The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-06-19

E 10, 1913
TT BROKIlN ~
INlABERNACLE) |
| A.cA~ sIsLE. STUDY, ON -5~
THE VICTORIES OF FAITH.
Acts 1916; Hebrews 11:2o-22-
June 20.
"This Is the ricforv that OuereonssfA the
W0rld. srsH our fdith"-I John s.I
"T f live in a day when faith Is
az greatly discounted. People
MA seem disposed 10 say, Il
care not what a man be-
lieYeS IL only his life be honorable. :"
BY this generally is meant that faith
is OF no consequence Those who so
hold usually put honor Of men as the
highest goal. Their sentiments. trans
lated into plain English, would be,
with all your getting. get money and
prosperity; for without these you will
never prosper in the present life"
The Bible standpoint, however, is
| the very reverse OF this Gods Word
| puts faith first. and builds character
upon that faith. God declares that no
human being can do perfect works.
| Hence He has not
standard. @aas s'Ts; 9ai,n n: !: ArrnLN
Gods standard, and wlIE<oyTl, l,,.55. ~
! He assures us that N WORhS
| whoever has the IN is DEAD
| proper faith must
necessarily have WORKS
works TO CORE IN ~NONE
spond. A
In line with this NOT n
principle we note ACCEPLABLEIN
that Gods favor 9
ties OF the Bible have all been men Of
faith. Their faith did not make them
perfect, nor were their works always
acceptable in Gods sight. But He pun
ished them for evil works, and reward
ed them for faith. Thus we find In the
Bible record that some of Gods favor
ties committed grievous sins and made
serious mistakes. Nevertheless. they
maintained Gods favor. by reason OF
their faith. OF all religious books ever
written the Bible is perhaps the most
candid. 1t tells OF the mistakes aud
the sins Of the very men which II holds
up rs examples. Yet the Bible incul-
Gates the highest possible standards OF
righteousness. In word, deed and
thought
The Faith Before Christ Came.
The first proclamation OF Gods pur-
poses respecting humanity was made
to Abraham. After Abraham had man
ifested his faith, God declared that
He would greatly bless him and his
posteItty so that through him would
eventually come children who would
accomplish the great work OF blessing
mankind and who would rescue all
from the power of sin and death "In
thee and in thy Seed shall all the fam
lilies Of the earth be blessed"
For years God tested Abraham. Yet
his faith staggered not" After Isaac
had been born and as yet had no child.
God directed that this son Of promise
be sacrificed. What a grand develop.
ment Of faith Abraham had acquired
when he was ready to obey, accounting
that God was able to raise Isaac from
the dead! o the blessing Of such faith!
1t was the same with Isaac and ia.
cob. That promise Influenced the whole
course Of their lives Although they
understood practically nothing of how
God would accomplish so great a bless
ing. yet their faith laid hold upon the
fact 1t made them more like God. II
shaped every interest of life.
BY aud by, Israel was called the peo.
pie Of God The Covenant of Sinai
pledged them to be a holy nation. God |
c0yenanted with them that If they
would keep His Law blamelessy, He
would fulfil In them the Promise made
to Abraham. He knew that imperfect
men could not keep His perfect Law;
but He let them try, thereby learning
the lesson. Through that lesson He
would give instruction TO the angels
His righteousness, and also
to Spiritual Israel, whom later He
would develop and through whom the
blessing actually would come.
During the Jewish Age, God blessed
those lsraelites who shared Abraham's
faith. st. Paul could enumerate a con
siderable number who pleased God be-
cause Of their faith. Those Ancient
Worthless, although they will not be the
Seed OF Abraham In the highest sense
IN the spirit plane, will be the seed Of
blessing on the earthly plane-the chan.
lel through which blessings will ulti.
nately come to all nations.
Faith Since Christ Came.
Christs coming did not change the
Divine Purpose. and therefore did not
'hange the faith of Gods people. Je.
'us and the Apostles believed and
aught the very Gospel which st. Paul
says. God preach
ed to Abraham
Galatians 3:S) i
.LM. IN The Message still /
7AlTH sOS'oTrD UWOpKs was that all the
SEEING fami lie s of the
WITH = r9R earth would be
rye OF uNDFpsraNDrnc: blessed through
AND obPn,rnrp Abraham's Seed.
----r-pusS But there was an
I 0 m additional feature