Righteousness by Faith and the Loud Cry
THE magnitude of the work that now claims our attention is great. The whole world must be evangelized; for “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” before the end comes. There are even now signs of the end. There are wars and rumors of wars. Nation rises against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There are famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. But the end is not yet; for the four angels of Rev. 7: 1-3 are still holding the four winds of the earth, and will continue to hold them until the servants of our God have been sealed in their foreheads. But the difficulties are multiplying, and dangers are increasing. Lawlessness abounds, and in consequence the love of many waxes cold. Yet the work will be accomplished; for God, who can not lie, has spoken. However, it must be done amid many perplexities, privations, and trials. But despite the dangers, perplexities, trials, and sufferings, the work must be done, and God’s redeemed children are the ones to do it. The servants of God will be sealed. That is to say, the truth-loving, honest-hearted ones of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues will hear and heed the message11of life, and will be “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created” them, and in their characters, formed in “righteousness and true holiness,” will bear the seal of the living God. Being thus sealed, they shall take their places among those who will not die, but while yet living will be “caught up” “to meet the Lord in the air.” But perhaps some will say, This great work will be accomplished during the “loud cry” of Rev. 18: 1-4, after God has poured out his Spirit upon his servants and handmaidens, and in consequence “servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven,” and “by thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given.” And thus reasoning, they excuse their present inefficiency, and wait for God to send the loud cry to arouse them from their dormancy and send them out into the harvest-field. If there be such, they are deceived. The necessary preparation of heart is not in consequence of the loud cry, but the loud cry is in consequence of the necessary preparation of heart. He who neglects the needful preparation, can not receive the refreshing that “shall come from the presence of the Lord,” and therefore can not become an active participant in the glorious work that immediately precedes the end. The mighty evangelizing work of the loud cry will be done only by those who have been born again, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;” those who “are not under the law, but under grace,” and hence who labor not with “the spirit of bondage” and fear, as servants, but with the spirit of love and freedom, as dear children. They will be those who “have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,” whose dependence is not on the arm of flesh, but in the living God; and thus equipped, they will meet the perplexities and dangers incident to their work, with a calm, unflinching courage, knowing whom they have believed, being persuaded that he is able to keep that which they have committed unto him against that day. Love for Christ will incite them to action; the wisdom of Christ will guide them in action; confidence in Christ will sustain them in trials, and in the truth of Christ they will triumph. Now in view of the fact that only those who have experienced a complete change of heart and know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, can have an active part in the great evangelistic movement of the last days which we call the loud cry, we hold that it is of prime importance to preach with emphasis, clearness, and frequency the great fundamental Bible doctrines of the exceeding sinfulness of sin; of the vicarious death of Christ; of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the sinner the moment he believes; and of the believer’s privileges in Christ—in short, righteousness by faith. For it is these doctrines, carefully expounded and presented in love with heavenly unction, that lead directly to the conviction and conversion of the sinner. They are doctrines that are fundamental to any work of revival and reformation whose results are thorough and permanent; because they deal not with that which is transitory and superficial, but touch the mainspring of human action. They cure the disease by removing the cause. They cleanse the stream by purifying the fountain. Therefore they can not be neglected without a distinct decline in spiritual life. The logical and necessary result of neglecting them is the filling up of the church with those who have only a knowledge of the letter of the law, but who have never been converted, and who are sources of darkness and weakness rather than light and strength. Or otherwise stated, it produces that lamentable condition of the Laodicean church which is so graphically described in Revelation 3. Self-righteousness, denominational pride, and spiritual blindness follow. Let us throw our thought into the form of syllogisms thus:— Whatever is essential to the conversion of souls, is essential to any work that can be performed only by converted men and women. The doctrine of righteousness by faith is essential to the conversion of souls. Therefore, the doctrine of righteousness by faith is essential to any work that can only be performed by converted men and women. The great evangelistic work of the loud cry is a work that can be performed only by converted men and women. Therefore, the doctrine of righteousness by faith is essential to the great evangelistic work of the loud cry. Again: any work which can be performed only by converted men and women will be greatly promoted by the preaching of that doctrine which is essential to the conversion of souls. The great evangelistic work of the loud cry is a work that can be performed only by converted men and women. Therefore, the great evangelistic work of the loud cry will be greatly promoted by the preaching of that doctrine which is essential to the conversion of souls. The doctrine of righteousness by faith is essential to the conversion of souls. Therefore, the preaching of the doctrine of righteousness by faith will greatly promote the evangelistic work of the loud cry. Then is it not clear that the way to advance the glorious message most rapidly is to give to this great soul-saving doctrine its proper place in the very forefront, and keep it there? That it has been neglected in other years is attested by the present state of spiritual decline. The sorrowful description given by the Faithful and True Witness in his message to the Laodiceans (Rev. 3: 14-22) is accurately fulfilled in the present-day church. The Lord said it would be so, and we see that it is so now, at this very time. But the same Lord that foresaw this condition and forewarned us, has also pointed out the remedy. He says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” “Gold tried in the fire” is love and faith; “white raiment” is the righteousness of Christ, which is reckoned to all who believe; and the “eyesalve” is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This is the remedy he offers. And what is it when expressed in a single phrase?—Righteousness by faith. This is the remedy for a church that is lukewarm and spiritually blind. It is God’s remedy, which he himself has prescribed. Let us apply it, and we shall be aroused from our condition of inaction, and be prepared to go forward with the message to the waiting world. Let us apply it to ourselves, each individually. Do this first. Then we shall be prepared to preach it to others, we ourselves having been previously set right with God. And when the righteousness of Christ becomes incarnate in his church, then the glorious work of the loud cry will begin.—The Southern Watchman.