December, 1941
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S 457 Which "Gosper' Shall We Trust? By WILLIAM L. PETTINGILL Wilmington, Delaware 1
Divine Lové Demonstrated And hot only does God commend His love, but He convinces us of its reality as well. Paul is .really saying, “God puts His love together,” that He might convince the believing mind and heart. Or, if you like, God demonstrates His love; He vindicates His love. Try to think of God as putting His love to gether in such a way that once you have seen it you cannot deny it. In Christ— in His birth, His life, His love, ?His cross, His throner—there you have the final demonstration and vindication of the love of God. In all that Jesus is, in all that He has done, is doing, and yet purposes to do, you have a demon stration, of the love of God’s heart. There is no need to prove love; it shines by its' own light. In the life of Jesus Christ, God’s love shines' out in radiancy—love for the lonely and the lost, for the wandering and despairing, for the man who has missed the best, and for the woman who has lost all that life should mean. Jesus constitutes in His life the very glory of the heart, of God. Is it hard for any one to believe in that divine love? Stand in the presence of Christ. Watch Him live; hear Him speak; see' Him die; mark the rending of the tomb; see Him coming down the way of life to men. You, need no other demonstration of the love of God. Don’t miss it; for missing that, you miss everything; and finding it, you lack nothing. Love in Christian Character Finally; take this thought, that God converts this love which is the glory of Christmas into Christian character and purpose. The love that wins the heart, the glory that comes to men on Christmas Day, becomes, içëarnate glory for our own lives; we become so con vinced of this love of God that our hearts lie open to it. • It does not matter what kind of house" we live in, nor how humble may be our status; if we have admitted Christ into our lives, then the. love that constitutes the glory of Christmas is re vealed in our characters. And then is not life made blithe, is there not a lilt in the voice, and a rise in the step, once that glorÿ cornés into the life? Is life not made a lovelier thing? There is nothing so beautiful as the glory of Christ in a human face. Yes, life has become a blessed thing since Jesus came, Christmas brings to us afresh a hint of the glory that broke l in upon the earth when He was born, abd when He came to stand in our lot, to bear our burden of sin upon the cross, that for us there might be a glory that would neither dim nor pass away. Let ,this be the question that We shall ask ourselves: Has any one missed this glory? If so, is there.any need that you should miss it? And if there be no need, then why not take Him, and go out into the world with the glory of His levs in your life?
9 HERE ARE TWO so-called gos pels abroad in the world, one of them false and the other true. than the true gospel. The Apostle Paul writes of these two so-called gospels frequently in his Epistles. In the first chapter of his letter to the Galatians, verses 6 to 8, he says: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: “Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. “ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let i him be accursed.” Of course, the false gospel so called cannot be really a gospel at all. The wor'd "gospel” means good hews, and that which contradicts good news can not itself be good news; it is bad news, and therefore it is not a gospel. In Romans 10, these two so-called gospels, first the false and then the true, are stated thus: “Moses describeth the righteous ness whiqh is of the law,* That -the man which doeth those things shall live, by them. “But the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise . , . “The word is nigh thee, . . . that is, the word of faith, which we preach; “ That if thou shalt confess with , thy mouth the Lord Jesus for, Jesus as Lord], and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man be- lieveth unto righteousness; and with the,mouth confession is made unto salvation” . (Rom. 10:5-10). The False' Gospel as Related to Good Works The false 1gospel teaches that salva tion is by works, but the true gospel teaches that salvation is by faith with
out works. This is not to say that good works have no relation to salva tion. Far from it. Good works cannot save' us, nor help to save us, nor help to keep us saved. But good works should follow salvation as a result. As the apostle says, to quote again, in Ephe sians 2:8-10: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it’ is the gift of God: . “Not of works, lest any man should boast. “Fdr we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before or dained that we should walk in them.” You see? Salvation is not derived, from good works, but it is unto them. Good works are not the cause of sal vation, but they are the effect of salva tion. Christ’s Righteousness Applied to Man But some one may say, How can it be that “with the heart- man be- lieveth unto righteousness”’? and how can it be that “with the mouth con fession is made unto salvation” ? •Tell us about that. The answer is that by His death on the cross of Calvary our Lord Jesus Christ wrought out righteousness for us. By bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, He freed us from them, and in God’s reckoning : the righteousness of Christ became ours. As it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:2i, “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” This is the marvel, the miracle, and the mystery of the gospel. In His Son, God found a ransom, and thus found a way to save us, and save us righteous ly: “That he might be just; and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26), [ Continued on Page 468]
The false gospel is preached far more
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