The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-12-24
PEOPLES PULPIT.
God IS Work
and Ours.

~-e-s-s-e-e-e-s-e-s--s-e-e-e-s
God may be perfect. thoroughly fur
nished unto all good works" I'll Tim
othy iii, IL. ~.
"Ye Are Gods Workmanship."
We have seen that God does q work
In his consecrated people. using his
providences In connection with the ex-
periences Of life. and that he specially
uses his Word for their instruction in
righteousness. We are to remember
incidentally that our Lord Jesus who
redeemed us and reconclled us by his
blood Is still our Advocate with the
Father and our Instructor as the Fa-
theirs representative: that through him
we may be ali taught of God-in the
School of Christ Next we should note
the Divine method In this work of
grace being carried on in our hearts
from the time we fully submitted
them n full conservation, in faith.
Our text declares that Gods work in
us is divided into two parts-tO Uill
and to do. Let us examine first
How God Works In Us to Will.
The will is the real person or ego.
The body Is merely responsible as the
agent or servant of the will. With
the world the will and the body are
usually at one-sympathetically coop
erative. But in those begotten of God S
Spirit as his children matters are diff
ferent. Their wills by conservation
are developed along lines quite antag-
onistic to the natural preferences Of
their flesh. so that the Apostle wrote,
with the mind | myself serve Tor
desire to serve, the Law of God, but
with the flesh / serve Tor desire to
server the law of sin" (Romans vii,
90. Hence every spirit-begotten per-
son has a warfare between his new
mind, with its holy aspirations and de-
sires and its opponent flesh with its
animal propensities, some good and
some bad. Hence the Apostle eXhorts
all these New Creatures to war a
good warfare" against their own flesh
and to bring it into subsection to the
New Mind and to the Divine Law.
He urges that we Bring every thought
into captivity to the obedience of
Christ" Oh Corinthians X, 81. This, of
course, would mean absolute perfec-
ton, so far as the New Creature would
be concerned and a complete deafness
so far as the flesh Is concerned. With
every thought captivated to the Lord
the individual would never in any
sense commit sin other than the sin
Of ignorance or imperfection.
God works in the minds of his peo-
pie not along the lines of enslaUement
and those who are subject to his de-
lusions-by hypnotism. etc. Gods OPP
Grafton is the very reverse of this. He
eniightens the mind to do his work He
displays to our minds gradually light
and Truth, purity and goodness in their
true colors, in contrast with sim ig-
norance and defilement. And in the
same words he sets before us the great
prize of glory. honor and Immortality
and joint-heirship with our Redeemer
in his Kingdom. The power of these
hopes working in consecrated mind is
wonderful. 1t can make the naturally
weak strong, the naturally timid bold
as a lion.
This operation upon the mind is a
gradual one from the time of our be-
getting Of the holy Spirit until our
change-not all at once. but gradually,
little by little. the Lord displays to us
one feature after another of his Won
,erfu Plan of salvation. Step by step
lie shows to the appreciative and obedi-
ent heart the riches of his grace his
loving kindness, his tender mercy, the
houndlessness of his love and the ulti
mate outworking Of his Divine powers
for the blessing of all of his creatures
who will accept his favors on his own
terms. All the while he leaves us free
agents to will in harmony with his
proposition or to reject It. He will
cOerce no one. Our Lord Jesus eX-
pressed the Fathers sentiment in this
matter, saying, The Father seeketh
such to worship him as worship him in
spirit and in truth" Uohn iv, 23D.
How God Works In Us to Do.
Endeavor to do right naturally fol-
lows right willing. But this does not
signify that God completes a work
upon our wills first and then begins q
fresh work upon us, stimulating us to
do right to the best of our ability. On
the contrary, as through his providence
and Word God exercised an influence
upon our wills through the knowledge
Of his Truth. little by little each new
point of Truth was expected to be ac-
knowledged by efforts on our part to
do Gods will to the extent that the
new will was able to control the i'm
perfect body. We may safely con-
clude that each step in right-toHlin0 |
must be followed by step in right |
doing before another item of grace and
Truth would be granted as a basis for
additional willing and then additional
doing. Thus, as we walk by first put
ting one foot forward and then the |
other repeatedly, so the New Creature |
walks or progresses by first willing |
and next doing the Lords good pleas |
ure to the extent of his ability.
AS surely as the rightwilling is the |
result Of Divine operation In the re-
vealing of Truth. so also is the right |
doing. OF the Divine influence in ou |