Christian and Sinner? Impossible! I. Righteousness and sin have practical sequences. It is most evident that christianity, in general, did not take righteousness very seriously, their main course has rather avoided this direction. In their religious life, righteousness does not stand written with great observant letters on their banners. Their general abuse of energy, as proof from their moral standards, is not concentrated on this goal. And consequently, just as in the case of righteousness, they arrived at the same indifferent attitude towards sin. But where does this indifferent attitude come from? If they have taken no definite notice, in the world, of these two ultimate enemies, what then was worth so much in their society, and life, that it stole away their full attention from this global matter? But when confronted with this charge they will surely deny it; but practical actions are really a witness with the greatest authority, as proof of the minds principle motives. In a general capacity the actions of man reveals his greatest love. When a person wants to pretend to be virtuous in society, he succeeds quite fairly to hide his principle motive behind the screens. But in a moment of crisis, and in the general direction of his endeavoring, his true colors are revealed. What is my religion? is the essential question. And still they do not understand this term religion. People confess a religion in which their hearts are not found. In common speech: they speak of something, but they dont do it. What is the reason? I. The deception, which came into this world. II. People allow their own hearts to deceive them. III. The life, which they have chosen. We must especially look for the answers of the questions in paragraph two, under point 3, namely a mans prime motive behind his general actions. LIFE IS EVERY RELIGIONS ENDEAVORING; and it is in this definition that all the assessments of the heart are found. This ideal determines the religious principles of the person; and gives to him a doctrine that he always necessarily will defend, as long as his ideal keeps standing. Righteousness and sin must necessarily also fall under this searching light to determine their value in accordance with the end in mind. The value of such a thing is measured by its necessity, as links between the hope and realization of the lifes ideal. When something is accepted as an indispensable strategy, it will be defended and sustained with great care. That is, if the soul sees righteousness as the only road to happiness and life, he will treat it with exactness. While sin, on the other hand, will not be treated so lightly; but will be avoided with the same intensity as that righteousness is accepted. But sin, that it might appear sin - Rom.7:13 - for the soul. He will understand it to be a necessary destruction of his lifes ideal; as a power, which destroys true peace effectively, and for this reason it may not exist in his own life’s actions. Thus it will be to no profit for the soul to change his views and values of things, if his heart is not first changed in principle. Values of something will surely grow to the same degree that the knowledge of the soul, concerning the subject, increases; but lifes essential values starts its growth the day that the hearts leading ideal is born. When a person sees anything, as not necessary in comparison with his first love, but notwithstanding it is brought in among the community as a necessary subject of consideration, this person will only evaluate it as far as it touches his social acceptance. If the total exclusion of such a thing from his principles does not threaten his social status, such a person will not waste time in leaving it. Or if something has been added as an accessory means to reach intended happiness, the value of such a thing will not be reckoned as a total necessity, but surely only as an added worth to other greater values. This is the typical category in which christians have placed righteousness and sin. To them they are only burdensome accessories; and not life touching principles, as it ought to be. To introduce anything as valuable to the mind, the role that such a thing plays to realize the hope of the soul must first be proven. Nothing can appear really valuable to the soul if it cannot make him happy. This is a statement that has established its truth from nature, and cannot be disregarded except with detrimental consequences. Life (peace, happiness, joy) is a practical experience of an emotional being, and for this reason has practical principles. With principles, I mean here, a certain established group of natural laws that have a necessary consequence. As practicing righteousness reaches its absolute normal sequence - peace, happiness and joy. The words from Isa.32:17 are proof of this statement: And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. Sin on the other hand, has a destructive effect. Like the fruit fly’s sting on the fruit has a rottening effect - mark! This is a necessary effect in nature - such is sin in the heart, a worm that brings its rotting effect into the soul. True life (peace, happiness and joy), as through the alimentary canal of a worm, is changed into a stinking corruption. These two, sin and peace, cannot live together on earth because of their attributes. The history of man proved this! In marriage you cannot reconcile them; also not in one soul. The fruit that has been stung by the fruit fly, is not good anymore for man to eat. So is the soul, drenched by sin, not able to bring peace to his environment, or to experience it in himself. Where sin enters, peace must leave the house. (I use must in the sense of natural consequences, and not in the sense of constraint). Because peace, true heavenly peace, is an imperishable quality of obedience to the creating power of righteousness - the attribute with its ability to create and to sustain imperishability. But sin, as obedience to the lie, eats life out of the soul and drops it out on the dung heap of wretched and grievous experience; of which time is eternal, without the cooling effect of one drop of happiness and joy. Heavens promise, which is the final effect of obedience to righteousness, is a total experience of happiness and joy to the highest degree of the souls ability. Where, on the other hand, the eternal hell - the final result of sin - is an experience of eternal grief to the same high degree to which the feelings of the soul is capable. The sinful soul will experience pain to the highest degree of the sensitivity of its feelings; and this will be in the absence of any relieving effect. No water to quench his eternal thirst, or to cool down the heat of the flames, or any food or drink or anything else to satisfy any desire. O! the terrible thirst of the wanderer over the endless plains of scorching heat. His roaming never leads him to an oasis. The heat, not that of a desert but of the devouring fire itself, drives him on in frenzy, seeking, if only it is a drop of water; then, the tearing realization, which as billows threatens to suffocate his soul, with the birth of every new thought under the suffocating smoke of a sea of flames: It is an empty eternal world. Stripped of all good things; no refreshment, no relief! It is a deep endless pit, with every cubic centimeter filled with uttermost woe. O! the soul who has been abandoned forever like garbage for the fire. Sin has made the soul garbage in this imperishable creation. II. When men become serious. Now if it is a conscious or an unconscious state of the thoughts of men, it makes no difference and does not break down the existence of certain natural principles. Men are not always conscious of the truth of free choice; still they do practice it in their daily practical actions. Some have gone so far in their religious debate as to confute mans freedom of choice, in receiving the promises of God, while, in the process, they have themselves practiced the truth of this natural principle. Accordingly there are existing principles around righteousness and sin, in the form of consequences, of which nature cannot get rid of. Here surely holds the principle of cause and effect, or every cause has an effect. Yet this principle is obviously detectable around us and in our own daily experience. When somebody cries you know there must be a cause. When your wife is happy you want to know why; if your crying child comes running to you, holding his hand and calling out: I burned, you will ask: What did you do? Although, maybe not always conscious of this statement, still men have accepted it as a matter of course. And after all, and with the ability to their own disposal, christians have not really reflected upon what brings good, and what brings bad consequences. The consequences of sin have brought into this world an immeasurable bereavement of peace, and a crushing weight of mortal fear. These consequences have its soul killing effect even if it is practiced under grace, or apart from grace. Do not think that grace destroys the effect of sin. No! Because, the soul that sins, it must die. Not must because God alone decided upon it, but also because nature said: the day you eat of this fruit, ye shall surely die. God shall destroy the sinful soul from among the community, so that he will not be able to spread his corruptions among the people. But the effect of sin is so sure, that if God should have allowed man to go his own way right from the beginning, man would long ago have been destroyed by sin. The effect is just as sure as clay is the consequence when marshy ground is mixed with water. Peace cannot keep on existing in the soul that has sinned; not in the gospel and also not outside the gospel. The Israelites who have sinned have not escaped the consequence of their deeds. Think of Adam and Eve, David, ext. Although they were part of Gods people, they suffered because of their sin. To mention just a few scriptures in this connection: Gal. 6:7b - .... for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap - and Isa.3:10,11 - Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. The show of peace that christians have, because, on earth, God is doing good to them, is the power of deception that is preventing them to come to their senses. In the multitude of grief’s and miseries - which they experience in private - which sin brought upon them, there still is the experience of happiness and joy, in the church and in the world, that makes them feel good in their religion. They enjoy their possessions; they enjoy their distinction among people, and consequently they can try to smother the grief’s - which sin did bring upon them - by their excitement. Preaching also helps to still their conscience, which always comes up again, by deceiving words of, Grace, Grace! Take away their earthly pleasures, and how much religion will be left in them? Thats why I say: This is the power of the great deception. If no experience of joy remains for the soul, why will he keep holding onto his religion? It has no benefit for him anymore. The goal of his religion does not exist. His hope perished in darkness; his soul knows no excitement anymore, only the freezing grip of sin, which requires the reward from him. Despair overpowered him with a cry of distress from his spirit: My religion has become meaningless; peace has totally left my soul! Let me go, looking somewhere else to revive my soul from the blackness of death. Are these only words or an established principle from nature? I hope that you will understand that this is a reliable conclusion of a natural law, and not mere speculation of a darkened mind. The spoiled Israelites sought their contentment in earthly gain, and because of this they murmured in the wilderness when these things were withheld from them. Joshua and Caleb totally found it somewhere else. But suppose that the Lord should allow them to journey straightway to Canaan, and blessed them in all their carnal desires - as they made mention of it in the wilderness - would they not then have rejoiced in their religion which was according to their taste? Every time God blessed them and it went well with them, they relapsed into a false religion. If the Lord should have consented to all their requests in the wilderness, they would have been content with Moses, and would not want to return to Egypt. But this would not reveal to them their depraved hearts, and without heavy toil to occupy their thoughts somewhere else, it would only let their ill-fate increase. I repeat, the worldly prosperity of christians, has totally deceived them and darkened their concept of sin and its consequences so much, that they wholly tolerate and even justify it, in the church, among the community and in themselves. Their sin does not bother them; they ARE happy! They do not think about the consequences of their own deeds amongst each other and in the world; they do not reflect upon the commandment of God that every being must obey to gain universal good consequences. Their hearts acquiesced in the hope of their worldly permanence. But the scripture says: O that they were wise; that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! Chapter II. I. True redemption of the gospel. The redemption message runs right through the whole inspired word of God. The story of Israels deliverance from slavery and scriptures like Isa.61:1 - The Spirit of Adonai, Jehovah is upon me; ...... He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound - all points to the deliverance of sin. I think of scriptures like Heb.2:15, And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subjects to bondage - John. 8:32-36 - brings this idea so clear to the mind when Jesus said to the Jews that: knowledge of the truth and the Son delivers from bondage under sin. From the history of Israel it is then also clear, that they did not appreciate this redemption. Right from the start they were unwilling, and finally went with Moses much against their will. They were, so to speak, led out against their wishes. The deliverance from slavery brought forth no cry of joy from them; therefore they could not offer any real appreciation towards God afterwards. No, their appreciation was a slap in His face, and eventually it ended in the murder of His only Son. How often they murdered Moses in their hearts! They sigh and groan under slavery, yes! But because the deliverance from slavery took away their privileges, they did not desire or appreciate it. Although all these things, as examples and as warning - I Cor.10:1-11 - correspond exactly with the majority of christianitys religion today, yet I want to direct your thoughts to a certain aspect, which is a contrast between these two bodies. Israel went out forcibly into the wilderness under the heavy hand of God, following Moses, and had to bow under the will of God - stripped of all their privileges, against their wish. Christians refuse to leave their earthly privileges and to follow the real Christ. But by their own chosen men invited the gospel to their threshold, where they are so much at home in this world. Teachers, according to their own lusts. Egypt was not Israels heavy load, but surely the bereavement of fleshly appetites was. With most christians today, it is not the load of sin that brought about the decision to accept the gospel; but just as Israel, it was rather because of the promises that they join the church. As long as they can believe that the gospel is profitable, they make no serious matter with sin. Sometimes it makes me wonder if with them there exists any serious longing, ever to be truly redeemed from sin? They do not see sin as a threat of their lifes ideal. Because, contrary to this, the thing they seek after, is in line with the sinful initiative, that has its root from the beginning of creation. Sin is no problem to them; because their means to achieve their goal, is by nature sinful. If they really repent of their sin then, it will mean that they will have to die to their hearts first love. Otherwise, why are they so quick to defend sin in man, if it was not that they chase after their religious ends through the means of sin? He, who hates sin, as God does hate it, has only one overpowering desire in his bosom, to be delivered from it, and also to work that the whole creation might be freed from this yoke. For this reason the prayers of the redeemed are like a sweet savouring on the golden altar before God. They do not stop praying to the Lord, that unrighteousness would be exterminated. It is, them who share the grief with David, because men do not keep the law of God anymore - Ps. 119:136 - Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law. How many christians today, have this experience in prayer? Does that penetrating grief bow down your soul beneath a flood of tears, when you must behold the God-disturbing sins of christians? Does the breaking of the law of God affect you just as much, as the sighing heart of a mother over her sick baby? Here lies the great question: To what kind of deliverance did God send out the gospel among men? What was the principle message of the gospel? Was it the redemption from hell, and the gain of heavenly promises; or was the redemption of the body the primary end? As Jeremiah also mocks Israels idea of redemption in chapter 7:10 - And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my Name, and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations? While the context of this scripture clearly points out the redemption from abominations, it stands that men were always, deep in their spirit, conscious of this fact, that the redemption of the gospel must save man from the yoke of sin. In the New Testament it is an indisputable fact, and for this reason I will not try to establish its proof further. For the attentive reader a question will arise here spontaneously: Why then specifically the redemption from sin? And I believe, if every person could answer this question to himself, he will see the gospel in a totally different light. Because it makes the difference between the essence of the message of deliverance of the gospel, and the false idea that the soul has been pardoned by God, under the cloak of grace without them being absolutely saved from sin. Now the answer to the question:- There is no other power in the whole creation that can lay a yoke on the nature of man, other than the breaking of Gods law. I Joh.3:4 says: .... sin is lawlessness. That is, the breaking of the law of God. Obedience to the law, we have already seen, works peace and rest. But disobedience to God - sin - brings misery upon man. What other thing than sin has brought death into the creation? Is there any other power in creation, except sin, of which we can think, that has enslaved the soul so totally? It is this stranger in the righteous creation that imported death among men, and enslaved the souls to all its precepts; that brought sighing and groaning with it; that brought all life on earth under the curse, and made it look like a battlefield where no-one escaped; that dried away peace and joy under the scorching flame of all its lusts; that filled all houses and plains, in cities and towns, with weeping, because their loved ones are no more. Sin strewed the trek road with graves, that tells the tragic story of previous generations; the unavoidable path of all life on earth. Despair was never known in Gods creation, until sin made its appearance. Mass graves and graves stand like silent monuments through the ages, as corner stones of a sinful society on earth. Where peace reigned, the sword made its appearance; death took over the habitation of life; rotting destroyed the fruit, of the artful hands of the Almighty husbandman, and left it fit for the dunghill alone; breaking asunder and destructions lay in the footsteps of this murderer; wherever he tread upon this earth all beauty lies splintered in shivers. Love had to give way before the attempt of hate; the structures of a holy society lay downcast, like the walls of Jericho, before the passion of licentiousness. O Lord! What words can describe the damage done by sin to Thy creation? Will the soul, bound under this yoke, not cry out for deliverance? How can it be, Father, that people still today, do not heartily reach out to this deliverance? Can it be true, Holy Master, that there are people on earth whose hearts are still placing them under the description generation of vipers? For who else is it that does not wish for this redemption? A fire dies down when there is no burning material, so sin would not hold out, if it had not disciples in this world. He who still wants to defend sin under a pretense of grace, has not received the redemption of the gospel, and also does not seek it heartily. If sin then is the only power of imprisonment over the soul of man, the primary goal of the gospel must really be the redemption of this. If not so the gospel has no meaning anymore; and comes to the fact that Christ could not break the power of sin through the gospel. I ask you, o fellowman on earth, what is your gospel worth to you, if it cannot exalt your soul in victory over sin? What is your expectation then of your gospel, while you did not expect that it could here and now redeem you from this corruptive conscience, pollutive and tensive yoke? How does the Christ of your religious convictions look like? Was He not able to deliver you and all His other disciples from this monster of destruction? People, who do not understand this truth and also do not desire it, have no care for the holiness of God. They are not interested to call back others, through their own example and obedience to the law of God, to holiness and righteousness, without which no peace can exist. Friend, if these words describe your religion, you must surely know that you are deceived and on your way to hell. That is, if you still defend sin in your own life of which you are so conscious. The words of John, the apostle, applies to you here, I Joh.3:6 - Whosoever sins has not seen Him; neither know Him. And further, if the experience that Paul describes in Rom.7:15-23 - is still your own experience, you have not yet met the Redeemer of verse 24, as John, in the above passage describes. The primary goal of the gospel is total deliverance from the power of sin. Did you seek this in your repentance; or was your repentance only a reaching out to the promises, just as Israel? Then I say again: Review your religion! I hope that the attentive reader should observe, that true victory over sin, is achieved by a true departure from worldly privileges for the sake of deliverance from the yoke, to serve God in holiness. In this repentance we find the true rebirth of the Spirit and this state of the heart moves the hand of God to raise the soul, in a wise capacity, to be a subject in His kingdom, where he will not again do damage to the peace of His creation. Because, if this be not the hearts determining state, it would be in no way wise of God, through the rebirth, to allow such a soul to have a part in His eternal promises. This would mean that God would again allow corruption in His creation. And this in an eternal capacity. The cherubim’s guarded the entrance to the tree of life, so that man, did God say: eat thereof and live eternally. That is, that the corruption of sin should reign forever through man; because then death would be no more; no end to mans exercise of sin. Chapter III. Grace, no acquittal for sin. Grace has not been introduced in the creation as a covering for sin. Some have the idea that grace covers them under the blood together with their sin, and so their present sins are supposedly covered from the eyes of God. They are still sinners at heart, but yet are excused under this grace. While sin is yet the punishable restraint of love to God and the neighbour, the soul is no more guilty, or is at least not held guilty anymore; because this strange grace has lifted him up as righteous. He still sins on and off; and expects, at least, to sin again and to sin as long as he will be flesh on earth, and believes that the righteous Judge reconciled his enmity against His throne. The christians who believe this gospel did not sensibly reflect upon the nature and character of sin in the creation; otherwise they would not regard it so lightly. It is evident that they do not understand that sin is the poison of an adder, in themselves and among society! For them it does not imply death and destruction, because then they would have nothing to do with it, and also work together for the ending thereof in themselves and in the world. Yet there must be a rule that restricts the application of grace to a profitable act in the universe. No attribute of love can be exercised without a regulating rule. Can, by the application of law amongst people, grace be declared so wide that it will continually excuse the trespasser? Suppose the grace of a judge over criminals is so great, that he continually acquits them, every time that they feint remorse, without making an end through penalty to their breaking of the law, knowing that they will sin again and by it destroy the peace of the people? It is also clear that the definition of grace, from the theory of this group excuses the sinner only, without keeping in view the peace and happiness of the community. This describes the heart of the king as totally careless towards the sovereignty of his own throne; as without love towards the community; as one who makes a covenant with rebels, while they fight his throne; as unorderly in his sentence without any clear, established rule of action for the people; as a person with an unrestricted tolerance towards sin. Men dare not ascribe such attributes to their kings and judges; yet christians do not hesitate to assert this of God by their teachings of grace. And if the kings or judges of the world should reveal such tolerance towards criminals, then the people will quickly let their voice be heard against such lawlessness. Grace truly had the redemption of the soul as end in view, but not with carelessness towards universal right. In His wisdom God has truly meant to save the soul of man, but not without conditions; and the conditions also lay the borders of His grace. They are, I. That the soul heartily repents of his sin and leaves it - not to be repeated - Prov.28:13 - he that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. II. That the soul heartily gives himself over to righteousness, to be enabled by grace to fulfill all righteousness through obedience unto communal peace - Mat.3:15 - .., for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness - Mat. 5:6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,... God cannot apply grace if the soul keeps on sinning, and by so doing destroys the peace of the people. No! Because He sits as Judge to see to it that the peace of His creation will be steadfast. The trustworthy conclusion is: that grace is only and totally to the souls disposal, where heartily obedience to righteous is the offer of the person. While you still defend or justify sin in your own life and in your religion, you must certainly know that grace has not put his hand out to you yet, because your heart still cleaves to your earthly treasures - he that does not leave all his possessions, and follows me, cannot be My disciple. Israel carried their possessions with them into the desert - Amos 5:25,26; Acts 7:42,43 - and all who did that died and did not receive the promises. But oh! Did not the prophet Jeremiah say: Deceitful is the heart above all things,.... These things stand clearly written in the word of God; but they twisted it to fit their own desires! Conclusion. Christians who hold onto their earthly treasures, and did not leave it for the sake of the gospel, their religion is in vain. Their motives are directly in opposition with all the rules of righteousness; because life according to the Spirit accepts no help from this world. The heart that still cleaves to his possessions at all, in no way understands the fullness of life from Christ. In a certain measure material things give security to them; their hope for the future is built upon it. With much difficulty they get rid of it, because they fear tomorrow. Their unbelief in Christ, as the only fountain, is clearly revealed in their earthly interests. Their power they use up on earthly prosperity more than in the expansion of the gospel. Their hearts compel them to twist the words of Christ; to make them fit to their earthly expectations. Your alms and your actions in doing good do not deceive God. All doing good will not benefit man as long as the souls virgin powers belong to himself. The message of the gospel is clear, and is yea and amen in Christ Jesus: everyone that wants to be My disciple must deny himself. These and many other words of Christ stand guard by the gate of heaven, and will allow in only the heart that carried the true message of life through his dying to the flesh on earth. And inside the few will rejoice, who were wise enough, to obey the words of God just as they are. Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings; they that left their sin behind. Amen! Fanie Hennig
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:58:21 +0000
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