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Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by
_underscores_. Words in bold in the original are surrounded by +plus
signs+. A complete list of corrections as well as other notes follows
the text.




                      _THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
                        OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH_




                                  THE
                         FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
                        OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

                                  BY

                             R. A. TORREY

                               Author of
                     "How to Bring Men to Christ,"
                 "What the Bible Teaches," etc., etc.


                               NEW YORK
                        GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY




                           _Copyright, 1918,
                           By R. A. Torrey_


               _Printed in the United States of America_




PREFACE


The author of these sermons has had a feeling for a long time that the
great need in our churches in this day is systematic indoctrination.
He put his theory into practice last winter in his own church, and
these sermons are the result. We were having a great many accessions
to our church. In the two years of the church's history we had had
something like six hundred accessions to the church, and every month
considerable numbers of new members were being added. While many
of these came by letter from other churches, many of them were new
converts and had had practically no systematic instruction in the
fundamental truths of the Christian faith, so we announced a series
of sermons on The Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith. There
was immediately a large increase in the attendance at the services
where these addresses were given, and this increase has kept up until
on the last Lord's Day we had much the largest attendance we have ever
had, excepting on Easter Sunday. Many have testified to the blessing
received from these sermons, and there has been a great demand that
the sermons be printed for general circulation. This request has come
from ministers of various denominations, Episcopalians, Presbyterians,
Methodists, Baptists, and others. It is hoped that this volume will
be useful to other pastors in suggesting lines of teaching in their
regular pastoral work, and also that it may be used widely by pastors
and others for circulation among Christians. We live in a day in which
many of our church members are all at sea as to what they believe on
the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. These sermons have
already helped many through their delivery. It is hoped they will reach
and help far more in the printed form.

                                                    R. A. TORREY.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
     I INSPIRATION, OR TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE BIBLE INSPIRED OF
         GOD?                                                         11

    II THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF GOD, OR THE GOD OF THE BIBLE
         AS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE GOD OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE
         GOD OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY                                     38

   III THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF GOD—THE INFINITE PERFECTION
         AND UNITY OF GOD                                             56

    IV THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST                                      73

     V JESUS CHRIST A REAL MAN                                        93

    VI THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT                            112

   VII THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN
         THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT                             144

  VIII THE ATONEMENT: GOD'S DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT VS.
         UNITARIAN AND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE DOCTRINES OF THE
         ATONEMENT                                                   162

    IX THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINE OF PROTESTANTISM: JUSTIFICATION
         BY FAITH                                                    186

     X THE NEW BIRTH                                                 206

    XI SANCTIFICATION                                                225

   XII THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY OF JESUS AND OF OUR
         BODIES                                                      245

  XIII THE DEVIL                                                     263

   XIV IS THERE A LITERAL HELL?                                      284

    XV IS FUTURE PUNISHMENT EVERLASTING?                             303





  _THE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
  OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH_




  THE
  FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
  OF THE
  CHRISTIAN FAITH




I

INSPIRATION, OR TO WHAT EXTENT IS THE BIBLE INSPIRED OF GOD?

    "For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spake
    from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit."—2 Pet. 1:21.

    "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
    profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
    instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be
    perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."—2 Tim.
    3:16, 17.


Our subject this morning is "The Inspiration of the Bible, or to What
Extent Is the Bible Inspired of God?" The subject is of vital and
fundamental importance. If we can make it clear that the writers of
the various books of the Bible were inspired of God in a sense that
no other men were ever inspired of God, that they were so gifted and
taught and led and governed by the Holy Spirit in their utterances as
recorded in the Bible, that they taught the truth and nothing but
the truth, that their teachings were absolutely without error,—then
we have in the Bible a court of final appeal and of infallible wisdom
to which we can go to settle every question of doctrine or duty. But
if the writers of the Bible were "inspired" only in the vague and
uncertain sense that Shakespeare, Browning and many other men of genius
were inspired, only inspired to the extent that their minds were made
more keen to see the truth than ordinary men, but still only in such a
way that they made mistakes, or chose the wrong word to express their
thought, so that we must recast their thought by discovering, if we
may, what the inspired thought back of the uninspired words was, then
we are all at sea, in hopeless confusion, so that each generation
must settle for itself what the Holy Spirit meant to say through the
blundering reporters; and it is absolutely certain that no generation
can determine with anything approximating accuracy what the Spirit
meant, and so no generation can arrive at the truth, but simply
promulgate blunders for the next and wiser generation to correct, to
be corrected in turn by the next generation that follows it. Thank
God that this latter subtle but popular doctrine can be proven to be
utterly untrue!

There is great need of crystal clear teaching on this subject,
because our colleges and seminaries and pulpits and Sunday schools
and religious papers are full of teaching that is vague, inaccurate,
misleading, un-Scriptural, and oftentimes grossly false. There are
many in these days who say "I believe that the Bible is inspired" when
by "inspired" they do not mean at all what you understand or what the
mighty men of faith in the past meant by "inspired." They often say
that they "believe the Bible is the Word of God," when at the same time
they believe it is full of errors.

Now the Bible is as clear as crystal in its teachings and claims
regarding itself, and either those claims are true, or else the Bible
is the biggest fraud in all the literature of the human race. The
position held by so many to-day, that the Bible is a good book, perhaps
the best book in the world, but at the same time it is full of errors
that must be corrected by the higher wisdom of our day, is utterly
illogical and absolutely ridiculous. If the Bible is not what it claims
to be, it is a fraud—an outrageous fraud.

What does the Bible teach and claim concerning itself? What does it
teach and claim regarding the fact and extent of its own inspiration?


I. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN APOSTLES AND PROPHETS DIFFERENT IN
CHARACTER FROM HIS WORK IN ALL OTHER PERSONS

The first thing that the Bible teaches on this point and claims for
itself is, _that the work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets,
in the various human authors of the different books of the Bible,
differs from His work in other men, even in other believers in Christ_.
It teaches that the Holy Spirit imparts to apostles and prophets an
especial gift for an especial purpose. We find this clearly taught in 1
Cor. 12:4, 8-11, 28, 29, where we read, "+Now there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . (8) for to one is given through
the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge,
according to the same Spirit; (9) to another faith, in the same Spirit;
and to another gifts of healing, in the same Spirit; (10) and to
another workings of miracles (powers); and to another prophecy; and
to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues,
and to another the interpretation of tongues; (11) but all these
worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally
even as He will. . . . (28) And God hath set some in the church, first
apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then
gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. (29)
Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers
of miracles?+" This chapter is the fullest and clearest chapter in
the Bible on the subject of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. It
is the classical chapter on the whole subject, and the teaching of
these verses is as plain as language can make it, and it states in
terms, the meaning of which is unmistakable, that the gift bestowed
on apostles and prophets _differed in kind_ from the gifts bestowed
on other believers, even though those believers were filled with the
Holy Spirit. Not only did the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles
and prophets differ from His work in men of genius, but even from His
work in other believers. These verses make it as plain as day that
the doctrine which has become so common and so popular in our day,
that the work of the Holy Spirit in preachers and teachers and in
ordinary believers, illuminating them and guiding them into the truth
and into the understanding of the Word of God, is the same in kind and
differs only in degree from the work of the Holy Spirit in Apostles
and Prophets is thoroughly unscriptural and untrue. This doctrine
overlooks what is here so clearly stated and so carefully elucidated,
that while there is +"the same Spirit" "there are diversities of
gifts" "diversities of ministrations," "diversities of workings" (1
Cor. 12:406 R. V.) and that not all are Prophets or Apostles. (1 Cor.
12:29.)+

Those who desire to minimise the difference between the work of the
Holy Spirit in Apostles and Prophets, and His work in other men,
often refer to the fact that the Bible itself says that Bezaleel, the
architect of the tabernacle, was to be +"filled with the Spirit of
God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all
manner of workmanship," "to devise the work of the tabernacle"+
(Ex. 31:1-11), as a proof that the inspiration of the Prophet does not
differ in kind from the inspiration of the artist or the architect.
This argument at first glance seems plausible, but when we bear in mind
the facts about the tabernacle, especially the fact that the tabernacle
was to be built after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount (Ex.
25:8, 9, 40) and that therefore it was itself a revelation from God, a
prophecy, a setting forth of the truth of God, the argument loses all
its force. The tabernacle was the Word of God done into wood, gold,
silver, brass, cloth, skin, etc., just as truly the Word of God and the
revealing of God's truth as if the truth were printed on a page. So,
of course, Bezaleel needed to be inspired, he was a prophet, a prophet
who uttered his prophecies in the details of the tabernacle. There is
much reasoning about inspiration to-day that appear at first sight very
learned, but that will not bear much scrutiny or candid comparison with
the teachings of the Word of God. There is nothing in the Bible more
inspired than the tabernacle, and if the destructive critics would
study the tabernacle more carefully and thoroughly they would be led
to give up their ingenious but untenable theories, not only about the
construction of the tabernacle, but about many other things as well. I
have never heard or known of a single destructive critic who had ever
given a thorough study to the real meaning of the tabernacle in all
its parts, or who had any considerable understanding of the types of
Scripture. I have challenged the critics in the University centres of
England, Ireland and Scotland to name one single destructive critic
who had ever made any thorough study of the types, and no one has ever
attempted to even suggest one.


II. TRUTH HIDDEN FROM MEN FOR AGES, AND WHICH THEY HAD NOT DISCOVERED
AND COULD NOT DISCOVER, BY THE UNAIDED PROCESSES OF HUMAN REASONING,
HAS BEEN REVEALED TO APOSTLES AND PROPHETS IN THE SPIRIT

The second thing taught in the Bible regarding the inspiration of
the Apostles and Prophets, the inspiration of the various authors of
the books of the Bible, is that _truth hidden from men for ages, and
which they had not discovered, and could not discover, by the unaided
processes of human reasoning, even human reasoning at its very best
and highest, has been revealed to Apostles and Prophets in the Holy
Spirit_. We find this very clearly taught in Eph. 3:2-5: +"If so be
that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was
given me to you-ward; (3) how that by revelation was made known unto
me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words, (4) whereby when ye
read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; (5)
which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men,
as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in
the Spirit."+ The meaning of these words is unmistakable. Paul here
declares in words the meaning of which is perfectly plain, that God
"in the Spirit" had revealed "unto His holy apostles and prophets"
"the mystery of Christ" which in former generations had not been made
known unto the sons of men, which they had not discovered and could not
discover except by revelation from God; Paul and the other apostles
and prophets knew it by direct revelation from God himself through the
Holy Ghost. The teaching is inescapable that the Bible contains truth
that men never had discovered and never could have discovered if left
to themselves, but truth which the Father in great grace has revealed
to His children through His servants the prophets and apostles. We see
in this the folly, a folly so common in our day, of seeking to test
the statements of Scripture by the conclusions of human reasoning, or
by the intuitions of the "Christian consciousness." The revelation
of God transcends human reasoning, and therefore human reasoning
cannot be its test. Furthermore, a consciousness that is truly and
fully Christian is _the product_ of the study and absorption of Bible
truth. It is not _the test_ of the truth of the Bible,—it is _the
product_ of meditation on the Bible. If our "consciousness" differs
from the statements of the Bible, it is not as yet a fully "_Christian_
consciousness," and the thing for us to do is not to try to pull God's
revelation down to the level of our consciousness but to tone our
consciousness up to the level of God's Word.


III. THE REVELATION MADE TO THE PROPHETS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS
INDEPENDENT OF THEIR OWN THINKING

The third thing that the Bible makes perfectly clear as to the
inspiration of the Prophets and Apostles is, that _the revelation made
by God through His Holy Spirit to the Prophets was independent of the
Prophets' own thinking, that it was made to them by the Spirit of
Christ which was in them, and that they themselves oftentimes did not
thoroughly understand the full meaning of what the Spirit was saying
through them, and that what they said was a subject of diligent search
and inquiry to their own mind as to its meaning_. This comes out very
plainly in 1 Pet. 1:10-12, +"Concerning which salvation the prophets
sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should
come to you; searching what time, or what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them. Unto
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they
minister these things which now have been announced unto you through
them that preached the Gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth
from Heaven; which things angels desire to look into."+ Here again
the meaning is as clear as day and inescapable. We are told that the
prophets had a revelation made to them by the Holy Spirit, the meaning
of which they did not thoroughly comprehend, and that they themselves
"sought and searched diligently" as to the meaning of this revelation
which was made to them and which they recorded. The Spirit, through
them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ (e.g. in Isa. 53:3,
Ps. 22) and the glories that should follow them. They recorded what the
Spirit testified, but what it meant they did not thoroughly understand.
It was not merely that their minds were made keen to see things
which they would not otherwise see, and which they therefore more or
less accurately recorded. No, there was a very definite revelation,
arising _not from their own minds at all_, but from the Spirit of God
Who made the revelation to them and this they recorded, but it was
not of themselves to that extent that they themselves wondered as to
what its meaning might be. What they recorded was not at all their
own thought, it was the thought of the Holy Spirit who spoke through
them. How utterly different this conception is from that which is so
persistently taught in many of our colleges and theological seminaries
and pulpits,—how utterly different it is from the conception that was
taught a week ago to-day in one of the pulpits of our own city.


IV. NO PROPHETIC UTTERANCE WAS OF THE PROPHET'S OWN WILL, BUT THE
PROPHET SPOKE FROM GOD AND THE PROPHET WAS CARRIED ALONG BY THE HOLY
SPIRIT AND NOT BY HIS OWN IMPULSE OR REASONING IN WHAT HE SAID

The fourth thing that the Bible makes perfectly clear is, that _not
one single prophetic utterance was of the prophet's own will (i.e.,
it was not in any sense merely what he wished to say), but in every
instance the Prophet spoke from God, and the Prophet was carried along
in the prophetic utterance by the Holy Spirit, regardless of his own
will or thought_. We find this stated practically in so many words in
2 Pet. 1:21 where we read: +"For no prophecy+ (literally, _not a
prophecy_) +ever came+ (literally, was brought) +by the will
of man; but men spake from God being moved+ (literally, carried
along, or borne) +by the Holy Spirit."+ There can be no honest
mistaking of the meaning of this language. The Prophet never thought
that there was something that needed to be said and therefore said it,
but God took possession of the prophet, _carried him along_ in his
utterance, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he spake, not from his
own consciousness, and not from his own reasoning, nor from his own
intuition, but "_from God_." As God's messenger he spoke what God told
him to say.


V. THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS THE REAL SPEAKER WHO SPOKE IN THE PROPHETIC
UTTERANCES

The fifth thing that the Bible teaches regarding the Inspiration of
the Prophets and the Apostles and their utterances, is that _the Holy
Spirit was the real speaker in the prophetic utterances, that what was
said or written was the Holy Spirit's Word that was upon the Apostle's
tongue, and not the word of the Prophet or Apostle_. This is said in
the Bible in so many words, over and over again. For example, in Heb.
3:7 we read: +"Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye
shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts, etc."+ The author of
the epistle to the Hebrews is quoting Ps. 95:7, 8 and says that what
the Psalmist is recorded as saying "_the Holy Spirit saith_." Again in
Heb. 10:15, 16, we read: +"And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness
to us; for after He had said, This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their
heart, and upon their mind also will I write them."+ Now the author
of the Epistle to the Hebrews is quoting Jer. 31:33, and he does not
hesitate to say that the testimony that Jeremiah there bore is _the
testimony of the Holy Ghost_, that the Holy Ghost was the real speaker.

Again we read in Acts 28:25, 26 that Paul said, +"Well spake the Holy
Spirit through Isaiah the prophet, unto your fathers, (26) saying, Go
thou unto this people and say, By hearing ye shall hear and shall
in no wise understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise
perceive, etc."+ Here Paul is quoting Isaiah's words as recorded in
the 6th chapter of Isaiah, the 9th and 10th verses, and he distinctly
says that the real speaker was not Isaiah, but "the Holy Spirit" who
spoke "through Isaiah the prophet."

Turning now to the old Testament we read in 2 Sam. 23:2 this assertion
by David regarding the things that he said and wrote: +"The Spirit of
Jehovah spake by me, and his word was upon my tongue."+ There can
be no mistaking the meaning of these words on the part of any one who
goes to the Bible to find out what it really claims and teaches. The
Holy Spirit was the real speaker in the prophetic utterance. It was the
Holy Spirit's utterance that was upon the prophet's tongue. The prophet
was simply the mouth by which the Holy Spirit spoke. Merely as a man,
except as the Holy Spirit taught him and used him, the prophet was
fallible as other men are fallible, but when the Spirit was upon him,
when he was taken up and borne along by the Holy Spirit, then he became
infallible in his teachings; for his teachings were not his, but the
teachings of the Holy Spirit. It was God who was then speaking, not the
Prophet. For example, Paul merely as a man, even as a Christian man,
doubtless had many mistaken notions on many things, and was more or
less subject to the ideas and opinions of his time, but when he taught
as an Apostle, under the power of the Holy Spirit he was infallible,
or rather the Spirit who taught through him was infallible, and the
teachings that resulted from the Spirit's teaching through him, were
infallible, as infallible as God. Common sense demands of us that we
carefully distinguish between what Paul _may have_ thought as a man,
and what he _actually taught_ as an apostle. In the Bible we have the
record of what he taught as an Apostle. Some one may cite as a possible
exception to this statement 1 Cor. 7:6, 25, where he says: +"But
this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. . . . Now concerning
virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment, as
one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy."+ There
are those who think that Paul does not seem to have been sure here that
he had the word of the Lord in this particular matter, but that is not
the meaning of the passage. The meaning of v. 6 is that his teaching
which he had just given was _by way of concession_ to their weakness,
and not a commandment as to what they must do. And the teaching of v.
25 is that the Lord, during His earthly life, had given no commandment
on this subject, but that Paul was giving his judgment; but he says
distinctly that he was giving it _as one who had obtained mercy of the
Lord to be trustworthy_ and _furthermore, in the 40th verse of the
chapter he distinctly says that in his judgment he had the Spirit of
God_. But even allowing that the other interpretation of this passage
is the correct one, and that Paul was not absolutely sure in this case
that he had the Word of the Lord and the mind of the Lord, that would
only show that where Paul was not absolutely sure that he was teaching
in the Holy Ghost he was careful to note the fact, and this would only
give additional certainty to all other passages that he wrote.

It is sometimes said that Paul taught in his earlier epistles that
the Lord would return during his lifetime, and that in this matter he
certainly was mistaken. But Paul never taught in his earlier epistles,
or any other epistles, he never taught anywhere, that the Lord would
return during his lifetime. This assertion is contrary to fact. He does
say in 1 Thess. which was his first epistle, the 4th chapter and 17th
verse: +"Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with
them+ (i.e., the believers who had already fallen asleep) +be
caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we
ever be with the Lord."+ He does here put himself in the same class
with those who were still alive when he wrote the words. He naturally
and necessarily did not include himself with those who had already
fallen asleep. In speaking of the Lord's return he does not say nor
hint that he will be still alive when the Lord returns. It is quite
probable that Paul did believe at this time that he might be alive
when the Lord returned _but he never taught that he would be alive_.
The attitude of expectancy is the true attitude in all ages for every
believer. This was the attitude that Paul took until it was distinctly
revealed to him that he would depart before the Lord came. I think
it very probable that Paul in the earlier part of his ministry was
inclined to believe that he would live until the coming of the Lord,
but the Holy Ghost kept him from so teaching, and also kept him from
all other errors in his teachings.


VI. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE APOSTLES GAVE NOT ONLY THE THOUGHT, BUT THE
WORDS IN WHICH THE THOUGHT WAS TO BE EXPRESSED

The 6th thing that the Bible makes clear as to the inspiration of the
apostle and prophets is that, _the Holy Spirit in the Prophets and
Apostles gave not only the thought but also gave the words in which
the thought was to be expressed_. We find this very clearly stated
in 1 Cor. 2:13: +"Which things also we speak, not in words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; combining
spiritual things with spiritual words."+ One of the most popular
of the false theories of Inspiration in our day is that the Holy
Spirit was the author of the thought, but that the Apostles were
left to their own choice of words in the expression of the thought,
and that therefore in studying the Bible we cannot emphasise the
exact meaning of the words, but must try to find the thought of God
that was back of the words, and which the writer has more or less
inaccurately expressed. There are many teachers in our theological
seminaries to-day, and in our pulpits, who speak very sneeringly and
superciliously of those who believe in Verbal Inspiration,—i.e., those
who believe that the Holy Spirit chose the very words in which the
thought he was teaching was to be expressed, but however sneeringly
they may speak of those who believe in Verbal Inspiration, certainly
the Bible claims that it was verbally inspired. The passage which I
have just read makes it as plain as language can possibly make it
that the "_words_" in which the Apostle spoke were not "_words_ which
man's wisdom teacheth, but _which the Spirit teacheth_." Now if this
is not the fact, if only the _thought_ that was given to Paul was the
thought of God, and he clothed the thought in his own words, then Paul
was a thoroughly deceived man on a fundamental point, in which case
no dependence at all can be placed in his teachings on any point, or
else he was a deliberate fraud, in which case the quicker we burn up
his books the better for us and all concerned. There is no possibility
of finding any middle ground, and the attempts to find a middle ground
have landed those who have tried it in all kinds of absurdities. If
you have an exact and logical mind, you must take your choice between
Verbal Inspiration and bald infidelity. _Paul distinctly states that
the words in which he conveyed to others the truth that was revealed
to him were the words which the Holy Spirit taught him._ The Holy
Spirit himself has anticipated all these modern ingenious, but wholly
unbiblical and utterly illogical and entirely false theories regarding
his own work in the Apostles. The theory that "the concept" was
inspired but the words in which the concept was expressed were not, was
anticipated by the Holy Spirit Himself and exploded 1800 years before
our supposedly wise 19th century theological teachers conceived it,
and attempted to foist it upon an unsuspecting public. It was exploded
eighteen centuries before it was exploited. Furthermore, the theory
is absurd in itself. As the only way in which thought can be conveyed
from one mind to another, from one man's mind to another man's mind,
or from the mind of God to the mind of man is by words, therefore
if the words are imperfect the thought expressed in those words is
necessarily imperfect. The theory is an absurdity on its very face, and
it is difficult to see how intelligent men could have ever deceived
themselves into believing such a thoroughly illogical theory. If the
words are not inspired the Bible is not inspired. Let us not deceive
ourselves; let us face facts.

Furthermore, the more carefully and minutely one studies the _wording_
of the statements of this wonderful book—the Bible—the more he will
become convinced of the marvellous accuracy of _the very words_ used to
express the thought. To a superficial thinker the doctrine of Verbal
Inspiration may appear questionable or even absurd, but any regenerate
and Spirit-taught man who _ponders the words_ of the Scripture day
by day, and year after year, will become thoroughly and immovably
convinced that the wisdom of God is in _the very words_ used as well
as in the thought which is expressed in the words. It is a significant
and deeply impressive fact that our difficulties with the Bible rapidly
disappear as we note _the precise language_ used. The changing of a
word or letter, or of a tense, case or number, would oftentimes land us
in contradiction or untruth, but taking the _words exactly as written_,
difficulties disappear and truth shines forth. Countless times people
have come to me with apparent difficulties and supposed contradictions
in the Bible and asked a solution, and I have pointed them to the exact
words used and the solution was found in taking the words exactly
as written. It was because they changed in a slight degree the very
words that God spoke that a difficulty had seemed to arise. The Divine
origin of nature shines forth more and more clearly the more closely we
examine it under the microscope. As by the use of a powerful microscope
we see the perfection of form and the adaptation of means to end in
the minutest particles of matter, we are overwhelmingly convinced that
God, a God of infinite wisdom and power, a wisdom extending down to
the minutest parts of matter, is the author of the material universe:
so likewise the divine origin of the Bible shines forth more and more
clearly under the microscope. The more minutely we study the Bible the
more we note the perfection with which the turn of a word reveals the
absolute thought of God.

An important question, and a question that has puzzled many writers at
this point, is: If the Holy Spirit is the author of the very words of
Scripture how do we account for the variations in style and diction?
How is it, for example, that Paul always used Pauline language,
and John used Johannean language, and Peter used language that was
characteristic of himself? The answer to this question is very simple
and is two-fold: First, even though we could not account at all for
this fact, it would have little weight against the explicit statement
of God's Word with any one who is humble enough and wise enough to
recognise that there are a great many things which he cannot account
for at all which could be easily accounted for if he knew a little
more. It is only the man who has such amazing and stupendous conceit
that he thinks he knows as much as God, in other words, that he is
infinite in wisdom, who will give up an explicit statement of God's
Word simply because he sees a difficulty in the way of the acceptance
of that statement, which he in his limited knowledge cannot solve. But
there is a second answer, and an all-sufficient one, and that is this:
these variations in style and diction are easily accounted for. The
Holy Spirit is infinitely wise. He Himself is the Creator of Man, and
of man's power of speech, and therefore he is quite wise enough and has
quite enough facility in the use of language in revealing truth to and
through any individual to use words, phrases and forms of expression
that are in that person's ordinary vocabulary and forms of thought,
and He is also quite wise enough to make use of that person's peculiar
individuality in revealing the truth through him. It is one of the
marks of the Divine wisdom of this book that the same Divine truth
is expressed with absolute accuracy in such widely variant forms of
expression.


VII. ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED OF GOD

The seventh thing that the Bible makes plain regarding the work of
the Holy Spirit in the various writers of Scripture, is that _all
Scripture, that is everything contained in all the books of the Old
and New Testament, is inspired of God_. We are distinctly taught this
in 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. Here we read, "+All Scripture+ (more exactly,
every Scripture) +is given by inspiration of God+ (more literally,
_God-breathed_), +and is profitable for doctrine+, (or teaching),
+for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness+
(rather, instruction which is in righteousness), +that the man of
God may be perfect+ (rather, complete) +thoroughly furnished+
(better, furnished completely) +unto all good works+ (rather,
every good work)." An attempt has been made to obscure the full force
of these words by a revised translation given in both the English
Revision and American Standard Version. In this revised translation,
the words are rendered as follows: "Every Scripture inspired of
God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction which is in righteousness; that the man of God may
be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." There is
absolutely no warrant in the Greek text for changing "Every Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, etc.,"
into "Every Scripture inspired of God _is also_ profitable for
teaching, etc." "Every" is in the Greek. There is no "_is_" in the
Greek. It must be supplied, as is often the case in translating from
Greek into English. "Is" must be supplied somewhere, either before
"given by inspiration" (or God-breathed), or else supplied after it,
in the latter case necessitating the change of "and" into "also" (a
change which is possible, but very uncommon); and there is not a single
instance in the New Testament outside of this in which two adjectives
coupled by the simplest copulative "and (kai)" are ripped apart and the
"is" placed between them and an "and" changed into "also." The other
construction, that of the Authorised Version, is not at all uncommon.
The translation of the Revisers does violence to all customary usage
of the Greek language. But we do not need to dwell upon that, for,
even accepting the changes given in the Revision, the thought is
not essentially changed; for if Paul had said what the revisers make
him say that "Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for
teaching, etc.," there can be no question but by "every scripture
inspired of God" he referred to every Scripture contained in the Old
Testament. Here, then, taking whichever translation you will, we
have the plain teaching that every Scripture of the Old Testament is
"God-breathed" or "inspired of God." Certainly if we can believe this
about the Old Testament there is no difficulty in believing it about
the New, and there can be no question that Paul claimed for his own
teaching an equal authority with the O. T. teaching. This we shall see
clearly under the next head. And not only did Paul so claim, but the
Apostle Peter also classes the teaching of Paul with the O. T. teaching
as being "Scripture." Peter says in 2 Pet. 3:15, 16, +"Even as our
beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him,
wrote unto you; (16) as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
these things, wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the
ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures,
unto their own destruction."+ Here Peter clearly speaks of Paul's
epistles as being "Scripture."


VIII. THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD

The eighth thing that the Bible teaches concerning the extent of the
inspiration of its writings is that _because of this inspiration of
Prophets and Apostles, the writers of the Bible, the whole Bible as
originally given becomes the absolutely inerrant Word of God_. In the
O. T. David says of his own writings, in 2 Sam. 23:2, a passage already
referred to, +"The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and His Word was
upon my tongue."+ In Mark 7:13 Our Lord Jesus Himself calls the law
of Moses "the Word of God." He says +"making void the Word of God by
your tradition, which ye have delivered."+ In the verses immediately
preceding, He has been drawing a contrast between the teachings of
the Mosaic law (not merely the teachings of the Ten Commandments,
but other parts of the Mosaic law as well) and the traditions of the
Scribes and Pharisees, and has shown how the traditions of the Scribes
and Pharisees flatly contradicted the requirements of the law as given
through Moses, and in summing up the matter he says in the verse
just quoted, that the Scribes and Pharisees made void "_the Word of
God_" by their traditions, thus calling the law of Moses "_the Word
of God._" When I was in England a high dignitary and scholar in the
Church of England in a private correspondence tried to call me down
by saying that the Bible nowhere claimed to be "the Word of God," but
I replied to him by showing him that not only did the Bible claim
it, but that the Lord Jesus Himself said in so many words that the
law given through Moses was "_the Word of God_." In 1 Thess. 2:13 the
Apostle Paul claims that his own epistles and teachings are "_the Word
of God_." He says: +"And for this cause we also thank God without
ceasing, that when ye received from us the word of the message, even
the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe."+
Here the Apostle Paul claims for his own teaching in the most absolute
way that the message that he gave was "_the Word of God_." When we
read the words that Jeremiah wrote and Isaiah wrote and Paul wrote and
John wrote and James wrote and Jude wrote and the other Bible writers
wrote, we are reading what God says. We are not listening to the voice
of man, but we are listening to the voice of God. "The Word of God"
which we have in the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, is
absolutely inerrant down to the smallest word and smallest letter
or part of a letter. Our Lord Jesus Himself says of the Pentateuch
in Matt. 5:18: +"For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the
law till all things be accomplished."+ Now a "jot" is the Hebrew
character "yodh," the smallest character in the Hebrew alphabet, less
than half the size of any other letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and a
"tittle" is a part of a letter, the little horn put on some of the
Hebrew consonants, less than the cross we put on a "t," and here our
Lord says that the law given through Moses was absolutely inerrant,
down to its smallest letter or part of a letter. That certainly is
verbal inspiration with a vengeance. Again he said, as recorded in John
10:35, after having quoted from the 82nd Psalm and the 6th verse, as
conclusive proof of a point, "The Scripture CANNOT BE BROKEN," thus
asserting the absolute irrefragability or inerrancy and finality of
the Scriptures. If the Scriptures as originally given were not the
inerrant Word of God, then not only is the Bible a fraud, but Jesus
Christ Himself was utterly misled and is therefore utterly unreliable
as a teacher. I have said that the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments _as originally given_ were absolutely inerrant, and the
question of course arises to what extent is the Authorized Version, or
the Revised Version, the inerrant Word of God. The answer is simple;
they are the inerrant Word of God just to that extent that they are an
accurate rendering of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as
originally given, and to all practical intents and purposes they are
a thoroughly accurate rendering of the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments as originally given. There are, it is true, many variations
in the many manuscripts we possess, thousands of variations, but by
a careful study of these very variations, we are able to find with
marvellous accuracy what the original manuscripts said. A very large
share of the variations are of no value whatever, as it is evident
from a comparison of different manuscripts that they are mistakes of
a transcriber. Many other variations simply concern the order of the
words used, and in translating into English, in which the order of
words is often different from what it is in the Greek, the variation is
not translatable. Many other variations are of small Greek particles,
many of which are not translatable into English any way. When all the
variations of any significance have been reduced to the minimum to
which it is possible to reduce them by a careful study of manuscripts,
there is not one single variation left that affects any doctrine held
by the evangelical churches, and the Scriptures as we have them to-day
translated into our English language, either in the A. V. or R. V., are
to all practical intents and purposes the inerrant Word of God.




II

THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF GOD, OR THE GOD OF THE BIBLE AS
DISTINGUISHED FROM THE GOD OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE GOD OF MODERN
PHILOSOPHY

    "God is Spirit."—John 4:24.

    "God is Light."—1 John 1:5.

    "God is Love."—1 John 4:8, 16.


Our subject this morning is "The Christian Conception of God, or The
God of the Bible as Distinguished from the God of Christian Science
and the God of Modern Philosophy." I have three texts: John 4:24:
+"God is Spirit."+ 1 John 1:5: +"God is Light."+ 1 John 4:8,
16: +"God is Love."+ These three texts give three of the most
remarkable statements that were ever uttered and set before us in the
clearest possible way the Christian conception of God as distinguished
from every other conception of God. The Christian Scientists constantly
quote one of our texts: +"God is Love."+ In fact they quote it
more than almost any other passage in the Bible, but they do not
mean at all by +"God is Love"+ what 1 John 4:8 or 1 John 4:16
evidently mean when taken in their connection. By "love" the Christian
Scientists do not mean a personal attribute of God, but an impersonal
abstraction which is itself God. Mrs. Eddy frankly and flatly denies
the personality of God. The Christian Scientists not only say, "God
is love," but they also say, "Love is God." They not only say, "God
is good," but they also say, "Good is God." To say "Love is God" is
an utterly different statement from saying, "God is love." You might
just as well say "Spirit is God," because God says, "God is spirit,"
but all spirit is not God. Or you might as well say, "Light is God,"
because "God is light," but light is not God and love is not God,
though God is love and God is light and God is spirit. What is meant by
"love" in the inspired statement, +"God is Love"+? What is meant
by the statement, +"God is Love,"+ is shown by the definition
or description of love given in the context and in the immediately
preceding chapter—1 John 3:13-18. These verses clearly show that by
the statement in 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16, +"God is Love"+
is not meant that God is an abstract quality, "love," and that the
abstract quality of love is God, but what is meant is that God is a
person whose whole being and conduct are dominated by the quality of
love, that is, by a desire for and delight in the highest welfare of
others. This will be evident to you if I read from the immediately
preceding chapter (1 John 3:13-17): +"Marvel not, brethren, if the
world hateth you. (14) We know that we have passed out of death into
life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in
death. (15) Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know
that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. (16) Hereby know we
love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren. (17) But whoso hath the world's goods, and
beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him,
how doth the love of God abide in him? (18) My little children, let us
not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth."+
And from this chapter (1 John 4:7-17): +"Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of
God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God
is love. (9) Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath
sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through
him. (10) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (12) No man hath
beheld God at any time: If we love one another, God abideth in us,
and his love is perfected in us: (13) Hereby we know that we abide in
him and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. (14) And we
have beheld and bear witness that the father hath sent the Son to be
the Saviour of the world. (15) Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is
the son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. (16) And we know
and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is Love; and he
that hath abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. (17)
Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the
day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world."+

The God of what is called "Modern Philosophy" is "The Absolute," and
by "The Absolute" is generally meant a cold abstraction and not a
clear, definite and warm personality Who loves, grieves, suffers, and
Who works intelligently for others. And oftentimes the God of modern
philosophy is not only "_in_ all things" but _is_ all things and all
things are God. Such a God is no God at all. Whereas the God of the
Bible, as we shall see as we proceed, is a Divine Person who exists
apart from the world which He has created and Who existed before the
world He created, Who bears definite relations to the world He has
made and Who works along definite and clearly revealed lines. So we
come face to face with the question, What sort of a Being is the God
of the Bible, the real God, the one true God, the God of Christianity,
the only God Whom we should worship and love and obey? The Kaiser also
talks much about God and his followers are fond of saying, "Gott mit
uns," but if any one will carefully study the Kaiser's utterances it
becomes plain that he does not mean by God the God of the Bible, the
Christian God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.


I. GOD IS SPIRIT

First of all +"God is Spirit."+ This we read in our first
text: John 4:24, +"God is Spirit."+ You will note that in your
Bible, both the Authorised and Revised Versions, you read, +"God
is a Spirit."+ But there is no indefinite article in the Greek
language, and wherever it is necessary in the English translation to
fit the English idiom, it has to be supplied, and it is supplied, in
this case. But there is really no reason for supplying it here any
more than there is for supplying it in 1 John 4:8 and translating,
+"God is a Love,"+ or in 1 John 1:5 and translating +"God
is a Light."+ The preferable translation is as I have given it:
+"God is Spirit."+ This is a definition of the essential nature
of God. What does it mean? Our Lord Jesus Himself has defined what
is meant by "spirit" in Luke 24:39, where He is recorded as saying
after His resurrection: +"See My hands and My feet, that it is I
Myself; handle Me, and see, for a spirit not flesh and blood, as ye
behold Me having."+ It is evident from these words of our Lord that
_spirit_ is that which is contrasted to body. That is to say, spirit
is incorporeal, invisible reality. To say, "God is Spirit" is to say
that God is essentially incorporeal and invisible (cf. 1 Tim. 6:16),
that God in His essential nature is not material but immaterial and
invisible, but none the less real. This thought is also found in the
very heart of that revelation of Himself which God made to Moses in
the first division of the Old Testament. For example, we read in Deut.
4:15-18: +"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no
manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of
the midst of the fire; (16) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a
graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
(17) the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness
of any winged bird that flieth in the Heavens. (18) The likeness of
anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is
in the water under the earth."+ This is a plain declaration way back
fifteen centuries before Christ, of the _spirituality_ of God in His
essential nature. God is essentially invisible spirit.

But it is also clearly revealed in the Word of God that "spirit" may be
manifested in visible, bodily form. We read in John 1:32 these words
of John the Baptist speaking about what his own eyes had seen: +"And
John bore witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a
dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him."+ Here, then, we see Him
who was essentially spirit manifesting Himself in a bodily, visible
form.

Furthermore in the Bible we are told that God has manifested Himself
in visible form. We read in Ex. 24:9, 10: +"Then went up Moses, and
Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: (10) and
they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were
a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for
clearness."+

What they saw was not God in His essential nature as Spiritual Being.
Indeed, what we see when we see one another is not our essential self,
but the house we live in, and so John could say, as he does say in
John 1:18: +"No man hath seen God at any time."+ And so I could
say to you now that you do not see me. Nevertheless, it was a real
manifestation of God Himself that they saw, and so it could also be
said, and said truthfully, that they had seen God, as it could be
truthfully said, "you see me."

Furthermore still, though God is essentially spirit, God has a visible
form. This is taught in the most unmistakable terms in Phil. 2:6, where
we are told of our Lord Jesus that He existed originally "in the _form_
of God." The Greek word which is translated "form" in this passage
means "visible form," "the form by which a person or thing strikes the
vision," "the external appearance." It cannot mean anything else. This
is the definition given in the best Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament, of the word here translated "form." Now as Jesus existed
originally "in the form of God," it is evident that God Himself must
have a form, this form in which our Lord Jesus is said to have existed
originally.

That God in His external form, though not in His invisible essence, is
_seeable_, is also clear from Acts 7:55, 56, where we read: +"But
he+ (i.e., Stephen), +being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up
steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing
on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and
the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."+ Now if God has
not a form that can be seen, then, of course, the Lord Jesus could not
be seen standing upon the right hand of God. God is, as we shall see
later, everywhere; but God is not everywhere in the same sense. There
is a locality where God is visibly and manifestly present in a way in
which He is not present anywhere else. There is a place where He is
present visibly and manifests Himself as He does not elsewhere. The
place of God's visible presence and full manifestation of Himself is
Heaven, though in His spiritual presence He pervades the universe. This
is evident from many passages in the Scriptures. For example, it is
clear from the prayer that our Lord taught us—a portion of Scripture
that many accept who reject most of the Bible. Our Lord began the
prayer that He taught His disciples with these words "Our Father _Which
Art in Heaven_." If these words mean anything, they certainly mean that
God, our Father, is in heaven in a way in which He is not elsewhere.
That was where God was when Jesus was addressing Him. We read again
in Matt. 3:17: +"Lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."+ If these words mean
anything, they mean that God was in heaven and that His voice came out
of the heavens to the Lord Jesus who was here on earth. Again in John
14:28 Jesus is recorded as saying:

+"Ye heard how I said to you, I go away and I come again unto you.
If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father:
for the Father is greater than I."+ If these words mean anything,
taken in the light of the events that were to follow on the next day
and the days following, they mean that Jesus was going away from the
place where He then was—earth—to another place where He was not
when He spoke, i.e., heaven—and that in going to heaven he was going
to where God was, from earth where God was not in the sense in which
He was in heaven. Again we read in Acts 11:9: +"A voice answered
the second time out of heaven, What God hath cleansed make not thou
common."+ Here again God is represented as speaking from heaven
where He was. Again our Lord Jesus Christ is recorded in John 20:17
as saying to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection: +"Touch me not;
for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren
and say to them, I ascend unto my father and to your father and my
God and your God,"+ from which it is unmistakably evident that in
the conception of our Lord Jesus after His resurrection there was a
place where God was and to which He was going, and that place was up
in heaven. There is no possibility of explaining this away by saying
it is a figure of speech, the whole passage loses its meaning by any
such interpretation, and to attempt to so explain it is a trick and
a subterfuge that will not bear close examination. Again the Apostle
Paul tells us regarding our Lord Jesus Christ that God the Father
+"raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand
in the heavenly places"+ (Eph. 1:20) which makes it as clear as
language can make anything that there is a place, heaven, where God
is in a sense that He is nowhere else, and where one can be placed at
His right hand. The same thing is evident from the verses that we have
already quoted in another connection, Acts 7:55, 56, where we are told
that Stephen +"being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of
man standing on the right hand of God."+ The meaning of these words
to anybody who wishes to know what words are intended to convey and not
merely to distort them to fit his own conception, is that God is in
heaven locally present. There is no escaping this by any fair, honest
interpretation. Men who are skilful in the art of discrediting truth by
giving it bad names, and names that sound very scholarly, may call this
"anthropomorphism," and that sounds very learned. Nevertheless, be it
"anthropomorphism" or what not, this is the clear teaching of the Word
of God in spite of this or any other frightful terms used to scare
immature college boys and immature college girls. There is no mistaking
that this is the teaching of the Bible, and we have already proven
that the Bible is God's Word, and is to be taken at its face value in
spite of all the attempts that men, who "counting themselves wise, have
become fools," make to explain it away.


II. GOD IS A PERSON

The next thing that the Bible teaches about God is that _God is a
person_. That is to say He is a being who knows, feels, loves, hears
prayer, speaks, acts, a being who acts intelligently upon us and upon
whom we can act.

While God is in all things, He is a personality distinct from the
persons and things in which He is, which He has created. The Bible,
both in the Old and New Testaments is full of this vital conception
of "a _living_ God" as distinguished from the mere cold abstraction
of "The Absolute," or "The Infinite," or "The Supreme Being," or "The
Great First Cause" of which "Modern Philosophy" loves to prate. For
example, we read in Jer. 10:10-16: +"But Jehovah is the true God;
he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth
trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation. (11)
Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heaven
and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the
heavens. (12) He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established
the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched
out the heavens. (13) When he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult
of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from
the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth
forth the wind out of his treasuries. (14) Every man is become brutish
and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven
image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in
them. (15) They are vanity, a work of delusion; in the time of their
visitation they shall perish. (16) The portion of Jacob is not like
these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of
his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name."+ In this passage God
is distinguished from idols which are things and not persons, things
which "speak not" "cannot act," "cannot do good neither is it in them
to do evil"; and we are told that Jehovah is _wiser_ than "all the wise
men." Is "the living God," "an everlasting King," a being who hath
"wrath and indignation," separate from His creatures—"at His wrath the
earth trembleth and the nations are not able to abide His indignation."

In Acts 14:15 we read: +"Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are
men of like passions with you, and bring you good tidings, that ye
should turn from these things unto the living God, who made heaven and
earth and sea, and all that in them is."+ Here also we have the
representation of _God as a personal being distinct from His created
work_, and also to be clearly distinguished from the idols which are
not living gods. In 1 Thess. 1:9, the converts at Thessalonica are
represented as turning from dead gods, "idols, to serve the _living_
and true God."

In 2 Chron. 16:9 we are told that +"The eyes of Jehovah run to and
fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf
of them whose heart is perfect toward him,"+ and in Ps. 94:9, 10 we
read: +"He that planteth the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed
the eye, shall he not see? He that punisheth nations, shall not he
correct? Even he that teacheth men knowledge?"+ This is clearly
the representation of a personal God and not a mere abstraction like
"The Absolute," or "The Infinite," or "The Supreme Being." The clear
distinction between God, who is immanent in all things, and dwells in
believers, and the beings and persons in whom He dwells, is brought
out very clearly by our Lord Himself in John 14:10: +"Believest thou
not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say
unto you I speak not from myself: But the Father abiding in me doeth
his work."+ And again in the 24th verse of the same chapter where
our Lord Jesus distinguishes between His own personality and that of
the Father, who dwelt in Him, in these words: +"He that loveth me not
keepeth not my words: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the
Father's who sent me."+ This conception of God pervades the entire
Bible. The view of God presented in the Bible is utterly different
from the conception of Pantheism and Buddhism and Theosophy and
Christian Science. This conception is found in the opening words of the
Bible, Gen. 1:1: +"In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth."+ Here the God of the Bible is clearly differentiated from
the so-called God of Pantheism, and the God of Christian Science. And
this same conception of God is found in the last chapter of the Bible,
and it is found in every chapter of the Bible between the first and the
last. The God of the Bible is a Personal Being Who, while He created
all things and is in all things, is a distinct personality separate
from the persons and things He has created.


III. GOD'S PRESENT RELATION TO THE WORLD AND TO MEN

We turn now to a consideration of the present relation of this Personal
God presented to us in the Bible, to the world He has created and to
the men whom He has created.

1. In the first place we find that _God sustains, governs and cares
for the world He has created. He shapes the whole present history of
the world._ This comes out again and again. A few illustrations must
suffice. We read in Ps. 104:27-30: +"These wait all for thee, that
thou mayest give them their food in due season. (28) Thou givest unto
them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are satisfied with
good. (29) Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away
their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (30) Thou sendest
forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the
ground."+ And again in Ps. 75:6, 7: +"For neither from the east,
nor from the west, nor yet from the south, cometh lifting up. (7) But
God is the judge: he putteth down one, and lifteth up another."+
All these passages and others that could be cited, set forth the same
conception of God's present relation to the world which He has created.
They show, as we have said, that God sustains, governs and cares for
the work He has created; that He shapes the whole present history of
the world.

2. Now let us look at His relation to the affairs of men. We will find
that _God has a present, personal interest and an active hand in the
affairs of men; that He makes a path for His people and leads them;
that He delivers, saves and punishes_. Here four illustrations from
the Bible must suffice. First of all Joshua 3:10: +"And Joshua said,
Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will
without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite,
and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite,
and the Jebusite."+ Now turn to Dan. 6:20-22, 26, 27. +"And when
he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice:
the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God,
is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from
the lions? (21) Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
(22) My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and
they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in
me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." . . . "(26) I
make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and
fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and stedfast
for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his
dominion shall be even unto the end. (27) He delivereth and rescueth,
and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."+ Now turn to 1 Tim.
4:10: +"For to this end we labour and strive, because we have our
hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially
of them that believe,"+ and now turn to Heb. 10:28-31: +"A man
that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without compassion on the word
of two or three witnesses: (29) Of how much sorer punishment, think
ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son
of God? and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
grace? (30) For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I
will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (31) It is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."+ In all
of these passages we have this same conception of God in His relation
to man, viz., that God has a personal interest and an active hand in
the affairs of men; that He makes a path for His people and leads them;
that He delivers, saves and punishes them.

The God of the Bible is to be clearly distinguished not merely from the
God of the Pantheists who has no existence separate from His creation,
but also from the God of the Deists who has created the world and put
into it all the necessary powers of self-government and development and
set it going and left it to go of itself. The God of the Bible is a God
who is personally and actively present in the affairs of the universe
to-day. He sustains, governs, cares for the world He has created,
He shapes the whole present history of the world. He has a present
personal interest and an active hand in the affairs of men and He it
is that is back of all the events that are occurring to-day. He reigns
and makes even the wrath of men to praise Him, and the remainder of
wrath doth He restrain. The Kaiser may rage, armies may clash, force
and violence and outrage may seem triumphant for the passing hour, but
God stands back of all; and through all the confusion and the discord
and the turmoil and the agony and the ruin, through all the outrageous
atrocities that are making men's hearts stand still with horror, He
is carrying out His own purposes of love and making all things work
together for good to those who love Him.




III

THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF GOD—THE INFINITE PERFECTION AND UNITY
OF GOD

    "God is Light."—1 John 1:5.

    "God is Love."—1 John 4:8, 16.

    "With God All Things are Possible."—Matt. 19:26.

    "His Understanding is Infinite."—Ps. 147:5.


We are to consider again to-day the Christian conception of God. We
saw a week ago to-day that God is Spirit, that God is a person and
that God has a personal interest and an active hand in the affairs of
men to-day, that He sustains, governs and cares for the world He has
created and that He shapes the whole present history of the world.


I. THE INFINITE PERFECTION OF GOD

The next thing to be noted about the Christian conception of God is,
that _God is perfect and infinite in all His intellectual and moral
attributes and in power_.

1. First of all, fix your attention upon our first text: +"God
is Light"+ (1 John 1:5). These three words form a marvellously
beautiful and overwhelmingly impressive statement of the truth. They
set forth the Absolute Holiness and Perfect Wisdom of God. The words
need rather to be meditated upon than to be expounded. +"In Him is
no darkness at all."+ That is to say, in Him is no darkness of
error, no darkness of ignorance, no darkness of sin, no darkness of
moral imperfection or intellectual imperfection of any kind. The three
words, "God is Light," form one of the most beautiful, one of the most
striking and one of the most stupendous statements of truth that was
ever penned.

2. To come to things more specific, _the God of the Bible is
omnipotent_. This great truth comes out again and again in the Word
of God. One direct statement of this great truth especially striking
because of the connection in which it is found, occurs in Jer. 32:17,
27: +"Ah Lord Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the
earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm: there is
nothing too hard for thee."+ Here it is Jeremiah who makes the
statement, but in the 27th verse it is Jehovah Himself who says:
+"Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything too
hard for me?"+

In Job 42:2 we read these words of Job, when at last he has been
brought to see and to recognise the true nature of Jehovah: +"I
know that thou canst do all things and that no purpose of thine can
be restrained."+ In Matt. 19:26 our Lord Jesus says: +"With God
all things are possible."+ Taking these passages together, we are
plainly taught by our Lord Himself and by others that _God can do all
things, that nothing is too hard for Him, that all things are possible
with Him. In a word, that God is omnipotent._ A very impressive passage
in the book of Psalms setting forth this same great truth is Ps.
33:6-9: +"By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth. (7) He gathereth the waters of
the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the deeps in storehouses. (8)
Let all the earth fear Jehovah: let all the inhabitants of the world
stand in awe of him. (9) For he spake, and it was done; he commanded,
and it stood fast."+ Here we see God by the mere utterance of His
voice bringing to pass anything that He desires to be brought to pass.
We find this same lofty conception of God in the very first chapter
of the Bible, that chapter that so many people who imagine themselves
scholarly are telling us is outgrown and not up to date, and yet which
contains some of the sublimest utterances that were ever written,
unmatched by anything that any philosopher or scientist or platform
orator is saying to-day. The very first words of that chapter read:
+"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"+ (Gen.
1:1), a description of the origin of things that has never been matched
for simplicity, sublimity and profundity; and two verses further down,
in the third verse, we read: +"And God said, Let there be light: and
light was."+ These words need no comment. There is here a sublimity
of thought in the setting forth of the omnipotence of God's mere word
before which any truly intelligent and alert soul will stand in wonder
and awe. There is nothing in poetry or in philosophical dissertation,
ancient or modern, that can for one moment be put in comparison with
these sublime words. Over and over again the thought is brought out
in the Word of God that all nature is absolutely subject to God's
will and word. We see this, for example, in Ps. 107:25-29: +"For he
commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves
thereof. (26) They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the
depths: their soul melteth away because of trouble. (27) They reel to
and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
(28) Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, and he bringeth them
out of their distresses. (29) He maketh the storm a calm, so that
the waves thereof are still."+ Another description of a similar
character is found in Nahum 1:3-6: +"Jehovah is slow to anger, and
great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: Jehovah hath his
way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of
his feet. (4) He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all
the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon
languisheth. (5) The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and
the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that
dwell therein. (6) Who can stand before his indignation? and who can
abide in the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like
fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him."+ What a picture we
have here of the omnipotence and awful majesty of God!

Not only is nature represented as being absolutely subject to God's
will and word, but men also are represented as being absolutely subject
to His will and word. For example, we read in Jas. 4:12-15: +"One
only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save and to
destroy: But who art thou that judgest thy neighbour? (13) Come now,
ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend
a year there, and trade, and get gain: (14) Whereas ye know not what
shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapour that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (15) For that
ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or
that."+

Happy is the man who voluntarily subjects himself to God's will and
word, but whether we voluntarily subject ourselves to God's will and
word or not, we are subject to His will and word whether or no. The
angels also are subject to His will and word (Heb. 1:13, 14) and even
Satan himself is, although entirely against his own will, absolutely
subject to the will and word of God, as is evident from Job 1:12 and
Job 2:6.

_The exercise of God's omnipotence is limited by His own wise and holy
and loving will._ God _can do_ anything, but _will do_ only that which
infinite wisdom and holiness and love dictate. This comes out, for
example, in Isa. 59:1, 2: +"Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (2)
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."+

3. _The God of the Bible is also omniscient._ In 1 John 3:20 we read:
+"God knoweth all things."+ Turning to the Old Testament, in
Ps. 147:5, we read: +"Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; his
understanding is infinite."+ The literal translation of the last
clause of this passage is "Of his understanding there is no number." In
these passages it is plainly declared that "God knoweth all things" and
that "His understanding is infinite." In Job 37:16 Elihu the messenger
of God is represented as saying that Jehovah is "perfect in knowledge."
Along the same line, in Acts 15:18 we read: +"Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning of the world."+ The Revised Version
makes a change in the translation of this verse but this change does
not alter the sense of the truth here set forth that God knows all His
works and all things from the beginning of the world. _Known to Him is
everything from the most vast to the most minute detail._ In Ps. 147:4
we are told that, +"He telleth the number of the stars; he knoweth
them all by name."+ While in Matt. 10:29 we are told that _not a
sparrow_ falleth to the ground without Him. The stars in all their
stupendous magnitude and the sparrows in all their insignificance are
all equally in His mind.

We are further told that everything has a part in His purpose and
plan. In Acts 3:17, 18, the Apostle Peter says of the crucifixion
of our Lord, the wickedest act in all the history of the human
race: +"And now, brethren, I wot that in ignorance ye did it, as
did also your rulers. But the things which God foreshowed by the
mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus
fulfilled."+ In Acts 2:23 Peter declared on the day of Pentecost
(although the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was the wickedest act in
all history) that nevertheless the Lord Jesus was +"Delivered up by
the determinate council and foreknowledge of God."+ According to
the Psalmist (Ps. 76:10) God takes the acts of the wickedest men into
His plans and makes the wrath of men to praise Him, and the remainder
of wrath doth He restrain. Even the present war with all its horrors,
with all its atrocities, with all its abominations and all its nameless
wickednesses, was foreknown of God and taken into His own gracious plan
of the ages; and He will make every event in this present war, even the
most shocking things, designed by the vilest conspiracy of unprincipled
men, utterly unhuman and beastly men and Devil inspired men, work
together for good to those who love God, for those who are the called
according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).

_The whole plan of the ages, not merely of the centuries, but of
the immeasurable ages of God, and every man's part in it, has been
known to God from all eternity._ This is made very clear in Eph.
1:9-12, where we read: +"Having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in
him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all
things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the
earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having
been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be to
the praise of his glory, we who before hoped in Christ."+ And in
Eph. 3:4-9, we read: +"Wherefore when ye read, ye can perceive my
understanding in the mystery of Christ; which in other generations was
not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his
holy prophets and apostles in the Spirit; to wit, that the Gentiles are
fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, whereof I was made a
minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me
according to the working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the
dispensation of the mystery which from all ages has been hid in God
who created all things."+ There are no after-thoughts with God.
Everything is seen, known, purposed and planned for from the outset.
Well may we exclaim: +"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out."+ (Rom. 11:33.) God knows from all eternity what
He will do to all eternity.

4. _God is also absolutely and infinitely holy._ This is a point of
central and fundamental importance in the Bible conception of God.
It comes out in our first text: +"God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all."+ John when he wrote these words gave them as the
summary of +"The message which we have heard from God."+ (1 John
1:5.) In Isa. 6:3 in the vision of Jehovah which was given to Isaiah
in the year that King Uzziah died, the "seraphim," or "burning ones,"
burning in their own intense holiness, are represented as standing
before Jehovah with covered faces and covered feet and constantly
crying, "_Holy, holy, holy_, is Jehovah of Hosts." And in 1 Pet. 1:16
God cries to us, +"Be ye holy, for I am holy."+

This thought of the infinite and awe-inspiring holiness of God pervades
the entire Bible. It underlies everything in it. The entire Mosaic
system is built upon and about this fundamental and central truth. Its
system of washings; the divisions of the tabernacle; the divisions
of the people into ordinary Israelites, Levites, Priests and High
Priests, who were permitted different degrees of approach to God under
strictly defined conditions, insistence upon sacrifices of blood as
the necessary medium of approach to God; God's directions to Moses in
Ex. 3:5, to Joshua in Josh. 5:15, the punishment of Uzziah in 2 Chron.
26:16-26, the strict orders to Israel in regard to approaching Sinai
when Jehovah came down upon it; the doom of Korah, Dathan and Abiram in
Num. 16:1-33; and the destruction of Nadab and Abihu in Lev. 10:1-3:
all these were intended to teach, emphasise and burn into the minds
and hearts of the Israelites the fundamental truth that God is holy,
unapproachably holy. _The truth that God is holy is the fundamental
truth of the Bible_, of the Old Testament and the New Testament, of the
Jewish religion and the Christian religion. It is the preëminent factor
in the Christian conception of God. There is no fact in the Christian
Conception of God that needs more to be emphasised in our day than the
fact of the absolute, unqualified and uncompromising holiness of God.
That is the chief note that is lacking in Christian Science, Theosophy,
Occultism, Buddhism, New Thought, the New Theology and all the base but
boasted cults of the day. That great truth underlies those fundamental
doctrines of the Bible,—the Atonement by Shed Blood and Justification
by Faith. _The doctrine of the holiness of God is the keystone in the
arch of Christian truth._

5. _God is also love._ This truth is declared in one of our texts.
The words +"God is love"+ are found twice in the same chapter (1
John 4:8, 16). This truth is essentially the same truth as that +"God
is light"+ and +"God is holy,"+ for the very essence of true
holiness is love, and "light" is "love" and "love" is "light."

6. Furthermore, God is not only perfect in His intellectual and moral
attributes and in power, _He is also omnipresent_. This thought of God
comes out in both the Old Testament and the New. In Ps. 139:7-10 we
read: +"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee
from thy presence? (8) If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If
I make my bed in Sheol, behold thou art there. (9) If I take the wings
of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea; (10) Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."+
There is no place where one can flee from God's presence, for God is
everywhere. This great truth is set forth in a remarkable way in Jer.
23:23, 24: +"Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar
off? (24) Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah."+

Last week we saw that God has a local habitation, that there is a place
where He exists and manifests Himself in a way in which He does not
manifest Himself everywhere; but while we insist upon that clearly
revealed truth, we must also never lose sight of the fact that _God is
everywhere_. We find this same truth set forth by Paul in his sermon
to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers on Mars Hill, Acts 17:24-28:
+"The God that made the world, and all things therein, he, being
Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands:
(25) Neither is served by men's hands as though he needed anything,
seeing he himself giveth to all life and breath and all things. (26)
And he made of one every nation of men who dwell on all the face of
the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds
of their habitations. (27) For in him we live, and move, and have our
being; as certain even of your own poets have said, for we are also his
offspring."+

From these passages we see that God is everywhere. He is in all parts
of the universe and near each individual. In Him each individual lives
and moves and has his being. He is in every rose and lily and blade of
grass.

7. There is one other thought in the Christian conception of God that
needs to be placed alongside of His omnipresence and that is His
eternity. _God is eternal. His existence had no beginning and will have
no ending, He always was, always is and always shall be._ God is not
only everywhere present in space, He is everywhere present in time.
This conception of God appears constantly in the Bible. We are told
way back in Gen. 21:33 that Abraham called +"On the name of Jehovah,
the everlasting God."+ In Isa. 40:28 we read this description of
Jehovah: +"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? The everlasting
God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding."+
Here again He is called "The Everlasting God." Habakkuk in Hab. 1:12
sets forth the same conception of God. He says, +"Art not thou from
everlasting, O Jehovah my God, mine holy one?"+ The Psalmist gives
us the same representation of God in Ps. 90:2, 4: +"Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. (4) For a
thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed, and
as a watch in the night."+ We have the same representation of God in
the 102nd Ps., verses 24-27: +"I said, O my God, take me not away in
the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations. (25)
Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are
the work of thy hands. (26) They shall perish, but thou shalt endure;
yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou
change them, and they shall be changed; (27) But thou art the same, and
thy years shall have no end."+

The very name of God, His covenant name, Jehovah, sets forth His
eternity. He is the eternal "I am," the One who is, was and ever shall
be. (Cf. Ex. 3:14, 15.)


II. THERE IS ONE GOD

One more fact about the Christian conception of God remains to be
mentioned and that is: _There is but one God_. The Unity of God comes
out again and again in both the Old Testament and the New. For example,
we read in Deut. 4:35: +"Jehovah he is God. There is none else
beside him."+ And in Deut. 6:4 we read: +"Hear O Israel: Jehovah
our God is one Jehovah."+ Turning to the New Testament in 1 Tim.
2:5 we read: +"There is one God, one mediator also between God and
man, himself man, Christ Jesus."+ And in Mark 12:29 our Lord Jesus
Himself says: +"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."+

But we must bear in mind the character of the Divine Unity. It is
clearly revealed in the Bible that in this Divine Unity, in this one
Godhead, there is a multiplicity of persons. This comes out in a
variety of ways.

1. First of all, _the Hebrew word translated "One" in these various
passages given denotes a compound unity_, not a simple unity. (Cf. 1
Cor. 3:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:13; John 17:22, 23; Gal. 3:28.)

2. In the second place, _the Old Testament word most frequently used
for God is a plural noun_. The Hebrew grammarians and lexicographers
tried to explain this by saying that it was the "pluralis majestatis,"
but the very simple explanation is that the Hebrews, in spite of their
intense monotheism, used a plural name for God because there is a
plurality of persons in the one Godhead.

3. More striking yet, as a proof of the plurality of persons in the one
Godhead, is the fact that God Himself uses plural pronouns in speaking
of Himself. For example, in the first chapter of the Bible, Gen. 1:26,
we read that God said: +"Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness."+ And in Gen. 11:7, He is further recorded as saying:
+"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they
cannot understand one another's speech."+ In Gen. 3:22 we read:
+"And Jehovah God said, Behold, man is become as one of us to know
good and evil."+ And in that wonderful vision to which reference has
already been made, in which Isaiah saw Jehovah, we read this statement
of Isaiah's in Isa. 6:8: +"And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send
me."+

4. Another illustration of the plurality of persons in the one Godhead
in the Old Testament conception of God is found in Zech. 2:10, 11;
where Jehovah speaks of Himself _as sent by Jehovah_ in these words:
+"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will
dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. (11) And many nations shall
join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people and I
will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of
hosts hath sent me unto thee."+ Here Jehovah clearly speaks of
himself as _sent by Jehovah_, thus clearly indicating two persons in
the Deity.

5. Another indication of the plurality of persons in the Godhead in the
Old Testament conception of God is found in the fact that "The Angel of
Jehovah" in the Old Testament is at the same time distinguished from
and identified with Jehovah.

6. This same thought of the plurality of persons in the one Godhead
is brought out in John 1:1, where we reach the very climax of this
thought. Here we are told in so many words: +"In the beginning was
the word and the word was with God and the word was God."+ We
shall see later, when we come to study the Deity of Christ and the
Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit, that the Lord Jesus and the
Holy Spirit are clearly designated as divine beings and at the same
time distinguished from one another, and from God the Father. So it is
clear that in the Christian conception of God while there is but one
God there is a multiplicity of persons in the one Godhead.

In these two sermons on "The Christian Conception of God" we have
very inadequately stated that conception. This conception of God
runs through the whole Bible from the first chapter of the book of
Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation, and this is one of the
many marvellous illustrations of the divine unity of the Book. How
wonderful is that Book, in that there is this unity of thought on
this very profound doctrine pervading the whole book! It is a clear
indication that the Bible is the Word of God. There is in the Bible a
profounder philosophy than is found in any human philosophy, ancient or
modern, and the only way to account for it is that God Himself is the
author of this incomparable philosophy. What a wondrous God we have!
How we ought to meditate upon His person! With what awe and at the same
time with what delight we should come into His presence and bow before
Him in adoring contemplation of the wonder and beauty and majesty and
glory of His being!




IV

THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

    "Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked
    them a question, saying, What think ye of the Christ? whose son
    is He?"—Matt. 22:41, 42.


The question that our Lord Jesus here puts to the Pharisees is the
most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that
can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Himself is the centre
of Christianity, so the most fundamental questions of faith are those
that concern the person of Christ. If a man really holds right views
concerning the person of Jesus Christ he will sooner or later get right
views on every other question. If he holds a wrong view concerning
the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on
everything else sooner or later. +What think ye of Christ?+ That
is the great central question, that is the vital question.

And the most fundamental question concerning the person of Christ
is, is Jesus Christ really God? Not merely is He Divine, but is He
actually God? When I was a boy, to say you believed in the Divinity
of Christ, meant that you believed in the real Deity of Christ, that
you believed that Jesus was actually a Divine person, that He was God.
It no longer means that. The Devil is wise, shrewd, subtle, and he
knows that the most effectual way to instil error into the minds of
the inexpert and unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new
meaning into them. So when his messengers masquerading as "ministers of
righteousness" seek to lead, if possible, the elect astray, they use
the old precious words but with an entirely new and entirely different
and entirely false meaning. They talk about "the Divinity of Christ,"
but they do not mean at all by it what intelligent Christians in
former days meant by it. Just so they talk of "_the atonement_," but
they do not mean at all by the atonement the substitutionary death of
Jesus Christ in our place, by which eternal life is secured for us.
And oftentimes when they talk about Christ they do not mean at all
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus of the
four gospels, they mean an ideal Christ, or a Christ principle. So our
subject this morning is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity of
Christ, and our question is not is Jesus Christ Divine, but is Jesus
Christ God? Was that person who was born at Bethlehem nineteen hundred
and twenty-one years ago, and who lived thirty-three or thirty-four
years here upon earth as recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, who was crucified on Calvary's cross, who rose from
the dead the third day, and was exalted from earth to heaven, to the
right hand of the Father, was He God manifested in the flesh, was He
God embodied in a human being? Was He and is He a being worthy of our
absolute faith, and supreme love, and our unhesitating obedience, and
our whole-hearted worship, just as God the Father is worthy of our
absolute faith and supreme love and unhesitating obedience and our
whole-hearted worship? Should all men honour Jesus Christ even as they
honour God the Father (John 5:23)? Not merely is He an example that we
can wisely follow, or a Master whom we can wisely serve, but is He a
God Whom we can rightly worship?

I presume that most of us do believe that He was God manifested in
the flesh, and that He is God to-day at the right hand of the Father,
but why do you believe so? Are you so intelligent in your faith,
and therefore so well grounded in your faith, that no glib talker
or reasoner, no Unitarian or Russellite or Christian Scientist or
Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead
you astray? It is important that we be thoroughly sound in our faith
at this point, and thoroughly well-informed, wherever else we may be
in ignorance or error, for we are distinctly told in John 20:31 that
+"These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing, ye may have life in His name."+
It is evident from these words of the inspired Apostle John that this
question is not merely a matter of theoretical opinion, that it is a
matter that concerns our salvation. It is to confirm and instruct you
in your blessed faith, your saving faith in Jesus Christ as a Divine
person, that I speak this morning. When I studied the subject of the
Divinity of Christ in the theological seminary I got the impression
that there were a few proof-texts in the Bible that conclusively proved
that He was Divine. Years later I found that there were not merely a
few proof-texts that proved this, but that the Bible in many ways and
in countless passages clearly taught that Jesus Christ was God manifest
in the flesh. Indeed I found that the Doctrine of the Deity of Jesus
Christ formed the very warp and woof of the Bible.


I. DIVINE NAMES

The first line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord Jesus is
that _many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus
Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total number
of passages reaching far into the hundreds_. Of course, I can give
you only a few illustrations. Turn with me first of all to Rev. 1:17,
+"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last."+
The context shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here
our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself "_the First and the Last_."
Now this beyond a question is a Divine name, for in Isa. 44:6 we read,
+"Thus sayeth Jehovah, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, Jehovah
of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no
God."+ In Rev. 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha
and Omega. His words are, +"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is
with me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."+
Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse _the
Lord God_ declares that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are,
+"I am the Alpha, and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty."+ In 1 Cor. 2:8,
the Apostle Paul speaks of our crucified Lord Jesus as "_the Lord of
glory_." His exact words are, +"Which none of the princes of this
world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory."+ There can be no question that "the Lord of glory"
is Jehovah God, for we read in Ps. 24:8-10, +"Who is this king of
glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates; yea lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the
king of glory will come in. Who is the king of glory? Jehovah of hosts.
He is the king of glory."+ And we are told in the passage already
referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King of Glory,
therefore He must be Jehovah. In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the
Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God, +"And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God."+ Unitarians have endeavoured to get
around the force of this utterance of Thomas by saying that Thomas was
excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying
"my Lord and my God" as an ejaculation of astonishment, just in the way
that profane people sometimes use these exclamations to-day, but this
interpretation is impossible, and shows to what desperate straits the
Unitarians are driven; for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing
it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus' words immediately following those
of Thomas are, +"Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed"+ (John
20:29). In the correct translation of Titus 2:13, the translation
given in the English revision, not in the American Standard Revision,
our Lord Jesus is spoken of as, "_our great God_ and Saviour Jesus
Christ." In Rom. 9:5, Paul tells us that +"Christ is over all, God
blessed forever."+ The Unitarians have made desperate efforts to
overcome the force of these words, but the only fair translation
and interpretation of the words that Paul wrote in Greek are the
translation and interpretation found in both our Authorised and Revised
Versions. There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to
find out what it actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into
it, that _Jesus is spoken of by various names and titles that beyond
a question imply Deity_, and that He in so many words is called God.
In Heb. 1:8 it is said in so many words, of the Son, +"But unto the
Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."+ If we should go no
further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of the
Bible that Jesus Christ was really God.


II. DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

But there is a second line of proof that Jesus Christ was God, a proof
equally convincing, and that is, _all the five distinctively Divine
attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ, and "all the fulness of the
Godhead" is said to dwell in Him_. There are five distinctively Divine
attributes, that is five attributes that God alone possesses. These are
Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity, and Immutability.
Each one of these distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to
Jesus Christ. First of all, omnipotence is ascribed to Jesus Christ.
Not only are we taught that Jesus had power over disease and death
and winds and sea and demons, that they were all subject to His word,
and that He is far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world
but also in the world to come (Eph. 1:20-23), but in Heb. 1:3 it is
said in so many words that He +"Upholds all things by the word of
his power."+ Omniscience is also ascribed to Him. We are taught
in the Bible that Jesus knew men's lives, even their secret history
(John 4:16, 19), that He knew the secret thoughts of men, knew all
men, knew what was in man (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22; John 2:24, 25) which
knowledge we are distinctly told in 2 Chron. 6:30 and Jer. 17:9, 10,
God only possesses, but we are told in so many words in John 16:30
that Jesus knew "all things," and in Col. 2:3 we are told that in Him
"are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Omnipresence is
also ascribed to Him. We are told in Matt. 18:20 that where two or
three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst of
them, and in Matt. 28:20 that wherever His obedient disciples should
go He would be with them, even unto the end of the age, and in John
14:20 and 2 Cor. 13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer,
in all the millions of believers scattered over the earth. In Eph.
1:23 we are told in so many words that He "_filleth all in all_."
Eternity is also ascribed to Him. We are told in John 1:1 that "_in
the beginning_ was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God." In John 8:57 Jesus Himself said, +"Verily, verily, I say
unto you, before Abraham was, I am."+ Note that the Lord Jesus did
not merely say that "before Abraham was _I was_," but that "before
Abraham was, I AM," thus declaring Himself to be the eternal
"I AM." Even in the Old Testament we have a declaration of
the eternity of the Christ who was to be born in Bethlehem. In Micah
5:2 we read, +"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth
unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting."+ And in Isa. 9:6 we are told of
the child that is to be born, +"For unto us a child is born, unto
us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."+ And in Heb. 13:8 we are
told that +"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for
ever."+ His immutability is also taught in the passage just quoted
from Hebrews, and in the first chapter of the same book, the twelfth
verse we are told that while even the heavens change, the Lord Jesus
does not change. The exact words are, +"They shall perish, but thou
remainest: They all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a mantle
shalt thou roll them up, as a garment, and they shall be changed: but
thou art the same. And thy years shall not fail."+ So we see that
each one of the five distinctly Divine attributes were ascribed to our
Lord Jesus Christ. And in Col. 2:9 we are told in so many words, +"In
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily"+ (i.e., in a
bodily form). Here again we might rest our case, for what has been said
under this head, even if taken alone, clearly proves the absolute Deity
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that He possessed every perfection
of nature and character that God the Father possesses.


III. DIVINE OFFICES

But we do not need to rest the case here. There is a third unanswerable
line of proof that Jesus Christ is God, namely, _all the distinctively
Divine offices are predicated of Jesus Christ_. There are seven
distinctively Divine offices. That is to say, there are seven things
that God alone can do, and each one of these seven distinctively Divine
offices are ascribed to Jesus Christ. The seven distinctively Divine
offices are: Creation, Preservation, Forgiveness of Sin, the Raising of
the Dead, the Transformation of Bodies, Judgment, and the Bestowal of
Eternal Life, and each of these is ascribed to Jesus Christ. Creation
is ascribed to Him. In Heb. 1:10 these words are spoken to our Lord:
+"And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands."+ The context
clearly shows that the Lord addressed is the Lord Jesus. In John 1:3
we are told that +"All things were made through him; and without him
was not anything made that was made."+ Preservation of the universe
and of everything is also ascribed to Him in Heb. 1:3 where it is said
of the Lord Jesus, +"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his+ (i.e., God's) +substance and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high."+
The forgiveness of sin is ascribed to Him. He Himself says in Mark
2:5-10 when His power to forgive sins was questioned, because that was
recognised as a Divine power, +"That ye may know that the Son of
man hath power on earth to forgive sins."+ The future raising of
the dead is distinctly ascribed to Him in John 6:39, 44, +"And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him: and I will raise him up at the last day."+ The transformation
of our bodies is ascribed to Him in Phil. 3:21, R. V. In 2 Tim. 4:1
judgment is ascribed to Him: we are told that He shall "judge the quick
and the dead." Jesus Himself declared that He would be the judge of
all mankind, and emphasised the fact of the Divine character of that
office. In John 5:22, 23 He said, +"For neither doth the Father judge
any man, but He hath given all judgment unto the Son, that all men may
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."+ The bestowal of
eternal life is ascribed to Him time and time again. In John 10:28 He
Himself says, +"And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."+ And
in John 17:1, 2, He says, +"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy
Son, that the Son may glorify thee: even as thou gavest Him authority
over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, He should give
eternal life."+ Here then we have the seven distinctively Divine
offices all predicated of Jesus Christ. This alone would prove that
He is God, and we might rest the case here, but there are still other
proofs of His absolute Deity.


IV. STATEMENTS WHICH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE MADE DISTINCTLY OF
JEHOVAH, GOD, TAKEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT TO REFER TO JESUS CHRIST

The fourth line of proof of the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ is found
in the fact that _over and over again statements which in the Old
Testament are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the New
Testament to refer to Jesus Christ_. We have not time to illustrate
this at length, but will give but one illustration where many might be
given. In Jer. 11:20 the prophet says, +"But, O Lord of hosts, that
judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see
thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause."+
Here the prophet distinctly says that it is Jehovah of Hosts who
_judgest_ and _triest the reins and the heart_. And in the 17th chapter
and the tenth verse Jeremiah represents Jehovah Himself as saying the
same thing in these words, +"I, Jehovah, search the heart, I try
the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to
the fruit of his doings."+ But in the New Testament in Rev. 2:23
_the Lord Jesus_ says, +"I am he which searcheth the reins and
the hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your
works."+ We are distinctly told in the context that it is "The Son
of God" who is speaking here. So Jesus claims for Himself in the N. T.
what Jehovah in the O. T. says is true of Himself and of Himself alone,
and in very many other instances statements which in the Old Testament
are made distinctly of Jehovah, God, are taken in the N. T. to refer
to Jesus Christ. This is to say, in New Testament thought and doctrine
Jesus Christ occupies the place that Jehovah occupies in Old Testament
thought and doctrine.


V. THE WAY IN WHICH THE NAME OF GOD THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST THE SON
ARE COUPLED TOGETHER

The fifth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord is found
_in the way in which the name of Jesus Christ is coupled with that
of God the Father. In numerous passages His name is coupled with the
name of God the Father in a way in which it would be impossible to
couple the name of any finite being with that of the Deity._ We have
time for but a few of the many illustrations that might be given. A
striking instance is in the words of our Lord Himself in John 14:23
where we read, +"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me,
he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and he will come
unto him, and make our abode with him."+ Here our Lord Jesus does
not hesitate to couple Himself with the Father in such a way as to say
"_we_," i.e., _God the Father and I_ will come and make our abode with
him. In John 14:1 He says, +"Let not your heart be troubled: Believe
in God, believe also in me."+ If Jesus Christ was not God this
is shocking blasphemy. There is absolutely no middle ground between
admitting the Deity of Jesus Christ and charging Christ with the most
daring and appalling blasphemy of which any man in all history was ever
guilty.


VI. DIVINE WORSHIP TO BE GIVEN TO JESUS CHRIST

There is a sixth line of proof of the absolute Deity of our Lord
Jesus. Those already given have been decisive, each one of the five
has been decisive, but this, if possible, is the most decisive of
them all, and that is, that _we are taught in so many words that
Jesus Christ should be worshipped as God, both by angels and men_. In
numerous places in the gospels we see Jesus Christ accepting without
hesitation a worship which good men and angels declined with fear,
and which He Himself taught should be rendered only to God (Matt.
28:9; Luke 24:52; Mark 14:33; cf. Acts 10:25, 26; Rev. 22:8, 9, R. V.;
Matt. 4:9, 10). A curious and very misleading comment is made in the
margin of the American Standard Revision upon the meaning of the word
translated "worship" in these passages, and that is that "the Greek
word translated worship denotes an act of reverence, _whether paid to
a creature_ or to the Creator." Now this is true, but it is utterly
misleading; for while this word is used to denote "an act of reverence
paid to a creature" _by idolators_, our Lord Jesus Himself distinctly
says, using exactly the same Greek word, +"Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,"+ and on the other hand
He says in John 5:23 that +"All men should honour the Son even as
they honour the Father."+ And in Rev. 5:8, 9, 12, 13 the four living
creatures and the four and twenty elders are represented as falling
down before the Lamb and offering worship to Him just as worship is
offered to Him that sitteth upon the throne, i.e., God the Father. In
Heb. 1:6 we are told in so many words, +"And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him."+ One night in the inquiry room in Chicago I
stepped up to an intelligent looking man at the back of the room and
said to him, "Are you a Christian?" He replied, "I do not suppose you
would consider me a Christian." I said, "Why not?" He said, "I am a
Unitarian." I said, "What you mean then is that you do not think that
Jesus Christ is a person who should be worshipped." He replied, "That
is exactly what I think," and added, "the Bible nowhere says we ought
to worship Him." I said, "Who told you that?" He replied, "My pastor,"
mentioning a prominent Unitarian minister in the City of Boston. I
said, "Let me show you something," and I opened my Bible to Heb. 1:6
and read, +"And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into
the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him,"+
and he said, "Does it say that?" I handed him the Bible and said, "Read
it for yourself," and he read it and said, "I did not know that was in
the Bible." I said, "Well it is there, isn't it?" "Yes it is there."
Language could not make it plainer. _The Bible clearly teaches that
Jesus, the Son of God, is to be worshipped as God by angels and men,
even as God the Father is worshipped._


VII. INCIDENTAL PROOFS OF THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

The six lines of proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ which I have given
you leave no possibility of doubting that Jesus Christ is God, that
Jesus of Nazareth is God manifest in a human person, that He is a being
to be worshipped, even as God the Father is worshipped; but there are
also incidental proofs of His absolute Deity which, if possible, are in
some ways even more convincing than the direct assertions of His Deity.

1. Our Lord Jesus says in Matt. 11:28, +"Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."+ Now any one
that makes a promise like that must either be God, or a lunatic, or an
impostor. No one can give rest to all who labour and are heavy laden
who come to him unless he is God, and yet Jesus Christ offers to do it.
If He offers to do it and fails to do it when men come to Him, then He
is either a lunatic or an impostor. If He actually does it, then beyond
a question He is God. And thousands can testify that He really does it.
Thousands and tens of thousands who have laboured and were heavy laden
and crushed, and for whom there was no help in man, have come to Jesus
Christ and _He actually has given them rest_. Surely then He is not
merely a great man, He is God.

2. Again in John 14:1 _Jesus Christ demands that we put the same faith
in Him that we put in God the Father_, and promises that in such faith
we will find a cure for all trouble and anxiety of heart. His words
are, +"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also
in me."+ It is clear that He demands that the same absolute faith
be put in Himself that is to be put in God Almighty. Now in Jer. 17:5,
scripture with which our Lord Jesus was perfectly familiar, we read
+"Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man,"+
and yet with this clear curse pronounced upon all who trust in man,
Jesus Christ demands that we put trust in Him just as we put trust in
God. It is the strongest possible assertion of Deity on His part. No
one but God has a right to make such a demand, and Jesus Christ, when
He makes this demand, must either be God or an impostor, but thousands
and tens of thousands have found that when they did believe in Him just
as they believe in God, their hearts were delivered from trouble no
matter what their bereavement or circumstances might be.

3. Again, _the Lord Jesus demanded supreme and absolute love for
Himself_. It is clear as day that no one but God has a right to demand
such a love, but there can be no question that Jesus did demand it.
In Matt. 10:37 He said to His disciples, +"He that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me."+ And in Luke 14:26, 33,
He says, +"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father,
and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. . . . So therefore
whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot
be my disciple."+ There can be no question that this is a demand on
Jesus' part of supreme and absolute love to Himself, a love that puts
even the dearest relations of life in an entirely secondary place. No
one but God has a right to make any such demand, but our Lord Jesus
made it, and, therefore, He must be God.

4. In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus claimed absolute equality with the
Father. He said, +"I and the Father are one."+

5. In John 14:9 our Lord Jesus went so far as to say, +"He that hath
seen me, hath seen the Father."+ He claims here to be so absolutely
God that to see Him is to see the Father Who dwelleth in Him.

6. In John 17:3 He says, +"And this is eternal life, to know
thee, the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus
Christ."+ In other words, _he claims that the knowledge of Himself
is as essential a part of eternal life as knowledge of God the Father_.

Conclusion: There is no room left to doubt the absolute Deity of Jesus
Christ. It is a glorious truth. The Saviour in whom we believe is God,
a Saviour for whom nothing is too hard, a Saviour who can save from the
uttermost and save to the uttermost. Oh, how we should rejoice that we
have no merely human Saviour, but a Saviour that is absolutely God. On
the other hand, how black is the guilt of rejecting such a Saviour as
this! Whoever refuses to accept Jesus as his Divine Saviour and Lord is
guilty of the enormous sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God. Many a
man thinks he is good because he never stole, or committed murder, or
cheated. "Of what great sin am I guilty?" he complacently asks. Have
you ever accepted Jesus Christ? "No." Well, then _you are guilty of
the awful and damning sin of rejecting a Saviour Who is God_. "But,"
you answer, "I do not believe that He is God." That does not change
the fact nor lessen your guilt. Questioning a fact or denying a fact
never changes it, regardless of what Mary Baker Eddy may say to the
contrary. Suppose a man had a wife who was one of the noblest, purest,
truest women that ever lived, would her husband's questioning her
purity and nobility change the fact? It would not. It would simply make
that husband guilty of awful slander, it would simply prove that man to
be an outrageous scoundrel. So denying the Deity of Jesus Christ, does
not make his Deity any less a fact, but it does make the denier of His
Deity guilty of awful, incredible, blasphemous slander. It does prove
you who deny His Deity to be——. I leave your own conscience to finish
the sentence.




V

JESUS CHRIST A REAL MAN

    "And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld
    his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full
    of grace and truth."—John 1:14.

    "Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an
    equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
    man; and being found in fashion as man, he emptied himself,
    becoming obedient even unto death, yea the death of the
    cross."—Phil. 2:6-8.

    "There is one God, one mediator also between God and men,
    himself man, Christ Jesus."—1 Tim. 2:5.


Our subject in this chapter is "Jesus Christ a Real Man." I have three
texts, and the substance of all that I shall say is these three texts.
The first text is John 1:14: +"And the word became flesh, and dwelt
among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from
the Father), full of grace and truth."+ The second text is Phil.
2:6-8: +"Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on
an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being
found in fashion as a man, he emptied himself, becoming obedient even
unto death, yea the death of the cross."+ And the third text is 1
Tim. 2:5: +"There is one God, one mediator also between God and man,
himself man, Christ Jesus."+

We saw in the preceding chapter that Jesus Christ was God, that in
Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that He possessed
all the distinctively divine attributes, that He exercised all the
distinctively divine functions, that He occupied the position in New
Testament thought that Jehovah occupied in Old Testament thought,
that He was a being worthy of our absolute faith, our supreme love,
our unhesitating obedience, and our whole-hearted worship, that He
was God and is God. But in the passages which we have taken for our
texts to-day, we are told that this Divine One, who had existed from
all eternity with God, the Father, and who was God, _became a man_. In
becoming a man, He did not cease to be God; but the Word, the Eternal
Word, which was with God and was God, took human nature upon Himself.
While He was very God of very God, He was real man, as truly and
completely a man as any man who ever walked on this earth. The doctrine
of the real humanity of Christ is as essential a part of the Christian
faith as the doctrine of His real Deity. There is one very large class
of people who do not see the real Deity of Jesus Christ. They are in
fundamental error. There is another large class of people who see only
His Deity, and who do not see the reality of His manhood. They also are
in error. A doctrine of a Saviour who is only man is false doctrine;
and a doctrine of a Saviour who is only God is equally false doctrine.
The doctrine of the Bible is that, One Who from all eternity was God in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth _became man_. There are many passages
in the Bible which set forth the Deity of our Lord Jesus in a way that
is unmistakable and inescapable. There are many other passages in
the Bible which set forth the complete humanity of our Lord Jesus in
a way which is equally unmistakable and inescapable. It is with the
doctrine of His real humanity, i.e., that He was a real man, that we
are concerned this morning.


I. THE HUMAN PARENTAGE OF JESUS CHRIST

First of all, _the Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ had a human
parentage_. We read in Luke 2:7, +"And she+ (i.e., Mary)
+brought forth her first born Son; and she wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn."+ Here we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ, though
supernaturally conceived, _was Mary's Son_. Mary was as truly His
mother as God was His Father. He had a human parentage as truly as He
had a divine parentage. In the first chapter of this same Gospel of
Luke, in the 35th verse, we read, +"And the angel answered and said
unto her+ (i.e., Mary), +the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the
holy thing, which is begotten shall be called the Son of God."+ He
was called the Son of God because He was begotten directly by the power
of the Holy Spirit; but the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she became
the mother of this One who was to be called the "Son of God." Not only
was He descended from Mary and in that way of human parentage, we are
clearly told also in Rom. 1:3 that God's Son +"Was born of the seed
of David according to the flesh."+ And in Acts 2:30 we are told that
He was +"The fruit of his+ (i.e., David's) +loins, according
to the flesh."+ And in Hebrews 7:14, we are told that +"Our Lord
sprang out of Judah."+ While we are told in Gal. 4:4 that +"When
the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son,"+ we are also
told with equal plainness in the same verse that this Son of God was
"_Born of a woman_." The human parentage of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ was just as real and just as essential a part of His personality
as His divine parentage.


II. THE HUMAN PHYSICAL NATURE OF JESUS CHRIST

But not only did Jesus Christ have a human parentage, He had a human
physical nature, a human body. This comes out in the first of our
texts, +"The Word Became Flesh,"+ and in Hebrews 2:14 we are
taught +"Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he
also+ (i.e., our Lord Jesus also) +himself in like manner partook
of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil."+ Words could not make
it plainer that our Lord Jesus _had a real human body_, a real human
physical nature. Indeed, the Apostle John teaches us in 1 John 4:2, 3,
that not to believe in the actuality of His human body, is a mark of
the Anti-Christ. He says, +"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God: and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this
is the spirit of the anti-Christ, whereof ye have heard that it cometh;
and now it is in the world already."+ There were those in John's
day who denied the reality of Jesus' human nature, who asserted that
His body was only a seeming or apparent body, that it was an illusion,
or as the Christian Scientists now put it, "mortal thought," and John,
speaking in the wisdom and power of the Holy Ghost, asserts that this
doctrine is a mark of the Anti-Christ. It is the one supreme mark
to-day, that "Christian Science" is of the Anti-Christ.

Jesus Christ not only had a human body during His life here upon earth,
but after His resurrection He still had a human body. The Millennial
Dawnists (Pastor-Russellites) teach us that this is not so; that,
whereas before His incarnation He was wholly a spiritual being, that
at His incarnation He became wholly a human being, and that since His
death and resurrection He is wholly a divine being: all of which is
not Scriptural, and therefore is not true. He himself said after His
resurrection, +"See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me
have. And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet"+
(Luke 24:39, 40). And to Thomas in John 20:27, after Thomas had
doubted the reality of His resurrection, He said, +"Reach hither thy
finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into
my side: and be not faithless but believing."+ Not only after His
resurrection while still here on earth did He have a real human body,
but He still has a human body in the glory. In that wonderful view into
heaven that was given to Stephen at the time he was stoned and killed
we read in Acts 7:55, 56, +"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit,
looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold I see the heavens
opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God."+ And
when He comes again to take His rightful authority on this earth, He
shall come with a human body, coming as "the Son of Man." He Himself
said to the High Priest when He stood before him on trial, in Matt.
26:64, +"Nevertheless I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see the son
of man standing at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of
heaven."+ In this utterance of our Lord we have a declaration of His
Deity, but an equally clear declaration that He was a real man, and
that He will come again _as a man_ with a human, though glorified body.
Indeed, we are told in Phil. 1:20, 21 that when He does thus come, He
is going to transform these our present human bodies, the bodies of our
present humiliation, into the likeness of His own glorious body, His
glorified human body.


III. SUBJECT TO HUMAN LIMITATIONS

But the reality and completeness of our Lord's human nature comes out
not only in the fact that He had a human parentage and a human body:
we are also clearly taught that, while as God he possessed all the
attributes and exercised all the offices of Deity, as a man He was
subject to human limitations.

1. _He was subject to the physical limitations which are essential to
humanity._ In John 4:6 we read that Jesus Christ _was weary_. The words
are +"Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on
the well: and it was about the sixth hour."+ But God is never weary.
We read explicitly in Isa. 40:28 +"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not
heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary."+

We are told in Matt. 8:24 that _Jesus Christ slept_. But God never
sleeps. We read in Ps. 121:4, 5, +"Behold he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. Jehovah is thy keeper: Jehovah is thy
shade upon thy right hand."+ By comparison of these two verses, we
see distinctly that Jehovah never sleeps. Yet Jesus did sleep, so while
He was Jehovah, He was not Jehovah only. He was man as truly as He was
God.

In Matt. 21:18 we read that _Jesus Christ hungered_; in John 19:28 we
read that _Jesus Christ thirsted_; in Luke 22:44 we read that Jesus
Christ _suffered physical agony_, His agony was so great that He was
on the point of dying with agony; and in 1 Cor. 15:3 we read that
"_Christ died_," that His death is an essential part of the Gospel.
Paul says in this passage, +"For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures."+ It was no merely apparent death, it was a real
death. It was no "illusion." Our salvation depends on the reality of
His death. "Christian Science" cuts the very heart out of the Gospel.
We are oftentimes asked was it the human nature of Jesus Christ that
died or was it the divine nature that died. It was neither the one nor
the other, natures do not die, a person dies. It was _Jesus_ who died,
the Person who was at once God and man. We are told in so many words in
1 Cor. 2:8, that they +"Crucified the Lord of glory,"+ and we saw
in the last chapter that the "Lord of Glory" is unquestionably a divine
title. It was the one Person Jesus who was at once human and divine,
who died upon the cross of Calvary.

2. _He was also, as a man subject to intellectual and moral
limitations._

We read in Luke 2:52, +"Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and
in favour with God and man."+ As we are told here that He grew in
wisdom, He must have been more perfect in wisdom after He grew than
He was before He grew, and as He grew in favour with God and man, He
must have attained to a higher type of moral perfection when He grew
than He had attained to before He grew. While in the Babe of Bethlehem
God was incarnate, nevertheless He was a real babe and grew not only
in stature, but in wisdom and in favour with God and man. _As a man_
He was limited in knowledge, He Himself says in Mark 13:32, +"But
of that day and that hour+ (i.e., the day and the hour of His own
return) +knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son but the Father."+ Of course, His knowledge was
_self-limited_: to set an example for you and me to follow in His
steps, He voluntarily _as man_ put away His knowledge of the time of
His own return.

Furthermore still, we are definitely and explicitly taught in Heb. 4:15
that Jesus Christ was +"In all points tempted like as we are."+
But in bearing this in mind as being clear and complete proof of the
reality of His humanity, not only physical but mental and moral, we
should also bear in mind what is stated in the same verse, that He was
tempted "Apart from Sin," i.e., that there was not the slightest taint
or tinge of sin in His temptation, not one moment's yielding to it in
thought or desire or act. Nevertheless, He was tempted and overcame
temptation in the same way that we may overcome it, by the Word of God
and prayer. He Himself voluntarily placed Himself under the essential
moral limitations that man is under in order to redeem man.

3. _He was also, as a man, subject to limitations in the way in which
He obtained power and in which He exercised power._ Jesus Christ
obtained the power for the Divine work that He did while here upon
earth, not by His incarnate Deity, but by prayer. We read in Mark
1:35, +"And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and
went out, and departed unto a desert place, and there prayed."+ And
we read also that before He raised Lazarus from the dead, called him
forth from the tomb by His Word, that He lifted up His eyes to God and
said, +"Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me,"+ showing
conclusively that the power by which He raised Lazarus from the dead
was not His inherent, inborn, Divine power, but was power obtained
by prayer. It is mentioned not less than twenty-five times that He
prayed. He obtained power for work and for moral victory as other
men do, by prayer. He was subject to human conditions for obtaining
what He desired. He obtained power for the divine works and miracles
which he wrought by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts
10:38, that +"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."+ And we are taught,
furthermore, that He was subject during the days of His humiliation to
limitations in the exercise of power. He himself said just before His
crucifixion and subsequent glorification, in John 14:12, +"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; for I go
unto my Father,"+ the evident meaning of which is, that during the
days of His flesh there was a limitation to His exercise of power, but
after His glorification, when He was glorified with the Father with
the glory which He had with Him since the world was, there would be no
limitations to the exercise of His power, and therefore, that we, being
united, not to our Lord Jesus in His humiliation, but in His exaltation
and restoration to His divine glory, will do greater works than he did
during the days of His humiliation.


IV. THE HUMAN RELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO GOD

The completeness of the humanity of Jesus Christ comes out in still
another matter, and that is, the relation that He bore to God as a man
was the relation of a man, so that God was His God. He himself says to
Mary in John 20:17, +"Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto
the father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, and my God and your God."+ The evident
meaning of this is that Jesus Christ's relation to God, the Father,
was the relation of man. He speaks of God the Father as "My God."
Though possessed of all the attributes and exercising all the functions
of Deity, Jesus Christ the Son was subordinate to the Father. This
explains utterances of our Lord which have puzzled many who believe in
His Deity, such utterances, for example, as that in John 14:28, where
Jesus says, +"Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come
again unto you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said, I go
unto the Father: For my Father is greater than I."+ The question is
often asked, "If Jesus Christ is God, how could the Father be greater
than He?" The very simple answer to which is; that He, _as the Son_,
was subordinate to the Father, equal to the Father in the possession of
all the distinctively Divine attributes and exercising all the Divine
offices, and as an object of our wholehearted worship, but subordinate
to the Father in His office. Jesus Christ's relation to the Father is
like the relation of the wife to the husband in this respect, that
the wife may be fully the equal of the husband, but nevertheless, the
"Head of the Woman is the Man," she is subordinate to the man, just as
we are told in the same verse (1 Cor. 11:12) +"The head of Christ is
God,"+ i.e., Jesus Christ the Son is subordinate to the Father.

It is evident from what we have read from God's Word, that Jesus Christ
in every respect was a true man, a real man, a complete man. He was
made +"In all things"+ +"like unto his brethren"+ (cf. Heb.
2:17). He was subject to all the physical, mental and moral conditions
of existence essential to human nature. He was in every respect a real
man. He became so voluntarily in order to redeem men. From all eternity
He had existed "in the form of God" and could have remained "in the
form of God," but if He had so remained, we would have been lost.
Therefore, out of love to us, the fallen race, as we are taught in one
of our texts (Phil. 2:5-8), He +"Counted not the being on an equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form
of a servant, being made in the likeness of man; and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto
death, yea, the death of the cross."+ Oh, wondrous love! that out of
love to us He should take our nature upon Him, turning His back upon
the glory that had been His from all eternity and taking upon Himself
all the shame and suffering that was involved in our redemption, and
becoming one of us that He might die for us and redeem us! Oh, how
wondrous the +"Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was
rich yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through his poverty
might become rich."+ (2 Cor. 8:9.) He partook of human nature
that we might become partakers of the Divine nature. The philosophy
of the divine and human natures of Christ, the philosophy of the
New Testament, is a most wonderful philosophy, the most wonderful
philosophy the world ever heard, and thank God it is a true philosophy.

But some one may ask, "How shall we reconcile the Bible doctrine of
the true Deity of Jesus Christ with the Bible doctrine of the real
human nature of Jesus Christ, the doctrine that He was real God with
the doctrine that He was equally truly man?" The answer to this is
very simple. Reconciling doctrines is not our main business. Our first
business is to find out what the various passages in the Bible mean,
taken in their natural, grammatical interpretation. Then, if we can
reconcile them, well and good; if not, we should still believe them
both and leave the reconciliation of the two apparently conflicting
doctrines to our increasing knowledge as we go on communing with God
and studying His Word. It is an utterly foolish and vicious principle
of Biblical interpretation that we must interpret every passage of the
Bible so that we can readily reconcile it with every other passage. It
is this principle of interpretation that gives rise to a one-sided, and
therefore untrue, theology. One man, for example, takes the Calvinistic
passages in the Bible and believes them and twists and distorts the
other passages; that teach the freedom of man, to make them fit with
those that teach the sovereignty of God, and he becomes a one-sided
Calvinist. Another man sees only those passages that clearly teach
man's power of self-determination and seeks to twist all that teach the
sovereignty of God and the foreordaining wisdom and will of God to fit
into his ideas, and he becomes a one-sided Arminian, and so on through
the whole gamut of doctrine. It is utter foolishness, to say nothing of
presumption, to thus handle the Word of God deceitfully. Our business
is to find out the plainly intended sense of a passage that we are
studying, as determined by the usage of words, grammatical construction
and context; and when we have found out the plainly intended meaning,
believe it whether we can reconcile it with something else that we have
found out and believe, or not. We should always remember that in many
cases two truths, both clearly true, that at one time seemed utterly
irreconcilable or flatly contradictory to one another, are now, with
our increased knowledge seen to beautifully harmonise. So we should
have no difficulty in recognising the fact that truths that still seem
to us to be contradictory, do now perfectly harmonise in the infinite
wisdom of God, and will some day perfectly harmonise to our minds
when we approach more nearly to God's omniscience. The Bible, in the
most fearless way, puts the absolute Deity of Jesus Christ in closest
juxtaposition with the real manhood of Jesus Christ. For example, we
read in Matt. 8:24, +"And behold, there arose a great tempest in the
sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves; but He+
(Jesus) +was asleep."+ Here we have a plain statement of the real
manhood of our Lord, but two verses later, in the 26th verse, we read,
+"And He saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?
Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great
calm."+ Here we have a clear shining forth of His Deity, even the
winds and the waves subject to His word. No wonder the disciples asked
one another, +"What manner of man is this that even the winds and the
sea obey him?"+ (Matt. 8:27). The answer is plain: a Divine Man.

Again we read in Luke 3:21, +"Now it came to pass, when all the
people were baptised, that Jesus also having been baptised, and
praying, . . ."+ Here we see Jesus in His humanity, _baptised_ and
_praying_. Surely this is a man. But in the remainder of the verse
and in the next verse we read, +"And the heaven was opened, and the
Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a
voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased."+ Here God with an audible voice declares Him to be Divine,
to be His Son. Again in John 11:38 we read, +"Jesus, therefore, again
groaning in himself cometh to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone
laid against it."+ Here we see Jesus in His humanity, but four
verses further down, the 43rd and 44th verses, we read, +"And when He
had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And
he that was dead came forth."+ Here again his Deity shines forth.

In Luke 9:28 we read, +"And it came to pass about eight days after
these sayings, that he took with him Peter and John and James, and
went up into the mountain to pray."+ Here we very clearly see His
humanity, His limitation, His dependence upon God; but in the very
next verse, the 29th verse, we read, +"And as He was praying the
fashion of his countenance was altered and His raiment became white
and glistering."+ Here we see His Divinity shining forth, and then
again in the 35th verse, we read of the voice coming out of the cloud,
saying, +"This is my son, my chosen; hear ye him."+ Here His Deity
unmistakably is seen again.

In Matt. 16:16, 17, we read, +"And Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father who is in heaven."+
Here is a clear declaration by Jesus Himself of His Deity. But four
verses further down in the chapter, the 24th verse, we read, +"From
that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go up
unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and the third day rise from the dead."+
Here we have the clearest declaration of the reality and completeness
of His humanity.

In Heb. 1:6, we read of our Lord Jesus, +"And when He+ (i.e., God
the Father) +again bringeth in the first-begotten into the world he
saith, and let all the angels of God worship him."+ Here is a most
unmistakable and inescapable declaration that Jesus Christ is a Divine
Person, to be worshipped as God by angels as well as men, and two
verses further down we read this further declaration of His absolute
Deity, +"But of the son he saith, Thy throne O God, is for ever and
ever."+ Here again the Son is declared in so many words to be God,
He is called God. But in the very next chapter, Heb. 2:18, we read,
+"For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted."+ Here we have the clearest possible
declaration of the reality of His human nature.

In Heb. 4:14 we read, +"Having then a great high priest, who hath
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession."+ Here we have a plain declaration of His Deity; but in
the very next verse, we read, +"For we have not an high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that
hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."+
One of the plainest declarations of the fullness and completeness of
His humanity to be found in the Bible.

The doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ and the doctrine that Jesus
Christ was a real man, go hand in hand in the Bible. What kind of a
Saviour, what kind of a Lord Jesus, do you believe in? Do you believe
in a Saviour that is a man and man only? Then you do not believe in
the Saviour that is presented in the Bible. On the other hand, do you
believe in a Saviour that is God and God only? Then you do not believe
in the Saviour of the Bible. The Lord Jesus, our Lord and Saviour,
presented to us in the Bible, is very God of very God and at the same
time He is our brother, our fellowman, and is not ashamed to call us
brethren. Oh, I thank God that I have a Saviour that is God, possessed
of all the attributes and powers of Deity, all the perfections of
Deity, a Saviour for whom nothing is too hard. I thank God that my
Saviour is One who made the heavens and the earth, and who holds all
the powers of nature and of history in His control; but I equally
thank God that my Saviour is my brother man, One who was tempted in
all points like as I am, One who is in a position to bear my sins, on
the one hand because He is God, on the other hand because He is man.
A merely divine Saviour could not be a Saviour for me. A merely human
Saviour could not be a Saviour for me. But a Saviour in whom Deity
and humanity meet; a Saviour who is at once God and man, is just the
Saviour I need, and the Saviour that you need, a Saviour that is able
to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him.




VI

THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

    "The Communion of the Holy Ghost."—2 Cor. 13:14.


Our subject this morning is "The Personality of the Holy Spirit." No
series of sermons upon the Fundamentals of our Christian faith would
be complete without a sermon on the Personality and Deity of the Holy
Spirit. The doctrine of the Personality of the Holy Spirit is both
fundamental and vital. Any one who does not know the Holy Spirit as
a person has not attained to a complete and well-rounded Christian
experience. Any one who knows God the Father and God the Son, but who
does not know God the Holy Spirit has not attained unto the Christian
conception of God, nor to a fully Christian experience. It may seem
to you at first thought as if the doctrine of the Personality of
the Holy Spirit were a purely technical and apparently impractical
doctrine, but it is not so. As we shall see shortly, the doctrine of
the Personality of the Holy Spirit is a doctrine of the very first
practical importance.


I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. _The Doctrine of the Personality of the Holy Spirit is of the
highest importance from the standpoint of worship._ If the Holy Spirit
is a person and a Divine Person, and He is, and if we do not know Him
as such, if we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal influence
or power, then we are robbing a Divine Person of the worship which
is His due, and the love which is His due, and the confidence and
surrender and obedience which are His due. And may I stop at this point
to ask each one of you, "Do you worship the Holy Spirit?" Theoretically
we all do, every time we sing the long metre Doxology,

    "Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
     Praise Him all creatures here below.
     Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,
     Praise Father, Son _and Holy Ghost_."

Theoretically we all do every time we sing the Gloria Patri: "Glory be
to the Father and to the Son and _to the Holy Ghost_. As it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." But
it is one thing to do a thing theoretically and quite another thing
to actually do it. It is one thing to sing words, quite another thing
to realise the meaning and the force of the words that you sing. I
had a striking illustration of this some years ago. I was going to a
Bible Conference in New York State. I had to pass through a city four
miles from the grounds where the Conference was held. I had a relative
living in that city and on the way to the Conference stopped to call
upon my relative, who went with me to the Conference. This relative
was a Christian, she was much older than I, had been a Christian much
longer than I, a member of the Presbyterian Church, brought up on the
Shorter Catechism, and thoroughly orthodox. I spoke that morning at the
Conference on the Personality of the Holy Spirit. When the address was
over, we were waiting on the veranda of the hotel for the trolley to
take us back to the city. My relative turned to me and said, "Archie, I
never thought of _it_ before as a person." Well, I had never thought of
_it_ as a person, but thank God I had come to know _Him_ as a person.

2. In the second place, _it is of the highest importance from a
practical standpoint that we know the Holy Spirit as a person_. If
you think of the Holy Spirit, as so many even among Christian people
do, as a mere influence or power, then your thought will be, "How
can I get hold of the Holy Spirit and use it." But if you think of
Him in the Biblical way as a Divine person, your thought will be,
"How can the Holy Spirit get hold of me and use me?" Is there no
difference between the thought of man, the worm, using God to thresh
the mountain, or God using man, the worm, to thresh the mountain? The
former conception is heathenish, it does not differ essentially from
the conception of the African fetich worshipper who uses his god. The
latter conception, of God the Holy Ghost getting hold of and using
us, is lofty and Christian. If you think of the Holy Spirit merely
as an influence or power, your thought will be, "How can I get more
of the Holy Spirit?" But if you think of Him in the Biblical way as
a person, your thought will be, "How can the Holy Spirit get more
of me?" The former conception, the conception of the Holy Spirit as
a mere influence or power, inevitably leads to self-confidence, to
self-exaltation, to the parade of self. If you think of the Holy Spirit
as an influence or power and then fancy that you have received the Holy
Spirit, the inevitable result will be that you will strut around as
if you belonged to a superior order of Christians. I remember a woman
who came to me one afternoon at the Northfield Bible Conference at the
close of an address and said to me, "Brother Torrey, I want to ask you
a question; but before I do, I want you to understand that I am a Holy
Ghost woman." It made me shudder. It did not sound like it. But on the
other hand, if you think of the Holy Spirit in the Biblical way as a
Divine Person of infinite majesty, who comes to dwell in our hearts
and take possession of us and use us, it leads to self-renunciation,
self-abnegation, self-humiliation. I know of no thought that is more
calculated to put one in the dust and keep one in the dust than this
great Biblical truth of the Holy Ghost as a Divine Person coming to
take up His dwelling in our hearts, and to take possession of our lives
and to use us.

3. _The doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit is of the
highest importance from the standpoint of experience._ Thousands and
tens of thousands of Christian men and women can testify to an entire
transformation of their experience through coming to know the Holy
Spirit as a person. In fact, this address upon the Personality of the
Holy Spirit which, for substance, I have given in almost every city
in which I have ever held a series of meetings, is in some respects
apparently the most abstruse and technical subject that I ever
attempted to handle before a popular audience, and yet, notwithstanding
that fact, more men and women have come to me at the close of the
address and more have written to me, testifying of personal blessing
received, than of any other address which God has permitted me to give.


II. FOUR LINES OF PROOF OF THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

There are four separate and distinct lines of proof of the Personality
of the Holy Spirit.

1. The first line of proof of the Personality of the Holy Spirit is
that all the distinctive marks or characteristics of personality are
ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible. What are the distinctive
characteristics of personality? Knowledge, feeling and will. Any being
who knows and feels and wills is a person. Oftentimes when you say
that the Holy Spirit is a person, people understand you to mean that
the Holy Spirit has hands and feet and fingers and toes and eyes and
ears and nose and mouth, and so on. But these are not the marks of
personality, these are the marks of corporeity. Any being who knows,
thinks and wills is a person whether he have a body or not. Now all
these characteristics of personality are ascribed to the Holy Spirit in
the Bible.

(1) Turn in your Bibles to 1 Cor. 2:11. +"For what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."+ _Here
knowledge is ascribed to the Holy Spirit._ The Holy Spirit in other
words, is not a mere illumination that comes to your mind and mine
whereby our minds are cleared and strengthened to see truth that they
would not otherwise discover. The Holy Spirit is a Person who Himself
knows the things of God and reveals to us what He Himself knows.

(2) Now turn to 1 Cor. 12:11: +"But all these worketh that one and
the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will."+
Here _will_ is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The thought clearly is
that the Holy Spirit is not a divine power that we get hold of and
use according to our will, but that the Holy Spirit is a person who
gets hold of us and uses us according to His will. This is one of the
most fundamental facts in regard to the Holy Spirit that we must bear
in mind if we are to get into right relations to Him. More people are
going astray at this point than almost any other. They are trying to
get hold of some divine power which they can use according to their
will. I do thank God that there is no divine power that I can get hold
of and use according to my will. What could I, in my foolishness and
ignorance, do with a divine power, what evil I might work! But on the
other hand, I am still more glad that while there is no divine power
that I can get hold of and use according to my foolish will, there is
a Divine Person who can get hold of me and use me according to His
infinitely wise and loving will.

(3) Turn now to Rom. 8:27. +"And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God."+ What I wish you to notice
here is expression, "_the mind_ of the Spirit." The Greek word here
translated "mind" is a comprehensive word that has in it the ideas of
both thought and purpose. It is the same word which is used in the 7th
verse of the chapter where we read, +"The mind of the flesh is enmity
against God,"+ where the thought is that not merely the thought of
the flesh is against God, but the whole moral and intellectual life of
the flesh is enmity against God.

(4) We now turn to a most remarkable passage—Rom. 15:30. +"Now I
beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the
love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to
God for me."+ What I wish you to notice in this verse are the words
"_The love of the Spirit_." It is a wonderful thought. It teaches us
that the Holy Spirit is not a mere blind influence or power, no matter
how beneficent, that comes into our hearts and lives, but that He is
a Divine Person, loving us with the tenderest love. I wonder how many
of us have ever thought much regarding "the love of the Spirit." I
wonder how many of us ministers who are here to-day have ever preached
a sermon on the love of the Spirit. I wonder how many of you have ever
heard a sermon on the love of the Spirit. Every day of your life you
kneel down before God the Father, at least I hope you do, and say,
"Heavenly Father, I thank thee for thy great love that led thee to give
thy Son to come down to this world and die upon the cross of Calvary in
my place." Every day of your life you kneel down and look up into the
face of Jesus Christ the Son and say, "Thou blessed Son of God, I thank
thee for that great love of thine that led thee to come down to this
world in obedience to the Father and die in my place upon the cross of
Calvary." But did you ever kneel down and look up to the Holy Spirit
and say to him, "Holy Spirit, I thank thee for that great love of
thine"? And yet we owe our salvation as truly to the love of the Holy
Spirit as we do to the love of the Father and the love of the Son. If
it had not been for the love of God the Father to me, looking down upon
me in my lost estate, yes, anticipating my fall and ruin and sending
His Son down to this world to die upon the cross, to die in my place,
I would have been in hell to-day. If it had not been for the love of
Jesus Christ, the Son, coming down to this world in obedience to the
Father to lay down His life, a perfect atoning sacrifice on the cross
of Cavalry in my stead, I would have been in hell to-day. But if it had
not been for the love of the Holy Spirit to me, coming down to this
world in obedience to the Father and the Son, seeking me out in my lost
condition, following me day after day, and week after week, and month
after month, and year after year, when I would not listen to Him, when
I deliberately turned my back upon Him, when I insulted Him, following
me into places where it must have been agony for One so holy to go,
following me day after day, week after week, month after month, year
after year, until at last He succeeded in bringing me to my senses and
bringing me to realise my utterly lost condition and revealed the Lord
Jesus to me as just the Saviour I needed and induced me and enabled me
to receive the Lord Jesus as my Saviour and my Lord; if it had not been
for this patient, long-suffering, never-wearying love of the Spirit of
God to me, I would have been in hell to-day.

(5) Turn now to a passage in the Old Testament. Neh. 9:20. +"Thou
gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy
manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst."+
Here both intelligence and goodness are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
This passage does not add anything to the thought that we have already
had: I brought it in simply because it is from the Old Testament.
There are those who say that the doctrine of the Personality of the
Holy Spirit is in the New Testament, but is not in the Old Testament;
but here we find it as clearly in the Old Testament as in the New. Of
course, we do not find it as frequently in the Old Testament as in the
New, for this is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit: but the doctrine
of the Personality of the Holy Spirit is there in the Old Testament.
There are many who say that the doctrine of the Trinity is not in the
Old Testament, that while it is in the New, it is not in the Old. But
it is in the Old, in the very first chapter of the Bible. In Gen. 1:26
we read, +"And God said, let us make man in our image, after our
likeness."+ Here the plurality of the persons in the Godhead comes
out clearly. God did not say, "_I_ will" or "Let _me_ make man in
_my_ image." He said, "Let _us_ make man in _our_ image, after _our_
likeness." The three persons of the Trinity are found in the first
three verses of the Bible: +"In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth."+ There you have God the Father. +"And the earth
was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."+ There you
have the Holy Spirit. +"And God said,"+ there you have the Word,
+"Let there be light: and there was light."+ Here we have the
three persons of the Trinity in the first three verses of the Bible. In
fact the doctrine of the Trinity is found hundreds of times in the Old
Testament. In the Hebrew Bible it occurs in every place where you find
the word God in your English Bible, for the Hebrew word for God is a
plural noun. Literally translated, it would be "Gods" and not God. In
the very passage to which the Unitarians and the Jews, who reject the
Deity of Christ, refer so often as proving conclusively that the Deity
of Christ cannot be true, namely Deut. 6:4, the very doctrine that they
are seeking to disprove is found; for Deut. 6:4 literally translated
would read +"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our Gods is one Jehovah."+
Why did the Hebrews with their intense monotheism, use a plural name
for God? This was the question that puzzled the Hebrew grammarians and
lexicographers, and the best explanation they could arrive at was that
the plural for God here used was the pluralis majestatis, the plural
of majesty. The explanation is entirely inadequate, to say nothing of
the fact that the pluralis majestatis in the Old Testament is a figure
of very doubtful validity. There is another explanation far nearer at
hand, and far more adequate and satisfactory, and that is that the
Hebrew inspired writers use a plural name for God in spite of their
intense monotheism, because there is a plurality of persons in the one
Godhead.

(6) Now turn to Eph. 4:30. +"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."+ Here grief is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit is not a
mere blind impersonal influence or power that comes to dwell in your
heart and mine, but a person, a person who loves us, a person who is
holy and intensely sensitive against sin, a person who recoils from sin
in what we call its slightest forms as the holiest woman of earth never
recoiled from sin in its grossest and most repulsive forms. And He sees
whatever we do, He hears whatever we say, He sees our very thoughts,
not a vagrant fancy is allowed a moment's lodgment in our mind but what
He sees it. And if there is anything impure, unholy, immodest, untrue,
false, censorious, or unChristlike in any way, He is grieved beyond
expression. This is a wonderful thought and it is to me the mightiest
incentive that I know to a Christian walk. How many a young man is kept
back from doing things that he would otherwise do, by the thought that,
if he did do that, his mother might hear of it and it would grieve her
beyond expression. How many a young man has come to the great city
and in some hour of temptation has been about to go into a place that
no self-respecting man ought ever to enter, but just as his hand is on
the doorknob and he is about to open the door, the thought comes to
him, "If I should enter there mother might hear of it, and if she did,
it would nearly kill her," and he has turned away without entering;
but there is One holier than the holiest mother that any of us ever
knew, One who loves us with a tenderer love than our own mother loves
us, and Who sees everything we do, not only in the daylight but under
the cover of night; Who hears every word we utter, every careless word
that escapes our lips; Who sees every thought we entertain, yes, Who
sees every fleeting fancy that we allow a moment's lodgment in our
mind; and if there is anything unholy, impure, immodest, indecorous,
unkind, harsh, censorious or unchristlike in any way in act or word or
thought, He sees it and is grieved beyond expression. Oh, how often
there has come into my mind some thought or imagination, I know not
from what source, but that I ought not to entertain, and just as I was
about to give it lodgment, the thought has come, "The Holy Spirit sees
that and will be grieved by it," and the thought has gone. Bearing
this thought of the Holy Spirit in our mind will help us to solve all
the questions that perplex the young believer to-day. For example, the
question, "Ought I as a Christian go to the theatre or the movies?"
Well, if you go the Holy Spirit will go; for He dwells in the heart of
every believer and goes wherever the believer goes. Were you ever at
a theatre or at a moving picture show in your life where you thought
the atmosphere of the place would be congenial to the _Holy_ Spirit?
If not, don't go. Ought I as a Christian go to the dance? Well, here
again, if you go, the Holy Spirit will surely go. Were you ever at a
dance in your life where you believed the atmosphere of the place would
be congenial to the Holy Spirit? Shall I as a Christian play cards?
Were you ever at a card party in all your life, even the most select
little neighbourhood gathering, or even a home gathering to play cards,
where you thought the atmosphere of the place would be congenial to the
Holy Spirit? If not, don't play. So with all the questions that come up
and that some of us find so hard to settle, this thought of the Holy
Spirit will help you to settle them all, and to settle them right, if
you really desire to settle them right and not merely to do the thing
that pleases yourself.

2. The second line of proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit is
that, many actions are ascribed to the Holy Spirit that only a person
can perform. There are many illustrations of this in the Bible; but I
will limit our consideration this morning to three instances.

(1) Turn again to the 2nd chapter of 1 Corinthians. In the 10th verse,
we read, +"But unto us, God revealed them through the Spirit: for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."+ Here
the Holy Spirit is represented as searching the deep things of God. In
other words, as we said under our previous heading, the Holy Spirit is
not a mere illumination whereby our minds are made clear and strong to
apprehend truth that they would not otherwise discover, but the Holy
Spirit is a person Who Himself searches into the deep things of God and
reveals to us the things which He discovers. Such words could only be
spoken of a person.

(2) Now turn to Rom. 8:26 +"And in like manner the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought but the
spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be
uttered."+ Here the Holy Spirit is represented as doing what only a
person can do, praying. The Holy Spirit is not a mere influence that
comes to impel us to prayer, and not a mere guidance to us in offering
our prayers. _He is a person who Himself prays._ Every believer in
Christ has two Divine Persons praying for Him. First, the Son, our
Advocate with the Father, who ever liveth to make intercession for us
up yonder at the right hand of God in the place of power (John 2:1 and
Heb. 7:25). Second, the Holy Spirit who prays through us down here. Oh,
what a wonderful thought, that we have these two divine persons praying
for us every day. What a sense it gives us of our security.

(3) Now turn to two other closely related passages. John 14:26. +"But
the comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
that I have said unto you."+ Here the Holy Spirit is represented as
doing what only a person could do, namely, teaching. We have the same
thought in John 16:12-14. +"I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is
come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak
from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He
speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He
shall glorify me; for He shall take of mine, and shall declare it
unto you."+ Here again the Holy Spirit is represented as a living
personal teacher. It is our privilege to have the Holy Spirit as a
living person to-day as our teacher. Every time we study our Bibles, it
is possible for us to have this Divine Person the author of the Book,
to interpret it to us and to teach us its meaning. It is a precious
thought. How many of us have often thought when we heard some great
human teacher whom God has especially blessed to us, "Oh, if I could
only hear that man every day, then I might make some progress in my
Christian life," but we can have a teacher more competent by far than
the greatest human teacher that ever spoke for our teacher every day,
the Holy Spirit.

3. The third line of proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit is
that _an office is predicated of the Holy Spirit that could only be
predicated of a person_. Look for example at John 14:16, 17. Here we
read, +"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of
truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it seeth him not. Neither
knoweth him: ye know him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in
you."+ Here the Holy Spirit is represented as _another Comforter_
who is coming to take the place of our Lord Jesus. Up to this time our
Lord Jesus had been the friend always at hand to help them in every
emergency that arose. But now He was going and their hearts were filled
with consternation, and He tells them that while He is going, another
is coming to take His place. Can you imagine our Lord Jesus saying this
if the other that was coming to take His place was a mere impersonal
influence or power? Can you imagine our Lord Jesus saying what He says
in John 16:7, +"Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you,"+ if that
which was coming to take His place was not another person but a mere
influence or power. In that case, is it for a moment conceivable that
our Lord could say that it was expedient for Him, a Divine Person,
to go and a mere influence or power, no matter how divine, come to
take His place? No! No! What our Lord said was that He, one Divine
Person, was going, but that another Person, just as Divine, was coming
to take His place. This promise is to me one of the most precious
promises in the whole Word of God for this present dispensation, the
thought that during the absence of my Lord, until that glad day when
He shall come back again, another Person, just as divine as He, is by
my side, yes, dwells in my heart every moment to commune with me and
to help me in every emergency that can possibly arise. I suppose you
know that the Greek word translated Comforter in these verses means
more than Comforter. It means Comforter plus a whole lot beside. The
Greek word so translated is _parakletos_. This word is a compound word,
compounded of the word _para_ which means alongside, and _kletos_,
one called, "One called to stand alongside another" to take his part
and help him in every emergency that arises. It is the same word that
is translated "advocate" in 1 John 2:1, +"If any man sin, we have
an advocate+ (_parakleton_) +with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous."+ But the word "Advocate" does not give the full force of
the word. Etymologically it means about the same. Advocate is a Latin
word transliterated into the English. The word is compounded of two
words, _ad_, meaning to, and _vocatus_, one called, that is to say, one
called to another to take his part, or to help him. But in our English
usage it has obtained a restricted sense. The Greek word, as already
said, means "one called alongside another," and the thought is of a
helper always at hand with his counsel and his strength and any form
of help needed. Up to this time the Lord Jesus Himself had been their
Paraclete, or friend always at hand to help. Whenever they got into
any trouble they simply turned to Him. For example, on one occasion
they were perplexed on the subject of prayer and they said to the
Lord, "Lord teach us to pray." And He taught them to pray. On another
occasion when Jesus was coming to them walking on the water, when their
first fear was over and He had said, "It is I, be not afraid," then
Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the
water." And the Lord said, "Come." Then Peter clambered over the side
of the fishing smack and commenced to go to Jesus walking on the water.
Seemingly he turned around, took his eyes off the Lord and looked at
the fishing smack to see if the other disciples, John and James, and
the rest, were noticing how well he was getting on, but no sooner had
he got his eyes off the Lord than he began to sink, and he cried out
saying, "Lord, save me," and Jesus reached out His hand and held him
up. Just so, when they got into any other emergency they turned to the
Lord and He delivered them. But now He was going, and consternation
filled their hearts, and the Lord said to them, "Yes, I am going but
another just as divine, just as able to help, is coming to take my
place," and this other Paraclete is with us wherever we go, every hour
of the day or night. He is always by our side. If this thought gets
into your heart and stays there, you will never have another moment of
fear no matter how long you live. How can we fear in any circumstances,
if He is by our side? You may be surrounded by a howling mob. But what
of it if He walks between you and the mob? That thought will banish all
fear. I had a striking illustration of this in my own experience some
years ago. I was speaking at a Bible Conference on Lake Kenka in New
York State. I had a cousin who had a cottage four miles up the lake and
I went up there and spent my rest day with him. The next day he brought
me down in his steam launch to the pier where the Conference was held.
As I stepped off the launch onto the pier he said to me, "Come back
again to-night and spend the night with us," and I promised him that
I would; but I did not realise what I was promising. That night, when
the address was over as I went out of the hotel and started on my walk,
I found that I had undertaken a large contract. The cottage was four
miles away, but a four mile walk or an eight mile walk was nothing
under ordinary circumstances, but a storm was coming up, the whole
heaven was overcast. The path led along a bluff bordering the lake, the
path was near the edge of the bluff. Sometimes the lake was perhaps
not more than ten or twelve feet below, at other times some thirty or
forty feet below. I had never gone over the path before and as there
was no starlight, I couldn't see the path at all. Furthermore, there
had already been a storm that had gulleyed out deep ditches across
the path into which one might fall and break his leg. I couldn't see
these ditches except when there would be a sudden flash of lightning,
and then I would see one and then it would be darker and I blinder
than ever. As I walked along this path, so near the edge of the bluff
with all the furrows cut through it, I felt it was perilous to take
the walk and thought of going back; and then the thought came to me,
"You promised that you would come to-night and they may be sitting up
waiting for you." So I felt that I must go on. But it seemed creepy
and uncanny to walk along the edge of that bluff on such an uncertain
path that I couldn't see, and could only hear the sobbing and wailing
and the moaning of the lake at the foot of the bluff as it rose in the
fast approaching storm. Then the thought came to me, what was it you
told the people there at the conference about the Holy Spirit being
a Person always by our side? And I at once realised that the Holy
Spirit walked between me and the edge of the bluff; and that four miles
through the dark was four miles without a fear, a gladsome instead of a
fearsome walk. I once threw this thought out in the Royal Albert Hall
in London, one dark dismal February afternoon. There was a young lady
in the audience who was very much afraid of the dark. It simply seemed
impossible for her to go into a dark room alone. After the meeting was
over she hurried home and rushed in to the room where her mother was
sitting and cried, "O mother, I have heard the most wonderful address
this afternoon about the Holy Spirit always being by our side as our
ever-present helper and protector. I shall never be afraid of the dark
again." Her mother was a practical English woman and said to her,
"Well, let us see how real that is. Now go upstairs to the top floor,
into the dark room, and shut the door and stay in there alone in the
dark." The daughter went bounding up the stairs, went into the dark
room, closed the door and it was pitch dark, and "Oh," she wrote me
the next day, "it was dark, utterly dark, but that room was bright and
glorious with the presence of the Holy Spirit."

In this thought is also the cure for insomnia. Did any of you ever
have insomnia? I did. For two dark, awful years. Night after night,
I would go to bed, almost dead, as it seemed to me, for sleep, and I
thought I would certainly sleep as I could scarcely keep awake; but
scarcely had my head touched the pillow when I knew I wouldn't sleep
and I would hear the clock strike twelve, one, two, three, four, five,
six, and then it was time to get up. It seemed as though I didn't sleep
at all, though I have no doubt I did: for I believe that people who
suffer from insomnia sleep more than they think they do, else we would
die: but it seemed as if I didn't sleep at all, and this went on for
two whole years, until I thought that if I couldn't get sleep I would
lose my mind. And then I got deliverance. For years I would retire
and fall asleep about as soon as my head touched the pillow. But one
night I went to bed in the Bible Institute in Chicago where I was then
stopping. I expected to fall asleep almost immediately, as had become
my custom, but scarcely had my head touched the pillow when I knew I
was not going to sleep. Insomnia was back. If you have ever had him
you will always recognise him. It seemed as if Insomnia was sitting
on the footboard looking like an imp, grinning at me and saying "I am
back for two more years." "Oh," I thought, "two more years of this
awful insomnia." But that very morning I had been teaching the students
in the lecture room on the floor below on the Personality of the Holy
Spirit, and the thought came to me almost immediately, "What was that
you were telling the students down stairs this morning about the Holy
Spirit being always with us?" And I said, "Why don't you practice what
you preach?" And I looked up and said, "O thou blessed Holy Spirit of
God, thou art here, if thou hast anything to say to me, I will listen."
And He opened to me some of the sweet and precious things about Jesus
Christ, filling my soul with calm and peace and joy, and the next thing
I knew I was asleep and the next thing I knew it was to-morrow morning;
and whenever Insomnia has come around since and sat on my footboard, I
have done the same thing and it has never failed.

In this thought also is a cure for all loneliness. If the thought of
the Holy Spirit as an Ever-present Friend always at hand, once enters
your heart and stays there, you will never have another lonely moment
as long as you live. My life for the larger part of the last sixteen
years has been a lonely life. I have often been separated from all my
family for months at a time. I have not seen my wife sometimes for two
or three months at a time and for eighteen months I did not see any
member of my family but my wife. One night I was walking the deck of
a steamer in the South Seas between New Zealand and Tasmania. It was
a stormy night. Most of the other passengers were below sick, none of
the officers nor sailors could walk with me for they had their hands
full looking after the boat. I had to walk the deck alone. Four of the
five other members of my family were on the other side of the globe,
seventeen thousand miles away by the nearest route that I could get to
them, and the one member of my family who was nearer was not with me
that night. As I walked the deck alone I got to thinking of the four
children seventeen thousand miles away and was about to get lonesome,
when the thought came to me of the Holy Spirit by my side, and that
as I walked He took every step with me, and all loneliness was gone.
I gave expression to this thought some years ago in the city of St.
Paul, and at the close of the address a physician came to me and said,
"I wish to thank you for that thought. I am often called at night to go
out alone through darkness and storm far into the country, and I have
been very lonely, but I will never be lonely again, for I will know
that every step of the way the Holy Spirit is beside me in my doctor's
gig."

In this same precious truth there is a cure for a broken heart. Oh, how
many broken-hearted people there are in the world to-day, especially in
these days of war and bloodshed and death! Many of us here have lost
loved ones. Many more of us in all probability will during the months
that are just ahead of us. But we need not have a moment's heartache
if we only know the communion of the Holy Ghost. There is perhaps
here to-day some woman who a year ago, or a few months ago, or a few
weeks ago, or a few days ago, had by her side a man whom she dearly
loved, a man so strong and wise that she was freed from all sense
of responsibility and care; for all the burdens were upon him, and
how bright and happy life was in his companionship! But the dark day
came when that loved one was taken away, and how lonely and empty and
barren, and full of burden and care, life is to-day! Listen! There is
One who walks right by your side, wiser and stronger and more loving
than the wisest and strongest and most loving husband that ever lived,
ready to bear all the burdens and responsibilities of life, yes, ready
to do far more: to come in and dwell in your heart and fill every nook
and corner of your empty, aching heart, and thus banish all loneliness
and heartache forever. I said this one afternoon in Saint Andrews Hall
in Glasgow. At the close of the address, when I passed out into the
reception room, a lady who had hurried along to meet me, approached
me. She wore a widow's bonnet, her face bore the marks of deep sorrow,
but now there was a happy look in her face. She hurried to me and
said, "Doctor Torrey, this is the anniversary of my dear husband's
death" (her husband was one of the most highly esteemed Christian men
in Glasgow) "and I came to Saint Andrews Hall to-day saying to myself,
'Doctor Torrey will have something to say that will help me.' Oh," she
continued, "you have said just the right word! I will never be lonesome
again, never have a heartache again. I will let the Holy Spirit come
in and fill every aching corner of my heart." Eighteen months passed;
I was in Scotland again, taking a short vacation on the lochs of the
Clyde on the private yacht of a friend. One day we stopped off a point,
a little boat put off from the point and came alongside the steam
yacht. The first one who clambered up the side of the yacht and onto
the deck was this widow. Seeing me standing on the deck, she hurried
across and took my hand in both of hers and with a radiant smile on her
face she said, "Oh, Doctor Torrey, the thought you gave me in Saint
Andrews Hall that afternoon stays with me still and I have not had a
lonely or sad hour from that day to this."

But it is in our Christian work that the thought comes to us with
greatest power and helpfulness. Take my own experience. I became a
minister simply because I had to, or be forever lost. I do not mean
that I am saved by preaching the Gospel; I am saved simply on the
ground of Christ's atoning blood and that alone; but my becoming a
Christian and accepting Him as my Saviour turned upon my preaching the
Gospel. For six years I refused to come out as a Christian because I
was unwilling to preach, and I felt that if I became a Christian I must
preach. The night that I was converted I did not say, "I will accept
Christ" or "I will give up my sins"; I said, "I will preach." But if
there was ever a man who by natural temperament was unfitted to preach,
it was I. I was one of these abnormally bashful boys. A stranger could
scarcely speak to me without my blushing to the roots of my hair. Of
all the tortures I endured at school there was none so great as that of
reciting a piece. To stand up on the platform and have all the scholars
looking at me, I could scarcely endure it, and when I had to recite and
my own mother and father asked me to recite the piece before I went to
school, I simply could not recite it before my own father and mother.
Think of a man like that going into the ministry. Even after I was in
Yale College, when I would go home on a vacation and my mother would
have callers and send for me to come in and meet them, I couldn't say
a word. After they were gone my mother would say to me, "Archie, why
didn't you say something to Mrs. S. or Mrs. D.?" and I would say, "Why,
mother, I did!" and she would reply, "You didn't utter a sound." I
thought I did, but it would come no further than my throat and there be
smothered. I was so bashful that I never even spoke in a church prayer
meeting until after I entered the theological seminary. Then I thought,
if I was to be a preacher I must at least be able to speak in my own
church prayer meeting. I made up my mind I would. I learned a piece by
heart. I remember some of it now. I think I forgot some of it when I
got up to speak that night. As soon as the meeting was thrown open I
grasped the back of the settee in front of me and pulled myself up to
my feet and held on to it lest I should fall. One Niagara went rushing
up one side and another down the other, and I tremblingly repeated
as much of my little piece as I could remember and then dropped back
into the seat. At the close of the meeting a dear old maid, a lovely
Christian woman, came to me and cheeringly said, "Oh, Mr. Torrey, I
want to thank you for what you said to-night. It did me so much good.
You spoke with so much feeling." Feeling! The only feeling I had was
that I was scared nearly to death. Think of a man like that going into
the ministry. My first years in the ministry were torture. I preached
three times a day. I committed my sermons to memory and then I stood up
and twisted the top button of my coat until I had twisted the sermon
out and then when the third sermon was preached and finished, I dropped
back into the haircloth settee back of the pulpit with a great sense of
relief that that was over for another week. And then the thought would
take possession of me, Well you have to begin to-morrow morning to get
ready for next Sunday! But a glad day came when the thought I am trying
to teach you this morning took possession of me, viz., that when I
stood up to preach, that, though people saw me, that there was Another
who stood by my side whom they did not see, but upon whom was all the
responsibility for the meeting, and all that I had to do was to get as
far back out of sight as possible and let Him do the preaching. From
that day preaching has been the joy of my life. I would rather preach
than eat. Sometimes when I rise to preach, before I have uttered a
word, the thought of Him, standing beside me, able and willing to take
charge of the whole meeting and do whatever needs to be done, has so
filled my heart with exultant joy that I have felt like shouting. Just
so in your Sunday School teaching. Some of you worry about your Sunday
School classes for fear that you will say something that ought not to
be said, or leave unsaid something that ought to be said, and the
thought of the burden and responsibility almost crushes you. Listen!
Always remember this as you sit there teaching your class: there is One
right beside you Who knows just what ought to be said and just what
ought to be done. Instead of carrying the responsibility of the class,
let Him carry it, let Him do the teaching. One Monday morning I met
one of the most faithful laymen I ever knew and a very gifted Bible
teacher. He was deep in the blues, over his failure with his class the
day before—at least, what he regarded as failure. He unburdened his
heart to me. I said to him, "Mr. Dyer, did you not ask God to give you
wisdom as you went before that class?" He said, "I did." I said, "Did
you not expect Him to give it?" He said, "I did." Then I said, "What
right have you to doubt that He did?" He replied, "I never thought
of that before. I will never worry about my class again." Just so in
personal work. When I or some one else urges you at the close of the
meeting to go and speak to some one else, oh, how many of you want to
go, but you don't stir. You think to yourself, "I might say the wrong
thing." You will, if you say it. You will certainly say the wrong
thing; but trust the Holy Spirit, He will say the right thing. Let Him
have your lips to speak through. It may not appear the right thing at
the time, but some time you will find out that it was just the right
thing. One night in Launceston, Tasmania, as Mrs. Torrey and I came
away from the meeting, my wife said to me, "Archie, I wasted my whole
evening. I have been talking to the most frivolous girl. I don't think
that she has a serious thought in her head." I replied, "Clara, how do
you know? Did you not trust God to guide you?" "Yes." "Well, leave it
with Him." The very next night at the close of the meeting the same
seemingly utterly frivolous young woman came up to Mrs. Torrey, leading
her mother by the hand, and said, "Mrs. Torrey, won't you speak to my
mother? You led me to Christ last night, now please lead my mother to
Christ."

4. But I must close. There is another line of proof of the personality
of the Holy Spirit, but we have no time to dwell upon it. This line of
proof is that a treatment is predicated of the Holy Spirit that could
only be predicated of a person. In Isa. 63:10 we are taught that the
Holy Spirit is rebelled against and grieved. You cannot rebel against
or grieve a mere influence or power. Only a person can be rebelled
against and grieved. In Heb. 10:29 we are taught that the Holy Spirit
is "done despite unto," or "treated with contumely," insulted. You
cannot treat an influence or power with contumely; only a person. In
Acts 5:3 we are taught that the Holy Spirit is lied to. You can only
lie to a person. In Matt. 12:31 we are taught that the Holy Spirit is
blasphemed against. We are told that the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost is more serious than the blasphemy against the Lord Jesus, and
this certainly could only be said of a person and a Divine Person.

To sum it all up, the Holy Spirit is a Person. Theoretically we
probably all believed this before, but do we in our real thought of
Him, in our practical attitude toward Him, treat Him as a person? Do we
really regard Him as real a person as Jesus Christ is, as loving, as
wise, as strong, as worthy of our confidence and love, and surrender
as He? A Divine Person always by our side? The Holy Spirit came
into this world to be to the disciples of our Lord after our Lord's
own departure, and to be to us, what Jesus Christ had been to them
during the days of His personal companionship with them. Is He that
to you to-day? Do you know the "communion of the Holy Spirit?" the
companionship of the Holy Spirit, the partnership of the Holy Spirit,
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the comradeship of the Holy Spirit?
To put it into a single word, the whole object of this address this
morning, I say it reverently, is to introduce you to my Friend, the
Holy Spirit.




VII

THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE
FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT


I spoke in a previous chapter on the personality of the Holy Spirit.
We saw clearly that the Holy Spirit was a person. Incidentally I
referred to His Deity in passing, but did not dwell upon it, so the
question remains, Is the Holy Spirit a Divine person? and still another
question, If the Holy Spirit is a Divine person, is He a separate and
distinct personality from the Father and the Son? We shall consider
this morning what the Bible teaches upon these points.


I. THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We take up first the question of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. The fact
that the Holy Spirit is a person does not prove that He is divine.
There are spirits who are persons but who are not God. There are five
distinct lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy
Spirit is God.

1. The first line of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is that
_each of the four distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to
the Holy Spirit in the Bible_. There are four distinctively divine
attributes; that is to say, there are four attributes which God alone
possesses, and any person who has these attributes must therefore
be God. The four distinctively divine attributes are omnipotence,
omniscience, omnipresence and eternity.

(1) First of all, _omnipotence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_, for
example, in Luke 1:35: +"And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the most high
shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be
called holy, the Son of God."+ This passage plainly declares that
the Holy Spirit has the power of the Most High, that He is omnipotent.

(2) In the next place, _omniscience is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_.
This is done, for example, in I Corinthians 2:10, 11: +"But unto us
God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the
things of a man, save the Spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so
the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God."+ Here we
are distinctly told that _the Holy Spirit searcheth all things and
knoweth all things_, even the deep things of God. We find the same
thought again in John 14:26: +"But the Comforter, even the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you."+
Here we are distinctly told that the Holy Spirit teaches all things,
and therefore must know all things. This is stated even more explicitly
in John 16:12-13: +"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He
shall guide you into all the truth."+ In all these passages it is
either directly declared or unmistakably implied that the Holy Spirit
knows all things, that He is omniscient.

(3) In the third place, _omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_.
We find this in Psalms 139:7-10: +"Whither shall I go from thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me."+ Here we are told in the most explicit
and unmistakable way that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is
everywhere; that there is no place in heaven, earth or hades whither we
can go from His presence.

(4) _Eternity is also ascribed to the Holy Spirit._ This we find in
Hebrews 9:14, where we read: +"How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish
unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?"+ Here we find the words "the Eternal Spirit" just as elsewhere
we find the words "the Eternal God" (e.g., Deut. 33:27): Putting these
different passages together, we see clearly that each of the four
distinctively divine attributes, the four attributes that no one but
God possesses, are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

2. The second line of proof of the true Deity of the Holy Spirit is
found in the fact that _three distinctively divine works are ascribed
to the Holy Spirit—that is to say, the Holy Spirit is said to do three
things which God alone can do_.

(1) The first of these distinctively divine works that are ascribed
to the Holy Spirit is _the work which we always think of first when
we think of God and His work—that is to say, the work of creation.
We find creation ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Job 33:4_: +"The
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty giveth me
life."+ We find the same thing implied in Psalms 104:30: +"Thou
sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the
face of the ground."+ In these two passages creation, the most
distinctively divine of all works, is ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

(2) The _impartation of life is ascribed to the Holy Spirit_. This we
find, for example, in John 6:63: +"It is the Spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing."+ We find the same thing again in
Romans 8:11: +"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."+ In
this passage we have not merely impartation of life to the spirit of
man, but the impartation of life to the body in the resurrection of the
body ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Man's creation and the impartation
of life to man are ascribed to the operation of the Holy Spirit in
the first book in the Bible, where we read in Genesis 2:7: +"And
Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."+ Here we
are told that man was created and became a living soul through God's
breathing into him the breath of life. This clearly implies that it was
through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit is
the breath of God going out in a personal way.

(3) _The third divine work ascribed to the Holy Spirit is the
authorship of divine prophecies._ We find this, for example, in II
Peter 1:21: +"For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but
men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit."+ Here we are
distinctly told that it was through the operation of the Holy Spirit
that men were made the mouthpiece of God and uttered God's truth. We
find this same thought also in the Old Testament in II Samuel 23:2,
3: +"The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and His word was upon my
tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me."+
In this passage, also, the authorship of God's prophecies is ascribed
to the Holy Spirit. Taking these passages together, we see that three
distinctively divine works are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

3. The third line of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit is found in
the fact that _passages which refer to Jehovah in the Old Testament
are taken to refer to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament_. There are
numerous instances of this, not as numerous as in the case of Jesus
Christ, the Son, and yet enough to make it perfectly clear that the
Holy Spirit occupies the same place in New Testament thought which
Jehovah occupies in Old Testament thought.

(1) A striking illustration of this is found in Isaiah 6:8-10; cf.
Acts 28:25-27. In Isaiah 6:8-10, we read: +"And I heard the voice of
the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I
said, here am I; send me. And he said, go, and tell this people, hear
ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut
their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."+
Here we are distinctly told it is the "Lord," and the context shows
that the Lord is the Lord Jehovah who is speaking, but when we turn
to Acts 28:25-27, we read these words: +"And when they agreed not
among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word,
well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet unto your
fathers"+ (notice that in the passage in Isaiah we are told it is
the Lord Jehovah who spoke, and here we are told by Paul that it is the
Holy Spirit who spake through the prophet), +"saying, go thou unto
this people, and say, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: for
this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and should turn again, and I should heal them."+ In the one place,
the place in the Old Testament, we are told that the Lord Jehovah is
the speaker; in the other place, in the New Testament, we are told
that the Holy Spirit is the speaker; that is to say, the Holy Spirit
occupies the place in New Testament thought that the Lord Jehovah
occupies in Old Testament thought. It is noticeable that this same
passage in another place is applied to Jesus Christ (John 12:39-41).
May it not be that in the _threefold_ "Holy" in the seraphic cry
recorded in this chapter in Isaiah (Isaiah 6:3) we have a hint of the
tri-personality of Jehovah of Hosts, and hence the propriety of the
threefold application of the vision?

(2) Another illustration of a statement, which in the Old Testament is
given as referring to Jehovah, being applied to the Holy Spirit in the
New Testament, is found by a comparison of Exodus 16:7 with Hebrews
3:7-9. In Exodus 16:7 we read: +"And in the morning, then shall ye
see the glory of Jehovah; for that he heareth your murmurings against
Jehovah: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?"+ Here we are
told that the murmuring and provocation of the children of Israel in
the wilderness were against Jehovah, but in Hebrews 3:7-9, we read:
+"Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, to-day if ye shall hear
his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in
the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by
proving me, and saw my works forty years."+ In this New Testament
passage we are told that it was the Holy Spirit that they provoked in
the wilderness, making it clear that the Holy Spirit occupies here in
New Testament thought the position Jehovah occupied in Old Testament
thought in Exodus 16:7.

To sum up the passages under this head, we see that statements which in
the Old Testament distinctly name the Lord, God or Jehovah, as their
subject, are applied to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. That is
to say, the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Deity in New Testament
thought.

4. The fourth way in which the Deity of the Holy Spirit is clearly
taught in the New Testament is that the _name of the Holy Spirit
is coupled with that of God the Father in a way that it would be
impossible for a reverent and thoughtful mind to couple the name of any
finite being with that of Deity_. There are numerous illustrations of
this. Three will answer for our present purpose.

(1) We read, for example, in I Corinthians 12:4-6: +"Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities
of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of
workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all."+ In this
passage we see the name of the Holy Spirit coupled with that of God and
of the Lord in a way in which it would be impossible for an intelligent
worshipper of God to couple the name of any finite being with that of
the Deity.

(2) We see the same thing again in Matthew 28:19: +"Go ye therefore,
and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them into the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."+ If the Holy
Spirit is not God, it would be shocking to couple His name in this way
with that of God, the Father, and of the Lord Jesus, His Son.

(3) Another striking illustration of this is found in II Corinthians
13:14: +"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."+ Here the
name of the Holy Spirit is coupled on a ground of equality with that
of the Father and of the Son. In all these passages, the name of the
Holy Spirit is coupled with that of God in a way in which it would be
impossible for a reverent, thoughtful mind to couple the name of any
finite being with that of Deity.

5. _The fifth_ and last, and, if possible, more decisive way _in which
the Deity of the Holy Spirit is taught in the Bible is that the Holy
Spirit in so many words is called God_. This we find in Acts 5:3, 4:
+"But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to
the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While
it remained, did it not remain thine own? And after it was sold, was
it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in
thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."+ In the third
verse we are distinctly told that it was to the Holy Spirit to Whom
Ananias lied, and in the fourth verse we are told that it was to God
that Ananias lied. Putting the two statements together, it is evident
that the Holy Spirit is God.

To sum up all that we have said under the head of the Deity of the
Holy Spirit, we see that _by the ascription of all the distinctively
divine attributes, and several distinctively divine works, by referring
statements which in the Old Testament distinctly named Jehovah, the
Lord or God, as their subject, to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament,
by coupling the name of the Holy Spirit with that of God in a way in
which it would be impossible to couple the name of any finite being
with that of Deity, by calling the Holy Spirit "God," in all these
unmistakable ways God in His Word distinctly proclaims that the Holy
Spirit is a Divine Person_. It is absolutely impossible for any one to
go to the Bible to find out what it actually teaches, and not merely
to twist and distort it to fit into his own preconceived notions, and
come to any other conclusion but that the Holy Spirit is a Divine
Person, that He is God.


II. THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

But now we come to the question, Is the Holy Spirit a distinct
personality from the Father and from the Son? He might be a person, as
we have clearly seen that He is, and He might be a divine person, as
we have just seen that He is, and at the same time He might be only
the same person who manifested Himself at times as the Father and at
other times as the Son, and in that case there would not be three
divine Persons in the Godhead, but one divine Person, who variously
manifested Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So the question that
now confronts us is, Is the Holy Spirit a distinct personality separate
and distinct from the Father and from the Son? This question is plainly
answered in various passages in the New Testament.

1. _We find this question answered in the first place in John 14:26
and John 15:26._ In John 14:26 we read: +"But the Comforter, even
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto
you."+ In John 15:26 we read: +"But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me."+ In
both of these passages we are told that the Holy Spirit is an entirely
distinct personality from the Father and the Son, that He is sent from
the Father by the Son. We are elsewhere taught that Jesus Christ was
sent by the Father (John 6:29; 8:29, 42). It is as clear as language
can make it in these passages that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not
one and the same Person manifesting Himself in three different forms,
but that they are three distinct personalities.

2. _We find clear proof that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three
distinct personalities_ in John 16:13, where we read: +"Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the
truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He
shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the
things that are to come."+ In this passage the clearest possible
distinction is drawn between the Holy Spirit who speaks and the One
from whom He speaks, and we are told in so many words that this One
from whom He speaks is _not Himself, but another_.

3. In the next verse the same thought is brought out in still another
way. In this verse, John 16:14, we read: +"He shall glorify me: for
He shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you."+ Here the
clearest distinction is drawn between _He_, the Holy Spirit, and _Me_,
Jesus Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit not to glorify Himself,
but another, and this Other is Jesus Christ, and He takes what belongs
to another; that is, to Christ, and declares it unto believers. It
would be impossible to express in human language a distinction between
two personalities more plainly than the distinction between the Son and
the Holy Ghost is expressed in this verse.

4. The distinction between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
is very clearly brought out in Luke 3:21, 22: +"Now it came to
pass, when all the people were baptised, that, Jesus also having been
baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit
descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out
of heaven, thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."+
Here _a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus Christ who was on the
earth, and the Father who spake to Him from heaven, and the Holy Spirit
who descended in bodily form as a dove from the Father upon the Son_.

5. Still another striking illustration is found in Matthew 28:19:
+"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising
them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit."+ _Here a clear distinction is drawn between the name "of
the Father," and the name "of the Son," and the name "of the Holy
Spirit."_

6. A very striking setting forth of a clear distinction between the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit is found in John 14:16, 17: +"And I will
pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may be
with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."+ Here _the clearest
possible distinction is drawn between the Son who prays, and the Father
to whom He prays_, and _"another Comforter," who is given in answer to
His prayer_. Nothing could possibly be plainer than the distinction
that Jesus Christ draws in this passage between Himself and the Father
and the Holy Spirit.

7. We find the same thing again in John 16:7: +"Nevertheless I tell
you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will
send Him unto you."+ _Here the Lord Jesus Himself draws a clear
distinction between Himself, who is about to go away, and the Holy
Spirit, the other Comforter who is coming to take His place after He
has gone away._

8. The same thing is brought out again in Peter's sermon on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2:33, where Peter is recorded as saying: +"Being
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which
ye see and hear."+ _Here a clear distinction is drawn between the
Son exalted to the right hand of the Father, and the Father Himself,
and the Holy Spirit whom the Son receives from the Father, and sheds
upon the Church. To sum up all under this head: again and again the
Bible draws the clearest possible distinction between the Holy Spirit,
and the Father, and the Son. They are three separate personalities,
having mutual relations to one another, acting upon one another,
speaking of or to one another, applying the pronouns of the second and
third persons to one another._

We have seen that the Bible makes it plain that the Holy Spirit is a
Divine Person and that He is an entirely separate personality from
the Father and from the Son. In other words, that _there are three
divine Persons in the Godhead_. It has oftentimes been said that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Bible. It is true that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not directly taught in the Bible in so many
words, but the doctrine of the Trinity is simply the putting together
of truths that are clearly and unmistakably taught in the Bible. It
is clearly taught in the Bible that there is but one God (Deuteronomy
6:4). But it is taught with equal clearness, as we have seen to-day,
that there are three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost; and the doctrine of the Trinity is the putting together of these
truths which are taught with equal plainness.

But, some one may ask, How can God be three and one at the same time?
The answer to this question is very simple and easily understandable.
He cannot be three in one in the same sense, nor does the Bible teach
that He is. But in what sense can He be one and three? A perfectly
satisfactory answer to this question is manifestly impossible from
the very nature of the case—first, because God is Spirit and numbers
belong primarily to the physical world, and _difficulty must always
arise when we attempt to conceive of spiritual being in the forms
of physical thought_. In the second place, a perfectly satisfactory
answer to the question is impossible because God is infinite and we are
finite. "God dwells in the light that no man can approach unto," and
_our attempts at a philosophical explanation of the Trinity of God is
an attempt to put the facts of infinite being into the forms of finite
thought, and of necessity such an attempt can at the very best be only
partially successful_. This much we know, that God is essentially one,
and also that there are three Persons in this one Godhead. _There
is but one God, but this one God makes Himself known to us as three
distinct Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit._ There is one God,
eternally existing, and manifesting Himself in three Persons—Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. If we were to go into the realm of philosophy,
it could be shown that from the very necessities of the case, that if
God were to be God, there must be in the eternal Godhead before the
creation of finite beings a multiplicity of persons; for otherwise
God could not love, for there would be no one to love, and therefore
God could not be God. The ease with which one can grasp the Unitarian
conception of God is not in its favour but against it. Any god who
could be thoroughly comprehended by a finite mind would not be an
infinite God. It would be impossible for a thoroughly intelligent mind
to really worship a god whom he could thoroughly understand. If God is
to be really God, He must be beyond our complete understanding.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not merely a speculative doctrine. It
is a doctrine of tremendous daily practical importance. It enters
into the very warp and woof of our experience, if our experience is a
truly Christian experience. For example, in our prayer we need God,
the Father, to Whom we pray, we need God, the Son, through Whom we
pray, and we need God, the Holy Spirit, in Whom we pray. So also in
our worship we need God, the Father, the very centre of our worship,
we need the Son, through Whom we approach Him in our worship, and we
need to worship by the Holy Spirit. But all three—Father, Son and Holy
Spirit—are the objects of our worship. The long metre doxology is
thoroughly Christian in its worship when it sings:

    "Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
     Praise Him all creatures here below,
     Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,
     Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."

And so, also, is the Gloria Patri, the words of which we so often sing,
but the thought of which we so seldom grasp:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it
was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end,
Amen.




VIII

THE ATONEMENT: GOD'S DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT VS. UNITARIAN AND
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE DOCTRINES OF THE ATONEMENT

    "Apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission."—Hebrews
    9:22.


Our subject in this chapter is "God's Doctrine of the Atonement vs. the
Unitarian and Christian Science Doctrines of the Atonement." One of the
most fundamental, central and vital doctrines of the Christian faith
is the Christian doctrine of the Atonement. Without the Bible Doctrine
of the Atonement you have no Christianity, but the Devil's substitute
for Christianity. Without the Bible Doctrine of the Atonement you have
no real gospel, but an utterly false and soul-destroying philosophy.
In speaking on the doctrine of the Deity of Christ I said: "If a man
really holds to right views concerning the person of Jesus Christ he
will sooner or later get right views on every other question, but if
he holds a wrong view concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later."
The same is true regarding the doctrine of the Atonement: If a man
really holds to right views concerning the Atonement made by our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, he will sooner or
later get right on every other question; but if he holds a wrong view
regarding the Atonement made by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he
is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later. There is
a great need in this day of teaching on this subject that is definite,
clear, accurate, exact, complete; because not only in Unitarian and
Christian Science circles, but also in circles that are nominally
orthodox, in professedly Christian colleges, seminaries, pulpits,
Sunday School classes, and religious papers, magazines, pamphlets,
books, there is much teaching to-day that is vague, inaccurate,
misleading, unscriptural, and oftentimes utterly false and devilish,
teaching that is essentially Unitarian or Eddyistic. Men and women
use the old words with a new meaning; so as to deceive, if it were
possible, the very elect. Even the Christian Scientist will tell you
he believes in the Atonement, and that Mrs. Eddy taught the Atonement.
But when you begin to ask direct and pointed questions regarding his
belief and teaching you will find that by Atonement he meant, and
that Mrs. Eddy meant, something utterly different from what you mean
and what the Bible teaches. Paul tells us that the Devil camouflages
as an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14), but never has he done it more
successfully and dangerously than in the teaching regarding the
Atonement which he has inspired in Mrs. Eddy and in Unitarian teachers,
and also in the teachers in many supposedly orthodox pulpits, in many
Congregational pulpits, in some Methodist pulpits, in many Baptist
pulpits, and even in some Presbyterian pulpits. Some years ago in
teaching a Bible class in Minneapolis, attended by people from all the
churches, I remarked incidentally that Christian Science denied the
doctrine of the Atonement through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. A
very intelligent lady, a lady perfect in her manners, came to me at the
close of the class and said: "Mr. Torrey, you ought not to have said
what you said to-day about Christian Science; for you do not understand
its teachings. They do teach the Atonement." I replied: "I said that
Christian Science denies the Doctrine of the Atonement _through the
shed blood of Jesus Christ_. Do you believe that Jesus Christ bore your
sins in His own body on the cross?" She answered: "I think Christian
Science is a beautiful system of teaching." I said: "That is not what
I asked you. Do you believe that Jesus Christ bore your sins in His
own body on the cross?" She replied: "Christian Science has done me a
great deal of good." "That is not what I asked you. Do you believe that
Jesus Christ bore your sins in His own body on the cross?" "I think
that Jesus Christ's life was the most beautiful life ever lived here
on earth." "That is not what I asked you. Do you believe Jesus Christ
bore your sins in His own body on the cross?" "The Christian Scientists
are lovely people." "That is not what I asked you. Do you believe that
Jesus Christ bore your sins in His own body on the cross?" "I believe
in following the Lord Jesus Christ." "Do you believe that Jesus Christ
bore your sins in His own body on the cross?" "Oh," she said, "that is
a doctrinal question." "Now," I said, "you are yourself an illustration
of the truth of the very thing I said. You do not believe in the
_Atonement through the shed blood of Jesus Christ_." The Christian
Scientist uses the word "atonement," but he means something entirely
different from what the Bible teaches regarding the atoning death
of Jesus Christ. So does the Unitarian. So do many of the ministers
supposedly of orthodox denominations. The pastor of a Congregational
church in this city said recently: "I have my own kind of religion; it
answers for me, but I hope I have sense enough to see that it would not
answer for everybody. I imagine the Salvation Army captain preaching my
kind of religious doctrine, without a devil, without a hell, without an
_atonement of blood_ and recompense, without an infallible Bible—and
I see his audience melting away like snow in the rain. Is his doctrine
truer than mine, or is mine truer than his? Why, neither; his is true
for him and mine for me—that is all—each after his own kind." Now
this may sound tolerant and lovely, but it is utter nonsense. Any
doctrine which is not true for everybody is not for anybody true, and
any doctrine which is true is true for everybody. If a doctrine that
leaves out "_an atonement of blood_" is not true for the Salvation
Army—and it certainly is not—it is not _true_ for anybody else. Truth
is not relative; it is absolute. What is true is true, and what is
false is false. So we come face to face with the question, What does
the Bible teach on this great fundamental doctrine?


I. THE NECESSITY AND IMPORTANCE OF HIS DEATH

The first thing that the Bible plainly teaches on this question is
_the absolute necessity and fundamental importance of the death of
Jesus Christ, the absolute necessity and fundamental importance of the
shedding of His blood_. The tendency of our day in Unitarian circles,
and in orthodox circles that have been leavened by the corrupting
leaven of Unitarianism, is to minimise the importance of the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The tendency is to make His life and character,
His teaching and leadership, the main thing. Christian Science even
goes so far as to deny the fact of His death. To them His supposed
death is "an illusion," it is "only mortal thought," but the Bible puts
the emphasis upon His atoning death.

1. _The death of Jesus Christ is mentioned directly more than 175 times
in the New Testament. Besides this there are very many prophetic and
typical references to the death of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament._
When Mr. Alexander and I were holding our meetings in the Royal Albert
Hall in London, some one took away one of our hymn books and went
through it and cut out every reference to the blood, and then sent it
back to me through the mail, saying, "I have gone through your hymn
book and cut out every reference to the blood. These references to the
blood are foolish. Now sing your hymns with the blood left out and
there will be some sense in them." If any of you should take your Bible
and go through it in that way and cut out of the New Testament and the
Old Testament every passage that referred to the death of Christ, or
to His atoning blood, you would have only a sadly torn and tattered
Bible left, a Bible without a heart and a Gospel without saving power.
If I were a member of a church where the pastor said that he preached
a system of "religious doctrine, without a devil, without a hell,
_without an atonement of blood_ and recompense, without an infallible
Bible," to use his own language, he would see his audience "melting
away like snow in the rain" as far as I was concerned. I would either
take my hat and get out of that church, or else the pastor would take
his hat and get out of the pulpit; for I should know that he was
not preaching God's pure, saving gospel, but the Devil's poisonous
substitute for the gospel.

2. Not only are the references to the death of Christ so numerous
in Old Testament and New Testament, but we are taught distinctly in
Hebrews 2:14 that _Jesus Christ became a man for the specific purpose
of dying_, that He became a partaker of flesh and blood _in order that
He might die_. In this passage we read, +"For as much as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of
the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power
of death, that is the Devil"+ (Heb. 2:14). The meaning of these
words is as plain as day. They tell us that the incarnation was for the
purpose of the death. They tell us that Jesus Christ's death was not
a mere accident or incident of His human life (as many would have us
believe), but that _it was the supreme purpose of it_. He became man
_in order that He might die_ as man and for man. This is the doctrine
of the Bible, and it is true for anybody and for everybody.

3. Furthermore, _He died_ for a specific purpose, _as a ransom for us_.
He Himself said so. In Matt. 20:28 He says, +"The Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom
for many."+

4. One of the most remarkable scenes recorded in the New Testament is
that of the transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah came back from the
other world to commune with Jesus. And what did they talk about in that
great moment of human history? Luke tells us in the 9th chapter of his
Gospel, the 30th and 31st verses, +"And behold, there talked with
Him+ (i.e., with Jesus) +two men, which were Moses and Elijah:
who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem."+ His atoning death was the one subject
that engrossed the attention of these two who came back from the glory
world. We are also told in I Peter 1:10-12 that _the death of Jesus
Christ_ is a subject of intensest interest and earnest inquiry on the
part of the angels.

5. _The death of Christ is the central theme of heaven's song._ Rev.
5:8-12 gives us a picture of heaven with its wonderful choir of ten
thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, and this is
the description of the song they sing: +"And when he had taken the
book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song,
saying, Worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof:
for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to
be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne
and the living creatures and elders; and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a
great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive the power,
and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard
I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be
the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever
and ever"+ (Rev. 5:8-12). So it is evident that the great central
theme of heaven's song is the atoning death of Jesus Christ, and the
shed "_blood_" by which He redeemed "men of every tribe, and tongue,
and nation." If the Unitarian or the Christian Scientist or the New
Theologian should get to heaven they would have no song to sing. The
glorious song of that wondrous choir would sound to him like a song "of
the shambles." He would be very lonesome and feel that he had got into
the wrong pew.


II. THE PURPOSE OF THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

So much for the fundamental and central importance of His death, or of
_the shedding of His blood_. But what was the purpose of the shedding
of His blood?

1. First of all, the Bible distinctly and repeatedly tells us by direct
statement, and by countless typical reference in the Old Testament,
that _He died as a vicarious offering for sin; that is, that He, an
absolutely perfect, righteous one, who deserved to live, died in the
place of unjust men who deserved to die_. For example, we read in Isa.
53:5, +"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with
His stripes we are healed."+ And in the eighth verse we read, +"By
oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation,
who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the
living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was
due?"+ And in the 11th and 12th verses we read, +"He shall see
of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge
of Himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and He shall bear
their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great,
and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out
His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet He
bare the sin of many. And made intercession for the transgressors."+
In I Peter, 3:18 we read, +"Christ also suffered for sins once, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God; being
put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit."+ And in
1 Peter 2:24 we read, +"Who His own self bare our sins in His own
body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto
righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed."+ Now the meaning
of these verses and many other verses, is inescapable. They teach in
language the meaning of which no one can misunderstand (unless he is
determined not to see) that the death of Jesus Christ was a vicarious
atonement, that is, a just one, who deserved to live, dying in the
place of unjust ones who deserved to die. It was, to use the language
of the Los Angeles minister who denied his belief in it, "an atonement
of blood and recompense." This is God's doctrine of the Atonement
versus the Unitarian and Christian Science doctrine of the Atonement.

2. But this is not all. We are further taught that _He died as a
ransom, that is, His death was the price paid to redeem others from
death_. He Himself says so. His own words are, +"The Son of man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
ransom for many."+ If His life was not a ransom, that is to say, if
He did not redeem others from death by dying in their place, then He
was the greatest fool in the whole history of this universe. Was He a
fool or was He a ransom? No one who in any real sense can be said to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ can hesitate as to his answer.

3. But even this is not all. The Bible distinctly tells us that _He
died as a sin offering, i.e., it was on the ground of His death, and
on this ground alone, that forgiveness of sin is made possible for
and offered to sinners_. This we are told in the 53rd chapter of
Isaiah, to which reference has already been made. In the 10th verse it
is written, +"Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; He+ (i.e.,
Jehovah) +hath put him to grief+ (literally, made him sick):
+when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall
prosper in his hand."+ Now the meaning of "_offering for sin_" is
unquestionable to any one who has studied the Old Testament offerings.
An "offering for sin" or a "guilt offering," which is the exact force
of the Hebrew word translated "an offering for sin," was a death of
a sacrificial victim on the ground of which pardon was offered to
sinners (Lev. 6:6-10, R. V.). The Holy Spirit says expressly in Heb.
9:22, in words the meaning of which is unmistakable, and the force
of which is inescapable, "_Apart from shedding of blood_ there is no
remission," and the whole context in which the passage is found shows
that the blood, to which all the blood of the Old Testament types as
sacrifices pointed forward, was the blood of Jesus Christ. So then
the Word of God declares that apart from the shedding of the blood of
Jesus Christ there is absolutely no pardon for sin. There is absolutely
no forgiveness outside the atoning blood of Christ. Without Christ's
atoning blood every member of the human race must have perished forever.

4. Fourth and further yet, the Bible teaches that _Jesus Christ died
as a propitiation for our sins_. God the Father gave Christ the Son
to be a propitiation by His blood. That is to say that _Jesus Christ,
through the shedding of His blood, is that by which God's holy wrath
at sin is appeased_. We read in 1 John 4:10, +"Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins."+ And we read in Rom. 3:25, 26, +"Whom
God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in His blood, to
show His righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done
aforetime, in the forbearance of God; (26) for the showing, I say,
of His righteousness at this present season: that He might Himself
be just, and the justifier of Him that hath faith in Jesus."+ The
meaning of these words also is as plain as day. The two Greek words
in these two passages are not exactly the same words (_hilasmos_ and
_hilasterion_) but are from the same root. The word used in 1 John 4:10
is _hilasmos_ and the word used in Rom. 3:25 is _hilasterion_. The
definition given of the first in Thayer's Dictionary of New Testament
Greek, the standard work, is "a means of appeasing." The definition
given in the same lexicon of the second word is "an expiatory
sacrifice." So the thought that is in both passages is that the death
of Jesus Christ was a "propitiation," "an expiatory sacrifice," the
"means of appeasing" God's holy wrath at sin, or in other words,
that _Jesus, through the shedding of His blood, is that by which the
wrath of God against us as sinners is appeased_. God's holiness and
consequent hatred of sin, like every other attribute of His character,
is real and must manifest itself. His wrath at sin must strike
somewhere, either on the sinner himself or upon a lawful substitute.
It struck upon Jesus Christ, a lawful substitute. As we read in Isa.
53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and Jehovah _hath laid on Him_ the iniquity of us all."
The word translated "hath laid," according to the margin of the Revised
Version, means literally, "hath made to _light_." More literally still
it means, "hath made to _strike_." Reading it this way, what God says
is, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and Jehovah _hath made to strike on him_ (i.e., on the
Lord Jesus) _the iniquity of us all_." And in the eighth verse of the
same chapter we are taught that "the stroke due" to others fell upon
Him, and He was consequently "cut off out of the land of the living."
The death of Jesus Christ has its first cause in the demands of God's
holiness. This is the Bible doctrine versus the Unitarian and Christian
Science doctrine of atonement. The doctrine is often misrepresented
and caricatured as being that "God, a holy first person, took the sins
of man, the guilty second person, and put them on Jesus Christ, an
innocent third person," and it is objected that this would not be just.
No; this would not be just, and it is not for a moment the doctrine of
the Bible, for the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus Christ was not "a
third person," but was Himself God, and that He was Himself man, so He
is not a third person at all, but both the first person and the second
person, and the doctrine is that God Himself, the offended first
person, substitutes His atoning action whereby He expresses His hatred
against sin, for His punitive action whereby He would express the same
thing; that God, instead of visiting the sins of the sinner upon the
sinner, takes the punishment upon Himself. This certainly is something
more than just, it is wondrous love.

5. Further yet, the Bible teaches us that _Jesus Christ died to redeem
us from the curse of the law by bearing that curse Himself_. We read
in Gal. 3:10, +"As many as are of the works of the law are under a
curse, for it is written: Cursed is every one who continueth not in
all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them."+
So then, every one of us is under the curse of the broken law, for not
one of us has continued +"in all things that are written in the book
of the law, to do them."+ But we read in the 13th verse, +"Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us+
(literally, _in our behalf_): +for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree."+ _By His death by crucifixion He redeemed
us from the curse which we deserved by taking that curse upon Himself._
This certainly is "an atonement of blood and recompense."

6. The Bible puts essentially the same truth in still another form,
viz., that _Jesus Christ died as our Passover sacrifice—that is, that
His shed blood might serve as a ground upon which God would pass over
and spare us_. We read in 1 Cor. 5:7, +"For our passover also hath
been sacrificed, even Christ."+ Now what a passover sacrifice was
and signified we learn from Ex. 12:12, 13, where our Lord told the
children of Israel at the inauguration of the passover, +"For I will
go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all
the Gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah, and the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I
see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague upon
you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."+ And again we
read in the 23rd verse of the same chapter, +"For Jehovah will pass
through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the
lintel, and on the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door,
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite
you."+ Paul wrote his words with all this in mind, and in saying
that Christ is our Passover sacrifice beyond a question he meant that
_the shed blood of Jesus Christ serves as a ground, and the only
ground, upon which God passes over and spares us_.


III. THE RESULTS OF THE ATONING DEATH

We have seen then the gracious and glorious purposes of the Atoning
Death of Jesus Christ. What are the results of that death? They are
even more glorious. I can speak of them this morning only in part.

1. The first result of the atoning death of Jesus Christ is that _a
propitiation is provided for the whole world_. We read in 1 John 2:2,
+"He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but
also for the whole world."+ This plainly means that _by the death
of Jesus Christ a basis is provided upon which God can deal in mercy
and does deal in mercy with the whole world_. All of God's dealings in
mercy with any man are on the ground of Christ's death. Only on the
ground of Christ's death could God deal in mercy with any man. God's
dealings in mercy with the rankest blasphemer or the most blatant
atheist is on the ground of the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

2. In the second place through _the atoning death of Jesus Christ all
men obtain resurrection from the dead_. We read in Rom. 5:18, +"So
then as through one trespass+ (i.e., the trespass of Adam) +the
judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act
of righteousness+ (i.e., through Christ's righteous act in dying
on the cross in obedience to the will of God) +the free gift came
unto all men to justification of life."+ And we are told in 1 Cor.
15:22, +"As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive."+ The Apostle Paul in the whole chapter is speaking about
_the resurrection of the body_, not about eternal life, and he here
distinctly teaches that as every child of Adam loses life (physical
life—see Gen. 3:19) in the first Adam, so also in Jesus Christ, the
second Adam, he obtains resurrection from the dead, through the atoning
death of Jesus Christ. Every man, the rankest infidel as well as the
most devout believer, will some day be raised from the dead because
Christ died in his place. Whether the resurrection which he obtains
through the death of Jesus Christ shall be a "resurrection of life"
or a "resurrection of condemnation," "shame and everlasting contempt"
(John 5:28, 29; Dan. 12:2) depends entirely upon what attitude the
individual takes toward the Christ in whom he gets the resurrection.

3. _By the atoning death of Jesus Christ all believers in Jesus Christ
have forgiveness of all their sins._ We read in Eph. 1:7, +"In
whom+ (i.e., in Jesus Christ) +we have our redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of
His grace."+ Because Jesus Christ died as a full satisfaction for
our sins, forgiveness of sin is not something which believers are to do
something to secure, it is something which the blood of Jesus Christ
has already secured and which our faith has already appropriated to
ourselves; "we _have_ forgiveness," we _are_ forgiven. Every believer
in Jesus Christ is forgiven every sin he ever committed or ever shall
commit, because Jesus Christ shed His blood in his place. Through
Christ's atoning death all believers in Him, although they once "were
_enemies_," are _now_ "_reconciled_ to God by the death of His Son."
As we read in Rom. 5:10, +"While we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God through the death of His Son."+ That is to say, the enmity
between God and the sinner is done away with, or, as Paul puts it in
Col. 1:20, Christ has "made peace through the blood of His cross,"
or, as he puts it in the next verse but one, Col. 1:22, Christ "_hath
reconciled_" believers "in the body of His flesh through death." The
story is told of a faithful vicar in England who was told that one of
his parishioners was dying. She was a good woman, but he hurried to her
side to talk with her. As he sat down by the side of the dying woman
he said to her very gently but solemnly, "They tell me you have not
long to live." "No," she replied, "I know I have not." "They tell me
you will probably not live through the night." "No," she replied, "I
do not expect to live through the night." Then he said very earnestly,
"Have you made your peace with God?" She replied, "No, I have not."
"And are you not afraid to meet God without having made your peace
with Him?" "No, not at all," she calmly replied. Again he said to her,
"Do you understand what I am saying? Do you realise that you are at
the point of death?" "Yes." "Do you realise you will probably not live
through the night?" "Yes." "And you have not made your peace with God?"
"No." "And you are not afraid to meet God?" "No, not at all." There
was something about the woman's manner that made him feel there was
something back of her words, and he said to her, "What do you mean?"
She replied, "I know I am dying. I know I am very near death. I know I
shall not live through the night. I know I must soon meet God, and I am
not at all disturbed, for I know that I did not need to make my peace
with God, because Jesus Christ made peace with God for me more than
eighteen hundred years ago by His death on the cross of Calvary, and I
am resting in the peace that Jesus Christ has already made." The woman
was right: no man needs to make his peace with God, Jesus Christ has
already made peace by His atoning death, and all we have to do is to
enter into the peace which Jesus Christ has made for us, and we enter
into that peace by simply believing in the One who made peace by His
death upon the cross. Jesus Christ's work was a complete and perfect
work. There is nothing to be added to it. We cannot add anything to it,
and we do not need to add anything to it. Jesus Christ has "made peace
through the blood of His cross."

4. The fourth result of the atoning death of Jesus Christ is that
_because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ all believers in Him
are justified_. We read in Rom. 5:9, +"Being now justified by His
blood."+ Justification is more than forgiveness. Forgiveness is
negative, the putting away of our sins, manifested in God's treating us
as if we never had sinned. Justification is positive, the reckoning of
us positively righteous, the imputing to us the perfect righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ, not merely the treating us as if we had never
sinned, but the reckoning us clothed upon with perfect righteousness.
By reason of Jesus Christ's atoning death there is an absolute
interchange of position between Jesus Christ and His people. In His
death upon the cross Jesus Christ took our place of condemnation before
God, and the moment we accept Him we step into His place of perfect
acceptance before God. As Paul puts it in 2 Cor. 5:21, +"Him who
knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him."+ Jesus Christ stepped into our place
in the curse and rejection, and the moment we accept Him we step into
His place of perfect acceptance, or as it has been expressed by another:

    "Near, so very near to God,
       Nearer I cannot be;
     For in the person of His Son,
       I'm just as near as He.

     Dear, so very dear to God,
       Dearer I cannot be;
     For in the person of His Son,
       I'm just as dear as He."

5. Furthermore, _because of the full atonement that Jesus Christ has
made by the shedding of His blood, by His atoning death on the cross,
every believer in Him can enter boldly into the holy place, into the
very presence of God_. As it is put in Heb. 10:19, 20, +"Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place+ (i.e.,
into the very presence of God) +by the blood of Jesus, by the way
which He dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that
is to say, His flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God;
let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith."+ Oh, how
some of us hesitate to come into the presence of God when we think of
the greatness and the number of our sins, and when we think how holy
God is, how the very seraphim (the "burning ones," burning in their
own intense holiness) veil their faces and feet in His presence and
unceasingly cry "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts" (Isa. 6:2, 3).
"God is Holy," we think. "Yes." "And I am a sinner." "Yes." But by the
wondrous offering of Christ "once for all" I am "perfected forever,"
and on the ground of that blood so precious and so sufficient unto God,
I can march boldly into the very presence of God, look up with unveiled
face into His face and call Him "Father," and pour out before Him every
desire of my heart. Oh, wondrous blood!

6. But this is not all. _Because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ
those who believe in Him shall ever live with Him._ How plainly Paul
puts it in 1 Thess. 5:10, +"Who died for us, that, whether we wake
or sleep,+ (i.e., at His coming), +we should live together with
Him."+

7. Further yet, _because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ,
all those who believe on Him receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance_. This is what we are told in Heb. 9:15, +"And for this
cause He is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken
place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the
first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of
the eternal inheritance."+ I wish I had time to dwell upon that.

8. There are other results of the atoning death of Jesus Christ as
regards the Devil and his angels, into which we have no time to go.
Just one more thing as regards the results of the atoning death of
Jesus Christ as it relates to the material universe. God teaches us
that _through the death of Jesus Christ the material universe_—"all
things, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven"—_is
reconciled unto God_. These are His words, +"For it was the good
pleasure of the Father that in Him+ (i.e., in Jesus Christ)
+should all the fullness dwell and, having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by
Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in Heaven"+
(Col. 1:19, 20). These are wonderful words. They tell us that the
death of Jesus Christ has a relation to the material universe, to
things on earth and to things in heaven, as well as to us and our
sins. The material universe has fallen away from God in connection
with sin (Rom. 8:20, R. V.; Gen. 3:18). Not only earth but heaven has
been invaded and polluted by sin (Eph. 6:12, R. V.; Heb. 9:23, 24).
Through the death of Jesus Christ this pollution is put away. Just
as the blood of the Old Testament sacrifice was taken into the most
holy place, the type of heaven, so Christ has taken the blood of the
better sacrifice into heaven itself and cleansed it. +"All things
. . . whether they be things in earth or things in heaven"+ are now
reconciled to God. +"The creation itself also shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children
of God"+ (Rom. 8:21). +"We look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness"+ (2 Peter 3:13). The atonement of
Jesus Christ has an immense sweep—far beyond the reach of our human
philosophies. We have just begun to understand what the blood that
was spilled on Calvary means. Sin is a far more awful, ruinous, and
far-reaching evil than we have been wont to think, but the blood of
Christ has a power and efficiency, the fullness of which only eternity
will disclose.




IX

THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINE OF PROTESTANTISM: JUSTIFICATION BY
FAITH

    "Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this
    man is proclaimed unto you, remission of sins: and by him every
    one that believeth is justified from all things, from which he
    could not be justified by the law of Moses."—Acts 13:38, 39.

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


These are two remarkable passages and this chapter will be occupied
with an exposition of them. Our subject this morning is, The
Distinctive Doctrine of Protestantism: Justification by Faith. The
doctrine of Justification by Faith was the doctrine that made the
Reformation. It is to-day one of the cardinal doctrines of the
Evangelical Faith. This doctrine, though first fully expounded and
constantly emphasised by Paul, runs throughout the entire Bible from
Genesis to Revelation. It is in the first book of the Bible, the book
of Genesis, that we read, +"Abraham believed in the Lord; and he
counted it to him for righteousness."+ (Gen. 15:6.) In these words
in the very first book in the Bible we have the germ of the whole
gracious and precious doctrine of Justification by Faith.


I. WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION?

The first thing for us to understand clearly is just what justification
is. It is at this point that many go astray in their study of this
great truth. There are two fundamentally different definitions of the
meaning of the words "justify" and "justification." The one definition
of Justify is, _to make righteous_, and of Justification, _the being
made righteous_. The other definition of "justify" is, _to reckon,
declare, or show to be righteous_, and of "justification," _the being
declared or reckoned righteous_. On these two different definitions
two different schools of thought depart from one another. Which is
the true definition? The way to settle the meaning of any word in the
Bible is by an examination of all the passages in which that word and
its derivatives is found. If any one will go through the Bible, the
Old Testament and the New, and carefully study all the passages in
which the word "justify" and its derivatives is found, he will discover
that _beyond a question, in Biblical usage, to "justify" means, not
to make righteous, but to reckon righteousness, declare righteous, or
show to be righteous. A man is justified before God when God reckons
him righteous._ This appears, for example, in the fourth chapter of
Romans, 2nd to 8th verses, R. V. +"For if Abraham was justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God. For what saith
the scripture? And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto
him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not
reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for
righteousness even as David also pronounced blessing upon the man unto
whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, saying, blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin."+ It is plain from
this passage, as from many other passages, that a man is justified when
God reckons him righteous, no matter what his principles of character
and of conduct may have been. We shall see later that justification
means more than mere forgiveness.


II. HOW ARE MEN JUSTIFIED?

We come now to the second question, and the all-important question,
How are men justified? In general there are two opposing views of
justification: one that men are justified by their own works, i.e.,
on the ground of something which they do themselves. This view may be
variously expressed. The good works that men speak of as a ground of
their justification may be their good moral conduct, or their keeping
the Golden Rule, or something of that sort. Or they may be works of
religion, such as doing penance, saying prayers, joining the church,
going to church, being baptised, or partaking of the Lord's Supper, or
the performance of some other religious duties. But these all amount
to the same thing: it is something that we ourselves do that brings
justification, some works of our own, some works that we do, are taken
as the ground of our justification. The other view of justification is
that we are justified, not by our own works in any sense, but entirely
by the work of another, i.e., by the atoning death of Jesus Christ on
the cross of Calvary, that our own works have nothing to do with our
justification, but that we are justified entirely by Christ's finished
and complete work of atonement, by His death for us on the Cross,
and that all that we have to do with our justification is merely to
appropriate it to ourselves by simply trusting in Him who made the
atonement. Which is the correct view? We shall go directly to the Bible
for the answer to this all-important question.

1. The first part of the answer we will find in Rom. 3:20,
+"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight: for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin."+ It
is here very plainly stated that we are not justified by keeping the
law of God, either the Mosaic law or any other law, and that the law is
given, not to bring us justification, but to bring us a knowledge of
sin, i.e., to bring us to the realisation of our need of justification
by grace. It is plainly stated here that _no man is justified by works
of the law_. The same great truth is found in Gal. 2:16: +"Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, save through faith
in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be
justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."+ Justification
by any works of our own is an impossibility. It is an impossibility
because to be justified by works of the law, or by anything we can
do, we must perfectly keep the law of God. The law demands perfect
obedience as a ground of justification. It says, +"Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of
the law to do them."+ (Gal. 3:10.). But not one of us has perfectly
kept the law of God, and the moment we break the law of God at any
point, justification by works becomes an absolute impossibility. So
as far as the law of God is concerned, every one of us is "under the
curse," and if we are justified at all we must find some other way of
justification than by keeping the law of God. God did not give man the
law with the expectation or intention that he would keep it and be
justified thereby. He gave them the law to produce conviction of sin,
to stop men's mouths, and to lead them to Christ. Or, as Paul puts
it in Rom. 3:19, 20, +"Now ye know that what things soever the law
saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of
God: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight: for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin."+ As plain
as these words of God are, strangely enough there are many to-day who
are preaching the law as a way of salvation. But when they so preach
they are preaching another way of salvation than that laid down in
God's own word.

2. The second part of the answer to the question as to how we are
justified we find in Rom. 3:24. +"Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."+ The word
translated "freely" in this passage means, _as a free gift_, and the
verse tells us that men are justified _as a free gift_ by God's grace
(i.e., God's unmerited favour) through (i.e., on the ground of) the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In other words, justification is
not on the ground of any desert there is in us, not on the ground of
anything that we have done, we are not justified by our own doing nor
by our own character. _Justification is a free gift that God bestows
absolutely without pay._ The channel through which this free gift is
bestowed is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We shall see later
that this means through the purchase price that Christ paid for our
redemption, i.e., the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary.

3. This leads us to the third part of the answer to the question, how
men are justified. We find this third part of the answer in Rom. 5:9,
+"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be
saved from the wrath of God through Him."+ Here we are told in so
many words that we are justified, or counted righteous "by," or more
literally, "in," _Christ's blood_, i.e., on the ground of Christ's
propitiatory death. We were all under the curse of the broken law of
God, for we had all broken it, but by dying in our stead on the cross
of Calvary our Lord Jesus +"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree."+ (Gal. 3:13.) Or, as Peter puts it in
1 Pet. 2:24, +"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon
the tree."+ Or as Paul puts it again in 2 Cor. 5:21, +"Him who
knew no sin he (God) made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him."+ We shall have occasion to come
back to this passage later. All that I wish you to notice in it at this
time is that it is on the ground of Jesus Christ becoming a substitute
for us, on the ground of His taking the place we deserved; on the
cross, that we are reckoned righteous. THE ONE AND ONLY GROUND OF
JUSTIFICATION IS THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. Of course, this
doctrine is entirely different from the teaching of Christian Science,
and entirely different from the teaching of much that is called New
Theology, and entirely different from the teaching of New Thought and
Theosophy, and entirely different from the teaching of Unitarianism,
but it is the teaching of the Word of God. We find this same teaching
clearly given by the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before our Lord
was born, in Isaiah 53:6, where he says, +"All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath
laid+ (literally, made to strike) +on him+ (i.e., on the Lord
Jesus) +the iniquity of us all."+ Get this point clearly settled
in your mind, that the _sole but all-sufficient ground upon which men
are justified before God is the shed blood of Jesus Christ, offered by
Jesus Christ as an atonement for our sins_ and _accepted by God the
Father as an all-sufficient atonement_.

4. The fourth part of the answer to the question how men are justified
we find in Rom. 3:26, +"For the showing, I say, of his+ (i.e.,
God's) +righteousness at this present season: that he+ (i.e.,
God) +might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath
faith in Jesus."+ Here we are taught that _men are justified on the
condition of faith in Jesus_. If possible, Rom. 4:5 makes this even
more plain, +"But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."+
Here the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle Paul, tells us that
to those who believe in Jesus their faith is counted for righteousness.
In other words, _faith makes ours the shed blood which is the ground
of justification, and we are justified when we believe_. All men
are _potentially_ justified by the death of Christ on the cross, but
believers are _actually_ justified by appropriating to themselves what
there is of justifying value in the shed blood of Christ by simple
faith in Him. In other words, the shed blood of Christ is the sole and
all-sufficient ground of justification: simple faith in Jesus Christ
who shed the blood is the sole condition of justification. _God asks
nothing else of the sinner than that he should believe on His Son,
Jesus Christ, and when he does thus believe he is justified._ When we
believe we are justified, whether we have any works to offer or not;
or, as Paul puts it in Rom. 3:28, +"We reckon therefore that a man is
justified by faith apart from works of the law."+ Or, as it is put
in the verse already quoted, Rom. 4:5, +"But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned
for righteousness."+ A man is justified entirely apart from works
of the law, i.e., he is justified on condition that he believes on
Jesus Christ, even though he has no works to offer as the ground upon
which to claim justification. When we cease to work for justification
and simply "_believe_ on Him who _justifieth the ungodly_," that faith
is reckoned to us for righteousness, and therefore we are counted
righteous. The question then is not, have you any works to offer, but
do you believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. Works have nothing to
do with justification except to hinder it when we trust in them. The
blood of Jesus Christ secures it, faith in Jesus Christ appropriates
it. We are justified _not by our_ works, _but by His work_. We are
justified upon the simple and single ground of His shed blood and upon
the simple and single condition of our faith in Him Who shed the blood.
So great is the pride of the natural heart that it is exceedingly
difficult to hold men to this doctrine of justification by faith alone
apart from works of law. We are constantly seeking to bring in our
works somewhere.

5. But we have not as yet completely answered the question of how men
are justified. There is another side to the truth and if our doctrine
of justification is to be complete and well-balanced, we must look at
that other side. You will find part of this other side in Rom. 10:8,
10, +"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt
believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation."+ God here tells us
that the faith that appropriates justification is a faith with the
heart, i.e., a faith that is not a mere notion, or opinion, but a faith
that leads to action along the line of that faith, and it is therefore
a faith that leads to open confession with the mouth, of Jesus as our
Lord. If some one has some kind of faith, or what he calls faith, that
does not lead him to an open confession of Christ, he has a faith that
does not justify; for it is not a faith with the heart. Our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself tells us that heart faith leads to open confession; for
He says in Matt. 12:34, +"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh."+ Faith in Jesus Christ in the heart leads inevitably
to a confession of Jesus as Lord with the mouth, and if you are not
confessing Jesus as your Lord with your mouth you have not justifying
faith and you are not justified.

6. The rest of the other side of the truth about being justified by
faith, you will find in Jas. 2:14, 18-24, R. V. +"What doth it
profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith but have not works?
Can that faith save him?"+ We see here that a faith that a man
merely says he has, but that does not lead to works along the line of
that which he claims to believe, cannot justify, but to go on, verses
18-24, +"Yea, a man will say, thou hast faith, and I have works,
show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show
thee my faith. Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the
devils also believe and shudder. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that
faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son, upon the altar? Thou
seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made
perfect+ (i.e., in the works to which Abraham's faith led, faith
had its perfect manifestation); +and the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him
for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Ye see that
by works a man is justified, and not only by faith."+ Some see in
these words a contradiction between the teaching of James and the
teaching of Paul, but there is no contradiction whatever. But James
here teaches us an important truth, namely, that _the faith that one
says he has, but which does not manifest itself in action along the
line of the faith professed, will not justify. The faith that justifies
is real faith that leads to action accordant with the truth we profess
to believe._ It is true that we are justified simply upon faith apart
from the works of the law, _but it must be a real faith_, otherwise it
does not justify. As some one has put it, "We are justified by faith
without works, but we are not justified by a faith that is without
works." The faith which God sees and upon which He justifies, leads
inevitably to works which men can see. God saw the faith of Abraham the
moment Abraham believed, and before there was any opportunity to work,
and counted that faith to Abraham for righteousness. But the faith that
God saw was a real faith and led Abraham to works that all could see,
and these works proved the reality of his faith. The proof to us of
the faith is the works, and we know that he that does not work has not
justifying faith.

We must not lose sight on the one side of the truth which Paul
emphasises against legalism, namely, that we are justified on the
single and simple condition of a real faith in Christ; but on the
other side we must not lose sight of the truth which James emphasises
against antinomianism, namely, that it is only a real faith that proves
its genuineness by works, that justifies. To the legalist who is
seeking to _do_ something to merit justification we must say, +"Stop
working and believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly"+ (Rom. 4:5).
To the antinomian, i.e., to the one who thinks he can live a lawless,
careless, unseparated, sinful life and still be justified, the one who
boasts that he has faith and is justified by it, but who does not show
his faith by his works, we must say, "What doth it profit, if a man
_say_ he have faith, but have not works? Can _that_ faith save him?"
(Jas. 2:14, R. V.) We are justified by faith alone, but we are not
justified by a faith that is alone, but a faith that is accompanied by
works.


III. THE EXTENT OF JUSTIFICATION

I think we have made it plain just how one is justified, and now we
come to another question and that is, the extent of justification.
To what extent is a man who believes in the Lord Jesus justified?
This question is very plainly answered and wonderfully answered,
and gloriously answered in Acts 13:38, 39, +"Be it known unto you
therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you
remission of sins: and by him every one that believeth is justified
from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of
Moses."+ These words very plainly declare to us that every believer
in Jesus Christ is justified "_from all things_." In other words,
the old account against the believer is all wiped out. No matter how
bad and how black the account is, the moment a man believes in Jesus
Christ, the account is wiped out. God has absolutely nothing which
He reckons against the one who believes in Jesus Christ. Even though
he is still a very imperfect believer, a very young man and immature
Christian, he is perfectly justified. As Paul puts it in Rom. 8:1,
+"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus."+ Or, as he puts it further down in the chapter, verses 33,
34, +"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus
that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."+ If the
vilest murderer or sinner of any kind on earth should come in here
this morning and right here now, hearing the gospel of God's grace,
should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, put confidence in Him as his
Saviour, and accept Him as such, surrendering to Him and confessing Him
as His Lord, the moment he did it every sin he ever committed would be
blotted out and his record would be as white in God's sight as that of
the purest angel in heaven. God has absolutely nothing that He reckons
against the believer in Jesus Christ. But even that is not all. Paul
goes even beyond this in 2 Cor. 5:21, +"He who knew no sin he (God)
made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of
God in him."+ Here we are explicitly told that the believer in Jesus
Christ is made the righteousness of God in Christ. In Phil. 3:9, R. V.
we are told that when one is in Christ he has a righteousness not of
his own, but a "_righteousness which is of God upon faith_." In other
words, there is an absolute interchange of positions between Christ and
the justified believer. Christ took our place, the place of the curse
on the cross (Gal. 3:13). He was "made to be sin on our behalf" (2
Cor. 5:21). God reckoned Him a sinner and dealt with Him as a sinner,
so that in the sinner's place, as He died, He cried, +"My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?"+ And when we are justified we step
into His place, the place of perfect acceptance before God, or to use
the exact words of Scripture, we +"Become the righteousness of God
in him."+ To be justified is more than to be forgiven! Forgiveness
is negative, the putting away of sin; Justification is positive, the
reckoning of positive and perfect righteousness to the one justified.
Jesus Christ is so united to the believer in Him that God reckons our
sins to Him. The believer, on the other hand, is so united to Christ
that God reckons His righteousness to us. God sees us, not as we are in
ourselves, but as we are in Him and reckons us as righteous as He is.
When Christ's work _in_ us is completed we shall be in actual fact what
we are already in God's reckoning, but _the moment one believes_, as
far as God's reckoning is concerned, he is as absolutely perfect as he
ever shall be. Our present standing before God is absolutely perfect,
though our present state may be very imperfect. To use again the
familiar couplet:

    "Near, so very near to God,
       Nearer I cannot be;
     For in the person of His Son,
       I am just as near as He.

     Dear, so very dear to God,
       Dearer I cannot be;
     For in the person of His Son,
       I am just as dear as He."


IV. THE TIME OF JUSTIFICATION

There remains one question still to consider, though we have really
answered it in what has already been said, and that is, the time of
justification, or when a believer is justified. When is a believer
justified? This question is answered plainly in one of our texts, Acts
13:39, +"And by him every one that believeth is justified from all
things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses."+
What I wish you to notice particularly now in this verse is the word
_Is_, "Everyone that believeth _is_ justified from all things." This
answers plainly the question as to when a believer is justified. In
Christ Jesus every believer in Him is justified from all things _the
moment he believes_. The moment a man believes in Jesus Christ that
moment he becomes united to Christ, and that moment God reckons the
righteousness of God to him. I repeat again, if the vilest murderer
or sinner of any kind in the world should come into this room this
morning while I am preaching and should here and now believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the moment that he did it, not only would every sin
he ever committed be blotted out, but all the perfect righteousness
of God in Christ would be put to his account, and his standing before
God would be as perfect as it will be when he has been in heaven ten
million years. Let me repeat to you again the incident I told you one
Sunday night some weeks ago. I was preaching one Sunday morning in the
Moody church in Chicago on Rom. 8:1, +"There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,"+ and in the course
of my preaching I said, "If the vilest woman there is in Chicago should
come into the Chicago Avenue church this morning, and should here and
now accept Jesus Christ as her Saviour, the moment she did it every
sin she ever committed would be blotted out and her record would be as
white in God's sight as that of the purest woman in the room." Unknown
to me, one of the members of my congregation that very morning had gone
down into a low den of iniquity near the river and had invited a woman
who was an outcast to come and hear me preach. The woman replied, "I
never go to church. Church is not for the likes of me. I would not be
welcome at the church if I did go." The woman who was a saint replied,
"You would be welcome at our church," which, thank God, was true. But,
"No," the woman urged, "it would not do for me to go to church, church
is not for the likes of me." But the woman who was a saint urged the
woman who was a sinner to go. She offered to accompany her to the
church, but the other said, "No, that would never do. The policemen
know me and the boys on the street know me and sometimes throw stones
at me, and if they saw you going up the street with me they would think
you such as I am." But the woman who was a saint had the Spirit of
the Master and said, "I don't care what they think of me. If you will
accompany me to hear Mr. Torrey preach I will go along with you." The
other woman refused. But the saved woman was so insistent that the
woman who was an outcast finally said, "If you will go up the street a
few steps ahead I will follow you up the street." So up La Salle Avenue
they came, the woman who was a saint a few steps ahead and the woman
who was a sinner a few steps behind. Block after block they came until
they reached the corner of La Salle and Chicago Avenues. The woman who
was a saint entered the tower door at the corner, went up the steps,
entered the church, and the woman who was a sinner followed her. On
reaching the door the woman who was a sinner looked in, saw a vacant
seat under the gallery in the very last row at the back, and slipped
into it, and scarcely had she taken the seat when I made the remark
that I just quoted, "If the vilest woman there is in Chicago should
come into the Chicago Avenue church this morning and should here and
now accept Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour, the moment she did it
every sin she ever committed would be blotted out and her record would
be as white in God's sight as that of the purest woman in the room." My
words went floating down over the audience and dropped into the heart
of the woman who was a sinner. She believed it, she believed that Jesus
died for her, she believed that by the shedding of His blood she could
be saved, she believed, and found pardon and peace and justification
then and there. And when the meeting was over she came up the aisle
to the front as I stepped down from the pulpit, tears streaming down
her face, and thanked me for the blessing that she had received. And I
repeat it here this morning, not knowing who may be here, not knowing
what may be the secret life of any one of you who is here, not knowing
what may be the sins that may be hidden in your heart, if the vilest
man or woman on earth should come into the Church of the Open Door this
morning and should here and now put their trust in Jesus Christ, the
moment you did it every sin you ever committed would be blotted out and
in an instant your record would be as white in God's sight, not only as
that of the purest woman in the room, but as that of the purest angel
in heaven, and not only that, but all the perfect righteousness of God
that clothed our Lord Jesus Christ would be put to your account and you
would be just as near and just as dear to God as the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself is. That is the doctrine of justification by faith. Wondrous
doctrine! Glorious doctrine!




X

THE NEW BIRTH

    "Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto
    thee, except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of
    God. . . . Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
    except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
    into the kingdom of God."—John 3:3, 5.


Our subject in this chapter is Regeneration, or the New Birth. I spoke
on this subject a year or so ago, but I am going to treat it in an
entirely different way in this chapter and furthermore no course of
sermons on the Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith would be
complete without a sermon on the New Birth. What we have to say in this
chapter will come under four heads: I. What Is the New Birth? II. The
Results of the New Birth, III. The Necessity of the New Birth, IV. How
One Is Born Again.


I. WHAT IS THE NEW BIRTH?

The first question that confronts us is, _What is the New Birth?_
Many speak of the New Birth or of Regeneration without any definite
conception of just what the New Birth is, and so are never sure
whether they themselves have been born again or not.

As plain and clear a definition of the New Birth as we can find in
the Word of God is given in 2 Pet. 1:4, +"Whereby he hath granted
unto us his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these
ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the
corruption that is in the world by lust."+ From these words of
Peter it is evident that the New Birth is the impartation to the one
who is born again, of a new nature, God's own nature. By being born
again we become actual partakers of the Divine nature. We are all born
into this world with a corrupted intellectual and moral nature. The
natural man, or unregenerate man, is intellectually blind, blind to
the truth of God, "the things of the Spirit" he cannot see or receive.
+"They are foolishness unto him, and he cannot know them"+ (1 Cor.
2:14). His affections are corrupt, he loves the things he ought to
hate and hates the things he ought to love. A definite description of
the affections and tastes and desires of the unregenerate man is found
in Gal. 5:19, 20, 21. He is also perverse in his will, as Paul puts
it in Rom. 8:7, +"The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."+ This
state of intellectual spiritual blindness and moral corruption is the
condition of every unregenerate man. No matter how cultured or refined
or moral he may be outwardly, his inner life is radically wrong. In
the New Birth God imparts to the one who is born again His own wise and
holy nature, a nature that thinks as God thinks (+"He is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him"+—Col. 3:10); he
feels as God feels, loves the things that God loves, hates the things
that God hates, wills as God wills (1 John 3:14; 4:7, 8). It is evident
then that regeneration is a deep thorough-going change in the deepest
springs of thought, feeling and action. A change so thorough-going that
Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:17, +"If any man is in Christ, he is a new
creature+ (more exactly, Creation): +the old things are passed
away; behold they are become new."+ To use the inspired language of
the Apostle John, regeneration is a passing "out of death into life."
John says in 1 John 3:14, +"We know that we have passed out of death
into life."+ _Until we are thus born again we are in a condition of
moral and spiritual death._ When we are born again we are "quickened"
(or made alive), we who "were dead through our trespasses and sins."
(Eph. 2:1). There is a profound contrast between regeneration and mere
conversion. Conversion is an outward thing, a turning around. One is
faced the wrong way, faced away from God; he turns around and faces
toward God. That is conversion. But regeneration is not a mere outward
change, but a thorough-going change in the deepest depths of one's
being, that leads to a genuine conversion or genuine outward change.
Many an apparently thorough conversion is a temporary thing because
it did not go deep enough, but regeneration is a permanent thing. When
God imparts His nature to a man, that nature abides in the man. When he
is born again he cannot be unborn, or as John puts it in 1 John 3:9,
+"Whosoever is begotten of God doth no sin, because his (God's) seed
abideth in him."+ A man may be converted a thousand times, he can be
regenerated but once.


II. RESULTS OF THE NEW BIRTH

We now come to the second question, closely related to the first, and
it will help us to understand even more clearly what the New Birth is.
_What are the results that follow when one is born again?_ They are
numerous.

1. The first of these results is found in 1 Cor. 6:19, where we read:
+"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have from God?"+ These words were spoken to
believers, to regenerated men, and they plainly tell us that _when one
is born again, the Holy Spirit comes to take up His permanent dwelling
in the man and that the man who is born again thus becomes a temple of
the Holy Spirit_. It is true that we may not always be conscious of
this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nevertheless He dwells in us.

2. The second result of the New Birth is found in Rom. 8:2-4, where we
read: +"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me
free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."+ In the 7th chapter
of Romans, we have a picture of the man who is awakened by the law of
God which he approves after the inward man, which he sees "is holy and
just and good," which he tries to keep in his own strength, but utterly
fails to keep, until at last he comes to an end of himself and is
filled with despair of ever being able to keep the law of God outside
of him, because of the law of sin and death inside him, which law of
sin and death says, "the good which you would do you cannot do, and the
evil which you hate and would not do, you must keep on doing." When a
man is thus brought to a consciousness of his own utter helplessness
and turns to God and accepts Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus
Christ gives to him who dwells in him, sets him free from this law
of sin and death so that by the power of the indwelling Spirit he is
enabled to obey the law of God and to get the victory over the evil
things that he would not do and to do the things which he would do.
Whereas in a man merely awakened by the law of God, "the law of sin and
death" gets a perpetual victory, in a regenerate man, the "law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" gets the perpetual victory. Doubtless
many of you here to-day are still struggling to keep the law of God and
utterly failing in your attempt to do so. What you need is to be born
again, and thus have the Holy Spirit come to dwell in you, and then to
walk by the Spirit, and by the power of this indwelling Spirit to get
victory every day and hour over the law of sin and death that wars in
your members against the law of God.

3. The third result of the New Birth is found in Rom. 12:2, where we
read, +"And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind."+ From this it appears
that _the third result of the New Birth is in outward transformation
of our lives by the inward renewing of our minds so that we no longer
are fashioned according to this world_. Of course the regenerated man
does not at once manifest perfectly that of which he has the germ in
himself. He begins the new life just as we begin our natural lives,
as a babe, and he must grow. As Peter puts it in 1 Pet. 2:2, we must
+"As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that we
may grow thereby."+ This new life must be fed and developed. It is
irrational, and unwarranted by the Word of God, to expect one who has
just been born again, and who is consequently a babe in Christ, to
be as perfect in character as one who was born years ago and who has
grown to maturity. But the moment we are born again we receive in germ
all the moral perfection that is to be ours when this germ is fully
developed within us and comes to its perfect manifestation.

4. The fourth result of the New Birth we find in 1 John 5:1,
+"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of
God."+ _The fourth result of being born again is that the
regenerated man believes that Jesus is the Christ._ Of course this
faith that comes from the New Birth is a _real faith_. The faith that
John here speaks of is not a faith that is a mere opinion, but that
real faith that Jesus is the anointed of God that leads us to enthrone
Jesus as King in our lives. If you are not making Jesus King in your
heart and life you have not been born again. But if you are making
Jesus King in your heart and life and absolute ruler of your thoughts
and conduct, then you are born again, for +"Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is Christ is begotten of God."+

5. The fifth result of being born again we find three verses further
down in this same chapter, 1 John 5:4: +"For whatsoever is begotten
of God overcometh the world."+ The _fifth result of being born of
God is that the one thus born again overcomes the world_. The world is
at variance with God, +"The whole world lieth in the Evil One"+
(1 John 5:19). It is under the dominion of the Evil One, ruled by
his ambitions and ideas. The world is at variance with God in its
commercial life, social life, domestic life, and all the phases of
intellectual life and educational life, and is constantly exercising a
power over each of us to draw us into disobedience to God (see 1 John
5:3); but the one born of God by the power of the faith that comes
through being born again, gets the victory over the world. He gets the
victory over the world's ideas, purposes, plans, ambitions. He gets the
victory over the world in his personal life, domestic life, commercial
life, political life, intellectual life every day.

6. The sixth result of being born of God is found in 1 John 3:9, R.
V., +"Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; because his+
(i.e., God's) +seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin+ (rather,
cannot be sinning), +because he is begotten of God."+ _The sixth
result, then, of being born of God is that in the one born of God the
seed of God remains; and, therefore, the one born of God is not making
a practice of sin._ Some one will ask, just what does this mean? It
means exactly what it says, if we look carefully at the exact force of
the words used and give due emphasis to the tense of the verbs used.
First of all, let us look at the exact force of the word translated
"Sin." What does sin mean? John himself has been careful to define it
in the verse itself and in the context in which our verse is found.
The first thing that is evident from 1 John 3:9 is that sin is _a
something done_, not merely a something left undone, and not merely
sinful thoughts and desires. What kind of a something done it is
defined five verses back in verse 4. +"Everyone that doeth sin doeth
also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness."+ Sin here by John's own
definition (and we have no right to bring the definition of any one
else into the verse we are studying) is "_lawlessness_," i.e., such
acts as reveal conscious disregard for the will of God as revealed
in His word. So we see that _sin, as used here, means, a conscious
intentional violation of the law of God. The regenerate man will not be
doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God._ He may do
that which is contrary to God's will, but which he does not know to be
contrary to God's will. It is not therefore "lawlessness." Perhaps he
ought to have known that it was contrary to God's will and when he is
led to see that it is, he will confess his guilt to God. Furthermore,
we should note the tense of the verb used in this verse. It is the
_present tense which denotes progressive or continuous action_. A
literal translation of the passage would be, "Everyone begotten out of
God, _sin is not doing_, because His (God's) seed in him is remaining;
and he cannot be sinning, because out of God he is begotten." It is
not taught here that one born of God never sins in a single act, but
it is taught that he is not going on sinning, not making a practice of
sin. Of what he is making a practice appears in 1 John 2:29, +"If
ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth
righteousness is begotten of him."+ _The result, then, of being born
again is that the one begotten again does not go on consciously day
after day doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God,
but he does make a practice of "doing righteousness," i.e., doing that
which is conformed to the will of God as revealed in His Word._ The new
nature imparted in regeneration renders the continuous practice of sin
impossible and renders the practice of righteousness inevitable.

7. The seventh result of the New Birth is found in 1 John 3:14, R.
V., +"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death."+ _The
seventh result of being born again is that we love the brethren._ We
should note carefully what the thought of "love" is as brought out in
the context. It is not love as a mere sentiment. It is love in that
higher and deeper sense of a desire for and delight in the welfare of
others, the sort of love that leads us to make sacrifices for those we
love, or as we read further down in this same chapter, verses 16-18,
+"Hereby know we the love of God, because he laid down his life for
us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath
this world's goods, and behold his brother in need, and shutteth up his
compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little
children, let us not love in word neither with the tongue; but in deed
and truth."+ This makes it very evident that what the Holy Spirit
here means by love is not a mere affection or fondness for others,
not a mere delight in their society; it means that deep and genuine
interest in their welfare that leads us to go down into our pockets
when they are in need and supply their need; it leads us to sacrifice
our own interest for the sake of their interests even to the point of
laying down our lives for them. _The objects of this love are "the
brethren,"_ i.e., all those who are begotten of God, as we read in 1
John 5:1, +"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten
of God: and whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is
begotten of him."+ _Any man who is born again will love every other
man who is begotten of God._ The other one who is begotten of God
may be an American or a German, or an Englishman, or a <DW64>, or a
Chinaman, or an Indian. He may be educated or uneducated; but he is a
child of God and a brother, and as such if you are born of God, he will
be the object of your love. This is a searching test of whether or not
one is born of God.

8. The final result of being born of God that we will consider this
morning is found in 2 Cor. 5:17, R. V., +"Wherefore if any man is
in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): the old things are passed
away, behold, they are become new."+ _The ninth result of being born
again_, including all the other results that we have been considering,
_is that in the regenerate man, old things are passed away, they are
become new. In the place of the old ideas, old affection, old purposes,
old choices, are new ideas, new affections, new purposes, new choices._


III. THE NECESSITY OF THE NEW BIRTH

For just a few moments let us look at the necessity of the New Birth.
This is set forth in one of our texts and in the verses following, 1
John 3:5, 6: +"Verily, Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit."+ We see here that the New Birth is a universal
necessity, and we see why it is a necessity. The words translated,
"Except a man be born," etc. more literally translated would be, "_If
any man_ be not born out of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God." And why he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God the
following verse says, and that is because all that one gets by natural
generation is "Flesh" and _the Kingdom of God is spiritual_, and,
therefore, to enter it one must be born of the Spirit. No matter how
refined and intelligent our ancestry, no matter how godly our fathers
and mothers may have been, we do not get the Holy Spirit from them. All
we get is "flesh." It may be refined flesh, moral flesh, upright and
very attractive flesh, but it is flesh; and "they that are in the flesh
cannot please God," nor "inherit the kingdom of God." The flesh is
incapable of improvement. No more "can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots" than can a man who is unregenerate attain to
a life pleasing to God. (See Jer. 13:23.) He must be born again. _The
necessity is also absolute and imperative_, so absolute and imperative
that Jesus said to Nicodemus, though he was a man of most exemplary
morality, a man of high moral and spiritual education, a teacher of
Israel, a leader in the religious life of Israel, +"You must be born
again."+ (John 3:7.) Nothing else will take the place of the New
Birth. Men are trying to substitute education, morality, religion,
orthodoxy, baptism, outward reform, "new thought," "theosophy" or the
knowledge of God, and other such things, for the New Birth; but none
of these, or all of them together, are sufficient, you _must_ be born
again. There is absolutely no exception to this rule. As Jesus says in
John 3:3, +"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except any man be born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God."+


IV. HOW CAN ONE BE BORN AGAIN?

The question, therefore, confronts each one of you, Have you been born
again? There is no more important question that you could possibly
face. Face it in these pages and don't dodge it. And that brings us to
the immediately practical question, How are men born again, or what
must any one here to-day, who is not born again, do in order to be born
again right here this morning? This question also is plainly answered
in the Word of God; and I can give you the answer in a very few
minutes and give it so that any one here can understand it. There are
three parts to the answer.

1. The first part of the answer you will find in Titus 3:4, +"Not
by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according
to his mercy, he+ (i.e., God) +saved us through the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."+ These words tell
us very plainly that _it is God who regenerates and that He does it
through the power of His Holy Spirit_. The same thought is found in
our text, John 3:5, 6: +"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit."+ _Regeneration is God's
work; wrought by Him by the power of His Holy Spirit working in the
mind, feelings and will of the one born again_, in your heart and mine.

2. Some one might infer from the fact that regeneration is God's work,
which He works in our hearts by His Holy Spirit, that all we have to do
is to wait until God sees fit to work; but we see plainly from other
passages in the Word that this is not true. We are taught the second
thing about how regeneration is wrought in James 1:18, +"Of His own
will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a
kind of first fruits of His creatures."+ _Here we are taught that
the Word of Truth, the Word of God, is the instrument that God uses
in regeneration._ The same thought is found in 1 Pet. 1:23, +"Having
been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
through the word of God, which liveth and abideth."+ And Paul gives
voice to the same great thought in 1 Cor. 4:15, where he says: +"For
though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not
many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel."+
From these passages it is evident that _the New Birth is wrought by
God through the instrumentality of His Word_. It is God who works it
through the power of His Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit works through
the Word, and thus God begets men anew by "The Word of Truth," or the
"Word of God," i.e., the Word which is preached by "the Gospel." So
then, if you or I wish to be born again we should get in contact with
the Word of God by studying the Bible and asking God that the Holy
Spirit may make that Word which we are studying a living thing in our
own hearts. We should get in contact especially with that part of God's
Word which is found in the Gospel of John, for John tells us in John
20:31 that +"These+ (i.e., these things in the Gospel of John)
+are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of
God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."+ If we wish
to see others born again we should bring the Word of God to bear upon
their minds and hearts either by preaching the Word, or by teaching
it, or in personal work; and we should look to the Holy Spirit to
quicken that Word in the hearts of men as we sow it in their hearts,
and in this way the New Birth will result.

3. The third and last and decisive truth as to how we are born again
is found in Gal. 3:26 and John 1:12, 13. In Gal. 3:26 we read, +"For
ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus."+ This
tells us plainly that _we become born again through putting our faith
in Christ Jesus_. This is even more explicitly stated in John 1:12,
13: +"But as many as received him+ (i.e. the Lord Jesus), +to
them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that
believe on His name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."+ Here we are
told that _the decisive thing in our becoming children of God is that
we believe in, or receive, Jesus Christ_. Any one who receives Jesus
Christ as his personal Saviour and trusts God to forgive him because
Jesus Christ died in his place and receives him as his Lord and King,
and surrenders his thoughts to His absolute control as his Lord and his
life to His absolute control as his King and confesses Jesus Christ
as Lord before the world, such a one immediately becomes a child of
God, is immediately born again, is immediately made a partaker of the
Divine nature. The same thought is illustrated by Jesus Himself in John
3:14, 15, where our Lord Jesus is recorded as saying, +"And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him may have eternal life."+
The reference is to the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament
when they were bitten by fiery serpents. As the dying Israelite with
the poison of the fiery serpent coursing through his veins, was saved
by simply looking at the brazen serpent on the pole, a serpent made
in the likeness of the one that had bitten him, and had new life
coursing through his veins as soon as he looked, so we dying men, with
the poison of sin coursing through our veins, are saved by looking at
Jesus Christ "Made in the likeness of sinful flesh," lifted up on the
cross, and have new life coursing through our veins the moment we look.
All we have to do with our regeneration is to receive Christ as He is
presented to us in the Word, by which we are born again. Therefore,
+"If any man be in Christ he is a new creature (creation). The old
things are passed away, behold all things are become new."+

In the New Birth the Word of God is the seed; the human heart is the
soil; the preacher of the Word is the sower, and drops the seed of the
Word of God into the soil of the human heart; God by His Spirit opens
the heart to receive the seed (Acts 16:14); the hearer believes; the
Spirit quickens the seed into life in the receptive heart; the heart
closes around the seed by faith; the new nature, the Divine Nature
springs up out of the Divine Word; the believer is "born again,"
"created anew," "made alive," "passed out of death into life."

Conclusion.

Have you been born again? I put this question to every man and woman
here. I do not ask you whether you are a church member. I do not ask
if you have been baptised. I do not ask, have you gone regularly to
the communion. I do not ask, have you turned over a new leaf. I do
not ask, are you an amiable, cultured, intelligent, moral, socially
delightful gentleman or lady. I _ask you, have you been born again_?
If not, you are outside of the Kingdom of God and you are bound for an
everlasting hell unless you are born again. But if you are not already
born again you may be born again to-day, you may be born again before
you leave this building, you may be born again right now; for the Word
of God says, +"As many as received him, to them gave he the right to
become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which
were born, not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God."+ And it says again in Rom. 10:9, 10, +"If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and shalt believe in thy heart that God
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation."+ These verses make it plain as day just what you
must do right here and now to become a child of God. It is up to you to
say whether or not you will do it.




XI

SANCTIFICATION

    "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your
    spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at
    the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."—1 Thess. 5:23.


Our subject now before us is Sanctification. The subject is one of
great importance. Not only is there much ignorance and error and
misconception about the subject, but there is, strange to say, most
bitter controversy over the subject. So bitter is the controversy
over the subject that some years ago there were two rival "holiness
conventions" held at the same time in Chicago at different hours of
the day, in the same church, and the animosity between these two
companies of "holiness brethren" was so intense that on one occasion
they came near to having blows at the altar of the church. The
subject of Sanctification has given rise to such bitterness and such
extravagances in some quarters that many even dread the use of the word
"Sanctification." But the word is not only a Bible word, but a deeply
significant word, a word full of precious meaning; and it would not be
the part of wisdom on our part to give up this good Bible word simply
because the word is so often abused. On one occasion a man said to me
in the Bible Institute of Chicago, "Are you not afraid of holiness?" Of
course what the man meant was, was I not afraid of certain phases of
"holiness doctrine" so-called. I replied that I was not nearly as much
afraid of holiness as I was of unholiness. The teaching of the Bible on
the subject is very plain and very precious. What we have to say this
morning will come under three headings. First, What Sanctification Is:
2. How to be Sanctified; 3. When Sanctification Takes Place.


I. WHAT SANCTIFICATION IS

First, then, let us consider what Sanctification is.

1. In the first place let me make it clear that, _Sanctification is not
the "Baptism with the Holy Spirit."_ The two are constantly confused.
There is an intimate relation between the two, but they are not at
all one and the same thing; and only confusion and misconception can
arise from confounding two experiences which God keeps separate.
That Sanctification is not the baptism with the Holy Spirit and that
the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not Sanctification, will become
clear as we proceed and find out from a study of the Bible just what
Sanctification is.

2. In the second place, let me say that _Sanctification is not the
eradication of the carnal nature_. We will see this when we come to
examine God's definition of Sanctification; for God has very clearly
defined what Sanctification is and when it takes place. Those who
teach "the eradication of the carnal nature" are grasping after a
great and precious truth, but they have expressed that truth in a very
inaccurate, unfortunate, and unscriptural way, and this way of stating
it leads to grave misapprehensions and errors and abuses. The whole
controversy about "the eradication of the carnal nature" arises from
a misapprehension and from using terms for which there is no warrant
in the Bible. The Bible nowhere speaks about "the carnal nature," and
so certainly not about "the eradication of the carnal nature." There
is such a thing as a carnal nature, but it is not a material thing,
not a substance, not a something that can be eradicated as you pull a
tooth or remove the vermiform appendix. "A carnal nature" is a nature
controlled by the flesh. Certainly it is a believer's privilege not to
have his nature governed by the flesh. Our nature should be and may
be under the control of the Holy Spirit, and then it is not a carnal
nature; but one nature has not been eradicated and another nature put
in its place, but our nature is taken out from under the control of
the flesh and put under the control of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore,
while it is our privilege to have our nature under the control of the
Holy Spirit and delivered from the control of the flesh, _we still
have "the flesh,"_ and shall have the flesh as long as we are in this
body. But if we "walk by the Spirit" we do not "fulfil the lusts of
the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). The 8th chapter of Romans describes the life
of victory, just as the 7th chapter, 9-24 verse describes the life of
defeat, when men are "_carnal_, sold under sin," but it is in the 8th
chapter where life "in the Spirit" is described (Rom. 8:9) that we are
told that we _still have_ the flesh, _but that it is our privilege not_
to "live _after the flesh_," but "by the Spirit," to "put to death the
deeds of the body." So we see that the body is there, but in the power
of the Spirit we do, day by day and (if we live up to our privilege)
every day and every hour and every minute, continuously "put to death
the deeds of the body."

3. So much as to what Sanctification is not. We will see exactly what
it is if we look at God's definition of Sanctification. We shall find
that the word Sanctification is used in the Bible in a two-fold sense.

(1) The first meaning of Sanctification we will find in Lev. 8:10-12,
+"And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and
all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof
upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its
vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them. And he poured
of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify
him."+ Now it is perfectly clear in this passage that to _sanctify
means to separate or set apart for God, and that Sanctification is
the process of setting apart or state of being set apart for God_.
The word Sanctify is used in this sense over and over again. Another
illustration is Lev. 27:14, 17. +"And when a man shall sanctify his
house to be holy unto God, then the priest shall estimate it, whether
it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand
. . . and if a man shall sanctify unto Jehovah part of a field of his
possession, then the estimation shall be according to the sowing
thereof."+ Here again it is plain that to sanctify means to separate
or set apart for God, and that Sanctification is the process of setting
apart or state of being set apart for God. Still another illustration
of this same use of the word sanctify is found in Num. 8:17, +"For
all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and
beast: on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt
I sanctified them for myself."+ This, of course, does not mean that
God, at the time that He smote the firstborn in Egypt, eradicated the
carnal nature from the first-born of Israel. It does mean that _He
set apart all the first-born to be peculiarly His own_. Another very
suggestive illustration of the same usage of the word is found in the
case of Jeremiah as stated by himself in Jer. 1:4, 5, +"Now the word
of Jehovah came unto me saying, before I formed thee in the belly I
knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee: I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."+ This
plainly means that before his birth God _set Jeremiah apart for
Himself_. There would still be much imperfection and infirmity in
him, but he was set apart for God. Another suggestive illustration
of the same use of the word Sanctify is found in Matt. 23:27, in the
words of our Lord Jesus Himself: +"Ye fools and blind; for which is
greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?"+
But perhaps the most striking illustration of all is in what our Lord
says about His own sanctification in John 17:19, +"And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in
truth."+ Here the plain meaning is that our Lord Jesus set Himself
apart for this work for God and He did it in order that believers might
be set apart for God "in truth," or "in the truth." This is the most
frequent use of the word sanctify. There are numerous illustrations of
it in the Bible. So _to sanctify means to separate or set apart for
God; and Sanctification is the process of setting apart or the state of
being set apart for God_. This is the primary meaning of the words.

(2) But the word as used in the Bible has also a secondary
signification closely related to this primary meaning. An illustration
of this secondary meaning will be found in II Chron. 29:5, +"Hear me,
ye Levites; now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah,
the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the
holy place."+ Bearing in mind the "parallelism" which is the chief
characteristic of Hebrew poetry, it is plain that to sanctify here is
synonymous with the +"Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy
places"+ found in the last part of the verse. So _to sanctify_ here
_means to separate from ceremonial or moral defilement, to cleanse;
and Sanctification is the process of separating, or state of being
separated from ceremonial or moral defilement_. The same use of the
word is found in Lev. 11:44, +"For I am Jehovah thy God: sanctify
yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye
defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moveth upon
the earth."+ Here again it is clear that "sanctify yourselves" is
synonymous with "be ye holy" and is contrasted with "defile yourselves"
and means to separate from ceremonial or moral defilement, to cleanse;
and Sanctification is the process of separating or state of being
separated from ceremonial or moral defilement. The same meaning of
sanctification is found in the New Testament in I Thess. 5:23, +"And
the God of Peace, Himself sanctify you wholly and may your Spirit and
soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ."+ Here we see the close relation between
entire sanctification and _preserving wholly, without blame_, and to
sanctify here clearly means to separate from moral defilement, and
sanctification here again is the process of separating or state of
being separated from moral defilement. The same thing is evident from
the 4th chapter of this same epistle in the 7th verse (I Thess. 4:7),
+"For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification."+
Our "Sanctification" is here set in direct contrast with "uncleanness,"
and hence it is evident that sanctification here means the state of
being separated from all moral defilement. The same thing is evident
from the 3rd verse of this same chapter, +"For this is the will of
God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication."+
Here again it is evident that Sanctification means separation from
impurity or moral defilement. The two meanings, then, of Sanctification
are: the process of separating or setting apart, or state of being
separated or set apart, for God; and the process of separating or state
of being separated from ceremonial or moral defilement. These two
meanings of the word are closely allied—one cannot be truly separated
to God without being separated from sin.


II. HOW MEN ARE SANCTIFIED

We come now to the second question, _How are men sanctified?_ There are
several parts to the complete answer of this question.

1. The first part of the answer is found in our text of this chapter,
I Thess. 5:23, +"And the God of Peace himself sanctify you wholly
and may your Spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without
blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."+ It appears from
this verse that _God sanctifies men, and Sanctification is God's work_.
Both the separation of men from sin and their separation unto God,
is God's work. As it was God who in the old dispensation set apart
the first-born of Israel unto Himself, so it is God who in the new
dispensation sets apart the believer unto Himself and separates him
from sin. Sanctification is primarily not our work but God's.

2. The second part of the answer is found in Eph. 5:25, 26,
+"Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed
it by the washing of water by the word."+ Here we are taught that
_Christ sanctifies the church_ and that _Sanctification is Christ's
work_. The question, of course, arises, in what sense does Christ
sanctify the church. The answer is found in Heb. 10:10, +"By which
will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all."+ Here it appears that Jesus Christ sanctifies
the church by giving Himself up a sacrifice for it. By thus giving
Himself up for it as a sacrifice Christ sets the Church apart for God.
Just as the blood of the Passover Lamb in the 11th and 12th chapters
of Exodus set a difference between Israel and the Egyptians, so our
Lord Jesus by the offering of His own body has forever put a difference
between the believer in Himself and the world, and has forever set
every believer apart for God. The Cross of Christ stands between the
believer and the world. The shed blood of Christ separates the believer
from the world, purchases him to God and thus makes him to belong to
God.

3. The third part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in 2 Thess. 2:13 and in other passages, +"But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."+ It appears
from this passage, as from other passages in the Bible, that _it is
the Holy Spirit who sanctifies the believer_, and that _Sanctification
is the Holy Spirit's work_. Here the question arises, In what sense
does the Holy Spirit sanctify the believer? In this sense, just as in
the Old Testament type, tabernacle, altar and priest were set apart
for God by the anointing oil (Lev. 8:10-12), so in the New Testament
anti-type, the believer, who is both tabernacle and priest, is set
apart for God by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Further than that,
it is the Holy Spirit's work in the heart that overcomes the flesh and
its defilements, and thus separates the believer from sin and clothes
him with divine graces of character, and makes him fit to be God's own.
As Paul puts it in Gal. 5:22, 23, +"But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness,
self-control."+ In opposition to this work of the Holy Spirit, we
read in the immediately preceding verses what "the works of the flesh"
are, an awful catalogue of vileness and sin, and we are told in the
16th verse, +"Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh."+

4. The fourth part of the answer to the question how we are sanctified
is found in Heb. 13:12, +"Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might
sanctify the people through his own blood suffered without the
gate."+ It is plain from this passage that _believers are sanctified
through the blood of Jesus Christ_. Here the question arises, In what
sense does the blood of Jesus sanctify? The answer is plain: _The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all the guilt of sin_, and thus
separates us from the mass of men under the curse of the broken law,
and sets us apart for God (cf. 1 John 1:7, 9). In the Old Testament
dispensation the blood of the sacrifice cleansed the Israelites from
the _guilt_ of ceremonial offenses and set them apart for God; in the
New Testament anti-type the blood of Christ cleanseth the believer from
the _guilt_ of moral offenses and sets him apart for God.

5. The fifth part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in John 17:17, +"Sanctify them in the truth: thy
word is truth."+ Here our Lord Jesus in His prayer indicates that we
are _sanctified in the truth, and that the truth is the Word of God_.
In what sense does the Word of God sanctify? This question is plainly
answered in different parts of the Word of God, where we are taught
that the Word of God cleanses from the presence of sin, and thus
separates us from it and sets us apart to God. (Ps. 119:9, 11; John
15:3.) As we bring our lives into daily contact with the Word, the sins
and imperfections of our lives and hearts are disclosed and put away,
and thus we are more and more separated from sin unto God. (cf. John
13:10.)

6. The sixth part of the answer to the question, how men are
sanctified, is found in 1 Cor. 1:30, +"But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption."+ In this passage we are taught that
_Jesus Christ was made unto us from God sanctification_. Just what
does that mean? Simply this: that separation from sin and separation
to God are provided for us in Christ Jesus and by the appropriation
of Jesus Christ we obtain this sanctification thus provided. The more
completely we appropriate Christ the more completely are we sanctified.
But perfect sanctification is provided for us in Him, just as perfect
wisdom is provided in Him (Col. 2:3). We appropriate either wisdom or
sanctification or anything else that is provided for us in Christ in
ever-increasing measure. Through the indwelling Christ presented to us
by the Spirit in the Word, we are made Christlike and bear fruit.

7. The seventh part of the answer to the question of how men are
sanctified is found in Heb. 12:14, +"Follow after peace with all men,
and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord."+
Here we are taught that we have our own part in sanctification, and
that if we are to be sanctified in the fullest sense, _sanctification
is something that we must pursue, or seek earnestly, if we are to
obtain it_. While sanctification is God's work, we have our part in it,
viz., to make it the object of our earnest desire and eager pursuit.

8. The eighth part of the answer to the question of how we are
sanctified is found in Rom. 6:19, 22, +"As ye presented your
members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,
even so present your members as servants to righteousness unto
sanctification. . . . But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification."+ The
meaning of these words is plain, and the teaching important and
practical. We are here taught that _we attain unto sanctification
through presenting our members as servants (bondservants, or slaves)
to righteousness and becoming ourselves bondservants unto God_. In
other words, if we wish to attain unto sanctification we should present
our whole body and every member of it to God, to be His servants,
belonging wholly unto Him, and we should present ourselves to God as
His servants, to be His absolute property. This is the practical method
of attaining unto sanctification, a method that is open to each one of
us here to-day, no matter how weak we are in ourselves.

9. The ninth and final part of the answer to the question of how we are
sanctified, is found in Acts 26:18, +"To open their eyes, that they
may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith in Me."+ Here we are told that we are
_sanctified by faith in Christ_. Sanctification, just as justification,
regeneration, and adoption, is conditioned upon faith. Faith is the
hand that appropriates to ourselves the blessing of sanctification that
God has provided for us through His Son Jesus Christ by His death on
the cross, and through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. And
we claim sanctification by simple faith in Him who shed His blood and
by surrendering ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus
Christ gives.


III. WHEN DOES SANCTIFICATION TAKE PLACE

We now come to the question about which there has been the most
discussion, the most differences of opinion, the most controversy. When
does sanctification take place? If we will go to our Bibles to get the
answer to the question there need be no difference of opinion. There
are three parts to the answer.

1. The first part of the answer is found in I Cor. 1:2, +"Unto the
Church of God, which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours."+ Here
the Holy Spirit speaking through the Apostle Paul, plainly declares
that _all the members of the church of God are already sanctified in
Christ Jesus_. Sanctification in this sense is not something that
we are to look for in the future, it is something that has already
taken place. The moment any one becomes a member of the Church of God
by simple faith in Christ Jesus, for all who have faith in Christ
Jesus are members of the Church of God, that moment that person _is_
sanctified. Every saved man and woman in this building this morning,
every one who has living faith in Jesus Christ, _is_ sanctified. Our
sanctification is involved in our salvation. But in what sense are we,
that is, all believers, already sanctified? The answer to this question
is found in a passage of Scripture to which we have already referred,
Heb. 10:10, 14, +"By which will we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. . . . For by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."+ The
meaning is plain. By the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all on the Cross of Calvary as a perfect atonement for sin, every
believer is cleansed forever from the guilt of sin. We are _"perfected
forever" as far as our standing before God is concerned_, and are set
apart for God. The sacrifice of Christ does not need to be repeated
as were the Jewish sacrifices (V. I). The work is done once for all,
sin is put away, and forever put away (Heb. 9:26; cf. Gal. 3:13), and
we are set apart forever as God's peculiar and eternal possession. If
any one asks you if you are sanctified; if you are a believer in Jesus
Christ, i.e., if you have a living faith, in Jesus Christ, you have a
right to say, "I am." _Every believer in Christ is a saint_, a saint
not in the sense in which that word is oftentimes used in modern usage,
but in the Bible sense, as being set apart for God and belonging to
God and being God's peculiar property. But there is another sense in
which every believer may be fully sanctified to-day. This is found in
Rom. 12:1, +"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your spiritual service."+ In this passage we see that
_it is the believer's present and blessed privilege, and important and
solemn duty, to present his body to God a living sacrifice—not some
part or parts of the body, but the whole body with its every member
and every faculty. And when we do thus present our whole body to God a
living sacrifice, then we are wholly sanctified._ Such an offering is
well-pleasing to God. As God in the Old Testament showed His pleasure
in the offering by sending down fire to take it to Himself, so when the
whole body is thus offered to God, God will send down fire again, the
fire of the Holy Ghost, and take to Himself what is thus presented. The
moment a believer does thus present himself a living sacrifice to God,
then, so far as his will, the governing purpose of his life, the very
centre of his being, is concerned, he is wholly God's, or "_perfectly_
sanctified." He may still, and will still, daily discover, as he
studies the Word of God and is illumined by the Holy Spirit, acts of
his, habits of life, forms of feeling, speech and action, that are not
in conformity with this central purpose of his will, and these must be
confessed to God as blameworthy and put away, and this department of
his being and life brought, by God's Spirit and the indwelling Christ,
into conformity with God's will as revealed in His Word. The victory
in this newly discovered and unclaimed territory may be instantaneous.
For example, I may discover in myself an irritability of temper that is
manifestly displeasing to God. I can go to God, confess it, renounce
it and then instantly, not by my own strength, but by looking to Jesus
and claiming His patience and gentleness, overcome it and never have
another failure in that direction. And so it is with every other sin
and weakness in my life that I am brought to see is displeasing to God.

2. But this is not the whole answer to the question of when we are
sanctified. The second part of the answer is found in I Thess. 3:12,
+"And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another, and toward all men, even as we also do towards you."+
And the 4th chapter of this same epistle, the 1st and 10th verses,
+"Finally then, brethren, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord
Jesus, that as you received of us how ye ought to walk and to please
God, even as ye do walk, that ye abound more and more. . . . For indeed
ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we
exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more."+ And in II Pet.
3:18, +"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ."+ And II Cor. 3:18, R. V., +"But we all, with unveiled
face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, and even as from the Lord the
Spirit."+ And in Eph. 4:15, 16, +"But speaking truth in love, may
grow up in all things unto him, who is the head, even Christ; from
whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which
every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each
several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up
of itself in love."+ From these passages we see that _there is a
progressive work of Sanctification, an increasing in love, an abounding
more and more in a godly walk and in pleasing God, a growing in the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, a being
transformed into the image of our Lord from glory unto glory_, each new
gaze at Him making us more like Him; a _growing up_ into Christ in all
things, until we attain unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. Here we see there is a progressive
work of Sanctification.

3. But we have not found the whole answer to the question of When
Men are Sanctified, even yet. We find the remainder of the answer to
the question in our text, 1 Thess. 5:23 accurately translated as it
is in the Revised Version, +"And the God of peace himself sanctify
you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire,
without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."+ Here we are
plainly told that _the complete sanctification of believers, complete
in the fullest sense, is something to be sought for in prayer and that
is to be accomplished by God in the future and perfected at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ_. The same thought is found in this same book,
the 3rd chapter and 12th and 13th verses, +"And the Lord make you to
increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men,
even as we do toward you, to the end that he may establish your hearts
unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our
Lord Jesus with his saints."+ It is "at the coming of our Lord Jesus
with all His saints" that He is to establish our hearts unblamable in
holiness before our God and Father and that our spirit and soul and
body are to be preserved entire without blame. The same thought is
found in I John 3:2, +"Beloved, now are we children of God, it is
not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be
manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."+
_It is not in the life that now is, and it is not at death, that we
are entirely sanctified, spirit, soul, and body. It is at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ._ This is one of the many reasons why the
well-instructed believer constantly cries, "_Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Come quickly._"




XII

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY OF JESUS AND OF OUR BODIES

    "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David, was raised
    from the dead, according to my gospel."—2 Tim. 2:8.

    "For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I
    received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
    scriptures; and that he was buried; and that _he hath been
    raised_ on the third day according to the scriptures."—1 Cor.
    15:3, 4.

    "Now, if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the
    dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of
    the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither
    hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised,
    then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and
    we are found false witnesses of God, because we witnessed of
    God that he hath raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if
    so be that he did not rise. But if the dead are not raised;
    neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been
    raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they
    also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in
    this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
    pitiable."—1 Cor. 15:12-19.


We commemorate to-day the resurrection of Christ from the dead. We
shall see that the resurrection of Christ was a resurrection of the
body of Christ, that it was not merely the indwelling Spirit of Jesus
Christ, clothed upon with a new and entirely different body, that
appeared to the disciples on the first resurrection day, but that it
was the body that was buried, raised again, and that this involves
for us not merely the immortality of our souls, but the resurrection
and eternal continuance of our bodies. Yet there are many who call
themselves Christians and who say that they believe in the Bible, and
who consider themselves perfectly orthodox Christians, who do not
believe in the Resurrection of the Body, they merely believe in the
immortality of the soul.


I. THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST AND OF OUR BODIES

We shall consider first _the fact of the resurrection of the body of
Jesus Christ and of our bodies_.

1. Turn first, please, to II Tim. 2:8, +"Remember that Jesus
Christ of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to
my gospel."+ Here Paul explicitly declares that Jesus Christ was
raised from the dead according to the gospel which he preached. Now
what was raised? Certainly not His soul. That did not die. Turning to
Acts 2:27-31, we find that the soul of the Lord Jesus went into Hades,
the abode of the dead. These are Peter's words, spoken on the day of
Pentecost, there recorded, +"Because thou wilt not leave my soul
unto Hades, neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption+
(i.e., in His body). +Thou madest known unto me the ways of life;
thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance. Brethren, I
may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and
was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being therefore
a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that
of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did
his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all
are witnesses."+ Peter here declares that the soul of Jesus went
to Hades and that it was "His flesh," i.e., His body, that was kept
from corruption and afterwards raised. Turning now to I Cor. 15:3,
4, we read these words of Paul: +"For we delivered unto you first
of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath
been raised on the third day according to the scriptures."+ Paul
here declares that Jesus Christ died and was buried and was raised.
What was raised? Paul says, that _that which "was buried"_ was raised.
But what was buried? _Not the soul_ of the Lord Jesus, _but His
body_. Peter makes this even plainer, if possible, in I Pet. 3:18-20:
+"Because Christ also suffered for our sins once, the righteous for
the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death
in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit; in which also he went and
preached to the spirits in prison; which aforetime were disobedient,
when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah."+ These
words clearly mean that it was the body of Jesus that was put to death,
but that the spirit still lived and went into Hades; so it was _the
body_ that was raised and to which the spirit that had not died or
become unconscious came back. I Cor. 15:12-19 removes all possibility
of doubt on this point on the part of any man who goes to the Bible
to find out what it actually teaches and not merely to see how he can
twist and distort it to fit it into his own preconceived opinions.
Paul's Spirit-given words here read, +"Now if Christ be preached
that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead?+ (Mark, not _no immortality of
the soul_, but _no resurrection_ of the dead.) +But if there is no
resurrection of the dead neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ
hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is
vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we witness
of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up if so be that
the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised neither hath
Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is
vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that have fallen asleep
in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are of all men most pitiable."+ There is no honest mistaking the
plain meaning of these words: by the "resurrection of the dead" Paul
plainly means _a resurrection of the body_; and in the whole chapter,
beyond an honest doubt, he is not talking about the immortality of
the soul, but the resurrection of the body. The whole argument turns
on that, and Paul here clearly says _if the body of Jesus was not
raised_, then the whole Christian system is a sham and our faith vain
and that we Christians of all men are most to be pitied. For if the
body of Jesus was not raised, and if our bodies are not to be raised,
then we Christians are making tremendous sacrifices for a lie. Paul
says further that _if our bodies_ are not to be raised, then Christ's
body has not been raised and Christianity is a humbug. Christianity as
taught in the New Testament stands or falls with the resurrection of
the body of Jesus and the resurrection of our bodies. There is no room
in this argument of Paul's for "Pastor" Russell's doctrine, that the
resurrection of Jesus Christ was not a resurrection of the body that
was laid in the grave, the body that was crucified, and that the body
of Jesus Christ, the body that was laid in the sepulchre, was carried
away and preserved somewhere, or else dissolved into gases. Paul says
here, _if the body that was laid in the sepulchre was not raised, "then
is our preaching vain" and your "faith also is vain."_

In Luke 24:5, 6, the angels at the tomb from which the body of Jesus
had disappeared are recorded as saying to the women who were seeking
the body of Jesus to embalm it, +"Why seek ye the living among
the dead? He is not here but is risen."+ Now what were the women
seeking? The body of Jesus to embalm it, and the angels say that
what they were seeking was not there but was risen, had been raised.
Furthermore, in the remainder of the 6th verse and verse 7, they say:
+"Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying
that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again."+ Here they told the
women plainly that what was crucified, which of course was the body
of Jesus, was raised. If the actual, literal body of Jesus had not
been raised, then these angels were liars. Do you believe that? These
are only a few of the very many passages in which it is very clearly
taught that the very body of Jesus was raised from the dead. The body
of Jesus was raised from the dead and our bodies shall be raised from
the dead, else Christianity is a lie from start to finish. But Christ
was raised from the dead and we shall be raised. Or, as Paul puts it
in the 20th verse of this same chapter, "+But now hath Christ been
raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep."+
Our resurrection, the resurrection of our bodies, will be _the harvest_
that follows the resurrection of the body of Christ, which was "_the
first fruits_."


II. THE CHARACTER OF OUR RESURRECTION BODIES

Having clearly settled the fact of the resurrection _of the body_ of
Jesus Christ and of our bodies, let us next consider the character of
our resurrection bodies.

1. First of all, we know that _the body which is raised will not be
exactly the same body that it was when it was laid in the grave_. This
appears from I Cor. 15:35-38: +"But some will say, how are the dead
raised? And with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one,
that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it die: and
that which thou sowest, thou sowest not in the body that shall be, but
a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God
giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its
own."+ Here we are told that our bodies when they are raised will
not be exactly the same as our bodies when they are buried, any more
than the wheat that springs from the kernel of wheat that is planted is
the same as the kernel that was planted. But just as what grows from
the seed comes from the seed and bears the most intimate relation to
the seed, so our resurrection bodies come from the body that is buried
and bear the most intimate relation to it. The resurrection body is the
outcome of the body that is buried. It is the old body quickened and
transformed; or, as Paul puts it in Phil. 3:20, 21: +"Jesus Christ
. . . shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be
conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he
is able even to subject all things unto himself."+

2. The next thing that the Bible teaches about _our resurrection
bodies_ is that _they are like the glorified body of Jesus Christ_.
This appears from the verses just quoted, Phil. 3:20, 21: +"The
Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation,
that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the
work whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself."+
Christ's resurrection body was not the same body that was laid in the
sepulchre. It was the old body _transformed_ and delivered from the
limitations of the body that He had while living here among men, and
new qualities imparted to it, and our bodies will also be transformed
into the likeness of this glorious body of Christ and thus delivered
from the limitations to which they are subjected now, and new qualities
imparted to them. It will be a transformed body; the character of its
transformation is indicated by the transformation that took place in
the body of Jesus Christ. Some suggestion as to what that transformed
body of Jesus Christ was like is found in that anticipation of His
resurrection which was seen by Peter, James and John on the mount of
transfiguration. Matthew in his description of the appearance of Jesus
at His transfiguration, tells us that +"His face did shine as the
sun, and his garments became white as the light"+ (Matt. 17:2).
Luke tells us that +"the fashion of his countenance was altered and
His raiment became white and dazzling"+ (Luke 9:29). Mark tells
us that +"He was transfigured before them: and his garments became
glistering, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten
them"+ (Mark 9:2, 3).

3. The next thing that we are told about _our resurrection bodies_ is
that they _will not be flesh and blood_. In I Cor. 15:50, 51 we read,
+"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God."+ Paul is here talking about our resurrection
bodies. It is in the resurrection chapter he says this, and he
distinctly tells us that our resurrection bodies will not be "_flesh
and blood_."

4. But while _our resurrection bodies_ will not be "flesh and blood,"
they _will have "flesh and bones."_ This appears from what our Lord
Himself says about His own resurrection body in Luke 24:39. Here we
read that Jesus said: +"See my hands and my feet, that it is I
myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye
behold me having."+ As our resurrection bodies are to be transformed
into the likeness of His, we also must have "flesh and bones" in our
resurrection bodies. Some have fancied that they saw a contradiction
between what our Lord says here and what Paul says in the passage
quoted above (I Cor. 15:50, 51), but there is no contradiction. "Flesh"
we shall have, but not "flesh _and blood_," i.e., not flesh, the
animating principle of which is blood. The question arises, What takes
the place of the blood in our resurrection bodies? The answer seems to
be that in the present life, "blood is the life" of the natural body,
but in the life to come our bodies are to be, as we are told elsewhere
in this same chapter, "_spiritual_ bodies," i.e., bodies, the animating
principle of which is the Spirit of God, not our own blood. Our not
having "_blood_" in our resurrection bodies involves many great and
glorious possibilities, upon which we cannot dwell now.

5. In the fifth place (and closely connected with 3 and 4), _our
resurrection bodies will be incorruptible_. We read in I Cor.
15:42: +"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in
corruption; it is raised in incorruption."+ The thought of this
word "incorruption" is that the body is not subject to decay, it is
imperishable. Our present bodies are decaying all the time. We are
perishing every day and every minute. My present body is disintegrating
while I talk to you. But the bodies that we shall receive in the
resurrection will be absolutely free from the liability to corruption
or decay. They _cannot_ disintegrate or suffer decay or deterioration
of any kind.

6. The next thing that we are taught about _the resurrection body_
is that it _is a glorious body_. This comes out in the first part of
the following verse, I Cor. 15:43, +"It is sown in dishonour; it is
raised in glory."+ Some idea of the glory, the glorious beauty,
of that body is suggested by the representation of our glorified Lord
that we have in Rev. 1:13-17: +"And in the midst of the candlesticks
one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot
and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and his
hair were white as white wool, white as snow, and his eyes were as a
flame of fire and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been
refined in a furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters. And
he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a
sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in
his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead, and
he laid his right hand upon me saying, Fear not; I am the first and the
last."+ Our resurrection bodies will be like that.

7. Furthermore, _our resurrection bodies will be powerful_, or as we
read in the last half of this same verse (1 Cor. 15:43), +"It is
sown in weakness, it is raised in power."+ Then all our weariness
and weakness will be forever at an end. In our present bodies our
bodies are oftentimes a hindrance to our highest aspirations, they
thwart the carrying out of our loftiest purposes, we cannot put into
execution our loftiest purposes, +"the spirit is willing but the
flesh is weak."+ But in our resurrection bodies the body will be
able to accomplish all that the spirit purposes. The redeemed body will
be a perfect counterpart of the redeemed spirit that inhabits it. No
deafness, dimsightedness nor blindness, no tired hands and feet, no
maimed soldier boys coming home from the war.

8. _It will be a heavenly body._ This appears from the 47th to the 49th
verses of this same chapter. +"The first man is of+ (literally,
_out of_) +the earth, earthy: the second man is of+ (literally,
_out of_) +heaven: as is the earth, such are they also that are
earthy: and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly."+ The thought plainly is that our present
bodies are of an earthly origin and an earthly character, but that the
transformed body will be of a heavenly character. Paul explains it
at length in 2 Cor. 5:1-4 where he says, +"For we know that if the
earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from
God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. For verily
in this+ (i.e., in this present earthly house, earthy body) +we
groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from
heaven+ (i.e., our heavenly body): +if so be that being clothed we
shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this tabernacle+
(i.e., in the present earthy body) +groan, being burdened; not for
that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon+
(i.e., with our heavenly body), +that what is mortal may be swallowed
up of life."+

9. _Our transformed bodies will be luminous, shining, dazzling, bright
like the sun._ This is seen in many passages. For example, Matt. 13:43,
+"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father."+ This is to be taken literally for it is in the
_interpretation_ of the parable and not in the parable. This suggests
what we have already seen about the transfigured body of Jesus in Matt.
17:2, where we are told that +"His face did shine as the sun, and his
garments became white as the light."+ We have the same thought also
in the Old Testament in Dan. 12:3, where we are told, +"And they that
are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."+ They
shall shine literally as well as figuratively. Some suggestion of what
the luminous glory of our faces and forms in our resurrection bodies
will be is seen in the light that Paul tells us that he saw beaming
from the person of Jesus when the glorified Jesus met him on the
Damascus road. In Paul's description of what he saw on that occasion,
as given in Acts 26:12, 13, we read, +"Whereupon as I journeyed
to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the
brightness of the sun, shining around about me and them that journeyed
with me."+ The light that Saul saw, as is evident from the whole
account, was the light that shone from the person of our glorified
Lord, and in our resurrection bodies we shall be like Him.

10. _Three interesting facts regarding our resurrection bodies_ are
stated in Matt. 22:30 and Luke 20:35, 36. In Matt. 22:30 we read:
+"For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in
marriage, but are as angels in heaven."+ In Luke 20:35, 36 we read:
+"But they that are counted worthy to attain to that world, and the
resurrection of the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: for
neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and
are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."+ Taking these two
passages together, we learn that our resurrection bodies are like the
angels, that we do not marry in our resurrection bodies and that these
bodies cannot die any more.

11. _Though all these resurrection bodies are glorious, they differ
from one another, each one having its own peculiar glory._ This appears
from 1 Cor. 15:41, 42: +"There is one glory of the sun, and another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star
differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection from
the dead."+ Glorious as all our bodies shall be, there will be no
tiresome uniformity even of glory in the world of resurrection bodies.
Each body will have its own peculiar glory.

12. Let us say finally in regard to the character of our resurrection
body, that _the resurrection of our body will be the consummation of
our adoption_, i.e., of our placing as sons, our manifestations as
sons of God. In Rom. 8:23 we read: +"We, which have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
our adoption+ (i.e., our placing as sons), +to wit, the redemption
of our body."+ The resurrection body will be the consummation of our
placing as sons, i.e., in the resurrection body it will be outwardly
manifested that we are sons of God. Before His incarnation Christ was
"_in the form_ of God." (Phil. 2:6), i.e., in the visible appearance of
God. So shall we also be in the resurrection, for our bodies shall be
like His. This throws light upon what Paul meant when he said in Col.
3:4: +"When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall
we also with him be manifested in glory."+ And also it throws light
on what John meant when he says in I John 3:2, R. V.: +"Beloved, now
are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we
shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like
him; for we shall see him as he is."+


III. WHEN WILL THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY TAKE PLACE?

There remains but one question to be considered and we can deal with
that very briefly. That question is, when will the resurrection of
the body take place? This question is plainly answered time and
again in the Bible. For example, it is answered in Phil. 3:20, 21:
+"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of
our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things
unto himself."+ Here it is plainly declared that _the transformation
of our bodies into the likeness of the glorious body of Christ will
take place when the Lord Jesus whom we are awaiting shall appear from
heaven_. The same thought is given in I Thess. 4:16, 17: +"For the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first; then we which are alive, that are left, shall together with
them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord."+ The question will arise in some of
our minds, what about us in the meantime if we chance to die before the
coming of the Lord? This question also is plainly answered in II Cor.
5:1-8: +"For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle+
(our present bodies) +be dissolved+ (die and decay) +we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands+ (our resurrection
body that we are to get at the coming of the Lord), +eternal, in the
heavens. For verily in this+ (i.e., while living in this present
body) +we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which
is from heaven+ (our resurrection body) +if so be that being
clothed we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that are in this
tabernacle+ (this present earthy body) +do groan, being burdened;
not for that we would be unclothed+ (i.e., not that we would merely
get rid of our present bodies), +but that we would be clothed
upon+ (i.e., that we would receive our resurrection bodies) +that
what is mortal may be swallowed up of life. Now he that wrought us for
this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit+
(i.e., the Holy Ghost, whom we have received as the earnest of the
full redemption in our resurrection bodies which are to be obtained
at the coming of the Lord). +Being therefore always of good courage
and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body+ (i.e., while
we are still in our earthly life in this present earthly body) +we
are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith not by sight); we are
of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the
body+ (i.e., to have our present earthly body die even before we
get our resurrection bodies, which we shall not get until the return
of the Lord), +and to be at home with the Lord."+ The teaching
of this plainly is that if we die before the return of the Lord and
therefore before we obtain our resurrection body, our spirits are
unclothed, i.e., they are unclothed from this present body and not yet
clothed upon with the resurrection body, but that we are "at home with
the Lord" in conscious blessedness, in a condition that is far better
than that that we are in in this present life (see Phil. 1:23, R. V.),
but not so perfect as that condition which shall be when our redeemed
spirits are clothed upon with our resurrection bodies. _It will be at
the return of the Lord Jesus that we get our full redemption._ That is
one reason why "we wait" (literally, assiduously wait) for Him (Phil.
3:20, 21, see Greek). That is one reason why we long for the return
of the Lord. There are many reasons why we long for the return of our
Lord. All the great problems that are confronting us at this present
time in national and international life, in social, commercial and
political life, will be solved when He comes, and will never be solved
until He comes; and for these reasons we long for Him. But we long for
Him also because while this present body serves many a useful purpose
for the redeemed spirit that inhabits it, it is often a hindrance. It
is often subject to aches and pains, to frailties, and it is a constant
temptation to folly. But when our Lord Jesus comes again He will
transform this present body of our humiliation into the likeness of His
own glorious body and at that time we shall know what "full salvation"
means, when we shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of our
Father.




XIII

THE DEVIL

    "The Devil. . . .is."—John 8:44.

    "The Devil Sinneth."—1 John 3:8.


INTRODUCTION

Our subject in this chapter is The Devil. I have two texts—John 8:44:
+"The Devil. . . .is."+

The second text is 1 John 3:8: +"The Devil Sinneth."+ The Bible
doctrine concerning the Devil, his Existence, Nature, Character, Work
and Destiny is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, and is
of vital importance. The teaching of the Bible on this subject is not
a mere matter of theory or dogma. It is a matter of most practical
every day importance. Experience shows that if men are in error in
regard to this subject, they are pretty sure to be in error on other
questions that are fundamental. When men and women begin to question
the existence of a personal Devil it is pretty sure that before long
they will be questioning a good many other things regarding which a
true child of God should have no questions. Doubt of the existence of
a personal Devil is widespread to-day. Many preachers in supposedly
orthodox pulpits do not hesitate to say, "I do not believe in the
existence of a personal Devil." Denial of the existence of a personal
Devil is one of the main points in the system which is so widespread
to-day, and which is doing so much evil, that with considerable reason
it has been called "The Devil's Masterpiece"—Christian Science. A
well-known and popular pastor in this city some months ago proclaimed
to his people that he was going to preach to them a gospel "without
an atonement of blood, without an infallible Bible, without hell,
and without a personal Devil." If he does preach to them a system of
doctrine without any of these he will preach some other system of
doctrine than that which is contained in the book, which our Lord Jesus
Christ has endorsed as the Word of God, i.e., the Bible.


I. THERE IS A DEVIL

The first point to make clear is that _there is a Devil_. This is
plain from our first text, John 8:44: +"The Devil. . . .is."+ The
whole verse reads: +"Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts
of your father it is your will to do: He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father thereof."+ These are the words of Jesus Christ. With
any one who has any right to call himself a Christian, the words of
Jesus Christ have infinitely more weight than the words of Mrs. Mary
Baker Eddy or any one else, or all others together, and Jesus here
says, +"The Devil. . . .is."+ But this is not the only passage by
any means in which our Lord Jesus asserts in the most emphatic and most
unmistakable terms the existence of the Devil. Turn to Matt. 13:19,
and you will read these words: +"When any one heareth the word of
God, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one and snatcheth
away that which has been sown in his heart."+ These words are found
in the interpretation of a parable—the Parable of the Sower. It is
impossible to say that these words are figurative. In parables we have
figures, in the explanation of the parables we have the literal facts
that the figures symbolise, and these words are not taken from the
parable, but from our Lord's own explanation of the parable, and here
we are distinctly told that there is _a person_, who is here called
"The Evil One," whose business it is to snatch away the Word of God
when it has been sown in hearts that do not understand and heed it. If
evil is only impersonal and our Lord had only referred to impersonal
influences, or human influences, as taking away the Word out of the
hearts where it had been sown, these words of His would be utterly
without meaning. That Jesus Christ believed that there was a person
of whom He here speaks as "The Evil One" and of whom He elsewhere
speaks, as we shall see directly, as "The Devil," admits of no doubt if
we grant that the Lord Jesus was an honest man. _We must_, therefore,
_if we believe in the Lord Jesus, believe that there is a Devil. We
can deny his existence only by questioning either the honesty or
the intelligence of our Lord._ He certainly taught that there was a
Devil. It would be easy to show from the teachings of Peter (1 Pet.
5:8, 9; Acts 5:3) and from the teachings of John (John 13:2) and from
the teachings of Paul (Eph. 6:10-12) also that there is a Devil; but
that is unnecessary for any one who has any right to call himself a
Christian, for if the Lord says so, that settles it, and the Lord Jesus
does say +"The devil. . . .is."+ If there is no Devil, then our Lord
Jesus was either a fool or a fraud. The question of believing in the
personality of the Devil involves the honour of our Lord Jesus. If His
teaching is not to be trusted on this point, it is not to be trusted
on any other point, and the denial of a personal Devil involves the
trustworthiness of the Lord Jesus as a Teacher and a Saviour at every
point. So we see that the question of the existence of the Devil is
fundamental and of vital importance.


II. THE NATURE OF THE DEVIL

Having settled it that there is a Devil, we now face the question as to
the nature of the Devil.

1. First of all, the Bible teaches us that the _Devil is a person_.
This comes out in our second text, 1 John 3:8: +"The devil
sinneth."+ Only a person can sin. When we say that the Devil is
a person we do not mean that necessarily he has a body, certainly
not such a body as he is pictured as having in various paintings and
engravings that are supposed to represent the Devil. A person is any
being who knows and feels and wills. When we say that the Devil is
a person we mean that he is a being who has intelligence, feeling
and will, that he is not a mere principle of evil. The personality
of the Devil is taught over and over again in the Bible. Just a few
illustrations in addition to our texts. Turn again to Matt. 13:19:
+"When any one heareth the word of God, and understandeth it not,
then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been
sown in his heart."+ The representation of this passage is the
representation of a person. He is called "The Evil One," not merely
"evil," but "The Evil One," which of course is the representation of a
person. If evil is only impersonal, or if it only works through human
beings, these words of our Lord Jesus would be without meaning. The
personality of the Devil comes out again very clearly and very forcibly
in Eph. 6:10-12: +"Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the
strength of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For our wrestling
is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against
the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."+ Here
Paul distinctly tells us that the great reason why we need to be strong
in the Lord and in the strength of His might and why we need to put on
the whole armour of God, is because there is a being of great cunning,
subtlety and power, a person named "The Devil," and that this being
has under him a multitude of other personalities of such dignity and
power as to be called by the titles: "principalities," "powers," "world
rulers," "spiritual hosts of wickedness." Beyond a question our Lord
Jesus, and the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John and the Apostle Paul
believed in and taught the existence of a personal Devil. If there is
not a personal Devil we may as well give up our Bible, for in that
case it is a book that is full of folly and of fraud. If there is not
a personal Devil we must give up our belief in the inspired authority
of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle John, and we must
give up our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No intelligent student of
the Bible can retain his faith in the inspiration and authority of that
Book, or his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if he gives up belief in
the existence of a personal Devil. As intelligent men and women, we
must take our choice between believing in the existence of a personal
Devil or giving up our faith in Jesus Christ and Christianity. _Any
system of doctrine that denies the existence of a personal Devil is
radically unchristian whatever name it may arrogate to itself._

2. The second thing that the Bible teaches as to the nature of
the Devil, is that, _the Devil is a being of very great power and
authority_. This comes out in the verses we have just read, Eph.
6:10, 11: +"Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil."+ These words make it clear
that the Devil is so mighty that the people of God cannot resist his
cunning wiles without having on the whole armour of God, and it is also
evident from the 10th verse that we cannot resist his power unless
we are strengthened with the strength of God. And this is not all:
in the 12th verse we read: +(12) "For our wrestling is not against
flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers,
against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."+ These are tremendous
words. If they mean anything, they certainly mean that there are
beings of great authority and dignity who are under the leadership of
the one supreme being of evil, the Devil. The conflict that we have
on hand as believers in Christ is terrific. The conflict that the
Allies have on hand with the mighty military forces of the Kaiser is
nothing to the battle we have on hand with the Devil and his hosts.
We are fools if we underestimate the battle. On the other hand, we
must not over-estimate it. While our conflict is with the Devil, and
while our wrestling is against "the principalities," against "the
powers," against "the world-rulers," against "the spiritual hosts of
wickedness," nevertheless He that is for us is far mightier than they.
The Devil is mighty but our Saviour is almighty. It is quite possible
for one to become morbid over this subject of the Devil, and to become
utterly discouraged and even deranged. That is entirely unnecessary and
unwarranted. While our conflict is with the Devil and his mighty hosts,
God has provided for us a strength and an armour whereby we may "be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One" and to "withstand
in the evil day, and having done all to stand" (v. 13).

3. The third thing that the Bible teaches us as to the Nature of the
Devil is that, _the Devil is a being of great majesty and dignity of
position_. Turn to Jude 8, 9: +"Yet in like manner these also in
their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail
at dignities+ (the literal translation of the Greek word rendered
dignities is "_glories_"). +(9) But Michael the Archangel, when
contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst
not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke
thee."+ From these words it is evident that _the position of the
Devil was so exalted that even Michael the archangel did not dare to
bring a railing judgment against him_. The context seems to imply that
the position of the Devil was more exalted than that of Michael the
archangel himself. The Devil of the Bible is not at all the Devil of
common thought. He is not a being hideous in appearance, with hoofs and
horns and tail. He is not even the being pictured by Milton or Bunyan.
He is a being of very great original majesty and dignity, a being of
great wisdom and power. When people talk lightly and contemptuously
about the Devil they display gross ignorance of what the Bible teaches
about him. It is true that he is evil in character and therefore
called "The Evil One" (John 5:19, R. V.). It is true he is a liar and
a murderer (John 8:44), it is true that he is full of malignity (II
Cor. 4:4): but he is a being of great dignity and majesty, so that even
Michael the archangel durst not bring against him a railing accusation.

4. The Bible teaches furthermore that _the Devil is "the prince of
this world."_ Our Lord Jesus Himself taught this. He says in John
12:31: +"Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of
this world be cast out."+ The Greek word translated "world" in this
passage is _kosmos_, and the thought is of the present world order, and
our Lord's teaching is that the Devil is the prince of this present
world order. We have the same teaching of our Lord in John 14:30, where
we read: +"I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of
the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me."+ These words of our
Lord are found in what many regard as the most precious chapter in
the Bible, the 14th chapter of John, and if we give up this teaching
of our Lord regarding Satan we must give up, not merely the Bible as a
whole, but this most precious chapter in the Bible. We find the Lord
teaching the same thing again on that same night, the night before His
crucifixion, in John 16:11 where he says: +"The prince of this world
is judged"+—the evident reference being to Satan.

How the Devil came to be Prince of this world it may be impossible
for us to say, but that he is so admits of no question, if we are to
accept the teaching of Jesus Christ, and any one who will study the
ruling principles of commercial life, of political life, of social
life, and above all of international relations, to such an one it will
become perfectly evident that the Devil is the one who is master of
the present order of things. If we ever doubted before that there was
a Devil, and just such a Devil as the Bible pictures, we can scarcely
doubt it now, when we consider the action of the rulers of the earth in
this present mad world war. How could beings so intelligent in matters
of science and philosophy and economics as the present rulers of
Germany are, ever be guilty of plunging the nations of the earth into
this mad war? There is but one reasonable answer: because there is a
Devil who rules the present Kosmos, or world order, and he controls the
Kaisers and the Reichstags of the world and will until the true Prince
comes, the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ.


III. THE CHARACTER OF THE DEVIL

1. _As to the character of the Devil, the Bible teaches us that he is
a being absolutely wicked._ In Matt. 13:19 he is called, "_The Wicked
One_." That is to say, he is one who is the personal embodiment of
absolute wickedness. In I John 5:19 R. V. also he is called "The Wicked
One." God is "The Holy One," that is to say the One who is the personal
embodiment of perfect holiness. The Devil is just His opposite, the
personal embodiment of consummate wickedness.

2. The Devil is to evil what God is to good. In I John 3:8, we read:
+"He that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. To this end was the son of God manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil."+ This does not mean that the Devil
sinned from the very origin of all things and that he was created
sinful, for we learn from Ezek. 28:15 that the Devil was created
upright. The verse does mean, however, that _Satan is the original
sinner_. The expression "from the beginning" is characteristic of the
epistle from which these words are taken and does not necessarily mean
from the origin of things (see for example verse 11). In a similar
way we are told in one of our texts—John 8:44—that the Devil was a
murderer from the beginning and that he is "A liar and the father of
it." There is absolutely "no truth in him." So much for the nature and
character of the Devil.


IV. THE WORK OF THE DEVIL

We come now to the question of the Work of the Devil, or How the Devil
Manifests Himself, and What He Does.

1. In the first place we are taught that _the Devil tempts men to sin_.
We have a most striking illustration of this in his temptation of our
Lord. We have in the Bible three accounts of this temptation. We will
look at Matthew's account. Matt. 4:1-9: +"Then was Jesus led up of
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when
he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. (3)
And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the son of God,
command that these stones become bread. (4) But he answered and said,
It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (5) Then the devil taketh him
into the Holy City; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple. (6)
And saith unto Him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down:
for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee:
and, on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy
foot against a stone. (7) Jesus said unto him, Again it is written,
thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. (8) Again, the devil
taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (9) And He said unto him,
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship
me."+ Of course we have not time this morning to go into the whole
question of our Lord's temptation, but this much is certainly plain,
that the Devil is represented as the tempter, tempting our Lord. _If
there is no personal Devil, as so many would have us believe_, or
_if he is not the tempter, there would be absolutely no reason for
bringing him into this account_. As the Devil tempted our Lord, so he
tempts us to-day. And it is to be noticed that he does not tempt us
merely to gross animal lusts and vile sins, but with subtle spiritual
temptations, and above all he tempts us to doubt God's Word. It was
with this form of temptation that he first assaulted our Lord. God had
just said to the Lord Jesus at His baptism, +"Thou art my beloved
Son; in thee I am well pleased"+ (Luke 3:22), and Satan came
insinuating doubt of God's Word by beginning his temptation with these
words: +"If thou art the Son of God,"+ and again further down in
the temptation, he repeats the doubt, saying to the Lord Jesus again:
+"If thou art the Son of God."+ In just the same way Satan began
his assault upon Eve in the Garden of Eden, by insinuating a doubt of
God's Word and of God's goodness. He began by saying: +"Yea, hath
God said. . . .?"+ (Gen. 3:2), and further on when Eve stated exactly
what God had said, the Devil flatly contradicted and said: +"Ye shall
not surely die"+ (literally, Dying, _thou shalt not_ die) when God
had said: +"Thou shalt surely die"+ (_Dying, thou shalt_ die).
This is Satan's favourite method of attack to-day. He gets us to doubt
God's Word. Satan's most effective mode of work is by leading men
into doubt and into error on fundamental points. The saloons and the
gambling hells and the brothels are not the chief spheres of Satan's
activities, but the schools and colleges and theological seminaries
where he is inducing men and women, and callow youths and maidens, to
doubt the truth of God's Word, and to reject the fundamental truths of
God's word and accept Satan's errors in their place. Satan knows well;
that, if he can get men to doubting God's Word, it is easy to lead them
into the vilest sins. False doctrine has been a more prolific source of
the vilest sins than even the saloons.

2. But Satan not merely tempts men to sin by insinuating doubts of
God's Word, he also _has his_ +synagogues and ministers among men to
do his work.+ Turn to Rev. 3:9: +"Behold, I give of the synagogue
of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie;
behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to
know that I have loved thee."+ What I wish you to notice here are
the words, "The synagogue of Satan." In this case it was a Jewish
synagogue, but now-a-days, it is often a so-called Christian church. In
II Cor. 11:14, 15 we have an even more remarkable passage: +"For even
Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light. (15) It is no great
thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers
of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."+
Here we are told that Satan has his ministers. They do not advertise
themselves as ministers of Satan, oftentimes they are not even
conscious that they are; but they put themselves forward as "ministers
of righteousness." They advocate "_ethical culture_," a system of
salvation without atoning blood. They are frequently men of very
attractive personality and great intellectual brilliance and ability,
but they are doing the Devil's work. Satan is never so dangerous as
when he "Fashioneth himself into an angel of light," and no other
ministers of his are so dangerous as the men and women of attractive
personality and brilliant intellectual gifts who are undermining the
faith of God's children, or who are teaching various forms of seductive
and alluring error, "Christian Science," "New Thought," "Theosophy,"
"Occultism" (Spiritualism), and all that species of cults.

3. We have not time to speak here of Satan's work as the author of
sickness (Acts 10:38; Luke 13:16), and as the one who has the power of
death (Heb. 2:14).

4. But we must also speak of another work of the Devil. It is set forth
in II Cor. 4:3, 4, R. V.: +"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled in them that perish: (4) In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should not dawn upon
them."+ We read here that it is the work of Satan to blind the
minds of unbelievers in order +"That the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon
them."+ It is evident then that _the Devil is the author of false
views, especially false views of the person of Christ_. He is the
author of Unitarianism, and the denial of the Deity of our Lord in all
its forms. He so blinds the minds of men who submit to his blinding
that the Divine "Glory of Christ," "who is the very image of God," is
hidden from them. This explains why it is that Unitarianism in all its
various forms persists even after its folly has been so often exposed.
Satan's work along this line is to culminate at the appearing of the
Anti-Christ, +"Even he, whose coming is according to the working of
Satan with all power, and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit
of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved."+ (II Thess. 2:9, 10,
R. V.)


V. THE DEVIL'S DESTINY

We come now to the fifth general division of our subject—_The Devil's
Destiny_.

1. Turn in the first place to Rev. 20:1-3: +"And I saw an angel
coming down out of heaven, having the keys of the abyss and a great
chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the old serpent,
which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and
cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he
should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should
be finished: After this he must be loosed for a little time."+ We
are here taught that _at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
Satan shall be bound with a great chain and cast into the abyss for a
thousand years_. The abyss, or as it is translated in the Authorised
Version, "bottomless pit," does not mean hell. Satan, as we shall see
further on, shall be cast into hell later.

2. Turn now to Rev. 20:7, 8: +"And when the thousand years are
finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth
to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog
and Magog, to gather them together to the war: The number of whom is
as the sand of the sea."+ We are here taught that _at the end of
the Millennium, the thousand years, Satan shall be loosed for a little
season from the abyss into which he has been cast chained, and that he
shall come forth to deceive the nations_. But the time of his power
then will be very brief.

3. In Rev. 20:10 we find the ultimate destiny of the Devil: +"And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."+ Here is
one of the points at which the theories of the "Reconciliation"
people and "Universalists" generally break down. The argument of the
Reconciliationists and Universalists, by which they attempt to prove
that all men must ultimately be saved, carried to its logical issue, if
it proved anything, would prove the salvation of Satan also, and this
many of them do teach. They say plainly that the Devil will ultimately
be brought to repentance and saved. Indeed that is what I believed
and taught in my early ministry. But this passage which we have just
read shows the impossibility of this being true. "The lake of fire"
was "prepared for the Devil and his angels." Our Lord Himself says in
Matt. 25:41 that when He comes back to judge this world He will say to
those on His left hand: +"Depart from me, ye cursed into the eternal
fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels."+ Hell was not
prepared for men, but for the Devil and his angels. If any man goes
there it will be because he has chosen to cast in his lot with the
Devil rather than with God. Therefore they go where the Devil goes.
Every one who rejects Jesus Christ is throwing in his lot with the
Devil.


VI. HOW TO GET VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL

Now just for a few moments let me show you from the Word of God, _how,
in practical every day life, to get the victory over the Devil_. There
are four things to be borne in mind.

1. Read first, James 4:7, +"Be subject therefore unto God: but resist
the devil, and he will flee from you."+ This teaches us that, _we
are first of all to surrender to God and then to resist the Devil and
that, if we do resist him, for all his cunning and power, he will flee
from us_. Although the Devil is strong, it is ours in God's strength to
withstand him and overcome him.

2. Now turn to I John 2:14: +"I have written unto you, fathers,
because ye know him which is from the beginning. I have written unto
you young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in
you, and ye have overcome the evil one."+ This passage teaches us
that, _it is when we feed upon the Word of God and store the Word of
God in our hearts, thus having it abiding in us, that we shall be able
to overcome the Devil_. If we neglect the study of the Bible for a
single day, we leave an open door for the Devil to enter. I have been
a Christian for forty-three years, but I would not dare to neglect the
study of God's word for one single day. Why not? Because there is a
Devil; and, if I neglect the study of the Word of God for a single day,
I leave a window open for him to enter and leave myself too weak to
cope with him and conquer him. But if we will feed upon the Word of God
daily, and trust in God, we can resist the devil at every point. Though
the Devil is cunning and strong, God is stronger, and _God imparts His
strength to us through His written word_.

3. Turn now to Eph. 6:11: +"Put on the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."+ Here we
are taught that, _in order_ +"to stand against the wiles of the
Devil"+ _we must_ +"Put on the whole armour of God."+ What that
armour is, is found in the verses that immediately follow. This armour,
this whole armour, this "panoply of God," is at our disposal. The fact
that there is a Devil, that he is a being of such majesty, dignity,
cunning, and power, that he is so incessantly plotting our ruin and to
undermine our faith, is no reason for fear or discouragement. By taking
"the shield of faith" we shall be "able to quench all the fiery darts
of the evil one," by taking "the helmet of salvation," and the "sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God," and by "praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," it is our privilege to have
victory over the Devil every day of our lives, every hour of the day,
and every minute of the hour.

4. The final step in the way to get victory over Satan is found in
Eph. 6:10: +"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of
his might."+ _The way to get victory over Satan is to give up all
confidence in our own strength and believe in the almighty strength
of Jesus Christ and claim that strength for ourselves._ It is in the
strength of Jesus Christ's might that we shall get the victory over
"the evil one." In the strength of His might, as we have already said,
it is our privilege to have victory over the Devil every day of our
lives, every hour of the day and every minute in the hour. Hallelujah!




XIV

IS THERE A LITERAL HELL?

    "In danger of the hell of fire."—Matt. 5:22.


My subject is "Is There a Literal Hell?" I wish that the things that I
am going to preach to you were not true. God wishes so, too, +"The
Lord is longsuffering to usward, not wishing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance"+ (2 Peter 3:9). But God has
made us in His own image, with a moral nature, with a capacity for
self-determination, with a power of choice; and men can if they will
choose darkness instead of light. They can choose to trample God's
saving love under foot. They can choose to reject the One who was
wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, and
upon whom the chastisement of their peace was laid; and some will so
choose. I am sorry that they will. I would be willing to die to save
them. The Lord Jesus did die to save them. But they spurn Him. So these
things that I am to speak to-night are true and I am going to preach
them in order that you may know them, and in order that you may be sure
of them. I am going to preach about hell to keep as many of you as
possible from going there.

Is There a Literal Hell? Almost all intelligent people who believe that
there is a future life at all, believe that men and women who sin in
the present life and who die impenitent and unsaved will be punished
to some extent at least in the life that is to come. They believe that
whoever sins must suffer, and that the suffering which sin causes will
not be limited to this present life. But, while almost all intelligent
people who believe in a future life at all believe that there is some
kind of future punishment, there are many that do not believe in a
literal hell, that is, in a place of awful and unutterable torment. Is
there a hell? Is there a place to which impenitent men and women will
go some time after death and suffer agonies far beyond those that any
one suffers here on earth? Some say, "yes," there is a hell. Many,
even including not a few supposedly orthodox preachers, say, "No, the
only hell is the inward hell in a man's heart." How are we to settle
this question? How are we to determine who is right? We cannot settle
it as some are trying to settle it by "counting noses." Majorities are
not always right. Especially is it true that majorities are not always
right in science and in philosophy and in theology. What the majority
of scientists firmly believed a century ago the majority of scientists
laugh at to-day. What the majority of philosophers once believed, the
majority of philosophers to-day regard as ridiculous. So majorities
cannot always be right. And, therefore, we cannot settle this question
by asking what the majority believe.

We cannot settle the question by reasoning as to what such a being
as God must do, for how can finite and foolish man judge what an
infinitely holy and infinitely wise God would do? Man never appears
more foolish than when he tries to reason out what an infinite God
_must_ do. All these arguments about hell by reasoning as to what
God must, or must not, do are stupid. A child of seven cannot reason
infallibly as to what a wise and good man of fifty will do, much less
can puny creatures of the dust (such as you and I are, such as the most
learned philosophers and theologians are) reason infallibly as to what
an infinitely wise and infinitely holy God must do. It is, however, far
easier to believe in a literal hell, and an everlasting hell, from the
standpoint of pure reasoning to-day than it was three years and a half
ago. Nevertheless, we cannot settle the question as to whether there is
a literal hell by reasoning even to-day as to what such a being as God
must do.

There is only one way to settle this question right, that is by going
to the Bible and finding out what it says, and taking our stand firmly
and unhesitatingly upon that. We have seen the last three Sunday nights
that the Bible is beyond an honest question God's word, so whatever the
Bible says on this subject, or any other subject, is true and is sure.
Especially is it true that we must go to the Bible and find what it
says in the matter of future punishment and future blessedness. All we
know about the future is what the Bible tells us. All reasoning about
the future outside of what the Bible tells us is pure guessing, it is
a waste of time. We know nothing about heaven but what the Bible tells
us, and we know nothing about hell but what the Bible tells us. On a
subject like this one ounce of God's revelation is worth a thousand
tons of man's speculation. The whole question is what does the Bible
say about Hell? But while we are dependent entirely upon the Bible,
the Bible clearly reveals all that we need to know. The Bible tells us
a great deal about heaven, and it tells us still more about hell, and
it is an interesting fact that the Lord Jesus Himself, whose authority
many are ready to accept who do not accept the authority of the rest of
the Bible, is the One Who tells us the most about hell, and the most
clearly about hell. Indeed, all that I am going to show you is what
_the Lord Jesus Himself says_ on this subject.


I. HELL AND HADES ARE NOT THE SAME

First of all, in order to clear the way for the study of what Jesus
says on this subject, let me call your attention to the fact that
Hell and Hades are not the same. There are numerous places in the
Authorised Version where we find the word "Hell" but where that word
does not occur in the Revised Version, and where the word "Hades" is
substituted for the word "Hell." The Revised Version is right at that
point, as every Greek scholar knows. Hades is not Hell. "Hades" is
the Greek equivalent of the Old Testament Hebrew word "Sheol." This
Hebrew word "Sheol" is frequently translated in the Authorised Version
of the Old Testament by the English word "Grave." It ought never to
be so translated, as it never means "Grave." I have taken the pains
to look up every passage where this Hebrew word is used and in not a
single instance does it mean "Grave." There is an entirely different
Hebrew word which can properly be translated in that way. "Sheol," or
New Testament "Hades," means the place of departed spirits. Sheol (or
Hades) before the coming, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of
our Lord, was _the place where all the spirits of the dead, good and
bad, went_. Before the ascension of Christ, in Hades was Paradise, the
place of the blessed dead, and Tartaros, the place of the wicked dead.
At His ascension Christ emptied the Paradise of Hades, and took it up
to Heaven with Him, as we read in Eph. 4:8, +"When he ascended on
high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."+ Before
Christ ascended Paradise was down, now it is up. Christ said to the
repentant thief on the cross, +"Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt
thou be with me in Paradise,"+ and Jesus Himself taught us He went
down into +"the heart of the earth"+ (Luke 12:40) and the dying
thief went down with Him into this subterranean Paradise. I think Jesus
Himself went also into that part of Hades where the lost spirits were
(1 Peter 3:18-20), but that is another story that we will consider
later. All that is important now is that the repentant, dying thief
went _down_ into Paradise, but after the ascension of the Lord, when
Paul went to Paradise, he was +"caught up even to the third heaven
into Paradise"+ (II Cor. 12:2-4). No blessed dead are now left in
Hades, and ultimately "death" and "Hades," i.e., all that are dead who
have not yet been raised, or caught up into the Celestial Paradise, all
who are still in Hades, shall be +"cast into the lake of fire"+
(Rev. 20:14). This +"lake of fire"+ into which death and Hades are
to be cast, is the true and ultimate Hell.


II. THERE IS TO BE A LITERAL HELL

Having cleared the way by removing the misapprehension so common in the
minds of people to-day, that Hades and Hell are the same, now let us
say next that _there is to be a Hell_. The Bible says so, Jesus says
in Matt. 5:22, +"but I say unto you, that every one who is angry
with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council;
and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell
of fire."+ In the 29th verse of the same chapter the Lord Jesus
says: +"And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble pluck it out,
and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell."+ And in the 30th verse He says: +"And if thy right
hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for
it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."+ We read
again what our Lord Jesus said in Mark 9:45-48, +"and if thy foot
causeth thee to stumble, cut it off; it is good for thee to enter
into life halt, rather than having thy two feet to be cast into hell.
And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, cast it out; it is good
for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell; where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched."+ Some one may say that these words of
our Lord are figurative. There is not the slightest suggestion that
they are figurative. The whole context is against their being taken
figuratively. It is indeed wrong to interpret figurative language as
if it were literal, but it is just as unwarranted and just as wrong to
interpret literal language as if it were figurative. Of course, the
word "Gehenna," which is translated "Hell" is derived from the valley
of Hinnom, where in ancient times human sacrifices were offered, but
the _use_ of the word is literal throughout the New Testament, though
its _derivation_ is figurative. Many words that are figurative in
their derivation are literal in their use, and the meaning of words
is never determined by derivation, but by usage. For example, our
word "eclipse" is a figure of speech. According to the figure it is a
leaving or failing or fainting of the moon or sun, whichever it may be
that is eclipsed. But though it is figurative in its derivation, the
ordinary usage of it is literal. The universal use in the New Testament
of "Gehenna" or "Hell" is literal. The word here translated "Hell" is
found twelve times in the New Testament, eleven of these twelve times
it is used by our Lord Jesus Himself, and He uniformly uses it, as in
the passages which I have just read, of a literal hell. If there is
no literal hell, then our Lord Jesus was either a fool or a fraud.
He certainly meant to convey the impression that there was a literal
hell. There can be no doubt of that, if we go to His words to find out
what is the natural meaning of them. If there is no literal hell then
either Jesus thought there was one when there was not, in which case He
was a fool; or else He knew that there was not, but tried to make men
think that there was, in which case He was a fraud. There is no other
alternative but either to believe that there is a literal hell or else
to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Saviour, was a fool or
a fraud. I know that Jesus was not a fool. I know that He was the only
begotten Son of God, that in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, that He and the Father are one, that all men should honour the
Son even as they honour the Father. I know that He spoke the very words
of God, therefore I know that there is a literal hell, for He said so.
It is worthy of note, furthermore, that most of these words about hell
that I have read you to-night are taken from the Sermon on the Mount,
the one part of the Bible that pretty much all men claim to believe.
There are many who say they do not know about the Bible as a whole, but
they do accept the Sermon on the Mount. Well, these passages are for
the most part from the Sermon on the Mount. Either accept this part of
the Sermon on the Mount or else throw the whole thing overboard as the
utterance of a fool or a fraud. There is no other ground possible for
any man who is willing to think things through.


III. IS THE FIRE OF HELL LITERAL FIRE?

The next question that confronts us is, Is the fire of hell mentioned
in some of the passages we have read, literal fire? This is not
so vital a question as the question, is there a literal hell, but
nevertheless it is an important question, and I believe the question
is plainly answered in the Bible, and plainly answered by Jesus Christ
Himself. To turn again to the passage already referred to, Matt. 5:22,
we read: +"But I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his
brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to
his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire."+
These are Christ's own words. He not only speaks of hell, but a "_hell
of fire_," and this too is from the Sermon on the Mount. In Matt. 18:9
the Lord Jesus says again, +"And if thine eye cause thee to stumble,
pluck it out, and cast it from thee; it is good for thee to enter into
life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the
hell of fire."+ And again in Mark 9:43-49, the passage read a few
moments ago, we read, +"And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut
it off; it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than
having thy two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. And
if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is good for thee to
enter into life halt, rather than having thy two feet to be cast into
hell. And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is good
for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell, where the worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched."+ Here again some may say the fire is
figurative. Turn to Matt. 13:30, 41, 42, we read these words: +"Let
both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, gather up first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to barn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."+ Now here
is a parable and we have figures and there would be warrant, if this
were all that we had, for saying that the fire was figurative, as other
things in the verse are figurative; but in the 41st and 42nd verses
of the same chapter we read, +"The Son of man shall send forth his
angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause
stumbling, and they that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth."+
Here we have _the interpretation_ of the parable. Now in parables, as
already said, we have figures, but in the interpretation of parables we
have the literal facts which the figures represent, but we see clearly
that here _in the interpretation as well as in the parable_, we have
_fire_. Everything else in the parable is explained, every item in the
parable except the fire, but that remains fire in the interpretation of
the parable as well as in the parable itself. We find the same thing in
another parable in verses 47 to 50, the parable of the net cast into
the sea. Here, also, in the interpretation of the parable as well as in
the parable itself we have _fire_. Every other figure of the parable
is explained by the literal fact that it represents, but _in the
interpretation_ of the parable we have "_fire_." In the light of these
facts we cannot deny the literal fire of hell without doing violence
to every reasonable law of interpretation. Furthermore still, we read
in Rev. 20:15 that at the judgment of the great white throne, +"and
if any was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the
lake of fire."+ There is nothing in the whole context that suggests
a figure. And in the 21st chapter and the 8th verse we read: +"But
for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and
fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, their part
shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the
second death."+

Remember furthermore that the wicked in the eternal world are not mere
disembodied spirits. This is plain both from the Old Testament and the
New. We read in Dan. 12:2: +"And many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame
and everlasting contempt."+ Now this says "them that sleep in the
dust of the earth." The soul departs into Hades. It is _the body_ that
crumbles into dust, and it is the body that is to be raised. In the New
Testament, in John 5:28, 29, our Lord is recorded as saying: +"Marvel
not at this; for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs
shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of judgment."+ Now it is not the souls of men that are
in the tombs, it is the bodies of men, and this passage teaches the
resurrection of the bodies, both of the good and of the wicked. In I
Cor. 15:22 we read, +"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ
shall all be made alive."+ What Paul is talking about in this entire
chapter is the resurrection _of the body_, not merely the immortality
of the soul, and we are here distinctly told that every child of Adam
gets resurrection of his body in Christ.

Furthermore, in Matt. 5:30 Jesus says: +"If thy right hand causeth
thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy
whole body go into hell."+ Here in the plainest possible terms the
body is spoken of as going into hell, and in a similar way in Matt.
10:28, the Lord Jesus says: +"Be not afraid of them that kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell."+ From these plain and
definite words of our Lord it is plain as day that in the future life
we are to have bodies, and that the bodies of the lost are to have a
place in a literal physical hell of fire. While the bodily torments
of hell fire are not the most appalling feature of hell, while the
mental agony, the agony of remorse, the agony of shame, and the agony
of despair, is worse, immeasurably worse; nevertheless, physical
suffering, a physical suffering to which no pain on earth is anything
in comparison, is a feature of hell.


IV. IS THE LAKE OF FIRE A PLACE OF CONSCIOUS TORMENT, OR IS IT A PLACE
OF ANNIHILATION, I.E., A PLACE OF NON-EXISTENCE OR IS IT A PLACE OF
NON-CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE?

There is one other question that remains to be answered, and that is,
_is the lake of fire a place of conscious torment, or is it a place
of annihilation, i.e., a place of non-existence, or is it a place of
non-conscious existence_? There are those who believe in a literal
hell, but they do not believe that those who are consigned to it will
consciously suffer there for any great length of time. They hold
either that those who are sent to hell are annihilated, or else that
they exist there in a non-conscious state. Of course, this would be
an everlasting hell, and everlasting punishment, but is it the hell
that is taught in the Bible? Is the lake of fire a place of continued
conscious torment, or is it a place of non-conscious existence? In
answer to this question let me call your attention to the fact that the
punishment of the wicked is spoken of in the Bible most frequently as
"Death" and "Destruction." What do these words mean in biblical usage?

1. Let us look first at the biblical usage of the word "Death." Many
tell us, time and time again, that death means non-existence, or at
least non-conscious existence, and therefore that is what it must
mean in the passages where it is spoken of as the future punishment
of the impenitent. But does "death" _as used in the Bible_ mean
either non-conscious existence, or annihilation? Look first at 1 Tim.
5:6; here we read, "She that liveth in pleasure is _dead_ while she
liveth." Death here certainly does not mean either non-existence, or
non-conscious existence. The woman that lives in pleasure still exists,
and she certainly exists consciously, but she is "_dead_." Death means
wrong existence rather than non-existence. It is just the opposite of
life, and life in the New Testament usage does not mean mere existence,
it means right existence. God-like existence, holy existence. It
means the ennoblement and glorification and deification of existence;
and death means just the opposite, it means wrong existence, debased
existence, the ruin, the shame, and the ignominy and the despair of
existence. In a similar way we are told in Eph. 2:1, that men until
they are quickened, or made alive, by the power of God are "_Dead in
trespasses and sins_." It is perfectly clear then that death does not
mean either non-existence, or non-conscious existence. But even more
decisive than this is the fact that God Himself has defined death
very accurately and very fully in Rev. 21:8: +"But the fearful and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in
the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second
death."+ Here we are told in so many words that the "death" which
is the final outcome of persistent sin and unbelief is a portion in
the place of torment, the lake of fire. That this lake of fire is a
place of conscious suffering is made clear in the preceding chapter,
Rev. 20:10, where we are told that "the devil that deceived them was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
The beast and false prophet had already been there a thousand years
when the devil was cast into the lake of fire, and they were tormented
consciously, without rest.

2. Now let us look at what "_Destruction_" means in the New Testament.
We are told by a certain school of religious thought that "destruction"
means destruction. Yes, "destruction" means destruction, but what does
destruction mean? They say it means annihilation, or ceasing to be,
but the Greek word so translated never means that in the Bible, nor
even out of the Bible. In the best Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament extant, Thayer's translation of Grimm's great work, we are
told that when a thing is said to "perish" (and the verb from which
the noun commonly translated "destruction" and "perdition" is derived,
is the one translated "to perish") it is not meant that it ceases to
be, but that it is "so ruined that it no longer subserves the use for
which it was designed." Furthermore, here again God has been careful to
define His terms. He Himself has given us in the Bible a definition
of "destruction." We read in Rev. 17:8, 11: +"The beast that thou
sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,
and go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder
. . . and the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is
of the seven, and goeth into perdition."+ Here we are told that
the beast goes into "perdition." The word here translated "perdition"
is precisely the same word that is elsewhere translated "destruction"
and should be so translated here; or else in the other instances it
should be translated, as here, "perdition." Now if we can find what
the beast goes into, then we shall know exactly what "destruction"
means, for we are told that he goeth "into destruction." In the 19th
chapter of Revelation, the 20th verse, we are told exactly where
the beast goes: +"And the beast was taken, and with him the false
prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone."+ Now looking forward to the next chapter, the 10th
verse, which I have already quoted, we read: +"And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are
also the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever."+ Putting these passages together
we see that the beast goeth into "destruction," and the destruction
into which he goes is a place in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone, where for a thousand years he is in conscious torment,
and where after the thousand years are over he is still there and is
still tormented. So then "destruction" is clearly defined in the New
Testament in the same way in which "death" is defined, as the condition
of beings in a place of conscious torment.

Again in Rev. 14:10, 11, we read regarding those who worship the beast
and his image and receive his mark in their foreheads or in their
hands: +"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which
is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment
ascendeth for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who
worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of
his name."+ The Bible makes it clear as language can make it that
the lake of fire to which "whoever is not written in the Lamb's book of
life" is consigned, is a place of continued, conscious torment. There
is no escaping the clear teaching of the Word of God unless we throw
our Bibles away and discredit the teaching of the Apostles and the
teaching of Jesus Christ Himself.

Next Sunday night we will take up the question, Is the Punishment
of the Wicked Everlasting, but we must stop at this point to-night.
Sherman said, "War is hell." Of course, in the way in which Sherman
meant it, this is true. It is far more true of war to-day than it was
in the worst and most inexcusable phases of our Civil War—Libby and
Andersonville, for example, on the part of the South, and the march
through Georgia on the part of the North. But even war to-day as
carried on by Germany in all its appalling frightfulness, is not hell.
Hell is incomparably more awful than the war now raging in Europe, and
this awful hell of which we have been studying to-night is the destiny
of some of you here in this room, unless you soon repent and accept
the Lord Jesus Christ. Other appalling facts about hell we will take
up next Sunday night, but we have already seen enough to make any true
Christian determine to work with all his might to save others from this
awful hell. And we have seen enough to make every honest and sensible
person here to-night determine to escape this awful hell at any cost.




XV

IS FUTURE PUNISHMENT EVERLASTING?


Jesus Christ plainly taught that there was to be a literal hell and
that this hell would be a place of conscious suffering, suffering far
beyond that experienced by any one here in this present life, but we
are faced by another question of great importance, Is this future,
conscious suffering of the impenitent to be _endless_? There are many
who believe in future punishment of a very severe and awful character,
and who indeed believe in a literal hell of awful, conscious suffering,
but they deny, or at least doubt, that this future hell will be a place
of _endless_, conscious suffering. Many of them admit and teach that
the suffering may go on for a long time, and perhaps for thousands of
years, but they hold that it will end at last and that all men will
ultimately come to repentance, accept Jesus Christ, and be saved. What
is the exact truth about the matter? We cannot decide this by asking
what the majority of supposedly reliable theologians believe, for
majorities are often wrong and minorities are often right. Neither
can we decide it by reasoning as to what such a being as God is must
do. It is impossible for finite and foolish men such as we are, and
such as the wisest philosophers and theologians are, to judge what an
Infinitely wise and Infinitely holy God must do. All reasonings by
finite men as to what an Infinitely wise God must do are utterly futile
and an utter waste of time. _All we know about the future is what God
has been pleased to tell us in His Word._ The Bible, as we have seen,
is beyond a question the Word of God, and therefore what it has to say
on this subject, or any other subject, is true and absolutely sure, and
in a question of this character one ounce of God's revelation is worth
more than a thousand tons of man's speculation. The whole question then
is, what does the Bible teach in regard to this matter?


I. WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES REGARDING THE ENDLESSNESS OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT

1. To find out exactly what the Bible teaches as to the endlessness of
future punishment let us turn first of all to the words of our Lord
Jesus Himself in Matt. 25:46 (R. V.), +"And these shall go away into
eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life."+ The first
question that confronts us in studying this passage is what the word
_aionios_ (_aionion_) which is here translated "_eternal_" means. The
best Greek-English dictionary of the New Testament is Thayer's. In this
dictionary Thayer after a careful study of the word, its derivation
and its usage, gives these three definitions of the word, and these
three only: (1) "Without beginning or end, that which always has been
and always will be." (2) "Without beginning." (3) "Without end, never
to cease, everlasting." It is frequently said that the word _aionios_
according to its derivation means _age-lasting_, and therefore may
refer to a limited period. Even admitting this to be true, we should
bear in mind that the meaning of words is not determined by their
derivation but by their usage, and the most important question is
not what the derivation of this word may be, but as to how it is
used in the New Testament. It is used 72 times in the New Testament.
Forty-four of these 72 times it is used in the phrase "eternal life,"
or as it is sometimes rendered, "everlasting life." No one questions
that everlasting life is endless and that in connection with the word
"life" "age lasting" (if that be its proper derivation of the word)
means _lasting through all ages, never ending_. Once it is used in
connection with the word "habitations," referring to the habitations
which the blessed are to have in the world to come, and, of course,
these also are never-ending. Once it is used of the "weight of glory"
that in the world to come awaits the believer in Jesus Christ who
endures affliction for Christ in the life that now is. In this case
again, of course, by universal consent it means endless. Once it is
used of the "house not made with hands" that believers in Christ are
to receive at the coming of the Lord Jesus (II Cor. 5:1-8). Of course,
this "house not made with hands" is everlasting. In fact the very point
that is being brought forward in this passage is the contrast between
our present bodies which are but for a brief time and our resurrection
bodies which are to exist throughout all eternity. Once it is used of
the future unseen things that never end, contrasted with the present
seen things that are for a season (II Cor. 4:18). Of course, these
are never-ending. That is the very point that is being brought out in
the contrast. Once it is used of the everlasting "comfort" (R. V.) or
"consolation" (A. V.) that "our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God
our Father" give us, and that is certainly never ending. Twice it is
used of the "glory" that those in Christ obtain (II Tim. 2:10). That,
of course, by universal consent is endless. Once it is used of the
"salvation" Christ brings, which is beyond question never ending. Once
(Heb. 9:12) it is used of the "redemption" that Jesus Christ secures
for us by His blood. This redemption is never ending. In fact, the
chief point of contrast in the context in this case is between the
temporary redemption secured by the _constantly repeated_ sacrifices
of the Mosaic ritual and the never ending redemption secured by the
perfect sacrifice of Christ made _once for all_. Once it is used of
the "inheritance" that those who are in Christ receive (Heb. 9:15).
Here again beyond a question it is never ending. Once it is used of
the "_everlasting_ covenant" through Christ's blood contrasted with
the _temporary_ covenant, based on the blood of bulls and goats,
given through Moses. Here again it necessarily and emphatically means
never ending. That is the very point at issue. Once it is used of the
"everlasting kingdom" of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (II Peter
1:11), and we are told in Luke 1:33, "of His kingdom there shall be no
end." Once it is used of "everlasting gospel" (or good news) and that,
of course, also never ends. Once it is used of the "everlasting God"
(Rom. 16:26) and He certainly endures not merely through long ages,
but without end. Once it is used of the Holy Spirit who is called "the
eternal (or everlasting) Spirit," and He certainly endures, not merely
through long ages, but throughout an absolutely endless eternity. This
covers fifty-nine of the seventy-two times it is used, and in these
fifty-nine instances the thought of endlessness is absolutely necessary
to the sense, and in not a single one of the thirteen remaining times
where it is used is it used of anything that is known to end. If usage
can determine the meaning of any word then certainly the New Testament
use of this word determines it to mean _never ending_, or, as Thayer
defines it, "_without end, never to cease_, everlasting."

Nor is this all, God Himself determines it to mean _never ending_: He
defines it to mean never-ending by specifically using it in contrast
with that which does end. For example, in 2 Cor. 4:18 we read,
+"While we look not on the things which are seen, but the things
which are unseen: for the things which are seen are temporal+
(literally, for a season); +but the things which are not seen are
eternal."+ Here the whole point is that the unseen things in
distinction from the seen which are _for a season_ are for a _never
ending duration_.

But even allowing that the word according to its usage could be used
of that which, though it last throughout an age, or ages, has an end;
even if that were true (which it is not), then the meaning of the word
in any given instance would have to be determined by the context in
which it is found. Now what is the context in the passage which we
are studying? Let us read it again, +"And these shall go away into
eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life."+ The
same Greek adjective is used in connection with "punishment" and with
"life." (In the Authorised Version it is differently rendered, but in
the Greek and in the Revised Version it is exactly the same.) Certainly
this qualifying adjective must mean the same in the one half of the
sentence that it means in the other half of the sentence. We must at
least admit that Jesus Christ was an honest man, and He certainly was
too honest to juggle with words: He would not use a word to mean one
thing in one half of a sentence and something utterly different in
the other half. _He evidently sought to convey the impression that
the punishment of the unsaved was of the same duration as the life
of the saved._ No one questions that the life is endless. It would be
the destruction of all our hopes if it were not endless. Therefore,
if we are to deal honestly with our Lord's words, He taught that the
punishment of the unsaved was to be endless. We have exactly the same
reason in God's Word for believing in endless punishment that we have
for believing in endless life. If you give up the one you must give up
the other, or else deal dishonestly with the words of Jesus Christ.

2. We might rest the case here and call it proven, but let us turn to
another passage, Rev. 14:9-11, +"And another angel, a third, followed
them, saying with a great voice, If any man worshipeth the beast and
his image and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he
also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared
unmixed in the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence
of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever;
and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and
his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name."+ Here we have
another expression for the duration of the punishment and suffering of
the impenitent, the expression rendered _for ever and ever_. There are
in the Greek two slightly differing forms of expression that are so
translated. The one form of expression literally rendered is "unto the
ages of the ages," the other form is "unto ages of ages." What thought
do these expressions convey. It has been said by those who seek to
escape the force of these words as referring to absolute endlessness,
that the expression "is a Hebraism for the supreme one of its class,"
and as an illustration of the same alleged Hebraism the expressions,
"Lord of Lords" and "Holy of Holies" are cited. But this is not so.
In the first place, the form of neither of the two expressions is
the same; and, in the second place, that is not the meaning of the
expression "The Lord of Lords" or the meaning of the expression "The
Holy of Holies." The expression "Lord of Lords" does not mean merely
_the supreme_ Lord, but one who is Himself Lord of all other Lords,
and this expression "unto the ages of the ages" never means merely
the ages which are the supreme ages in distinction from other ages
(nor as another puts it, the ages which _come out of_ the other ages,
i.e., the closing ages before eternity). The expression according
to its form means ages which are themselves _composed of ages_. It
represents not years tumbling upon years, nor centuries tumbling upon
centuries, but ages tumbling upon ages in endless procession. It is
the strongest possible form of expression for absolute endlessness.
Furthermore, the way to determine conclusively what the expression
means is by considering its usage. Usage is always the decisive thing
in determining the meaning of words and phrases. What is the usage of
these expressions in the book from which we have taken our passage?
These expressions are used twelve times in this book. In eight of the
twelve times they refer to the duration of the existence, or reign,
or glory of God and His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Of course, in
these instances it must stand not merely for the supreme ages, or any
individual ages, it must refer to absolute eternity and endlessness.
Once it is used of the duration of the blessed reign of the righteous,
and, of course, here again it refers to an endless eternity: and
in the three remaining instances it is used of the duration of the
torment of the Devil, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the finally
impenitent. It is urged by those who would deny that the expression
means an absolutely endless eternity, that it is used in Rev. 11:15,
where we are told that "the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom
of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever
(unto the ages of the ages)," and that we are told in 1 Cor. 15:24 that
Christ "shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father"; and
that therefore His kingdom must come to an end, and consequently "for
ever and ever" in this passage cannot mean without end. There are two
answers to this objection, either of which is sufficient. The first is
that the "he" in "he shall reign for ever and ever" in Rev. 11:15, does
not necessarily refer to the Christ, but rather to the Lord Jehovah,
in which case the argument falls to the ground. The second answer is
that while we are taught in I Cor. 15:24, etc., that Jesus Christ
will deliver up His _mediatorial_ kingdom to the Father, nevertheless
we are distinctly taught that He shall rule with the Father, and we
are told in so many words in Luke 1:33 that "of His kingdom _there
shall be no end_," so that even if the "he" in Rev. 11:15 referred
to the Christ and not to the Lord Jehovah, still the statement would
be exactly correct that He, the Christ, was to reign for ever and
ever, i.e., without end. _There is not a single passage in the whole
book in which this expression is used of anything but that which is
absolutely endless._ So the question is answered again and answered
decisively that the conscious suffering of the persistently impenitent
is absolutely endless.

3. Now let us look at another passage, II Thess. 1:7-9: +"The Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His
power."+ Here we are told that the punishment of those that know not
God and obey not the gospel is "everlasting _destruction_."

What does "everlasting destruction" mean? In Rev. 17:8, 11 we are told
that the beast goeth into "destruction," so if we can find out where
the beast goes, or into what he goes, we shall know what "destruction"
means in the Bible usage. In Rev. 19:20 we are told that +"the beast
was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in
his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of
the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast
alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone,"+ so we
see that "_destruction_" is a portion in the lake of fire. And in the
next chapter, Rev. 20:10, we are told that +"The devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the
beast and the false prophet+ (after having already been there for
one thousand years, see context); +and they shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever."+ So we see that destruction means
a portion in the lake of fire where its inhabitants are consciously
suffering without cessation _for ever and ever_. It is clear then, from
a comparison of II Thess. 1:7-9 with these passages, that those who
know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be
punished with never-ending, conscious suffering.

4. Let us look at one more passage, Matt. 25:41 (these again are the
words of the Lord Jesus Himself): +"Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire
which is prepared for the devil and his angels."+ What I wish you
to notice here is that the punishment into which the impenitent are
sent is the "eternal fire" which is "_prepared for the devil and his
angels_." We have an exact description of just what the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels is in the passage read a few
moments ago, Rev. 20:10: +"And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where are also the beast and the
false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and
ever."+ By a comparison of these two statements we have another
explicit declaration of our Lord that the punishment of the impenitent
is to be a conscious agony, where they are punished without rest day
and night for ever and ever.

From any one of these passages and especially from all taken together,
it is clear that the Scriptures make it as plain as language can make
it that THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE PERSISTENTLY IMPENITENT IS
ABSOLUTELY ENDLESS.


II. OBJECTIONS

There are several passages of Scripture which those who believe that
all men will ultimately repent and be brought to accept Christ and thus
saved, urge against what seems to be the plain teaching of the passages
we have been studying.

1. The first of these is 1 Peter 3:18-20: +"Because Christ also
suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he
might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive
in the spirit; in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls, were saved through water."+ It is urged that
as Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison there will be
another chance after men have died. But this the passage in question
does not assert or imply in any way.

(1) First of all there is no proof that "the spirits in prison" refers
to the departed spirits of men who once lived here on earth. In the
Bible departed spirits of men are not spoken of in this way. These
words are used of other spirits, but not of human spirits disembodied,
and there is every reason for supposing that these "spirits in prison"
were not the sinful men that were on earth when the ark was preparing,
but the angels who sinned at that time, just as we are told in Gen.
6:1, 2 that they did sin (cf. Jude 6, 7).

(2) Furthermore, even if "the spirits in prison" here spoken of were
the spirits of men who were disobedient in the time of Noah, there is
not a hint in the passage that they were saved through the preaching of
Christ to them, or that they had another chance. There are two words
commonly used in the New Testament for preaching, one is _kerusso_
and the other is _euaggelizo_. The first of these means _to herald_,
as to herald a king, or to herald the kingdom. It may, however, be
used of preaching a message, the gospel message or some other message.
The second word _euaggelizo_, means to preach _the gospel_. In the
passage that we are studying it is the first word that is used, and
there is not a hint that Christ preached _the gospel_ to these spirits
in prison. He simply heralded the triumph of the kingdom. It was not
a saving message. So there is nothing in this passage to put up even
inferentially against the plain, direct statements regarding the
destiny of the wicked found in the passages we have been studying.

2. The second passage that is appealed to by those who deny the
endlessness of future punishment is Phil. 2:9-11: +"Wherefore also
God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above
every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father."+ Here it is said, we are told, that all those
"under the earth" as well as in heaven and on earth should bow the
knee in the name of Jesus and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and
that this implies that they are saved. But it does not imply that they
are saved. Every knee of lost men and of the devil and his angels too
will be forced some day to bow in the name of Jesus and every tongue
forced to confess that He is Lord. If any one does that in the present
life of his own free choice, he will be saved, but otherwise he will
do it by compulsion in the age to come and every one has his choice
between doing it now willingly and gladly and being saved, or doing it
by compulsion hereafter and being lost. There is absolutely nothing
in this passage to teach universal salvation or to militate even
inferentially against the plain statements we have been studying.

3. The third passage that is appealed to is Acts 3:19-21: +"Repent
ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that
so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord;
and that He may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even
Jesus: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of
all things whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that
have been from of old."+ Here we are told of a coming "restoration
_of all things_" and those who contend for the doctrine of universal
salvation hold that this means the restoration to righteousness of all
persons. But that is not what it says, and that is not what it refers
to. We are taught in Old Testament prophecy and also in the book of
Romans, that in connection with the return of our Lord Jesus there is
to be a _restoration of all nature_, of the whole physical universe,
from its fallen state. For example, in Rom. 8:19-21 we read: +"For
the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of
the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of
its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the
creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."+ And in Isa.
55:13 we read: +"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree;
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall
be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be
cut off."+ And in Isa. 65:25 we are told: +"The wolf and the lamb
shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust
shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my
holy mountain, saith Jehovah,"+ and in Isa. 32:15, we are told that
+"until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness
become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a
forest."+ It is to this restoration of the physical universe, here
plainly predicted in Rom. 8:19-21 and these Old Testament prophecies,
that the "restoration of all things" spoken of in Acts 3:21 refers.
There is not a hint, not the slightest suggestion, of a restoration of
impenitent sinners.

4. Still another passage that is urged is Eph. 1:9, 10, where we read:
+"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to
His good pleasure which He purposed in Him unto a dispensation of
the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things
in the heavens, and the things upon the earth."+ Here it is urged
that things in heaven and things in earth are to be summed up in
Christ. This is true, but it should be noticed that the Holy Spirit
has specifically omitted here the phrase that is found in Phil. 2:10,
the "_things under the earth_," that is the abode of the lost, so this
passage, so far from suggesting that the lost ones in hell will be
restored, suggests exactly the opposite thing. There is then certainly
nothing in this passage to militate even inferentially against the
plain statements we have been studying.

5. One more passage that is urged against the doctrine we have been
studying remains to be considered, that is 1 Cor. 15:22. Here we read,
+"For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive."+ It is urged in connection with this passage that we are
distinctly told here that all who die in Adam, that is every human
being, shall be made alive in Christ, and that "made alive" means
"obtain eternal life," or "be saved." For years I thought that this
was the true interpretation of this passage, and for that reason in
part, I held and preached at that time that all men ultimately, some
time, somewhere, somehow, would be brought to accept Jesus Christ and
be saved; but when I came to study the passage more carefully I saw
that this was a misinterpretation of the passage. Every passage in
the Bible, or in any other book, must be interpreted in its context.
The whole subject that Paul is talking about in this chapter is not
eternal life, not the immortality of the soul, but _the resurrection of
the body_, and all this passage declares is that as all lose physical
life in Adam, so also all will obtain a resurrection of the body in
Christ. Whether that resurrection of the body is a resurrection to
everlasting life or a resurrection to shame and everlasting contempt
(Dan. 12:2) depends entirely upon what men do with the Christ in whom
they get it. There is absolutely nothing here to teach universal
salvation. It only teaches a universal resurrection, resurrection of
the wicked as well as of the righteous.

To sum up the teaching of all these passages that are so often urged to
prove universal salvation, there is nothing in any one of the passages,
nor in all of them together, to teach that all men will ultimately be
saved, and there is nothing in them to in any way conflict with what
we have seen to be the honest meaning of the passages studied above,
namely, that the future punishment of sin is absolutely endless. There
is not a passage to be found in the Bible that teaches universal
salvation, or that all men will ultimately come to repentance and be
saved. I wish that there were, but there is not. I have been searching
diligently for such a passage for nearly forty years and I have not
found it, and it cannot be found.


III. WHERE ARE THE ISSUES OF ETERNITY SETTLED?

There remains one other important question; and that is, where are
the issues of eternity settled. There are those who believe that the
punishment of the persistently impenitent is everlasting, that it has
no end, but they also believe that the issues of eternity are not
settled in the life that now is, but that with many they are settled
after death and that when men die impenitent they will have another
chance. Believing in endless punishment does not necessarily involve
believing that there is no chance after death. There are many who
believe that there will be a chance after death, and that many will
accept it, who also believe that some will not accept it and will
therefore be punished for ever and ever. Now what is the teaching of
the Word of God on this point? Let me call your attention to four
passages, any one of which settles the question, and taken together
they leave no possible room for doubt for any candid man who is willing
to take the Bible as meaning what it says, any man who is really trying
to find out what the Bible teaches and not merely trying to support a
theory.

1. The first passage in 2 Cor. 5:10: +"For we must all be made
manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether
it be good or bad."+ In this passage we are plainly told that the
basis of judgment in the world to come is "the things done _in the
body_," i.e., the things done this side the grave, the things done
before we shuffle off this mortal coil, the things done before the
spirit leaves the body. Of course, this particular passage has to do
primarily with the judgment of the believer, but it shows what the
basis of future judgment is, viz., the things done this side of the
grave.

2. The second passage is Heb. 9:27: +"It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this cometh judgment."+ Here we are distinctly
told that "_after death_" there is to be, not an opportunity to prepare
for judgment, but "judgment," and that, therefore, our destiny is
settled _at death_, and that there is no chance of salvation "after
death."

3. The third passage is John 5:28, 29: +"Marvel not at this: for the
hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
judgment."+ Here also it is clearly implied that the resurrection of
good and bad is for the purpose of judgment _regarding the things done
before their bodies were laid in their graves_.

4. A fourth passage, if possible more decisive than any of these, gives
our Lord's words, John 8:21: +"He said therefore again unto them; I
go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin, whither I
go, ye cannot come."+ Here our Lord distinctly declares that the
question whether men shall come to be with Him or not depends upon what
they do _before they die_, that if they die impenitent, if they "_die
in their sins_," that whither He goes they cannot come. To sum up the
teaching of all these passages, the issues of eternity, the issues of
eternal life or eternal destruction, the issues of eternal blessedness
and glory, or eternal agony and shame, are settled in the life that now
is.


IV. CONCLUSION

The future state of those who reject in the life that now is the
redemption offered to them in Christ Jesus is plainly declared in the
Word of God to be a state of conscious, unutterable, endless torment
and anguish. This conception is an appalling one, but it is the
Scriptural conception. It is the unmistakable, inescapable teaching of
God's own word.

I wish that all men would repent and accept Christ. If any one could
show me one single passage in the Bible that clearly taught that all
men would ultimately repent, accept Christ and be saved, it would be
the happiest day of my life, but it cannot be found. I once thought
it could, and I so believed and taught. These ideas so widely noised
about to-day as something new, these theories of "Pastor" Russell,
formerly of Pittsburg, Mr. Gelesnoff of this city, and Dr. Mabie of
Long Beach, and Mr. Pridgeon of Pittsburg, and many others, are not at
all new to me. I held and taught substantially the same views regarding
ultimate universal salvation years before these men were heard of,
indeed nearly forty years ago. I was familiar with the arguments that
they now urge, and other arguments which they do not seem to know, but
which were to me more decisive than those that they urge. But the time
came, as I studied the Bible more carefully, when I could not reconcile
my teaching with what I found to be the unmistakable teaching of God's
Word. I had to do one of three things: I had to either give up my
belief that the Bible was the Word of God, or else I must twist the
words of Jesus (and others in the New Testament) to mean something else
than what they clearly appeared to teach, or else I must give up my
doctrine of ultimate universal restoration and salvation. I could not
give up my faith that the Bible was the Word of God, for I had found
absolutely overwhelming proof that it was God's Word. I could not twist
the words of Jesus and of others to mean something else than what was
clearly their intended meaning, for I was an honest man. There was only
one thing left to do and that was to give up my doctrine of universal
restoration and salvation. I gave it up with great reluctance, but
I was compelled to give it up or be untrue to my own reason and
conscience. It is the inescapable teaching of the Word of God that all
who go out of this world without having accepted Jesus Christ, will
spend eternity in hell, in a hell of unutterable, conscious anguish.

This Bible conception is also a reasonable one when we come to see the
appalling nature of sin, and especially the appalling nature of the sin
of trampling under foot God's mercy toward sinners, and rejecting God's
glorious Son, Whom in His love He has provided as a Saviour.

Shallow views of sin and of God's holiness and of the glory of
Jesus Christ lie at the bottom of weak theories of the doom of the
impenitent. When we see Sin in all its hideousness and enormity, the
Holiness of God in all its perfection, and the Glory of Jesus Christ in
all its infinity, nothing but a doctrine that those who persist in the
choice of sin, who love darkness rather than light, and who persist in
the rejection of the Son of God, shall endure everlasting anguish, will
satisfy the demands of our own moral intuitions. Nothing but the fact
that we dread suffering more than we loathe sin, and more than we love
the glory of Jesus Christ, makes us repudiate the thought that beings
who eternally choose sin should eternally suffer, or that men who
despise God's mercy and spurn His Son should be given over to endless
anguish.

If, after men have sinned and God still offers them mercy, and makes
the tremendous sacrifice of His Son to save them—if they still
despise that mercy and trample God's Son under foot, if then they are
consigned to everlasting torment, I cannot but say, "Amen! Hallelujah!
True and righteous are thy judgments, O Lord!"

At all events the doctrine of conscious, eternal torment for impenitent
men is clearly revealed in the Word of God, and whether we can defend
it on philosophical grounds or not, it is our business to believe
it; and leave it to the clearer light of eternity to explain what we
cannot now understand, realising that God may have many infinitely
wise reasons for doing things for which we in our ignorance can see
no sufficient reason at all. It is the most ludicrous conceit for
beings so limited and foolish as the wisest of men are, to attempt to
dogmatise how a God of infinite wisdom must act. All we know as to how
God is to act is what God has seen fit to tell us.

In conclusion, two things are certain. First, the more closely men
walk with God and the more devoted they become in His service, the
more likely they are to believe this doctrine. Many there are who tell
us they love their fellow men too much to believe this doctrine; but
the men who show their love in more practical ways than by sentimental
protestations about it, the men who show their love for their fellow
men as Jesus Christ showed His, by laying down their lives for them,
they believe this doctrine, even as Jesus Christ Himself believed it.

As Christians become worldly and easy-going they grow loose in their
doctrine concerning the doom of the impenitent. The fact that loose
doctrines are spreading so rapidly and widely in our day is nothing
for them, but against them, for worldliness is also spreading in the
church (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1; 4:2, 3). Increasing laxity of life and
increasing laxity of doctrine go arm in arm.

Second, men who accept a loose doctrine regarding the ultimate penalty
of sin, be it Universalism, Restorationism, or Annihilationism, or
that fantastic combination, or conglomeration, of them all, Millennial
Dawnism, lose their power for God. I have seen this proven over and
over again. These men may be and are very clever at argument, and very
zealous in proselyting, but they are seldom found beseeching men to
be reconciled to God. They are far more likely to be found trying to
upset the faith of those already won by the efforts of those who do
believe in everlasting punishment than trying to win men who have no
faith at all. If you really believe the doctrine of the endless torment
of the impenitent, if the doctrine really gets hold of you, you will
work as you never worked before for the salvation of the lost. If you
in any wise abate the doctrine, it will abate your zeal. Time and time
again I have come up to this awful doctrine and tried to find some way
of escape from it, but when I have failed, as I always have failed at
last, when I have determined to be honest with the Bible and myself,
I have returned to my work with an increased burden for souls and an
intensified determination to spend and be spent for their salvation.

Eternal, conscious suffering, suffering without the least ray of
hope of relief, awaits every one of you here to-night who goes on
persistently rejecting Jesus Christ, as you are rejecting Him to-night,
and who shall pass out of this world having rejected Him. In that world
of never ending gloom there will be no possibility of repentance. As
you look out into the future there will not be one single ray of hope.
"Forever and ever" will be the unceasing wail of that restless sea of
fire. After you have been there ten million years and look out toward
the future you will see eternity still stretching on and on and on and
on, with no hope. Oh, men and women out of Christ, why will you risk
such a doom for a single year, or a month, or a week, or a day? Hell
is too awful to risk for five minutes the chance of going there. There
is but one rational thing for you to do, that is to accept Christ and
accept Him _right now_ as your Saviour, surrender to Him as your Lord
and Master, confess Him as such before the world, and strive from this
time on to please Him in everything day by day. Any other course is
utter madness.




TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES


When a book of the Bible has multiple volumes, the volume is sometimes
referenced with a number and sometimes with a Roman numeral. These
references remain as in the original.

The abbreviations "i.e." and "e.g." were both spaced and unspaced in
the original. Spelling has been made consistent throughout the text.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original.

Ellipses match the original.

The following corrections have been made to the original text:

    Page iv: By R. A.[period missing in original] Torrey

    Page 15: (1 Cor. 12:406 R. V.[original has "RV"])

    Page 48: make to explain it away.[period missing in original]

    Page 48: nations are not able to abide his
    indignation.[original has extraneous quotation mark]

    Page 51: conception of Pantheism and Buddhism[original has
    "Bhuddhism"]

    Page 69: Gal. 3:28[original has "328"]

    Page 70: In Gen. 3:22[original has a period instead of a colon]
    we read

    Page 81: the thousands of Judah, yet[original has "Judah? Yet"]

    Page 82: shows that[original has "that that"] the Lord addressed

    Page 90: demand on Jesus'[apostrophe missing in original] part

    Page 123: He is grieved beyond[original has "beyong"] expression

    Page 127: "[quotation mark missing in original]I have yet many
    things to say

    Page 133: you ever have insomnia[original has "insomia"]

    Page 142: Spirit is "[original has single quote]done despite
    unto,"

    Page 180: at the point of death?[question mark missing in
    original]

    Page 188: means more than mere forgiveness.[period missing in
    original]

    Page 192: literally, "in," _Christ's blood_,[original has
    extraneous quotation mark]

    Page 198: Can _that_ faith save him?"[quotation mark missing in
    original]

    Page 208: "[quotation mark missing in original]He is renewed in
    knowledge

    Page 214: _sin is not doing_,[original has a period] because
    His (God's) seed

    Page 219: _Regeneration is God's work; wrought by Him by the
    power of His Holy Spirit working in the mind, feelings and will
    of[italics ended here in the original] the one born again_

    Page 236: sin unto God. (cf.[original has "c."] John 13:10.)

    Page 239: every place, their Lord and ours."[quotation mark
    missing in original]

    Page 251: "[quotation mark missing in original]But some will say

    Page 264: our first text, John[original has "Jno."] 8:44

    Page 267: our second text, 1 John[original has "Jno."] 3:8

    Page 277: "New[original has extraneous quotation mark]
    Thought," "Theosophy," "Occultism"

    Page 295: judgment of the great white throne[original has
    "thorn"]

    Page 296: I Cor. 15:22[original has a period instead of a colon]

    Page 314: 1 Peter 3:18-20[original has "3:18:20"]





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fundamental Doctrines of the
Christian faith, by R. A. Torrey

*** 