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is not different from faith in business, or in tli-3
promise of any man, so far as the abstract thing
in itself is concerned. But faith in the sense of
the salvation of God is a faith that grips Jesus
Christ; Christ is the object of the faith of the man
who is saved. You Christian workers, think about
that. It will help you explain the way of life.
You know we have mystified faith until sensible
people are asking, ‘‘What do you mean by faith'?'’’
1 have seen strong minds puzzled over the question.
Give a man credit for what he has got. Every
man has got faith in something. Show him that
he has got faith, and then try to turn his faith
to Jesus Christ.
Faith implies three things: First, knowledge;
second, assent, and third, trust.
First, knowledge. No man can have faith until
he knows. You cannot expect men to exercise faith
in a proposition that they have never heard any
thing about.
Then, assent —giving assent in the mind to the
proposition.
Third, trust. After assent always comes trust.
When you come to deal with salvation, it is first,
a knowledge of Christ; second, assent to Christ,
and third, trust in Christ. That is all salvation
is.
111. THE METHOD OF IT. V. 24-25.
Three pivot W’ords: 1. Justification. 2. Redemp
tion. 3. Propitiation.
These three v'ords are the great pivot words of
salvation. How many a theological battle has been
fought over them. These three words, if understood
properly, will make theologians out of every one of
you, because around them hangs the whole question
of redemption.
Take the first word, “justification.” We shall
find the word used over and over again. It is used
thirty-nine times in the New Testament, twenty
seven times in Paul’s writings; eight times in the
synoptists, three times in James, and one time in
the Apocalypse.
What does it mean? Every one of you that has
been saved has been justified, and you are justi
fied now, and you will be justified when you stand
before the judgment.
Justification is a very different word from par
don. Pardon is a different word and is by no
means to be thought of when we think of justifica
tion. Pardon simply frees one from the penalty
of crime or guilt. Justification deals with the
character of the criminal or guilty one. and sets
him free. Pardon simply removes the penalty for
the crime, but does not touch the criminal. He is
just the same criminal that he was before. Sup
pose he is a thief and is proven to be a thief, and
afterwards the law pardons him. The law does not
change the fact that he was a thief, but it relieves
him of the penalty of the crime.
Justification is a stronger word. It deals both
with the condition of the criminal and with the
crime. Justification deals with the character. It
sets the character of the individual right, as well
as pardons him of the crime that he has commit
ted.
Only God can do that; the law cannot do it. No
statute that man can enact can do it; no act of any
man to do it. He may be a Czar of Czars, and
yet he cannot go back and undo a thing that has
been done. He can lift the penalty, but he cannot
change the character of the guilty man; but justi
fication does. It sets the criminal himself right as
well as wipes out his penalty.
Now for the next word —“redemption.” Justi
fication does not embrace redemption. Redemption
is part oft the process by which justification takes
place. The word redemption means “recovery by
the payment of a price.”
Redemption is an entirely different word from
ransom, just as pardon is a different -Avoid from
justification. They mean very different things, and
yet 'you will find people using them as if they
meant the same thing.
Redemption is the result of the work of ran
som. Jesus Christ Himself is the ransom of the sin
ner; redemption is the result of the ransom work
of Jesus Christ. They are therefore not inter
changeable terms. They do not mean the same
The Golden Age for September 12, 1907.
thing, literally or theologically. Redemption is
the result of a price that has been paid.
. God owns the entire race of the world today.
We are God’s by ownership, just as much as my
umbrella is still mine by ownership. I own it be
cause I paid the price for it. It is my umbrella,
and yet I do not know where it is, I never expect
to see it again, because somebody else possesses it.
Now, God owns the race, but He does not pos
sess it. The devil possesses the race, but it is
God’s. God made the race, and God bought the
race. The most of ns are simply used as garments
to clothe the devil with; to shelter him from the
storm.
God has bought the race back. He made it. The
devil got it. God came and redeemed it by the
price. That is what redemption means. We shall
see what that price is. All this is preliminary to
the work of justification, and the Apostle Paul seems
to start out with justification and leads into the pre
liminary work.
The third word is “propitiation.” What does
it mean? It is a hard word to define. The word
itself means “reconciliation by atonement.” When
you get to the origin of the werd, you find that ii
means to cover sin with blood. It is ne\er used
without that meaning. There is not a use of the
word in the Old Testament Scriptures in which
the idea of blood is not involved, sc we see from
that that there is no reconciliation without blood.
There are kindred words, words that perhaps
some teachers have fallen upon with a diffeient
meaning, but the word from which this comes is
never used in the Old Testament Scriptures except
in connection with blood.
Let us see how this salvation “of God, apart from
the law, witnessed by the law' and the prophets,
which is applied by faith in Jesus Christ unto all
them that believe,” is brought about. It is done
by our being justified, by our being made right
and having our sins pardoned, by having been re
deemed or brought back by the reconciliation of the
atoning blood of Jesus Christ. That is how.
There is no salvation of God that is not bronchi
about by faith in Christ through the atoning blood
that He shed on Calvary.
Again, let me say. justification, making right in
character and in conduct; redemption, bought with
a price; propitiation, covering with the blood. When
we have had these avoids grip ns, we have made a
great step forward in the direction of comprehend
ing the whole scheme of salvation.
Now, we have not time to go further, except that
I want to call your attention to the fourth chap
ter which deals with tl.e quesion of illustration.
IV. ILLUSTRATION: ABRAHAM, DAVID.
These characters are used as illustrations oi
what he means.
Turn to the fifth chapter. In the first three
verses you will find the results.
V. THE RESULTS OF THIS SALVATION.
1. Peace.
2. Joy, or rejoicing in hope.
3. Rejoicing in tribulation.
If w T e are saved, we have been justified. We have
been redeemed. We have been reconciled with the
atonement. A propitiation has been made. Now.
what is the outcome? Since this is true we are
ready for the fifth chapter. “Being therefore jus
tified by faith, let us have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we
have had our acess by faith unto this grace wherein
we stand.”
First, “let us have peace with God.” Lots
of people have no peace, no happiness in their
souls, not realizing that when we are His, when
we have submitted to Him, and believe in Him.
there are not enough devils in hell to keep us
out of heaven. I know 1 am saved. I have gm
the biggest thing on earth. I have been justified
and I have been redeemed. I have been reconciled,
not through my goodness, but through His atoning
merit. I have got all this; therefore I am happy.
I have got; peace.
Then, let us “rejoice in hope*” Wp have got
peace in our souls. Now let ns rejoice in the hope
of his glory.. And let us rejoice in our tribulations.
What does the word tribulation mean? It conies
from the Latin word “tribuliira,” and that means
a threshing machine. You know what a threshing
machine was in those days. They put the wheat
down and cut a pole and took hold of the small
end of it and beat the chaff out of the wheat.
Listen. The Apostle Paul says, now you have got
salvation, have peace. Peace with God. Peace in
your soul. Rejoice in hope. Rejoice in your tribu
lation. Rejoice in your threshing machine.
The time will come when the Lord will lay you
down and beat the chaff out of you. He has had
Jots of us down there and has kept some of us
down there for a lung time.
Rejoice in tribulation, it doos not make any differ
ence what it is, only remember that no matter how
hard it is, He is getting the chaff out so that
He may have the grain to use. That is the only
part that is worth having. The chaff of human life
is just like the chaff in the wheat. The only thing
that is worth anything is what is left after God
beats the chaff out.
This 25th verse is the verse of the great poet
Cowper. It led him to Christ. He was greatly
troubled about the question of salvation, and he
studied it a great deal. Finally he folded his
arms and said, “I won’t try any longer.” Some
thing seemed to say to him, “Open the Bible,”
and he immediately did so and he opened at this
25th verse and saw Jesus Christ and His propitia
tion for the sins of the world.
“ ’Twas for my sins my dearest Lord,
Hung on the cursed tree,
And groaned away his dying life,
For thee, my soul, for thee.
“Oh, how I hate those lusts of mine
That crucified my Lord!
Those sins that pierced and nailed His flesh
Fast to the fatal wood.
“Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die,
My heart hath so decreed;
Nor will I spare the guilty things
That made my Saviour bleed.”
*9 *9
Overloaded.
Senator Hale had been inveighing at a dinner
against long speeches.
“But, senator,” said a congressman, “you can’t
accuse me of ever having made too long a speech,
can you?”
Senator Hale smiled.
“Perhaps not,” he said; “and, again—But did
you ever hear about the temperance lecturer? No?
“Well, you must know that there was a temper
ance lecturer in Maine who came to Ellsworth and
lectured. He hit out pretty hard from the shoul
der at these so-called moderate drinkers, and at the
end of his remarks an Ellsworth man took him
aside and said in an aggrieved tone:
“ ‘Look here, Jim, I am a moderate drinker,
as all the town knows, and to many people it is
going to seem as if a good part of your lecture
was pointed straight at me. What did you want
'to do it for, Jim? You never saw me with more
on board than I could carry.’
“ ‘What’s that?’ said the temperance lecturer.
“ ‘You never saw me with a bigger load than I
could carry, did you?’
“The lecturer frowned.
“ ‘Well, no,’ he said slowly; ‘but I have seen
you when I thought you’d have done better to go
twice fox- it.’ ”
R R
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