Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1909-12-18
Sermon by
CHARLES 7.
RUSSELL.
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

Sunday. December 12.-Pastor Rus
sell of Brooklyn Tabernacle preached
today from the following text to
packed house,
Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. for it is God which
worketb in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure" philippians ii.
13,.
The proper relationship between faith
and works aud between Gods work
and ours are matters apparently not
clearly understood by the majority Of
Christian people and. of course. not at
all comprebended 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-
uuired of him individually in the mat
ter of good works. A great stake. Il
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
IenniaI Kingdom SOON to be inaugural
ed for the blessing OF the whole world.
Mark well that we purposely avoid
the error which so long had beclouded
our spiritual vision. Note that we do
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 aud 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 wi!fulIy 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 Jesus. the Sent OF God.
has provided reconciliation with the
Father through his blood-his sacrl-
fee. More than this they have by
faith accepted this proffered grace of
God. and through full consecration
of 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-hers with Jesus Christ
their Lord. their Head, their Redeem
err in the glorious Millennial Kingdom
which the Father has foretOId shall
be his for the blessing of all the fam
lilies of the earth. Hut all these bless
ings they have received through fdHh
aud not actually. They must wait for
the actuaities until they and ali of
their brethren Of the same class, called
of God i'll the one hope of their cali
ing" shall have been tried. tested. per
fected. i'm character. in heart, Copies
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 iu us. This
puts Gods work first and ours subse-
quently. Let us therefore consider the
matter in this order How. iD what
seuse. does God work in his people
not in the world: not in the repentant
sinner; not in the merely justified: but
in those who have passed those stages
of approach 10 God and. by the be
getting of his holy Spirit, have en-
tered his family as children. as soIIS:
Behold what manner of love the fa-
ther hath bestowed upon us. that we
should be called the sons of God q
John iii. u. "Aud If children. then
heirs; heirs Of God. and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ our Lord (3onams
viii, III How does God work in surh
his sons?
We reply that he works in them
through bis spirt-the spirit of he
Truth; the spirit of holiness; the spirit
of cousecratiol; the spirit of Sonship.
That is to say. a certain holy power
or influence operates in and about the
spirit-begotteD children of God in har-
nony with this relationship. 1t has to
do with all of their experiences ip
life home. family, business. joys. suf-
ferings. pleasures. sorrows.
But Gods special way of dealing
with bis spirit-begouen children is
through their intelIects- communicate
ing With them through the holy Scrip
tures AS the Apostle says. "iod who
spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son. Gle
brews |. II. The twelve apostles whom
the Father specially gave to him. he
particularly accepted as bis representa-
tives. his moutb-pieces. the channels
through whom wonld come 10 the
family of God the instructions Deces-
sary for their development I'D holiness
the instructions necessary for their
attainment of the hope of their calling
glory. honor and Immortality in joint
leirship with Jesus their Redeemer as
the spiritual Seed of Abraham for the
blessing Of the world 0'alatians iii. 29'
Our Lord Jesus refers TO this work
of God in his people through his Word.
u. 4.