An Age of Drift

THE age in which we live has one outstanding characteristic as far as religion is concerned—it is an age of drift. We have let the moorings slip, and we have been carried down stream, and are now out on an uncharted ocean. The men who manned the ship threw the chart overboard, and neither they nor others can very well tell where their exact location is. All they can say is that, they are out on a trackless ocean with no sight of any harbour. The enormity of the insensate folly, of which Satan was the instigator, in getting rid of the Word of God as a sure and certain guide, only eternity will reveal, but in this world some of its evil is being more and more manifested. We cannot ignore the guidance of God’s sure Word, without paying the penalty which such conduct involves. One has only to read the speeches of men recognised as leaders in the religious world, or the works of the idolised writers of popular religious literature, to realize how much at sea so many of these men are. At first sight it seems almost incredible that they would give vent to such opinions as they do on momentous doctrines of the Christian faith with the Bible before them. The explanation at first seemingly inexplicable is simple enough—”they have rejected the Word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them.” These are not men lacking in gifts, for some of them possess these in a very high degree, but no gifts will ever make up for the wisdom that comes down from Heaven. Many years ago, Sir George Adam Smith made the statement that the

Higher Criticism had won the battle, and that it only remained that the indemnity should be paid. The indemnity is there for the Apostles of the new theology to collect in the religious bewilderment of thousands, the hopeless outlook for the great future of many thousands more, and the dead silence of the grave that has fallen upon so many spiritually. As the fig tree cannot bear olive berries, or the vine figs, neither can such a tree as that planted by the Higher Criticism, bear any kind of fruit but what belongs to the tree which was planted. But, in order, to view the present religious outlook, and to get some idea of the seriousness of the drift, it will be necessary to fix our attention on certain doctrines which are of vital importance to the Christian faith.

1. The true Deity of the Son of God. The New Testament leaves us in no doubt as to the supreme Deity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—He is the great God and our Saviour—God over all blessed for ever—in Him there dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. It is not simply by a collection of texts from the Apostolic writings that this great truth is confirmed, but it forms the very warp and woof of the writings of those who were His commissioned witnesses. Take it out of these writings and something vital is gone. It is one of the most manifest signs of the theological drift of the age the manner in which our Lord is referred to by men holding high position in the religious world. In the name of so-called sacred scholarship it is asserted that His knowledge was of a kind that allowed Him to be mistaken like other men on matters of vital importance. This Satanic device to undermine the faith of the Church has, unfortunately, too many advocates in the world of religious scholarship to-day. Another tendency which ultimately brings us to the same goal is emphasising His humanity at the expense of His divinity. Far be it from us to say that too much endeavour can be made of directing the thoughts of men to the spotless humanity and sinless character of the Man Christ Jesus, but we must be careful not to disturb the balance of Scripture truth in neglecting to give its due place to His Deity while speaking of His humanity. The true doctrine of the God-man is of priceless value to the Church of Christ. Any lowering of the truth here vitally affects the whole plan of redemption. The whole conception of man’s ruin, as set before us in Scripture, requires a Saviour who is not only perfect Man, but infinite God as well. With the low views entertained of

the person of our Lord there is associated an exceedingly superficial view of sin.

1. The enormity of sin. Men have lost a sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. They do not feel as they ought to feel what an evil and bitter thing it is in its power to bind men and women hand and foot in an everlasting bondage. It is treated lightly, and the shortcomings and delinquencies of men in relation to God are considered too often merely as trifles in comparison with breaches of the recognised conventions and the standards acknowledged by sinful men. But whatever men may say, the whole plan of redemption with its infinite sacrifice and those strong crying and tears of the Son of God proclaim to all that would give heed that sin is an exceedingly bitter and awful evil—an evil which required nothing short of the sacrifice of God’s dear Son to remove it out of the way for those who were given to Him.

2. Endless sin and endless punishment. Closely connected with the enormity of sin is that of its eternity. It is awful to think that in each of us there is a power that will never cease working and taking us further and further away from God, unless we are delivered by God’s great power. Scripture makes it very plain that there is such a thing as endless sinning, and as misery and sin are joined together, this means endless misery. To the Apostle Paul the wonder of wonders was that God could be just and justify a sinner. But to the modern mind the disturbing question is how can God be just and punish a sinner for eternity? The whole question turns on the view of sin. The doctrine of endless punishment, however awful it may appear, will never be flouted by those who have seen a little of what sin is in themselves and what it is capable of doing. Neither will they try to rob the unspeakably solemn words of Christ on this subject of their dreadful import, still less will they feel inclined to joke about hell or thoughtlessly consign their fellows to that dread place in cursing.

3. The infinite value of Christ’s atonement. With a low view of sin there follows as a necessary consequence a low view of the atoning death of our Lord. If sin be what we are now told it is, what need is there for Calvary with its sorrow or the Cross with its suffering, and what inexplicable mysteries Gethsemane and Calvary are. But if sin be what Scripture tells us it is, then Gethsemane and Calvary, awful and solemn though they be, are not inexplicable—for without the shedding of blood there is no remission. The shedding of that

blood sealed the blessings of the everlasting covenant. That life of obedience and suffering had a definite purpose, and in laying down His life our Lord not only gave proof of the boundless love of His heart to those for whom He died, but as their surety He met all claims of Divine Justice. Calvary’s Cross, where that blood was shed, on which the great Surety gave His life a ransom for the sins of many is unspeakably solemn, but it was from that tree of shame that the most comforting message to His Church was announced, ere the Redeemer breathed His last—”It is finished.” It would be well that His followers would meet often here—oftener than perhaps they do—not so much to view the shame, as to ponder over what the shedding of that blood meant for them, and the whole redeemed Church of Christ.

1. The work of the Holy Spirit. With an open Bible it might appear almost unnecessary to emphasise again and again that the religion of Jesus Christ is supernatural in its origin and in its implantation in the hearts of sinners; but the whole trend of modern religion proclaims the necessity of doing so. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I. Cor. ii. 14). Across that barrier no natural gifts can carry a man. The words make it plain that between the natural religion of the best living men and the religion of the truly regenerate there is a difference as great as between creation and the greatest that man can do. The Master’s own words guard the door into the Kingdom, and challenge all those who would seek to enter in to give heed to them: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again” (John iii. 5-7).

My counsel to you is, that you start in time to be after Christ; for if you go quickly, Christ is not far before you, you shall overtake Him. O Lord God, what is so needful as this, “Salvation, salvation?”—Rutherford.

I wonder, many times, that ever a child of God should have a sad heart, considering what his Lord is preparing for him.—Rutherford.