Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1909-12-15
Sermon by
CHARLES 7.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

|
Sunday. December 12.-Pastor Rus
sell of Brooklyn Tabernacle preached
today from the following text to a
packed house,
Work out your own salvation With
fear and trembling. for it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure" philippians ii.
49,.
The proper relationship between faith
and works and between Gods work
and ours are matters apparently not
clearly understood by the majority of
Christian people and. Of course, not at
all comprehended by the worldly. 1t
is not only worth while. but very i'm
portant. that each Christian entering
/ into covenant relationship with God
should understand distinctly his own
responsibilities. the assistance which
God is willing to grant him through
the merit of Christ, and what is re-
quired Of him individually in the mat
ter of good works. A great stake,
great prize is involved. Carelessness
or ignorance might jeopardiZe this
prize-might lose us a place amongst
the very elect who shall be joint
heirs with their Redeemer in his Mil
lennial Kingdom soon to be inaugural
ed for the blessing of the whole world
Mark we'll that we purposely avoid
the error which so long had beclouded
| irit icio no n
not say that failure to be amongst
1.-The elect" would signify to be with
damned millions in eternal torture. No
such unreasonable proposition is rep
resented in Gods Word. The question
of this Gospel Age is to gain or not
to gain eternal life and glory and hon.
or as members of the Body of Christ.
In word. not pleasure or misery, but
life or death. is the alternative.
Who are addressed by the Apostle in
the words Of our text? He is not ad-
dressing the wilfully or ignorantly
Wicked-the world. He is addressing
those who had been such. but who re-
pented, reformed, turned to God and
saw a great light. They have seen
themselves to be sinners under just
condemnation of the Creator, and have
seen also that Jesls. the Sent Of God.
has provided reconciliation with the
Father through his blood-his sacri-
fee. More than this they have by
, faith accepted this proffered grace of
: God. and through full conservation
IF their all. made acceptable through
their Advocate, they have been re-
: ceived of the Father as his spirit-be-
: gotten children. They have been ad-
vised that as children they are heirs
of God, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ
t their Lord. their Head, their Redeem
t er, in the glorious Millennial Kingdom
: which the Father has foretold shall
4 be his for the blessing of all the fam
lilies of the earth. But all these bless
ings they have received through faitl
and not actually. They must wait fol
the actualities until they and all Of
their brethren Of the same class, 'called
Of God in the one hope Of their call
ing" shall have been tried. tested, per
fected, in character, in heart, ''Copie'
of Gods dear Son."
How God Works In Us.
= Our text declares that we should
work out our own salvation, because
it is God that worketh in us. This
puts Gods work first and ours subse
quently. Let us therefore consider thu
matter in this order. How. in wha
sense, does God work in his people
not in the world; not in the repentan
sinner; not in the merely justified; bu
r in those who have passed those stage
of approach to God and, by the be
getting of his holy Spirit, have en-
tered his family as children, as sons
Behold what manner of love the Fa
Their hath bestowed upon us. that W,
should be called the sons Of God" {
John iii. u. And if children, thel
heirs; heirs of God. and joint-heir
with Jesus Christ our Lord" (Roman
;. viii, ~. How does God work in sucl
: as have thus become his children
his sons?
We reply that be works in then
r through his spirit-the spirit of th
y Truth; the spirit of holiness; the spiri
II Of conservation; the spirit of sonship
II That is to say, certain holy powe
VI AuAuCuCO OpCtdlSS LII anu dUOuL III
;: spirit-begotten children of God in bar
~ mony with this relationship, 1t has t
do with all of their experiences il
life-home, family, business, joys. sui
ferings, pleasures, sorrows.
But Gods special way Of dealin,
s with his spirit-begotten children i
: through their ntellects-communica
ing with them through the holy Scrip
tures.~ AS the Apostle says. God VIII
spake in time past unto the father
d by the prophets hath in these las
days spoken unto us by his Son. Gle
brews /. II. The twelve apostles whom
the Father specially gave to him, b.
particularly accepted as his representa-
lr tives, his mouth-pieces. the channel
through whom would come to tn
family of God the instructions neces
sary for their development in holmes
the instructions necessary for thei
IF tho homo Of thoir oql1in