourse the above is to the ears
of an unconverted or inexperienced man! Someone once
said that John Calvin thought the doctrine of
reprobation was a “horrible decree.” Of course, Calvin
believed it to be true because it is clearly taught in the
Bible. “No man can come” to Christ unless the Father
draws him, or “except it were given to him” of the
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Father. Regardless of what preachers say, Christ’s own
answer is the truth. “Let God be true and every man a
liar” (Romans 3:4.) The preachers say that the sinner
can come anytime he pleases; and the Lord says, “Oh,
no! He cannot come unless My Father determined that
he does.” It is not left up to man; but is left up to the
Father. The Father will “have mercy on him whom He
will have mercy, and have compassion on whom He will
have compassion. And whom He will, He hardeneth”
(Romans 9:1119.)
Simply put, God is sovereign in His calling, or
drawing, a feeling sinner to Himself. This drawing is a
lifelong experience, but it is first felt during the
developmental stage of spiritual growth. After one is
begotten of God, and prior to his spiritual birth, he
finds this drawing influence moving him from a life of
sinful pleasure to a life of godliness. There is a stirring
within him against sin and guilt, and a strong desire for
a life of righteousness and peace with God. The old
writers spoke of this as “effectual calling.” Frontier
Baptists referred to it as one’s “travel.” This is one of
the evidences of divine life prior to one’s conversion.
This divine drawing is contrary to anything the sinner
previously experienced as a Pelagian or Arminian; and
it will eventually deliver him from these antichristian
philosophies.
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Natural men’s sensitivities toward their fellow man
draws forth a violent reaction to the truth Jesus taught
in the above passages. “Do you mean to say that God
will prevent one from believing and being saved? That
“ain’t fair!” Such a conclusion is invariably necessary,
for it is certain that God does not save all. He does not
call all to repentance. He did not choose all to salvation.
It is not given to all to come to Christ. Indeed, it is not
given to all that hear to believe. The reason is clearly
given by our Lord: “He that is of God heareth God’s
words: ye therefore hear them not, BECAUSE ye are
NOT OF God” (John 8:47.) But, says one, such cannot
be the correct meaning of the text. Surely if they
understood Christ, they could come.” “Why do ye NOT
understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear
My word,” said our Lord. (John 8:43.)
“It is just too difficult to draw such a conclusion in
light of the love of God. Didn’t He come to give everyone
a chance to be saved?” “For judgment I am come into
this world, that THEY WHICH SEE NOT MIGHT SEE;
AND THAT THEY WHICH SEE MIGHT BE MADE BLIND,”
said the Lord Jesus (John 9: 39.)
Simply put, the above presents a side of the truth of
free grace that is absolutely shocking the first time it
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engages one’s attention. There is no doubt that most
individuals find it very negative; and for this reason
they will not entertain it in their minds very long. It
does not fit the “evangelical Christian” theory of
universal offers of salvation.
While at first glance the above Scriptures appear
negative, yet they are rather positive. It is the positive
aspects of them that are of greatest interest in this
article. It seems appropriate, however, to highlight the
negative first as a dark background for the positive. We
will prove the doctrine and then move on to the beauty
and sweetness it affords a sensible sinner in his travel
of free grace.
The Bible proves conclusively that the evangelical
theory of universal offers of salvation is false. The
theory is only a figment of the imagination of ministers
bent on gaining church members at any cost. In the
bestknown text the “free offer” men advance, the
context itself disputes their interpretation roundly. In
John 12: 32, Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto Me.” The evangelical
ministers will say: “See, God does draw everyone to
Jesus!” However, in verses 40 & 41, John writes: “He
hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that
they should NOT see with their eyes, nor understand
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with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal
them. These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory,
and spake of Him.” It is not reasonable to believe that
God would do this to them if, in fact, He willed their
salvation. He would have done the exact opposite
instead! Certainly the “all” in that text is an indefinite
pronoun! Again, in the famous “Lord’s Prayer,” we hear
the Lord praying to His Father saying: “As Thou hast
given Him power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as THOU HAST GIVEN HIM . . . .I
pray for THEM: I pray NOT FOR THE WORLD, but for
them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine”
(John 17: 2, 9.) It surely would appear that if it were
His will that all be drawn to Him and saved by Him,
that His intercessory prayer would have included all of
them. But obviously, it did not! In one place, Jesus said
His Father heard Him always (John 11:42.) This being
so, if God desired the salvation of every human being,
all He needed to have done was to “pray for the world.”
Yet He explicitly told His Father that He was not
including the world in His intercessory prayer for His
elect children!
To make the negative aspect of this doctrine
brief, we will cite only one more passage (out of many)
to prove this point. The apostle foretelling of the coming
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of that “wicked one,” writes: “And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
BECAUSE they receive not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. And for THIS CAUSE God shall send
them STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe a lie:
(That God loves everybody and wants to save everybody)
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:10
12.) Now that is what some might consider being a
negative aspect of the truth. Notice, however, the next
verse: It sets forth the most positive and sweet part of
the subject: “But we are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God
hath from the beginning CHOSEN YOU TO SALVATION
through sanctification of the Spirit and BELIEF OF THE
TRUTH: whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse
13,14.) That, dear friend, is very positive! God chose
those His Father gave Him to salvation. As He said: “Ye
have not CHOSEN Me but I have chosen you” (John
15:16.)
The positive result of this drawing is in the
emphasis of the actual drawing by the Father, and it
being a blessing given to one by Him. Read the text
again:
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“No man can come unto Me, except the Father which
hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the
last day.” “Therefore said I unto you, that NO MAN CAN
COME UNTO Me, except it were GIVEN UNTO HIM OF My
father.”
The texts above shows clearly that while no one can
come to Christ except God draws him, those that the
Father draws will be in the resurrection of the just. In
other words, it is imperative that God draw one to
Christ if that one is ever to be saved experimentally and
everlastingly. This places salvation squarely in the
hands of God. It denies any initiation of salvation to be
by the efforts of the creature, whether friend, minister,
or one’s own self.
It is a very positive declaration. To Jeremiah the
prophet, God said: “Thus saith the Lord, The people
which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness; even Israel, when I went to CAUSE him to
rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore
with LOVINGKINDNESS HAVE I DRAWN THEE”
(Jeremiah 31: 2,3.)
What a mercy is this! “I have drawn thee.” Jesus
had said, “No man can come unto Me except,” and this
exception is this gracious drawing by the loving
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kindness of God. “Yea,” said He, “I have loved thee with
an everlasting love.” We cannot escape the conclusion
that one who is drawn to Christ has been loved of God
“from the beginning,” and therefore has been loved of
God from the foundation of the world, or ever the world
was. The apostle said even the same, when he wrote:
“according as He hath chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated
US unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:46.)
“With lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” That is as
to say, “not with violence,” but “in love and gentleness.”
It surely is with “loving kindness” when God draws one
to Himself. “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee
polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou
wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou
wast in thy blood, LIVE” (Ezekiel 16:5,6.) In such a
The Gospel is the message of what Christ has done
for the salvation of His elect people (Eph. 1:4; I Thess.
helpless and polluted condition! Why should God have
mercy on such ungodly sinners as this? Yet, Christ
“came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.” That call is an appointed call. “Now when I
passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time
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was the TIME OF LOVE; and I spread My skirt over thee,
and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and
entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God,
and thou BECAMEST MINE” (verse 8.)
The drawing of one to Christ can be by many
different ways. God is not bound by manmade plans of
salvation, or methods of grace. The covenant promise of
the everlasting Father to His beloved Son was that “Thy
people shall be willing in the day of THY POWER, in the
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou
hast the dew of Thy youth” (Psalm 110:3.) It is a
powerful drawing to Christ Jesus when He in His power
makes them willing. If He shows them their sinfulness
their inability to attain an adequate righteousness of
their own; that all their religious devotions and legal
efforts cannot justify them; then they will be made to
flee to Him for His righteousness and consequent
justification. They will, in His own time and way, cause
them to finally exclaim, “The Lord our Righteousness”
and salvation! God will teach all His people that they
are the chiefest of sinners. He will make them all to see
what they are by nature in the carnality of Adam’s
flesh! And, He will cause them to come to Him for rest.
In fact, Paul declared this to be “a faithful saying, and
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worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners;” of whom he was chief; and that
in him, “first Jesus Christ might show forth all
longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (I Timothy
1:1516.)
The doctrine of God our Savior will draw a believer
to Christ often. In our day, the doctrinal downgrade has
been highly successful. Modernday “Christians” have
thrown the doctrine of Christ away. They never knew
how important doctrine is! Without doctrine, they
cannot know Christ. His doctrine describes Him. It tells
who and what manner of Person He is. This Biblical
description of Him draws the believer to Him. To
illustrate a point, as if to say, “Jesus is a hateful, mean,
ugly subhuman creature with horns and a forked tail
and cannot save anyone unless he lets Him.” Is this the
Christ we worship? Of course not! His doctrine declares
Him to be Love. He is merciful. He is sovereign. He does
His own will as He pleases. He has already saved all His
people by the sacrifice of Himself. He effectually calls
sinners to Himself, and He teaches them all things that
they need as they need them. Without the doctrine of
Christ, one cannot know Him. But it is with His
doctrine that His people are drawn to Him. His people
need a god that is indeed a GOD! And this He certainly
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is! They do not need a helper in salvation; they need a
SAVIOR! And this He certainly is also! All the great and
glorious attributes of God are taught only by the
doctrine of Christ. These are all instruments in the
hand of God to draw a trembling sinner to the loving
arms of a loving and adorable Savior. Every living child
of God has a witness that this is true. Consider this
most frequent evidence: A free grace believer is in a
busy place and hears a stranger mention any of God’s
attributes: His sovereignty, His free grace, His death for
the sheep only; His divine providence, election,
predestination, etc., and what happens within his
mind, heart, and emotions. A sense of pleasure! A
nearness to this stranger! But if he heard a stranger
boastingly say, “I love Jesus,” “Are you saved?” “Are you
a Christian?” “I’m helping the Lord!” “My church is on
fire for the Lord!” “I was saved yesterday,” “Jesus
saves,” etc., what is the effect within him now?
Repulsion! Disdain! These expressions are statements
of doctrine: true and false. The true doctrine is
descriptive of the greatness of our God. Again, without
doctrine, talking about “Jesus” makes one think:
“Which Jesus?” The world is full of those Paul called
“another Jesus.” The doctrine of God our Savior is a
strong drawing power to a child of grace: stronger than
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any steel to a magnet! “If I be lifted up, I will draw all
(manner, or sorts of) men to Me” (John 12:32.)
Chapter Six: EFFECTS OF GOD’S DRAWING
“Draw me, we will run after Thee: the king hath
BROUGHT me to His chambers: We will be glad and
rejoice in Thee, we will remember Thy love more than
wine: the UPRIGHT love Thee” (Song of Solomon 1:4.)
The young mother reaches for her crying child and
tenderly draws him into her arms and cradles him in
her bosom. The child stops crying, and begins
snubbing. Soon he is satisfied and returns to play.
There is no sweeter experience on earth than God
drawing His own distressed child into His everlasting
arms, and cradling him in His bosom of eternal love
and favor. What peace in believing and experiencing
such a rest. And this “rest remains for the people of
God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from His”
(Hebrews 4:910.) We call this experience conversion,
and it is not a onetime experience. Time after time God
withdraws His feltpresence. Time after time He draws
His precious child into His arms for comfort and peace.
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That drawing influence causes a young convert
to desire the presence of God and His truth. “Tell me, O
Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where
Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I
be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy
companions?” (Song 1:7.) Is that not an adequate
expression of one’s love to Christ? Why should I feed in
a congregation where Christ does not commune? Where
does our Lord meet with His people by His Spirit?
Where can I hear the joyful sound of free and sovereign
grace? Lord, lead me out of this religious and legal
wilderness. “Draw me to Thyself!”
“If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,” He
says to your soul, “go thy way forth by the footsteps of
the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents”
(Song 1:8.) Seek out My shepherds that feed My sheep.
You may have to drive a long distance across a barren
desert, but My shepherds feed with “wholesome words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness” (I Timothy 6:3,) and there are
goatherdsmen that “consent not to wholesome words,”
nor the doctrine of Christ (ibid.)
“Draw Me.” “My Beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.” Thus He
draws one to Him after a period when his soul is in a
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time of winter and stormy experiences. “For, lo, the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” He gently woos
the soul with His drawing power: “Arise, My love, My
fair one, and come away” (Song 1:13.)
It is the experience of every true believer that at
times his soul is brought before the throne of grace by
the breathing of the Holy Spirit. This too, is a drawing
to Him. “By night on my bed I sought Him whom my
soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not” (Song
2:1.) How often a believer has attempted to pray and
failed? The manmade “Christian” can pray at will, but
not so the tried child of God! The living child has a
desire to commune with God and finds his inability
disturbing. Here is how some attempt to find Him when
He withdraws Himself: “I will rise now, and go about the
city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek Him
whom My soul loveth” (Song 2:2.) Do you suppose the
Lord will be found in the broad way “that leadeth to
destruction”? Many people think so. That word “way” in
the text “broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,”
in the Greek is hodos, and means “progress,” or
“progressive.” The modern religions pride themselves
for being progressive, but it is the broad way that leads
to destruction. Progressiveness is the urge and action
to depart from the New Testament faith or practice. No,
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the soul cannot find Christ there! “I sought Him, but I
found Him not” (ibid.) Christ would not set up His
church in the earth, and give His blessing to her
enemies.
Let one leave the broad way and then we can read:
“It was but a little that I passed from them, (the
progressive elements) but I found Him whom my soul
loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go” (Song 3:4.)
Is this not love? “Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My
friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.” As if to
say: “If you do not pick and choose what you will obey.”
God’s children love Him, and obedience is a sign of this
love. Why else would one be baptized and suffer the
reproach of the Church? Why else would one commune
and wash one another’s feet? Why else “go beside the
shepherds’ tents” to feed? (Song 1:8.) Is loving His
church, His ordinances, His doctrine, His
commandments too grievous to bear for one who loves
Him so ardently?
Being drawn to Christ might be a test of one’s
affections. “I sleep, but my heart waketh: It is the voice
of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to Me, My
sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled: for My head is
filled with dew, and My locks with drops of the night”
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(Song 5:2.) Have you ever been so busy that when you
felt a heart to pray did not do so? While busy, have you
thought to read the Bible, yet did not? Is it possible for
the saints to have such experiences? Well, read this: “I
have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have
washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” Rather busy,
would you not say? In this passage, the Lord reached
through the doorlatch hole to open it anyway, and here
follows a way He draws one to Himself:
“My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door,
and my bowels (compassions) were moved for Him. I
rose up to open to My Beloved; and my hands dropped
with myrrh, and my fingers with sweetsmelling myrrh,
upon the handles of the lock. I opened to My Beloved;
but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and WAS
GONE” (Song 5:6.) So now you will pray! So now you
have time to meditate on His name! And now, He is
gone! Not a whimpering prayer rises from your heart!
The Holy Book is as a sealed book – it does not speak a
comforting word to you! You realize you do not have
“freedom of will” in the matter of divine worship.( A very
good lesson to learn!) He has withdrawn Himself. He is
GONE! But, is this not a method to draw one to Him?
“In absence, the heart grows fonder” someone has said.
If you read the remaining verses of this Gospel Love
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Epoch, from Songs 5:6 to 6:9, you can see how God
draws His children to seek Him. “I sought Him, but I
could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no
answer” (verse 6.)
In the text, the watchmen of the city, representing
the ministers of artificial or manmade religion were of
no help at all in finding the Lord’s felt presence. The
soul’s seeking Him brought inquiries from others who
this was who was so important to her, and the soul’s
description of Him by means of doctrine, led her to this
exclamation: “His mouth is most sweet: yea, He is
altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my
Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem” (Song 5:16.) As soon
as she has described him, no doubt she has found Him!
When others wish to know where He is she is now able
to tell them (Song 6:13.)
When the Lord draws one of His elect to Himself, it
is with such lovingkindness that He owns that one as
His. “My dove, My undefiled is but one; she is the choice
one of her that bear her. The daughters saw her, and
blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines (corn
grinders, or servant girls,) and they praised her.” There
are times, when blessed with a sense of His love that a
child of grace can honestly say: “I am my Beloved’s,
and His desire is toward me” (Song 7:10.) If His desire
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is NOT towards one, then surely that one would never
be drawn. God draws those that are given to Christ in
divine election, and have been predestinated to an
inheritance undefiled and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for them.
It is true that no man can come to Christ except it
be given to them of the Father; or be drawn by the
Father to Him. But, O how precious such words of
grace are to those that are drawn with the cords of
everlasting love! May God bless your hearts to seek Him
too?
Effectual calling first begins after one is begotten
from above, or spiritually conceived, by the work of
God. In time, the drawing will effectually work a
deliverance from darkness into the marvelous light of
His grace. Hope, faith, and charity will issue forth from
this initial work of grace and bring the sensible sinner
to an understanding of God’s everlasting love. We will
next consider the subject of the elects’ standing in
Christ prior to the work of the Spirit in effectual calling.
All the elect were “chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world,” (Ephesians 1:4,) and had “all spiritual
blessings in Him” that early. Among the greatest of
these is “eternal life” which is held in seed substance
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“hid in Christ in God.” At the appointed time, the chosen
one in Christ will be “born from above.”
Chapter Seven: The Living Union of Christ and His People
God’s people were chosen IN Christ – not in Adam
– before the world began. Ephesians 1: 4. Being IN
Christ, they were in Him in seed substance from
eternally, and the eternal life they receive in the new
birth is derived from “His seed” and “counted to Him for
a generation.” They are specifically said to be the “body
of Christ,” and Christ is the “Head” of His progeny, and
they are “members in particular” of His body. This
Church is manifested upon the earth in collected visible
assemblies during its development. Some are added to
the visible local church and if preserved faithful to
Christ, are preservers of the doctrine and order of His
constitute kingdom on earth. Others, not added to the
visible church, are equally in the church triumphant,
the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, and have full and free
access to the Gospel of the grace of God in the
churches’ congregations here below where ever, or if,
the Lord situates them near enough. However, in
considering her in her eternal union with Christ as His
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Bride, we will view her in the aggregate of all the elect of
God, and the individual development of each of her
members. For such that desire to examine the subject
of the local visible and functioning churches of Christ
on earth, consistent with this presentation, we
recommend “Come, And I will Show Thee that Bride, the
Lamb’s Wife,” by this author.
In order to examine the origin and development of
the body and Bride of Christ, we wish first to notice a
large collection of Scriptures that are needful to present
this subject. Every Bible reader will recognize the
passages we cite, and every Bible believer will realize
that the Holy Spirit has presented them with a real and
important design. Following this discussion, then, one
may expect to see many of these passages unfolding to
present a gestalt view of the Church of the living God.
To begin this collection of passages, let us note some
that are extremely important, drawn from the creative
design of our Lord God in the beginning of the genesis
of the race of man.
Others before us have discovered a “principle of
first mentioning” in the Bible. To wit, wherever a
subject is first mentioned by the Holy Spirit in the
Scriptures, the way it is introduced is often applicable
in other places where the same word is used. So it is
with reference to a theme found in the first chapter of
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Genesis. More than any other principle emphasized, the
notation that all species developed “after its own kind,”
and have “seed within itself” is outstanding (Genesis
1:11, 21,24, 25, 29). The same is true of Man, who was
made in the likeness and image of God, and was as
Paul taught, a “figure of Him that was to come.”
(Romans 5:14). Not only, then, is the modern theory of
evolution proved heretical, but the relation of the first
creature to all its offspring is faithfully demonstrated to
be absolutely true of the record God has revealed in
Genesis one. There never were any “missing links”
between species and kinds. Nor have believers ever
supposed there were.
It is very noteworthy that consistent to this
principle are the following revelations. First, God reveals
the “generations of Adam,” (plural Genesis 5:1), and
the “generation of Jesus Christ,” (singular Matthew
1:1). Second, the Holy Scriptures reveal both a “first
Adam,” (1 Cor. 15:45,) and a second or “last Adam,” (1
Cor. 15:45). It is written that the first man Adam was
“made a living soul,” while the last Adam was “made a
quickening spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). The first man “is of the
earth, earthy: the “second man is Lord from heaven” (1
Cor. 15:47). We would alert the reader to the fact that
as the first man Adam was made of the earth, the
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record is given that “As is the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy,” that is, of like kind with their father
Adam, and as he, has his seed of reproduction within
himself. (1 Cor. 15: 48). And of special note, such as
are of the last Adam, who is Lord from heaven (Christ),
“such are they also that are heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:48).
Third, the revelation includes a “natural man,” born of
the first Adam (1 Cor. 15:44,) and a full discussion of
him is found throughout the Sacred text; and a
“spiritual man,” born of God (1 Cor. 15:44,) whose
characteristics are also fully presented in the holy
pages. The inspired record speaks plainly of one that is
born of the first Adam as being “born of the flesh,”
(John 3: 6), and of those born of the Spirit of God, it is
recorded that “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”
(John 3:6). So we see the first principle being
maintained even in one’s spiritual birth: i.e.,
reproduced in “like kind, from a seed within Himself.”
Fourth, We read of the natural man, his body and all of
its component parts and passions, referred to as “our
outward man,” and we read together with that phrase,
of an “inward man,” “but though our outward man
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (II
Cor. 4:16). In fact, the apostle clearly contrast these
two men by saying, “That ye put off the former
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conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness”
(Ephesians 4:2224.) Again, as “like begets like kind,”
hence the flesh can only produce flesh; and the spirit
can only produce spirit; the animal can only produce
another animal of the same kind; and a plant of its own
kind. This totally destroys Charles Darwin’s fatal
theory, and a Christian should expect it to overthrow
atheism. But we are not discussing that false theory.
Our subject is much more sublime.
In order for the reproduction of the species,
including man, the “seed is in itself.” The seed carries
the living germ of life necessary to reproduction and
identity with the specie in view. The entire specie
throughout all time was in the seed of the first of its
kind created. It is too well established among us for any
to deny that in the sin of Adam’s fall, the entire race of
his progeny was in seed substance in him at the time of
his transgression, and so “all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God.” Death reigns over them all.
“As in Adam all die; so IN Christ all shall be made
alive.” That is, in “seed substance” in Him. The result
is that “there is none righteous, no not one,” of all that
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were seminally in Adam’s loins that fatal day (Romans
3: 10, 23.) So too, the inspired record amply speaks of a
“seed” of the last Adam, of Christ Jesus. Here,
brethren and sisters, we beg of you to give careful
attention. Notice the Scriptures supporting this
statement: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:8.) It appears in this text, at
first sight, to refer to Abraham’s offspring; yet the
Apostle says, “and to Thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal.
3:16,) when he refers to this O.T. verse. “A seed shall
serve Him, and it shall be counted to Him a generation”
(Psalm 22:30.) “He shall see His seed, and He shall
prolong His days,” (Isaiah 53:10.) “Thy seed shall
inherit the Gentiles” (Isaiah 54:3.)
It is the life that is in the seed that produces an
offspring to perpetuate the specie. As surely as this is
so of man in nature, so it must be of the spiritual seed
that produces the children of God. A corrupt seed must
produce a corrupt offspring; and an incorrupt seed
must produce like kind: an incorrupt offspring. And so
we read of God’s children, “Being born again, not of
corruptible seed,” of which we certainly are in our first
birth from the first man, Adam; “but of incorruptible, by
the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter
1:23.)
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We do not expect any to deny that whomever begat
us into this world can only have been our father. If our
father begat us by the implantation of his corrupt seed
that he inherited from Adam, then we surely must be
“his children,” and also corrupt by birth. Will any
dispute this conclusion? Then I insist that the same is
true of the incorruptible seed as well. For any of us to be
children of God, we imperatively must be “begotten of
God.” This truth leaves out the Arminian theory of
“Gospel regeneration,” or of the Calvinists’ “preacher
made Christians.” John clearly taught: “Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin; for His Seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God” (I John 3:9.) And “Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that
loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
Him” (I John 5:1.)
The implanted seed must be alive in order to
produce an offspring. When God fashioned man, He
then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and
man became a living soul.” Ever afterwards, man has
transmitted that natural life from one generation to the
next, wave after wave down to this present day. So too,
the incorruptible seed is also a living seed, and conveys
life to all God’s offspring. “And this is the record, that
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God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in the
Son” (I John 5:11.) Notice where the actual life is found:
Therefore the apostle can justly claim, as he did, “He
that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son,
hath not life” (I John 5: 12.) The living sperm must
impregnate a living ovary, or the attempted procreation
will fail. [Note: Life does NOT begin at conception! Life
began at Creation!]
When that eternal life is transmitted by the
incorruptible seed, the Word of God that liveth and
abideth forever, the object that is born is a child of God;
just as surely as a man is an offspring born of Adam
and possessing natural life from him. A point ought to
be made here. Whoever, or whatever, is born of God
cannot commit sin. Hence, we cannot say that a man’s
soul is born again, because the soul of a man can
contract blame, as Paul prayed, that God would keep
them, “both body, soul and spirit, blameless unto the
day of Jesus Christ.” We read again, “We know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is
begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toucheth him not” (I John 5:18.) Jesus did not say,
“Except a man’s soul be born again,” or “Except a
man’s spirit be born again,” or yet, “Except a man’s
body be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
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So not a “part” of that which is born of the corruptible
seed from Adam’s life is the object of a renovation. The
natural man is not born over again into a spiritual
man, otherwise such a man would be sinless, and this
is contrary to the witness and confession of every child
of God! Jesus said, “A spirit hath not flesh and bone as
ye see I have.” Hence, if one’s body, soul, or spirit were
born over again, and became a spiritual body, soul or
spirit, such a being would be invisible! “Being born
again,” does not mean “being born all over again.” It
simply means the man must experience a second birth,
and this second birth is altogether different from his
first and natural birth. His natural birth put him into
the human family with all its cursed woes! And, he will
ever be in that family, unchanged, biologically and
physiologically the very same until the last heartbeat
of that Adamic frame. But the second birth, produced
by the incorruptible seed, the word of God that liveth
and abideth forever, gave him eternal life, and that life
is in God’s Eternal Son, and that experience puts him
into God’s family. That family – every member of it – is
counted for a generation (singular), and is the
completed body and bride of Christ of whom Christ is
the Head and Husband, and they are “members in
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particular” set in that body in their rightful and
ordained place.
If it is claimed, as it has been by some, that such a
view as this means that God has not done anything for
the body, we reply, “Are you completely unskilled in the
Word! Every sin committed was done in the body!
Every pain and groan of the suffering Savior was done
because of the sins done in the body! The whole
scheme of salvation is to deliver those children of God
who reside in the corrupt natural and earthy bodies of
Adam’s race. In fact, our Lord, seeing that His children
are partakers of this flesh and blood, “took part of the
same; that through death He might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them,”
(Heb. 2:14) – His children, His offspring, His seed, His
generation, from that corrupt family, and translate
them from that kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God’s dear Son.
The entire church and family of God were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:1
6.) The life they must have to reside in His glorious
presence was “hid in Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) in
seed substance, waiting until the time of their
procreation or development, first into the family of man,
and then in His spiritual family by the second birth. All
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of the sufferings of Christ, and all His obedience was for
His children’s fleshly tabernacle, in the putting away
of the results of their sinful fall in Adam and
consequent works of wickedness in that evil family. In
that gracious work, He put away sin, and its natural
penalty, and only because they made up His bride, did
He have relationship to them to legally incur their debt,
and pay the full obligation of the transgressed law for
each of them. We see this emphasized in Jude 1, “. . .
to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.” Again, “Lord,
Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou
hadst formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Psalm 90: 1,
2.) They were all chosen in Him, preserved in Him, and
had their dwelling place in seedsubstance in Him,
and so intimate was this relationship, that the
Psalmists could say, “In all their affliction He was
afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in
His love and in His pity He redeemed them; because He
bare [Hebr. “natal”] them, and carried them all the days
of old” (Isaiah 63:9.) The word “bare” in the above
passage is from the Hebrew word, “natal.” And yet
again, David speaking in personification of Christ,
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(David’s son, or “Son of David”) says, “My substance
was not hid from Thee,” (“preserved in Christ Jesus”)
“when I was made in secret,” (“before the world began”),
“and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth”
(in Adam’s earthy corrupted frame). “Thine eyes did see
My substance, yet being unperfect;” (before actual
development) “and in Thy book all My members were
written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as
yet there was none of them. How precious also are Thy
thoughts unto Me, O God! How great is the sum of
them!” (Psalm 139: 1517).
It too, is assumed by some that because there are
two separate and distinct men in this tabernacle of
flesh, that there need not be a bodily resurrection of
the dead. [This has been referred to as a “hollow man
doctrine”]. However, the record is too clear to deny, that
the man of the earth, earthy, the sinner man, is the
object of redemption, and also the object of divine
adoption. The spiritual man, that is born of
incorruptible seed, cannot sin, and hence needs no
adoption or redemption! It is the fleshly man, body,
soul and spirit, the sinner, who must be adopted and
redeemed. The Bride will be whole and complete in the
day of her wedding. She will possess her real identity,
and be herself, and not another, or a bodiless phantom
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– a puff of vapor. What she has waited in hope for will
sweetly be her bliss in ages untold.
The Church in the aggregate is the Bride of Christ.
While here below, she is waiting for the Bridegroom and
must keep herself chaste. Church discipline helps,
fellowship with one another strengthens the ties of
matrimony, and finding one’s place and work within the
visible church helps to develop and maintain that
heavenly and spiritual bond.
It is needful for every member and believer to
assemble together to worship God and to encourage one
another in the most holy faith. When our Little Zion
meets, it is all of our privilege to take such a rare
opportunity, and make the most we can out of it. We
can hunt, fish, work, play, watch ball games, or
whatever else Adam’s offspring find more entertaining
just about any time we please; but the appetite of the
spiritual family of the last Adam is in the spiritual
realm, and here it should not be neglected, and if it is,
the believer is surely the loser for neglecting it.
With all the above Scriptural topics presented
together, what reason or comprehensive view can we
derive from this collection? That they are meaningful,
none should deny; that they are given by inspiration for
some ordained consequence should be admitted by all.
Where, then, should we begin to show the Christian
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Man prior to regeneration, if not here; considering that
Paul teaches that Adam was a figure of Christ, and
that Genesis presents the Adamic creation, we suppose
that is where we should begin. But why not pass over
Adam and his posterity until last, and go directly to his
Creator’s Bride and her origin? Is it not written that
“last shall be first and the first last”?
We have now presented the Gospel as simple as we
know how. But it is not good that a believer live his life
upon the “milk of the Word.” He is to grow “in grace
and knowledge,” and thus we move to a deeper and
higher level of Christian doctrine. One should put much
more care on this part of the book, as we move into
some areas which have taxed the understanding of
much more able men than the writer ever hopes to be.
Some of the following topics will be better classified as
“the meat of the Word.”
Chapter Eight: The Christian Before Divine Quickening to Spiritual Life.
Simply put, it is not proper to refer to one as a
"Christian" prior to his spiritual quickening. He
really is not so until he has the "unction of the Holy
one," or that "anointing" by the implantation of the
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divine nature. This takes place when the Holy Spirit
gives him eternal life in the newbirth process, and
that experience we sometime refer to as “Holy Spirit
baptism.” Christ is the "anointed One." True
believers are referred to as "Christians" because of
the anointing of the Spirit. [The NT word “Christ” is
derived from the Greek word, “khristos,” which
means “the anointed.”] Therefore we admit that this
chapter is misstitled, because we are dealing with
the elect as they stand in Christ from "before the
world began" (Ephesians 1:4.) We are writing about
one who is "chosen in Christ before the foundation of
the world" (Ephesians 1:45, 11.) Long before he is
called by grace, he has his name written in the "book
of life of the Lamb" from the foundation of the world
(Revelation 13:8.) His eternal life is “hid in Christ in
God,” and was his in Christ before the foundation of
the world. It is this eternal life – this eternal vital
union that the Spirit gives to him in his spiritual
quickening to life; and when he receives it, it is called
"everlasting life" (John 3:16, 36) because it will "ever
last" thereafter. He has "all spiritual blessings in
Christ from the foundation of the world" (Ephesians
1:12.) Many are these blessings long before he
possesses them. It is for this reason we titled this
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heading as we have. We are writing of a "Christian"
as an elect person whose standing is in Christ from
everlasting. Since he has these blessings stored up
for him and Christ's work of salvation was
specifically for him, and because he has his
existence in Christ in seed substance before he is
actually born into this world, it seems proper to
reach back to the origin of the "Christian man." This
we hope to do, and cover the trail of these blessings
from eternity, to his reception of them, and the
exercise of them in his present life.
First of all, the "Christian" has the love and favor
of God long before his birth or calling to salvation.
That may seem strange, but the Bible teaches it. A
young sensible sinner will have many questions on
this subject, but the established believer should be
able to relate it to his own experience. "The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3.) Again, Paul
assures us of the same, saying: "But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning ( a word
used to express eternity in many places,) CHOSEN YOU
TO SALVATION through sanctification of the Spirit and
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belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13.) He also
teaches that this "choice" was ''before the foundation of
the world." "According as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love" (Ephesians
1:4.)
Connected with this love and choice of him to
salvation, the "Christian" is already in God's family, and
predestinated to that sweet and glorious end the
adoption of children. "Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will" (Ephesians
1:5.) That may really appear strange indeed! Here it is
said that God predestinated "us" to adoption to Himself
to be His children! And this before He ever created any
of us! No one but an Almighty, Allseeing and All
knowing God could do such a wondrous thing as this!
While we lived much of our lives completely unaware of
our heavenly adoption, God still watched over our
sinful and wandering ways. That is love! This adoption
is needful for our outward man, or fleshly man. It,
unchanged in the new birth, cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. The fleshly man has no right of
inheritance in a spiritual family. Yet it is this outward
man that has the "spirit of adoption" in his inner, or
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new man (Ephesians 4:24.)
The Christian has a heavenly inheritance, as a
child of God, reserved for him long before his birth and
spiritual awakening. "In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh ALL THINGS after the
counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11.) A child born
in this world is the offspring of his father and
grandfathers all the way back to Adam. He is said to be
their "seed" or of their "generations." So, too, the
Christian is referred to as the "seed" and "generation"
of Christ, all the way back to God "in the beginning."
That is mindboggling, isn't it? Yet, here too, the
Bible teaches it. "His seed also will I make to endure
for ever, and His throne as the days of heaven"
(Psalm 89: 2 9.) And "A seed shall serve Him; it shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They
shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto
a people that shall be born, that He hath done this"
(Psalm 22:3031.)
This seed is the most precious of one's spiritual
heritage. We will have occasion to speak of it more
fully in later topics, as we have in a former one; but
for now we wish to establish the Scriptural proof of
it. Some Calvinists, still hanging onto that little
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touch of freewillism that conditions these gifts on
the intelligence of the natural mind, speak of this
concept as "principles" and "states" of the mind. The
Bible does not sustain those positions. It speaks of
this seed in the sense of a seed substance before
one's begetting and spiritual conception. Yet, some
Calvinists will deny it, saying, "The Bible does not
speak of a seed substance." Read the following, and
see if you can discover this truth.
Speaking of Christ, the Psalmist writes: "My
substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in
secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth. Thine eyes did see My SUBSTANCE, yet being
unperfect; and in Thy book all My members were
written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as
yet THERE WAS NONE OF THEM" (Psalm 139:1516.)
What is said here about David is prophetically applied
to David's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and His body, the
Church.
One reason given by Isaiah for the perseverance of
Christ so long in His suffering on the cross is: "Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to
grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His SEED, He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." In
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verse 8, we read: "He was taken from prison and from
judgment: and who shall declare His GENERATION?
For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of My people was He stricken" (Isaiah 53:
10, and 8.)
We need not stress the fact that Christ never
married or had children by natural birth. All know
this. Yet, these Scriptures speak of His seed, His
children, and His generation. It must be applied in
some way other than literal natural begetting of
children. Peter expressed it in a meaningful way,
saying of Christians, "Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible (seed) by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (I
Peter 1:23.) Paul tells us that the "Seed is Christ"
(Galatians 3: 16.) John tells us that the reason one
born of God cannot sin is because "His seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God" (1 John 3:9.) We will go into greater
detail on this subject later.
The prospective "Christian" has a kingdom
prepared for him from the foundation of the world. –
“Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world"
(Matthew 25:34.) According to Daniel, only the saints of
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God "shall possess the kingdom of God" (Dan. 7:22.) He
has the blessing of being chosen "IN HIM (Christ) before
the foundation of the world," and by being chosen IN
HIM has a union with Him, for it is by this divine
choice that the elect have their standing, or
existence, in His seed substance. Because it is by
this eternal union IN CHRIST that the elect are set
aside (sanctified) with Christ, we will deal with this
subject in a separate treatise.
It might be well here to answer an objection to
the doctrine of eternal vital union to clarify the
doctrine. It is objected by some that those who hold
to eternal vital union of Christ with His elect people
"have eternal spirits floating around waiting for a
body in which to dwell." We've never heard, nor
read after anyone holding this truth to express
such an obvious error. The objection comes from
the imagination of one who does not comprehend
natural things, let alone spiritual things. In other
words, it is created as a slander against this truth
by enemies of it, to prejudice people against it.
When Nicodemus asked if a man that was old could
enter into his mother's womb and be born again,
Christ chided him for his ignorance. Christ told him
as plainly as one can, that the Adamic man was not
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born again. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."
As Arminians, Pelagians, and most Calvinists today,
Nicodemus could not comprehend that a "spiritual
birth" was required to see or enter the kingdom of
God. Christ said to him, "If I have told you earthly
things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I
tell you of heavenly things" (John 3: 12 .)
Jesus has spoken to Nicodemus of a natural
birth by the flesh, and of a spiritual birth by the
Spirit. These are two very different births. One has
an earthly, fleshly, or Adamic father; and the other
has a heavenly, spiritual, or eternal Father. So, to
answer our objector relative to where these “eternal
children are stored waiting for their supposed
bodies,” we will answer, "In like manner as Adam's
children are stored, waiting for their conception in
their mothers' wombs!" Where, then, are Adam's
offspring before their births? Answer, IN HIM in his
seed; in his “generations.” Generation produces
generation, and generation produces generation, and
over time Adam's offspring has multiplied and filled
the earth. No one finds that "strange doctrine," or
"heresy!" It is an observable fact! Every individual
has been "stored" genetically in his father's seed and
mother's chromosomes. And each has been "stored" in
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Adam's seed from the creation of Adam and Eve. What
then should be so strange about believing that the first
Adam truly “was a figure of Him that was to come”? All
the elect children of God were chosen by the Father and
given to the Son before the world began. Paul makes it
clear that the Seed was Christ. This "seed of the
woman" was promised, or first revealed in the Garden
of Eden. "And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel"
(Genesis 3:15.) Where, then, would one expect that
God’s children should be "stored?" Why, of course, IN
CHRIST! Thus we read, "According as He hath chosen
us IN HIM before the foundation of the world that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love."
Would one be wrong to say, "According as we have been
created IN ADAM from the creation of him?"
Our readers that have some knowledge of biology
may follow this chain of thought. We speak here "of
earthly things." Can an infertile sperm produce a child
from a infertile (lifeless) ovary? Both are infertile.
Can a fertile sperm produce a child from a infertile
(lifeless) ovary? Did you answer "No" to the above?
Can a fertile sperm produce a child by a fertile
ovary? And you answered "Yes." Where, then, was
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your life prior to your conception? Why, yes, of
course! It was stored in the seed and ovary of your
parents. And hence, you can follow that thought
back to Adam and Eve. (Eve received all that was in
her directly from Adam. She was not created anew
from the dust. The entire genetic storage was
created IN ADAM.) So, in Christ, all that are IN Him
will in time be developed from Him. The analogy fails
at this point. Adam can only produce one
generation, and he died. His son produced another
and he died, etc. to the present time. But God begets
all of His children, and does not die. He produces
only one generation spaced out throughout time,
referred to as "the generation of Jesus Christ"
(Matthew 1:1.) Yet, as Adam's offspring are
developed over all of historical time; so God's
children are begotten and developed over all of the
period of historical time.
As Adam's offspring were all in him seminally,
or in seed substance, from the beginning of his
creation, so too, Christ’s offspring have ever been in
Him in seed substance from their election in Him.
In the Divine Providence of God, your father met
your mother, and the Adamic life and genetic
composition that became you was in them. The
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“bounds of your habitation,” as well as theirs, and
their forefathers, God had ordained. (See Paul on
Mars Hill, Acts 18:26.) So too, Paul can say, “When
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s
womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son
in me, etc. (Galatians 1:1516.) “There is a time to
be born, and a time to die (Eccl. 3:2.) Thus, in the
development of time, the elect are born, first in
Adam’s race to individual “vessels of mercy afore
prepared unto glory” and partake of his flesh and
blood by receiving their natural life from him, and
are therefore born of corruptible seed, “dead in
trespasses and in sin.” And at the appointed time,
God will send forth His Spirit, and beget them from
above, implanting the eternal life, which was
preserved (Jude 1) in seed substance, hid in Christ
in God from before the foundation of the world, in
them – the “earthen vessels.” These, unlike those
who believe that they are only Adam reborn a
second time (which would still only make them
Adam made over again), are “born not of blood (of
Adam’s flesh), nor the will of the flesh, (the
natural flesh of a decider), nor of the will of man,
(preachers, soulwinners, decisionmakers etc.) but
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of God” (John 1:13.)
Here we see that a twice born man is a
compound person. His spiritual life is “Christ the
Word of God,” and by this living Word the elect
person is born of God, and take on the body and
nature of sinful man – of Adam’s progeny. Here is a
clear statement as to why Christ was born for many:
“Forasmuch then as the children ARE partakers of
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part
of the same; that through death He might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For He took not on Him
the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham” (Hebrews 2: 1415.)
Now Paul clearly showed that it was not “two
principles” in him that caused his conflict. A
principle is similar to a law. An economic or
biological law is true in all cases; a principle may at
times be replicated, but at other times it may also
fail to bring forth the same results. Paul wrote: “For
that which I do I allow not; for what I would. That do
I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that
which I would not, I consent unto the LAW THAT IT
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IS GOOD. Now then it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, (that
is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is
present with me; but how to perform that which is
good I find not. . . Now if I do that I would not, IT
IS NO MORE I THAT DO IT, BUT SIN THAT
DWELLETH IN ME. I find a law that when I would
go good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man: But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me, into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members” (Romans 7: 1523.)
Principles do not war with each other. But two laws,
contrary to each other, and both actively inhabiting
two separate and distinct individuals in one body,
do war violently one with the other. There can be
little doubt that there are two “Pauls” that Paul had
in view, and described. He did not say that he did
the sinning. He outright denied it! “I didn’t do it!”
he said.
Thus, simply put, we see that in the begetting
to spiritual life, the eternal life that was given to the
elect in Christ before the world began, is
communicated to them while yet in Adam’s fleshly
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body. Both seeds are implanted in the same body,
and create the warfare common to all true children
of God. Not only so, but the Adamic fleshly body is
not born over again, nor changed from a natural
body into a spiritual body. Because the children of
God inhabits Adam’s natural body of flesh and
blood, Christ came in the same experience they
have, to destroy the work of the devil in Adam’s race
so far as it involves His seed. The children have two
births: the first of corruptible seed, the second “of
incorruptible seed, the word of God that liveth and
abideth forever.” And such that are thus “born of
God” cannot sin because His seed remaineth in
them. We would as soon expect God to sin as to
expect His spiritual progeny to sin. As Paul, they
too, can say, “I didn’t do it! Sin that dwelleth in me
did it! I delight in the law of God after my inward
man. But I, too, see another law in my fleshly
members warring against the law of my inward
mind, and bringing me into bondage to the law of
sin and death” which I still possess.
This union of the eternal life of Christ with His
own children chosen IN Him, and given Him by the
Father to them in the spiritual begetting is known as
“eternal vital union.” It is one of the most
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fundamental aspects of all Biblical Christian
doctrine. One cannot understand "the new birth" in
the void of this precious doctrine; and all the schemes
of saving man, whether by Pelagians or Calvinists, grow
out of the ignorance of this topic. Perhaps, the following
topics will be of benefit for expanding the concepts
presented above. The above is so fundamental that
every sensible sinner upon his conversion should give
all diligence to comprehend. It is also totally unknown
by today's manmade "Christians.'" Every child of God
should know that when God chose them in Christ it was
before the world began. (Ephesians 1:46). Their eternal
life was then given to them and "hid with Christ in God,"
(Colossians 3:3) and in this life are all spiritual
blessings stored that they shall ever receive (Ephesians
1: 14.) In divine begetting, this life is communicated to
the elect child and all the benefits of divine election flow
to him in his experience thereafter. But let it be noted,
that these had their origin in Christ, his Head and
Savior, before the poor sinner ever received them. We
will next discuss the "begetting to spiritual life ” by the
Spirit of God.
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Chapter Nine: THE BEGETTING TO DIVINE LIFE
We use the term begetting, for the implantation of
natural life in Adam's offspring, and quickening for the
implantation of spiritual life of Christ in an elect by the
Spirit. The term birth is limited to one being delivered
from his mother's womb, and the term new birth for
conversion or deliverance to the light of the Gospel. As
you will see, these terms cover a period of time in
natural darkness in one's mother's womb, and a time
lapse between the begetting or conception and the birth
(of about nine months); and the quickening and the new
birth. Is that clear? If not, we will restate it this way:
For a natural birth to take place, one must have a
seed planted in begetting it to life; a period of physical,
mental, and physiological development to term, and
finally the birth. The same we use for the child of God.
There must be an implanting of an "incorruptible
Seed," (which Paul said was Christ) for the begetting or
quickening of the child of God; a period of spiritual
growth and experimental development of life and
immortality in darkness, and at term, deliverance by
the Spirit of Christ when this life and immortality is
"brought to light by the Gospel." "Whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in
him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (I
John 3:9.) "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
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of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever" (I Peter 1:23.) Upon this
deliverance, faith and repentance are in evidence (but
not the cause), and the individual is declared converted,
by theologians. [We add: conversion is a continuing
experience throughout one's mature life.] It is rather
obvious, then, that spiritual development and the new
birth are far more than merely walking down an aisle
and committing one's self to a religious cause. It entails
all that the words "being born again," carry in its
definition.
The "begetting to spiritual life" is presented in the
Scriptures as the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. This
is logical and reasonable as well. God is a Triune God.
The Father "chose us in Him" (Christ) and "gave us to
Him" as Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer, "Thine they
were, and Thou hast given them Me" (John 17:6.) Being
chosen in Him and given to Him, He laid down His life
only for them. Thus He saved them by His sacrifice for
their sins. As the Triune God is the author of eternal
life, it is the role of the Holy Spirit to "take the things of
Mine" (Christ's) and show them to thee." It is imperative
that one has a spiritual ability to discern spiritual
things. This spiritual ability is not native to the natural
man. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save
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the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of
God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." . . . "But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they (spiritual things of God) are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:11, 14.)
Now this inability is quite serious. Until one is born
spiritually, he cannot discern anything at all to his best
interest. No wonder he is said to be "lost"! He cannot
hear the Gospel (John 8:43). He cannot understand the
Gospel (Matthew 13: 13,14 and John 8:43). He cannot
believe the Gospel (John 3:12; John 10:26). He can
believe a great deal of religious things, but he cannot
believe the Gospel of the grace of God. What is there
lacking in man that disables him from comprehending
spiritual things? Obviously, it is because he is not
spiritual! To become spiritual he must be born
spiritually; just as it was necessary to be natural, he
had to have been born naturally! This is both
reasonable and true.
When Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born
again," He was speaking to a man that knew something
about the process of "being born" from his mother's
womb. Jesus did not give him a primary lesson in
genetics. He spoke only of the end result of divine
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quickening and development. Today, we may find
hundreds of books on the subject of conception; or
hundreds more on prenatal development; and many
more on the birth process for young mothers, etc. It is
not necessary to explain everything in the process if we
wish to speak of one's birth. The antecedent processes
are rightly assumed. So too, we often speak of "being
born again." In fact, in evangelical Christianity, there is
little to no discussion of antecedent processes. This
void leads to tragic results as the evangelicals attempt
to develop plans of salvation, or means to produce
divine life in sinners. Yet, the Bible is not silent on the
subject. The marginal reference in the KJV on John 3:3
is worded, “Ye must be born from above." In John 1:13,
John speaks clearly of this early implantation of divine
life, saying, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Again,
to Nicodemus, Jesus made it sufficiently plain, saying,
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit." That should not be hard to
understand!
On the subject of divine quickening, or the
implantation of spiritual life, Jesus made it clear that
God was the source of divine quickening. "For as the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even
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so the Son quickeneth whom He will" (John 3:21.) And,
"It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words I speak unto you, they are spirit and
they are life" (John 6:63.) We naturally assume that
God gives life. Often, however, we find ourselves putting
man between the begetting to life and the birth itself. It
is well, then, to notice that man, the law, nor the
Gospel are introduced into this subject at this stage.
Those that are "born of God," are born not by family
inheritance ("not of blood"); nor by the human will or
willingness ("not of the will of the flesh"); nor by the will
of family, religious counselors, or preachers ("nor of the
will of man. ") Rather, they are "born of God." If they are
"born of God," then it is selfevident they are "begotten
of God." This, too, is taught clearly in the Bible. Peter
writes to those he says Christ "hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead" (I Peter 1:4.) John particularly states
that those that are "begotten of God loveth him that is
begotten of Him" (I John 5:1.) Thus we conclude that if
one is begotten of God and born of God, that person is a
child of God." And we need not labor this point: the
Bible clearly refers to the believer as a "child of God."
The most controversial statement we will make is
this: the begetting to divine life and the Christian's early
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development to birth is antecedent, or prior, to the
presentation of the Gospel and the hearing of the
Gospel. Thus, the new birth is necessary to faith and
conversion, and not the other way around.
In the initial begetting to spiritual life, the
individual is first taught effectually that he is a sinner.
He sees his transgressions as "exceedingly sinful." It is
by that operation that the commandments of God, as it
were, come to life. Paul in describing his own
experience, said: "For I was alive without the law once,"
meaning, we believe, that he was not in any soul
trouble, although at that time a strict legalist; "but
when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died"
(Romans 7: 9.) One cannot imagine Paul having ever
been without knowledge of the law. He was reared a
strict Pharisee! What else, therefore, can he mean? We
believe he experienced what all the saints experience.
The law came alive to him. He was exercised by it. He
had previously thought that the law of commandments
"was ordained to life," but was dreadfully surprised
when he “found it to be unto death." He explained that
sin used the commandment to deceive him, and the
commandment killed him (Romans 7: 911.) Whether
he was in that state when he aided in killing Stephens
cannot be known; but it surely was his state when he
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was struck down on the road to Damascus. He had
spiritual ears to hear the words of Christ! Christ was
the Gospel preacher that day! And he was struck down
before he ever heard the Gospel, and before he obeyed
it in baptism.
The Ethiopian eunuch was a living child of God,
and God heard his supplications and prayers before
Peter ever preached the Gospel to him and his
household. Lydia was meeting where "prayer was want
to be heard" before she heard Paul preaching the
Gospel. The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas
"What must I do to be saved?" before Paul or Silas ever
presented the Gospel to him! The point we make is
simply this: Life precedes faith. The begetting to divine
life introduces the child of God into the spiritual
kingdom and family of God. This is God's work, and not
that of preachers. "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes." "Even so Father, for it
seemeth good in Thy sight."
The preaching of the Gospel, considered
foolishness by many, is the ordinary way that God has
ordained to bring faith to His spiritual children. (I did
not say “life.”) When Paul and Barnabas preached at
Antioch, the Holy Scripture records: "And when the
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Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the
word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to
eternal life believed" (Acts 13: 48.) The word ordained is
a strong word indeed! God's children are ordained to
good works, which they could not do without faith; and
this 'faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of
God. "
It is with the "Christian Man After Divine
Quickening" where hope, faith, and assurance should
rightfully be discussed. We will discuss these topics
under separate headings.
Chapter TEN: THE SENSIBLE SINNER AT AND AFTER DIVINE QUICKENING
Ministers are to preach to the end that Christ is
glorified, and that living quickened sinners (converted
or unconverted, whether it can be proved that to be
their case or not) will be encouraged to "give all
diligence to make their calling and election sure." When
such are delivered from darkness, they will be able to
rejoice in the "hope of eternal salvation" through Jesus
Christ our Lord. We base that premise on our view of
the nature of the new birth and the Scriptural
definition of the Gospel. We have selected a quote from
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H.M. Curry, a schoolman hired by the Peabody Institute
to help lay the foundation of secondary education in the
postcivil war South, and an Old School Baptist
minister at Goshen, Alabama, as an introduction to this
topic. He wrote:
"When Jesus said “Ye must be born again,” He
gave a name to a hitherto nameless fact. The
doctrine of the new birth, as announced by Christ
and developed in the New Testament Scriptures,
was a novel doctrine at that age of the world, and
remains a novelty yet. The fact of the new birth, as
exemplified in the experience of God's people, is as
old and as universal as man himself; but the
doctrine had never been named before. The new
birth is not stated in the Old Testament, although
the effects of it are clearly manifest in the
experience of patriarchs, prophets, priests and
kings, and many in the humbler walks of life,
among both Jews and Gentiles. It is not mentioned
in any religious writings, either Jewish or Pagan,
before the New Testament. The ancient epics of
India, the ethical codes of China, the complicated
systems of Egypt, the fanciful philosophy and
poetry of Greece, the gorgeous ceremonials and
mystic rituals of ancient Mexico and Peru, are all
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silent upon this doctrine. It came from the lips of
Jesus, a novelty, an original doctrine, a new
name for a hitherto nameless truth, a golden key to
unlock the rich mines of Christian experience so
long closed by human ignorance, so completely
covered by ceremonials, and so deeply buried in
tradition, a lamp by which the wonderful works of
God in the children of men was to be more
clearly understood, the exceeding greatness of His
power to usward more fully known, and the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints more
fully beheld." [Writings of Elder H.M. Curry].
Our Lord always used words with known
definitions with which to teach His precious truth. God
gave man the ability to speak, chiefly, to communicate
to and with him. When Jesus said, "Except a grain of
corn fall into the earth and die, it remaineth alone," He
was not giving a horticulture lesson. It is both true in
nature and illustrates the truth in grace. When He told
Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again," He did not say as
many seem to understand it, "Ye must be born all over
again!"
In the beginning of the creation of all things by
God, He laid down in one of His first lessons an
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infallible law for all ages. Life must produce life after
its own kind and nature. "And God said, Let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding SEED, and the fruit
tree yielding fruit after HIS KIND, whose seed is in itself,
upon the earth: and it was so." "And God created great
whales and every living creature that moveth, which the
waters brought forth abundantly, after their KIND, and
every winged fowl after his KIND: and God saw that it
was good" (Genesis 1: 1122.) The point made here is,
that all life, plant or animal, produces only after its
KIND. Keep both of these principles in mind as you
read this topic, because the two are fundamental to the
understanding of the doctrine of the new birth and its
concomitant results. The foregoing law of creation is
verified by both natural observation and scientific
empirical evidence. Louis Pasteur (18221895), a
French philosopher, demonstrated conclusively that the
earlier theory of spontaneous generation advanced by
Catholic doctors in the Medieval Age, was false, and the
scientific community has replicated his studies and
accepted his thesis. Some preachers are still guided in
their doctrine by that old superstition. Simply put, IT IS
TRUE! Life proceeds from life and this after its own
kind.
Jesus told Nicodemus that a man, born of Adam's
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nature, had to "be born again" to enter the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus, very much as modern ministers,
thought Jesus meant "Ye must be born all over again,”
and the Lord corrected him. In fact, the whole
conversation is designed to correct this mis
understanding. If Nicodemus could "enter" his "mother's
womb and be born again" ten thousand times, he would
still be exactly what he was a corrupt Adamic man,
only multiplied! Jesus answered him, saying, "That
which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6.) That is
consistent with the law of creation. That is all the flesh
can produce after its own kind. It will never be
anything else. It is never born over again. Consider, if
you would, that a human being can have something
added to him without modifying what he previously
was. To make this point, we refer the reader to the Lord
Jesus Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1.)
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"
(John 1:14.) Our Lord Jesus Christ "is the same
yesterday, today, and forever," and is the "immutable,"
or unchangeable God. He was and yet remains the
Eternal Son of God, and had at His birth the nature of
man added on to His divine nature. He was "God
manifested in the flesh." He was not half God and half
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man; but He was the God Man. As you read this
article, keep this and the law of creation in mind. These
principles will go a long way in helping to understand
the new birth process.
All are aware that Adam is the father of the human
race by means of the corruptible seed of man that was
in his loins, by which we are begotten into his family.
We shall show that Christ, of whom Peter wrote, is the
seed in the spiritual quickening, or begetting, of God's
elect children. As he wrote: "Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God
which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1:23.) The
preached or written word does not "live," nor "abide
forever," and hence those who advance this as the
cause of the new birth are wrong. The hearers soon
forget both. Paul makes this point clear, "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" (Galatians 3:16.) Jesus
said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." It is the
reproduction of the seed of Adam "according to his
kind," generation after generation. The flesh is not
changed in divine quickening or the new birth into
something spiritual. It is of Adam, and is still flesh,
and as mortal flesh, it will die a corruptible death.
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That, within itself is proof enough that it is not "born"
immortal, or born over again.
"And that which is born of the Spirit is SPIRIT' (John
3:6.) Was the fleshly nature of Adam born of the Spirit?
If so, would this addon have not basically changed the
flesh from flesh to spirit? If so, then, "It cannot sin" (1
John 3:9,) but we know it does!. This is a contradiction;
for Christ has just assured Nicodemus that the flesh
was still flesh. Surely any person brought to spiritual
life knows full well that he still has all the properties of
Adam as he had before his experience of grace. He full
well knows that he is yet a sinner in his human
nature; that the nature is unmodified by the presence
of his spiritual life. He still mourns over sin, and begs
forgiveness for his many offenses. If the flesh took on
the "kind" of the "incorruptible Seed," the flesh would
have attained sinless perfection. But the fact of our
existence denies this to be so.
The only way a creature can be the son of man is to
be born of the seed of man. The only way a creature
can be a son of God, is to be born of the seed of God,
and that, as shown above, is Christ. We do not find
horses begetting cows, and preachers begetting saints!
Thus, in the begetting and quickening development,
there are two distinct natures in God's children
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following the new birth experience. These two distinct
natures are the development from two distinct seed
substances, one of the earth, earthy, from Adam; the
other of the Spirit, and spiritual from Christ. Each has
different personality traits. If each of these personality
traits can be shown empirically to coexist, we have
proof that there are two men, a natural man and a
spiritual man coexisting in a child of God following
the new birth. The Adam man has taken on an
addition, and this addon did not modify the earthly
man. This fact is the very source of the Christian's
warfare. "The spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh
against the spirit so that we cannot do the things we
would" (Galatians 5: 17.) His flesh had something
added on that was spiritual and this produced the
conflict. Just as a cold virus enters into a natural body,
and being an alien, the body produces antibodies to
fight the invaders: so too, with the new birth addon of
a spiritual seed, a conflict is produced "the flesh
against the spirit, so that we cannot do the things" we
otherwise would.
That there is a distinct difference between the
traits of the two distinct men is shown in the following
Scriptures: First, "Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
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inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things' sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience"
(Colossians 3:56.) These are the works of the flesh, the
outward man, or the natural man. They are found in
abundance in all men without exception. They are not
found at all in the inner man, or spiritual man. These
are the very traits that the spiritual, or inner, man
abhors. These are the works of the flesh that tries the
Christian man after divine quickening, and causes him
so much grief, doubts of his standing before God, and
disables him from doing the things that he would. They
rob him of his joy, diminishes his spiritual comfort, and
moves him to introspection "Am I His or am I not."
They are his "thorn in the flesh" in his spiritual walk.
The fact that he hates them is sufficient evidence that
they are not associated with his better and spiritual
man. "But now ye also put off all these things; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of
your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the OLD MAN WITH HIS DEEDS" (verses 8,9.) The
old man has its "understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that
is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts."
They are "past feeling" and have "given themselves over
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unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with
greediness" (Ephesians 4: 1819.) These are things that
all men without exception know, "But ye have not so
learned Christ; if so be ye have heard Him, and have
been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:
2021.)
Second, the new man has an altogether different
nature than the above. He has "put off concerning the
former conversation the old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts; and" he has been
"renewed in the spirit of his mind, and has put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:2232.) It is in this
renewed nature that the Apostle says, "We are members
of His flesh, and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:30.) The
Christian man after divine quickening has put on these
very unique traits that the old man does not possess.
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and
forgiving one another ... and above all these things put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness" (Colossians
3:1214.)
The above distinctly different traits are the root
cause of the Christian man's spiritual conflict. He is
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literally at war with himself, and that daily. In God's
sight he is as the Shulamite of Solomon's love epoch:
"What shall we see in the Shulamite? As it were the
company of two armies" (S.S. 6:13.) And what do armies
do? They war with one another! Where is that
spiritually born child that does not know by experience
of what this conflict consists? The flesh truly wars
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh within
a Christian man after divine quickening.
As stated above, Jesus used words that have
understandable meanings. If one must be "born again,"
then for it to be understood correctly, we must
understand it in its contextual meaning. Before there
can be a "birth," there must be a previous "begetting."
And the Bible amply speaks of that also. Before there is
a "birth," there must be a developmental period. In
women, this period between begetting and birth cannot
be disputed. In nature, the seed of man (Adam) is
planted in the begetting stage. Life begins its
development with conception. This developmental stage
in women is about nine months. If that does not appear
a very long "timelapse" to someone, it surely does to
the expectant mother!
Now, dear reader, are there evidences of life
prior to the birth? Ask any expectant mother! Jesus
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answered it also, saying, "The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
tell whence it cometh, and whither it goest: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8.) One can see
that there is evidence of life the "wind" or spirit in this
case. Just as a woman may be with child before she
knows it, or even suspects it, she will in time find it
out. When a Gospel minister goes into the stand to
preach the Gospel of God, there may be children
begotten of the incorruptible seed where, as yet, there
is no external evidence. There may be some quickened
soul developed sufficiently to show marks of God's
children struggling to be delivered. And it is a glad day
when the fruit of the spiritual life is seen in evidence as
one rejoices in the Gospel of free grace, and finds their
deliverance sweet.
We will make this additional point here: Paul,
considering what God had given His people in the effect
of that spiritual birth, refers to God, "Who HATH saved
us, (past tense) and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us IN Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by
the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
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to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:910.) Look at
that: He saved us before He called us, and this
salvation was on purpose, and by grace, and given to us
before the world began, even though we were not yet
born! It must have been in the Seed, for we were not
yet developed in our present life. But, He did not bring
life and immortality through the Gospel, as some seem
to read the text. Rather, that life and immortality,
implanted in the begetting by the incorruptible seed,
''which is Christ," is brought “to LIGHT through the
Gospel” message. This life and immortality is in a
begotten child of God from the begetting through the
developmental process to birth. But before birth, there
is only struggling life in darkness. It is "through much
tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God." How
is this life and immortality brought to light, or made
manifest? The text says, "through the Gospel."
Therefore, since this is how it is brought to light,
ministers are to be faithful in preaching the Gospel of
the free grace of God to those quickened and developing
children bearing those marks, or evidences, to the end
that God has ordained: to wit, "the preaching of the
Gospel to save them that believe " (1 Corinthians 1 :21.)
Now back to the development of these two seeds,
the natural Adamic seed and the spiritual Christian
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seed. The first, producing the multiplication of Adam
"of the flesh," and the other the development by the
incorruptible seed within the begotten child of God, a
born again man with two conflicting natures. Some
may object to this understanding of the terms "the new
man" and the "old man," or the "outward man" and the
"inward man," or "natural man," and the "spiritual man."
But forgive us if we can't yield this point. If the Holy
Ghost said it in the Holy Book, we believe it. If He used
word with proper meanings, then there are two men
referred to in these texts by these terms and they are
shown to be very different from each other. The
differences of these two cohabiting men, as described
in the Scriptures, make it indisputable that they are the
cause of the Christian warfare, and without these co
habiting partners in the believer, there could not be
such a profound conflict as is experienced by a born
again man.
The "outward man perishes," the "inner man IS
renewed daily." The "outward man" "loves darkness,
neither will he come to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest." He cannot do that which he would do
(Romans 7: 1520.) The "inward man" loves
righteousness and true holiness, and "delights in the
law of God after the inward man" (Romans 7:21, 24.)
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The "outward man" dies daily, while the "inward man"
has eternal and everlasting life and "shall not perish"
(John 3: 16;) The outward man" has Adam 1 st . as his
father and head. The "inner man" has Adam 2 nd as his
Father and Head. The "outward man" is full of doubts
and fears, sins and iniquities, and transgressions. The
"inner man" lives by the faith of the Son of God dwelling
in him, and thus he "doth not commit sin" (1 John 3:6,
9.) The "outward man" is materialistic, earthy, sensual,
devilish, and loves the world and its pleasures. The
"inner man" hates the world and the lusts thereof. Shall
we bore you with more? There are plenty of Scriptures
mentioned throughout the New Testament alone.
It appears that the only reasonable explanation for
this strange dichotomy in the begotten child of God is
the above thesis. It is certain that the behaviors
ascribed to the "outward, natural, carnal, and earthly
man" are universal within the human race; while those
of the "inner, spiritual, heavenly and new creature" are
peculiar, or unique, to the quickened child of God.
Furthermore, it is indisputable that the born again
Christian possesses both sets of behaviors and
conditions. Where else, then, can this dichotomy have
as its source? It is our thesis, then, that they each have
their rise from the seed substance that produced them.
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Since there are two sets of these behaviors, and they
are contrary one to the other; then there are two
sources from which they have their rise: the first being
from Adam's seed, and the other from Christ's
incorruptible seed.
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born
of the flesh (Adam's seed, or progeny) is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit (by the incorruptible seed,
"which is Christ") is SPIRIT. Marvel not that I said unto
thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:57.) Nicodemus
had the fleshly, or carnal, birth. Jesus did not tell him
how to be born of the Spirit; but only that he must be
in order to enter the kingdom of God. This, too, is
reasonable: no child in nature had to know how to be
born! So how foolish are those misguided preachers
trying to promote a formula to produce this altogether
spiritual birth!
The quickened sensible sinner, as we have shown,
consists of two distinct entities, one born of the flesh,
and the other born of the Spirit; and they dwell together
in conflict within one individual. Jesus said to
Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again." It does not
follow that only a part of man is born of the Spirit, or
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that the spiritual man is totally separate and apart
from the natural man. [This was the heresy of Daniel
Parker that resulted in him and Lamont church being
excluded from the Old School Baptists in the Midwest;
it was the view the Catholics charged against the
Albigenses; and is the view held by the Zoroastrians of
Persia or Iran] Rather, the Christian man is one man
consisting of body, soul and spirit, in such a manner
that the inner man has effect on the outward man. He is
a compound person. Recall from above the suggestion
to keep in mind that one can have something added
on, yet does not change the man from his original
composition? When one is rejoicing in the Gospel of the
free grace of God with tears streaming down his cheeks,
the spiritual man is being exercised and fed; yet the
tears of joy are flowing from the natural man's tear
ducts. When the natural man is full of doubts and
fears, the spiritual man often is in a state of declension
also. The two men interact interstitially with each other
as one man. They must acts interstitially with each
other due to the complete unity of the quickened man.
If one desires to dispute this upon the basis that it is
too complicated to understand, then let that one
explain the hypostatical union of the Son of God and
Son of Man! We would rest our case that "like begets
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like kind"; or, "like Father like son"!
There are many effects of this duality in a
Christian man, but in this book we have discussed his
hope, faith, and assurance. We conclude it with the
"Christian Warfare" by Thomas P. Dudley, as “Appendix:
B,” because it is "ready at hand" on that aspect of this
subject. Hope, faith, and assurance are all fruit of the
Spirit produced within the Christian man. It is very
important to note that all three of these are gifts of
God, and are produced in the Christian man by the life
implanted in his begetting by the Holy Spirit. In other
words, they proceed from the incorruptible seed and
are not to be found in the Adam's offspring.
Counterfeits are reproduced by the natural man, such
as "moral suasion" for "faith" and natural "tears" for
"repentance", but they have no saving virtue.
Incidentally, seldom is "hope" counterfeited, because
moral suasion rules it out altogether. From the initial
act of begetting, the grace of hope is more in evidence
than faith, and remains so through the developmental
stage to birth. It remains active throughout a Christian
man's life on earth. At no point following quickening by
the Spirit is he missing "faith" while hope is dominant.
In the exercise of hope, faith is "little" and often
accompanied by retrospective examination, "Am I His or
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am I not". Conversely, when faith is strong, hope is still
present, yet not in great evidence. These gifts interact
with each other according to the measure that the
Spirit metes out to the believer, and this is according to
his need. "My grace is sufficient for thee."
These three gifts do not act in a void relative to the
outward man. At times, the Christian man may not see
any evidence that he is any different from all other men
in nature. He can find no heart to pray; the Bible does
not interest him; going to church a bore, he wishes he
had stayed at home; he can't enjoy the songs of praise;
finds a heart cold towards his fellow Christians; the
giving of alms to those in need does not move his
natural sympathies towards his fellow man; he does not
grow in grace and knowledge of the truth and in general
he is as if he were dead to all things spiritual. But this
doubting, and even sinful denial at times, issues forth
from his natural man. This is his fruit. It cannot flow
from a living faith, which the inner man possesses.
Simply put, spiritual exercises are the product of
spiritual life, and this life is in His Son dwelling within.
Natural exercises are the product of natural life, and
this life is in the Adamic man. Natural religion, even if
surnamed "Christian," is of the Adamic man as
evidenced by a world full of the stuff ! Adam is very
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religious too! Spiritual religion is in Christ, and lives
within the spiritual man. The two religions are
noticeably different to a discerning Christian. Natural
religion is full of pomp and show, designed to entertain
the outward man and Adamic man by natural things,
stories, and methods. Spiritual religion is entertaining
only by the Gospel, doctrine of Christ, and Christian
fellowship. Natural religion denies or plays down the
sovereignty of God, and promotes the socalled
"responsibility" of man. Spiritual religion loves and
delights in the sovereignty of Almighty God, and places
its balance in the accountability of man. If man is
accountable to God, then God is sovereign. If man is
responsible, then God is not sovereign, for responsibility
is one's being free to act of his own volition and
answerable only to himself for any negative
consequences. Accountability bows one's head to His
Maker and acknowledges he must give an account for
violations of God's sovereign right over him. Natural
religion will not submit to the sovereign rule of God, but
speak foolishly of an antinomy you must believe both
legs of this absurd contradiction. Spiritual religion
submits to both God's sovereignty and man's
accountability, and its adherents walk respectably and
humbly before their God.
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Chrysostom, the earliest known Christian
historian wrote: "What is meant by, He hath
chosen us in Him? By means of the faith which
is in Him, Christ, he means, happily ordered
this for us before we were born, nay more,
before the foundation of the world."
Chrysostom's Homilies on Galatians and
Ephesians, Approximately a.d. 395; page 103.
Chapter Eleven: A PRIMARY FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN DIVINE QUICKENING
In discussing one's experience, the subjects of
hope, faith, and assurance must be included. All three
of these, and charity (love) are gifts, or fruit, of the Holy
Spirit. As such, those not quickened by the Spirit do
not possess them, for they are unique to the nature of
the spiritual man. Natural men can have a natural
hope, a natural "faith" or moral suasion, and a false
assurance; as well as a humanistic or altruistic
generalized love for all mankind. However, these
counterfeits are not the spiritual topics we discuss
below. Simply put, what we present are spiritual graces141
produced by a spiritual life within a quickened sinner,
by a spiritual incorruptible seed.
(a): Hope, A gift of Grace
Hope is a free gift of God and a fruit of the Spirit of
God. "And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these
three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians
13: 13.) It is so much an integral part of the essence of
evangelic faith that one cannot have it without the
other. So as you read this topic on "hope," keep this in
mind; that a person with this free grace gift also is a
believing child of God. He cannot but have faith in God,
for this is the foundation of his hope. Even though the
individual with this grace is a believer, his faith is not
in evidence to him at all times, and he will often be
sorely tried in his experience as to whether he has any
at all. In these periods, hope triumphs. This is hope's
peculiar role in the believer's life.
We will present this topic, first, because on a
continuum, hope is considered the lowest level of faith,
whereas full assurance is at the highest level of
Christian experience. Lying between hope and full
assurance are: full assurance of hope, little faith, faith,
great faith, and the assurance of faith. These degrees
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together, except the last, are one in essence, yet
manifested each according as God deals out to an
individual a "measure of faith."
Looking at all these gifts on that continuum, which
of them is not counterfeited by Arminians and
Pelagians? To put it another way, if we should wish to
identify the "believer," which would be the clearest
evidence? Which one of the above would an Arminian or
Pelagian have no counterfeit definition. It is hope. Such
will deny it for himself and ridicule those who are
exercised by it. Such will never mention hope in the
context of his religious experience. He will boast in his
faith, brag about his great faith, and proclaim his full
assurance from the very first day of his religious
commitment, but hope is not in his religious
vocabulary. This should be understandable. Since hope
is the smallest measure of faith evidenced in the
weakest experience, a wolf will more likely take off the
weakest of the lambs. So the wolf in sheep' clothing will
more likely manifest his nature by attacking the child of
God when he is the most vulnerable. If one speaks of
his hope, and talks of how small that hope is, the man
made "Christian" will mock him immediately! Why?
Because the manmade "Christian" has no
experimental concept of what the believer is
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experiencing. In the eyes of a manmade "Christian,"
the Pharisee that boasted of his tithes and goodness is
more to be admired than the poor sinner who could not
even lift up his eyes toward heaven, but smote on his
breast, crying, "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner." And,
to him, God forbid that he ever be heard to say, "Lord, I
believe. Help Thou mine unbelief"! (Luke 18:13 &
Mark 9:24.)
Can a dear lamb of Christ's love go from full
assurance to just a little hope? Can one get that low
after being, as it were, on the mountaintop? You may
answer it with me. John the Baptist baptized Jesus in
Jordan and gave this testimony: "This is He of whom I
said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before
me: for He was before me. And I knew Him not: but that
He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I
baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and
it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent
me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, ‘Upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and
remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with
the Holy Ghost.’ And I saw, and bare record that this is
the Son of God” (John 1:3034.) Did John believe that
astounding record? You know he did! "Again the next
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day John stood, and two of his disciples, and looking
upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of
God!" It is safe to say that John knew of whom he
spoke. Yet, shut up in prison and isolated from the
passing events, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this
question: "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look
for another?" (Matthew 11 :3.) One can feel the pathos
of such a declension! How heart rendering sad! Is that
not going from the fullest assurance to the lowest
degree of faith? Many a preacher today would consign
the poor doubtful Baptist to hell for this little hope. But
there is a gracious point here: if the dear forerunner of
our Lord could be brought this low, why should we
murmur if we are at times without those evidences we
formerly had? We can loose sight of every felt
manifestation of God's love and mercy toward us when
it pleases Him to withhold His face from us. We cannot
crow: "I know I'm saved and bound for glory" when faith
is no longer in evidence. But we can be humbled before
Him acknowledging our "hope of eternal salvation." It is
His gift to bestow upon whom, and when, it pleases
Him.
In colonial America, many Puritans, both
Episcopalians and Congregationalists, as well as
Baptists, used Watt's Hymnal. They often sang,
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"When God is nigh,
my faith is strong;
His arm is my Almighty prop:
Be glad, my heart; rejoice my tongue;
My dying flesh shall rest in hope."
Again,
"But why, my soul,
sunk down so far
Beneath this heavy load?
Why do my thoughts indulge despair,
And sin against my God?”
"Hope in the Lord,
Whose mighty hand
Can all thy woes remove;
For I shall yet before Him stand,
And sing redeeming love."
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In the index to Watt's Hymnal, there are listed 26
hymns on the subject of hope. Among Baptists in the
early years of our history, they used Dr. Rippon's
Hymnal. In it we find the same emphasis. Can a
modern Calvinist imagine hearing these words
plaintively sung in a congregation today, by singers
with tears flowing down their cheeks?
"Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thoughts,
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I His or am I not?
"If I love, why am I thus?
Why this dull and lifeless frame?
Hardly, sure, can they be worse
Who have never heard His name.
"Lord, decide the doubtful case;
Thou who art Thy people's Sun,
Shine upon Thy work of grace,
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If it be indeed begun.
"Let me love Thee more and more,
If I love at all, I pray;
If I have not loved before,
Help me to begin today."
Both of these hymns are expressions of a very little
hope and they can never be honestly sung by
individuals who have no hope. Surely no one in modern
churches ever hear such experimental songs of faith.
The latter hymn was so loved in those previous periods,
that they acclaimed broad support in all churches in
that period. That peculiar grace of hope is found in all
religious articles in our colonial and frontier periods,
and was a common subject used by Gospel ministers to
urge believers on to greater assurance in their faith. A
student in a seminary in Jackson, Mississippi said of
his research findings:
“In our early history the struggles, trials of faith,
doubts and fears appear overwhelming to
Christians in their experimental travels. Ministers
spent much time in attempting to assure their
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members of their salvation. By contrast, today,
ministers need to try equally hard to knock too
much of that presumptuous assurance out of them
in order to help them return to the experimental
foundation of a living hope in Christ.”
Hope was, and ought to be, given much more
emphasis in modern Christian exhortation than it
presently enjoys. The Christian believer is robbed of
something of too great an importance by its present
neglect. One can find in preFuller days, and it is in
the Old School Beebe Collection (Hymn 1033), the
Primitive Baptist Hymnal, Lloyd Collection (Hymn 381)
and the Regular Baptist Hymnal (Thomas Collection) –
that it was an emphasis in experimental hymnology. In
other words, it was sung all over the American frontier!
The point is made. In times past men and women
expressed a hope in Christ at times when their souls
were in deep exercise over sin, a barren state,
temptations of the flesh, doubts of their standing in
grace, or special dispensations of God's providence.
Why these experiences are missing today in most
congregations is a real mystery, unless few in them are
true believers. Perhaps they have them, but the
influence of antichristian evangelists and their own
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experimentally deficient pastors have made them
fearful of expressing them. We have often heard that
tragic and painful declaration by inexperienced
ministers: "If you don't know you are saved, then you
are not! Come on down! Come now! Come before it is
too late!" Thus, in order to count some "decisions" in
their caps, they beat the poor little lambs of Christ with
their scorpions, and feed them "stones" rather than
“bread.”
No one will enter the kingdom of heaven except
"through much tribulation" (Acts 14:22.) Our Lord
promised His children "In the world ye shall have
tribulation" (John 16:33.) And it is absolutely necessary
for those who enter the kingdom to enter "at the strait
gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way; that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find
it" (Matthew 7:13, 14.) How does this relate to the topic,
one might ask? Notice the word strait. It is not the same
word as straight. The latter is the shortest distance
between two points. The first is a perilous passageway,
as in "the Strait of Magellan" or the "Strait of the
Dardanelle." To illustrate: You really do believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You readily confess that
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Christ has come in the flesh. You really do believe in
Jesus as the only Savior of sinners. You really believe
one is justified only by Christ's righteousness imputed
to them. But the question comes to mind, "But am I
His child?" And you worry and worry with it, seeing so
little in your experience to confirm a son ship relation
to Him. You just cannot seem to say, "Yes, I know I
am." That is an obstacle in the "narrow strait" that
leads into life. Many manmade "Christians" have never
had to sail through such rugged seas as dark and
stormy as these. Such will project that tribulation to a
seven year period in prophecy sometime well into the
future, and dogmatically declare that you are not saved
by the blood of Christ, thus confirming your own
doubts about your own case. That, too, is an obstacle
in the strait every true child of God must go through to
enter the kingdom of heaven. These straits pull pride
down, humiliate and destroy arrogance, burns out
pride and selfrighteousness, and lays a solid
foundation under your hope.
Those that have no hope are in the very danger
that they suppose the believer is in. The Bible says
nothing encouraging about them. Rather, it speaks of
those before they entered these straits in this wise:
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
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from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world" (Ephesians 2:12.) Here the apostle
associates being without hope as also being without
God. So, conversely, if one is without hope his
presumed assurance is groundless. We realize that our
view on part of the next passage may be pretty far off
for many readers, but the rest is clear.
"And IF CHILDREN, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer WITH Him, that
we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. For the earnest expectation (hope) of the
creature (that is begotten within the old man)
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For
the creature (that is born of God within, the "new
man") was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
by reason of Him who subjected the same (creature)
in hope, because the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption (by the
outward man that perish) into the glorious liberty of
the children of God." (That, the reader may dispute.)
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"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the first fruits (hope
being one of them) of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body. For we are saved BY HOPE: but
hope that IS SEEN (the presumptuous "knowso
salvation") is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it." (Romans 8:1725.)
(2) The Gift of Hope and Faith together:
The above is a subject too often disconnected from
faith by those who "have no hope," and for such, it
would appear they really do not have evangelic faith, for
faith and hope go together. The "faith" of such may be
mere moral suasion, and it is moral suasion that
produces a false instantaneous assurance; and
instantaneous assurance is a nominal belief held by the
outward or carnal man. When Paul dwelled on the
glorious ministration of the Gospel and its effect within
the Corinthian believer, he remarks, "Seeing then that
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we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech"
(2 Corinthians 3:12.) Paul even expressed a "hope" that
their "faith is increased" (2 Corinthians 1 0: 15.) If Paul
expresses his possession of the gift of hope, how much
more the weaker saints of God would be expected to
have it in exercise. The fact that Paul mentioned both
"hope" and "faith" together indicates the two are
separate gifts.
Moving upwards on the continuum of faith, Paul
joins hope and faith together interstitially. In
Colossians, he has "heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,
and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye
heard before in the word of truth of the Gospel"
(Colossian 1:4,5.) Here, faith, charity, and hope are
associated with the believers' expectation of the earnest
of their inheritance, which certainly proves that hope is
not a "doubtsosalvation," as some mockingly call it.
Again, he does the same in verses 21-23, writing: "And
you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in
the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight: if ye
continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not
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removed away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye
have heard and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a
minister. "
Just as there is an assurance of faith, one should
expect there to be an assurance of hope. And there is.
Paul stresses hope as strongly as it can be expressed
when he adds the word "full" to it when writing to the
Hebrews. "And we desire that every one of you do shew
the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto
the end. . . . 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: which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for
ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Hebrews 6:11 & 18
20.) Before one objects, saying this "hope" is only an
"expectation" of heaven, we need to cite this passage
again: "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these
three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians
13:13.) It is unreasonable to separate hope, which is set
between faith and charity in the text, from the list and
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consider it not a similar gift as the other two.
In the beginning of this chapter, it is mentioned
that faith and hope go together, hope being lower on a
continuum than faith. It needs to be reiterated that
where you find the one, the other also exist, whether it
is in evidence or not. One cannot have "hope in Christ,"
and not "believe that He is and the Rewarder of him that
seeketh Him;" for as "without faith it is impossible to
please Him, "and "for he that cometh to God must believe
that He is" etc, (Hebrews 11: 6,) that is rather obvious.
That is as true as "How shall they call on Him in whom
they have not believed?" Just as hope is a fruit of the
Spirit, so too, ''faith is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8.)
Whereas no one is pleased to counterfeit hope, the
whole world has counterfeited ''faith.'' Since faith is that
peculiar grace by which God is pleased to draw out
one's life and immortality, bringing it to light by the
Gospel, then Satan has also targeted it to create as
much confusion as possible. So we move to the subject
of "faith" under the next heading, "Experimental Fruit of
the Spirit."
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Chapter Twelve: EXPERIMENTAL FRUIT OF THE
SPIRIT: Little Faith, Faith, and Great Faith
''Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;)" and "For
grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT OF
YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD" (Ephesians 2: 5
& 8.)
According to our continuum, hope is the lowest gift
of God, and little faith next in a higher order. In order
to discuss "little faith" and "great faith," it seems
necessary to do two things: (1) reexamine what we call
"faith," and (2) define it for use in examining all three
levels. But how shall we begin?
What we now say is not off the subject. It makes
two necessary points with which to begin. In 1962, this
writer was baptized and ordained by the then oldest
Old School Baptist minister in America. He had retired
from the cavalry after WWI and kept his horse. By this
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time the horse was long gone, but his saddle, still
polished, sat on his front porch in Hamilton, Ohio, with
the bridle out in front, and the reins wrapped around
the saddle horn. He was a retired professor from
Oberlin College in Ohio, where he had taught History,
Law and Philosophy. (He held two degrees, a PHD and a
LLD.)
Early in the morning, we arose, and he took me
"for a ride." We traveled all day visiting cemeteries. At
each he stopped, told of their ministers and members,
when the church was constituted, etc. By lunch I was
ready to scream, but he continued until almost dark.
When we returned, he sat down on the porch, and said:
"Young man, I'm not an old man struck with a bad case
of nostalgia. I am a teacher, and we have been on a
field trip. Methodists did us no harm; Presbyterians
never interfered, even Missionary Baptists never
bothered us; the Catholics in this country burned none
of us at stake; and the government never imprisoned
us. We did it to ourselves!"
Again, pointing across the street, he said the
gentleman there was a Baptist evangelist. He arose and
stepped straddle his saddle, picked up the reins, and
began moving up and down as if riding, while saying,
"The evangelist called to me and said, “Co!. What are
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you doing?" "I'm exercising my horse," he replied. "But,"
said the evangelist, "You have no horse to exercise!"
“Yes," he replied, "I'm only doing with my imaginary
horse, what you tell your audiences. You tell them to
exercise their faith. But they have no faith to exercise!"
Then, returning to his seat, he said, "Young man, see
that saddle? It is still right there. It did not go
anywhere! Stay off of hobbyhorses. They'll take you
nowhere!”
Here, as Calvinistic people, both lessons may be
useful. Where did we acquire our concept of "faith?" It
is amazing that we all are persuaded that the doctrines
of free and sovereign grace are, in fact, the truth of
Christ, of His apostles, and of the New Testament
saints; and yet 2,000 years later, we are still having
trouble comprehending what this most important grace
is? Why might this be so?
We can assume that most who will receive this
article have spent some time in Pelagianism. We might
be correct to assume that we were all persuaded to join
a church when we were quite young, impressionable
and vulnerable. We might also safely assume that when
God so graciously revealed His grace in us, that we
delighted in it, and spent hours studying it. And, we
might also assume that we have never yet taken the
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time necessary to reexamine our definition of faith. It
may still be the same as before when we were in
mystery Babylon. So I challenge all to throw aside that
Pelagian definition and began anew.
How many of us have read Hebrews 11: 1, and
returned to it repeatedly attempting to comprehend it in
the light of our preconceived definition from
Pelagianism? "Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Inserting the
Pelagian (Arminian) definition for "faith" here makes
nothing clearer. The mystery still remains. So, what
else is noted by the Holy Spirit about this faith? First,
"By grace are ye saved through faith." Most of us will
agree, that the grace of faith is the ordained gift by
which salvation (at least experimentally) comes to a
sinner’ attention.
In the begetting into life by the exclusive operation
of the Holy Spirit, the quickened sinner "receives
Christ." Do not confuse that word "receive" in the
Pelagian (an Absolute Freewiller) sense. They think it
means, "accept." If I offer you something, you may
accept it or reject it. But, if I give you something, you
receive it. God never offered anyone salvation, hence,
they never accepted it. He "gave His only begotten Son,
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that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life" (John 3:16.) "To as many as
received Him, to them gave He power", etc. (John 1:13.)
We are saying that through the Spirit of God, Christ
enters into, and dwells within us. The spiritual life by
which we live in Him, is "Christ in us the hope of glory."
In that light, lets us present our subject.
Assuming you have found freewillism to be a lie to
your experience, and that free grace is the foundation of
your newly discovered faith in Christ, where is the
source of that faith IN YOU? The Scripture many times
identifies it. It is only hidden under the false definition.
Watch these Scriptures, and as you read them, may the
conceptual development emerge: "Knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Christ, even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified" (GaJ.2:16) "1 am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ LIVETH IN ME:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
Himself for me" (verse 20.)
This will sound radical to some, if not most, but
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what do these Scriptures show about this faith? We are
taught in school that the preposition "of'” denotes
possession, as in this case. Paul says that the life,
which he now has, is because Christ liveth IN me. What
does that do for Paul? Why, simply, the faith Paul has
is the faith OF Christ in him. He says so! It is that
faith of Christ by which he is justified. This is sharply
demonstrated when applied to persons already
identified as "believers." Paul wrote: "But the Scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith
OF JESUS CHRIST might be given to them that
believe" (Gal. 3:22.) It is often preached by Pelagian
ministers that "believing" is the moving cause for
"receiving" life. But is it? What saith the Lord: "This is
the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath
sent" (John 6: 29.) Also, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that
sent Me, HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but IS PASSED from death unto life"
(John 5:24.) So it seems plain that "believing" by one
who has faith within and is already a possessor of
everlasting life, that this believing is the evidence that
he has already passed from death unto life. This faith is
a manifestation of a regenerate, living, state.
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When Paul expressed how he desired to be found
after all he suffered and lost, he said, "And be found in
Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith OF Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith ... " (Phil. 3: 9.) If
one looks at the many times the preposition "of'” is set
after "faith" identifying it with Christ or "of God," the
point is made. When a person is born of God, that
person is interstitially united with the living Christ,
whose life, and faith, and righteousness, and all those
"spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. l:
1) are in him and he has Christ as his "all in all." It is
by this faith wherein "the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith (Whose faith?) to faith: (Again, whose
faith?) as it is written, The just shall live by faith"
(Romans 1: 1 7.) And they do.
In these places, we have not spoken of faith as an
"act of believing." Rather, the "faith of Christ" IN a
person is necessary for the "act of believing" to be of
any good consequence. Without the "faith of Christ" in
them, the "devils also believe and tremble," but are not
saved. Without the "faith of Christ" in him, Simon
Magnus remained in the "gall of bitterness." (Acts 8: 23.)
The most challenging statement that can be made is
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this: This "faith of Christ" causes one to depend
wholly on Him for their every need. The recipient of
it does not know where all he is going. This is an
important point when contrasting the faith of Christ in
His people with the Pelagian concept, better called,
“moral suasion,” rather than “faith.” The Pelagian walks
down the aisle, makes his confession, joins the church,
and now "knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is
heaven bound." That is not so much faith as
presumption. It is based on moral suasion. If that got
your attention, then watch this: Abraham was justified
by faith. Paul echoes this, saying: "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" (Hebrews 11:
8.) The Pelagians’ faith is such he can walk by sight,
knowing whither he is going, according to his own
profession.
One may object and say, "But Abraham was going
to an earthly inheritance." My answer, "Oh no, the faith
of Christ in him looked far beyond those horizons,” "For
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
Builder and Maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10.) That is the
same city that God's people today, by the faith of Christ
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who dwells in them, are looking toward to: "But ye are
come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and unto an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant ... "(Heb.12:2224.)
Notice, we have not been so specific to identify any
and every detail that you must believe to be a "saved"
person. Why? Simply, those that love the Lord and His
precious truth of free grace have Christ dwelling IN
them, and thereby IN him they have every thing He did
for them all even their faith and His righteousness!
There is a faith that is of the operation of God. "Buried
with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of', God, who hath
raised Him from the dead" (Cor. 2:12.) [Some of us refer
to this baptism as the “baptism of the Spirit.”] It is this
faith so many confuse with that faith by which one has
righteousness imputed to him. This faith is measured
to the living child of God as it is needed. Sometimes we
only need "little faith," and under severe temptations,
persecutions, trials of our faith, doubts, fears, and
anxieties, etc., great faith is called for: "My grace is
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sufficient for you" is verified. The entire 11 th Chapter of
Hebrews is filled with examples where great faith was
in operation. At other times, a simple "touch of the hem
of His garment" brings needed relief. But whether it is
little faith or great faith, it rises up from within that
indwelling faith of Christ.
This last point, and Scripture, is very appropriate
at this particular time: "For I say, through the grace
given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to EVERY MAN the
MEASURE OF FAITH" (Romans 12:3.) If anything more
is needed, it would be this: If this measure of faith is a
gift of God to every man, according to his particular
need, then we ought to leave that matter to Him whose
business it is. Everything will be made manifest in its
own time.
Both assurance and full assurance are of the
highest level of the Christian man's experience, and is
much rarer than that boasted of by manmade
"Deciders." They are attained when God exercises them
within the believer for his comfort, or for trials he is
called upon to face. But they are not so much of the
essence of faith that one can never be without them.
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Hope and faith are always present in a quickened child
of God, but assurance is often long in being attained,
and can quickly be lost due to sin, severe trials of faith,
the withdrawing of God's face, and God's sovereign
good pleasure. Therefore we present it next, using the
historical confessions of faith of Baptists,
Presbyterians, and Congregationalists (London,
Westminster, and Savoy). We present these in a
separate chapter.
Chapter Thirteen: ASSURANCE AND FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH
In the first part of this series, we covered the too
little known subject of hope, followed up in the second
with the subject of faith, little faith and great faith as
measured out by Christ to believers according to their
need, and will conclude with assurance of faith. It
seems best to go to the statements of our Baptists,
Presbyterians, and Congregationalist confessions.
These will show where most of our forefathers stood on
the subject; which is far different from that professed
by modernday “Christians.” These are well stated. In
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chapter 18 of each of them, we read the following:
"1. Although temporary believers and other
unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with
false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the
favor of God and in a state of salvation, which hope of
theirs shall perish (Job 8:13,14,) yet such as truly
believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity,
endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him,
may, in this life be certainly assured that they are in
the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God (I John 2:3; 3:14,18,19,21; 5: 13,) which
hope shall never make them ashamed (Romans 5:2,5.)
"This certainly is not a bare conjectural and probable
persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an
infallible assurance of faith (Hebrews 6: 11, 19) founded
on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in
the Gospel (Hebrews 6: 17,18;) and also upon the
inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which
promises are made (2 Peter 1: 4, 5, 10, 11,) and on the
testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our
spirits that we are the children of God.
"2. (Romans 8: 15,16;) and, as a fruit thereof,
keeping the heart both humble and holy (1 John 3: 1
3.)
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This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the
essence of faith, but that a true believer may WAIT
LONG, AND CONFLICT WITH MANY DIFFICULTIES
before he be partaker of it (Isaiah 50:10, Psalm 88,
Psalm 77: 112;) yet being enabled by the Spirit to
know the things which are freely given him of God, he
may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use
of means, attain thereunto (1 John 4: 13, Hebrews
6:11,12:) and therefore it is the duty of every one to
"give all diligence to make his calling and election sure,
that thereby His heart may be enlarged in peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and
in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience,
the proper fruits of this assurance (Romans 5: 1,2,5;
14: 17;) so far is it from inclining men to looseness
(Romans 6: 1,2; Titus 2: 11, 12, 14.)
"3. True believers may have the assurance of their
salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and
intermitted; as by negligence in preserving of it, (Cant.
5:2, 3, 6,) by falling into some special sin which
woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit (Psalm
51:8, 12,14;) by some sudden or vehement temptation
(Psalm 116:11; 77: 7,8; 31:22;) by God's withdrawing
the light of His countenance, and suffering even such
as fear Him to "walk in darkness and to have no light"
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(Psalm 30:7;) yet are they never destitute of the seed
of God (1 John 3: 9) and life of faith (Luke 22:32,)
that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity
of heart and conscience of duty out of which, by the
operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due
time be revived." (Psalm 42:5, 1,) and by the which, in
the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair
(Lam. 3:2631.)”
The Confessional article is well stated. Faith
and hope are so interstitially interwoven that where one
is, so the other. But assurance and full assurance of
faith are beyond little faith, or faith. Faith itself is of
Christ in us the hope of glory. He deals the measure of
faith He is pleased for us to have. At times He tries our
faith, as He did Abraham's in the case of Isaac being
offered. Sometimes He withdraws His countenance from
us, leaving us with only a hope to keep us from
despair. But for the tried saint, giving diligence in
making their calling and election sure, they receive a
peaceful assurance of their salvation.
Studying the article above and what we
understand from our experience, it seems unlikely that
a child of God is given instant full assurance at the
second birth. It is true, that there is a "first love" at that
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time that is exceedingly sweet; and such a one will
think that surely all of his troubles are now over. As a
Father, God holds the little lamb closely to His bosom,
but in time, he is made to walk by faith. This early
assurance of faith is removed, and his faith is now
tried. And 0h, how troubling that trial can be: "Lord:
save me: or I perish!"
This assurance, may be, and most often is lost or
hid from view. As the articles states: many reasons
exist why this is so. David, in the case of Bathsheba:
lost his and begged the Lord to "restore in me the joy of
Thy salvation" (Psalm 51:12.) And only the Lord can do
it: for as hope and faith, this too, is the fruit of the
Spirit and gift of God. It, too, is measured out to a
believer from the faith of Christ dwelling within, and it
is of grace; free grace, amazing grace and sovereign
grace. These exercises, from hope to full assurance, are
designed by God as evidences of His divine presence
within the believer, and Christ Himself is the
"substance of things hoped for,” for all these things are
found in Him, and He in us. And of these, faith is also
the "evidence of things not seen." Without this
indwelling presence there can be no true assurance of
salvation. That would be what the first article calls a
"false hope," which will perish.
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It is to be feared, seeing so many articles on the
Web, that until this subject is better understood (at
least by ministers), the poor and afflicted children of
God the "lambs" they are also to feed, will be sadly
neglected, and even by their own pastors, and sorely
afflicted. What shall you say to that precious lamb that
cannot rise up even to little faith? "You are going to
hell" is a horribly severe judgment of one of Christ’s
little ones. Yet the Web is full of religious bigots that
seem to think they have a copy of the “Lamb’s book of
Life.” However, It would be better for that preacher to
have a millstone tied around the neck and cast into the
sea, than to offend one of these little ones! That is too
serious to hide behind theological and intellectual
exegesis.
Chapter fourteen: CONCLUSION:
This may be appropriate here: we see the remarks
at times from (of all people, Calvinists!) who condemn
faithful ministers with a new phrase not often used
before: "He is one of those who speaks peace!" Lord has
mercy! what in the world is the purpose of the Gospel, if
not peace! The first thing you do on entering a house in
the ministry is to say, "Peace be to this house." If your
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peace rests upon it, you stay, if not, you remove
yourself "If the Son of peace is there, your peace shall
rest upon it" (Luke 10: 56). "The word which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ: (He is Lord of all,) that word, I say, ye know,
which was published throughout all Judea, and began
from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached"
(Acts 10: 3637.) In that great passage every Evangelical
cites, we read: "And how shall they preach, except they
be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad
tidings of good things" (Romans 1 0: 15.) It is in that
text we prove the utility of the Gospel in a quickened
sinner's conversion. In spiritual begetting, Christ takes
up His abode in the heart, and His faith is IN that
quickened sinner. Without it, he could no more believe
the Gospel than Balaam's ass, or Peter’s rooster! With
it, he cannot fail to believe it! Thus, among believers, at
least, many of their abstract of principles states: "We
believe the elect will be called quickened, regenerated,
and converted by the power of God through faith." Faith
is a wondrous gift, but "there remaineth faith, hope, and
charity, and of these three, charity is the greatest." The
preaching of faith is more sweetly presented in charity.
Without this charity, that "faith" is moral suasion. For
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"these three" go together in the order the apostle put
them. Thus from the effectual calling of God’s elect, the
incorruptible seed of Christ is planted with the
individual, which implantation produces spiritual life
and immortality (being in Christ, who only has
immortality). Upon the reception of the life, God draws
the individual to His own everlasting arms in loving
kindness. The sensible sinner is brought thereby
through many trials and tribulations in his warfare
within himself, as he struggles in darkness to be
delivered, fleeing to the Law, to morality, to work
mongering religion, all of which are used by the Spirit
to kill him to his own socalled “freewill merit” and
selfrighteousness.
At the appointed time, God brings this life and
immortality to light by the true Gospel of the free and
sovereign grace of God, and grants the quickened
individual a hope of eternal life and salvation; faith in
the Son of God by the “faith of Christ;” and at times,
leads him gently on to an assurance of his salvation.
Through the entire spiritual development, from the
begetting to the new birth, the whole work is of God
and of God alone. In divine quickening, the sinner is
wholly passive, but upon that quickening, God works in
him “both to will and to do of His good pleasure,”
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(Philippians 2:13) conforming him to the image of
Christ. The whole travel of the Christian man is a
struggling warfare against the natural, fleshly, or
Adamic man until his full and complete deliverance in
the resurrection of the just. And this warfare is
produced because of antagonistic forces between the
natural man and the new begotten spiritual man of God.
The commencement of this travel is found in the eternal
and living, or actual, union of Christ and His body, the
church; and its culmination is in the final resurrection
of the body at the resurrection of the just at the last
day, and the glorification of the entire church of God.
May it be the reader’s blessed happiness to be
embraced in such wondrous love and great grace of our
Almighty God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Peace, love, and
happiness, to you all. Amen.
APPENDIX: A.
ARTICLES OF FAITH OF THE GEORGIA BAPTIST
ASSOCIATION of 1790
By Jesse Mercer175
(Complements of the Jack Tarver Library of Mercer
University, Macon, Georgia)
"We, the churches of Jesus Christ, who have been
regularly baptized upon a profession of our faith, are
convinced, from a series of experience, of the necessity
of a combination of churches; and of maintaining a
correspondence, for the preserving of a federal union
amongst all the churches of the same faith and order.
And as we are convinced, that there are a number
of Baptist churches, who differ from us in faith and
practice; and that it is impossible to have communion
where there is no union, we think it our duty, to set
forth a concise declaration of the faith and order, upon
which we intend to associate, which is as follows:
1 st. We believe in only one true and living God; and
that there is a trinity of persons in the Godhead the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and yet there are
not three Gods, but one God.
2 nd . We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament are the word of God, and the only rule of
faith and practice.
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3 rd . We believe in the fall of Adam, and the imputation
of his sins to his posterity; in the corruption of human
nature, and the impotency of man to recover himself
by his own free will ability.
4 th . We believe in the everlasting love of God to His
people, and the eternal election of a definite
number of the human race, to grace and glory: And
that there was a Covenant of Grace or redemption
made between the Father and the Son, before the
world began, in which their salvation is secure, and
that they in particular are redeemed.
5 th . We believe that sinners are justified in the sight of
God, only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to
them.
6 th . We believe that all those who were chosen in
Christ, will be effectually called, regenerated,
converted, sanctified, and supported by the Spirit
and power of God, so that they shall persevere in
grace, and not one of them be finally lost.
7 th . We believe that good works are the fruits of faith,177
and follow after justification, and that they only justify
us in the sight of men and angels, and are evidences
of our gracious state.
8 th . We believe that there will be a resurrection of the
dead, and a general judgment; and the happiness of
the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked will
be eternal.
And For Gospel Order:
1st. We believe that the visible Church of Christ is a
Congregation of faithful persons, who have gained
Christian fellowship with each other, and have given
themselves up to the Lord, and to one another, and
have agreed to keep up a Godly Discipline, agreeably
to the rules of the Gospel.
2 nd . We believe that Jesus Christ is the great Head of
His Church, and only Lawgiver, and that the
government is with the body, and is the privilege of
each individual; and that the discipline of the church
is intended for the reclaiming of those individuals,
who may be disorderly, either in principle or practice;178
and must be faithfully kept up, for God's glory, and
the peace and unity of the churches.
3 rd . We believe that water baptism and the Lord's
Supper, are ordinances of the Lord, and are to be
continued till His second coming.
4 th . We believe that true believers in Jesus Christ are
the only subjects of baptism, and that dipping is the
mode.
5 th . We believe that none but regular baptized church
members have a right to communion at the Lord's
Supper.
6 th . We believe that it is the duty of every heavenborn
soul to become a member of the visible Church, to
make a public profession of his faith, to be legally
baptized, so as to have right to, and to partake of the
Lord's Supper at every legal opportunity, through the
whole course of his life. ___________
APENDIX: B
179
THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND EFFECTS OF THE
CHRISTIAN WARFARE
By
Thomas P. Dudley 1844
To the Churches composing the Licking Association of
Particular Baptists, their Messengers wish grace, mercy and
peace multiplied:
Dearly Beloved Brethren and Sisters: It occurs to us that
we could not select a more appropriate subject, (because none
possesses more intrinsic merit,) for our present annual
address, than the Origin, Nature, and Effects of that warfare
which so painfully disturbs the peace and quiet of the children
of the regeneration.
It is confidently believed, that much embarrassment and
many doubts and fears with regard to their interest in a
Savior’s shed blood, have resulted from misconception of this
important subject. How often does the troubled saint exclaim,
“If I love, why am I thus?
Why this dull and lifeless frame?
Hardly, sure, can they be worse
Who have never heard His name.”
That the warfare, invariably follows the new birth, or being
“born again,” is not, we believe, controverted by any
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experimental Christian. But whilst some of us maintain that
the warfare results from a conflict of elements within; others,
and perhaps the larger number contend, that, in regeneration,
the man is changed from the love of sin to the love of holiness.
We inquire, by what power the supposed change is effected?
The answer is, by the Spirit of God. Moses informs us, “He is
the Rock, His work is perfect” – Deut. 32:4. Now we ask, if
indeed, in regeneration, the man is changed from the love of sin
to the love of holiness, and this change is perfect, does it not
necessarily follow, that he will be so wholly and entirely devoted
to holiness subsequently, as he had been to sin antecedently to
regeneration? If, as is contended by many, the enmity of the
heart is slain, in regeneration, whence arises the opposition to
the dispensations of God’s Providence? Irreconciliation to His
will? And whence the exclamation, “O wretched man that I am!
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans
7:25. That the Christian is a compound being, is a truth so
fully taught in his history, as given in the Holy Scriptures, that
we wonder it should be controverted by any who have tasted
“the Lord is gracious.” “But though our outward man perish, yet
the inward man is renewed day by day” 2 Cor. 4:16. “For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man” Romans 7:22.
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ”
Romans 6:5. “That ye put off, concerning the former
conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and
that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:2224. “Lie not
one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
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deeds; and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of Him that created him” Colossians 3:9,10.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” 2
Corinthians 5:17. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”
Galatians 6:15. Whence these various distinctions between the
old and the new man, if indeed there are not two men? If man
is only changed in regeneration? If the language, that “man is
changed,” were appropriate, there would be but one man; his
feelings and affections have been changed, there could be no
conflict, and hence no warfare! We presume that none will
contend that the old is the new man, or that the new is the old
man. This would be to confound language and make it perfectly
unintelligible.
We affectionately ask brethren to consider that, the matter
of making Christians, is no where, in the Scriptures,
represented as Reformation, but as a creation. Hence, it is said,
“But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for,
behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of
weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.”
“For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their
offspring with them” Isaiah. 65:1823. None, we presume, will
deny that the last quotation has exclusive reference to
Galatians 4:26. “But, Jerusalem which is above is free, which is
the mother of us all.” “But now thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O, Jacob, and He that formed thee, O, Israel. Fear not, for I
have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art
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Mine.” “Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from
the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north,
Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one
that is called by My name: For I have created him for My glory, I
have formed him; yea, I have made him” Isa. 43:1,57. “How
long wilt thou go about, O, thou backsliding daughter? For the
Lord hath created a new thing in the earth; A woman shall
compass a man” Jer. 31:22. “For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.” Psalm 51:10. But why need we multiply proofs on
the point, when they are set forth so palpably in the Scriptures,
and realized in the Christian experience?
The Bible furnishes the following history of the natural
family of Adam: “So God created man in His own image; in the
image of God created He him” (Genesis 1:27). “And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul”
(Genesis 2:17). “Male and female created He them; and blessed
them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were
created” (Genesis 5:2). Hence, we learn, that all “living souls,”
were created in, and simultaneously with their natural
progenitor. They all descend from him by ordinary or natural
generation. They necessarily partake of his nature, and subsist
upon the same elements upon which he subsisted. The breath
of life communicated to man, whence he became a living soul,
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constituted him a rational, intelligent, responsible being – the
subject of law and earthly enjoyments capable of subsisted
upon the products of the earth; But incapable of other and
higher enjoyments. Deprive him of the soul, mind, or reasoning
faculties, and what would distinguish him from the brute
beasts? Deprive him of life and he would be like other dead
matter. In the absence of soul or body he would have been
incapable of filling up his destiny upon earth. “And the Lord
God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress
it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
(The kind of life which Adam had could be forfeited by
transgression.) And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man
should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him.” “And the
Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof. And
the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a
woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is
now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called
woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a
man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife, and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:1518, 2124.
Now, we ask, If the woman had been different in nature
and disposition, if she had been incapable of earthly
enjoyments of subsisting upon earthly productions of
breathing a natural atmosphere in a word, had her
susceptibilities been entirely different from Adam’s, would she
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have been an “help” meet for Adam? But she was part of him,
possessed the same nature, and was, consequently, an “help
meet” for him. Here too, we see the declaration, “male and
female created He them, and blessed them, and called their
name Adam,” carried out. “And unto Adam He said: Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not
eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life: Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto
the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife’s name
Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” Genesis 3:1720.
Did God address a rational, intelligent being, in the last
quotation? And was he capable of realizing the curse
pronounced? The characteristics of this family are strikingly
marked in the Scriptures. “And Adam lived an hundred and
thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own
image; and called his name Seth.” Genesis 5:3. “Behold, I was
shapened in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Psalm 51:5. “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go
stray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” Psalm 58:3.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned.” Romans 5:12. From the preceding facts and
arguments, it is manifest that the family of the “first Adam” is
not capable of rendering acceptable service to God. But the
antagonistic nature and principles of the two families (the
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natural and the spiritual,) out of which grows the Christian’s
warfare, is made still more manifest by the contrast introduced
by an apostle. “And so it is written, the first man, Adam was
made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is
of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. As
is the earthy, such are they that are earthy: And, as is the
heavenly, such are they also, that are heavenly. And as we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption.” 1 st Corinthians 15:4550 inclusive.
Is it not evident, then, that all “living souls,” were created
in, and simultaneously with the “first man, Adam?” And they all
being born of him, necessarily partake of his nature “and He
called their name Adam?” And that all “quickened spiritual
creatures,” were created in, and simultaneously with the “last
Adam,” Christ; – that they all being born of Him, “born of God,”
as necessarily partake of His spiritual nature! That all living
souls, no more necessarily descend from the first Adam, than
all quickened spiritual creatures necessarily descend from the
last Adam. Is it not clear that the seed of the “first man Adam”
disclose his nature – and the seed of the “last Adam” make
manifest His nature? The children of the “first Adam,” are born
of the flesh, and earthly in all their feelings and affections. The
children of the “last Adam,” are born of the Spirit, and are
necessarily, heavenly, or spiritual, in their feelings and
affections. The children of the first, are born for the earth, of the
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last Adam, are born for heaven. Those of the “first” are born of
corruptible seed; those of the “last Adam,” are born of
incorruptible seed. The first necessarily partake of human
nature; the last, of the divine nature. The antagonistic
principles attached to the two men, necessarily result in the
Christian’s warfare.
If all living souls were not vitally united to the first Adam,
how could they be so directly and fatally affected by the first
transgression? How could the original act of transgression be
considered their acts? “And so death passed upon all men; for
that all have sinned.” “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
(Romans 3:10). If all quickened spiritual children were not
vitally united to the “last Adam,” how could His Mediatorial
work affect them, in their deliverance from the wrath to come?
“This is His name whereby He shall be called, ‘The Lord our
Righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:6). The transgression of the
“first man Adam,” involved all his family in guilt and ruin. The
Mediatorial work of the “last Adam,” met all the claims of the
law, and satisfied divine justice in behalf of the chosen seed.
But as the transgression of the “first man Adam,” did not
disqualify his family for heaven; neither did the obedience and
death of “the last Adam,” impart to His chosen seed, a
qualification for the enjoyment of heaven. The earth being the
natural abode of the “first Adam’s” family; they are necessarily
born of the flesh, in order to its enjoyment. Heaven being the
ultimate abode of the saints, they are, necessarily, born of the
Spirit,” in order to its enjoyment. “Except a man be born of
water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (
John 3:5). Here we are presented with two distinct births of
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two distinct elements, which necessarily produce two distinct
beings. The first is born of the flesh, producing beings incapable
of entering the kingdom of God; the second, born of the Spirit,
producing beings capable of entering the kingdom of God. The
first, producing simple beings; the second, compound beings.
The first, having but one nature flesh; the second, possessing
two natures both flesh and spirit.
Of those born of the flesh, it is said, “Because the carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God.”(Romans 8:78) God said of those born of
the Spirit, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of His.” (Romans 8:79). “All men hath not
faith.” “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him.” Faith
is a “fruit of the Spirit” The gift of God to the “new creature.”
The development of the natural family has been
progressing for near six thousand years, and yet, the last one
born, like the first Adam, gives proof, demonstrable proof, of the
source whence he sprang. The spiritual family of God has been
developing with, and since the days of Abel and Seth, and each
one, “born of the Spirit,” gives evidence of the source whence he
sprang. “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” No
contingency can prevent the entire development of each, the
natural and the spiritual families; and we are warranted to
believe, that the last who shall be developed of each, shall be
like the first of that family from whence he sprang.
The sturdy oak tree of the forest, with all its roots, its
huge trunk, every limb, every twig, yea, and every leaf which
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has been, is now being, and shall be developed, were once
enclosed in a small acorn, whence they all sprang – are all of
the same nature – each a part of the whole. Had not the acorn
been providentially committed to the ground, whence it
underwent decomposition, and germination, there had been no
development. So with the corn of wheat. “Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that
loveth his life (his natural life) shall lose it; and he that hateth
his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John
12:24,25. Adam the first, could no more produce a spiritual
being, than the thorn produce grapes, or the thistle figs.
We learn from the Bible that the Husband was composed
of two whole and distinct natures, Divine and human. The
human composed no part of the Divine; nor yet did the Divine
compose any part of His human nature. Now examine the
figure: if the bride is not composed of two whole and distinct
natures, or if the human composes any part of the Divine, or
the divine composes any part of the human nature, in her, can
she be “an help meet” for Him? Unless she partake of the same
distinct natures, can she enjoy Him, or He her, in this world, or
in that which is to come? But we find the “two men” sustained
upon radically different elements. The Earth, which is the
mother of the “old” man now, as formerly, feeds the “old man.”
The “new,” is fed upon that “bread which cometh down from
heaven.” “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and
the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world.” “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:51,53.
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The creation and development of these destined to inhabit
both the natural and spiritual world, are distinct propositions.
Hence the Psalmist, personating Christ, says: “My substance
was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and
curiously wrought in the lower part of the earth; Thine eyes did
see My substance being yet unperfect, and in Thy book all My
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139: 1516). “For
we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”
(Ephesians 5:30). Creation was instantaneous. Formation is
progressive. Though we were created simultaneously with and
lay dormant (in seed substance) with the “first Adam,” for
thousands of years, yet the time arrived; the purpose of God is
carried out, and we were born of the flesh – elemented alone for
a natural state of being – susceptible alone, of fleshly
enjoyments – adapted to a natural world – capable alone of
being sustained upon earthly food, and possessed alone of
natural life; all of this family, “bear the image of the earthly
Adam.” This includes Adam the first and all his natural seed.
“And He called their name Adam.” We should not forget that
Adam the first, is said to be “the figure of Him that was to
come.” What, then, do we learn from the figure? That the Bride,
and all the spiritual children were created in and simultaneously
with the “the last Adam.” That, they are of the same nature
with Him, and being born of the Spirit, they are possessed of
eternal life, which qualifies them for a knowledge of “the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).
Antecedently to this birth, and the imparting to them, this life
(which it is the province of their spiritual Father to impart, John
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17:2) they are entirely ignorant of the “true God, and Jesus
Christ whom He hath sent.” “The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God.” “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost.” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
Although all the spiritual seed were “chosen in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world,” and had grace given
them in Christ Jesus before the world began” and were
sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ,”
though they were hidden in their spiritual Father as the first
Adam’s children were hidden in their natural father for a long
series of years, yet the times come when they are born of the
Spirit – when the “hidden ones” are made known to each other.
When their hearts being fashioned alike, the “Sun of
righteousness” “shines in their hearts, to give light of the
knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2
Corinthians 4:6). As the light of the sun, the great luminary of
day shines upon the sons and daughters of the natural world,
so the “Sun of righteousness” affords light to the spiritual
world. “I will say to the north, give up; and to the south keep
not back, bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the
ends of the earth; even every one that is called by My name, for
I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have
made him.” (Isaiah 43:67). Here again, we see the figure
carried out. All the family of the “first Adam,” created in him,
are called by his name so too, “even every one that is called by
My name.” Here we have two distinct families, propagated by
two distinct heads, each deriving the nature of his progenitor,
and each looking to his appropriate elements for sustenance.
The first, mortal beings, sustained upon corrupted elements. The
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second, immortal beings, sustained upon incorruptible elements.
The first are earthly beings; the second are heavenly beings. We
ask again, Is not the “old man” sustained upon the same
identical elements, subsequently, upon which he was fed and
sustained antecedently to the new birth? Can those elements
sustain his “new man?” Do we not partake of earthly food until
our soul is satisfied without imparting a particle of
nourishment to our “new man?” Does not our “new man,”
setting under the droppings of the sanctuary of the gospel, feed
sumptuously on the provisions of the gospel, without imparting a
particle of food to our natural, or “old man?” “Feed the church
of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” (Acts
20:28). Being “born of the flesh,” we are born into a natural
state of consciousness, capable of investigating natural
subjects, of participating in natural enjoyments, sustained
upon natural elements, so long as we retain, and until we yield
up that natural life, which we received in our natural head,
“Adam the first.” Being “born of the Spirit,” “born of God,” we
are made partakers of the divine nature, are susceptible of
spiritual instruction, of investigating spiritual subjects,
participating in spiritual enjoyments, sustained upon spiritual
elements; nor can the being thus born cease to be. “I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” (John 10:20).
“Because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19). “When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him
in glory.” (Colossians 3:4). Hence, we see that the death of the
“old man” cannot destroy the life of the “new man.”
The law was violated, and the curse incurred by man in
the flesh. The law was magnified and made honorable, and the
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curse removed from His chosen seed, (who sinned in their
Adamic or natural relation) by “God manifest in the flesh.” “For
as much then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
He, also, Himself, likewise took part of the same; that through
death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is,
the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.”
(Hebrews 2:1416). The whole humanity of the Lord Jesus, both
soul and body, was involved in their transgression. “When Thou
shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He
shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hands.” (Isaiah 53:10). “Now is My soul
troubled.” “My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.”
“Who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by
whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24). “For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18).
We have said Christians are compound beings; by which
we mean there are “two men” two whole and distinct natures,
inhabiting the same tenement or body. The “old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” whose genealogy we
trace back to the “first Adam,” who was made a “living soul,”
and who discloses the corrupt nature of the fountain from
whence he sprang. Adam “begat a son in his own likeness; after
his own image” an enemy to holiness – a hater of God. The
“new man” which after God is created in righteousness and true
“new man” which after God is created in righteousness and true
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holiness,” and who exemplifies the declaration, “If the root be
holy, so are the branches.” “And they shall call them, The Holy
People, the redeemed of the Lord: and thou shall be called,
Sought out; a city not forsaken.” (Isaiah 42:12). “Behold, now
are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2). Will He
appear with two whole and distinct natures? If He shall so
appear, shall we be like Him, unless we too, have two whole
and distinct natures?
Hence it is seen, that the two men derive their nature and
disposition, from two distinct sources. Each has a life peculiar
to himself, yet common to his species. The first, natural, the
second, spiritual life. The first is a corporeal – the second, an
incorporeal being. The first, an earthly – the second, an
heavenly being. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are
heavenly.” “As He is, so are we in this world.”
APPLICATION OF THE ABOVE
Nothing pure or holy, attaches to the “old man.” “But even
their mind and conscience is defiled.” (Titus 1:15). Nothing
impure or unholy, attaches to the “new man.” “Unto the pure all
things are pure.” (Titus 1:15). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8). It is contended by some,
yea, many professors of religion, that the soul is regenerated.
We confess we know but little about the soul. But we inquire,
what is it that renders man a rational, intelligent responsible
being? What is it that exercises volition for the body? “When
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lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:15). “And God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil
continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on
the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.” (Genesis 6:5). If the
soul were regenerated, would it not be wholly devoted to God,
subsequently, as it had been to sin, antecedently to
regeneration? If it is the soul that exercises volition for the
body, and that soul is “born of God,” and consequently “cannot
sin,” how are we to account for the wicked actions of David, of
Peter, and thousands of other Christians, even down to the
present day? But, is it contended, that the same soul exercises
wicked volition for the “old man” and holy volition for the “new
man?” If so, is not the soul divided against itself?
Others tell us, it is the mind which exercises volition for
the body. We have heretofore proven that “their mind and
conscience is defiled.” And Paul informs us, “Because the carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of
God; neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7). Hence we see, that
the influence of this mind, will lead the body to rebel
continually against God. Such is the practice of the “old man,”
or natural man, that his carnal mind exercises volition for his
fleshly body; while it is his spiritual mind which exercises
volition for the “new man,” because “he cannot sin.” The same
mind cannot influence each, the “old,” and the “new man,”
because their works are radically different from each other; and
if it influenced both, there would be no warfare.
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We conclude that the “old man” is carnally minded, and
thus shows that he is in a state of death. The “new man,” being
“spiritually minded,” is possessed of “life and peace.” It is quite
evident that when the Apostle speaks of the “carnal mind,” he
refers to the mind of the “old man,” which is “not subject to the
law of God,” and equally evident that when he says, “so then
with the mind, I myself serve the law of God,” he refers to the
mind of the “new man.” “But we have the mind of Christ.” 1
Corinthians 2:16. Adam the first imparts his mind, which is
carnal, to the old Adamic man; who descended from him
Christ imparts His mind to His spiritual children – and hence
the conflict, the warfare. “For I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. (Certainly, not after the outward man.) But I
see another law in my members (are those members without an
intelligent principle?) warring against the law of my mind (not
the carnal mind,) and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am.” (Surely
sin does not render the “old man” wretched, it is his element.)
“Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” This “old
man” whose deeds are evil – deeds of death. “For I know that in
me, (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing:” (Is the soul
deposited in the flesh?”) “for to will is present with me; but how
to perform that which is good I find not?” (Romans 7: 1825).
How are we to explain the following seeming contradiction, or
paradox? “If we (Christians) say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8). The same
apostle tells us, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for His seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he
is born of God.” (1 John 3:9). The “old,” or “outward man,” sins
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daily, (and the Christian most feelingly acknowledges it) and
thus proves that he is not born of God. The new man is filled
with holy desires – he “delights in the law of God” complains of
the “old man with his deeds” longs to be delivered from the
bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children
of God,” (Romans 8:21), and cries with the Psalmist, “I shall be
satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” (Psalm 17:15).
Thus does he prove his birth to be heavenly.
The truth is, dear brethren, the “old man” is precisely
what he has ever been, since the fall, in nature and disposition.
The “strong man armed,” is only bound not killed. His heart is
yet “enmity against God” as a child of God fully acknowledges;
he is doomed to death; and then deliverance to the “new man,”
who cries, “O, Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me” will have
come. But, we are asked, what becomes of man when death
shall have done his office? We answer, “the body returns to its
dust again, and the spirit to God who gave it.” But, what
becomes of the soul? When we shall be informed where the soul
of the Lord Jesus was, between the time of His crucifixion and
resurrection, we may undertake to answer this question. Of one
thing, however, we are certain, that is, that neither soul nor
body of the redeemed can go to Hell, because both are
purchased with the Redeemer’s blood. “The Redemption of their
soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever.” (Psalm 49:8). “Waiting
for the adoption, to wit: the redemption of our body.” “After that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”
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(Ephesians 2: 4344). Mark, both soul and body are included in
the purchase.
“And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly: and I
pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1
Thessalonians 5: 23). The whole “old man” of the elect is
destined to undergo a mysterious and glorious change, by
which he shall be assimilated into the likeness of the humanity
of the Lord Jesus; and be prepared for that thrilling occasion,
when the glories of eternity shall burst upon his ravishing
sight, and the Heavenly family shall exclaim “Come Lord Jesus,
come quickly.” But that change was not in regeneration – it
awaits the “last day.”
But we are asked, when, and how, are the “old” and the
“new man” to be united; and how will they appear hereafter? We
answer, “Now we see through a glass darkly,” but when we
shall learn how the soul and body of the “Redeemer,”
“Husband,’ “Friend,” now appears; and how they are gloriously
united to His divinity, then, and not till then, may we
undertake to say more in regard to the future state of the soul
and body, and the “new man” composing the “Bride, the Lamb’s
wife.” It is sufficient for the present, for her to know, that
“when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2). Until which event shall roll on, the
wise man described her thus, “What will you see in the
Shulamite? As it were a company of two armies.” (Song of
Solomon 6:13), and hence the believers’ warfare between the
elements of the natural, Adamic man and the heavenly spiritual
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man. Every sensible believer is acutely aware of that conflict on
a daily basis.
It is vain to tell us that the flesh, independently of an
intelligent principle, (call it soul, mind, or what you may,) will
rebel against God. Some brethren conclude that the warfare is
to be explained by “mind and matter.” Have they forgotten that
it requires both to constitute an intelligent accountable being?
We have shown that “even their mind and conscience is defiled;”
and that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” Matter would
be incapable of vice or virtue, in the absence of mind. Nor are
those more successful, who attempt to explain the Christian
warfare, by the different colors in the rainbow! Have they
forgotten that those colors harmonize, and that it is the entire
want of harmony between the old and the new man which
necessarily produces the warfare? Have they forgotten the
declaration, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of
the world?” (1 John 2:16). If the “old man” is “born of God and
cannot sin,” (I John 3:9,) then there would be no warfare. But is
this true? Let the Christian’s experience answer. “For that
which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15).
In conclusion, we submit to your serious and prayerful
consideration, the foregoing pages, hoping that God may bless
us, with an understanding of the Truth; and dispose us to
reduce it into practice that He may “guide us by His counsel
and afterwards receive us to glory,” is our prayer for the
Redeemer’s sake. Amen.