HUMILITY THEN GLORY by A. F. Ballenger

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Nov 8, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 45.

HUMILITY THEN GLORY.

By A. F. Ballenger

Pride an Obstacle—All Boasting Excluded—All Must Be Beggars—Why the Spirit Is Not Granted.

"WHOM He justified, them He also glorified." Rom. 8:30. Why is it that the message of justification by faith, or the blessing of Abraham, must be received before the promise of the Spirit, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost, can be received? Gal. 3:14. Because the reception of the truth that we are made righteous and kept righteous by faith, is a complete and everlasting destruction to the thing which above every other thing is keeping the baptism of the Spirit from the church. That thing is pride. Self pride, family pride, church pride, State pride, national pride—it matters not in what form it appears—it is a barrier to the reception of the promise of the Spirit. But the reception of the Gospel message of righteousness by faith, is instant and eternal death to all the pride of every human heart that receives it.

"If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God." If you could justify yourself by your good works, you would have whereof to glory; but you can not, and when you come to really believe this, all self-glorying, all pride, will depart from the heart. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded." Rom. 3:23-27.

All boasting is excluded from that heart which has come to realize that righteousness is alone of faith. But why is this so? What is the divine philosophy of it? Here it is: If righteousness is of faith, not of works, then it can not be earned; it must be begged. Justification by faith, therefore, makes a beggar of every sinner, and as "all have sinned," it makes beggars of the whole human race, rich and poor, high and low, wise and unwise. And when men and women are brought to the place where they feel their need so keenly that they will humble themselves to beg, it is to be expected that their pride is crucified.

When justified by faith, we must come to the Lord and acknowledge that we are unjust, that we are sinners, that we need to have our sins forgiven. This is humbling to the natural heart. By this coming we acknowledge that we can not make ourselves righteous, can not forgive our own sins; if we could, we would not have come. And this, too, is humbling. And when we come, we have to ask for forgiveness as a beggar would have to ask for food at the door. "Ask and it shall be given you." And this, also, is humbling. And should we be asked what we have to pay for it, we must reply that we haven't anything to pay, but that the Lord Jesus told us that if we would come and ask help in His name, it would be given to us free. And this is humbling, too.

But all this is only a small part of the process of humbling. We have to ask for a fresh supply every day; we can not come and get a supply that will last forever, so that we can go away and be independent of the Giver, and become proud and self-righteous over what was given us. We are compelled to acknowledge that we can not keep ourselves from falling into those same sins for which we have been forgiven. We have to ask the Lord for daily bread, for strength to keep us from falling, and tell Him again and again that we have nothing to pay, but that our Saviour told us to come and ask for keeping power in His name, and it would be given free. Yes, we have to come and ask to be fed free all the time, to become a regular charity boarder. And if we ever get the idea that we are earning our living, that we are not any longer charity boarders, or, in other words, that we can keep ourselves from falling into our old sins, there must come a terrible fall, which, like David, will break all our bones, and bring forcibly to mind the fact of our dependence on Him who alone "is able to keep us from falling."

Yes, the Gospel truth that men are made righteous by faith, humbles the glory of man in the dust. It teaches him that he can not forgive his own past sins, but must come to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, and take it by faith. It teaches him also that he can not keep himself from falling into those old sins again, and must come and ask for keeping power, and then believe that he receives it, and be thankful for it.

Reader, has the Gospel of righteousness by faith done this work of humbling for you? Is all your pride crucified? Is your own glory in the dust? Are you ready to be glorified with "power from on high"? Should you be baptized with the Holy Ghost for witnessing power, could you keep humble while the multitude looked on in wonder and amazement? When the cripple was healed and began leaping and shouting, and the people flocked around and looked at you with awe and admiration, would you say from the heart, "Why look ye so earnestly upon us, as tho by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk"? Would you point them to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world? The Gospel of righteousness as a free gift is sent to you to humble you and prepare you to be glorified.

There is much being written and spoken today concerning the Holy Spirit. Many prayers are offered at conventions and conferences for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But God is merciful and does not grant the request, because to do so would be to bring ruin to the receiver. Should the Lord grant apostolic power to one who was proud, He would thereby feed that pride. A proud man with power is a foe to himself, his God, and his fellow-men. Satan is a startling example of the results of pride with power.

God is anxious to baptize men and women with the Holy Ghost and power. But they must first be humble. The apostles were men from the humble walks of life, but still they had to be humbled. Paul's converts were men who were led to turn from the "foolish things" of the world, but he exhorted them to humility thus: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the

world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 1 Cor. 1:26-31. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:4-9. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. 4:7.

A young minister came to the writer with this sad complaint: "Whenever the Lord blesses me in my ministry, I become exalted over it, and He has to withdraw His power. What shall I do?" He was urged to confess his pride to the Lord, and ask Him to crucify it, then claim the crucifixion by faith in the promise of God, then go before the congregation and confess his pride there, and tell of the victory gained by faith. He did so, and obtained the victory. Why, some one will ask, must he confess it before the congregation?—Because no one was ever proud without the people finding it out. And when the people know a man is proud, that man will never gain the confidence of the people until they know that he has discovered his pride and put it away, and this they will know when he confesses it. If he is too proud to confess his pride, then he has not yet gained the victory over his pride.

While pride is the sin above every other sin that is keeping the baptism of the Holy Spirit away from men and women, yet it is easy for God to destroy. Ask Him to do it. Believe that He does it, and it is done. Accept of righteousness by faith and you will be humbled. When humbled, you are ready to be exalted with power from on high. 1 Peter 5:6.

A. F. BALLENGER.