[CR144]Convention Report Sermons
1911
INTERNATIONAL
BIBLE STUDENTS
SOUVENIR
CONVENTION
REPORT[CR145]
International Bible Students Association
"Wisdom from Above; the Noblest Science; the Best Instructor"
Trans-Continental Tour, June 9 to July 12, 1911
PASTOR RUSSELL
And Special Train of International Bible Students
Obedience I WILL make my address very short, dear friends, and give you time to get back from your suppers. I have in mind a subject that might be appropriate to us for a few moments of consideration. What is it that the Lord specially expects of you and of me? What is the testing matter in God's sight? We might view the subject from various standpoints, and something might be said from them all, but to my understanding, there is just the one thing that covers all. We might say that God desires us to have a great deal of meekness, a great deal of gentleness, a great deal of patience, a great deal of longsuffering, a great deal of brotherly kindness, and a great deal of love in general. And we might lay stress upon one or another of those, and they are all very properly to be emphasized when thinking of a Christian's duty and a Christian's privilege; but when we think of what God is requiring of the Church, there is one thing that I believe covers the entire matter, and if you and I see that one thing it will help us in all that we do and all our thinking along those lines.
We ask ourselves what was it that Jesus specially did, what quality was it that Jesus specially developed? What was it that the Father saw in him that was well pleasing? By what process did he gain a great prize and come off a conqueror? What was it that he did? What was it in all his experiences that he learned? The Bible answers that he learned Obedience by the things which he suffered. And I understand, dear brothers and sisters, what we have specially to learn is Obedience. Now I would like to impress that thought in my mind and in the minds of all who are present. God looks for obedience. When Jesus came, you remember, and was thirty years of age, and presented himself at Jordan in consecration to do the Father's will, what did he say? Lo, I come to do thy will, O God--I have come here to be obedient to your will, whatever your will is, in things great or small, difficult or easy--your will is that which I am here to do. And that should be your attitude and mine, dear brethren and sisters. This is the only proper attitude. I have found some dear Christian brethren and sisters who seem to have a different thought. They seem to think, now God wants me to make some sacrifice, and I will make a particular sacrifice of my own. Jesus did not so say. Jesus did not say, I am going to make a great big sacrifice of my own. He says, I just want to do whatever the Father wants to have done, nothing more, nothing less. And so it is with you and me. We are not to pick out something, and say, Now how can I scheme something and work up something and do something that will be novel, and God will say, What a wonderful thing you have done. We are not able to surprise God, dear friends, by any wonderful things we can do, and every time we think we are going to do some wonderful thing, by the time we get through with it we will find it is a very foolish thing--sure to be so. And just the right attitude, then, is Father, what is thy will? What sayest thou for me to do? All of Jesus' ministry was spent in this way. You remember he began thus at the very beginning of his ministry and said, Lo, I come, as in the volume of the Book it is written of me, to do thy will--everything that is written in the Book; everything that is in the Bible. Everything that God has been telling for all of these previous centuries what the Messiah would do, I am here, Father, to do any and everything you would have for me to do. To my understanding, our Lord Jesus did not at first comprehend all that he was to do. Those things written in the Book were still hidden from him. When he made his consecration, you remember he had not yet been begotten of the Holy Spirit. It was after he had made his consecration, and after he had gone down into the water, and symbolized his consecration by baptism, that the Holy Spirit came on him, and the higher things, the heavens--were opened unto him and he began to see deep spiritual truth, began to understand those things of which he had knowledge previously but not an understanding. Just the same as you and I at one time had some knowledge of what was written in the Law and in [CR146] the Prophets, but we did not have an understanding of it. We knew the Scriptures stated this and stated that, but what did that mean, and what did this mean? So it was with our Lord, before he was begotten of the Spirit. He knew those things were written there; he knew those things written in parables and dark sayings; he knew God had that all covered up, and he knew he had come to be the Messiah, he knew the Messiah was to fulfill all those various things; but now, what was he to do? He did not see how those things could be fulfilled, for he did not know what they meant. There he saw the bullock of the Sin-offering and the goat of the Sin-offering, and the scape-goat, and the sprinkling of the blood-- what do they mean? And he saw the typical Pass-over lamb, saw the killing of the lamb, and the eating of its flesh, and the sprinkling of the blood, and the eating of the unleavened bread, herbs, etc.--but what did they mean? He saw the first-born of Israel were passed over and he saw that they became the Priests and Levites of the future--but what did it mean? Just as soon as he received the Holy Spirit, those things began to be opened up to him, he began to understand them. Then what did it mean? Oh, then he saw that he had already contracted to do the things that he now came to understand fully. That is to say, he began to see that the bullock represented himself and his sacrifice; he began to see that the copper serpent on the pole was merely a type of himself; that as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up; and that as people looked to the serpent and were healed of the bite of the fiery serpents, so humanity is to look up to him as the great sin-bearer, and have their sins and their pains, etc., which are the result of sin, healed of the bite of the serpent.
But the whole lesson for Jesus was, first, would he, without understanding all the terms, agree to do God's will, at any cost? He did that when he left the heavenly glory. He said, Father, if you have a glorious plan, and if you have intended me to be the instrument of that plan, although you have not told me how it is to be worked out yet, nevertheless I am ready; I will lay aside the heavenly glory, and I will assume the earthly condition--you see that is a necessary step. And that is all I ask, just let me see one step and I will take that step. So he found himself in fashion as a man. Now he said, Father, what is the next step--I delight to do thy will--everything that is written in that Book. Then the Father showed him the things written in the Book. Then you see how the remainder of his life was filled up with doing all the things that he could find were written in the Book. Now what was all of that? Obedience--the spirit of obedience. It was the spirit of obedience from the beginning that prompted him to lay aside the heavenly glory and assume the human nature. It was the spirit of obedience then that led him to say, Now, Father, here I am; for this purpose I have come into the world, now here I give myself away. Obedience. Then after he began to see more and to understand better, obedience still came in, and he said, this is the thing to be done, and that is to be done next, and the other is to be done afterwards, so step by step our Lord's pathway was a pathway of obedience and an obedience that cost him something. Every step that he took cost him something.
Now dear friends, you and I are invited to walk in his footsteps --in his steps of obedience. It is the obedience that God is counting. It is the obedience that is going to make you acceptable in God's sight. Obedience to the Commander means loyalty. Suppose a soldier in the army who would say, Did the general issue that order?
Yes.
Well, I don't understand what that means, I am not going to do it until I understand more about it. As soon as I know where the thing ends, then I will begin to be obedient.
That man would not be a loyal soldier. The business of a soldier is to be obedient. He knows that when he enlists. So when you and I have enlisted to be soldiers of the cross, it means obedience, whatever the Lord's providence brings to us, whatever the Lord's words shall indicate to us, to do not only his will, but to do it with delight.
We mentioned this morning how some have had a hesitancy saying, "Now is it necessary to be baptized?"--a wrong spirit entirely, you see, to be enquiring as to it being necessary--as though it were compulsion. There is no delight in that. The thing that will bring divine blessing is to delight to do God's will. Father, what is thy will? Show me what it is, make it plain to me, I am ready, willing, anxious to do everything that is written in your Book--all that you have marked out for this elect class.
Jesus has gone before. He has set us an example, and we are walking in his steps of obedience. They have led us thus far, and a blessing has come with every step of obedience we have taken, if we have taken it with the right condition of heart, and a blessing awaits every future step you and I will take if we simply take the future steps with loyalty to God and delight and pleasure in doing the will of our heavenly Father. And thus right down to the end of the journey, all the steps will be blessed of the Lord, and all who thus follow in the footsteps of Jesus, in the footsteps of obedience, thankful obedience, will all find themselves shortly, dear friends, in the kingdom.
THE TIME IS SHORT
UP, up, my soul, the long-spent time redeeming;
Sow thou the seeds of better deed and thought;
Light other lamps, while yet the light is beaming;
The time, the time is short.
Think of the eyes that often weep in sadness,
Seeing not the truth that God to thee hath taught;
O bear to them this light and joy and gladness;
The time, the time is short.
Think of the feet that stray from misdirection,
And into snares of error's doctrine brought:
Bear then to them these tidings of salvation;
The time, the time is short.
The time is short. Then be thy heart a brother's
To every heart that needs thy help in aught.
How much they need the sympathy of others!
The time, the time is short.
[CR147]
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
I HAVE in mind, dear friends, the words of our Great Master and Teacher, just before he died. "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." It seems to me that sounds the very beginning of man's experience in sin. Fear has been one of the terrible scourges through which he has afflicted himself, in a great measure. Father Adam and mother Eve were afraid after they had sinned. They went and hid themselves. And so there is a general tendency on the part of mankind to hide from God, realizing that we are sinners, realizing that we are imperfect, realizing that God is perfect, realizing that his law is perfect. Realizing that there is a penalty attached to his law, man has feared the worst and apparently the great adversary has taken advantage of this element of fear in our natures to endeavor to drive us still further from God.
If the world could but put away the fear it has, if the world could draw nigh to God, how assured we are in God's Word that he would be pleased to draw nigh also to the world--to every one of his creatures. But this element of fear entering in has destroyed our conception of the Almighty and has made man to consider the heavenly Father as the greatest of all evil beings, in a certain sense of the word, the one he should most dread, the one he should most fear. And so we find today, looking all over the world, that the heathen are in great fear and great trepidation, and they indeed worship no other God than a demon and have no other sensibility on the subject except that of fear. The element of love seems not to enter into any other religion than the religion of the Lord, our God, as presented to us in the Bible. No other religion I know of inculcates love for the Creator, or tells about the Creator having love for his creatures, but as heathen mind has thus turned against God through fear, we believe the Scriptures to indicate that they are turned through doctrines of demons, misrepresenting the Almighty, misrepresenting the divine plan, giving them all sorts of terrible thoughts respecting the future; so it has been to a large extent that the same prince of demons, and the same demons, have operated to some extent amongst Christian people, so that all of our creeds have taken on the coloring of the heathen religion; and as many of the people came from the heathen religion, it was a very easy matter for them to bring with them their misconception of the Almighty. And apparently, although the Bible teems with declarations of God's goodness, God's mercy, and God's love, yet this seems to be the thing that is very difficult for those who are out of harmony with God to understand, and the more they turn away from God, the more they delve into sin, the further they feel they are from him, and the more they feel that his anger should properly be against them.
It was not until we became Christians in the true sense of the word that we began to know something about God's real character, and began to trust him as a God and be able to look to him as our Father. The first good lesson for us that we learned at the very beginning of our Christian experience was that God had mercy upon us, and that he sent his son, and that Jesus died, the just for the unjust. We were so mistaught respecting the heavenly Father that perhaps many of you, like myself as a child, were inclined to reverence Jesus as the personification of love, and to think of the heavenly Father as the personification of anger and severity; and you would come to the Father through Jesus, hiding behind Jesus. And this thought was so thoroughly instilled in our minds that it was a difficult thing when we came to know the Lord better to fully get rid of all those thoughts of fear.
I saw recently a statement in the newspapers respecting a Sunday School Superintendent. He said to the children, "What do you think you would do first when you would get to heaven?" One little girl held up her hand.
"Well, tell us what you would do?"
She says, "I would hide from God behind Jesus."
There it is, my dear friends--run and hide from God behind Jesus. So this is what we have been doing all along. This is what the whole world has been doing--hiding from God. And it is fortunate for us, for to some extent we learned, even if it was indirectly, of the love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ; but we have to remember, and we do remember as children of older growth, that the Bible everywhere tells that it was God's love who planned the whole arrangement for our salvation, that it was the Father who arranged for the Lamb to be slain from before the foundation of the world; and it was the Father that sent, in due time, his Son into the world that he might redeem the world; and it is the Father who declares that he is the redeemer and the Savior and besides him there is none other; that is to say, while Jesus is the active person in this work of redeeming and saving, our Lord Jesus is merely carrying out the program of the heavenly Father, whose love we have in the past so much doubted. But now as Bible students, as we have come to study the Word of God more fully, we have come nearer to God, we have heard his message, "Draw nigh unto me and I will draw nigh unto you," and then the Lord Jesus revealed the Father as he said. He was revealing the Father more than he was revealing himself. He came that he might show forth the Father's character; he came as the exemplification of the Father's character and plan; he came telling us he was not doing anything of his own volition, but entirely according to the Father's gracious program. And so in this verse, "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid," then another verse, "Let not your hearts be troubled; Ye believe in God, believe also in me." The Jews had been believing in their heavenly Father, but had not been able to fully grasp the greatness of God and his mercy and love, but now they were to see in Jesus an exemplification of mercy and love, and they were to associate these in their minds. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is related to the Father, and there is one God and one plan--one God and Father of all, and one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Then the message of God to you and to me, in our Savior's words is, "Let not our hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Fear hath torment. There is ground for fear with sinners, but there is a ground then again for losing that fear--we have been redeemed with the precious blood. Something has been accomplished by our Savior. There is the opening of a reconciliation through the merit of his sacrifice. At one time we but vaguely comprehended what this great transaction is which our Lord Jesus accomplished. Now, by the grace of God, the due time seems to be here when his true people may see more clearly than ever in the past something of the length and breadth and the height and the depth of God's love, and the method by which God is working all things in harmony with his own justice, his own love, his own wisdom and his own power.
The first lesson we learn, then, is that we are sinners, that God is just and that he has pronounced a just penalty against sin. And it helps us so much when we begin to see what divine justice called for--that it did not call for eternal torment, but it did call for the life of the sinner. When we got that fact clearly before our mind, it was very helpful to every one of us, I am sure. After we saw clearly that he who gave life to mankind had a perfect right to determine that if that life would not be used in harmony with the divine law for God, for righteousness, in harmony with God, then that life should be forfeited, should be canceled, it helped us to see the next point plainly, that God having declared human life forfeited by Adam and his race, had provided also a way by which that sentence might be set aside, namely; that he would send his Son and that his Son would pay the price of redemption, and through the merit of the sacrifice of Jesus, the just for the unjust, there would be a reconciliation opened up whereby man could be recovered from the death sentence. Then the beauty of God's plan was thoroughly seen by us when we perceived that Jesus paid this very death sentence, that he did not go to eternal torment for us, or to purgatory for us, but he went into sheol, he went into hades, he went into the tomb, he went into the state of death--he died that he might recover us to God. Now the matter seemed quite clear to our minds, death the wages of sin, and Jesus dying and paying that very penalty.
Then the next thing in order would be the application of that penalty. When we say that Jesus paid the penalty we are using the word "Pay" in an accommodated sense; that is to say, it cost him so much, and that cost to him when he was thirty years of age, and for three and a half years when he was laying down his life and finished laying it down at Calvary, that was the cost to our Lord Jesus for our recovery. But while that was what it cost him, and that, therefore, was what he paid, in the sense of laying down life for our purchase, that was merely getting ready the purchase price. After the purchase price was thus in the divine hands, after Jesus had died and his death was a sufficiency for the sins of the whole world, it was in the hands of justice, but not yet applied to anybody. Then came the next step in the [CR148] program--the application of the merit of Christ. And what a wonderful philosophy opens up before our minds when we see how God is working in such a philosophical manner--much more so than anything we ever dreamed of! I tell you I get more in love with the heavenly Father's gracious character, and all the various details of it, the more I see of his gracious plan. How could we help but admire and love him, one who is so just on the one hand and so loving on the other, and one who is so fair in all his dealings--absolutely fair.
When we saw that God did not begin to deal with the world, although Jesus had died for the world, we saw the object. He tasted death for the man; it was not merely tasting death for the church. He was the satisfaction for the Church's sins, but not for the Church's only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Then we say, "When did he apply his merit for the world?" The answer is, "He has not yet applied his merit for the world." Is that the reason that the world is not reconciled to God? Yes, that is the reason the world still lies in the wicked one, as the Scriptures declare. Had the merit of Christ been applied to the world, and had the world been taken out of the hands of the wicked one, then the world would not be in the hands of the wicked one now; but the fact that the world still lies in the hands of the wicked one, that the world are still the children of wrath, as the Apostle said, is the evidence that Christ did not apply his merit to the world. Well then, what did he do? Did he do nothing? Oh, he did something, my dear friends; he did something of importance to you and to me. He did the first part of his great work. What was that? He ascended up on high and there appeared in the presence of God. For whom? For us. Who do you mean by "us"? "Us" who believe. "To us who believe he is precious"--to all who believe he is precious--to all who believe in the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation through his blood. Only those who believe, not to another soul. Not to an unbelieving soul has he ever granted any share in the merit of his sacrifice, but only to us who believe. And how did he apply it to us? The Scriptures say that he imputes it to us. Now what does "impute" mean? Impute signifies to make an indirect application.
Let me give you an illustration: Suppose I needed a thousand dollars and I went to you and said, "I would like to have a thousand dollars." And you would say, "I will neither give you nor lend you a thousand dollars, but I will endorse a note for you for a thousand dollars." Now then, if your endorsement is satisfactory, and will bring me the money, your endorsement is an imputation of a thousand dollars to my credit at the bank. So in case of the Church, Christ does not give to the church the value of his death; the value of his death is restitution only; he does not give us restitution. He does not wish us to have restitution; he has some better things in store for us. The heavenly Father has proposed that this class that is now being called may become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And since he is on the heavenly plane we also hope and trust we will be with him and see him as he is and share his glory on the heavenly plane. If so, we do not want restitution; we do not want the earthly life-rights of Jesus. We want merely what our God has provided. You need the present life and present body you have, as far as it will go, and you want an imputation of the merit of Christ to cover all the blemishes of your body, every blemish you have through sin, you need an imputation of Christ's merit covering all that imperfection. Why so? Because the call of this Gospel age is for you to present your body a living sacrifice, and you could sacrifice what you have, you could offer it to God, but God could not justly and consistently accept it as a sacrifice because it is blemished. Therefore it needs to have the imputation of the merit of Christ added to it, covering its blemishes and imperfections, and just as soon as that point is attained, satisfaction is there and God is ready to receive your offering as long as this Day of Atonement continues.
Bear in mind that this Day of Atonement lasts for more than 1800 years. The beginning of the Day of Atonement was in the days of our Lord's flesh, and his was the first great offering, and God accepted it because he was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Then after he ascended up on high, he gave an imputation of his merit, he endorsed, for all of those who would come unto the Father through him, and who would take up the cross and follow him--he became endorser for all of these, he imputed his merit to their contract so they could be acceptable in the sight of justice; and forthwith those who were waiting on the day of Pentecost, you remember, were immediately accepted as the holy Spirit came upon them, indicating that God had accepted their sacrifices, and God there begot them of the holy Spirit that they should be New Creatures in Christ, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, their Lord. And the same imputation made at that time has stood good for all the Lord's people of this class all the way down through this antitypical Day of Atonement, and still stands good and will stand good down until the last member of the elect shall have availed himself of this privilege and shall have presented his body a living sacrifice. And just as soon as the last member of the elect company shall have finished his course, all that part will be at an end, for thus it is written of this time. Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. That is to say, now is the special time of this special salvation as members of the Body of Christ; now is the acceptable time in which God is willing to accept the sacrifices of those who choose to come in and walk in the footsteps of the Savior, and take up their cross and follow him, laying down their lives in the service of God and of righteousness and on behalf of the brethren.
Do we then, dear friends, have clearly in mind what constitutes this presentation, or imputation of merit on our behalf? And do we see this, that if some of that merit was applied to Saint Paul and Saint Peter and others of the early church way back there when they died, they needed no further imputation; they were through with the imputation; they merely needed the imputation so that the sacrifice could be offered, and when the sacrifice was complete the imputation was at an end; and so this imputation or loaning of the merit of Christ to the various members of his Body continues down through the age; and when the last of these notes which he endorses shall have been paid, when your life shall go out, when your contract shall be finished, then by the grace of God, the matter will be at an end and all the merit that was imputed to you and to me and to all those who believe, and who take up their cross to follow him--all of that merit will be back again in the hands of justice, ready to be applied, not in the same manner, but in a different manner, to the world. Well, how will it be applied to the world? "How could it be differently applied to the world," says one? Why, very easily. It would not do the world much good to merely impute Christ's merit to them. Why not? Because whenever the imputation would be at an end the merit would no longer be there and all the right to life would be gone. What Christ wishes to do for the world is to give to it that which it lost and which he laid down, namely; the right to earthly life and the right to earthly dominion that Adam had at first, that Adam forfeited through disobedience, and that Christ won for himself by his obedience, and it is now his estate to give away to mankind.
So during the Millennial age, under the new Covenant which Christ will inaugurate at the beginning of that age, all the world of mankind will become his; they will no longer be children of wrath. Why not? Because of the merit of Christ applied to the sealing of that New Covenant on their behalf. God says to them, "Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more." So then the whole worlds' sins and iniquities will be blotted out as far as God is concerned, and the whole world will be turned over to Jesus. They will not be perfect; they will not be worthy of eternal life; and if they were to fall into the hands of God immediately their imperfection would lead them to commit sin again; but they are not allowed to fall into the hands of justice; the great Mediator keeps them in his own control. Having purchased them with his blood, he holds them in his control; he stands between mankind and divine justice, and there as a Mediator between God and man he deals with mankind to lift them up and bring them to full human perfection, giving them all the good blessings of restitution which they need. So as many as are willing by the end of that Millennial reign of Christ will be back again to all that was lost in Adam, all that was redeemed on Calvary, and then all those unwilling to make progress, undesirous of coming back to God, will have died the second death, from which there will be no recovery. Then the Mediator will step from between and he will turn over the restored world of mankind and the restored Eden with it to God, and divine justice will then deal with the perfect race, because all will be able to stand the test of divine justice; all should be, because they will all be perfect and God does not propose that mercy shall intervene between divine justice and any perfect individual. If the individual is perfect, God's law is not too severe for the perfect individual to observe, and to have eternal life under it; and if he will not come into line with the divine law, he shall not have everlasting life.
But now this class that has come to know the Lord, after they have become members of the Body of Christ, it is for these to learn more and more to have confidence in God; and it is to this class that the word of God is applicable, all things shall work [CR149] together for good. To whom? To you who have accepted the Lord Jesus, to you who have become new creatures in Christ, you who have become related to the heavenly Father through his Son; all things shall work together for good to them that love him more than they love houses, more than they love land, more than they love parents or children, wife or husband, more than they love themselves. I believe that with the majority of people, self-love is the great difficulty that stands in the way--self-love, self-gratification. It is easier to deny everything else than to deny yourself--but that is exactly the condition Jesus laid down, "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself"-- self-denial.
Well, my dear friends, if we have come into this blessed relationship to the Lord, if we have made a thorough covenant, if we are seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to the best of our ability, if we are trusting in the merit of his blood for our continued acceptance with the Father, then our text is true and applicable to us, "Let not your hearts be troubled about anything, neither let it be afraid." There is nothing to fear. As Saint Paul says, "If God be for us, who could be against us." What would it amount to if they were against us? They will be against us sure enough, but if God be for us, what will it amount to if the whole world be against us? One with God is a majority, someone has well said. That is the right thought. Let not your heart then be troubled, you have a great friend; the King of Glory is your friend, your Father.
One of the brethren was speaking of one of the pilgrims to an outsider and the outsider was not very well able to understand how the work was carried on without collections, and the brother said, "Well, he has a rich Father." He did not explain which father it was that was rich, but I know which one he meant. It is a rich Father we all have. How could we be poor? And besides this rich Father has sent us word that we are his heirs. He says, "If you are my children, then are you my heirs," heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time--in the end of the age. Now I believe that it is very nearly ready to be revealed. I believe we are down very near to the end of this age. I am hoping that very soon you and I and all of God's faithful ones shall be inheritors of all things; for, as the Apostle says, "All things are yours because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."
Now then, why let your heart be troubled, or be afraid? The only thing that should trouble your hearts or mine, or which should make us fearful in any sense of the word, would be not what men might do, nor what men might say, but what might be done by ourselves as expressed by the poet when he said in that beautiful verse,
"O let no earth-born cloud arise,
To hide thee from thy servant's eyes."
That is the only thing to fear, that is the only thing to trouble your soul, and that is the only thing that troubled the soul of our dear Redeemer. Nothing that the Jews or Gentiles ever did or suggested worried him at all. He was not troubled about any of those things. The only trouble that we see he ever had was in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he was in trouble-- "Now is my soul troubled, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Why? Well, he was wondering whether or not he who represented so many important issues, he who had undertaken such a great and wonderful work, not only wonderful in respect to himself in that he had left the glory of the heavenly plane and became a human being for the suffering of death and the redemption of mankind, and the pleasing of the Father, but he was wondering whether or not he had done everything that he could have done and had done it perfectly to the Father's pleasement. That was the source of his agony in the Garden. And so Saint Paul tells us, you remember, when he had offered up strong crying and tears unto him who was able to save him out of death, he was heard in respect to the things which he feared. He feared that he might possibly have made some slight error, and since he stood alone as a representative of the whole issue, one slight infraction of the divine law, one slight infraction of his covenant would have dashed the whole matter. No wonder, as the hours were few between the time of his praying and the time of his crucifixion that he wanted to make sure there was no earth-born cloud between his soul and the Father's, and he was heard. Although the statement is not found in our common version in respect to the angel appearing and comforting him, I think it must have been so, and perhaps some still older version may be found in which that will be recorded. I believe some messenger from the Lord must have come in there, because there was such a wonderful change in our Master's demeanor; just as soon as he had reached this climax of sorrow and wonder and perplexity, and prayer, something came to him, and the most likely thing I can think of is the thing recorded in our Gospel that the angel of our Lord came and gave him a satisfactory message that he had done his work nobly and faithfully, and the Father was well pleased with him. Then he was calm again, the calmest of all the calm on that wonderful day in which he was lead as a lamb to the slaughter. Not a word was said, and not a thing was done to oppose the things done by the shearers. And so if our hearts are in tune with the infinite one, then all is well, all is peace within.
As our dear Master was tested on the particular point of obedience, that is the particular point for you and for me to learn--loyalty to God, because obedience means loyalty. The soldier who on the field of battle is obedient to the orders of his general, is accounted loyal; and if he were to say, "I do not see the meaning of that order or that command or why we should march in this direction under the hot sun," he would be disloyal and in rebellion against the law under which he is a soldier. So you and I are soldiers of the cross; we are under the eye of the Captain and under the direction of the great heavenly Father, and in the battle that he has for us we are not to be the judges, but we are under his direction, and he assures us that all things shall ultimately work together for good. It is for us to trust and to be obedient.
So then, dear soldiers of the cross, let us go on with strong hearts. Faithful is he who called us, who also will do for us exceedingly abundantly more than we could have asked or thought, according to the riches of his grace and his loving kindness in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Preciousness of the Lord
THE text that is before my mind at present, dear friends, reads, "To us who believe, he is precious." To me this carries with it a great deal of weight. It appeals to my mind as very true in my case. The more I believed the more precious the Lord became to me, and I believe that it is so with all of God's people; the more we have learned to know about the Lord, the more we came into real touch with him by faith and obedience, the more precious he becomes to us. And here we see the relationship between faith and knowledge, and we perceive that many of us in the past have greatly erred in that we have failed to see the importance of knowledge. Knowledge of itself, as the apostle suggested, might puff us up, but love would build us up, and yet we could not have any love if we did not have some knowledge; because, how could you love that of which you knew nothing? Hence the Scriptures seem to put these two matters in relationship one to the other--faith and obedience, faith and love. As we progress in knowledge we may progress in faith built upon that knowledge, and as we progress in faith and knowledge we must come to the point of obedience; otherwise the faith will begin to wane and we will not be able to take on further knowledge. Has it not been so with every one of us here present this afternoon? As Christian people have we not [CR150] found that it was necessary for us to feed on the Word of God, that it constitutes the bread to our new natures? In proportion as we got the knowledge and mixed it with obedience and with faith, in that proportion our love for the Lord and our progress as new creatures was manifest.
And what about believing? I think we have had very lax ideas on this subject of believing.
Perhaps we have even given slack thoughts to others which were not helpful to them, the ordinary thought in the human mind that all who are not believers are lost and that "lost" means to go to an eternity of suffering. It would have been a hard-hearted person who would tell his friend or neighbor, "You are not a believer; you, therefore, are lost; you are going to eternal torment." That would have been a difficult message to give with our misconception of the divine arrangement. But when we come to see what God's real plan is, namely; that his purpose and arrangement for dealing with the world is all future, that the present time is merely the time for dealing with believers, and believers only, then it makes the matter entirely different. We see that these believers are called to be the elect of God, called to the great high calling of joint-heirship with Christ, called to the new nature, called to all of those wonderful things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of the natural man. And we see, then, dear friends, that since this calling is for the believers, it does not imply that the unbelievers will lose everything, but they will lose this high calling, this special privilege, this special opportunity; but they will still have in God's gracious arrangement the opportunity that God has arranged shall come to the world in due time--the opportunity for attaining earthly perfection, the earthly Eden, and all of those things will still belong to them.
This brings us, then, to the thought, What constitutes a believer? We must take the Scriptural proposition and say that a believer, from God's standpoint, is not one who merely believes with the mind, but as the Scriptures say, "With the heart man believeth unto Salvation." It is a heart matter, not merely a mental matter. The Scriptures also say to us, you remember, that devils believe and tremble. Believing merely that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, merely believing he is the Son of God, merely believing he died for human sins, merely believing he arose from the dead to be the justifier of those who believe would not constitute us believers in the Scriptural sense. To believe with the heart is what our Lord Jesus referred to when he said to the disciples, "If you believe, if you will be my disciples, if you will come in with me, deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me." Those who thus take up their cross and become followers of Christ are the believers, those are the ones to whom he is precious; those are the ones that are precious to him. We are to make this clear-cut, and I think perhaps sometimes in talking to some of our neighbors and friends we have not gotten the matter as clear-cut as we might have done.
Not long ago I was speaking to a lady and she said, "I believe in Christ."
I said, "You have never given your heart to him?"
"No."
"Well," I said, "why then do you call yourself a believer?"
"Oh," she said, "I believe Jesus died, and I believe he gave the ransom price, too."
"Well," I said, "That amounts to nothing. You have not become a believer in the Scriptural sense of the word."
"Why," she said, "is that true?"
I said, "That is true."
"Then have I not come into divine care and providence at all?"
"Not at all, not any more than a heathen has. The fact that you have lived where you had an opportunity did not make you any better than the heathen, but it was rather worse on your part; you have had the opportunity, you have had the knowledge and the heathen man never had opportunity and knowledge, and his responsibility in God's sight is less than yours."
"Yes," she said, "I do believe."
"But you do not believe in the Scriptural way. Suppose I should tell you over in a certain place was a million dollars, and it would be yours if you would go there immediately, and before anyone else would get there: you would go there quickly, if you believed. If you did not go there it would be because you did not believe it, because you would have an interest in getting a million dollars, and what you could do with it. Now God has offered us something with which a million dollars is no comparison in value at all, not worthy even to be mentioned. This great gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that we might become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord, is beyond comparison with a million dollars. Whoever, therefore, says he believes and yet neglects to take the proper steps whereby he will get his share of that great blessing belies his own testimony. In that case he does not really believe that there is such a prize, that there is such an opportunity, that there is such a proposition on God's part."
"Well," this lady said, "why, Brother Russell, do you mean to tell me then that my prayers to God are of no avail? I pray regularly to God, and have done so all my life."
"I mean to tell you that your prayers do not come up before God at all. I mean to tell you that you have no standing before God at all."
Perhaps this is what I should say, for all I know, to someone here present this afternoon; I would at least discharge my duty. The person who does not come to the Father through Jesus does not get connection with the Father at all, neither in prayer, nor in any other way. And there is no way of coming to the Father except through him as our advocate. There will be by and by a way in which the whole world will come to God through the great Mediator, through the mediatorial kingdom, through the great work which Christ as Mediator will accomplish for a thousand years, of instructing, and chastening, and helping mankind-- all the world will have a chance in that.
Then this lady said to me, "If then my prayers are not heard, and as you say God has no interest in me, am I to understand, if that is really the case, that God has no interest in me?"
"You are to understand that exactly, that God is not taking any interest in you any more than he is taking interest in all the remainder of mankind. He has taken that much interest in you and in all the remainder of mankind, that he has provided a glorious opportunity in the millennial age in which every one, even all the remainder of Adam's race, will have a glorious opportunity; but God is not taking any particular interest in you as an individual, because you are spurning God's arrangement and God's offer of the present time, and he has only the one offer now. It is my duty to tell you this matter very plainly. There is no other door, no other way, no other arrangement by which you can now draw near to God except under the call he is now issuing. He has only the one call and one blessing now--'Ye are called in one hope of your calling.'"
This lady, however, was familiar with the Scriptures, and she said, "I have relied upon the Scripture that said, 'Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.'"
But I answered, "It says, 'Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you', but you have never joined the 'Ye' class, you have never joined the 'You' class. You must join the class referred to, or else the promise is not yours."
She then said, "Would you advise that I would not go to prayer at all?"
"That would be my advice, that you do not pray to God at all, if you have no interest in him, and he has taken no interest in you. If there is no arrangement by which you draw nigh to God, you have no confidence whatever and the sooner you find it out, the better."
So then, dear friends, this text means something--to us who believe he is precious. If he were sufficiently precious to all and they knew about him they would be believers in this Scriptural sense, in the sense of acting upon their faith. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness; but he showed his belief by his conduct, by his obedience to the divine proposition. And so you and I, if we believe that Christ died, if we believe he rose again, let us then act upon the proposition that God has made through him, that he is willing to receive us as his children, that he is willing to give us his Holy Spirit, that he is willing that we should come in under his love.
I was not at all surprised to hear that lady say at one time that her heart was quite unsettled, and she knew not what to think. And I said to her, "That is your condition: You need the settling power of the Lord; you cannot be happy in the sense you would like to be happy until you have accepted God's terms, for God has no other arrangement by which permanent and proper happiness can enter into human life except through relationship with him, and this relationship is through faith and obedience of faith. It is a reasonable service. How could we offer less?" The more that you and I understand the matter, the more we are persuaded that if we had a thousand tongues, if we had a thousand lives, as the poet has said, "It would be an offering far too small to offer to the Lord." [CR151]
Very well do I remember how as a child this matter appealed to my own mind. When I was about fifteen years old, I said to myself, See here, you understand that God has permitted you to pray to him as a child because your parents were God's children, and because the believing parent had a sanctifying influence and effect over the child from the standpoint of divine providence. So I said to myself that evidently it was all right that as a child I should pray to the Lord; coming through my parents I was acceptable to the Father; this is indicated in the Scripture. But now I am going to be fifteen years of age, and I am thinking about other matters, is it not about time I was thinking some about my relationship to God as a personal matter? Wouldn't God be offended at me more or less, and would not his love and favor and care to some extent depart from me if now I begin to have a reasoning mind, and a thoughtful mind, and if I should reject his favor and say, Oh, well, I care nothing for this blessed relationship with God, and now I will let it lapse? I have the opportunity of making it for myself, I have been under divine favor as a child, and have realized divine protecting care, and have gone to the heavenly Father in prayer regularly, and have known something about the comfort and peace, even as a child, but now I am at about the time I do not want to let the matter go too long. Then I thought of the fact that Jesus was thirty years of age when he was accepted, when he made his consecration. I said, Yes, but evidently that was under the law, and now I am not under the law; I am not limited, therefore, that I must wait until I am thirty. Now I have the mind, the faith, to know and appreciate, and am I not to understand that God will be willing to accept my heart now? So I said to the Lord, I will go and I will be very glad indeed he has given me this precious privilege of giving my heart to him. And I knelt down and just as quietly as we are talking at this very moment I told the Lord that I wished to be his child, that I was glad of the opportunity that he had left open through the precious merit of our Savior, that I might come near unto him in a personal way, that I very much appreciated the privileges that I had enjoyed in childhood years and days, now I would accept for myself the gracious arrangement and consecrate my life wholly to him.
I have never regretted it, dear friends. He was precious at that time, as I saw that without the merit of his sacrifice I would have no hope of a future life at all; he was precious when I understood that through faith in his blood the Father counted all my imperfections covered with the robe of his righteousness; he was precious as I came to understand more and more of the details of the philosophy of the atonement work; and every day, every hour, I feel the cleansing power as we sometimes sing; every day and every hour he becomes more precious to me. And I think I am merely expressing the sentiments of all Christian brothers and sisters; I believe that it has been the very same with you.
I am merely telling this story that day by day as you seek to walk in the footsteps of the Master, and to lay aside every weight and every besetting sin and to run with patience the race, and realize more and more what the length and breadth and height and depth of God's love is, the more and more precious may the Redeemer become to you.
He was first of all our Savior, and we realized we might have a future life; and then after that the preciousness of our high calling, that he was our bridegroom and we were his bride class in process of selection, then the relationship became still more dear. Every day he becomes more precious to us who believe.
Now, my dear brothers and sisters, we have been seeing how the Lord becomes more precious to us. Shall I say on the other hand that we become more precious to him also? Well, I believe that is true. I believe that the Lord loves most those who have been most fully developed in his character-likeness. In other words, he loved us in one sense of the word while we were yet sinners, then he loved us with a special love when we turned from sin to serve the living God, and when we gave our hearts entirely to him, he tells us of his love, and the love of the Lord for the church I believe continues to increase in proportion as we grow in grace, grow in knowledge, and grow in his character-likeness.
Let me remind you of something we have in the Scriptures along this very line. We read that Jesus loved all of his disciples. You remember the words, "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end"--no waning of his love, not even when on that last night they all forsook him and fled; his love for them never decreased. That love was more intense for some of the disciples than for others. You remember those three disciples mentioned so particularly and so frequently, Peter, James and John. These three we remember went with him on some of his special missions; as, for instance, when he went to Jairus' home. Jairus' little daughter lay dead, and Jesus took with him Peter, James and John and went in and the others were all excluded while he with these and the father of the little girl were present in the chamber of death; and Jesus called the maid from the sleep of death.
Again, it was the same three disciples, Peter, James and John that he took with him into the high mountain and was transfigured before them, and he left the other nine disciples down at the foot of the mountain.
Again, it was this same three, Peter, James and John, on the last night on which he was betrayed, that Jesus had come with him a little farther. Judas having gone to sell his Master, Jesus left the eight behind in the garden and went a little farther with the three, Peter, James and John, and then he left them and went a little farther by himself. But notice that these three were especially dear to the Master all the time. Is there not a lesson to us in this? Must there not have been a reason for it? Could you imagine that Jesus would especially love these three disciples without some special reason? There was surely a reason, and we have no doubt the reason was their zeal, their love for him. Note that these were the three disciples who were always near to the Lord. I remind you, for instance, that it was two of these, James and John, who went to a city of Samaria to buy some food for the Lord and the other disciples, and how indignant they were when the people of that city refused to sell them any food, and said, "If your Master will not come here and heal our Samaritan sick the way he heals the Jewish sick, then we will not sell you any food--to the Jews and buy your food." James and John thought, "Now here is the Master, here is the anointed of God, and to think that we should be so treated, and that we who are to be with him in his throne, and to be his associates in his kingdom, shall be treated so also." They came to Jesus and said, "Lord, what shall we do? We have been insulted. Shall we command fire to come down from God out of heaven and consume these men and their city?" And Jesus loved the zeal they had, but he said, "My disciples, you do not understand the spirit you have; you want to be my disciples, you have a holiness of spirit, you have an earnestness of heart, but you have not gotten the right conception. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Let the poor Samaritans alone."
And you remember on another occasion when Jesus said, "Whom do men say that I am?" Peter spoke up and said, "Some say this, and some say that."
"But whom say ye that I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
He was the one who had the courage of conviction to speak out his mind. And Jesus said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, but my Father."
And so, dear friends, on many occasions, these three showed their special zeal and earnestness in respect to the Master, and the Master showed special interest in them. What does that teach us? It teaches us this: That there will be differences in the Church of Christ, even amongst those who will be accounted worthy to sit with him in his throne; the Lord will love all of them, and the Lord will bless all of the faithful ones, who will be more than conquerors, and the Lord will have some who will be specially near to him. You remember how James and John suggested to the Master, "Lord, the others would not appreciate it so much as we do, but will you grant us the special privilege, we would like to be just next to you, we love you so much; grant, or permit, when we come to your kingdom, that we may sit one on your right hand, and the other on your left hand."
"Oh," said Jesus, "do you know what it costs to get on the throne at all? Are you able, are you willing, to pay the cost of getting on to the throne? Are you willing to be baptized with me in my baptism into death? Are you willing to drink with me of my cup of suffering and ignominy?"
They said, "Yes, Lord, we are willing for anything"--the thought paraphrased would be, "With your assistance, and divine assistance we will go through anything to be with you; we love you and we want to be with you." "Very well," said Jesus, "That being your heart condition, I assure you that if you maintain that condition"--I am paraphrasing, dear friends, not using the words of the text, merely,--"if that be your heart condition, I will guarantee that you will be somewhere in my throne, for that is the very class the Father is calling, that is the very class to whom the throne will be given, but as to who shall sit next to me, on the right hand, and on the left, is not mine to give. That position will be given according to the principles of justice. My Father, who is the representative of Justice, will determine who [CR152] shall be at the right hand and who at the left hand; that is not for me to decide; that is for divine justice to apportion out amongst the loyal and faithful ones."
So all the Scriptures you remember draw our attention to this great fact, that as star differeth from star in glory, so also is the resurrection--the chief resurrection, the resurrection in which you and I hope to have a part. So if we are of the Lord's people, if we have entered into this blessed relationship with him as true believers, as believers who have given their little all and who have been accepted in the Beloved--if this be our condition still that is not enough; we must go on to perfection, we must go along to the end of the journey; we must not only make the consecration, but we must live the consecration; and not only so, but the zeal with which we show our love, our consecration, will determine whether or not we shall be of the little flock or of the great company. And, further, even if we have the zeal, that will bring us into the little flock, still there is a further zeal which will determine how near we may be to the Master in the throne. With that thought before our minds, and with the thought that he becomes more precious to us every day, and every hour, as we come to see more of the deep things of God, and the length and breadth and height and depth, we have that thought I suggest to you, that he becomes more and more precious to us, that we show to him more and more of our zeal, more and more of our love, that we count not our lives dear unto ourselves: do not think of your life as a very precious thing. If you do you will hold on to it so tightly that you will never make a sacrifice of it; we must be of those who love not their lives, but are willing to lay down their lives; that is our consecration, that is our engagement with the Lord, and he leaves us with a free hand as to that, with a loose rein as it were, and that is the reason that all through the New Testament there is nothing of law set forth or commanded. The Lord leaves us to ourselves largely to see with what degree of zeal we will carry out that proposition, and how much we will sacrifice, and how free and with what loving zeal we will sacrifice.
So, then, dear friends, I will not detain you longer at this time but emphasize the text before us, "To us who believe he is precious." Let this preciousness continue, let it increase until by and by we may be awakened in his likeness, and share in his glory, and all the blessings which God has in reservation for the faithful ones who love him more than they love houses, or lands, or parents, or children, or husband, or wife, or self, or any other thing.
Conquerors Text: "If ye do these things ye shall never fail, but an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
WE HAVE been hearing with a great deal of interest respecting these things that are so necessary to us as new creatures in the Lord; these things that are to constitute us conquerors; these things whereby we become copies of God's dear Son, our Redeemer. And now it is not merely that we believe these things: it is not merely if we profess that we will do them, but the apostle says, if we do them. You see there is a difference between believing these things, professing these things, and doing these things.When I heard the dear brethren point out with a great deal of care and earnestness how much is signified by meekness and gentleness, and by patience, and by long-suffering, and by loving kindness, and by love, I said to myself, "I wonder when I look into the audience how many I would find that seemed as though they were doing all of these things to the full extent that the dear brethren have been setting them forth. And I doubt, my dear friends, if there is one in the house. Is that right? And I was afraid that there might be a danger of some humble meek, gentle, mind, not thinking too highly of itself, saying, "Well, there is no hope for me then; I have not all of these qualities and graces in that full development you have been telling about."
How may we understand this matter, then, since it is not merely believing, and it is not merely consecrating, but the Apostle says, "If ye do things." Well, the truth of the matter, I think, is this: That the Lord does not expect perfect doing on your part or on mine; he expects doing, but he does not expect perfect doing, because he remembers our frame, he knows that we are dust; he knows that with the very strongest desire of heart along all of these lines, as the Apostle Paul has declared, we cannot do the things which we would. How then are we judged by the Lord? He will not judge us merely according to believing? No, that is a different question. Believing is good, knowing these things is important, and fully trusting in the whole matter is very essential, or we would not go on; and consecration is good--very important; no man or woman can run in this race unless he enters the race; the entrance of the race is the first thing; but the entrance of the race is not the last thing. The entrance of the race is of importance at the time, but after the entrance of the race, it is all important to run, and, to run and keep on running until we have reached the end of the course. So then the doing is important because God is going to look to see how much we do--not merely how much we profess, or according to the last illustration of the vine given us, he is not going to merely look at the leaves, not merely at the branch, and the thrifty-looking sort of growth; he will not merely look at the bud of promise that represents the bunch of grapes, but he will wait to see the development of the grapes--he will wait to see the growth of the Spirit of the Lord in each one of us as a child of God. The thought in my mind is, that the amount of doing God expects from you and from me is each according to his respective ability. Now that suits us all. God expects you to make a full consecration of your heart, and he expects you to do all in your power--let me emphasize the word do--do all in your power, and he does not expect you to do one thing more than that. Is not that happifying to us? Is it not that a source of consolation to us to know that while we see all of these things, all of these beautiful graces and fruits of the Spirit manifest in our Lord, and testified to by the apostles, yet what the Lord will require of us is, "Have we done what we could?"
Sometimes I have heard some of the brothers and sisters saying in testimony meetings, "Well, I am not perfect, but I do the very best I can." And I think if that dear brother or sister is doing the best he or she can, he or she is a saint surely, and the Lord will have them in the kingdom without any doubt. That is all that is necessary, to do the very best that I can--nothing more. So let us bear in mind, then, that what God is looking for in us is not absolute perfection but relative perfection--that perfection which gives to him the very best of our ability.
Now, if we do these things we shall never fail. "Oh, well," says one, "I have made a good many failures; I have failed many times, and the Lord says, 'If you do these things you shall never fail.'" My dear brother, if you would do all of these things perfectly I presume you would never fail, you would never make a mistake. If you had meekness perfect, and gentleness perfect, and long-suffering perfect, and brotherly kindness perfect, and love complete, how could you fail? You could not fail. But that is not the apostle's thought. The apostle knew who he was talking to; he knew he was talking to imperfect beings like himself, and like you and me, and he was not putting up some impossible proposition like the law that no one could keep; he was putting up the proposition to those who were called by the Lord's grace and who are making their calling and election sure, If ye do these things, if you are adding to, and if you are modifying, and growing in grace--if this is your attitude of mind, if this is your heart's desire, if you are doing the best you are able along this direction, God will see to it that you will never fail. How fail? Why that you do not come out a failure. You will stumble, but stumbling is not failing. We do not want [CR153] to stumble, even; we do not want to feel discouraged if we stumble, but if we do stumble we want to learn a lesson from stumbling, that our experience may teach us to be more careful through all the remainder of the race course. Some of the noblest characters you have ever known in the race course have made failures at times; that is, they have stumbled; but the Scriptures say, "Though you stumble yet you shall not be utterly cast down."
You see the difference between stumbling and being utterly cast down. One who is utterly cast down is one who will go into the second death; he has failed; he has absolutely come short.
Then among those who shall do these things and gain the kingdom, doing the things they are able, fight the good fight of faith as they are able, running the race with patience to the extent of their ability, looking unto Jesus the author of their faith, until he shall be the finisher--among them will be some who will miss the kingdom, and yet not so utterly fail as to go into the second death. There is the great company class. How sorry we feel for them, in one sense of the word, that they should have had the privileges of the race course, the privilege of the high calling, and yet have failed to make their calling and election sure. We feel sorry for them, and yet we feel glad in another sense of the word that our heavenly Father is so loving, and kind, and gentle, and so long-suffering that he would not, merely because they had not run up to the extent of their ability, cut them off entirely, but he will provide a way in which they shall receive chastisement and correction, that they might ultimately come off conquerors, though they would fail to come off more than conquerors.
If we do these things we will not fail. Be of good courage, as the apostle says; if you have endured something look back and take encouragement from what you may have endured in the past. You remember the apostle in his letter to the Hebrews calls their attention to a certain time and place, and says, "Call to mind the former things, and how you all endured a great fight of afflictions." Have you anything of that kind now going on? Someone might say, "No, I have not any fight of afflictions." What is the matter, my dear brother, if you have not any fight of afflictions? There may be a reason. Look carefully. Have you joined the enemy's ranks? How is it there is no fighting being done? Has Satan turned around, and is he fighting for righteousness? How is it you have nothing to fight for? If you have not anything to fight for now, can you look back and see any time when you endured a great fight of afflictions? If you can, take good courage from that, and say, "Well, the Lord helped me before in that fight, and he is still on my side, and he will still be with me." Then another thing; the soldiers are not always fighting; they are not always having afflictions. Our gracious leader leads us sometimes in green pastures and beside the still waters, and he sometimes gives us a convention trip, or a feast, or something, and we do not have perhaps the same amount of fighting under those circumstances.
This reminds me of a sister who came once to me and said, "Brother Russell, I am afraid that the Lord is not on my side. I am afraid he has not accepted my consecration."
I said, "Why?"
"Well," she said, "Brother Russell, I know it says in the Scriptures that through much tribulation ye shall enter the kingdom, and I am not having any tribulation, and I am just afraid that the Lord has never accepted my sacrifice."
I said, "Sister, that would of course be a very serious condition, because the Lord says that whosoever will live godly shall suffer persecution. So to be without persecution is rather a suspicious sign. But let me encourage you a little to say that perhaps you are so full of joy and faith and love and devotion to the Lord, that you count it all joy and do not notice that you are having affliction--perhaps that is it."
"Well," she said, "you do not know how glad I would be if I could think that that were true. I am sure that it is not true. I would indeed rejoice in some tribulation for the Lord's sake, and the truth's sake, but I am afraid that is not true in my case."
"Well, now," I said, "I am not competent to say, but I suggest to you then that perhaps the Lord is giving you a little time since you have come to the knowledge of the truth in order to strike down your roots into the ground firmly and get well rooted and grounded and built up in the Lord, and in the love of the truth, and in your faithfulness to the Lord--perhaps that is why he is giving you a quiet time. Perhaps he is going to let the storm fall over you, and all around you, by and by, and now he is giving you a little quiet space. Are you using it well?"
"Well," she said, "I am glad of the suggestion; I will try to use it so I will have the roots well grounded and well fastened to the Lord and to the truth, and well sustained, so that if by and by the storms shall come I will be able to stand them."
I think that is the way with the Lord's people generally. They will have a blessed time, and frequently the dear friends realize that after a quiet time, a good time at the convention, for instance, then they have a very severe time, perhaps a stormy time afterwards, and all kinds of trial of faith, and patience, and brotherly kindness, and of meekness, and of gentleness, and of love--all sorts of things come.
"The Lord your God doth prove you whether ye love the Lord your God." Those who know about such matters tell us that plants that have no storms would take very little root, and that really the shaking of the plant in the wind helps to make it root down more deeply. I am not skilled in that line to speak of the matter myself, but I do know that in the Christian experience it is true that only those who have passed through trials and difficulties, much tribulation, will be ready for the kingdom. So then are you getting ready for the kingdom? Do you expect tribulation? How are you standing it now? If your tribulation has not yet come, do not forget that it must come; it is not merely the tribulation class that will pass through tribulation but the saints who get into the kingdom will suffer tribulations. The main difference between those who will get into the kingdom class through much tribulation, and those who will come up on the plane of the great company and through great tribulation, will be the way in which they have received the tribulation--how it comes to them. The little class is to have the tribulation because of their loyalty to the truth, because of their courage, because of their faithfulness in praising him, and lifting high the royal banner, and in showing forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light.
As the Apostle says of that class, they will take their tribulation joyfully, glad to suffer tribulation, rejoicing in tribulation, and in everything giving thanks; and the great tribulation class that will pass through tribulation, washing their robes, are those who will have avoided the taking of the tribulation, and will have avoided the standing up for the truth for fear of the death, for fear of the shame, for fear of the contempt of those around them. Therefore, theirs will not be tribulation in joy but tribulation in sorrow. Let us, then, be of those who have the tribulation joyfully, counting it all joy that we might be accounted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. As the apostle says, "The spirit of glory and the spirit of God shall rest on you." We should have that testimony that we are God's children, that we are following in the footsteps of him who set us the example that we should walk in his steps.
Now, if ye do these things, ye shall never fail. God is not going to have in his kingdom class any who have not meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, love-- and how short a time there apparently is in which we have to prepare for this! We, of course, are not qualified to say whether it will be a day, or an hour, or a year, or two years, or more; it is not for us to decide that; but we may be sure that the right spirit in us would lead us to be so earnest and energetic that we would want to have Christ's likeness formed in us just as quickly as possible.
And do not think of these things of the Spirit as having to be cultivated in their order; that you must first get meekness, and then next get another, and so on, but you are getting a little more of this, and of that, and of the other, day by day; you are cultivating all along the line. Just the same as in school; the child in school does not merely study spelling and reading first, and then take a course in arithmetic, and then take a course in writing. There is a partial lesson in the subject of reading, arithmetic, writing, etc., each day. So it is in the school of Christ. The Lord wants us to learn all along the line every day. And we have such a splendid Teacher, and he has set us such a beautiful example, and we have given our hearts to him, and have pledged our lives, and he has given us the earnest of our inheritance, the first fruits of the Spirit, that it might be in us and abide with us, and enable us to come off conquerors. Only as we have this glorious hope, only as we have this glorious promise, only as we have this glorious example--only thus can we have the courage for the difficulties by the way, that we may indeed come off more than conquerors through him who loved us and bought us with his precious blood--to whom be glory and praise forever! Amen.
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Children's Consecration Service
THERE were a number of such services held at various places on the trip, and his remarks were practically the same at all, so you may consider the following remarks as applying to all:The Scriptures give us the thought that it is not displeasing to our heavenly Father, but rather pleasing to him, that parents should consecrate to him the fruit of their bodies. Very early in Bible history we have an account of how the parents of Samuel presented him in an especial manner to the Lord, to be an especial servant of the Lord. Also in our Lord's day many of the parents brought their children and desired that they might have some kind of a blessing, or some kind of a consecration, to the Lord. And the disciples were disposed to say, Not so, and to tell the people that our Lord's ministry was not for children, but for grown folks. The Master intervened, and said, "Suffer, little children to come unto me; forbid them not, for of such like is the kingdom of heaven." And he instructed us that unless we should become like little children we would not be fit for the kingdom. The thought seems to be, that the Lord would inculcate simplicity, purity, honesty, sincerity, such as we find in the mind of a little child--trustfulness in the Father and trustfulness in those with whom we have to do. So we as God's children are to become humble-minded as little children. I presume you have all noticed that a little child has absolute confidence in its own parents, unless something shall have occurred to break that confidence; its father is the greatest man on earth; its mother is the grandest woman on earth--"My mamma said so", "My papa said so." The little child is willing and ready to believe everything from its parents. So we as children of older growth and begotten of the Holy Spirit, are to have such faith and trust in our Father in heaven that we have absolute confidence in him as a little child, fully trusting that all things that he has promised he is able and willing to perform.
It might be asked by some, "In what way will this matter profit either the parents or the children?" I cannot answer that. I would say, however, at the very outset, that nothing in God's Word puts this as a matter of obligation upon any parent. It would be just as well to have the matter clear before our minds-- it is not an obligation. Those who come asking a blessing upon their children do not come because the Lord sent for them, or because he commanded them so to do. Indeed it would not be an offering upon a part of the parents if it were a command. You cannot make a sacrifice of that which is commanded. But it is a privilege.
Very many Christian people have had this same thought respecting consecration, and their minds have been satisfied in a large measure by the usual custom in the nominal churches of baptism of infants--sprinkling them, as it is called, and to the Episcopalians and Lutherans it means very much more than it means to the others. To these it means generally an escape from hell by getting the child into the church. We are sure that this is the understanding of the Catholics, for they say so, and many of our Lutheran friends have the same idea exactly, and some Episcopalians seem to attach some significance to the matter of sprinkling of infants. However, many Protestants have gotten away from this idea, and merely view the matter as a consecration of their children to the Lord. They say, as in olden times it was the custom amongst the Jews to circumcise their male children, so now, instead of that, we have this matter of sprinkling or christening the child; and sometimes they have a thought of consecration. Of course, we would not think of sprinkling a child and calling it "baptism," because to our understanding it would be contrary to God's Word, contrary to anything that the Lord or the apostles taught. We, therefore, could not go that extent.
It has been frequently brought to my notice how many parents feel they would like to do something with their children; they would like in some manner to say to the Lord, "Lord, we give you this child," and they would like to say it in some public manner; they would like to make it definite. They would like to give the child something it could remember in after days; they would like for the child to be able to look back and say, "I was consecrated to the Lord in my childhood." And indeed, my dear friends, that is my own experience. My parents told me that I was duly christened in the Presbyterian church. They supposed that was baptism according to the Scriptures, and I have only kind feelings toward them for their very good intention in that connection. While I understand it was not baptism, yet I do appreciate the fact they were willing and glad to give me to the Lord, and invoke a divine blessing upon my life. And I remember very well my mother saying to me one day when I was about seven years of age, "Charles, when you were an infant I consecrated you to the Lord, and I asked him that if it were possible you might become a minister of the gospel."
I remember what I answered. I said, "Ma, I think that is very nice, but it seems to me that I would rather be a missionary to the poor heathen than to be a minister here in a civilized land; it seems to me there are so many churches and so many preachers here, and that the poor heathen have so little opportunity of coming to the knowledge of the Lord, that I would rather be a missionary."
My mother said nothing on the subject further; she left it there; but I have been thinking over it lately, dear friends, and I think, perhaps, the Lord is going to fulfill both of these wishes; that in the present time I have the opportunity of ministering the truth, the gospel of the grace of God, to many people in civilized lands, and if it pleases the Lord, by and by that I shall be associated with the Lord Jesus in his kingdom in the work of blessings all the heathen, all the families of the earth; so I am preparing to be a missionary, you see, even in heathen lands.
With these remarks, dear friends, calculated to arouse thoughts in all our minds, and put away any suggestions to the effect that there is any thing obligatory about such matters, we now accept those who are here today, and ask the Lord that he will bless them.
The blessing of the children by Brother Russell was very impressive. Brother Russell placed his hand upon the head of each child, then addressing it by its Christian name, used words about as follows: "May the Lord bless you and keep you, and give your parents wisdom as they seek to guide you in the ways of the Lord."
Who Hath Believed Our Report
THE text that is in my mind for this occasion is found in the prophecy of Isaiah: "Lord, who hath believed our report, and unto whom is the arm of Jehovah revealed?"
We might apply this text in some degree to the meeting this afternoon. We delivered a report. The word 'report' in this text signifies message, proclamation. For who hath believed the message--proclamation of truth? Who has discerned the arm, the power of the Lord, as revealed in the Gospel, and God's great provision for man's needs? In the audience of somewhere near a thousand people, how many we wonder, had a hearing ear, that they could hear? How many understood something of the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of the love of God, which passes all understanding? We might perhaps have been inclined to think, "How could anyone do otherwise than be impressed by the simplicity of God's message, and yet we remember that the Scriptures [CR155] show us, and the facts prove to us that it has been so during the eighteen hundred years since the message of the Lord has been given, that it has been proclaimed here and there, and very few have believed the report. Look out all over the world today and see how few there are who believe the message of God in respect to his great plan. The great majority seem to be blinded by the adversary, the God of this world who blinds the minds of those who believe him not, lest the light of the goodness of God should shine into their hearts. The apostle's words imply that the great adversary is the one who is especially interested in beclouding the mind, and that God's truth is the special thing intended to enlighten the mind, and that not everybody is in condition of mind to be profited by this great light that would shine forth.
The question asked by the prophet implies that only a few would hear the report, would hear the message, would hear the Gospel, only a few would give heed to it. When we view the matter in the light of the eighteen centuries, and then think of how little faith there is today, we can well understand God's standpoint in speaking through the prophet and saying, "Who is it that has believed?" Practically nobody. We indeed see great churches, and sometimes fine buildings, and sometimes large congregations and yet if we would inquire for the faith once delivered to the Saints, if we inquire for an intelligent understanding of God's great plan, how few would you find who have that understanding, who have delivered the message, who have accepted it, and who are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
Some might say to us, "Brother Russell that is a wrong view, why everybody believes the report. Here in this city, it is named after a saint, and there are other cities along the coast all named after saints practically, and all through the land are churches of various denominations, and they have all believed Jesus, they have all believed the report." But we cannot so think; we must agree with the Lord's message through the prophet to the effect that a very few have believed the message. Quite a good many have believed the mixed messages that have gone forth; the message, for instance, of our Catholic friends that if they belong to the Catholic church they will be pulled through purgatory and finally get to heaven. A considerable number believe that in some measure, but is that the message once delivered to the saints? We say not. It has little of it, but very little--not enough to call it good tidings of great joy. Then some others have believed our Presbyterian friends, that God is electing some, and they hope they belong to the elected company. But is that the full message, or is it only a little of the message? Surely the latter. It is only a little of the message and not the report of God's grace toward all mankind, and not merely toward the church. Who hath believed the message that God sent?
Then our Baptist friends also limit the matter, saying that it is by election, and then additionally it is by the water route after you have the election--the election and the water route both. There are dear, good friends amongst the Baptists, but very few of them believe the message.
But we are not wishing to lay too much stress on these various features of the divine plan. Our thought would be that God very graciously has a message that even the poor and the ignorant in considerable degree can accept and lay hold on. Who hath believed the report--not doctrinally, as theologians, but in a general way the message that all mankind have heard--at least all of the civilized lands that had an opportunity of hearing the message--that God is willing to forgive our sins, God is willing to receive us as his children, that God has made a way and he invites us to walk in it? Now put it in the very simplest form, and how many have believed that? Oh, says someone, "Why a great many believe that." I doubt it. Remember the Scriptures say, "With the heart man believes." What is it to believe this message of the narrow way, and the privilege of reconciliation with God, with the heart? I think that we will all agree that to believe that message with the heart would mean that it would thoroughly enter into us that we would believe it with all our minds and all our strength, to be thoroughly convinced by it, to have no doubt about it. If they believed the message of God's love and favor, and of reconciliation to him, and of becoming joint-heirs with Christ in the heavenly kingdom, would they not forsake everything that they might take up with that message? Can you imagine anybody in the world really believing that God would sentence our race to death--not to put the worst construction on the sentence, but simply put it as the Bible does--and that he did it justly, and then that he had also made a provision in Christ, our Lord, whereby we might return to his love and favor, and that he would receive us again as children, forgive all our trespasses, all our sins that are past and bring us back right into his own favor, and be our Father and we should be his children, and he would take care of all our interests, and all things would work together for good to us, and if we had passed through certain trials we should have his assistance, then by and by in only a little while, a few short years, he would take us to himself in the heavenly kingdom and make us associates with our Lord Jesus Christ on the spiritual plane-- who could believe this with the heart and not be exercised by it? Who could possibly say, "I do not care for that, I really believe it is so, but I do not think it worthy of any of my attention?" I think that very few would really believe that message, even in the very simplest form in which we could put it--in the form that all people who have any knowledge whatever of the Gospel could understand it, even if they had a certain admixture of error--even allowing for all of these errors of doctrine being mixed with the matter, to just know this simple fact that God is willing to receive us back as his children, to forgive us our sins, and care for us, and bring off eventually conquerors with Jesus whoever believes that with the heart would, I think be sure to accept the terms, because they are so very favorable. Then the fact that so very few people do give their hearts to the Lord, or give their hearts to Jesus, and do give up all the little they have, proves that only a few believe. Others may believe with the head merely, a sort of general assent--I think that Jesus died; I believe he was a good man; or, I believe he was the Lord-- or whatever it might be; but it is merely a head acceptance, and it does not enter into their hearts. With the heart man believeth unto salvation. That is the kind of believing that counts for something. When it goes down into their hearts, it goes right down into their hands also, and they want to use their hands for the Lord; it goes down into their feet, and they want to use their feet for the Lord; it goes down into their pocketbooks, and they want to use that for the Lord. And so it effects anything and everything they have; it affects all the affairs of life.
Now I am addressing those especially this evening who believe, who have made consecration, those who with the heart have believed. How precious is our possession, dear brothers and sisters? How precious is the Lord to us--to us who believe with the heart he is precious. All the teachings of the Lord's great plan are revealed to this class. How favored we are that by God's grace we have heard, and that our hearts have been responsive, and that we have accepted the great proposition of the Lord to become his children! Now is the acceptable time in which God is willing to accept our little offering, and to let us count it in as a part of Jesus' sacrifice, that we may be sharers with him in the suffering of this present time in order that we may also be sharers with him in the glory that shall follow.
So I rejoice with you that we have heard the report, that we have heard the message, that to us the arm of the Lord, the power of the Lord, has been revealed--not to the world; they do not know the power of God. You and I are only learning about it; we have only begun to see the arm of the Lord. The arm, you know, in symbol stands for power. God has revealed the power. Now the world has not seen the power, nor has the world seen the arm of the Lord. You and I see that the Lord is the arm that our heavenly Father puts down to grasp the poor human family and to lift it up. At one time we saw in a measure this matter, and saw that Jesus was the arm of Jehovah, but we thought he was only going to lift up the saintly people; and that was good; that was a glorious message; but now we have seen further, and we have believed further, and the message has gone out further, that the arm of Jehovah not merely will lift up the saintly few, but that saintly few will become a part of the arm of Jehovah, so to speak, and that arm of Jehovah shall during the thousand years of Christ's reign bless mankind and lift them up.
Now at the close of this little session of today our hearts, I trust, are going out to the Lord with gratitude for all the privileges we have enjoyed in connection with the service. Some of you here have been laboring to make a success of the meeting today, and I praise God on your behalf and rejoice with you that you had such a very enjoyable experience. You worked hard I am sure to bring such results for a weekly afternoon. And those of us who will go farther on will have you kindly in our remembrance as some who have been faithful to your opportunities. As I looked at the audience today it seemed to me I saw some that looked as though they were saintly people, and who had already believed God's report respecting his Son, and now let us hope they saw and heard a little more clearly today, and that henceforth they may, by reason of what they have heard [CR156] be brought into further grace and nearer to the Lord. And those of you who remain here--what an opportunity you will have to continue to witness of the Lord! And not merely witness by tongue, but remember there is one way in which we are all witnesses, whether we wish to be or not, and that is by our daily life--our conduct, our work, our actions. Are we, then, living epistles of the Lord, known and read of all men? If so, as the apostle says, Let us walk circumspectly, carefully, looking around, guarding our thoughts and words and deeds, showing forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into this marvelous light, commending the truth to others by the consistency of our lives and our faithfulness to the principles of righteousness. This is one of the witnesses we can all surely give, and one that I trust the dear friends residing here will find it their privilege to give. And others, knowing that you are advocating these things, and having heard what a high standard we believe God has established, namely; a standard of saintship, no doubt the people of this city will look at you still more careful with examination than ever before. They will say, "These are some of those who claim that only the saints at the present time are going to have everlasting glory, and heaven. I wonder if he is a saint; I wonder if she is a saint." And so you will be put on exhibition, so to speak; you will be under scrutiny. How carefully then will you walk before the Lord? How careful will you be to show forth the praise of the great King? Then some of you may have other opportunities in your meetings to present the truth. How wise you should be as ambassadors for God to present it as of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Jesus said on this subject, "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." As one of our good German sisters once expressed it a very forcible way, bringing it down to some language of our day, "The Lord says we should be as wise as snakes and harmless as pigeons." That gives the thought, dear friends. How wisely we want to use our opportunities! We are all, I believe, learning more and more every day that wisdom is to be exercised in the presentation of the Lord's Word. I presume that every one of us who is a child of the Lord, and somewhat experienced in the truth, and who has endeavored to present it to others, has made certain mistakes, being too harsh, perhaps, or presenting the truth in a too rigid form, not sufficiently kindly in manner, with kindly words, and with consideration for others. We are to remember that those who catch fish never do so by beating the water with the fish rod; that drives the fish away. And so if we would be wise in this, fishers of men, it behooves us to consider how carefully we are to deal with those who are giving some attention to the truth. The truth is to be the bait, and we are to dangle the truth before them so as not to do them injury, not to do them harm, but to bless them and get them into the Gospel net, and to get them into better and fuller relationship to the Lord.
So then, my parting word to the dear friends of Santa Crus is that we pray God for a continuance of his blessing, and we rejoice with you that we have had a blessing so far, that your efforts to praise the Lord have been blessed so far, and we ask on your behalf continued and increasing wisdom to show forth his praise, and to help those with whom we come in contact.
Zionism, The Hope of the World
THE EARTHLY ZION
SPEAKING from the text, "The law shall go forth from Mount Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3), Pastor Russell declared that Christians have inadvertently misappropriated to themselves many promises of the Scriptures which are not wholly theirs. Christian creeds and theories have surmised that through the rejection of Jesus, all Jews dying in unbelief of Messiah were foreordained to an eternity of torture because of that unbelief in the Only Name.
A more careful study of the Bible, he declared, is showing Bible students the error of this position. Jews who do not accept Jesus as their Savior and who do not become followers in his steps in the "narrow way" will indeed fail of attaining a place with Jesus in his throne of glory. They will fail to become joint-heirs with him in his glorious Messianic kingdom. They will fail to become members of the spiritual seed of Abraham, respecting whom Saint Paul said, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29). "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
But, asked the pastor, are there not many besides Jews who will fail of making their calling and election sure to that heavenly portion--to membership in the Messianic body or kingdom? His own conviction is that there will be found as many Jews as of any other nationality in that spiritual company which, the Scriptures declare, will, all told, be but a "little flock." Indeed, there are strong reasons for believing that the whole number of the elect company, this royal priesthood, this spiritual seed of Abraham, this Messiah of glory, long promised, will be only "a hundred and forty-four thousand." (Revelation 14:1).