Righteousness by Faith

1895 General Conference Sermons

by A. T. Jones

 

 

Sermon 15

 

 

 

We are still studying the name of Christ, which is "God with us." And as stated before, He could not be God with us without becoming ourselves, because it is not Himself that is manifest in the world. We do not see Jesus in this world, as He was in heaven; He did not come into this world as He was in heaven, nor was that personality manifested in the world which was in heaven before He came. He emptied Himself and became ourselves. Then putting His trust in God, God dwelt with Him. And He being ourselves and God being with Him, He is "God with us." That is His name.

 

If He had come into the world as He was in heaven, being God, manifesting Himself as He was there and God being with Him, His name would not have been "God with us," for He would not then have been ourselves. But He emptied Himself. He Himself was not manifested in the world. For it is written: "No man knoweth the Son but the Father"--not simply no man, but no one. No one knoweth the Son but the Father. "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." It is not written, No man knoweth the Son but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveal Him. No. No man knoweth the Son at all, but the Father. And the Father does not reveal the Son in the world, but the Son reveals the Father. Christ is not the revelation of Himself. He is the revelation of the Father to the world and in the world and to men. Therefore, He says, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal the Father." So it is the Father that is revealed in the world and revealed to us and revealed in us in Christ. This is the one thing that we are studying all the time. This is the center around which everything else circles. And Christ having taken our human nature in all things in the flesh and so having become ourselves, when we read of Him and the Father's dealings with Him, we are reading of ourselves and of the Father's dealings with us. What God did to Him was to us; what God did for Him was for us. And therefore, again it is written: "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21.

 

 

In all points it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, and He is our brother in the nearest blood relationship. We are now to study another phase of this great subject: First in the Psalms--Christ in the Psalms--that we may see how entirely the Psalms mean Christ and that the one whose experience is recorded there is Christ.

 

 

It is impossible to touch the whole 150 Psalms in detail in one lesson or in a dozen lessons; yet in a sense we can touch the whole 150 by so touching a few as to show the one great secret of the whole number and that secret is Christ. We shall take some of the Psalms of which God Himself has made the application to Christ so that there can be no possible doubt that that Psalm refers to Christ. Then when we read these Psalms, we know that we are reading of Jesus Christ and of God's dealings with Him--He too being ourselves all the time, weak as we are, sinful as are we in the flesh, made to be sinners just as we are, all our guilt and our sins being laid upon Him and He feeling the guilt and the condemnation of it in all things as ourselves.

 

 

Take the fortieth Psalm, which refers to Christ at His coming into the world. Turn to the fortieth Psalm and the tenth of Hebrews both at once. Beginning with Psalm 40:6: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened." The margin reads, "Mine ears hast thou digged." The secret of the reference there is to that passage in the twenty-first chapter of Exodus, 1-6, where if a man be a Hebrew servant, he shall serve his master a certain number of years and the year of release he shall go out free. But if he say: "I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free," then the master shall bring him to the doorpost and bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his servant forever. That hole bored through his ear with an awl was an outward sign that that man's ears were always opened to the word of the master, ready to obey.

 

 

Now as Christ came into the world as man, He said to the Father: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened." Mine ears are opened to thy word, ready for thy commands; I will not go out; I love my Master and my children. I will not go out. I am thy servant forever.

 

 

"Burnt offering and sin offering has thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God."

Now see Heb. 10:5-9:

 

 

Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

There is the Lord's application of the fortieth Psalm to Christ, and He said this when He came into the world. Let us read on, then, in the fortieth Psalm:

 

 

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about [Who? Christ.]; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

 

 

Who? Christ. Where did He get iniquity? Oh, "the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all."

 

 

Were they not more than the hairs of His head? And when He would look at Himself and consider Himself, where would He appear in His own sight? Oh, "my heart faileth me," because of the enormity of the guilt and the condemnation of the sin--our sins that were laid upon Him.

 

 

But in His divine faith and trust in the Father, He continues:

 

 

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. [Didn't they say that to Him on the cross?] Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

 

 

Who said so? He who was conscious of iniquities in such number that they were more than the hairs of His head. He who was so bowed down and so burdened with these--He was praising and rejoicing in the Lord!

But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and deliverer; make no tarrying O my God.

 

 

Now turn to the first verse of the fortieth Psalm:

 

 

I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

 

 

Who? Christ, and He was ourselves. Shall we, then, say the word: "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry?" Assuredly. What, laden with sin as I am? sinner as I am? sinful flesh as I have? How do I know that He hears my cry? Ah, He has demonstrated it for a whole lifetime in my nearest of kin. He has demonstrated it in my flesh that He inclines--leans over--to listen to my cry. O, there are times, you know, when our sins seem to be so mountain high. We are so discouraged by them. And Satan is right there ready to say, "Yes, you ought to be discouraged by them. There is no use of your praying to the Lord; He will not have anything to do with such as you are. You are too bad." And we begin to think that the Lord will not hear our prayers at all. Away with such thoughts! Not only will He hear but He is listening to hear. Remember the statement in Malachi, "The Lord hearkened and heard." To hearken is to listen, then the Lord is listening to hear the prayers of people laden with sin.

 

 

But there are times in our discouragement when the waters go over our souls, when we can hardly muster up the courage of faith to speak our prayers aloud. O, at such times as that, if they are too faint in our faith to reach him as He listens, then He leans over and listens; He inclines His ear and hears. That is the Lord. That is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lover and Saviour of sinners. Then if He should lead you and me through the deep waters and they go over our souls as they did over His, O, we can wait patiently for the Lord. He will incline unto us. He will lean over and hear our cry!

 

 

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. [Who said so? Jesus.] Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies.

 

 

Now turn to the twenty-second Psalm. There is so much in that that is familiar to everybody, that all know where it applies. First verse:

 

 

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [Who said so? Jesus on the cross.] Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime but thou hearest not: and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee [He came in the line of the fathers.] They trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee and were not confounded. But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of man and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

You know that is the record of his crucifixion; this is the crucifixion Psalm.

 

 

But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them; and cast lots upon my vesture [Here is his experience on the cross.] But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling [Margin, "my only one." Septuagint, "my only begotten."] from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him: but when he cried unto him, he heard.

Who says so? Who says that from the cry of the afflicted one, from the sinner who is burdened and laden with sin, more than the hairs of his head? Who says that God the Father will not turn away from such a one? Christ says so. And he knows it. Who says that the Father will not hide His face from such as I, and such as you? Christ says so, and He has demonstrated it; for is He not now alive and in glory at the right hand of God? And in that it is demonstrated before the universe that God will not hide His face from the man whose iniquities are gone over His head and are more than the hairs of His head. Then be of good cheer; be of good courage. He is our salvation; he has wrought it out. He has demonstrated to all men that God is Saviour of sinner.

 

 

My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

 

 

Will you? Now note: Who was He when He was saying this? He was ourselves. Then who shall it be that is saying it still? Will it not count now for us in Him, as well as it did eighteen hundred years ago for us in Him? It counted for us then in Him because He was ourselves, and now in Him is it not the same thing? Now the last two verses of the twenty-second Psalm:

 

 

A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

 

 

The twenty-third Psalm comes next after the twenty-second. "The Lord is my shepherd." Whose? Christ's. The twenty-second is the crucifixion hymn, the crucifixion Psalm. Where is the twenty-third, then? Let us see:

 

 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.

 

 

Who? Me, a sinner? one laden with sins? Will He lead me in the paths of righteousness? Yes. How do you know? He did it once. In Christ He led me in the paths of righteousness once, for His name's sake, a whole lifetime. Therefore I know that in Christ He will lead me, a sinful man, again and ever in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. That is faith.

 

 

Taking these words as we have heard in Brother Prescott's lesson this evening, as being themselves the salvation of God which comes to us, they themselves will work in us the salvation of God itself. That is where Christ got it. When He put Himself where we are, where did He get salvation? He did not save Himself. That was the taunt, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save....Let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe on Him." He could have done it. But if He had saved Himself, it would have ruined us. We would have been lost if He had saved Himself. O, but He saves us! Then what saved Him? This word of salvation saved Him when He was ourselves, and it saves us when we are in Him. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake--me, me! And this in order that every one on the earth can say in him, "He leadeth me."

 

 

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Where was He in the twenty-second Psalm? On the cross, facing death. The twenty-third Psalm comes right in there, in proper order, you see, as He steps into the dark valley. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Who? Christ and in Him ourselves, and we know it because God did it once for us in Him. And in Him it is done still for us.

 

 

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Who? Me. Thank the Lord! How do I know? Because they did follow me once in Him. Goodness and mercy did follow me from birth unto the grave once in this world in Him, and as long as I am in Him, they follow me still. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." How do I know? Ah, because that in Him it has been done once for me. It has been demonstrated before the universe that it is so, and I take it and am glad.

 

 

Then the twenty-fourth Psalm comes right on after the twenty-third. The twenty-second is the crucifixion psalm; the twenty-third takes Him through the valley of the shadow of death; and the twenty-fourth is the ascension psalm.

 

 

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

 

 

He did it once for me in Him; in Him it is done still for me; and in Him I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

 

This is all only illustrative of the truth as to Christ in the Psalms. Look at the sixty-ninth Psalm and we shall see this further. Indeed, where can we look in the Psalms without seeing it? That is the question. Where in the Psalms can we look and not see it? I will read a verse or two in the sixty-ninth Psalm, though, that you may see that this is exactly applicable there.

 

 

Fourth verse: "They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head." The scripture was fulfilled, "They hate me without a cause," you remember. Seventh verse: "For thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." "And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." "The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me." Paul writes in Romans 15:3 "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."

 

 

Now Psalm 69:20, 21:

 

 

Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none: and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

 

 

Then that Psalm applies to Christ.

 

 

Look at the first verse: "Save me, O, God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." Then follows, "They that hate me without a cause." etc. Then the fifth verse: "O God, thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee." Whose sins? Christ's--the righteous one, who knew no sin, made to bear sin for us! Our sins were upon Him; the guilt and the condemnation of these were not hid from God.

 

 

O, it was a terrible thing, that He should undo Himself and become ourselves in all things in order that we might be saved--running the risk, the fearful risk, of losing all--risking all to save all. But what were we of ourselves? From head to foot nothing but a body of sin. Yet He risked all to save us, it is true. But we were nothing. True, but in His love and in His pity He did it. Thank the Lord that He had the royal courage to do it. And He won it. And we are saved in Him.

 

 

We read here His confession of sin. This was He as ourselves and in our place, confessing our sins and we needed that also. He was baptized in our behalf, because no baptism on our part could be perfect so as to be accepted in righteousness. "It must be perfect to be accepted." No man's confession of sin can, in itself, ever be so perfect as to be accepted of God in righteousness, because man is imperfect. But "it must be perfect to be accepted." Where then, shall perfection of confession be found? Ah! In Him my confession of sin is perfect; for He made the confession. How many times when persons have made confession as thoroughly as they know how, Satan gets the advantage of them by the suggestion: You have not properly confessed your sin. You have not confessed hard enough to get forgiveness. O, of course you have confessed, but you have not done it hard enough. God cannot forgive you on such a confession as that. Hold the word of God up before Him and tell Him: There is One who is perfect; He bore my sins and He has made the confession, and when He shows me the sin, I confess it according to my power and ability and as God reveals it to me and in Him and by virtue of His confession, mine is accepted in righteousness. His confession is perfect in every respect and God accepts mine in Him.

 

 

Then in Him we have exemption from Satan's discouragement as to whether we have confessed our sins hard enough, sought them out faithfully enough or repented enough. In Christ we have repentance; in Him we have confession; in Him we have perfection, and in Him we are complete. O, He is the Saviour!

 

 

Weak as we; sinful as we--simply ourselves--He went through this world and never sinned. He was sinful as we, weak as we, helpless as we, helpless as the man is who is without God, yet by His trust in God, God so visited Him, so abode with Him, so strengthened Him, that, instead of sin ever being manifested, the righteousness of God was always manifested.

 

 

But who was He? He was ourselves. Then God has demonstrated once in the world and to the universe that He will so come to me and you and so live with us as we are in the world today and will cause His grace and His power to so abide with us that, in spite of all our sinfulness, in spite of all our weaknesses, the righteousness and the holy influence of God will be manifested to men instead of ourselves and our sinfulness.

 

 

The mystery of God is not God manifest in sinless flesh. There is mystery about God being manifest in sinless flesh; that is natural enough. Is not God Himself sinless? Is there then any room for wonder that God could manifest Himself through or in sinless flesh? Is there any mystery as to God's manifesting His power and His righteous glory through Gabriel or through the bright seraphim or the cherubim? No. That is natural enough. But the wonder is that God can do that through and in sinful flesh. That is the mystery of God. God manifest in sinful flesh.

 

 

In Jesus Christ as He was in sinful flesh, God has demonstrated before the universe that He can so take possession of sinful flesh as to manifest His own presence, His power, and His glory, instead of sin manifesting itself. And all that the Son asks of any man in order to accomplish this in Him is that the man will let the Lord have Him as the Lord Jesus did.

 

 

Jesus said, "I will put my trust in Him." And in that trust Christ brought to every one the divine faith by which we can put our trust in Him. And when we do so separate from the world and put our sole trust in Him, then God will so take us and so use us that our sinful selves shall not appear to influence or affect anybody, but God will manifest His righteous self, His glory, before men, in spite of all ourselves and our sinfulness. That is the truth. And that is the mystery of God, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." God manifest in sinful flesh.

 

 

Upon this point, also, Satan discourages many. To the believing sinner Satan says: You are too sinful to count yourself a Christian. God cannot have anything to do with you. Look at yourself. You know you are good for nothing. Satan has discouraged us thousands of times with that kind of argument.

 

 

But God has wrought out an argument that puts this plea of Satan all to shame, for Jesus came and became ourselves--sinful as we are, laden with the sins of the world--far more sins than there are upon me. And in Him, laden with ten thousand times more sins than ever were upon me, God has demonstrated that with one so sinful as that, He will come and live a whole lifetime and manifest Himself and His righteousness in spite of all the sinfulness and in spite of the devil. God laid help upon One who is mighty, and that help reaches us. Thank the Lord.

Brethren, that does me good. For I know that if ever anything good is to be manifested in this world where I am, it must come from some source besides myself. That is settled. But, O! the blessedness of it is, God has demonstrated that He will manifest His righteous self instead of my sinful self when I let Him have me. I cannot manifest righteousness of myself; I cannot manifest His righteousness in myself. No. I let Him have me, absolutely, overwhelmingly. Then He attends to that. He has demonstrated it so. He has demonstrated a whole lifetime what God is when He is joined with me in sinful flesh. He can do it again as certainly as He can have me.

Will you let Him have you? O, does it call for too full a surrender? No. It is becoming. How full a surrender did He make? He surrendered all Himself. Christ gave up Himself, emptied Himself. The French translation is, "He annihilated Himself." He undid Himself and sank Himself in us in order that God, instead of ourselves and His righteousness, instead of our sinfulness, might be manifested in us in our sinful flesh. Then let us respond and sink ourselves in Him, that God may still be manifest in sinful flesh.

 

 

Now using that statement that is sometimes used in a jocular way about the man--I use it reverently, and it is a good illustration; it is a right illustration--who said: "I and my wife are one, and I am the one." Christ and the man are one, and the question always is, Which shall be the one? Christ has allied Himself with every man on the earth, but multitudes say, "Yes, that is all right enough, but I am the one." Many arrogantly refuse all, exclaiming: "I am the one; I am enough." but the Christian, the believer, yielding to Jesus Christ, says, "Yes, thank the Lord! He and I are one and He is the one."

 

 

Christ has allied Himself with every human being, on His own part; and if every human being in the world tonight should drop everything and say, "Yes, that is a fact; He and I are one, and He is the one," every soul would be saved tonight, and Christ would appear in every soul tomorrow.

 

 

Now brethren there is another thing that comes in here in our own practical experience. Christ has allied Himself to every human being. Then when He said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it [or not done it] unto one of the least of these my brethren; ye have done it [or not done it] unto me," how widespread is that truth? Suppose one comes to my door as a tramp; suppose He be ill dressed and perhaps has not had a good chance to wash Himself as clean as He ought to be. Who is allied to Him? Jesus. Who has invested His all in that man? The Lord Jesus. Then as I treat that man, who is affected? The Lord Jesus, to be sure.

 

 

Shall I treat that man according to the estimate of Christ's investment or according to my opinions, as the world looks upon the man? That is the question.

Suppose here is a man that does not believe in Jesus--a worldly man, a drinking man, a swearing man--and he comes to me in some way--he may come to my door for something to eat or I may meet him as he is walking by the way. Suppose that out of respect to Christ I treat that man as Christ's purchase, as the one in whom Christ has invested all, and suppose that man never believes in Jesus at all and dies an infidel and perishes in perdition, how does Christ look upon that which I did toward the man? In the judgment, if I shall stand on the right hand, will He say anything about that which I did? O, He will say, "I was ahungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me." Why, Lord, I know nothing about that. When did I ever see you hungry and fed you? or sick and helped you? or naked and clothed you? I know nothing about this. Oh, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

 

 

But suppose a man comes and says, "I am hungry; I would like something to eat." And I respond: "What are you drifting around the country for like this--an able-bodied man, as you are? Why don't you go to work?" "Well, I can't find work." "O well, I get plenty of work; I can find work; I have not got out of work yet. I think work is not exactly what you want. I don't have anything for such folks as you are." I do not give him anything, and he goes off.

 

 

In that day we shall all stand before the throne and I find myself standing on the left hand and I say: "Why, Lord, Lord, I believe on you; don't you know, I believed the truth? I believed in the Third Angel's Message; indeed, I was a preacher and preached in the Tabernacle in Battle Creek. I did much for the cause. In thy name I did many wonderful things." But the answer is "I was ahungered and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink: naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison and ye visited me not." I wonderingly inquire, "When did I ever see you hungry or in need or sick? I thought you were in heaven, glorified with all your trials past, and I wanted to get up here to see you. I did not suppose you were on earth where I could ever see you hungry or sick." He replies: "I came to your door one morning and asked for something to eat, after having been almost shelterless through the night": I answer, "You? No. I never saw you there." Well, He might point to such and such a time when a man did come to my door in just such a condition as that. But I say. "O, do you mean that man? surely that was not you." He answers finally; "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Depart from me. I never knew you."

 

 

Whether a man gives Christ the credit for what He has invested in Him or not, as a believer in Jesus I must give to Christ the credit for what He has invested in that man. It is not a question whether that man gives Him credit for what He has invested in Him. It is a question whether those professing to believe in His name will give Him credit. That is where the great lack comes in the profession of Christianity too many times, as well as in those who deny Him and make no pretension to His name. It is not astonishing that a man who does not believe in Christ at all should give Christ no credit for His investment in Him, but here am I, a professor of Jesus. It is astonishing that I should not give Christ the credit for the investment that He has made in that man.

In the fifty-eighth of Isaiah the Lord describes the fast that He has chosen. It is, "That thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh." Who is our own flesh? Jesus Christ is. And Jesus Christ, as He has allied Himself to that man, is my flesh. See "that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh." This is the fast that the Lord has chosen: Feed the hungry, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plea for the widow and spread abroad the good of His name and the charity of His goodness everywhere. He has allied Himself to human flesh, and in doing it to these, we are doing it to Him. That is Christianity.

 

 

 

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