Morning Meditation

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn. 3:16,17).

It is a fact, plainly stated in the Bible, that the gift of righteousness and life in Christ has come to every man on earth. There is not the slightest reason why every man that has ever lived should not be saved unto eternal life, except that they would not have it. So many spurn the gift offered so freely.

Someone may ask, “Why are not all made righteous by the obedience of One?” The reason is that they do not wish to be. People are not simply counted righteous, but actually made righteous, by the obedience of Christ who lives today in those who yield to Him. His ability to live in any human being is shown in the fact that He took human flesh eighteen hundred years ago. What God did in the person of the Carpenter of Nazareth, He is willing and anxious to do for every one who believes. The free gift come upon all, but all will not accept it, and therefore all are not made righteous by it.

Nevertheless, “many” will be made righteous by His obedience.

Is the heart full of sin? Know that where sin abounds, there does grace much more abound (Rom. 5:20). Christ, who is full of grace, stands at the door of the heart that is sinfulness itself, and knocks for admission. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1Tim. 1:15). When Wesley sang, “Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin,” he had the authority of Romans 5:20 for it!

Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, pp. 101-104

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“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For in it is the righteousness is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1:16,17)

There is but one gospel for all men. It is not magic. There is nothing in the world that can confer grace and righteousness upon men, and there is nothing in the world that any man can do that will bring salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not the power of man.

Any teaching that leads men to trust in any object, whether it be an image, a picture, or anything else, or to trust for salvation in any work or effort of their own, even though that effort be directed toward the most praiseworthy object, is a perversion of the truth of the gospel-a false gospel.

There are in the church no “ sacraments” that by some sort of magical working confer special grace on the receiver. But there are deeds that a man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and who is thereby justified and saved, may do as an expression of his faith. “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph.2:8-10). This is the “truth of the gospel” for all time.

There is no man or body of men on earth that has a monopoly of truth, a corner so to speak, so that whoever wishes it must come to them. Truth is independent of men. Truth is of God. Whoever gets the truth must get it from God, and not from any man, just as Paul received the gospel.

God may use as instruments or channels, but He alone is the Giver.

Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, pp. 33,34.

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“As though one man’s offense judgment come to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteousness act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life” (Rom. 5:18)

We are inheritors of a sinful nature through Adam. We cannot complain that we are unjustly dealt with, and the Lord recognizes the fact. So He provides that just as in Adam we were made partakers of a sinful nature, even so in Christ we shall be made partakers of the divine nature.

But “much more.” The life of which we are made partakers in Christ is much stronger for righteousness than the life which we received from Adam is for unrighteousness. God does not do things by halves. He gives “abundance of grace.”

There has not a man lived on earth ever whom death has not reigned, nor will there be until the end of the world. There are no exceptions, for the Scripture says that “death passed upon all men.” For the reign of death is simply the reign of sin. Enoch was righteous only by faith; his nature was as sinful as that of any other man. Remember that this present going into the grave is not the punishment of sin. It is simply the evidence of our mortality. Good and bad alike die. This is not the condemnation, because men die rejoicing in the Lord, and even singing songs of triumph.

“Through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to men, resulting in justification of life.” There is no exception here. As the condemnation came upon all, so the justification comes upon all. Christ has tasted death for every man. He has given Himself for all. Nay, He has given Himself to every man. The free gift has come upon all. The fact that it is a free gift is evidence that there is no exception. If it came only on those who have some special qualification, then it would not be a free gift.

Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, pp.100, 101

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“Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts…For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:12,14)

Is it true that man can live without sin? “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Rom. 6:20. We all know what that means. Our past experience is not pleasant to look over. Why was it that we were free from righteousness?- because we were the servants of Satan. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness” (v.22).

In all our Christian experience we have left little loopholes here and there for sin. We have never dared to come to that place where we would believe that the Christian life should be a sinless life. We have not dared to believe it or preach it. But in that case we cannot preach the law of God fully. Why not? Because we do not understand the power of justification by faith. Without justification by faith it is impossible to preach the law of God to the fullest extent. To preach justification by faith does not detract from or lower the law of God, but it is the only thing that exalts it. If a Christian is committing sin part of the time and doing righteousness the rest of the time, it must be that Satan and Christ are in partnership. But there is no consort between light and darkness, between Christ and Belial. They are in deadly antagonism, even to the death.

Now the question comes: how am I going to become a servant of Christ, so I will be able to die to my old life? “To whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey” (vs. 16). The moment I yield myself to Christ, that moment I am His slave. How do I know that Christ will accept my service if I do not give it to Him? Because He has bought that service and paid the price for it.

Waggoner, General Conference Bulletin, 1891, No. 10

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“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who…made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Phil. 2:5-7)

How is anybody going to be faithful who cares particularly what people say about him, and has much respect for, or puts his dependence on, reputation? Thank the Lord, He has something a great deal better for us to depend on, and that is character. Let us not forget that Jesus, our example in this world, “made Himself of no reputation.”

The people who are to stand faithful to God in the world are to do it with respect to character only, and no question of reputation can come into calculation. Reputation will not save one. When all the power of the world stands against those who will maintain their allegiance to God, then the character of Jesus Christ is worth ten thousand reputations that anybody can manufacture.

But reputation is a big thing in the eyes of the world. A reputation is all that Satan has to offer. A statement often quoted is correct though. “The dearest treasure that mortal times afford is spotless reputation.” That was well enough for him, for reputation was all he had. He went on to say he had lost his: “O my reputation, O have lost it!” And when he had lost that, of course he had nothing to support him. He did not have character, but only reputation to depend on. The dearest treasure is spotless character; and the only spotless character is the character of Jesus Christ. And that character He gives to you and me, a free blessed gift from Him who made it.

Then let all questions of reputation go to the winds; that is where they belong. Reputation is as unstable as the winds, while character is fixed as eternity. Though Satan with all his power might succeed in saddling upon us the worst reputation he can invent, thank the Lord we have a character that will stand in the judgment.

Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1893, pp. 124,125

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“The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10) All those years when I yielded myself as a servant to sin, I have been defrauding Christ of His right. But He has been going about searching for me, and seeking to draw me to Him. And when we say, “Lord, here I am, I give myself to You,” that very moment Christ has found us as we are His servants.

But how do we know that we are going to continue in His service? Just in the same way that we know we have lived a life of sin.

When we were servants of sin, we were free from righteousness, because Satan used us at the mercy of his power. But is sin stronger than righteousness? Is Satan stronger than Christ? No! Just as surely as when we were the bond-servants of sin, it kept us free from righteousness, so when we yield ourselves to Christ, He has power to keep us from sin.

The battle is not ours, it is God’s. We will not only say, I do not want to be Satan’s servants, but, I will not be his servant. We yield ourselves to Christ, and repeat over and over again, “O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds” (Ps. 116:16). So in the hour of trial we have a victory that is already gained.

The strength of a Christian lies in submitting- the victory lies in yielding to Christ. But it does not matter how great the trial may be, if we have Christ there will be peace in our hearts.

“Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place” (2 Cor. 2:14).

Waggoner, General Conference Bulletin, 1891, No. 10

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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5: 3, 5)

God looks at what a person is, not at what he is reputed to be. What he is demonstrates the measure of the power and wisdom of God in him.

God does not set any store on official position. It is not position that gives authority, but authority that gives the real position. Many a humble, poor man on earth, with never an official title to his name, has occupied a position really higher and of greater authority than that of all the kings of the earth. Authority is the unfettered presence of God in the soul.

The brethren in Jerusalem showed their connection with God in that they “perceived the grace that was given to” Paul (Gal. 2:9). Those who are moved by the Spirit of God will always be quick to “perceive” the workings of the Spirit in others. The surest evidence that one knows nothing personally of the Spirit is that he cannot recognize His working.

Some have said they cannot see how one can acknowledge himself to be “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17) and not know it, and at the same time be rejoicing in the Lord. I would like to know how one is going to rejoice in the Lord when he thinks he is alright himself! But when one knows that he is what the Lord says he is and acknowledges that, and then finds that the Lord is so good that He will take him just as he is and fit him to stand in the presence of God through all eternity-that he has something to rejoice for. He can’t do anything else.

The Lord does not save us because we are so good, but because He is so good. And the blessedness of it is that He will bless us so much when we were so bad. And the rejoicing is that He saves us and makes us to reflect His own image, as bad as we are.

Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, p.34

Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1893, p.178

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“He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it’” (Luke 9:23, 24).

Men start out on dangerous expeditions-some to conquer a country, and when they reach that land they burn the boats they came in, so they cannot go back if they desired to.

Here is this pleasure and that indulgence; can I give them up? They have been very dear to me, entwined around my very life. They show themselves in my countenance, embedded in my character, a part of myself. I have clung to them as I cling to life itself. But Christ was not in them, they do not savor of the life of Christ. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. Can I, for the sake of sharing that joy, endure that cross?

There is the joy of having an infinite power working in us. For that joy, which we can have now, are we willing to give up everything and become sharers of the sufferings of Christ? This is a joy that will last forever, so let us burn the boats and the bridges behind us!

Says one, “I’ve tried to give up these things before, and I’ve fallen again; now how do I know but what I shall fall again?” You are not making a new resolution this time, you are not turning over a new leaf and saying that you’re going to do better. You’re merely letting the old life go. Simply say, “I know there is power in God. And the same power which spoke the world into existence and which brought Christ forth from the tomb-into the hands of that power I yield myself.” This from a human standpoint is impossible; difficulties arise on every hand. But we go forth in faith that He who can cast down imaginations in our hearts and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, can bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. He can do that work. It was the same power which caused the walls of Jericho to fall down before the people of God.

Waggoner, General Conference Bulletin, 1891, No. 10

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“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil” (Ex. 23:2)

Neither names nor numbers have anything to do with determining what is truth. It is no more mighty nor to be accepted more readily when presented by ten thousand princes than when maintained by a single humble laboring man. And there is no more presumptive evidence that ten thousand men have the truth than that one has it. Every man on earth may be the possessor of just as much of the truth as he is willing to use, and no more.

He who would act the pope, thinking to hold a monopoly of the truth and compel people to come to him for it, giving it out here and withholding it there, loses all the truth that he ever had (if he really had any). Truth and popery cannot exist together. No pope, or man with a popish disposition, has the truth. As soon as a man receives the truth, he ceases to be a pope. If the pope of Rome should become converted and be a disciple of Christ, that very hour he would vacate the papal seat.

Just as there is no man who has a monopoly of truth, so there are no places to which people must necessarily go in order to find it. The fact that truth was first proclaimed in a certain place does not prove that it can be found only there, or that it can be found there at all. In fact, the last places in the world to go to with the expectation of finding truth are the cities where the gospel was preached in the first centuries after Christ, as Jerusalem.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a place that was “little among the thousands of Judah” (Micah 5:2). Nearly all His life He lived in a little town of so poor repute that a man in whom there was no guile said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It is no farther to heaven from the smallest village or lonely cabin that it is from the largest city or the bishop’s palace. “The High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity whose name is Holy” dwells “with him who has a contrite and humble spirit” (Isa. 57: 15).

Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, PP. 34,35