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J. S. WASHBURN

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 15, 1902

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 15.

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J. S. WASHBURN

By J. S. WASHBURN

Boldness

J. S. WASHBURN

HE who truly fears God will fear no other, will never tremble in terror before tempest, fire, or flood, wild beasts, wicked men, or cruel demons. With Luther we may boldly say:—
“And though this world with devils filled Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.”
We know that the Author of life is with us always, and therefore all power in heaven and earth is at our command. Isa. 45: 11. The fear of the Lord does not make a man uncertain and wavering, but calm and bold. “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.” Prov. 14: 26. It is God’s wish that we should “serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.” He has overcome the world, and while we rest on his word, he is overcoming the world in us, and no one in the universe dare stay his hand, or say unto him, “What doest thou?”
Whatever your condition may be, even if you have sinned deeply, you may still come boldly to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. God does not wish us to be cringing slaves, but his own dear children, coming with confidence to our Father, who delights to give, and who never upbraids us when we turn to him confessing our sin, who never reproaches nor taunts us with our weakness or failure. He wishes us to “have boldness in the day of judgment.” 1 John 4: 17.
It is when our love is made perfect that we have boldness. Perfect love casts out fear. Fear comes as a result of sin. God is love. In him is no sin. Where he is, where love is, sin cannot be. Love not only does no evil deed, speaks no evil word, but actually “thinketh no evil.”
Until Adam sinned, he had no thought of fear in the presence of his divine Father. But on that dark day when he fell into sin, he hid himself in terror from his best Friend. “Thus does a guilty conscience make cowards of us all.”
Sin is the only cause of fear. But all have sinned, and therefore all have reason to tremble at the “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, that shall devour the adversaries.” Then how is it possible for us to have boldness now or in the day of judgment? There is one true ground for boldness, and one only, and that is the forgiveness of sin, the absolute, complete destruction of sin in us. No one can be bold on the ground that he is better than any other man. Such hope is a snare. He who is nearest to God will count himself the chief of sinners. Paul, who thus counted himself, faced every deadly peril boldly from the time he was converted till the day on which he fearlessly died a martyr’s death. How could this man who had been a murderer, a blasphemer, meet death and the judgment joyously, without trembling?—Only on the ground that he had obtained mercy and been forgiven.
With quiet confidence, with perfect assurance, may the forgiven sinner face a frowning world, going on from victory to victory, conqueror over self, and treading underfoot serpents and scorpions, and possessing power over all the power of the enemy, yea, authority over all devils.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord; and in the power of his might.” “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” “Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
May the following words be our experience not alone in the day of judgment, but now and for evermore:—
“Bold shall I stand in that great day, For who aught to my charge shall lay, While through the blood absolved I am From sin’s tremendous curse and shame?”