DEMONSTRATED FAILURES by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 40.

DEMONSTRATED FAILURES.

By G.

V. Human Works.

SALVATION is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2: 9. But the natural man has nothing of which to boast. He is simply a sinner (Rom. 3: 23), “condemned already” (John 3: 18), and “without excuse” Rom. 1: 18-20. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” Ch. 3: 27. No work that man can do can lift him out of the mire of sin, out of the condition of condemnation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims salvation by faith. “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Eph. 2: 8.

Every other religion contemplates salvation by human works; but every other religion is false. There is no salvation in any other name than that of Jesus Christ. Acts 4: 10-12. This is not only the theory of the Gospel, but it has been demonstrated. The impotence of man’s effort to elevate himself by his own works was demonstrated in Eden. God would give the first human pair wisdom and knowledge by His Word, through His works as object lessons. But the woman was deceived into the false idea that there was a short cut to wisdom and knowledge by a way of their own in disregard of God’s way. The man accepted the idea, and the result was sin and death, not only for themselves but for their posterity.

Abel believed the Gospel of Christ. He brought an offering to God such as God commanded, and thus proved his faith. Cain sought to please God by a work of his own. He brought an offering of such things as he had produced by his own hard work. So Abel and his offering of faith were accepted, his sins were forgiven, his soul was saved. Cain and his offering of works were rejected. His work was of man, and it came to naught. Acts 5: 38. “His own works were evil,” because they were his own; and “his brother’s righteous,” because they were the work of the Spirit, therefore not his own. It was God that worked in him “to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil. 2: 13.

Abraham and Sarah became impatient of awaiting the promised son, and devised a work of their own. Sarah gave Abraham her maid, Hagar, for a wife, and she bare unto him Ishmael. But the scheme proved a great failure; the union resulted in family trouble and prolonged enmity between the descendants of Ishmael and those of Isaac. It gendered only to bondage, and to the hindrance of the cause of God in the earth.

When Esau and Jacob were born, the Lord said that the elder should serve the younger. When the children had grown to manhood, Jacob took occasion to make sure by craft what the Lord had promised. Taking advantage of his brother’s hunger and reckless character, he purchased his birthright for a paltry mess of pottage. When Isaac was old and blind, he told Esau to prepare him a dinner of venison, such as he liked, and receive his blessing. Rebecca overheard the conversation, and became alarmed lest the Lord’s promise should be frustrated. Supposing that it behooved her to do something, she called Jacob and told him to kill a couple of kids while Esau was out hunting for venison. Then she prepared the dinner for Isaac, put the skins of the kids on Jacob’s neck and hands to imitate his brother’s hairy skin, and sent him to deceive his father by personating Esau.

As far as the deception was concerned the scheme answered its purpose. But the result was disastrous to the happiness of the entire family. Esau’s hatred of Jacob was aroused to the point of threatening his brother’s life, and Jacob had to flee from home. Rebecca never saw her favorite son again, and it was over twenty years before even a formal reconciliation took place between the brothers. Moreover the animosity of Esau effected his descendants for hundreds of years. They refused to allow Israel to pass through their land, on any conditions whatever, when the latter were journeying from Egypt to Canaan. See Numbers 20. All this because Rebecca and Jacob essayed to supplement the Lord’s promise with their human works. But it didn’t stop here. In the days of King David (2 Sam. 8: 14), and in the days of Amaziah (2 Chron. 25: 11-14), Israel subdued the people of Edom by warfare. Israel never could wield any moral influence upon the descendants of Esau.

The Lord gave to Abraham and his children the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the righteousness accredited to him because of his faith; and under the Aaronic priesthood various other ordinances were added as Gospel object lessons. But, failing to exercise the faith that all these things implied, the people came to look upon the ordinances as themselves works of righteousness. To these they added numerous other traditions of their own devising, and this dependence upon their own human works was carried to such an extent that it cut off the masses of the people from recognizing their Saviour when He came in person. It made void all influence of the law of God upon their hearts to bring them to Christ. Ps. 119: 126; Mark 7: 13. They set their own works above the wisdom of the “schoolmaster.” Their failure is thus expressed by the apostle Paul: “They being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” Rom. 10: 3.

When people turn from the righteousness which comes by faith in Jesus Christ, witnessed by obedience of His commandments (John 14: 15), they have no other resource than human works. Not only has this been demonstrated, and the utter futility of such works demonstrated, in the history of the Jews, but it has also been demonstrated in the history of the Gentiles. Rom. 1: 20-25.

That everything in religion, not based on “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14: 12), is delusive and utterly soul-destroying, has been fully demonstrated and the fact faithfully recorded in the Word of God for our learning. So any who are deceived by the works of man not sustained by the Word, will be without excuse in the judgment. G.