Sep 25
7
The absolute necessity of experimental religion!
(Octavius Winslow)
”For our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance”.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
The religion of the Lord Jesus is valuable only as its power is experienced
in the heart. In this respect, and in this only, it may be
compared to the physical sciences, which, however ingenious in structure, or
beautiful in theory—yet, if not reduced or reducible to purposes of practical use,
are of little worth.
It is so with the truth of Jesus.
The man of mere taste may applaud its external beauty,
the philosopher may admire its ethics,
the orator may admire its eloquence, and
the poet may admire its sublimity—
but if the Spirit of God does not take His own truth, and impress it upon the
heart, as to the great design of its revelation—it avails nothing!
What numbers there are who rest in the mere ‘theory’ of Christianity!
But as a practical principle—they know nothing of it.
As a thing experienced in the heart—it is a hidden
mystery to them.
They speak well of Christianity as a religious system; they believe its
Divinity, and even defend its doctrines and extol its precepts—yet make no
approaches towards a personal and practical obedience to its
claims. In a word, they know nothing of repentance towards
God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
It will surely appear to a spiritually-enlightened mind, a subject of vast and
solemn importance that this delusion should be exposed—that this foundation
of sand should be undermined; and that the absolute necessity of experimental
religion, as necessary to an
admission within the kingdom of glory, be strenuously and Scripturally
enforced!
“Them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that
they might be saved!” 2 Thessalonians 2:10
The religionists of the day
(J. C. Philpot, 1862)
“And ye shall be hated of all men for My name sake.” Luke 21:17
Professors of religion have always been the
deadliest enemies of the children of God.
Who were so opposed to the blessed Lord as the
Scribes and Pharisees? It was the religious teachers
and leaders who crucified the Lord of glory!
And so in every age the religionists of the day
have been the hottest and bitterest persecutors
of the Church of Christ.
Nor is the case altered now. The more the children
of God are firm in the truth, the more they enjoy its
power, the more they live under its influence, and
the more tenderly and conscientiously they walk in
godly fear, the more will the professing generation
of the day hate them with a deadly hatred.
Let us not think that we can disarm it by a godly life;
for the more that we walk in the sweet enjoyment of
heavenly truth and let our light shine before men as
having been with Jesus, the more will this draw down
their hatred and contempt.
“And the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world.” John 17:14
“Do Ye Not Hear The Law?”
Galatians 4:21
The law of God is that which we ought to dread above all things, for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. The law condemns us and demands our execution. In solemn terms, it appoints for us a place among the damned. “For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10).
Yet, man has a strange infatuation with the law. Like the gnat that is drawn to the candle that will destroy it, man by nature is drawn to the law for salvation, when all the law can give is destruction. The law can do nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation on the sinner (Rom. 3:19-20). It has no other purpose.
Yet, we cannot get men to flee from the law. Foolish men are so enamored with their own self- righteousness and their own self-worth that they will cling to the law with a death-grip, though there is nothing to cling to. They prefer Sinai to Calvary, though Sinai offers them nothing but death. Listen to the Word of God. If the opinions of men, or your own opinions contradict the Word of God, “Let God be true and every man a liar.”
Here are four facts stated so plainly in Holy Scripture that error regarding them is utterly inexcusable.
1. The law was never given to save sinners; and it can never serve that purpose (Gal. 2:16).
2. The law was never given to motivate the people of God to holiness and service; and it cannot serve that purpose. The one thing that God requires is a willing heart (2 Cor. 8:12; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Rom. 12:1-2).
3. The law was never given as a rule of life, or standard of conduct for the believer; and it cannot serve that purpose (Rom. 3:28, 31; 1 John 3:23).
4. The law was not given to produce sanctification in the believer; or even to be a measure of sanctification, and it cannot serve such purposes (Gal. 3:1-3). Christ is our sanctification!
The law was given to point men to Christ for salvation. The law was given to show man his guilt, his sin, and his need of a Substitute. This is the law’s only purpose; and it serves that purpose very well (Rom. 3:19-22).
The thunders of Sinai drive us away from the mountain of darkness and death and point us with its lightening bolts to Calvary and to Christ who is the end of the law. In the language of Inspiration, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal. 5:24-25).
Don Fortner
How Do We Fulfill The Law By Faith In Christ?
Rom. 8:4
Paul declares that we fulfill the law’s righteousness, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. He is not saying that the Holy Spirit of God enables the believer to personally fulfill the law. To suggest such a thing is to suggest that believers are enabled by the Spirit to attain sinless perfection in this world, for nothing short of perfection can fulfill the law of God. Paul is simply declaring that we do not nullify,or make void,the law through faith in Christ. Rather, “we establish the law”(Rom. 3:31). How?
1. THE LAW REQUIRES COMPLETE SATISFACTION FOR SIN. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” We fulfill this requirement of satisfaction by offering to God the precious blood of Christ’s atonement. He is the propitiation, the satisfaction, for our sins. When the law looks upon the blood of Christ, it is silent. It cannot require more. That blood is our death insofar as God’s law is concerned. Because we died in Christ, we are dead to the law (Rom.7:4).
2. THE LAW REQUIRES COMPLETE LOVE TO GOD. It requires the total consecration of our lives and hearts to the will, worship, and glory of God. We fulfill this requirement by offering the consecrated love of Christ to God in his life upon the earth as our Representative. And with that, only with that, God is well pleased (Matt. 17:5).
3. THE LAW DEMANDS PERFECT LOVE AND DEVOTION TO OUR NEIGHBOR. And we fulfill this requirement by offering to God the perfect love and devotion of Christ to his people, even unto death.
As our sins became his, Christ’s righteousness is ours by imputation. His death is our death. His obedience is our obedience. And his life is our life (Rom. 5:19). By trusting Christ, offering him back to God as our only grounds of hope and life, we fulfill the law and do all that God requires of us. In Christ we pay what we owe, restore what we took away, and perfectly obey God (Read Ezek. 33:14-15). None of our sins which we have committed shall be mentioned to us. We have done that which is lawful and right. We shall surely live (Read Ezek. 33:16).
Don Fortner
Every man is born a Pharisee?
The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon,
“Grace- the One Way of Salvation” No. 765.
” But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Acts 15:11.
The creed of the world is, “Do your best,
and it will be all right with you.” To question
this is treason against the pride of human
nature, which evermore clings to salvation
by its own merits.
Every man is born a Pharisee!
“What,” says a man, “do you not believe that
if a man does his best, he will fare well in the
next world? Why, you know, we must all live
as well as we can, every man according to his
own light; and if every man follows out his own
conscience, as near as may be, surely it will be
well with us.”
The apostle did not believe in self-righteousness.
“We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we
shall be saved” Acts 15:11.
Salvation is not through our good works, not
through anything that we do, not by the merit
of anything which we feel or perform, but by
grace, that is to say, by the free favor of God.
We believe that if we are ever saved at all, we
must be saved ‘gratis’ -saved as the gratuitous
act of a bountiful God- saved by a gift, not by
wages- saved by God’s love, not by our own
doings or merits.
This is the apostle’s creed- salvation is all of
grace from first to last, and the channel of that
grace is the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved, and
lived, and died, and rose again for our salvation.
He takes the crown from off the head of man in
all respects, and gives all glory to the grace of
God. He extols God, the gracious sovereign, who
will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy,
and who will have compassion upon whom he
will have compassion.
Not by ritualism, not by good works, not by our
own unaided free will are we saved, but by the
grace of God alone!
Those who preach mere morality, or set up any
way except that of trusting in the grace of God
through Christ Jesus, preach another gospel,
and they shall be accursed, even though they
preach it with an angel’s eloquence!
A proud
sinner fighting against a holy God!
(Letters of William Romaine, 1714-1795)
“Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I
hate!” Proverbs 8:13
Nothing stops the current of His blessings so much as pride. He resists the
proud-He is at war with them. A futile war! A proud
sinner fighting against a holy God! Who do you think will
conquer?
Oh, beware of all high thoughts of yourself and your doings. Take heed of
admiring your own greatness or goodness. Self-delight is a very pleasing sin,
but more odious to a jealous God than the gross sins of the flesh.
I am sure that the more we love Him, the less we shall admire ourselves.
The Pharisee, full of self-delight, remained in his guilt.
The poor publican, who loathed himself, went home justified.
There is no perfect humility but in Heaven. Until we get there, we should be
learning, and every day seeking for more grace to humble us-learning from our
Master to be meek and lowly of heart. May God make us better scholars.
“If God,” says Augustine, “did not spare the angels when they
grew proud; will He spare you-who are but dust and sin?”
“Every one that is proud in
heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he
shall not be unpunished.“ Proverbs
16:5
It is a creature of many lives!
(J.C.Philpot, “The Lost Sought and Saved” 1851)
Man is a strange compound. A sinner, and
the worst of sinners, and yet a Pharisee!
A wretch, and the vilest of wretches, and
yet pluming himself on his good works!
Did not experience convince us to the contrary,
we would scarcely believe that a monster like man,
a creature, as someone has justly said, “half beast
and half devil,” should dream of pleasing God by his
obedience, or of climbing up to heaven by a ladder
of his own righteousness.
Pharisaism is firmly fixed in the human heart.
Deep is the root,
broad the stem,
wide the branches,
but poisonous the fruit,
of this gigantic tree, planted by pride
and unbelief in the soil of human nature.
Self-righteousness is not peculiar to only certain
individuals. It is interwoven with our very being.
It is the only religion that human nature . . .understands,
relishes, or
admires.
Again and again must the heart be ploughed up,
and its corruptions laid bare, to keep down the
growth of this pharisaic spirit.
It is a creature of many lives! It is
not one blow,
nor ten, nor a hundred that can kill it. Stunned it
may be for a while, but it revives again and again!
Pharisaism can live and thrive under any profession.
Calvinism or Arminianism is the same to it. It is not
the garb he wears, nor the mask he carries, that
constitutes the man.