IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALVATION AND REWARD?
By Chas. F. Wilcox
BY CHAS. F. WILCOX.
(Concluded.) WE will now briefly consider works, and the relation of faith to works. Faith works, and so does unbelief. One may be energized by an unbelief which will lead him to work with a zeal akin to the strength of desperation. Another, a child of faith, may work with an untiring and constant activity. Here are the two extremes of cause—faith and unbelief—one of God through Jesus Christ, the other of the devil. The faith which comes through Jesus Christ will work constantly, steadily, mightily. It may operate so meekly and quietly that it may pass unnoticed by the world. The zeal and activity of unbelief are often mistaken for faith; its praise is sounded in the market places; its possessor is called the child of the Highest, and yet the whole thing is a deception of the most deadly character. Unbelief does not rest upon facts, the basis of faith, for they are wanting. The facts for the foundation of faith are only revealed in the word of God. Man is quickened or made alive by the word.22But says one, “If faith alone brings salvation, why work?” The answer is evident, For faith works. Faith is the cause, and the work is the result. Faith insures salvation, and it is counted for righteousness. The works follow as a natural result. It was by faith that the worthies of old “wrought righteousness,” and it will be the same to the end of time. Do not be misled with the thought that there is somewhere in the Bible such a doctrine as “faith and works,” for there is not. It is the doctrine of the faith which works. Faith itself does the work. Faith brings life, and life is activity, and activity is work. If one has works of righteousness, it will be because faith has “wrought righteousness” in him. It is impossible for one to have faith and not have works; the two can never be separated. The word of God is the only basis of faith. The counterfeit article which often passes for faith is merely human speculation; it will never profit its possessor; it rests on imaginations suggested by the arch-deceiver, and the end will be ruin, disappointment, and death. When God’s word is received in the heart, it works at once, operates, governs, and controls the man. There is a danger at this point of man’s thinking that when work is wrought, he himself has done it. But let us note carefully how work is brought about. We have just seen that faith works; and the cause of faith is the word of God. When the word—the word of God spoken through holy prophets of old—is received in the heart, it constitutes a living, acting principle. This principle is undying and all powerful, “for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” The gospel is conveyed to man in words—just such words as men speak; but gospel words were first spoken by God, and the one who receives these words, receives in them, and with them, the mighty life-giving power of God. He may resist this power so that it will not work effectually, but if he gladly lets the word of life operate, he will find that it works the works of God in him. And when this is true, it will not be the man who does the work, but it will be God working in him, “both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” When the rewards are given, it will be to “every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22: 12. The Psalmist prayed: “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” Ps. 90: 17. David saw that man could do nothing except God worked in and through him. And the work which God sees fit to perform through the weak frame of mortal flesh is to be established upon man; it is to be reckoned to man as though he had wrought it himself; for at the judgment the result is to be given to him for his own. It is, however, wrought in man by Christ, and when it is given to him for his own, he is rewarded for what has been wrought through him. Let no one think for one moment that his salvation depends upon what he can do himself. If you are saved, it will be through faith on the Son of God who gave himself for you, and not alone for you, but for both you and your sin. You cannot free yourself from one single sin, not even the stain of a sin. It requires the blood of Christ, and his blood has been given for that very purpose, that he might “purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2: 14. He accepts sinners, and if they submit themselves to him, he will cleanse them from all their sins, keep them from sinning, energize them by his Spirit, and then work in them the works of God. Christ will work in man, as God worked in Christ when he was upon the earth. Christ totally denied any power exhibited in his life as being of himself; and he is our example. He said: “I can of mine own self do nothing.” “I have not spoken of myself.” And again, “The Father that dwelleth in me, he [the Father] doeth the works.” John 5: 30; 12: 49; 14: 10. These statements are from the lips of the Saviour. Do you believe them? Do you think it possible for the servant to do what the Master did not, and that which he could not? Individually, let us accept the truth that man can do nothing, and let us believe that God will work in us that which pleaseth him, even as he wrought in Christ. Then shall the works of God appear; self will die—be crucified daily—and Christ will live within us, as he did in Paul, the hope of glory. Mark this, there is work, yea, much work to be done, and God’s way is for us to submit ourselves to him, that he may work through us. Look at the mighty apostle Paul, for he worked in labors more abundant than all, and yet he was dead; but Christ was living in him, and by Christ were the works of Paul wrought. The only thing required of us is that we let God have his way and purpose in us. But with the evident truth that we can do nothing, and that God expects nothing of us,—the fallen mortal man,—let us not again be deceived in thinking that it is self that is trying to work when the impulse to do good is felt, and that therefore we must repress it, thinking to wait till Christ shall work in us with some irresistible power. From the point of surrender Christ stands ready to will and work, and we should recognize both the desire to do, and the power to do, as coming from God, for he designs both to “will” and “work” in us effectually and mightily. It may appear to others that we are doing, and we may deceive ourselves by thinking so, but it is not of ourselves, it is God working in us. It matters not to us what others may think; but if we deceive ourselves upon this point, we take credit and glory to self that belong to God, thereby putting self in the place of God, setting self above God, attempting to do what God only can do, hence frustrating and defeating the purpose of God. Friends, brethren, sisters, one and all, let God work.