By Jesse Roy Jones
Taken from Grace and Truth Magazine 1923
What a fruitful life was that of the Apostle Paul! How marvelously he lived and labored as an apostle of Jesus Christ! Such a life as Paul's not only challenges our admiration, but makes us want to know the secret back of it. Was it because he was an educated man, — a student of Gamaliel, if you please? Or was it because he belonged to the leading religious sect of his day, — the Pharisees? Paul might well have boasted of his scholarship and religious standing, had he so desired, for we know that he was qualified in both and was by no means a novice in these attainments. But was this the secret of his power as an apostle of Jesus Christ? Not by any means. Hear his own testimony as it comes to us from the inspired record of God's holy Book. Paul said:
How radiantly clear and definite is Paul's testimony. He attributes all that he is to just one thing, — grace, God's grace, God's "unmerited mercy."
As we review the writings of
Paul we find that this wonderful grace of
God which He
speaks of so often will always manifest itself in the
life of the willing Christian in two ways, — i. e., by holy
living and by true service.
Holy Living
Concerning real Christianity
someone has said I that the impossible argument
to answer is the argument of a
holy life. This is
the argument that baffles the skeptic and shuts
the mouth of the infidel. And if
Christians the world over
would only awaken to this fact and live the Christian life
instead of playing at it, only the Lord Himself knows what
the result would be. Suffice it to say, that the
glorious Gospel of Christ would not be brought
into such
disrepute among unbelievers as it is today.
Unfortunately many Christians
have a warped conception of holy living. They
seem to think that because the word "Holy" is used that one
must don a certain kind of garb, or wear a certain (usually lengthy) expression on his face, or he must fold his hands a certain way when he sits down. But such an interpretation of the holy life is absolutely foreign to the Word of God. When God speaks of holy living He means just one thing. He means living "in the Spirit," or living in separation — separation
from the world and separation
unto the Lord Jesus
Christ (Rom. 12:1-2; 6:13). In other words, we must
recognize the fact that though we are "in the world," we
are not "of the world." We are to "walk worthy of the
Lord unto all pleasing" (Col.
1:10). God makes His appeal for holy
living on the ground of Grace. Paul devotes the first
eleven chapters of his epistle to the Romans to what
God has accomplished for us through the matchess
grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and then, beginn'ng with the
first two verses of the twelfth chapter, he makes his appeal for
us (Christians) to live for Him because of what He has
freely given us. Someone has said: "It is too cheap."
Let such an one look at Calvary and see what it cost
God. Others say: "It is too easy." Again look at Calvary and
see what was needed to put away sin. Take away the
grace of God and you take away our salvation. True,
it is both cheap and easy for us, but that is because
it is gratuitous. W. H. Griffith Thomas has well said:
"All that we are, have, do and become, is of grace, and we
are so to live that our lives are to be 'to the glory of
His grace'." As a result of what grace has obtained for
us, Spurgeon offers the following, which is indeed helpful
and full of valuable suggestion:
"I passed under a camphor tree
and gathered a few of its leaves and found them
full of camphor; indeed, the whole of the tree was
saturated with it. Thus should the
grace of God show
itself in the whole life of the believer. As the
inevitable outflow of his renewed nature his most
commonplace acts and words should be gracious. Little
things best reveal character, for in them a man is less upon
his guard. Let even the leaves of your words partake of
the grace which dwells in
you."
The ability to live a holy life
is entirely dependent upon grace. Too often Christians
accept salvation by grace and then try to live a
holy life by their own efforts. What a mistake and how
displeasing to God! This is the cause of failure and of
frequent backsliding. "As ye have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2:6). This is the
divine prescription, both for salvation and holy living.
If we received the Lord Jesus by
grace, then let us live
for Him by grace. The Christian life is, as the above
passage suggests, a "walk." "Walk in the Spirit," says the
Apostle Paul, "and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the
flesh" (Gal. 5:16). This is the secret of a holy life. Just
simply "walk in the spirit." But, someone will say, how can
one walk in the Spirit? Well, we can easily see how a
child born into a royal family should walk in royalty.
We can easily see why the child of a prince should not
walk as a child of a pauper. Then why should we be in a maze
when God asks us as His children to walk "in the
Spirit," — His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ — and not after
"the beggarly elements of the world."
It is sad when Christians say
that it is impossible for them to live holy lives —
separated lives. Does God ever ask His child to do anything
that is impossible? The record of Phil. 4:13 is: "I can do
all things through Christ, which strengtheneth
me." And again, II Cor. 12:9 says: "My
grace is sufficient for
thee." Let us be careful, dear
reader, that we do not limit the
power of His grace. For
"God is able to make all
grace abound toward you;
that ye, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good work" (II Cor.
9:8). What a supply of grace from which to draw! Let
us "consider Him," "and find grace to help in time
of need."
When the Christian lives by the
power of His grace, there is not only sufficiency
for holiness, but there is no excuse for sin. Wow ungrateful
for Christians to use the liberty which
grace has provided
for them as a license for sin in the life. No wonder when
the apostle Paul raised the question: "Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound?" that he vehemently
exclaimed: "God forbid!" Grace is contrary to sin. Grace
teaches us that "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world" (Tit. 2:12).
True Service
The logical result of holy
living is true service. No more can you stop a soul,
whose chief aim is to walk worthy of the Lord unto all
pleasing, from a life of service than you can
stop up a bubbling spring of water by stuffing it with
cotton. True service is "the
outflow of the grace of God in the
heart." Far greater emphasis is laid on Christian
living in the Word of God than on Christian service. The reason
for this is evident. God knows that if He can only get
the Christian in the place of yieldedness He so much
desires, the work of the ministry and evangelism will never
suffer. Grace has a very specific part
to play in the life of service. In Heb. 12:28 we read:
"Let us have grace whereby we may serve God
acceptably." What a shame that so much service is rendered
today by Christian workers that is not acceptable to
God. When grace characterizes our service for Him,
there will not be the boasting that is so common when we do a
bit of Christian work that is marked by visible
results. When the seventy whom Jesus had sent forth
returned after having accomplished some wonderful things,
even to the extent of demons being subject to them
through His Name, Jesus rebuked them by saying:
"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are
written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). Our service becomes
pleasing and acceptable in His sight when we glory in His
matchless grace which permits us to serve Him.
Not only does grace make our
service acceptable to God, but by it we are able to do
more abundant service (II Cor. 9:8). Paul said: I
labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me" (I Cor. 15:10).
The grace of God so gripped the
life of Uncle John Vassar, the famous colporteur of
the American Tract Society, that he would scarcely
take time to eat his meals, so intense was his passion for
lost souls. It is said of him that he was "unseasonably in
season" winning men to Christ.
In summarizing the truth in
connection with our subject, it were well to quote
again from W. H. Griffith Thomas, who has given us many
helpful thoughts in his book, entitled, "Grace and
Power." Concerning the gracious fruitage of grace he says:
"Grace will make us gracious in our dealings and enable
us to avoid the spirit of hardness, hatred, severity, and
manifest the spirit of love, patience, mildness, forgiveness,
and tenderness. * * * It not only provides redemption,
but it humbles pride, guarantees holiness, inspires to
service, incites to hope, pledges heaven and glorifies
God. No wonder, therefore, that we are invited to receive
this grace and warned against receiving it in vain (II Cor.
6:1). It calls. for appropriation and application. Grace does
not work apart from our responsibility. We must use
it, believe it, respond to it, reproduce it. We can have
little or much, we can be rich or poor, we can rejoice in
the Divine wealth or exist in miserable poverty. * *
* The works of grace are to be carried out by God's
people, and if they do not do this, they will thereby prove
that they know nothing of grace. What we receive from
God as 'gratia' comes to us 'gratis,' and is intended
to make us 'gratum,' grateful. His grace is intended to
elicit gratitude, and gratitude is to be shown in
graciousness to others. And yet all along it will be 'Not I, but
the grace of God which was with me' (I Cor. 15:10)."
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