August 1931
K i x g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
T h e
359
off a precipice; they go down a toboggan slide. Suicide may be a slow process as well as a sudden act. The fall of a tree in the time of storm is usually preceded by a process of decay covering many years. In spiritual mat ters, indifference, inattention, and neglect are perilous things. A sudden crisis finds us unprepared, and down we go. There is such a thing as criminal negligence, and it entails loss—loss of liberty, of privilege, and of respect. I his is also true in the things of the Spirit. How shall we escape loss, the loss of spiritual privilege and power, of present blessing and future reward, if we “neglect so great salvation” ? The word spoken by angels was a legal ordinance affirming men’s responsibility and the serious consequences of failure. The word spoken by the Lord was a message of grace, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation . . . teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11, 12). So G reat S alvation The descriptive phrase, “so great salvation,” must not be passed over lightly or hastily. It calls for meditation. It beckons us away from vague religiousness, ritualism, and ecclesiasticism to the riches of Christ as unfolded in the gospel. The Hebrew Christians were in danger of drifting back into Judaism, even as many today drift away from the simplicity of Christ and come under the power of some “ism.” The outstanding cure for all of this is the intelligent appropriation of the truth as it is in Christ. The writer is warranted in the use of the term “great salvation.” It is great in its origin; it began with God. Like the clear note of a bell, both in the Old and New Testaments, there is sounded forth the truth: “Salvation is of the Lord.” God thought it out, and He wrought it out; hence we sing: “Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan, Oh, the grace that brought it down to man, Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary.” Then, it is a great salvation in its scope and extent. Its purpose is to deliver us from all the adverse conse quences of the fall, from sin, from death, from a disor dered world, and from a groaning creation. It is great in the power liberated for us and available to us—the power of the new creation, the power of our spiritual position, the power of restoration. It is also great in the hope pre sented, the hope of the glory of God. In the verses before us, the apostle presents other rea sons for the use of the term “so great salvation.” 1. It is great because it was first spoken by the Lord, none other and none less. 2. It was confirmed, or established, by them that heard Him. (This refers to the apostles’ testimony.) 3. God gave additional witness to it by signs and wonders, mighty words and gifts of the Holy Ghost ac cording to His own will. T h e G ift and th e G ifts We must distinguish between the gift of the Spirit and His gifts to the believer. The gift of the Spirit was promised through the Prophet Joel, six hundred years before the advent of Christ. During His ministry on earth, our Lord frequently referred to this promised gift. The abundant life mentioned in John 10:10 and referred to in John 4 :14 and 7 :37 to 39 had in view the fulfillment of this promise, apart from which the ideal presented
could never become realized in experience. A few days before His death, our Lord informed His disciples of His departure to the Father (John 14: 1-4; 16:28). He also assured them that He would inquire of the Father con cerning the promised Spirit (John 14:16). This He evi dently^ did, for in Acts 2 :32 and 33, we have Peter’s ex planation of the pentecostal outpouring. Referring to the risen Christ, he said: “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Fa ther the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The promise, made six centuries before, was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came to inaugurate a new dispensa tion in the redemptive process and to abide with the peo ple of God forever. All Christian believers are recipients of this gift. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . . and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). The Holy Spirit is God’s out standing gift to Christian believers, even as the only be gotten Son is God’s outstanding gift to the world. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit as an abiding guest is that which distinguishes this age of grace from all other ages. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God” (1 Cor. 6:19)? This provision should be accepted as a fact by every Christian believer. It is through this indwelling that the fruit which God expects is produced, “for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:9). In addition to the gift of the Holy Spirit, there are gifts bestowed by the Spirit Himself. In the beginning of the Christian era, these gifts were,manifold. As witnesses of the new order, God accredited the apostles and their message through signs, wonders, and mighty works. In Acts 5 :12 and 15, _we read that “by the hands of the apos tles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people . . , insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow them.” Again, in Acts 19:11 and 12, we read that God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul. As the church became Established, these special gifts were withdrawn because they were unnecessary. The graces of the Spirit were a sufficient display of the power of God and of the. Christian faith that manifested itself in transformed lives. “Love never faileth: but whether, there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease.” Prophecy and tongues were among the special gifts bestowed at the beginning of the Christian dispensation, but they are unnecessary now. It is sometimes said by thoughtless people that, if the church today had the faith of the apostolic church, we should see the same marvelous powers in operation now as then. But this statement will not stand the test of Scripture. The promise of the “greater works” that Christ gave to His people was based upon the fact of His going to the Father. His presence in heaven makes available the powers of the heavenly world, which powers now operate in the fulfilling of our Lord’s great com mission to preach the gospel to every creature. When apostolic faith is found in a church today, it will mani fest itself in unity of purpose, fervency in prayer, readi ness to give, and willingness to go even to the uttermost parts with the gospel. Soul winning and world evangel ization are the outstanding objectives of the church today.
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