======================================================================== SERMONS OF PHILIP MAURO by Philip Mauro ======================================================================== Mauro's theological discourse on Christian discipleship, contrasting self-centered living with Christ-centered living and addressing the fundamental choice believers face about dedicating their lives fully to Christ. Chapters: 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Art-1-Bringing Back the King 2. Art-2-The Christian's Choice: Self-Life or Christ-Life. Which? 3. Art-3-Speaking in Tongues 4. Art-4-The Christian's Relationship To The Mosaic Law 5. Art-5-The Law of Moses an Unspeakable Blessing to Israel 6. Art-6-Never Man Spake Like This Man 7. Art-7-The Sign of the Prophet Jonah ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: ART-1-BRINGING BACK THE KING ======================================================================== Bringing Back the King By Philip Mauro There is urgent need that the attention of the LORD’S people be directed to the laws of the Kingdom. The subject of "the law of CHRIST," "the doctrine of CHRIST," "the doctrine of GOD our Saviour," "the law of the Spirit of life in CHRIST JESUS," "the apostles doctrine" (which are some of the various names given in Scripture to the laws of GOD’S present Kingdom), is generally overlooked in the teaching put forth at the present day to the children of GOD; and this neglect is the cause of many of the evils which now afflict them. An important part of the work which our LORD undertook under the New Covenant was to write His laws in the hearts of His people (Heb 10:16). How important this is, will be evident to us when we remember that the basis of every government is its laws, and that upon the observance of those laws the welfare of its citizens depends. Moreover, the honour and glory of the Throne are involved in the observance of the laws given by the Sovereign Ruler. The LORD has called attention to this truth in the most impressive way in the closing words of His great utterance familiarly known as " The Sermon on the Mount." From what He there says it is certain that no system of teaching, or other spiritual structure, can possibly survive the approaching time of the shaking of all things, unless it be built upon that Rock-foundation, which consists of CHRIST’S own sayings in The Sermon on the Mount (Mat 7:24-25), which is the solid basis of the Kingdom we have received, and which cannot be shaken (Heb 12:22-27). But the builders of the elaborate postponement theory began their work by setting aside the laws of CHRIST’S heavenly Kingdom on the ground that those laws are "Jewish," and not for us. Hence it is easy to predict the fate of what they have builded. In fact it is already toppling over. It is not enough, however, for us to recognize the fact that the LORD’S commandments apply to His saints of this dispensation. For obviously we must also store those commandments in our hearts, so that the Word of CHRIST may dwell in us richly, in all wisdom (Col 3:16), and thus from the very centre of our being it may find expression in all that we do and say. Let us then take note of what the LORD Himself says about His own commandments: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven" (Mat 5:19). This is what He has put at the beginning of His sayings. And at the end we find these solemn words: "Therefore whosoever [Literally, "everyone therefore whosever" ­ words which admit of no setting aside or postponing of these commandments of the Lord.] heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. "And everyone that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Mat 7:24-27). We should take due notice of the significant fact that the SPIRIT OF GOD brought these sayings of the LORD JESUS to the remembrance of His disciples, and inspired them to record the same in the Scriptures, some years after the LORD had ascended into heaven. This was in fulfilment of what the LORD had promised them in His last conversation with them before His betrayal and death; and it was for a purpose of vital importance to them. He had pointed out that the only force constraining them to obey His commandments was to be love for Himself, saying: "If ye love Me keep My commandments.""He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.""If a man love Me he will keep My words." "He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings" (John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23-24). And then, to let them know how He would make it possible for them to have His "words" and "commandments" and "sayings" in order that they might show their love for Him by willing obedience, He added this promise: "But the Comforter, which is the H0LY GHOST, Whom the FATHER will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance WHATSOEVER I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU" (verse 26). In the light of these Scriptures it is easy to detect the harmful and destructive character of the latter-day doctrine which boldly says that "the Sermon on the Mount is law and not grace," and that its commandments are for another people and another dispensation. Most assuredly if those sayings and commandments of the LORD were for another people, and for another Kingdom than that of GOD’S "dear SON" (CoI. 1:13), it is impossible that the inspired record should not have contained a clear statement to that effect. But there is no hint of such a thing. On the contrary, it is evident that the last survivor of the apostles had never heard that the Kingdom had been "postponed" or was "in abeyance." We have quoted above from his Gospel; and in his Epistle also we have the words following, wherein the use of the pronoun "we" forbids utterly the idea of the postponement of the Kingdom: "And hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. " But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him " ( 1Jn 2:3-5). The same apostle says further: "For this is the love of G0D, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous " ( 1Jn 5:3). It is of the highest importance to note that the call to obey the commandments of the LORD JESUS CHRIST is included in His call to the weary and heavy laden of this world: "Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest."Take My yoke upon you . . . for My yoke is easy" (Mat 11:28-30). The sin-burdened one receives, on coming to CHRIST the forgiveness of his sins, and he is also born again, being thus brought by the new birth into the Kingdom of God. But the Kingdom is a Kingdom of grace, a dominion where grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life (Rom 5:20-21). For the yoke is not forced upon the pardoned sinner. He must take it upon himself voluntarily, and his obedience must be "from the heart" (Rom 6:17) "the obedience of faith" (Rom 16:26). This is practical truth of the highest value, and truth whereof the people of GOD stand greatly in need at the present time. Hence our fervent desire and prayer that those who are gifted to minister the Word of GOD to His people may be awakened and duly exercised as to their responsibility in this matter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: ART-2-THE CHRISTIAN'S CHOICE: SELF-LIFE OR CHRIST-LIFE. WHICH? ======================================================================== The Christian’s Choice: Self-Life or Christ-Life. Which? By Philip Mauro For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all,that those who live should live no longer for themselves,but for Him who died for them and rose again.2Co 5:14-15 NKJV. We follow the R. V. in adopting the reading "therefore all died" instead of "are dead," for believers are not dead. Although they died with Christ having been in the contemplation of God, "crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Rom 6:6), they have also been quickened together with Christ (Eph 2:5), having thus passed from death unto life. (John 5:24). The above-quoted passage, therefore, is addressed to believers, to those who have been quickened together with Christ, who have received the free gift of God, which is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. God can bestow this gift freely upon them, because His Son has received in their stead the wages of sin which were due to them. Hence the love of Christ manifested in His dying for them, constrains them, and they judge that One died for all, therefore all died. Facts of God "Therefore all died." We have in these words a statement of fact of immense importance. It is a statement which is addressed entirely to faith; for faith consists in believing what God says upon the basis of His Word alone. The facts of God, which faith receives upon His Word, are incapable of verification or corroboration. For "faith is the evidence (or conviction) of things not seen " (Heb 11:1), that is to say, a conviction concerning things which lie in a sphere beyond the reach of mans natural faculties, and concerning which man may speculate as much as he pleases but can know absolutely nothing except upon the Word or statement of God. Those who believe what God says about matters beyond their reach have faith . The foregoing statement ("therefore all died") sets forth the identification of the believer with Christ in His death. It is a fundamental fact. It lies at the basis of personal salvation, and those who grasp the mighty truth embodied in it obtain settled peace of conscience, freedom in life and service, and other consequences of capital importance. "One died for all, therefore all died." Human logic may be unequal to tracing the connection between the premise and the conclusion; but the logic of this statement is divine. One died for all; and the merit of the life He surrendered was so great in God’s sight that His death is accepted as fully discharging the obligation to broken law which rested upon the "all" for whom He died. It was a life of transcendent value freely offered (for He owed no debt to God’s righteous law) for those who believe on Him. "Therefore all died." God can in pure grace, but with perfect righteousness, credit their account with the benefits of that death, and can righteously judge the account to be "settled" -- paid in full. If, therefore, God Who judges righteously, declares Himself fully satisfied with this settlement of the sinners account, shall the latter question it, or doubt the sufficiency of the payment? If he believes the declaration of God’s Word on this fundamental point he will set to his seal that God is true, and will joyfully accept the result even though he may not be able to comprehend how it was arrived at. The identification of the believing sinner with his Lord in the latter’s death is a truth of such importance that God has several times given us His testimony to it in His Word. Thus we read in Rom 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him." And again in Rom 7:4 we read, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead, to the law through the body of Christ." And again in Gal 2:20 we read "I have been crucified with Christ." And again in Col 3:3 we read "for ye died." Again we read in Gal 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us." And once more in 1Pe 2:24 we read that "we having died unto sins should live unto righteousness." Such is the explicit testimony of God’s Word on this subject. And now we, hearing this testimony, considering the whole matter, realizing that we have broken the law, acknowledging, as we must, that "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good" (Rom 7:12), and knowing that we are absolutely powerless to settle the claim which that holy law has against us, -- considering, I say, the whole matter, we reach a final judgment: "We thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died." This is a conclusion which brings unspeakable relief to those who know the sentence of the law "the soul that sinneth, it shall die,"[Eze 18:20] and "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." [Heb 2:15]. To know, upon the assurance of God’s own Word, "Who cannot lie," [Tit 1:2] that one’s death is, not a future event, but a past event, must bring unspeakable relief. But this is only a part of the great truth disclosed in the above passage of Scripture. These tell us of the believer’s identification with Christ not only in His death, but also in His resurrection. They Who Live No sooner does our text declare the fact that "all died" than it speaks of them that live. To those who have received new and eternal life, at such great cost to Him, the passage brings a message which it is of the utmost importance for them to hear. These now have a life to live, and the question is, how shall they live it? Unto whom? Obviously, such a message could apply only to living ones, to those "who live." No one would think of giving directions how a dead man ought to live. God’s Word does not contain any directions to guide the conduct of the unregenerate. These are all "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1). They must first receive, by faith, the gift of God which is "eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" [Rom 6:23] before any "rules for right living" or "guides to a holy life" could have any possible application to them. And yet, notwithstanding the difference between life and death so clearly set forth before our eyes in this earthly scene where death reigns, and also in the Word of God, many blind leaders of the blind are telling poor unquickened souls that they ought to "lead good Christian lives," or are exhorting them to "make a fresh start in life," or to "lead better lives." How plain it ought to be that one must first get the life before he can live it! But "they who live" were once "dead in sins." Now, however, they have been "quickened [made alive] together with Christ," and one consequence is that they now have a power of choice. They can choose what they will do with the life they have received. God does not coerce the human will, either in the matter of receiving life or of disposing of it after it has been received. Of those who reject the gift of life, (even after searching the Scriptures which testify of Him, thinking that therein they have eternal life) our Lord said, "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have (i.e. receive) life." (John 5:39-40). And now, upon those who have received life from Him no compulsion is exercised. Only "the love of Christ constraineth them"; and they can feel the constraint of His love only in realizing the great fact that He "died for all." Such love as that should have a constraining force far greater than the force of any law; and surely we will come under the influence of that constraining force in proportion as we "know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."[Eph 3:19]. Here then is the choice presented to those who live. Shall they live "unto themselves," or "unto Him?" The choice is very plain, and very simple, and what it involves is not at all difficult to understand. There are just two centers of life; and around one or the other of these centers the life will revolve. Those centers are self and Christ. The new man, the living man, whose life has been purchased by the blood of Christ has the power to chose between these two centers. To live unto self means to plan, arrange, and order ones doings to please ones self; to gratify ones own wishes; to seek the interests, advantages, comfort and convenience of self; to have as the controlling reason (which so many freely avow) for what they do, "because I wish to do so." To live "unto Him" means "to deny self," that is to say "no" to all self-inclination, self-will and self-interest, to "serve the Lord Christ"; to regard His wishes and His interests; and to seek in every way to advance His cause and hasten the day when He shall be revealed in His power and glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, when every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue confess Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father [Php 2:10-11]. It is not necessary to enter into the particulars which would constitute the life which is lived unto Him, because, when the quickened soul makes the choice of living no longer unto self but unto Him, he soon learns by the Word and Spirit of God what the details of his life are to be, and he will be led into those good works which God has before prepared for him to walk in (Eph 2:10). The difference we are considering may be briefly expressed in the words "self-pleasing" and "Christ-pleasing"; and in this connection we should remember that "even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom 13:3). Our main purpose is, not to give directions for right living, but to indicate some of the weighty reasons which should constrain all for whom Christ died to make the right choice. Two Classes of Christians From our reading of the Scriptures and from our observation of those around us, we learn that there are two distinct classes of Christians, and these form two groups indicated in our text. All believers alike have received the life which is to be had only from the risen Son of God, but some are yet living unto themselves, while others have sanctified Christ as Lord in their hearts, and have sought Him as the center around which the objects and interests of their life revolve. When our Lord was on earth there were many who heard His words, and believed on Him, and hence passed from death to life, and yet who did not deny self and follow Him. They became believers but not disciples, going on with the new life in the old self-pleasing ways. And precisely so it is now. There are great numbers who have been saved by the grace of God through faith in His crucified and risen Son, but who have not taken their stand with Him in His present rejection. They have chosen to remain in the camp with its gaieties and attractions, rather than "go forth unto Him" (Heb 13:13). There is manifestly a very great difference between these two classes of Christians. In the light of the Scripture before us, to which do you and I belong? And if we discover, in the light, that we are not in the circle of blessing near to Himself, let us lose no time in taking the place there to which He is inviting and which His death and resurrection have opened to us. Many Christians, alas! take their salvation as if it were a sort of paid-up insurance policy. The premiums have all been paid, so the matter demands no attention or concern from them, and in the event of the remote contingency against which the policy provides, they expect to be saved from disagreeable consequences. But the event is too far off to give them any present concern, and so the insured can go on in the enjoyment of the pleasures that are within their reach. But the Scripture calls upon the redeemed of the Lord to use the life which He has bestowed upon them in His service, to "walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). "These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works" (Tit 3:8). One need only look at the passage of Scripture upon which we are meditating to see reasons of the weightiest character for influencing His choice of life. Let us briefly indicate some of these. The Purpose for which Christ Died for Us The first reason that appeals to us is the statement that the purpose of His death was that we who live should not any longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him. He died for all in order that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him. If, therefore, after we have accepted the benefit of His death as the atonement for our sins and our deliverance from judgment and the wrath to come, we go on living as before the life of self-pleasing, we defeat and nullify, to that extent, the very purpose for which He died, and thus make His death, so far, a vain thing. In one word, the life that we are living is not our own, but is His. To every ransomed sinner comes the clear statement of fact "you are not your own, you have been bought with a price" (1Co 6:19-20). What then are you doing with the Lord’s property? For whom and in whose interests are you using it? For self or for Him? The old prophet Malachi asks the solemn question: "Will a man rob God? " Will a man dare to do such a thing? Oh! need we look beyond our own hearts to read the self-condemning answer? In the days of Malachi it was only a matter of tithes and offerings. But now it is a matter of the soul which He has bought at a great price. It is a matter of the life, forfeited by reason of sin, which He has redeemed by paying Himself the forfeit. The Scriptures make it very plain that the death of the Lord Jesus puts the redeemed sinner in a new position with reference to this present life. "Knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled or rendered nugatory) that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom 6:6). Serving sin is merely another way of saying "living unto self," for sin is pursuing self-will instead of God’s will. It was for this very purpose, therefore, that our old man (what we were by nature as children of Adam) was crucified with Christ. It does not matter at all what sort of an "old man" it was, whether vicious, ill-tempered, depraved, or reputable, kindly and respectable. The characteristics of the old man are of no consequence, for "they that are in the flesh (or old nature) cannot please God," however much they may deservedly enjoy the esteem of men. God does not accept an "old man," however much reformed or improved. He accepts only a new man, one having the new nature of the Man Whom He has raised from the dead [Rom 8:11]. Again we read that He "gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil age" (Gal 1:4). If, therefore, we are going on with the evil age, not availing ourselves of the deliverance which He has wrought for us according to the will of God, our Father, we are opposing ourselves to the purpose for which He offered Himself up, and, of course, are opposing ourselves to our own good, for the will of God is "good, and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:12). The Power to Live Unto Him We may also read this passage as stating that His death and resurrection are what make it possible for those who live to forsake the old object of life (self) and to live for Him. He died for all, in order that they who live need not be any longer bound to the servitude of the old life, but might be enabled to live unto Him. When God gives a command to His children He seeks only the response of their will. He Himself supplies the power. Life itself involves its own dynamic characteristics. The life which the quickened soul receives is, as we have already seen, the life of the risen Christ, and this life will spontaneously manifest its character just so far as scope is afforded to it. But the believer while he has received this new nature, has yet the old nature [the flesh] to "reckon" with, and hence is in a position to live either to the old man [the self-life] or the new [the Christ-life]. So he is called upon to "reckon" himself to be dead unto sin, which reckoning consists simply in judging thus, "that One died for all, therefore all died." This death of the Sinless One put an end to the old servitude. Our old man was crucified with Him to put an end to that bondage, so that we should no longer serve sin. And, while His death cut off all ties binding us to the old life, making us "free indeed" (John 8:36) to turn away and escape from all the irksome exactions of the "old man," His resurrection brings us into a new sphere of life, a new creation, where all things are new and all things are of God, as we read a few verses further down in our chapter. Therefore, the Scripture on which we are meditating puts before us not only His death, as effective to sever the old ties binding us to the self-life and its sphere (the old perishing creation into which death has entered) but also His resurrection as effective to bring us into the sphere of the new life, into which death cannot enter. "Unto Him Who died for them and rose again ." To know this truth and to apply it in our present walk is to know "the power of His resurrection," and its present availability in the very scene of our old bondage; "that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father" -- absolutely released from and forever triumphant over all the old circumstances and conditions -- "even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). The identification of the believer with Christ in His resurrection brings him into the sphere of the "things that are above." The life which a man lives expresses itself in the things he is seeking, and upon which he is setting his affections. One may be working in a mine far below the surface of the ground, but his life is not there. It is above where his affections are and the things , which he is seeking. Hence we read, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col 3:1-2). Again it is not a question here of trying to discriminate between classes of things on the earth, so as to avoid certain earthly things and seek others. The distinction is sharply drawn between things above and things on the earth. If we have been raised with Christ we are in a position where we have power, if we will, to seek those things which are above, where He is, in other words, power to live no longer unto self but unto Him. How important, and how immensely practical, in a scene where corruption, decay,disease, failure and disappointment abound, to apprehend this truth in all the fullness in which it is revealed in God’s Word. Let us often and earnestly lift up the prayer which the Spirit has given us, that we and all the people of God may have the eyes of our understanding opened "that we may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead " (Eph 1:8-20). The Effect on Others Another strong reason for making the complete change of the center of life from self to Christ is the influence and effect of our lives upon those who are without. Every one who makes any profession of Christ is an object of close scrutiny. Those who are scrutinizing His way of living do it unobtrusively and generally without comment. Often it is done for the purpose of detecting signs of insincerity or failure; but sometimes it is for the honest purpose of ascertaining the reality of the power of Christ in the life of one who confesses Him. Thus, whether we desire it or not, and whether we are conscious of it or not, we are living epistles, known and read of men [2Co 3:2]. What are they reading with those watchful eyes in your life and mine? What conclusions are they drawing from what they read there? And what influence are those conclusions exerting upon their attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me relate a little personal episode which will strikingly illustrate this part of the subject. A few years after I had come to a knowledge of the great salvation which has been wrought by the crucified and risen Son of God, I learned of the death of the beloved wife of a friend, a man much older than myself. I highly esteemed him and looked up to him as one of the most eminent and honored lawyers in the country, and entertained affectionate regard for him because of kindness and help extended towards me when a law student and in the early days of my practice. I was away from home when this news reached me, and though I did not know whether or not he was a Christian, I ventured, in writing him a note of sympathy, to quote those words of comfort given to us in 1Th 4:13-18. I met him subsequently and he at once referred to my letter and expressed a desire to talk with me on the subject upon which it touched. This led to several long conversations. He was without faith, and had been endeavoring to find in the opinions of learned men a resting place for the mind and an answer to the profoundest questions which the heart raises. Consequently he was in a truly pitiable state of uncertainty, pointing out that one writer said one thing, and one another, and that no one seemed to have any solid foundation for his opinions. I most earnestly urged him to turn from conflicting human opinion to the Word of God, assuring him with all the conviction that was in my own soul, that we had God’s own Word for everything that was important for us to know. I also endeavored to show him by that unfailing Word, that eternal life was given to all who believed on the crucified and risen Son of God. It was quite evident that the impression my testimony made upon him was due to the fact that I had strong convictions, and could rest unquestioningly upon the revealed Word of God. After this much had been gained he put to me this question, "Did your acceptance of Jesus Christ make any actual difference in your life ?" What a searching question; and how clear it was that I could bring no help to that distressed and darkened soul and I not being able to assure him that, as the result of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, my life had been completely changed, that old habits of life and habits of thought had fallen away, that old things had lost their power to attract and to satisfy, and that in short the result was entrance into a new creation! He went on to say that he had been closely watching churchgoers for forty years, that he could not see that the profession of Christianity made anydifference in their lives , that their manner of living could not be distinguished from those who made no such profession, and he cited the case of a man very high in the councils of the nation, a personal friend of his, who was prominent in one of the largest churches of the city, but whose manner of life gave no evidence of being influenced in any way by his profession of Christianity. Consider what this means -- that a man of the highest culture, a close observer of men, living in the center of the national life of this, so-called, Christian land, could ask, after watching professing Christians for forty years, whether believing on the Lord Jesus Christ made anydifference in ones’ life ! What sort of Christians were these? For whom were they living that, after so long a study of their ways, this keen observer was forced to the conclusion that Christianity was, for all practical purposes, a sham -- a mere form of godliness without the corresponding power? (2Ti 3:5). I never saw that man again. A few days after this conversation he too was called away, and I do not know whether or not he had found refuge in the atoning blood of Christ. But I am sure that the same question is being asked by millions of others in this and other lands where there is a profession of Christianity. Eyes are fixed upon each one of us who names the name of Christ. They are eager eyes, hungry eyes, the eyes of imprisoned and perishing souls, and while these observers may make no comment, they are asking within themselves, "Does it make any difference in one’s life?" What answer do they get to that question as they regard your life and mine? We are, whether we wish it or not, living epistles, known and read of men; and not only read, but closely studied and scrutinized. What are they reading day by day, and what conclusion are they reaching? The answer will be found in the answer to that other question, unto whom are we living, unto self or unto Him? The Normal Life Another thought I would put before you in this connection, namely, that living unto Him is the normal, and hence the happy and fruitful life for "them that live." The believer is "in Christ." That is where he belongs. His true interests are all where Christ is at the right hand of God. To live for self, to go on in the old ways, to be making provision for that "old man"[the flesh-Rom 13:14] whom God could do nothing with and whose corrupted nature brought the Prince of Life under the power of death, even the shameful death of the cross, to seek gratifications among the perishing things of a dying world is, to them "that live," an utterly abnormal existence, which can yield only disappointment and loss of peace in this life and of rewards in that which is to come. Moreover, abiding in Christ is the condition of fruit bearing (John 15:4-5), and even if it were possible for a living one to find gratification, sustenance, and occasional pleasure in a dying creation, the consciousness of the waste and unprofitableness of such a life would rob it of all real joy. The Cost of Our Freedom Finally let our hearts be open to the force of recognizing at what great cost this freedom has been secured to us. Recognizing this, the love of Christ, His dying love for helpless sinners, will constrain us to live no longer unto ourselves, but unto Him, Who died for us and rose again. It cost the humiliation and death of the Lord of Glory to put us in the place where it becomes possible for us to choose between self and Him as the center of life. Of the horrors and sufferings of that death on the cross we can form no conception. What the "power of darkness" meant to Him, we cannot imagine; for He had always dwelt in the bosom of God, and "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." What it meant to "taste death for every man"[Heb 2:9] we cannot even faintly comprehend. And yet there was no other way to release us from the old bondage of sin and self. The only way of deliverance for the captives of sin is by the death and resurrection of the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15); Whom it was impossible for death to hold. And because there was no other way, He was willing to die for them. Therefore, One died for all. There was Adam to be saved from death and be brought to God. Therefore Paul declared to the Thessalonians "that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead" (Acts 17:3). His death was necessary to atone for our sins, and His resurrection was necessary to bring us, with Himself, into the new creation. (Eph 2:5; Rom 4:25). And, therefore, after His resurrection He Himself put to the two disciples the question "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" (Luk 24:26). And He showed them, from "all the Scriptures," that He ought indeed to have suffered them, because He came to fulfill all that was written of Him. He died for our sins according to the Scriptures ; and He rose again the third day according tothe Scriptures (1Co 15:3-4). All that He did was according to the Scriptures; and so He opened the understanding of the eleven and them that were with them, so that they might "understand the Scriptures," in order to prove to them that "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day" (Luk 24:33; Luk 24:45-46). He died for us. Therefore, we have life. Let us live it not unto ourselves but unto Him Who died for us and rose again. *In all these passages the revised readings have been used because these give the proper tense of the verb.-P.M. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: ART-3-SPEAKING IN TONGUES ======================================================================== Speaking in Tongues ByPhilip Mauro The gift of tongues, which was bestowed upon men for the first time on the day of Pentecost, was a miraculous endowment which enabled those who received it to speak in languages unfamiliar to themselves, languages they had never learned. Thereby they were empowered to declare the glad tidings to those with whom they would not have been able otherwise to communicate. The record found in Acts 2 gives a clear description of the nature of this gift. We read that there were at Jerusalem at that season devout men "out of every nation under heaven," and that when the multitude came together, they were confounded, "because that every man heard them speak in his own language" (Acts 2:5-6). Thus the prominent and essential characteristic of the pentecostal gift of tongues was that it enabled the disciples to address those foreigners, "every man in his own language." Further, it is recorded for our enlightenment that "They were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these that speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born; Parthians and Medes and Elamites"—sixteen countries being named—"we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God" (vv. 7-11). Thus, in this short description, it is stated three times that the pentecostal gift of tongues was a miraculous endowment whereby those who received it were able to speak to foreigners in their own language. When, therefore, we encounter now-a-days that which purports to be the apostolical and pentecostal gift of tongues, the first thing to be ascertained is whether its reputed possessor has the supernatural ability to speak to strangers in their own language. If the supposed gift does not pass that test, it may safely, and without further inquiry, be regarded as spurious. The coming of the Holy Ghost was the beginning of that new and wonderful era which John the Baptist had announced (Mat 3:11). The Lord had previously instructed His disciples that their special mission would be to preach repentance and remission of sins in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem; but they were to wait in that city until they should be endued with power from on high (Luk 24:47-49); for the Gospel was to be preached, not with mere human power, but "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven" (1Pe 1:12). It is, therefore, a very impressive fact that the manner in which the Holy Spirit manifested His presence was by the appearance of tongues as of fire, resting upon each of the disciples, and by the bestowal upon them of the power to preach to all men who were gathered in Jerusalem to observe the feast of Pentecost, each in his own language. This was a most significant miracle. It proclaimed in a striking way, first that the great work of this era for which the Holy Ghost had come, is the preaching of the risen Jesus of Nazareth as both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:32-36); and second, that this glorious gospel was to be proclaimed to "every nation under heaven," so that all men should hear it in their native tongue. It should be noted that in Acts 2, and wherever the word "tongue" is used in this connection in the Scriptures, it means simply a language, just as we commonly say "the English tongue," "the French tongue," etc. In I Corin-thians 14, where the expression "unknown tongue" occurs, it will be seen that the word "unknown" is printed in italics, showing that it does not occur in the original text. This supplied word has misled some. The expression means simply a foreign language. This supernatural ability to address a foreigner in his own language served also the purpose (along with other miracles which abounded at that time) of attesting this new era and this new message (the Gospel), as being from God. Without such manifestations of the presence and power of God working in and with those obscure Galilaeans, it could not have been made evident to Jews and Gentiles that God was really introducing a new order of things. That the main purpose of miracles was to authenticate the preaching of the "great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord," is declared in many Scriptures, as in Heb 2:3-4, where we read that God also bore witness (with His preachers) by means of "signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will." That such extraordinary miracles were needed at the beginning of the new era is obvious. In this respect we have a parallel in the beginning of the era of the law, when God wrought wonderful signs and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness. Those manifestations ceased when they had accomplished their purpose. Tongues After Pentecost The second time the miraculous speaking in tongues is mentioned is in connection with Peter’s preaching of the Gospel to a company of Gentiles in the home of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, at Caesarea, which city was really a Roman city, though within the borders of Judea. Here again "was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:45-46). This was a convincing sign to Peter and the six Jewish converts who accompanied him, that God had indeed saved those Gentiles. Therefore, they (the Jews) did not dare "forbid water, that these should not be baptized," or refuse to receive them as brethren in Christ. Moreover, when they of the circumcision, who were at Jerusalem, contended with Peter because of this, the apostle vindicated himself by appealing to the fact that (to quote his own words) "The Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning" (Acts 11:15). Thus we have given us in the Bible a very clear and strong reason for the manifestation of the gift of tongues on this occasion; for otherwise converted Gentiles would not have been received. It should be particularly noted that, for another occurrence of that sort, Peter had to go back to the day of Pentecost. The inference is plain that, in all the years between, there had been no similar manifestation to which Peter could appeal. It is, therefore, very far from the truth to say, or to suppose, that all who were saved in apostolic times received the power to speak in tongues. It clearly appears, on the contrary, that the bestowal of the gift of tongues was reserved for occasions of unusual importance. At Ephesus—The third and last time the manifestation of the gift of tongues is mentioned in Acts is in chapter 19. This was outside of Palestine altogether. Paul, on coming to Ephesus, met with certain disciples who had received only so much of the truth as was connected with John’s baptism. They had not received the Holy Spirit because they had not believed on the risen Jesus Christ. When, however, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and Paul had laid his hands upon them, then "the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:1-6). In this case, as in the two preceding, there was an evident need that the truth proclaimed by Paul should be specially authenticated by signs and miracles. Ephesus, moreover, was the place where the great temple of Diana was located, and where "curious arts" (e.g., necromancy, black art, etc.) were practiced (v. 19). Therefore, "God wrought special (i.e., unusual) miracles by the hands of Paul" in that place (vv. 11, 12). In none of these cases was the gift of tongues sought, nor was the Holy Spirit sought after the manner of some in the present day. The Holy Spirit simply bestowed the gift when and as He deemed it needful so to do. The Gift of Tongues in the Church In I Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14, we read of the gift of tongues "in the church." It is mentioned among the things wrought by the Spirit, "dividing to every man severally as He will" (12:7-11). Thus the giving or not giving this (or other) gift is entirely a matter of the Divine will, which is exercised according to the Divine wisdom. This gift is mentioned last in the list of gifts which "God hath set in the church" (12:28-29). And the apostle’s questions "Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?" make it clear beyond all doubt that some only of the saints possessed those gifts. Indeed the questions are asked for the very purpose of enforcing the argument that, as in the human body there are many members, each with its own special function, to be exercised for the benefit of all, so in the church there are different gifts and duties as-signed to the several members; yet, inasmuch as all belong to one and the same body, the gifts ail pertain to that one body, regardless of what members have them. According to the inspired argument of that chapter it would be as absurd to expect every member of the church to have the gift of tongues as to expect that every member of the human body should be a tongue endowed with power to speak (v.17). In chapter 14 Paul shows that the gift of prophecy is far more to be desired than that of tongues, because prophesying—i.e., ministering the Word of God—edifies the church; and this is the work of Love, because "Love edifieth" (8:1), whereas speaking in tongues may be but the vain display of a gift. Paul makes the contrast very strong, saying, "I speak with tongues more than ye all; yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an (unknown) tongue" (14:18, 19). So the relative value is as five to ten thousand. He then bids those Corinthians to "be not children in understanding," and explains to them that the gift of tongues was a fulfillment of Isa 28:11-12, where God, in foretelling judgments upon Israel in connection with their rejection of His Word (which had always been spoken to them in Hebrew) said, "For with stammering lips and another tongue will I speak unto this people" (the Jews) . Therefore, at Pentecost God began to speak to the Jews in "another tongue." This was a "sign" to that unbelieving people. And this is precisely what Paul declares in the next verse, where he says: "Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not; but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe" (1Co 14:21). Thus the gift of prophecy is incomparably greater than that of speaking in tongues. It follows that to say the gift of tongues is a sign to believers that the one so gifted who has received the Holy Spirit, is simply to turn the Scripture upside down. The Spirit Given to Them That Believe The Lord Jesus declared that "they which believe on Him should receive" the Holy Spirit (John 7:39). Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said that all who would repent and be baptized should "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). Again he said, speaking of the Holy Ghost, "Whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32), that is, who obey the gospel by believing in Jesus Christ. In Gal 3:1-3 Paul bases his entire argument on the fact that the Galatians had "received the Spirit by the hearing of faith." Never is there such a thing as a believer in Christ who had not received the Holy Spirit, or one who had received Him otherwise than through believing the Gospel. As regards the strange modern idea that speaking in tongues is to be sought as the "Bible-sign" of having received the Holy Spirit we would point out that faith does not seek after a sign, but rests upon the simple Word of God. Paul says, "For the Jews require a sign"; and it was natural for them to do so; but not for those who are "justified by faith." The Lord Jesus said: "This is an evil generation, they seek a sign"; and again, "Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe" (John 4:48). The spirit of the Jews was manifested in the question, "What sign showest thou, that we may see and believe thee?" (John 6:30). These Scriptures surely do not encourage God’s saints to seek after a sign. Moreover, the Lord did not say concerning His people that "by their signs ye shall know them," but expressly "by their fruits ye shall know them" (Mat 7:20). And again, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). If those who have received the Holy Spirit are seen walking after the Spirit, manifesting the love of the Spirit, and bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit, there will be no need of any "signs" whereby they may be distinguished. Signs Following Appeal is frequently made to the words of Mark 16:17-18, as if they contained the promise that all that believe should be endowed with the gift of tongues. But the words will bear no such interpretation. They declare that certain signs, of which speaking with new tongues was one, should follow them that believe. The Lord no more promised that all believers should speak with tongues than He promised that all should cast out devils, take up serpents, and drink poison without receiving hurt. Speaking with tongues, therefore, is no more the "Bible sign" of having received the Holy Spirit than is the casting out of devils, or the taking up of serpents. Moreover, we have only to read the 20th verse of the chapter to find the complete fulfillment of the promise of verses 17 and 18: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." This Scripture refutes "pentecostal" doctrine, for it speaks of "them that believe"; whereas, according to that doctrine, speaking in tongues is not a sign of believing, but of receiving the Spirit, which the "pentecostals" hold is a distinct thing. A Dangerous Delusion We believe that the modern error regarding tongues, as made prominent by those who call themselves "pentecostals," is one of the most dangerous of these last days. Many true, earnest, and zealous children of God have been deluded by it. The appeal it makes is very attractive to saints who groan and sigh for something different from the shams and dead formalities of religious Christendom. We have had it under observation from the start. Its phenomena—ecstasies, transports, prostrations, yielding to "the power," displaced personality, etc.—are the very same as we had already become familiar with in our previous investigations of hypnotism, spiritism, and other psychic and occult phenomena. We know by personal observation some of the terrible havoc—moral and spiritual—it has wrought. Most earnestly, therefore, do we warn the beloved people of God against it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: ART-4-THE CHRISTIAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE MOSAIC LAW ======================================================================== The Christian’s Relationship To The Mosaic Law ByPhilip Mauro The Gentile Believer and The Law We have said that the experience of the "wretched man" of Romans 7 is not the normal experience of a converted Gentile. It is, nevertheless, a sad fact that it may (and often does) become the abnormal experience of converted Gentiles, who, through ignorance of the great gospel truths revealed in Romans, or through the influence of Judaizing teachers and legal systems of theology, fall from their standing in grace, and seek justification, or the gift of the Spirit, through law-works. Hence the solemn warning of Gal 5:4 : "You are deprived of all effect from Christ, whosoever in law are being justified; you are fallen from grace." For as there were in Paul’s day, so are there now, many who desire "to be of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm." So also the struggle of that "wretched man" becomes the experience of many unconverted Gentiles who, totally ignorant of remission of sins through faith in the blood of Christ....are seeking perpetually (because seeking vainly) for and inclination of the heart to keep the Mosaic law. The condition of such, if they be earnest and sincere in their desire to keep the law, is indeed "wretched" in the extreme. It was needful, therefore, that, in addition to the revelation given in Romans 7 of deliverance for the believing Jew from the yoke of the Law, the Epistle to the Galatians should have been incorporated into the Word of God, in order to instruct and warn Gentile believers against putting themselves under that yoke. In referring, however, to Galatians our object will be simply to seek the light it throws upon the conflict described in Romans 7. What we find in Galatians affords strong confirmation to the view that the experience described in Romans 7 is that of a conscientious unconverted Israelite, and not at all a "Christian" experience. In fact, the main object of the Apostle in writing to the assemblies of Galatia was to warn them against teachings which would lead them into such an experience. Galatians 2 In Galatians 2 Paul relates how he remonstrated with the Apostle Peter for compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews (v. 14). We may be sure that the matter in dispute is esteemed by the Spirit of God to be exceedingly important; otherwise it would not be brought to our attention in the form of a rebuke administered by Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, to Peter, the leader of the twelve. In this connection Paul draws the line sharply between Jews and Gentiles, saying: "We, Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man in not justified out of the works of the Law, but out of the faithfulness of Christ, even we [Jews] have believed on Christ Jesus that we might be justified out of the faithfulness of Christ, and not out of works of Law" (vv. 15-16). And he adds: "For if I build again the things I threw down, I constitute myself a transgressor." That is to say, if he should set up the Law again as an obligation for himself, he would make himself a law-breaker. "For," he continues, "I through the Law died to the Law, that I might live to God." Here Paul again brings himself forward, as a typical Jew, and repeats in few words the doctrine elaborated in Romans 7. "I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live"; or, as the Greek may be equally well rendered, "I am not any longer living, it is Christ that lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God." It is possible for every believer to reach the place where he can make this saying of Paul his own. It involves death to sin and life to God in Christ, and the abiding presence of the Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from the dead. This verse obviously contains a condensed statement of the truth revealed in Romans 6, 7 concerning the believer’s death (as to his old nature) with Christ, and his living again in the supernatural life of the risen Christ. That new life is not lived under the Law of Sinai. "I do not," says Paul, "make void the grace of God" (as Peter was doing by his dissimulation and by returning to the practice of Judaism) "for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing" (v. 21). Galatians 3 Having thus dealt with the case of the believing Jew, who had been delivered from the Law by means of Christ’s death, the Apostle directly addresses the Galatians, who, being Gentiles, never were under Law, but began their relations with God in the Spirit. The Jew began his service of God in the flesh. For him, therefore, there might be found some excuse for continuing after conversion as a man in the flesh under Law, not exercising the liberty wherewith Christ had made him free. But for Gentile believers, who never were under the Law, but had the great advantage of beginning in the Spirit, to put themselves under Law and to attempt to be perfected in the flesh, was the "senseless" action of those who had been "bewitched." "O senseless Galatians, who had bewitched you," that you should act thus after the truth concerning Christ crucified has been plainly put before you? "Are you so senseless? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh?" (Gal 3:1-3). It was indeed "senseless" in the extreme to undertake the perfecting in the flesh of the work that was begun in the Spirit. The Apostle then refers to Abraham, whose faith was accounted to him for righteousness, and points out that the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles out of faith, proclaimed that good news to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations (Gentiles) be blessed." (Gal 3:8). The Galatians are warned of two serious facts. First, Paul teaches that all who are of the works of Law (in contrast to those that are "of faith") are under the curse of the Law. Second, he asserts that the curse comes upon every one who continues not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them. From this it follows that no one is being justified with God in virtue of Law: "For the just shall live out of faith; but the man that does those things (required by the Law) shall live in virtue of them" (vv. 10-12). In view of this, it would naturally be asked, How does it come about that the Jews, who were placed under the Law, which none of them has kept, have escaped from the curse of the Law? The answer is, "Christ has redeemed us (Jews) from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us." This statement manifestly applies solely to Israel, for the curse of the Law was never pronounced against the Gentiles. Hence Paul uses in verse 3:13 the pronoun "us." The contrast between Jews and Gentiles is again clearly marked by 3:14, which goes on to say that Christ was made a curse for the Jews in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. The contrast between the curse of the Law, pronounced upon those who were under the Law, and the blessing of Abraham coming to the Gentile believers in Christ, is very instructive. And an additional result of the endurance by Christ of the curse of the Law is then set forth, namely, the we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The promise was made to Abraham and to his seed long before the Law was given. From this it follows that the promise cannot be nullified by the Law, which was given 430 years after. If then the Law was not given for the purpose of adding anything to the promise, or of taking anything from it, why was it given? It was added for the sake of transgressions, that is in order that the repeated transgressions of the Law by every Israelite might reveal the presence and nature of sin in the flesh, and show the futility of attempting to secure justification out of Law-works. Moreover, it was given, not as a permanent institution, but only "until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." (3:19). This statement shows that the period of the Law was strictly limited in time, as it was limited also in scope to the children of Israel. Its era did not begin until 430 years after God had begun to deal with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants; and it ceased when the promised Seed died under the Law. The curse of the Law was exhausted when Christ was made a curse by hanging on a tree (Deu 21:23). Whatever God’s purposes were with the Law, they were all accomplished when the promised Seed died on the Cross. Since that event even the Jew is no longer a man under Law, for by no amount of law-keeping can he now secure the promised blessings of the promised land. The old covenant is entirely at an end (2Co 3:7-11; Heb 7:13). The words on the Cross, "It is finished" (in the original it is the single word "accomplished") included the purpose of the Law, which thereupon came to an end. The temporary character of the Law as a Divine institution is further set forth, with great clearness, in verses 23-25. "Before faith came," says the Apostle, "we [Jews] were kept [or guarded] under Law, having been shut up to the faith which was about to be revealed. Wherefore the Law has been our pedagogue [tutor] up to Christ in order that out of faith we might be justified. But faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor." By noting the tenses of the verbs, as given in the above renderings, the sense will be readily and clearly apprehended. It is very clear indeed that these statements apply only to Israelites. The Gentiles were not kept under Law, but were left without Law. They were not "shut up" in any way, but allowed to follow the devices of their own hearts. They were not under a pedagogue, or under tutors and governors (4:2), for God had no dealings with them. God has called Israel His "Son" (Hos 11:1; see Amo 3:2); and of Israel alone, of all the peoples of the earth, can it be said that they were under tutors awaiting the time appointed of the Father. After speaking in the first person of the Jews, the Apostle, addressing the Gentile Galatians, says by way of contrast: "For you are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek." The contrast between the "we" of verses 24,25 and the "you" of verse 26, is very significant.... Some of the statements (in Galatians 4) are broad enough to embrace both Jews and Gentiles, for both were, before conversion, in bondage to the elements of the world; but the special bondage of the Jew - the yoke of the Law and the penalty of its curse - is also specifically mentioned. As the heir is "under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father; even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem those that were under the Law, that we [Jews] might receive the status of sons. But because you [Gentiles] are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, ’Abba Father.’" (4:2-6) The defective reading of verse 6 in the A.V. "And because you are sons," instead of "But," as it is in the original, hides the contrast between the case of the believing Israelite and that of the believing Gentile. The former needed to be redeemed from under the Law before he could receive the status of a son ("adoption of sons"); whereas for the latter there was no such need. The bondage of the Gentiles was a different kind of bondage. They, not knowing God at all, were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods (4:8); but the point we wish to examine is that they were not under Law at any time, and this point is very clearly presented in the passage we have been examining. (Editor’s note: Randall Seiver has presented a better explanation of this passage in his book on Galatians "The Fulness of Time" available from Sound of Grace, Webster N.Y.) The Believer’s State Is Not One Of Lawlessness In emphasizing the important truth that the believer is not under the Law, because, if a Jew he was delivered from the yoke of the Law by the death of Christ, and if a Gentile he was never under the Law at all, must not obscure the important fact that the state of the believer is not one of lawlessness - far from it. What is spoken of in Romans 7 as "the Law" is the Law given to the Israelites through Moses. That Law was by no means a complete statement of God’s requirements, though it was quite sufficient for the purpose of revealing the presence of sin in the flesh, for demonstrating the utter corruption of human nature, and for making manifest the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The teachings of Jesus Christ showed that the full requirements of God’s holiness and righteousness are far above those of the Law of Moses. "You have heard that it was said by (or to) them of old, You shall not kill...But I say to you, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, etc." (Mat 5:21-48). The believer of this dispensation is not living under the Law of Moses. That law was given for the regulation of the conduct of men in the flesh. The believer is "not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." (Rom 8:9). He is not, therefore, in the sphere in which the Law of Moses was effective. The child of God, though not under the Law of Moses, is "not without Law to God, but in-law to Christ" (ennomous Christou, 1Co 9:21). He owns the risen Christ as His Lord, and judges that his entire life in the body is to be lived no longer unto himself, but unto Him who died for him and rose again (2Co 5:15). Being in the Spirit he is to be governed by "the law of the Spirit" (Rom 8:2). Being in Christ he is to "fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). This is a condition very different from that of the Israelite under the Law of Moses, and on a much higher plane. The life of the child of God is not a life hedged about by constraints and prohibitions, but a life of liberty in which he is free to follow all the leadings of the Spirit, and all the inclinations of the new nature which the Spirit imparts to those whom He quickens. It is a life of freedom - not freedom to sin, but freedom not to sin. He who practices sin is the slave of sin; only the free man can refuse obedience to the demands of sin, and yield himself to God as one who is alive from the dead. The Word of God abounds in directions addressed to the children of God, by which their walk, while yet in the body, is to be guided and controlled. These directions are found in the commandments of Christ, and in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, whom the risen Lord empowered to be the channel for the revelation of His special communications to and concerning the Church. And these directions are illustrated by all the holy Scriptures, the things which happened to the Israelites having been written, not for our imitation, but for our admonition (1Co 10:11). The believer has been called into liberty; and he is exhorted to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free (Gal 5:1). Yet he is not to use his liberty so as to furnish occasions for gratifying the desires of his old nature (Gal 5:13). Having been brought, through the resurrection of Christ, into the sphere of the Spirit, the believer is commanded to remain there; that is, to be occupied with and interested in the things of the Spirit. While so engaged he cannot at the same time be fulfilling the desires of the flesh. "This I say then, walk in [or by] the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh" (Gal 5:16). "If you be led of the Spirit you are not under the Law" (Gal 5:18). Ephesians, which especially reveals the position of believers as quickened together with Christ, raised up (i.e. ascended) together with Him, and seated together in the heavenlies in Christ, abounds in practical directions for the believer’s guidance in all his earthly relations. We...call attention to them in order to guard against the supposition that, because the believer of this dispensation is not under the Law of Moses, he is therefore in a state of lawlessness. The main points, then, of the teaching we have been examining are these: 1. That the sufferings of Christ were incurred for the sins of His people, that is to say, the sins of those whom God justifies upon the principle of faith. 2. That the death of Christ delivers the believing sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, rom the servitude of sin. 3. That the death of Christ also brought the economy of the Law to an end, and delivered all converted Israelites from the yoke of the Law. 4. That the resurrection of Christ brings all believers into the sphere of a new humanity, where there is a new life, whose Source is the risen Christ, which life is imparted by the Spirit of God to the believer while the later is yet in the mortal body. 5. That believers, though not under the Law of Moses, are governed by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and are required to "fulfill the law of Christ." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: ART-5-THE LAW OF MOSES AN UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING TO ISRAEL ======================================================================== The Law of Moses an Unspeakable Blessing to Israel By Philip Mauro Text:Rom 7:12 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." And now as regards the character of God’s dealings with those who were under the Law and the character of the Law itself, it is difficult indeed to account for and more difficult to speak calmly of, the terms of disparagement and strong repugnance in which the leaders of the dispensationalists express themselves when speaking of the Law of God. Of our Lord it was prophesied that He should "magnify the law and make it honorable," but the aim of many of His ministers in these days seems to be to belittle the law and make it detestable. Take a few specimens from the writings of prominent dispensationalists: "The Law is a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse." So says the Scofield Bible (notes to Gal 3:24). But does God’s Bible speak that way? We shall see. And another leading dispensationalist declares that, "The law was the instrument of condemnation, and only that." In fact, the leaders among the dispensationalists seem to take a delight - not as did the Psalmists, "in the Law of the Lord"Psa 1:2, but - in inveighing in terms of strongest reprobation against it. In support of this view of the Law, reference is commonly made to certain passages in Galatians, and also to the seventh Chapter of Romans, which are misinterpreted in such a way as to cause them to render a semblance of support to that view. But before we examine those passages let us get the Scripture, which is clear and unequivocal, as to what the character of the Law actually is. We have already cited the testimony of Moses that the Law delivered at Sinai was God’s love-gift to the people (Deu 33:3). It is further stated in that inspired record of "the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death," that "they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words" (v. 3). And he goes on to say: "Moses commanded us a law," and that that law is "the inheritance of Jacob" V. 4. A number of passages earlier in the Books of Moses reveal that the law was given as a means of life. Thus, in Deu 4:1, Moses exhorts Israel to hearken to the statutes and judgments which (he says) "I teach you for to do them, that ye may live." (And to the same effect see Lev 18:5.) And concerning God’s law he says: "For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. . . . For what nation is so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law"Deu 4:6-8. Thus the Law of God was given the people of Israel to be their life; and it constituted their wisdom, their understanding, and their greatness in the sight of all other nations. And a little farther on Moses says: "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive . . . . And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments."Deu 6:24-25. And he tells them that it was because the Lord loved them that He had redeemed them out of Egypt; and that "He is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep his commandments"Deu 6:8-9. Thus, were to love Him, because He first loved them; and they were to manifest their love by keeping his commandments. And is it any different now? Is it not written, "We love Him, because He first loved us,1Jn 4:19? And does not our Lord say to us, even as he said to them "If ye love Me, keep My commandments"John 14:15? Finally, before leaving Moses, we call attention to Deu 30:11-20, where he tells the people that the commandment which was to be their life, was not hidden from them (for God had revealed it to them) nor was it far off. It was not in heaven, neither was it beyond the sea; but it had been brought very nigh to them that they might hear it and do it. "And His commandments are not grievous, now (1Jn 5:3); nor were they grievous then. For on that occasion Moses gave as the great commandment of the law, "to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments" (cf. Mat 22:37). And he repeats in verse 20 the exhortation that they would "love the Lord," and "obey His voice"; and for the reason that "He is thy life, and the length of thy days." According to Paul, the word which Moses had said was "nigh" into them, not afar off (in heaven or across the sea) was the very same "word of faith which we preach"Rom 10:8-13; citing in proof thereof two 0.T. passages: "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed"Isa 28:16; and "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved"Joe 2:32. Likewise Peter testifies that the things ministered by the prophets during the era of the Law are the same that are now proclaimed by those who preach the Gospel (1Pe 1:12). We are not saying, of course, that it is not a far better thing to be under Grace than under Law; for truly God has "provided some better thing for us"Heb 11:40, but we are seeking the testimony of God’s Bible as to the character of His law, which the "Scofield Bible" grievously maligns; and its testimony as to just what it meant to the Israelites to be under the law of God instead of being left to their own ways, as were the heathen all around them. And we have seen that Moses, the mediator of that Old Covenant, declared to them repeatedly that, in the possession of the law of God they were unspeakably blessed, and chiefly in that it provided a way of life for all who set their hearts to obey it. Looking a little further we note that the Book of Psalms opens with a glowing reference to the blessedness of the man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord," and who meditates in it "day and night"Psa 1:2. And there are other passages, not a few, which testify that the law of God was a thing in which the heart of man could (and therefore should) find delight, and find also profitable meditations continuously (Job 23:12; Psa 119:70; Psa 119:77; Psa 119:92; Psa 119:174). Now as to the effects of the law, so far from it being true that it was "the instrument of condemnation and only that," or "a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse," (as Dispensalists have declared [Ed.]) the testimony of the Holy Spirit is that "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul"; and that "the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes"Psa 19:7-8. And the same Psalm declares as to the value of the commandments and judgments of the Lord, that they are "More to be desired than gold. Yea, than much fine gold" - more intrinsically valuable than great quantities of the richest treasures of earth - and that, so far from being distasteful and obnoxious, they are "sweeter also than honey and the droppings of honeycombs" (v. 10, marg.). The writer of Psalms 119 adds his testimony that there are wondrous things to be seen in the law (v. 18) ; that it was better to him "than thousands of gold and silver" v. 72 that he loved it beyond his power to express (v. 97) that by its precepts he got understanding, and learned thereby to hate every false way (v. 104) ; and that "great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them" (v. 165 ). Solomon too bears witness that "the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light"Pro 6:23 ; and that "the law of the wise is a fountain of life"Pro 13:14. Light and life were surely there for all who sought them; and many sought and found. Solomon also records the words, "Keep My commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye"Pro 7:2. Isaiah, in foretelling some of the glorious things that Christ (whom God designates in that passage as "My Servant") should accomplish, says that God had given Him "for a light of the Gentiles"; and that "He will magnify the law and make it honorable" Is. 42:6,21. Is not this a rebuke to those who traduce the law and make it despicable? Likewise during the Babylonian captivity God, in recounting the great things He had wrought for Israel and His many acts of mercy on their behalf, emphasizes the giving of the law as one of the chief of them, saying: "And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them"Eze 20:11. Also through Hosea, God, in recounting the offences of Israel, said: "I have written to him the great things of My law; but they were counted as a strange thing"Hos 8:12. And through the very last of the prophets of Israel, and in almost the last words of his message, God calls to them: "REMEMBER YE THE LAW OF MOSES MY SERVANT, WHICH I COMMANDED UNTO HIM IN HOREB FOR ALL ISRAEL, WITH THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS"Mal 4:4. Is it possible in the face of these testimonies to maintain that the law was "imposed" upon Israel because of their own improvident choice? that "At Sinai they exchanged Grace for Law; they rashly accepted the law"? or that "The Law is a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse," an instrument of "pitiless severity"? If not, shall we allow these false and derogatory things concerning the holy, life-giving and soul-enlightening law of our God to be any longer preached and taught amongst us without earnest protest on our part? This is a serious matter indeed; and therefore I trust that my readers may be moved to join in a solemn protest against the further publication and sale of a book that many unwary children of God accept as a "Bible," and which contains so grievous a misrepresentation - amounting to a vilification - of the holy Law of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: ART-6-NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN ======================================================================== Never Man Spake Like This Man By Philip Mauro "Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees;and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought Him?The officers answered, Never man spake like this Man." —John 7:45-46. "I have given them the words which Thou gavest me." —John 17:8 "His name is called THE WORD OF GOD." —Rev 19:13 When the officers who had been sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to take the Lord Jesus into custody returned without Him, they gave a most extraordinary reason for their failure to carry out their orders. For, in reply to the demand, "Why have ye not brought Him?" they gave the strange answer, "Never man spake like this man." This reply is the more surprising because it came from the lips of men whose very occupation tends to deaden all the sensibilities that are natural to human beings. The record does not state just what were the words which so impressed their hearts that they dared not touch the One who uttered them; but it may be gathered from the context that the sayings of Christ recorded in this chapter (John 7:33-38) were part at least of what they heard. Those sayings made a great impression upon others also; for we read that some, when they heard them, said, "Of a truth this is the Prophet"; while others said, "This is the Christ" (vv. 40, 41). The statement made by those constables contains a truth far more profound, doubtless, than they had any conception of. It is a statement of fact. Hence it is either true or false, and is open to proof or disproof. Moreover, it invites a comparison between the words spoken by Jesus Christ and the sayings of the world’s greatest teachers, philosophers, sages, moralists and scientists. What would such a comparison show? Would it show that Jesus Christ did indeed speak as never man spake? God had foretold by Moses the coming of One concerning whom He said, "I will put My words into His mouth" (Deu 18:18). Is Jesus Christ that Prophet? Did He indeed speak the very words of God? Is it true, as declared at the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that God Himself has, in these last days, spoken unto us in the Person of the Son? Here is a question which manifestly is of the highest importance; yet it is one which persons of ordinary intelligence are quite competent to decide; and these pages are written for the purpose of presenting to our readers the materials which will enable them to decide it. What we assert then, and purpose herein to show, is that there are qualities in the sayings of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the four Gospels, which distinguish them in a marked and radical way from all human utterances. And we further assert that the superhuman qualities whereof we speak are so conspicuously manifest in the recorded sayings of Christ (in contrast with their conspicuous absence from the utterances of the most famous men of earth) that they can be clearly recognized by anyone of normal intelligence who will give serious attention to the matter. When Christ was here among men He frequently made appeal to the works done by Him as proof that the Father had sent Him (Mat 11:4-6; John 5:36; John 10:24-25; John 15:24). But skeptics of our day can evade the force of that witness by denying that the accounts of the miracles of Christ, found in the Gospels, are true. They cannot, however, thus set aside the witness of His words For obviously, if those words are of such a nature, and have in them such qualities, as are not to be found in the utterances of other men (and this is what we now undertake to prove) then there can be no escape from the conclusion that He from Whom they proceeded, whether it was Jesus Himself, or another who put words into His mouth, was more than a man. For if those sayings have superhuman qualities, then it is manifestly just as impossible for men to have invented them, and put them into His mouth, as for a man to have uttered them. Let it be carefully noted then that the proof of the origin of the sayings attributed to Christ lies in those sayings themselves. This must needs be so; for if indeed His words are, as He Himself said, "spirit and life" it is simply impossible that those qualities should not be discernible in them. The words which are reported to us by the Gospel-writers as the words of Christ are still with us. They speak for themselves. If Divine, they will clearly exhibit qualities which God alone could impart to them; and if human, they will plainly display the infirmities, imperfections, and limitations, which characterize all human utterances. And not only so but the marks of origin, whether Divine or human, will be such that anyone of ordinary intelligence can distinguish them upon examination. These internal evidences, which lie in and are part of the words themselves, constitute proofs of origin of the most conclusive character. For just as the inimitable lustre, the brilliancy, the hardness, and other distinguishing properties of the diamond, which are inherent in it and inseparable from it, bear testimony of the most unimpeachable sort to its genuineness, even so the words of Christ have inherent qualities, not to be found in the sayings of any other, which declare with absolute certainty their unique character and origin. One might indeed, and many do through lack of such proper care and attention as the importance of the matter demands, fail to distinguish between the genuine diamond and a sparkling bit of glass, and so are deceived to their great loss. Nevertheless, it needs only careful observation to enable one to tell, with infallible certainty, the one from the other; and it is even so with respect to the great and vital matter into which we are now inquiring. Let it then be borne in mind (for this preliminary point must needs be established and clearly recognized) that the sayings attributed to Christ in the Gospels were either actually spoken by Him, as the writers of our Gospels declare, or else they were invented by them. But if those sayings are such as never man spake, then it is impossible that man could have invented them. And the impossibility is the greater (if we may so speak) because the Gospel writers were men occupying a humble station in life, men who were notoriously "unlearned and ignorant" (Acts 4:13). The question "Whence hath this Man this wisdom?" would apply with tenfold force to them. Finally, we have to consider in this connection that there are four Gospels by different writers, each of which contains sayings attributed to Christ, and each of which contains sayings purporting to be His which are not found in the others. If, therefore, the words attributed to Christ, whether taken from one Gospel or another, are found to possess the same distinguishing qualities, then we must either believe that the words are really His, or else that there were four men, all endowed with supernatural ability, and all at the same time so dishonest as to attribute their own supernatural utterances to another person. This is, and for more reasons than one, simply unthinkable. Everything, therefore, depends upon one simple issue of fact, namely, is the statement made by those officers true? This issue of fact is not only clear and definite, but it is, we repeat, one which ordinary persons are fully qualified to decide. For everything which God has made, down to the tiniest feather on the wing of a moth, can be readily distinguished from the finest specimen of human workmanship; and one need not be an expert in order to determine whether a thing was fabricated by God or man. All that is required is that he examine attentively the object whose authorship he wishes to determine; and that is all that is required to decide the question we are now considering. For our familiarity with the characteristics of human utterances which enable us with absolute certainty to distinguish therefrom "the words of God" (if any such there be) by qualities which the former do not possess. If, however, the words, which have been reported to us as the words of Jesus Christ, are similar in their qualities to the sayings of distinguished men—philosophers, statesmen, moralists, and others who have won the admiration of their fellow-mortals—then the statement made by those constables may properly be dismissed as a mere exaggeration. A SUPREMELY IMPORTANT QUESTION The question we now propose to examine is, of all questions, the most vital to every human being; for the claims made by Jesus Christ, or on His behalf by those whom He sent forth into the world, are such that to err in regard thereto would be disastrous. If those claims be true, then to reject them means eternal ruin; whereas if they be false, then the millions who have accepted them as the very words of God were, and are, the most deluded of men. Because of this we will now examine some of the characteristic sayings of Christ in order to determine whether they are of the same sort as have been, or such as might have been, spoken by mere human beings; or whether, on the contrary, they have qualities which compel us to say that they could not have been uttered by even the greatest, the wisest, or the best of men. 1. HOW CHRIST SPOKE OF HIMSELF IN RELATION TO MANKIND It is most certain, as will be clearly seen upon examination of the records, that Jesus Christ spake of His personal relation to the human race as never man spake. The difference in this respect between His words and those of any other with whom He could be compared is incalculably great. Take as an example the words of John 7:37-38, which apparently the officers heard: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water." Certainly none of the great ones of earth ever spake like that, or could conceivably have so spoken. If we try to think of some prominent personage, whether of the past or present, into whose lips we could put those words, the impossibility of so doing will be evident at once. The boastfulness, the self-confidence, the pretentiousness of man have indeed gone to extravagant lengths; but none ever did or ever could claim to be, to his fellow mortals, or to do for them, what Jesus Christ habitually and consistently claimed to be, and to do. Moreover, had any mere man, however illustrious, claimed to be, to all mankind, what Christ’s words claim for Him, he would have evoked only scorn and derision. Yet none who read the Gospels are aware of the slightest incongruity in such sayings on the lips of Jesus Christ; for they are in perfect keeping with the Personality there revealed. It follows that the only way whereby the sayings attributed to Him can be accounted for is by assuming that the One pictured in the Gospels was a real Personality, and was truly the Son of God. In John 6 we have the account of the miraculous feeding of the multitude with the five loaves and two fishes; and there we read that Christ spake of Himself to the crowds who had witnessed and benefited by that miracle, as the bread of life, saying, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"; and again, "I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever"; and again, "Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:35; John 6:51; John 6:53). Here again are words such as never man spake, either before or since. For these sayings are not only radically different from all others whereof we have a record, but they make a claim so stupendous that we cannot even imagine a mere man giving utterance to it. Again, in the eighth chapter of this same Gospel is found a saying of Christ wherein He speaks of still another relation which He claims to sustain to all mankind. He there says, "I am the Light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). Thus, in three successive chapters of John’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ announces Himself as the Bread of life, as the Water of life, and as the Light of life. These are relationships which are so impossible for a man to occupy towards his fellowmen that we cannot conceive of a mere human being claiming the power to fulfill them. Moreover, Christ presents Himself in those relationships not only to men of His own day and nation, but to men of all nations and all generations. Assuredly then we can say, and without fear of contradiction, that never man so spake since the world began. No saying has ever spread so widely, or has moved so many hearts, as that of Christ in Mat 11:28-30 : "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." This one saying, if we had no other, would fully justify the statement of the officers. It has all the sublimity of an utterance of God, yet it comes from the lips of a man. Here is One who, though meek and lowly in heart, yet calmly and confidently offers to revive all the weary and heavy-laden ones of earth, even as many as will "come" to Him. It is the saying of One Who is conscious that He has at His disposal the resources of omnipotence. But more than that, it calls upon all men to submit to His authority, and to put themselves under His instruction. He thus presents Himself as the Lord and Teacher of all, making, at the same time, the stupendous promise that He will afford "rest" for every soul. Most assuredly we can say it is simply impossible that any man should so speak. Another saying which is worthy of special attention is that spoken at the grave of Lazarus: "I AM the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). In the majesty of its form and the sublimity of its thought this saying is manifestly Divine. No man could conceive such an idea as this—which indeed is the basic truth of Christianity—namely, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead carries with it the resurrection also of all His believing people. And no man could have expressed that idea in words of such majestic simplicity and power. With all possible emphasis and conviction we set to our seal that never man so spake. It would require many pages to set forth and to comment upon all the sayings of Jesus Christ in which He has spoken of the relation in which He stands to all the world. He speaks of Himself as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life"; as "the Good Shepherd," come to lay down His life for the sheep; as the One who has power on earth to forgive sins; as the One to whom all authority is given in Heaven and on earth; as the One who will return in power and glory to judge all nations and all men; as coming from the Father, and returning to the Father; and as being One with the Father. No man ever so spake, even in the moments of greatest self-exaltation, or in the wildest flights of imagination. But to Jesus Christ, on the contrary, such sayings were habitual, and they are perfectly consistent with all His words and actions. Hence we have, in this class of sayings alone, quite enough to force every candid mind to the conclusion that what those constables declared concerning Him was true. In this connection we cannot refrain from pointing out (though it carries us beyond the scope and purpose of this branch of our argument), that if any mortal man could conceivably have said of himself, and of his relations to other men, the things which Jesus Christ habitually asserted of Himself, he would have become an object of ridicule, or would have been regarded as a victim of insanity. In the case of any mere man the utter falsity of such pretensions would be quickly and clearly apparent to all. In the case, however, of Jesus Christ, not only were those sayings accepted by the men of His own day and generation as being in perfect harmony with His personality, but the history of nineteen centuries bears testimony to the convincing fact that men of all nations and languages, and of all ranks and degrees of intelligence and learning, have received those utterances as the literal and exact truth, and always with the result of unspeakable benefit to themselves, and of good to the communities among which they have lived. 2. CHRIST SPAKE AS HAVING SUPREME AUTHORITY Another distinguishing characteristic of the utterances of Christ is the absolute authority with which He always spoke. In this respect again (and the characteristic is exceedingly important for our present purposes) He spake as never man spake. For the sake of comparison, we would bring to mind that among all who preceded Him none had spoken with authority surpassing that of Moses. But Moses always gave his commands as preceding not from himself but from God, his invariable formula being, "Thus saith the Lord." In the most marked and significant contrast to this are the words of Christ, as for example, in His Sermon on the Mount, where He quietly assumes the power and authority to modify, repeal, and add to, the legislation of Moses, giving as the only and all-sufficient warrant therefor His "But I say unto you." In this it is manifest that Jesus Christ puts Himself before men as none other than He who gave the law to Moses. No wonder then that they who heard Him were astonished because "He taught them as having authority" (Mat 7:28-29). This remarkable characteristic of speaking as with absolute and supreme authority may be discerned in all the recorded utterances of Christ. Never is the note of authority lacking, as often it would be if He were other than "the Lord of all"; for no pretender could possibly keep his sayings on the superlatively high level that would be necessary in order to support such a claim. But in His case, whether He spoke to the leper, or to the paralytic, or to the blind, or to the lame, or the deaf, or the dead, or to winds and waves, or to the fig-tree, or to the demons, or to His servants when He sent them upon a mission, it was ever as the One whose very word compels obedience, as the One who in the beginning said "Light be," and instantly light was. In a word, every utterance of His is in perfect keeping with His own statement, "All authority is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore" (Mat 28:18-20). It is simply an impossibility (and who can fail to recognize it?) that any man could impart to his every word this Divine quality of "having authority," or that men could have invented such a character, and put into his mouth utterances which, no matter under what circumstances they were spoken, are found to be, when closely scrutinized, impregnated with the consciousness of having supreme and absolute authority. But one conclusion is possible from these facts, namely, that Jesus Christ is Immanuel, God manifest in the flesh. 3. THE LAW OF CHRIST We have already pointed out that Jesus Christ, in giving commands to men, spoke as having in Himself the authority to exact obedience from all, and that in this respect He spake as never man spake. But besides that, when we examine the laws themselves which He gave, we find them to be in the greatest possible contrast with all codes of human law, by whomsoever enacted: The basic principle of the legislation (or "doctrine") of Christ is set forth in these words: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you" (Mat 5:44). One word of four letters embraces the whole law of Christ, LOVE; for "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 13:10). Most positively we can say that never man so spake. This point cannot be stated too strongly. For in marked contrast with the law of Christ is the sad truth that men are, by nature, "hateful and hating one another." It is in the heart of man, in order to gain some advantage for himself, to do harm to others, even to the extent of taking life; and all legislation must needs take cognizance of this fundamental trait of human nature. But Jesus Christ announces on earth a sphere of government—a kingdom—whereof the organic law is directly contrary to the rules which universally govern human conduct, a law which no man can keep until a new heart is created in him (Rom 8:7). We do not stop to discuss the questions which are sometimes raised as to the application of the Sermon on the Mount; for we are at present undertaking only to point out that in promulgating the law of His Kingdom, Jesus Christ spake as never man spake. And this brings us to another distinguishing characteristic of the law of Christ. Every law has what are called its "sanctions," that is to say, those provisions or accompaniments of the law which are relied upon to secure its enforcement. But whereas, in all human legislation, we find that the sanctions are in the nature of pains and penalties, to be visited upon those who fail to keep the law, here we find as the constraining motive merely this: "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mat 5:45). And He adds, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," a saying which none other ever spake or could have spoken. Mr. William J. Bryan, speaking of the law of Christ as given in the Sermon on the Mount, well and truly says, "This code in itself would be sufficient to set Christ apart from mankind and put the stamp of Deity upon Him." 4. CHRIST SPOKE WITH PERFECT ASSURANCE The limits of human attainment in all branches of knowledge are very restricted. For though a man of relatively great capacity should specialize all his lifetime upon a single subject, his knowledge thereof would be, in the end, but partial and imperfect. And not only so, but such a man, even when speaking on the subject to which he had devoted a lifetime, would betray uncertainty as to some points, and complete ignorance as to others. Moreover, when the views of any specialist are committed to writing, they are always found to require correction by those coming after them. But in Jesus Christ we have an exception. In all His recorded utterances, and on whatever subject, there can be found no suggestion of a limit to his knowledge and not the slightest trace of uncertainty. There was indeed one matter (the precise time of His coming again, Mat 24:36; Acts 1:7) concerning which He said that it was known only to the Father. But this seeming exception does but make His assumption of absolute and complete knowledge of all things the more marked and impressive. And it must be remembered that Jesus Christ spoke not on one subject only, as a man of learning might speak concerning some topic upon which he has concentrated the efforts of a lifetime, but on a great variety of subjects. He spake of things past and things to come, of things in heaven and things in hell, of the hidden depth of the human heart, and of the unuttered thoughts of those around Him; yet He ever spake as having perfect knowledge of all things. No utterances of His betrays the slightest uncertainty as to that whereof He was speaking, or indicates on His part the consciousness of any bounds to His knowledge; nor has any statement of His been found to admit of correction. Truly in this we must say, and with peculiar emphasis, "Never man spake like this Man." 5.CONCERNING HIS MISSION AND ITS FULFILMENT Jesus Christ repeatedly declared that God the Father had sent Him into the world for the salvation of sinners. His whole life—all that He did and all that He said—was in perfect harmony with that declaration; and indeed, from His first recorded words, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business," to the triumphant cry upon the cross, "It is finished," we find Him ever in the consciousness of having come into the world for one definite purpose, the salvation of men. But under this heading we wish to direct attention to the way whereby, according to His own words, He was to accomplish the work of redemption. When we examine what He said on this subject from time to time we find that the cross was ever before Him. Thus, upon His first visit to Jerusalem after the anointing for His public ministry, He said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up," speaking of "the Temple of His body" (John 2:19-21). To Nicodemus He said that He must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in order that those who believe on Him should not perish (John 3:14-16). In His first commission to the twelve He spoke of those who would follow Him, taking up the cross (Mat 10:38-39). To His disciples He spoke again and again of the "needs be" that He should be crucified, and should rise from the dead the third day (Mat 16:21; Mat 17:22-23; Mat 20:17-19). Words fail to describe how radically different all this is to the sayings, or to the thoughts, of any mere man. It is manifestly beyond the range of possibility that any man should have conceived of such a thing as that God Himself, the Creator and Judge of men, should come unto His own creation "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin," "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," and that "He by death might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil" (Rom 8:3; Heb 9:26; Heb 2:14). But the wonder to which we are here directing attention goes beyond even this. For the Gospels present to us, in Jesus Christ, One Who, from the very first, revealed by His words the consciousness that the mission for which He had come, as a Man among perishing men, was to be accomplished, and could be accomplished only, by His own sufferings and death; and Who even’ spoke, definitely and repeatedly, of the very death He was to die, and of the time He was to lie in the grave. And all this is the more impressive because even His own disciples understood not those sayings of His until after His resurrection (see John 2:22; Mark 9:32, &c). These facts give truly immense significance to the declaration of the officers, "Never man spake like this Man." 6. JESUS CHRIST, IN HIS UTTERANCES, BETRAYED NO CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN OR LIKE HUMAN INFIRMITY Here we have another remarkable characteristic of the sayings of Christ, one which is sufficient in itself to set them apart from all other sayings. We ask that the closest attention be given to this point; for it is our deep conviction that the quality we are here considering should, without reference to any others, carry every candid mind to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was indeed God manifest in the flesh. To the Jews who were disputing with Him He could fearlessly say, "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" (John 8:46). No mere man ever spake like that. This challenging question followed the incident of the woman whom the scribes and Pharisees brought before Him, and concerning whom He said, "He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her" (v.7). That simple remark was enough to convict every one of them of sin, notwithstanding their professed righteousness. But none could convict Him of sin. There is, in our opinion, no quality of the words of Christ more distinctive, or of greater evidential value, than the entire absence therefrom of all consciousness of sin, failure, shortcoming, mistake, or other like infirmity, common to man and conspicuous in the character and conduct of all men. This is the more impressive because He did not obtrude upon others the fact of His sinlessness. The quality we now speak of appears only upon a close scrutiny of His words; but it is clearly and invariably inherent in His utterances. When He spoke of sin as He often did, it was always as of a thing foreign to Himself. To the woman in this chapter (John 8), He said, "Go, and sin no more"; and so also He said to the impotent man in John 5:14. Again to the Jews in chapter 8, He said, "Whosoever committeth sin is the bond slave of sin," and then immediately referring to Himself, as by way of contrast, He added, "If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (v.34-36). In these words He not only implies strongly that sin had no hold upon or place in Him, but He also declares His power even to set others free from its servitude. This strong implication of His own freedom from and mastery of sin is more convincing for our present purposes than even the direct assertion of His sinlessness. Much more might be added upon this point, but we cannot now dwell upon it. If, however, the reader will review all of the Lord’s recorded sayings on the subject of the sins and evil deeds of men (see for example Mark 7:21-23) he cannot fail to be forcibly impressed with the fact that these are not the words of a mere man, and are not words which could possibly have been spoken by one who had the consciousness of sin, infirmity and failure in himself. So also, it will be apparent that they could not possibly have been invented by sinful men, and put into the lips of another. It far transcends the ability of man to create an imaginary character, and to cause him to speak on all occasions and under all circumstances in such words as exclude all suggestion of the sinful infirmities that are common to mankind. Only in one way can the utterances of Christ be accounted for, and that is by regarding them as the real sayings of One Who, though He was in all points tempted like as we are, was yet "without sin" (Heb 4:15). For never man so spake. 7. CHRIST’S MESSAGE WAS FOR THE POOR, THE SINFUL, THE LOST Here we have indeed a striking feature of the public utterances of Jesus Christ, and one which is sufficient in itself to distinguish them from all others. For although He came expressly to announce and to set up a kingdom, yet He did not seek to attract to Himself the influential, the rich, the leaders and teachers, the men of rank and station. His kingdom was for "the poor in spirit," and His message and ministry were for the sinful, the afflicted, the outcast. From the very beginning He declared He had come "to preach glad tidings to the poor" (Lu. 4:18). Very distinctly and with emphasis He said, "I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Mat 9:13); and again, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Lu. 19:10). With the utmost assurance we can say that never man so spake, and that no one could have conceived of a man so speaking, or coming upon such a mission. This remarkable characteristic of the message of Christ was made the main ground of the famous attack upon Christianity by the infidel philosopher Celsus, early in the third century. His strong objection was that the appeal of the Gospel of Christ is to the sinful and the lost, which was proof to his mind that the gospel was spurious. This attack by Celsus tends further to show how impossible it is that the message attributed to Jesus Christ could have originated in the mind of a mere man. "In our mysteries," said Celsus, "those are invited to come nigh who are of clean hands and pure speech, who are unstained by crime, who have a good conscience toward God, who have done justly and lived uprightly. But the Christians say, `Come to us, ye who are sinners, ye who are fools or children, ye who are miserable, and ye shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.’ Christ, say they, was sent to save sinners. Was he not sent to help those who have kept themselves from sin? They pretend that God will save the unrighteous man if he repents and humbles himself," and so on. Such is indeed the thought of the natural heart, and is the corner stone of all systems of religion; for the word of the Cross, with its message of salvation to the worst of sinners, is to the wise of this world utter foolishness. Such also was the dogmatic teaching of the Jewish Rabbis of Christ’s day, for, according to their doctrine, there is nothing but the curses of the law for the sinner until, by works and merits of his own, he ceases to be a sinner, and attains unto "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees." The only ground of acceptance with God that they recognized is what is implied in the words of the typical Pharisee, "I am not as other men are, or even as this publican," to which he added, for God’s information and approbation, a recital of his own righteous deeds (Lu. 18:11, 12). This indeed is the view that would everywhere prevail were it not that the Gospel of Christ has presented to the world a totally different view of God’s way of dealing with sinful men for their deliverance and cleansing from sin. It matters not at all for our present purpose that the great mass of men refuse to obey the gospel, and reject that "so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord." For our point is that Jesus Christ spake as never man spake when He sent forth into the world a message of salvation for sinners, rebels, and enemies of God, including the complete and immediate forgiveness of all sins, and the free gift of eternal life to all who hear and believe His message. That message of Jesus Christ (Mat 28:18-20; Lu. 24:46, 47) has forced its way, by its own inherent and Divine power, against all the religious powers of the world and the prejudices of the human heart. And it has, moreover, maintained itself as a vital force and a purifying influence in the world to this day. "The words that I speak unto you," He said, "they are Spirit and they are life"; and again, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away"; and again, "He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." No man ever spake like this, claiming that his words were imperishable, and of eternal validity; and yet, after nineteen centuries, it must be conceded, even by His enemies, that His words have not passed away, and that to this very hour they show no sign of age or decay. 8. CHRIST CALLED HIS PEOPLE TO A LIFE OF SUFFERING AND LOSS IN THIS WORLD, AND TO FOLLOW HIM OUT OF IT Surely never did a leader of men, or one who sought a following, put before his hearers such a prospect as Jesus Christ has offered to those who would be His disciples. What He promises them in this world is tribulation, persecution, reproach and loss. He plainly declared that to be unknown, despised, and hated of all men for His Name’s sake, would be their portion. "In the world," He said, "ye shall have tribulation." "If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." History records how completely His words as to the sufferings of His faithful disciples were fulfilled; and yet none other has ever had followers so devoted, so willing to endure the greatest sufferings and hardships, so willing to give even their very lives for His Name’s sake. Other leaders of men have gained their following by offers of earthly gain and advantage; but the kingdoms they established have sooner or later tumbled into ruins. Did any other ever lay down such a rule of discipleship as this, "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be my disciple"? Did ever man so speak? Most certainly not. And if any other had uttered such words, would he thereby have gained a single follower? No, not one. But Jesus Christ spake these words because He was what He was, and is. His words are indeed the very expression of Himself (John 8:25 Greek). But to those who would follow Him He speaks not only of tribulation and sufferings as their portion in this life, but also of glory and honor and eternal blessedness in the life to come; and in this too He spake as never man spake. We recall, for example, those words which have encouraged the hearts and sustained the faith of countless thousands: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:1-2). Did ever man so speak? Never. 9. CHRIST SPOKE OF HIS COMING AGAIN Continuing the quotation above we have the words, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3) Jesus Christ repeatedly spoke of His coming again, which second advent will be in power and glory, with His mighty angels, and He bade His followers to be living at all times in expectancy of that transcendent event. Upon this striking and prominent feature of His doctrine we do not now dwell. It is enough just to mention it, in order to press upon our readers that no man ever so spake, nor can it be conceived that any man would so speak. 10. THE PARABLES OF CHRIST It would be pertinent to refer also to the Parables of Christ, which constitute a body of doctrinal sayings radically different from anything that is to be found even in the Bible itself. But a description of the Parables would add unduly to the length of this paper. Therefore, as to this exceedingly important class of the sayings of Christ, we must be content merely to make this general reference to them, and to say that no other ever spake the like. Such are the words of One Who spake as never man spake, and whose words have not passed away. Still they are with us, and still they affect the human heart as the words of none other affect it, or ever have. To all who receive them in an humble and contrite heart they are "the words of eternal life" indeed, as millions living even in our day of increasing apostasy can testify. But apart from their effect and influence upon the individual believer, it is a fact which anyone can verify for himself, that the words of Jesus Christ are in a class by themselves; and that from every point of view, and by every possible test, they manifest characteristics radically different from all human utterances. Therefore, by each and all the foregoing qualities, easily and clearly to be discerned in the sayings of Jesus Christ, and by others doubtless that a more searching scrutiny might discover in them, we are constrained to the conclusion that what those rude, uncultured constables said was profoundly true; and is as true today as it was then: "Never man spake like this Man." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: ART-7-THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAH ======================================================================== The Sign of the Prophet Jonah by Philip Mauro “But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mat 12:38-41). The foregoing words were spoken by the Lord when, having cast out a demon, the Pharisees said He did it through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. Following that incident, “certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from Thee.” To this demand the Lord replied in the words quoted above, and He further said, “The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the teaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Again, after the feeding of the four thousand, when He came to the coasts of Magdala, “the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting, desired Him that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS” (Mat 16:1-4). Thus, on two distinct occasions, the Lord directed attention to the Book of Jonah as containing the prophetic type of the great “sign from heaven” by which His Person and Work were authenticated of God. In view of the unique position which the Lord has thus given to the remarkable experience of Jonah, it is not to be wondered at that the Book of Jonah has been the object of special attacks by the enemies of the truth. It would be very strange indeed were it otherwise. The Lord Jesus has Himself linked His own Resurrection from the dead, upon which the salvation of sinners absolutely depends, directly with the deliverance of Jonah from the belly of the great fish. Any questioning of the one event raises a question as to the other also. This is the explanation of the special efforts that have been made to discredit the experience of Jonah. The matter stands thus: The Lord Jesus Christ linked the experience of Jonah, in being swallowed by the great fish and thrown up again, with the fact of His own death and resurrection. Nay, more, He makes the one fact depend upon the other: for He said, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He cited that Scripture, and that alone, as proof from Holy Writ that He should die and rise again. Furthermore, He testified that the Gentile City of Nineveh had repented at the preaching of one who had been swallowed up in the great deep for three days and three nights; thus figuring that He Himself, when raised from the dead, would be preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world (1Ti 3:16). It follows that to deny the account of Jonah’s experience is virtually to deny the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation fact of the Gospel, and without which there is no Saviour and no salvation. To deny the sign is to deny the countersign. We should, therefore, turn with the deepest interest to the Book of Jonah; and we should seek diligently to possess ourselves of the treasures it contains. The Old Testament is full of “shadows” of Him Who was to come. But where shall we look for more wonderful and blessed foreshadowings of Him, and of His redeeming work, than are found in the Book of Jonah? Let us trace some of them for our spiritual profit. Here we have Jonah in the vessel, with the mighty tempest increasing about, and the angry waters raised by the great wind threatening to break the vessel in pieces. That “mighty tempest” represents the righteous wrath of God against man. For mankind as a whole has, like Jonah, forsaken the mission entrusted to him by his Creator, and has turned aside to go his own way. Therefore, in order to save man from the storm of wrath and sure destruction into which his own self-willed course had brought him, God sent forth His own Son Who, as man, took his place in the world upon which the storm was about to break. Of course, the mariners made every effort to save themselves and the ship. “The men rowed hard to bring it to land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.” So the question arises which always comes to the lips of men who find themselves in a desperate situation, “What shall we do?” The mariners of the ship upon which Jonah had taken passage did not regard the storm as a mere natural phenomenon or chance event, and they rightly reasoned that it had a spiritual cause. The mariners accordingly made inquisition by lot, and by that means ascertained that Jonah was responsible for the impending destruction of the vessel. The responsibility being located, the question arose, “What shall we do unto THEE that the sea may be calm to US?” To this question there could be but one righteous answer. The one who is guilty must bear the consequences. And Jonah himself is compelled to pronounce the righteous judgment: “Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you.” Jonah was truly responsible for the trouble in that boat. Jesus Christ was not responsible for the trouble that is in the world. But He made Himself responsible. He assumed full liability for the sin of the world, making it His own, in order that those who justly incurred the consequences of sin might escape. “By one man (Adam) SIN entered the world,” and sin became the cause of every kind of evil. Jesus Christ “Who knew no sin,” was “MADE SIN for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2Co 5:21). Thus “God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and FOR SIN, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of (required by) the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:3). “We have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid ON HIM the iniquity of US ALL” (Is. 53:6). These familiar Scriptures contain God’s own answer to the great question whereof that put to Jonah is such a wonderful “shadow.” “What shall we do unto THEE, that the sea may be calm unto US?” The counterpart of that “shadow” took place when Pilate put to the leaders of the Jews the question on which the salvation of the world depended: “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” They all say unto him, “Let Him be crucified” (Mat 27:22). Pilate had no idea of the significance of the question that came to his lips. Nor had Caiaphas any idea of the significance of the words he spake when he said, “that it is expedient FOR US that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he spake not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die FOR THAT NATION; and NOT FOR THAT NATION ONLY, but also that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:50; John 11:52). And now we know, by the full light of revelation given to us, that Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate, and Herod, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were, even while following the counsels of their own wicked hearts, fulfilling what God’s counsel had determined before to be done (Acts 4:27-28). As the Apostle Peter, addressing the Jews, declared, “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But THOSE THINGS which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ SHOULD SUFFER, He hath so fulfilled” (Acts 3:18). “So they took up Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging.” In like manner the Son of God, who made Himself liable for our transgressions, was cast forth to the violence of the storm, and sunk under the waves and billows of the fierce wrath of God. “But He was wounded for OUR transgressions. He was bruised for OUR iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon HIM, and with His stripes we are healed.” And so, because of what was done unto Him, the sea has become calm unto us, and has ceased from its raging. The Apostle Peter was one of those whose understanding the Lord opened, that he might understand the Scriptures, foretelling the things which Christ must needs have suffered (Lu. 24:45). And Peter tells us that the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets testifying beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow; and that unto them it was revealed that those things (which they foretold, but were not able to understand) were ministered unto them for us, and were the very things that are now reported to us by those who have preached the Gospel unto us with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven (1Pe 1:11-12). For, as the Apostle Paul also says, “the Gospel of God was promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Rom 1:1-2). With the help of those Apostolic statements we can find many passages of prophetic Scriptures wherein the Spirit of Christ was testifying beforehand the sufferings of Christ. But no passage is that testimony more clearly given than in the prayer recorded in the second chapter of Jonah. “Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly and said: I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and He heard me; out of the belly of hell I cried, and Thou heardest my voice.” This opening sentence brings to mind the twenty-second Psalm, and the fifth chapter of Hebrews: “But when he cried unto Him, He heard” (Psa 22:24). “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared” (Heb 5:7). “For THOU hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas” (Jon 2:3). God has indeed cast our sins into the depths of the seas; but let us not forget our Saviour who bore them in His own body was Himself cast with them into the dark waters. “And the floods compassed me about; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight, yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple” (Jon 2:3-4). All these Scriptures testify that the Divine Sufferer did not cease to hope during the period when the waters of death and judgment rolled over Him. Even in those dark hours He was saying, “Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple.” So firm and unshaken was His trust in the Word of God, and so certain was He of the joy that was set before Him, that He “endured the Cross, despising the shame.” “The waters compassed me about even to the soul; the depth closed me round about; the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever” (Jon 2:6). Here is a reference to the depths to which Christ descended. “The depth closed me round about. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.” As it is written in Eph 4:9 : “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” And now comes the promise of Resurrection: “Yet Thou hast brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple” (Jon 3:6-7). The Holy Spirit now puts into the lips of the prophet Jonah almost the same words found in the sixteenth Psalm: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life.” Those words are quoted both by Peter (Acts 2:25; Acts 2:31) and by Paul (Acts 13:35), as containing the promise and prophecy of the Resurrection of Christ. We now come to the concluding words of Jonah’s prayer: “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. SALVATION IS OF THE LORD.” The result of all the sufferings of the Redeemer is stated in two words: SALVATION (is of) THE LORD.” Salvation is His own work, accomplished in His own way, for His own eternal glory and praise. Being His very own, and having been secured at His own cost, He can righteously bestow it upon whomsoever he will – even upon the least deserving. So “the grace of God bringing salvation hath appeared unto all men.” For God hath concluded all under sin that He might have mercy upon all. It is written of the Lord Jesus Christ that He not only “made peace by the blood of His Cross, but also “came and preached peace to you which were afar off” – i.e., Gentiles (Eph 2:17). The figure of this is seen in the preaching of Jonah, after his resurrection, in the great Gentile city of Nineveh, foreshadowing the ultimate conversion of all the Gentiles upon whom the name of the Lord is called (Acts 15:17). One of the leading truths to be learned from the Book of Jonah is that the salvation of God is Resurrection. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the central fact of Christianity. That is the fact which God has commanded to be proclaimed through the world. Upon this great fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity was founded. Through the foolishness of the preaching of that fact, sinners were converted, their sins forgiven, eternal life bestowed upon them, and they were gathered out from a dying world to a risen, living Saviour. Among all the varied experiences of men in this world, no man other than Jonah ever had such an experience as this. To be tossed into the sea for the express purpose of quieting its ragings and thus saving the imperiled lives of others; to be swallowed by a great fish; to be preserved alive and conscious in the fish’s belly for just three days; and to be brought up again the third day in safety and subsequently made a preacher to the Gentiles, constitute a history the like of which has befallen no other man. There it stood on the inspired page, seemingly only a tale of marvel, its significance utterly unknown to men, until the Son of God with a few words, illuminates it with Divine light, revealing in it treasures of heavenly truth of incalculable value. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/sermons-of-philip-mauro/ ========================================================================