Pastor Russell is here today, in attendance upon the I B S A Convention. His address to the Bible Students was based upon 1 John 2:1 -"We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." He said:
For some time we have been deeply impressed with the thought that no one can have a proper understanding and appreciation of the Plan of God unless he has taken the steps of repentance from sin, of faith in Christ as his atoning Sacrifice, and of full consecration to God. We have noted that many who express great appreciation of God's wonderful Plan of Salvation still neglect or postpone the giving of themselves to God. This is a serious mistake. When one sees that he is a sinner, the first thing that he should do is to repent of his sins and accept Christ as his Savior. Then he should dedicate his life to God, yielding up his will to be guided thenceforth by the Divine will. After these steps have been taken, the individual is for the first time able to have a heart appreciation of Heavenly things.
One who is living in unrepented of sin is in no condition to appreciate the deep things of God; for Jehovah has declared that "none of the wicked shall understand," but only the Heavenly wise. (Dan. 12:10.) God does not wish these glorious things to be understood by the wicked or even by those who prefer earthly things. The Lord is not trying now to break men's hearts. The very reverse is true. It is His design to bind up the broken-hearted those whose hearts are already broken by the experiences of life. The Message of God speaks peace to those who are looking to Him and seeking for the righteousness which He will provide.
Some, we think, have made a great mistake in thinking that the Gospel is a hammer wherewith to break men's [HGL868] hearts. We believe that the Devil does a great deal of the breaking of hearts, but we know of no commission from the Lord for His people to do so. In the great Time of Trouble, even now coming upon the world, many hard hearts will be broken because of conditions resulting from man's selfishness and sin. This breaking up of men's hearts will do them good, bringing them into a humble, teachable condition where the Voice of God may be heard. During the incoming Age, the Lord will take away the stoniness of heart from mankind and will give them hearts of flesh. Instead of being callous and selfish, men's hearts will gradually become soft, tender, kind, gentle. Eze. 11:19; 36:26
But now, in advance of the Messianic Kingdom, God is seeking those whose hearts are already in a receptive attitude. On one occasion our Lord Jesus quoted, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (Christ), because He hath anointed Me to preach Good Tidings to the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." (Isa. 61:1-3.) This is the Divine commission for the Gospel Age. So we are especially to seek for the meek, the teachable. The proud and haughty are not in the heart attitude to be blessed by the Gospel Message. The Lord is not looking for such characters to compose the Body of Christ. He will deal with them later.
This is an important point to be borne mind by those who desire to present the Truth to others. If, when the Message is being presented, any attend who have not the hearing ear, it will bear no fruit in them. But as Christian people we should know how to deal with such. We should give them the thought that they will not see the Divine Plan clearly unless they fully consecrate themselves to God and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for unless one becomes a New Creature in Christ he will never understand the Divine Plan. 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 2:14
But if the Lord's ambassadors find one who realizes that he is a sinner weary of sin, and who feels his need of a strong Burden-bearer, a Savior, let them remind him of the Master's words, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest." Point him to the right path, and say, "This is the way; walk in it." Show him the steps which he must take to become a disciple of Christ. The step of turning from sin is sometimes spoken of as conversion, and it is a conversion to some extent. Whoever seeks to draw near to God will seek to leave sin. Whoever continues to live in sin wishes to be far from God.
The repentant one must not only turn from sin, but must accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. He must turn fully to God and give himself, with all that he has or hopes to have, to the Lord in entire surrender. He must renounce his human nature to be a joint-sacrificer with the Lord Jesus, in order that he may be begotten to the new spiritual nature, to be thenceforth a New Creature in Christ. Then our Lord Jesus becomes his Advocate. He receives the robe of Christ's imputed righteousness, covering all his imperfections.
An advocate is one who pleads the cause of another, standing as his representative. The word is used as a synonym of the word attorney, lawyer, a representative of a court of law. All mankind, represented in Father Adam, stood before the Divine Court of the Universe. Father Adam was on trial, and was sentenced to death. He was a sinner, and all of his posterity have been born in a sin and death condition. If any of the Adamic race would now come back to the Divine Court and ask that as far as he was concerned the record of sin be blotted out, the great Court of Heaven would say to him, "We cannot receive you; for We do not receive sinners. The only way to approach Us is through the Advocate whom we have appointed Jesus Christ, the Righteous."
Our text says, "We (the Church) have an Advocate with the father." Our Lord Jesus Christ became the Advocate of the Church after His resurrection, when He ascended on High and appeared in the presence of God for His followers. (Heb. 9:24) This word "appeared" is a legal term. A lawyer appears for his client when he goes into court and gives his name as his client's representative. Thenceforth the court refers to the lawyer anything that it has to say regarding that particular case. When our Lord ascended on High, He appeared in the Divine Presence for His Church, not for the world. The world wishes to forget God, having no hope and busy with its own affairs. Furthermore, Satan has so blinded the majority of mankind that they do not desire to have an Advocate with the Father. Only a few feel their need of an Advocate those who desire to come into fellowship with God.
Our Lord Jesus appeared for the whole Church at once; for this was the Divine arrangement. In His wisdom God foreknew just what He would do. He had foreordained the Call of the Gospel Church, the number of the Elect and the character which they must attain. They must become copies of His dear Son. They must become living sacrifices, holy, desirous of pleasing God. (Rom. 8:28, 29, 30; 12:1) The work of the entire Gospel Age is the finding of this class; and at the very beginning of the Age Christ Jesus appeared in the Heavenly Court as the Advocate for all who would come to the Father through Him. There He made a presentation of His sacrificial merit to the Heavenly Father on behalf of the Church. He advocates our cause by imputing to us the merit of His sacrifice, thus making us presentable in the Father's presence and acceptable as sons of God. John l:12; 1 John 3:2
Because of this advocacy those who have offered themselves in full consecration to God have, through Jesus Christ, received the Holy Spirit and have been begotten as New Creatures. As such they still need their Advocate; for they cannot do the things that they would cannot fully control the imperfections of the flesh. Hence they need the Throne of Grace and an Advocate through whom they may maintain their relationship with the Father; for although our Advocate cancelled all sins and weaknesses resulting from Adam's sin, yet there are daily trespasses, daily shortcomings, for which we must daily ask forgiveness. [HGL869]
From the moment that one who has forsaken sin, accepted Christ as his Redeemer and presented himself to God in full consecration, the old nature is reckoned dead and the New Creature is begotten of the Holy Spirit. Thenceforth his human body is counted as the property of the New Creature, and is to be quickened, energized, by the Holy Spirit of God, in order to serve the interests of the new nature. The natural tendencies must now be crucified, and the affections and aspirations trained Heavenward. This will be a continuous work until the death of the human body. But grace and help are furnished by the Lord, through study of the Word of God, through daily providences in life, through prayer, and often through the helpful ministrations of the brethren. Prunings and disciplinings will be applied by the Lord, in order that the character may be developed and crystallized, and thus the New Creature made ready for the Kingdom.
Our ability as New Creatures to endure faithfully is in proportion to our appreciation of the Heavenly things. When first we came into Christ, we saw only in a measure. We could suffer somewhat; we could sacrifice a little. God kindly veiled our eyes to an extent until we had grown stronger. Gradually He showed us more and more what was comprehended in our consecration. He showed us a little more that we could do for Him. As we followed the light, it grew brighter. Faithfulness, obedience, light and knowledge kept pace with each other.
The Christian walk is a path that "shines more and more unto the perfect Day." (Prov. 4:18) It is a path that indeed shows more and more the sufferings with Christ, but not necessarily more of unhappiness. Quite the reverse. Instead of meaning unhappiness to the true child of God, it means great joy; for the sufferings of Christ participated in by His people bring the highest and sweetest joy. As the Apostle declared, we rejoice in tribulation. We recall how he learned to rejoice in tribulation himself. In the prison at Philippi, with their backs bleeding from the scourge, with their feet fast in the stocks, St. Paul and Silas could rejoice and sing praises to the Lord because they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Acts 16:23-25; Rom. 5:1-5
The Apostle Peter, who also rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ, says that when severe experiences come upon us for Christ's sake we should remember that "the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon us." (1 Pet. 4:12-16) We are assured that in proportion as we are found faithful, and worthy to suffer for Christ's sake, we may expect a heavier, richer weight of glory in the future. So this matter of suffering with Christ in the flesh is something that the Christian can appreciate and enjoy; for it is a witness of the Spirit that we belong to Christ. Rom. 8:16-18
In His Word the Lord gives us a picture of the experiences of the Church. He tells us that we are His jewels, now being made ready to be mounted. When His jewels are all gathered and placed in the Kingdom, they are to be a royal diadem in His hand. (Mal. 3:16, 17; Isa. 62:1-3) If we are the Lord's jewels, taken from the earth to be prepared as precious gems, we may expect to receive the trials, and tribulations necessary to this end. A jewel that is uncut and unpolished is worth but little; that is to say, it would have no value were it to remain uncut. The real value is brought forth in the cutting and polishing. So the Lord gives His children, His jewels, the necessary cutting and polishing to enable them to reflect the glorious light of His goodness by and by.
A small diamond can be cut more easily, and requires less polishing, than a large diamond. The larger the diamond, the more work must be put upon it and the greater its value; and the more gloriously will it show forth the skill of the hand that prepared it. So let us hope, dear brethren, that we may be large jewels in the Lord's hands, that we may be accounted worthy of a good deal of cutting and polishing, that by His grace
"We may have a glorious part When grace hath well refined our heart."
We are instructed in the Lord's Word that when all the jewels are ready, Jehovah will "make up" His jewels. When a jeweler wishes to arrange a gorgeous collection of precious stones into a coronet, he selects with great care the stones he wishes to use, and arranges them in their places, deciding the relative position of each of the others, in order that each will shed upon the others more or less of beauty. This is called making up the jewels. This well illustrates what the Lord is doing.
Throughout the entire Gospel Age God has been gathering out from the world a select class, which He has been cutting and grin-ding as jewels, preparatory to setting them in the gold of the Divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:4) Those that contained flaws He has laid aside; for they could not bear the necessary processes, could not reflect the Lapidary's skill. Only those that would submit to all the preparation needed could be used. Now, at the close of the Age, the jewels are being "made up." They are being gathered together and arranged into a glorious Diadem. They are now being set in the gold of the Divine nature, as they are being taken one by one beyond the veil. The moment of their death is now the moment of their glorious "change." 1 Cor. 15:50-53
Glorious indeed will this great Diadem of God be when completed. But the Almighty is not to wear it upon His head. There is no such incongruous picture in the Bible. There we read that His jewels are to be a Diadem, a glorious Crown, in the hand of our God. He will so turn it around in the light that all of His intelligent creatures may behold its glory. He will show forth these priceless gems which He has been cutting, grinding and polishing for the past eighteen hundred years. Angels and men will know something of the grandeur of these jewels.
The question has sometimes been asked, "Will the world ever know the names of those who constitute this jewel class?" We answer, Yes; they will know. It is written in the Word, "and of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her." (Psa. 87:5) After the faithful Church have all [HGL870] passed beyond the veil, a complete list will be made. Mankind will know who have gone to the other side, who have made their calling and election sure, who have gained "the prize of the High Calling." 'Philip. 3:14
It is a matter of the utmost importance that we keep our name written in "the Lamb's Book of Life." It is one thing to have our names written, but another to have them remain there. If we would not have ours blotted out, we must be wholly faithful to our covenant with the Lord. We must confess Christ both by word and by our daily lives, in our business dealings, in our daily walk, in all the affairs of life; for if we deny Him, He will deny us. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, let us do all to the glory of God. Our Lord declared that if we thus confess Him, He will not deny us, but will confess us before His Father in Heaven.