FAITH AND WORKS AGAIN by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 23, 1877

FAITH AND WORKS AGAIN.

By James White

SERMON PREACHED BY ELDER JAMES WHITE, AT BATTLE CREEK, SABBATH MORNING, AUG. 18, AND REPORTED FOR THE REVIEW AND HERALD.

Last Sabbath our subject was faith and works. We stated that a man's works are the measure of his faith; or that a man will show what faith he has by his works.

We presented the testimony of the apostle James where he makes the emphatic statement that “faith without works is dead, being alone.” Again he says: “I will show thee my faith by my works.” And what a biting rebuke there is in that very same connection in his reference to the believing devils that do not hold to good works. “Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well; the devils also believe and tremble;” as much as to say, If you simply have faith without works, that faith will not save you any more than the faith of the trembling devils will save them. Not one of these devils, poor fellows, hold to good works. And with these the apostle has classed those Christians who are all faith and no works. A backwoods preacher once represented them by frogs who have large mouths and small hands, always croaking about the power of faith to save, while doing little or nothing.

Paul speaks of the heroes of faith in the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews. And did these cherish the easy doctrine that they were to do nothing, but believe themselves into Heaven? In the first verses of chapter twelve the apostle speaks of these men of God under the figure of a cloud of witnesses. They are set forth as examples, as far as holy men may be examples to those who live after them. With these men before us as examples, the subject becomes an easy one. How do these heirs of glory obtain the eternal reward? In this chapter Paul goes on to speak of Abel and Enoch and Noah. “And Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.”

Did Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all those ancient worthies, just sit down and believe, and let the Lord work out the problem for them, without any special effort on their part? They are presented as our pattern. Do they, in this way, believe themselves into Heaven? or did they take hold and work? “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” In this verse we have Cain and Abel brought before us. Abel was accepted and Cain was rejected. They both brought their offerings. Abel's was accepted because he united works with his faith in the Redeemer to come.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Now suppose that Noah should have sat down and said, There is a flood coming, but I cannot do anything. I believe the flood is coming; I have full faith in this, but all my efforts would be in vain; God would not accept them. Preposterous! Noah believed that the flood was coming; and he showed how much he believed it by his works. We have a measure of Noah's faith in this matter. He had a faith that moved him, that bore him right out to build the ark. There was mental effort in planning, and work in building that immense ship, which was to endure for a year or more the rough winds and waves of the flood; and to contain the beasts that God was to send into it to preserve them. But if Noah had taken the position which some take at the present time, that is, merely to believe and live, and not to do and live, he would not have built the ark, and have saved his family. Supposing, however, that Noah had folded his hands, and said, I cannot do anything; I will leave this for the Lord to do, and there waited as though he expected a balloon to come, and take him up and suspend him in the air until the flood should have passed, and then let him down upon the earth again. Do you suppose that this faith would have saved him without works? Oh, no! But Noah had faith. He was warned that the flood was coming, and he was wise enough to know that for his own safety, and for the safety of his house, he must prepare an ark. And he built it; and in the act of building the ark he showed his faith in what God had told him about the approaching flood.

Now Paul presents another grand character, and remember, my friends, these have been put here for examples to us who should live after them. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” There was some labor in that tent life. “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.”

Was there not an effort in the offering up of Isaac? Please read the history. God points out a mountain where Abraham is to offer his only son, his beloved son. He is required to take him and go to that mountain, and there offer him. Now what could have been done if Abraham had just sat down and said, I cannot do anything. I believe God, but I have nothing to do in this matter. Abraham was required to show his faith by his works. He had fallen, through polygamy, and he had an opportunity to redeem himself. The circumstances in the case are all recorded in the Old Testament. He could not see how the promise of God, in reference to the promised seed, could be fulfilled. He had not implicit confidence in God; and when he heard those foolish pleas of Sarah, that he should take one of her handmaids to wife, that the promise might be fulfilled, he was led astray. What an astonishing weakness that marred the life of the patriarch! But God gives him the privilege of redeeming himself; and he has orders to take that son, his very son Isaac, who had been a subject of promise; a subject of that promise over which he had stumbled, and offer him as a burnt sacrifice before the Lord. How much more trying was this than if Abraham had believed God and left the promise to be fulfilled in God's way! That must have been a terrible scene for the patriarch. Imagine the struggle that the fearful test which God brought to bear upon him must have caused him! That terrible test wrung the patriarch's soul.

Under what a weight of mental agony must Abraham have taken Isaac, taken his servants, taken the wood, etc., and passed up that mountain to offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice before God! Was there not work in all this? Imagine the patriarch on his way up the mountain. What is this for? It is to show to the world, and to future generations, that he believed in God. Would the character of Abraham have been redeemed if he had refused obedience in this matter?

If Abraham had had no sense of his duty as regarding God, and taken a sort of easy position, and said, the Lord must do all this, and bring it all about, he would never have redeemed himself; he would never have stood out so prominently on the page of sacred history as God's faithful servant. He took his son, he took his servants, he took the wood, he took the fire, he took the knife; and he marched up the mountain; he made all the preparations necessary for the sacrifice, and he there perfected his faith in the eyes of all who knew him then, and in the eyes of all future generations. And he stands out as a father of the faithful. Why? It was because he did not simply believe, but he went forward and did. By works he perfected his faith. God save us from this sleepy lullaby doctrine, that the Lord will save us if we only believe on him.

The apostle next mentions Moses. “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” How convenient for Moses would the doctrine of faith without works have been! He might then have had the pleasures and honors of Egypt; he might then have avoided the care, perplexity and toil of leading the hosts of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. If he could only have believed himself into Heaven what a blessed thing it would have been for him! but he refuses to remain in the house of Pharaoh.

Now Moses was a financier. “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of reward.” What! the reproaches of Christ in the days of Moses! Moses figured upon the value of the reproaches of Christ in his day. No Christ in the Jewish age, some people will say, and no law in the Christian age. It is all law in the old dispensation; and in our dispensation it is all gospel, it is all Christ. My friends, I am happy to know that Moses sat down and estimated the reproaches of Christ in the Old Testament—the same blessed Christ of the New Testament. The blessed Saviour was with his people in Moses' day the same as he is with his people in our day. The Son of God was and still is in perfect harmony with the moral code. He says, “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

But time will fail me if I dwell longer upon this eleventh chapter of Hebrews. I wish to call your attention to the words of the Saviour upon this subject. We have his first address recorded in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew. It is his inaugural address as he enters upon his public ministry. I wish you would all read that address. You will, doubtless, find time to do so this afternoon. The Lord Jesus in this address lays out a great deal of work for the church. I can only refer to the summing up of that address, chapter 7:21, and to its closing part. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” It seems to me that this text is a rebuke to that class of persons who cry, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time trample the commandments of the Father under their feet.

He continues,—“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, [Mark the doing] I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” Now there is work in building. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them; [Doeth them by faith? Doeth them by sitting down and doing nothing? No.] I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” He built; he went to work. There is the figure. And so hearing the words of Christ and doing them is represented by the putting up of a building. “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,”—you may hear the sayings of the Lord and you may believe; you may believe in the gospel and in Christ; you may have all the faith you please; but if you leave out the doing you shall be like what? “He shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand [he could not stop to dig deep and remove the sand to get down where he could find a solid foundation]. It is work to lay a good foundation; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” The men who are building their hopes of Heaven upon faith without works, are building upon a sandy foundation that will not stand the storms of the coming day.

The apostle Peter speaks of Christian works as follows: “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” In order for this scripture to suit those who trust to faith without works, it should read: (Giving all diligence, believe that the Lord will add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; etc.

Here is work for the church in adding grace to grace. “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things [that does not work; that does not add these graces one to the other] is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” Thank God, we have not got to go our whole journey, our whole pilgrimage, before we find that we are among the elect; that we were elected from the foundation of the world for Heaven; or that we were reprobated from the foundation of the world for perdition. We have not got to go clear through the Christian life to find this out, but it is our privilege now to make our election sure. Here is the true doctrine of election. The apostle explains this in another place—“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Yes! God foreknew and God fore-elected that all the obedient and believing should be saved. This is how men were elected.

You are to go about the work yourself, and make your election sure by obedience of the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ. God bless you. Every one of you may be among the elect. But how is our election made sure? It is through obedience and the blood of sprinkling. With this agrees that remarkable statement in the Revelation, that the redeemed millions on the shining shore had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Spirit of God will come down and sanctify every soul that believes and works. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” How shall we make our calling and election sure? “Oh! how can I make my calling and election sure?” says one, “I would go to Jerusalem, or I would go to Mecca, I would spend this short life in afflictions and tortures if I could only make my calling and election sure; if I could only have eternal life, a life that will run parallel with the life of God.”

But you do not need to go to Jerusalem; you do not need to go to Mecca. You may worship God in the Spirit and in the truth, and he will accept that worship; for he says that where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is with them.

We cannot believe our way into Heaven while doing nothing. If you try to get there in that way you will fall. Peter is my authority. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” Now, brethren, do you want to be saved? Do you want to make your calling and election sure so as not to fall? This morning, dear brethren, I feel very anxious to enter the city of God, and to see for myself how it looks inside the pearly gates. I want to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob there; I want to see all the redeemed there; and I want to see my blessed Lord there; and I am determined that by the grace of God I will make my calling and election sure, by the way of the old apostolic line of obedience, and the blood of sprinkling.

Will you meet me there? “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Take the pledge, brethren, on this Sabbath morning before Heaven, that you will do these things, that you may never fall; that we may all meet within the pearly gates of the city of God. Amen.

J. W.