The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-07-02

was: And you'll
who were one time
alienated and enc
HHSI0R RU9SELDI mics in your mind
by wicked works.
yet now hath He reconciled in the body
Of His flesh through death, to present
you holy and unblameable and unre
proyable in His sight. If ye continue in
the faith" etc.-C0lossians |, 21-23.
Our text is a wonderfully condensed
statement Of the grace and power OF
the Lord operating in His Church-His
faithful foOtstep followers. The more
we ponder our text and it's context the
more we must admire the lengths
breadths, depths and heights of the
Divine Power enlisted on our behalf
and admire also the faithfulness and
ability Of the Apostle as the Divine
mouthpiece. 1t is really too wonderful
for the natural man to believe that the
grace Of God could ever present before
the Divine presence and glory, perfect
ed, holy, faukless, irreproyable, such
imperfect, unworthy creatures as we
by nature are! Well did the poet ex
press cur sentiments In the words: "pm
4 miracle Of grace"
The Apostle Is not speaking Of a
Power Divine working In the heart of
4 perfect man, fitting him for glory.
honor and immortality on the Heaven
ly plane. He declares, on the contrary,
that His words apply to those who
were at one time alienated from God
opposed to Him In their minds as re-
suit Of wicked works. Such even Di
vine power is able to transform. The
key to this transformation lies in the
human will If it be fully surrendered
to the great Redeemer He undertakes
to bring about the grand results de
clared In our text Force indeed could
be used. and the Scriptures assure us
that force to some extent will be used
during the period of Messiah's reign,
but now. in selecting those who will
be Jesus companions in glory, none
are dealt with except such as give to
the Lord their hearts, their wills, de-
string Him ito work In them to will
and to do Of His good pleasure"
Reconciliation the First Step.
The great Apostle did not neglect to
here reiterate the fact that before any
thing could be done by way of recon.
CLING sinners to God sacrificial work
was necessary. The great Creators
sentence of death upon the race could
neither be ignored by Himself nor by
any other. No reconciliation to God
could possibly be accomplished which
would bring the sinner back into full
fellowship and the enjoyment Of Di-
vine favor and everlasting life except
as the penalty for original sin should
frst be met. So the Apostle reminds
us that the One who is able to pre-
sent US holy and blameless and unre
proYable Is He who has already made
reconciliation for us I'm the body OF
His flesh through death"
Let US pause here long enough to i'm
press upon our minds this great Bib.
Heal fact, that 1t was the death of
Jesus which secures for Father Adam
(and incidentally for all of his race con
demned In HIM a release from the
death sentence which came upon him
as q violator Of the Divine Law. And
let us not forget that there is an in
finite difference between a death sen
tence which God did infiict and an eter
nal torment sentence which the creeds
Of the Dark Ages misled us into be-
ieving was the Divine penalty pro
nounced against the sinner.
1t was because the sentence, Dying,
thou shalt die" was pronounced
against Father Adam that the death
of Jesus was Ransom price sufficient
to secure the sinners release-and the
release from death by a resurrection Of
all Of Adams posterity who shared
the results Of his sentence. Thus we
see the force of the Scriptural declara-
don that 'as by man came death, by
a Man also came the resurrection from
the dead; for as all In Adam die even
so all in Christ shall be made alive
every man in his own order."-I Co
rinthians ", 21-23.
But the Fathers grace operating in
Christ Jesus designs more than merely
the adjustment of the death sentence.
To merely redeem US and merely bring
us back into the condition in which
death overlook US Is not the Divine
Program. 1t is further reaching; it
aims at our complete uplift out Of sin.
as well as out Of death, its penalty
out Of weakness and out Of imperfec-
ton of every kind. 1t aims to make
rs holy, righteous; and the Apostle
leaves no room for any misunderstood
ing respecting the degree Of righteous
ness. The result Is not to be merely
with an imperfection Of accomplish
nent, but SO thorough work that
when 1t is finished we will be faultless
and unreprovable. not only in the sight
Of our Redeemer, but also in the sight
Of our Heavenly Father. All, NO won
der If we are astonished at the won
derful power and grace Of God which
this declaration revealsI
We Are Gods Workmanship.
The same inspired pen explains else
where to us: eye are Gods husban-
dry" We are Gods workmanship. Il
Corinthians Iii, 81 Let rs not lose
sight Of the thought that ut is God
that worketh in us. both to will and
to do Of His good pleasure" philip
plans Ii, 49, While the Lord Jesus
Christ. as our Elder Brother and the
Captain Of our Salvation and the active
Agent In our redemption through His
death, Is associated with the Father in
all Of this work OF our perfecttng, new
ertheless we are not to lose sight Of
the fact that all things are Of the Fa-
Their, as all things are ~ the Son. The
two are in perfect accord, but the
Scriptures assure US that the Plan it.
self was the Fathers and that he gra-
ciously invited the Son to the partici-
patton which he enjoys
When we think of the Divine crea-
tive Power our minds go out to the
wheeling orbs which encircle our earth
to the millions Of suns and hundreds
Of millions of planets which Ill the
space about us and which we call the
Universe: Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth
knowledge; there is no speech nor Ian
guage where their voice is not heard
declaring the omnipotence and omnis
cience of our great God, their Creator.
We say that these are works worthy
Of Creator. and we are surprised that
the Great Eternal should In any sense
Of the word interest Himself and His
great Power in a Transforming work
In connection with our hearts and lives
Nevertheless, the more we consider II
the more we are convinced that the
- q ernaakol. DIG. L