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Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 44.

The Sermon

Signs of the Times

Sep 9, 1875

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Sep 9, 1875

The Sermon.

By Eld. J. H. Waggoner

THE LAW OF GOD.—No. 15.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.
DOES GRACE ABOUND THROUGH SIN?
THERE is an expression in Rom. 3:5, 6, and a question in chap. 6:1, which together present a most important truth. The first says if our unrighteousness, or sin, commend the righteousness of God, or if we may do evil that good may come, then God would not be just to enter into judgment with us for our sins. If we by transgressing his holy oracles magnify his grace and thus glorify him, then he cannot judge the world. But Paul says of those who thus abuse the grace of God that their damnation is just. This certainly should lead all to examine their ground with all carefulness, especially if they have been inclined to make void the law through faith.
Chap. 6:1, presents the same idea, and is very explicit in statement. In chap. 5:20, 21, it is stated that in the gospel the grace of God has superabounded; it has abounded over our sins. Then arises the question, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? At first view this would seem to be a needless point of inquiry, but on further observation we shall find that Paul, by inspiration, is following up the devious ways of the carnal mind. For this is exactly the position of all those who make void the law through faith, and claim that they are fallen from grace who keep the law. An illustration in familiar terms will make this more apparent.
A father, having ascertained that his son has violated one of his commandments, calls him to account for his sin; but being full of love and compassion for his son, he says,
“My son, for this transgression of my law you deserve to be punished; but I have no pleasure in your pain, and would that you would obey me, and thus not fall under condemnation and be liable to punishment. Now, I will forgive you this sin to show my love for you, and trust you will appreciate my love and kindness to you, and always obey me in the future.”
That this expresses the exact will of God toward us, see Eph. 2:4-8; Rom. 6:23; Eze. 33:11; Matt. 3:8; John 5:14. Soon after this display of mercy the father learns that his son has been guilty of violating his law again; and on being called to account he justifies himself as follows:
“When I transgressed your law before, your mercy was manifested in the forgiveness of my sin; and your love and mercy were never so strikingly manifested as then. To more fully develop those noble traits of your character, and give room for richer displays of your grace, I have committed other sins. And you will not be justified in punishing me, for my unrighteousness commends your righteousness, and my disobedience gives room for a display of your love and mercy. As I enjoyed your grace, which abounded over my transgression, I fear that, if I keep your law, I shall fall from grace. Therefore, hereafter, I will live only in your grace, and continue to transgress your law, that your grace may abound.”
Can any one for a moment suppose that a father, who knew that his laws were just, and who had any regard for his authority as a father, would be satisfied with this reasoning? But this is exactly the method of reasoning adopted by those who put grace in opposition to the law. They accuse us who keep the law of denying Christ, because through Christ our sins were once forgiven. To appreciate his forgiveness we must constantly trample on the law, that we may constantly enjoy new manifestations of his forgiving love! In earthly governments we consider that that man best shows his appreciation of a pardon who lives thenceforth a life of obedience. And why not under the government of God? Hath the Lord delight in the violations of his law, by which man is proved guilty in his sight? Opposers of the law claim that God is so greatly delighted with the sacrifice of his Son, that he is always pleased to have us come to him pleading the merits of that sacrifice. And so he is, provided we make him the minister of righteousness, and not the minister of sin. Rom. 5:19; Gal. 2:17. The text last cited is worthy of special consideration, because it so well applies to this point. “For if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.”
The sacrifices of the Old Testament were typical of that of Christ. They served to show God’s abhorrence of sin, and they illustrate the relation which the sacrifice of Christ bears to our obedience. The principle was fully stated to Saul, whose piety, willing to do more than God commanded, did not hesitate to do contrary to God’s commandment. Said Samuel to him, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Sam. 15:22. That this is the principle which governs the relation of sacrifice to obedience at all times and in all dispensations, is easy to show. Thus the Lord said by Jeremiah: “Behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.” Jer. 6:19, 20. Sacrifice in disobedience to the law is not acceptable to God.
As sacrifice is but a form of worship, and an expression of devotion, it follows that worship is not pleasing to God when offered without obedience to his law, as it is written: “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” Prov. 28:9. This principle cannot be evaded by saying, That was true in the past dispensation, but we have faith in Christ, by which we are released from obedience to the law. That is making Christ the minister of transgression. We claim that those sacrifices, being typical of that of Christ, were an illustration of the relation of his sacrifice to obedience to the law. Jesus and his apostles taught the same thing. “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 who is in Heaven.” Matt. 7:21. And when he reproved them for making void the commandment of God by their tradition, he said again, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9. And it was this professed faith in Christ of which the apostle wrote, “Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” Jas. 2:20. What he here indorses as works, which vitalizes and gives efficacy to faith, is easy to discover; for he has just before inculcated obedience to the law, and quoted two of the ten commandments. And this relation between the law and faith is positively fixed in Rev. 14:12: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” By true, living faith the law is not made void, but established. Rom. 3:31. Dead faith evades the law; but such faith is found with the carnal mind which is not subject to the law of God.
It is truly astonishing that men can be so blinded as to profess perfect love to God while willfully violating his commandments, when the Scriptures say, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments;” that they will claim to be completely sanctified through faith, when their rejection of the law proves that they have nothing but a dead faith; that they affect to receive wonderful blessings in prayer when they turn away from and reject the law, when the Scriptures say such prayer is abomination. Well did Andrew Fuller characterize the worship of such as “irreverent familiarity with God, and in some cases a daring boldness in approaching him; yet such is the strength of this antinomian delusion that it passes for intimate communion with him.” Antinomian delusion, indeed! where grace is supposed to dispense with obedience to God’s commandments, and his glory is enhanced by the neglect of his precepts!
Closely and necessarily connected with the subjects of justification and judgment is that of

THE JUSTICE OF GOD.

Though it has been considered to some extent we cannot forbear a further brief consideration of it in this connection.
Paul says that Jesus Christ was set forth for the remission of sin, that God might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
1. The apostles had opened this argument with the declaration that the doers of the law shall be justified. This shows the nature of the law; that it contains the elements necessary to justify a moral agent, and it is therefore moral, complete, and perfect, in every respect.
2. He says that men shall be judged by the law, in the great day, the day subsequent to the “day of salvation,” the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Paul before declared before the wise men of Athens that God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:31. And when he judges the world by his Son, who is now an advocate, he will judge them by the law.
3. He affirmed that they who keep the righteousness of the law are accepted with God, whether Jew or Gentile, while they who break the law dishonor God. Rom. 2:23-27.
4. He said that if the oracles of God which were committed to the Jews were made of no effect, God could not judge the world. Of course not, since sin is the transgression of the law, and the law is the measure of righteousness and the rule of justification. Without it, sin could not be imputed; no one could be condemned or found guilty. How reasonable it is that men must be judged by the law, and that God could not judge the world if he suffered his law to fail.
5. He has expressly stated that all the world are presented guilty before God by the witness of the law, for all have sinned, and that the knowledge of sin is by the law.
6. Having found the whole world guilty by the light of the law, he shows that they can only be released from condemnation, and have “the righteousness of God” conferred upon them, by faith in Christ. But this righteousness is also witnessed by the law, because the law is perfect, and holy, and requires righteousness of all men.
7. He shows that we are freed from condemnation and from sin “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Now we inquire, What would be the effect on the government of God if he should abolish such a law as his; and this in the face of a wicked rebellion waged against it? Certainly such a course on his part would give no evidence to the world that he was a just God. Justice on the part of a governor and a judge requires that he maintain the law, especially if the law itself is just. The judge who does not vindicate the law when it is transgressed is an unjust judge. The governor who will destroy a just law, or suffer it to be trampled upon without an effort to rescue it from violation, is an unjust governor. The advocate who will justify his client in the violation of a just law is the enemy of justice and of government.
Atonement, as Andrew Fuller well said, “has respect to justice, and justice to the law, or the revealed will of the sovereign, which has been violated; and the very design of the atonement is to repair the honor of the law.” This is true of the atonement of Christ, for it was his work to “magnify the law, and make it honorable,” to rescue it from the reproach which rebellion had cast upon it.
God could have rescued man from condemnation by simply abolishing the law which condemned him. But this, of course, would have been in disregard of justice, for the law was all the time perfect, just, and holy. The law is right, and man is wrong. There is a conflict between them. The law in strict justice demands the life of the sinner; for the wages of sin is death. How, then, can man be rescued from death, and God’s government be preserved, and his throne be free from reproach? But one way is possible. His dear Son, the mighty and the holy One, suffers death—the penalty of the law—to vindicate its claims, to show the strength of its obligations, and the impossibility of setting it aside to save any one from death. Through him we obtain pardon, and are restored to our allegiance to his Father. God accepts his sacrifice as a vindication of his own authority. Justice is honored, the law is maintained, and God may now be just and the justifier of all who accept Jesus as their sacrifice to the broken law. And this argument is closed with the most emphatic denial of the abolition of the law, and affirmation of its perpetuity: “Do we, then, make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.”
We rejoice that the law is not made void, because it is good. And not only this, but we rejoice that God will maintain and vindicate his justice. We rejoice that his justice is infinite, and that he will never suffer it to be dishonored. For in this we have an assurance of the stability of his word. If God would suffer a holy law to be trampled down, and never rescue it from reproach; if he would abolish a perfect, spiritual law to serve the cause of guilty, death-deserving rebels, we could have no assurance of the stability of his government, we could place no dependence on any principle, however sacred. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut. 32:4.

The Wanderer's Return.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; beloved, now are we the sons of God."—1 John 3:1, 2.
The wanderer no more will roam, The lost one to the fold hath come, The prodigal is welcomed home, O Lamb of God, in thee! Though clad in rags, by sin defiled, The Father hath embraced his child, And I am pardoned, reconciled, O Lamb of God, in thee! It is the Father's joy to bless, His love provides for me a dress, A robe of spotless righteousness, O Lamb of God, in thee! Now shall my famished soul be fed, A feast of love for me is spread, I feed upon the children's bread, O Lamb of God, in thee! Yea, in the fulness of his grace, He puts me in the children's place, Where I may gaze upon his face, O Lamb of God, in thee! I cannot half his love express, Yet, Lord! with joy my lips confess, This blessed portion I possess, O Lamb of God, in thee! It is thy precious name I bear, It is thy spotless robe I wear, Therefore the Father's love I share, O Lamb of God, in thee! And when I in thy likeness shine, The glory and the praise be thine, That everlasting joy is mine, O Lamb of God, in thee!
—Sel.

The Closing Message of the Gospel.—No. 2.

By R. F. Cottrell

THE period of the Judgment had not come in the apostles' days; for Paul reasoned before Felix of a "judgment to come." Acts 24:25. Again, he taught that God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness" by Jesus, who had already been raised from the dead. Acts 17:31.
We have seen that after Jesus arose he ascended to the throne of God where he became a High Priest, a minister of the sanctuary of God in Heaven. See Heb. 8:1-5; 9:1, &c. The priest-hood of Aaron and his successors was a type of the priesthood of Christ. The ministration of the priesthood under the law, in its yearly rounds, concluded with a type of the Judgment. On the appointed day, the tenth day of the seventh month, the high priest entered the most holy apartment of the sanctuary to "cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel;" in other words, to make an atonement for the whole house of Israel, removing all their sins, which had been, in a figure, conveyed from the sinner to the sanctuary in the blood of the sin-offering, away from that sacred place. Those who were duly interested in this work of the high priest had, in the figure, their sins blotted out, or forever removed from them, being borne away upon the head of the scape-goat; but those who did not afflict their souls in that day were cut off from Israel. See Lev. 16, entire. This shows that the cleansing of the sanctuary was a representation of the judgment of the Lord's people. The final disposal or blotting out of their sins by our great High Priest is equivalent to their acquittal in the Judgment; hence this part of the judgment must transpire while Jesus is priest in the sanctuary above, before the day of wrath in which he is "revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance" on his incorrigible enemies, or, as represented in Rev. 19, as heading the armies of heaven in his descent to earth as "King of kings and Lord of lords," as he comes to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. In the sanctuary characters are weighed in "balances of justice." Job 31:6, margin. The prosperity of the wicked in the present world was a cause of stumbling to David, until he "went into the sanctuary of God." Then he understood their end. Ps. 73. The decisions of the judgment made at the close of the ministration in the sanctuary, vindicate the justice of God in his dealings with the righteous and the wicked in this life, which, without taking into the account final retributions and rewards, could not be vindicated. All apparent departures from equal justice will be set right. The decisions of the judgment will prove to all that God is just.
It seems a self-evident proposition that when a person's sins are all blotted out, no more to be remembered against him, his cause is fully decided. This blotting out of sins is the work of a priest. It must be therefore the last work of our High Priest, Jesus, and must be performed just before his second coming. The testimony of an apostle agrees with this: "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
We have cited the testimony of the apostle that God hath appointed a day, i. e., a day of indefinite length, a period of time, in which he will judge the world by Jesus Christ. Had the appointed time been revealed in prophecy? We have seen, and we might give more evidence from the Scriptures to show that the decisions of the cases of all for life or death are made before the second coming of Christ. That he rewards his people with a resurrection, or, a change to immortality, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" at his coming, and consigns the rest of mankind to the second resurrection and the second death, is positive evidence that their cases have already been decided. We have seen that the blotting out of sins is decisive of the destiny of the people of God; and that, according to the type of the priesthood and sanctuary under the law, this must be the closing work of the priesthood of Christ in heaven, which when finished, his blood will no longer be offered in atonement for sin, but he will come "the second time without sin," an offering for sin, "unto salvation." Again we ask, Had the appointed time for the commencement of this closing work of the priesthood of Christ been revealed in ancient prophecy? We think it had, and in proof refer to Dan. 8:14:— "And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
These days are ended. They cannot by any possibility extend to the present time. They were to commence with the restoration and re-building of Jerusalem after the captivity in Babylon. This work was begun under Ezra, 457 B. C.; and reckoning each day in the prophecy a year in the fulfillment, they ended in A. D. 1844. I shall not enter into the proof of this position on time, but refer the reader to our published works on the sanctuary and 2300 days.
Now we ask, Did anything occur in 1844 to justify our faith that the time then expired? We appeal to history for facts; for facts of history attest the fulfillment of prophecy. In 1844, a message of the "everlasting gospel," was sounding through the world, expressed in these words: "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come." See Rev. 14:6, 7. The foundation for this message on the time for the commencement of the judgment, was confessedly the ending of the 2300 days in that year, the time appointed for our High Priest to enter upon the closing work of his priesthood, which will end with the removal of all the sins of the saved from the presence of God, being blotted from the book of his remembrance.
Can it be possible that we have come to this solemn time in the fulfillment of the revealed plan of redemption and salvation? The promises of God and the facts of history attest it. It is much more than possible; for "the Scriptures cannot be broken."
We have come now, in our investigation, to the first of a series of three consecutive messages, which are evidently the closing messages of the gospel. This message which is expressly called an "everlasting gospel," has actually been announced to the world. This may be denied, but it cannot be disproved. Objections may be raised, but facts are facts, and the word of God is sure; though but few realize that, to successfully oppose this position, they must either impeach the veracity of God in his word, or his providence in its fulfillment. It will be interesting to the believer in the Scriptures as a revelation from God, to investigate further the closing messages of the gospel, as long ago given in prophecy, and trace them in their fulfillment in our own times.
R. F. COTTRELL.

The Lawless One.

By John Norton Loughborough

DR. MACKNIGHT, in speaking of the papacy, contrasts 2 Thess. 2 : 3, with Dan. 7 : 21, 25 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 4, with Dan. 11 : 36, and Dan. 8 : 25, with 2 Thess. 2 : 8, with Dan. 7 : 11, 25, 26, and 8 : 25, and says : —
Now, as in the prophecies of Daniel, empires governed by a succession of kings are denoted by a single emblem, such as by a part of an image, a single beast, a horn, &c., of a beast, so in Paul's prophecy the man of sin, and the son of perdition, and the lawless one, may denote an impious tyranny, exercised by a succession of men who cause great misery and ruin to others; and who at length shall be destroyed themselves. It is true, the papists contend that one person only is meant by these appellations, because they are in the singular number and have the Greek article prefixed to them. But in Scripture we find other words in the singular number with the article used to denote a multitude of persons; for example, Rom. 1 : 17: Ho dikaios, the just one by faith shall live; that is, all just persons whatever. Titus 1 : 7: Ho episkopos, the bishop must be blameless; that is, all bishops must be so. 2 John 5 : 7: Ho planos, the deceiver, signifies many deceivers, as is plain from the preceding clause where many deceivers are said to have gone out. In like manner, the false teachers who deceived Christ's servants to commit fornication and idolatry, are called that woman Jezebel, Rev. 2 : 20, and the whore of Babylon, Rev. 17 : 5, and in this prophecy, verse 7, the Roman emperors, and magistrates under them, are called, Ho katekon, he who restraineth.
"Further, a succession of persons, arising one after another, are denoted by appellations in the singular number with the article; for example, the succession of the Jewish high priests is thus denoted in the laws concerning them; see Lev. 31 : 10, 15; Num. 35 : 25-28; as also the succession of the Jewish kings. Deut. 17 : 14; 1 Sam. 8 : 11. From these examples, therefore, it is plain that the names, man of sin, son of perdition, lawless one, although in the singular number, and with the article prefixed, may, according to the Scripture idiom, denote a multitude, and even a succession of persons, arising one after another.
"The facts and circumstances mentioned in these prophecies are, for the most part, so peculiarly marked that they will not easily apply except to the persons and events intended by the Spirit of God. And, therefore, in every case where different interpretations have been given of any prophecy, the proper method of ascertaining its meaning is, to compare the various events to which it is thought to relate with the words of the prophecy; and to adopt that as the event intended, which most exactly agrees in all its parts to the prophetic description.
"According to this rule," he says of the interpretation of this prophecy, that "will appear the best founded, which makes it a prediction of the corruptions of Christianity, which began to be introduced into the church in the apostles' days, and wrought secretly all the time the heathen magistrates persecuted the Christians; but which showed themselves more openly after the empire received the faith of Christ, A. D. 312, and by a gradual progress ended in the monstrous errors and usurpations of the bishops of Rome, when the restraining power of the emperors was taken out of the way by the incursions of the barbarous nations and the breaking of the empire into ten kingdoms, prefigured by the horns of Daniel's fourth beast.
While the power of the State continued in the hands of the heathen rulers, and while they employed that power in perse-cutting the Christians, the corrupt doctrines and practices introduced by the false teachers did not spread so fast as otherwise they would have done. At least, they were not produced to public view as the decisions of Heaven, to which all men were bound to pay implicit obedience. But after the heathen magistrates were taken out of the way by the conversion of Constantine, and after he and his successors called the Christian bishops to meet in general councils, and enforced their assumption of divine authority by civil powers, then did they, in these councils, arrogate to themselves the right of establishing what articles of faith and discipline they thought proper, and of anathematizing all who rejected their decrees, a claim which, in after times, the bishops of Rome transferred from general councils to themselves.
These general councils, by introducing the worship of saints and angels, robbed God of the worship due to him; and by substituting saints and angels as mediators in the place of Christ, they degraded him from his office as mediator, or rendered it altogether useless. However, though they thus opposed God and Christ by their unrighteous decrees, yet did they not exalt themselves above every one that is called God, or an object of worship; neither did they sit yet in the temple of God as God. These blasphemous extravagances were to be acted in after-times by a number of particular persons in succession, mean by the bishops of Rome after the power of the Christian Roman emperors, and of the magistrates under them, was taken out of the way. For the bishops of that see, having very early obtained from Christian emperors decrees in their own favor, soon raised themselves above all other bishops; and, by a variety of artifices, made the authority and influence of the body of the clergy center in themselves; and claimed that infallible authority which was formally exercised by general councils; of making articles of faith, and of establishing rules of discipline for the whole Christian community, and of determining, in the last resort, all differences among the clergy, and of anathematizing every one who did not submit to their unrighteous decisions.
"In this manner did the bishops of Rome establish, in their own persons, a spiritual dominion over the whole Christian world. But not content with this height of power, by dextrously employing the credit and influence which the ecclesiastics, now devoted to their will, had over the laity, in all countries where they lived, they interfered in many civil matters also, till at length they reared that intolerable fabric of spiritual and civil tyranny conjoined, whereby the understandings, the persons, and the properties, not of the laity only, but also of the clergy themselves, have, for a long time, been most grievously enthralled in all countries where Christianity was professed.
"This height, however, of spiritual and civil tyranny united, the bishops of Rome did not attain, till as the apostle foretold, that which restrained was taken out of the way; or till an end was put to the authority of the Roman Emperors in the west by the inroads of the barbarous nations; and more especially, till the western empire was broken into ten kingdoms, prefigured in Daniel's visions by the ten horns of the fourth beast. For then it was that the bishops of Rome made themselves sovereigns of Rome and of its territory; and so became the little horn which Daniel saw coming up among the ten horns, and which had the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking, to show that its dominion was founded on the deepest policy and that its strength consisted in the bulls, excommunications, and anathemas, which, with intolerable audacity, it uttered against all those who opposed its usurpations. And, in process of time, the bishops of Rome, having got possession of three of the kingdoms into which the western empire was broken, signified by three of the horns of Daniel's fourth beast being plucked up before the little horn, they call themselves the vicars of Christ, on pretense that Christ has transferred his whole authority to them.
"They also thought to change times and laws, as Daniel foretold; for, as the vicars of Christ, they assumed the power of saving and damning men at their own pleasure, and altered the terms of salvation, making it depend, not on faith and holiness, but on the superstitious practices which they had established, and sold the pardon of sins past, and even the liberty of sinning for the future, for money.
"Moreover they openly made war with the saints, who resisted their corrupt doctrines and practices, and prevailed against them, and wore out the saints of the Most High; for, by the cruel and bloody persecutions which they obliged the princes who acknowledged their authority to carry on against those who adhered to the pure doctrines and worship of Christ, they destroyed incredible numbers of them."—Macknight's Comments, vol. iii., p. 100.
I have quoted these lengthy comments of Dr. Macknight on the man of sin, because, in a concise and clear manner they present facts and arguments bearing upon the subject. In another article I shall proceed to present facts illustrative of the exalting of this power of the papacy.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
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