ST JUDE’S COMMUNION, 6TH NOVEMBER 1925.
JOHN CAMPBELL gave out the question from Titus, iii. 5—”Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” We would like marks, he said, on those who could do nothing in earning salvation for themselves, and who realised that there was mercy in God through the finished work of Christ to such creatures as they were. He has become precious to them, and they had cleansing through the washing of regeneration, and they were taught by the Holy Ghost. We would like marks on these as differing from those who seek to earn God’s favour by their own righteousness, and who feel not the need they have of mercy.
* These Notes were translated from Gaelic, which will account for the Gaelic idioms literally rendered.—Editor.
Rev. Neil Cameron
Rev. Neil Cameron, in opening the question, said:—”We have here the Apostle in his own name giving no place to man’s work in regeneration; it was not through any work of their own that they were saved. No one has been saved but those who realised that they could not give the Law of God the obedience it required. The sinner who is saved knew that he could not stop sinning; although he made vows to stop it yet he found out that he was not his own master—sin was his master. But the Apostle brings before us that this was the kind of men who were saved in every generation; those who knew or realised that they could do no work that would satisfy justice, and who knew that they were only doing evil and that continually. This is the knowledge they had of themselves. There were others who stood upon the ground of their own prayers and fastings, giving to the poor, etc.: but these are people who knew that they could do nothing and who learned that it was not in them to do good—that they could not stop sinning. This is the condition of every sinner that is saved, and their prayer has been, “God be merciful to me, a sinner”—a sinner in state and in nature. We should always keep before us that we can do nothing ourselves that will stand before God, for we are lost already for anything we can do ourselves, although it is our duty to be as careful as possible, but not to make our salvation of that. These people are a people on whom God had mercy, “not by works of righteousness which they had done, but according to His mercy He saved them.” They were not deserving men, for it was through the mercy of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost that any of the seed of Adam can be saved. A door of salvation was opened; for we closed it against ourselves, but God opened a door of mercy to poor sinners through His own Son Jesus Christ, whom He sent to this world that He might take the place of all that shall be saved, and that He would take their place before God and die their death. Christ’s obedience was not for himself, for He needed it not: but for us, poor, lost, guilty sinners. It was Christ in His obedience unto death that opened a door to God’s mercy, and no sinner can ever get mercy in another way but through this channel. I read some time ago about a man who came up to a shepherd who was sitting in a doorway to prevent the sheep from coming out, and he asked the shepherd why he had not a door there. The shepherd answered him, “there is no need; for I am the door.” We think this brings before us what is meant by “I am the door,” and no one can go in but he whom Christ will admit. Now this is news, more wonderful than ever heard or will hear—that a door should be opened to poor, guilty sinners. God had to come to the world in the nature of man, made under the law to do this; that he might redeem those who were under the law, and He had to go through death, there never was its like, in order that the children of men might have mercy. The Apostle brings before us here the work that was done in them through the death and resurrection of Christ, and the merit of His blood; they were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; and as sure as God the Son had to come from heaven to save men, so sure is it that this salvation will not be applied to us but by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost convinces the man that he is a sinner and brings him to his right mind regarding himself and regarding Christ, and makes him willing to receive Him as his own Saviour and the only way by which he can be saved. The Holy Ghost comes through Christ; for sin has separated us from God, and it is through the humanity that Christ took upon Himself that the Spirit comes to dwell with man again, and He alone can convince and can change our nature. This is a gift unspeakable. A name of godliness will not do; it may go on till death, but no farther. There must be the work of the Spirit, for nothing else will stand in that day. The man who put out the question is asking for marks on those who learned that their own works would not do, and who came through the teaching of the Holy Ghost to see the need they had of being washed in the fountain opened for uncleanness—the blood of Jesus Christ.”
John Macdonald, Gairloch
John Macdonald, Gairloch.—”Everybody knows who reads the truth that there is something in it which demands of them more obedience than they give, and someone said that it was enough to be like the people of the village in which he lived to be lost, and it was like this they came into the world, lost like others: it was not their own righteousness that saved them. I am not going to say much on how these people came to this state of being saved; but I remember reading letters composed by Alastair Gair (there were some men then who could understand his letters, and I believe there are yet some who can understand them); he said he took some time building the Tower of Babel. He was first a quarryman, then a barrow-man, and after that a “gaffer”; and I think these people took some time at this too—trying to make themselves more like good men. But how are they now, in a state of grace? Well, I think it is true of them that they see nothing right that they do themselves; everything comes short, this feeling may be more or less in some of them, but they are not without it anyway. I was thinking of Mary—see the money she spent on the box of precious ointment, which she poured on the Lord, and when the people murmured at the waste, He excused her and told them that she had done what she could; but I think that they will be saying that they did not do as much as they could; when we look again to the poor widow who put her two mites into the treasury, the Saviour said of her that she had given all that she had; Christ was quite pleased with the little she had to give, and Christ will accept of the little they do. They will be sorry how the affairs of Christ go on around them, and how they go on within themselves, and that will keep them at work from morning till night, but still they will be going to the outside too. I remember a man at a prayer meeting once, and he said that he was sitting too much in the village—they should be going out to the kingdom and the world more. I think they would like to be found in the means of grace, for they see the holiness of the house of God, and although they would have to walk a good distance, and although they would be saying sometimes that they had good books at home to read, yet they will be feeling hungry, and they will be going to the church to get food there, and this sets an example to others. I always like to follow the means of grace, and although I have now been following them for over 60 years, yet I never did as much as I should about the means outside or inside—I never did as much as I would like to have done.”
John Macleod, Harris
John Macleod, Harris.—”They were as others coming into the world, but God convinced them that they were sinners, and they began to pray and cry to God; although they knew not how to pray, and although they would like to be found sending up their cry for mercy, yet they found that they could make no prayers because of the old man in their nature that spoiled them in coming towards the way through which they could be saved; and they found out that they could do nothing to save themselves, ‘to will is present with me, but how to perform that which I would I know not,’ and this makes them heavy always; but still they are led by the Spirit from strength to strength, and they thus find out how little they can do themselves. They feel their need of the fruits of the death of Christ reaching them, and that they would be fed thus and led by Him. Those who are quickened are separated from those who go on in their own strength; it is not the same feeling they have at all, for these do not feel the evil of sin in them; but they feel that they are lost and they are afraid that they will be found, like the Foolish Virgins, without oil in their lamps, at last. They feel this at times—’If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me,’ no matter how they may be downcast at times.”
Capt. Macleod, Edinburgh
Capt. Macleod, Edinburgh.—”These people once thought that if they waited on the means of grace, and if they forsook the practices that they had and moulded the outside, that they would be all right; they were so ignorant of themselves and of the way of salvation, and thought that this would do. When the Spirit of God showed them the way on which they were, they went to works, and to waiting on the means, and some of them passed the whole night reading chapter after chapter and offered prayer after prayer and thought that this would gain the favour of God, but even one vain thought would undo all their labour when they were finished. Some went on like this for many a day until God convinced them that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight. They went on like this until their own works were all upset or turned upside down. Did they stop reading the Truth then? No. But now they became poor, poorer than ever they felt before, they are now unclean, guilty, and unable to do anything, and they can only now hang on mercy and free grace. In the mercy of God He kept some a long time and some a very short time in this condition, for we are putting before others something of what we know ourselves. Now, when the time of God came, He brought freedom to them in a word of the Truth while they were just waiting and wondering if death should come before they got relief, and although death should come to them, they would say: ‘Amen’ to justice, for they knew they were all iniquity and sin from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet. If you have not found this out, it is time you searched yourself. It is in a word of the Truth they got relief. I met a poor man once and he said that he was leaning on a hymn for eternity. See that your hope is in God’s Word. These people knew that they were unclean and guilty; but it was in God’s Word that they got their head lifted above the water as it were, as David says: ‘He took me from a fearful pit and from the miry clay, and on a rock He set my feet establishing my way.’ They have also this; they have gladness brought into their soul, for they are washed from their filth; for where is filth like sin? This filth in them caused them to be sorrowful, but now gladness came to the soul through the Word of God—’They are clean through the Word.’ Now, it is not only that, but they are regenerated through the Holy Ghost. If you saw a man who had no desire for the things of God before, but who has now been awakened and felt his guilt, you would see his mind was changed and his understanding altered—he would now hate what he loved before. You now see the man who was before with his worldly companions turning his back on them, and would never want to be with them again; just as if you saw an Instructor in the Army saying: ‘About turn,’ and if the Holy Ghost came to us we would also turn at once. The last point is, they are now questioning themselves. What questions have the world? What shall I eat, and what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed? The first day I went to the Army over 23 years ago, I was wondering what I would first learn, but I didn’t take long to find out, and that was ‘Attention’; but from that day I never ceased to learn ‘Attention,’ and God put His people to the first question in the Catechism, and they will be at it till the day of death and throughout eternity.”
Donald Macleod, Raasay
Donald Macleod, Raasay.—”These people were once disobedient and doing service to the lusts of the flesh, hating one another and being hated, but a day came on them when they were convinced of their sin, and then they did not know what to do. They would give the whole world if they had peace with God. It was while they were in this condition that light came to them, and there they saw in God’s Word, Christ as their Saviour, through the redemption purchased by Him. They are tired of what they have in their own hearts, and they feel their eyes even taking them astray; but I think they have three places where they like to rest when they are tired of themselves and of the world and of what they hear in the world—(1) in the coming of Christ into the world; (2) in His preparation for death in their stead; (3) in His resurrection from the dead.”
John Urquhart, Greenock
John Urquhart, Greenock.—”The Apostle here does not say that he had no work of righteousness. The world has works of righteousness, and the Apostle had that work when he was persecuting the Church of God. We do not know but that such a time may be near in Scotland, for he said that a time was coming when they thought they were doing what was right in persecuting the Church. The Apostle says: ‘I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.’ And if you permit me to use this: I sometimes think this, that if anything was impossible to Divine justice, it was to shake the sinner out of his own righteousness; for some people feel in their spirits that justice must shake them above the fire of hell in order to shake them from themselves. When they were shaken the creature was filled with sorrow that day, but if the Spirit left them in peace then, they were so ruined that they would go back to the same place as they were in before. When light came through the Spirit by the mercy of God to these creatures, there was sorrow in the soul, grief that was melting, and I knew some that for years after when they read: ‘He who bore our sins on the cross’ would melt down under these words. Now those who tasted of this mercy, they have love to Christ, to His cause and to His people. They are grieved when the cause is falling in the land. Perhaps the Pharisee thinks that if he keeps a whole skin before ministers, etc., he is all right, he is quite satisfied with this condition. We think these people will be feeling very empty at times, but the world will not be feeling this, for they continue on in their own element: but the children of God need something to feed on, something which the world cannot give, and they will be saying often: ‘I am like a pelican in the wilderness, or like a sparrow on the house-top alone,’ but yet although they would be like that, they cannot go with the world.”
Norman Mackay
Norman Mackay.—”We think that these people thought that they would make peace with God by and by when they were pressed, but they took such great delight in vanity, and would be there although sometimes they would be afraid God would cast them to hell; but a time came as it did to the jailor of Philippi—they heard the Word of God and they shook for fear and felt their conscience awakening, and what could they do now? They would have to flee from the company of vanity. It was not easy for them to turn, but when the Word came they were stripped of every covering; they were convinced and they felt that they were under the wrath of God. I believe the Holy Ghost by the Word now made their former state a hell to them. How could they escape? They got to know the Word of God now and to feel its power, for it comes with power upon them when it convinces or relieves. The creature cannot stop the awfulness of his conscience, but he now starts to seek peace with God, but he is as dark as a mole regarding the things of the Gospel. He sees that God is holy and just, and he also sees the sins he committed against a holy and just God and they frighten him. He thought that he could make peace by prayer and by reading the Truth and making vows to stop this and to stop that sin; he was so ignorant. He sees now that he has a never-dying soul, but the world knows not the worth of a soul, they never saw their soul shaking above hell only kept by the thread of life; if that came here to-night, you would hear the cry: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ They are afraid that hell must be their bed for ever. They came to learn that there was nothing but evil in themselves, and they began to think that the means of grace were not for them at all; they became lost, sure of it. It was while they were in this state that the mercy of God was revealed by His Word, coming with a promise to their soul. They now felt that blessing, the forgiveness of sins. Now I think these people would have to see, how can God be just in forgiving sinners? but mercy came with light from God, and that person was enlightened so that he began to see what he could not possibly think of before. The sinner under conviction could not think that God was ever going to have mercy on him; but now they have peace with God through Him, who was bruised for their iniquity; they saw it all before their eyes, they went back to eternity and saw that it was there that salvation was planned. They felt now that they were going to forsake the world and all its vanities, but there is such foolishness in the heart of a child, that although he is chastened, he will go away from the chastening rod and forget. There are marks required of the other side. Well, there were twelve pigs came into our railway siding, and by the rules of the land we had to feed them while they were there; as we were not accustomed to these animals, we made food for them in a bucket—oatmeal and milk; but when we put it before them they would not taste it. But someone came along and told us that it was too clean for them, and that if we poured it out among the dirty dross and oil they would perhaps take it. We took their advice, and were surprised to see the brutes eat it all up.”
Alastair Stewart
Alastair Stewart.—”I believe that these people were day after day going after works to make themselves righteous, but this had to be spoiled on them. They were convinced that there was no good in themselves, and that it would be eternal death to them unless they were regenerated. This brought them to search the Scriptures until they saw that there was peace in only one way; and we believe it was precious to them that day when they saw that the justice of God was fully satisfied in Christ. But this day did not last, and darkness came again, perhaps they were as dark as before because of the nature that is in them, the hard heart, the stubborn will that will not do the will of God. They will be crying often: ‘Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me,’ and to make them worthy creatures for Himself, for that there was no strength in themselves or anything in them to do the will of God; but they were enabled to lay themselves on Him and to lean on Him alone for mercy; but the creature cannot do that unless he is born again by the Spirit. These people would like to be praising God continually.”
Neil McSwan
Neil McSwan.—”We were hearing to-night from the brethren that these people knew that works would not do, but we think that when God convinced them that they were lost sinners, they thought they could be freed by their own works, but they found they could do nothing, and felt just like lying down to die, they felt just like giving up all hope that anything could be done for them. The condition that they were in now was not an easy one, and we believe that it was only passages of the Truth that were keeping their heads above the water: if not, they would sink; it was to them like the food that kept Joseph’s brethren alive; but they could not see how they could escape eternal punishment because they were so ignorant of Christ. We believe they were afraid to face the truth of God and His Church, but passages of the Scripture kept them up, and they began to see that there was mercy in God, and they saw that God was just in justifying the ungodly who believe in Jesus, and they began that day to sing: ‘I will praise thee, for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away.’ I think they are sorry when they cannot sing the praises of this glorious One, they would like night and day to be singing His praises, and they would desire that there should be no one in the world but such as belonged to Christ; and when they cannot be singing His praises themselves, yet they would like others to be doing so, and would put their Amen to David’s prayer: ‘Let the whole earth be filled with His glory, Amen and Amen.'”
Alastair Macleod
Alastair Macleod.—”Some think that if they follow Christ’s example, which they cannot do if they knew themselves, that God will not put them to hell, but God’s children have not this delusion; they know that they can do nothing to save themselves; they are poor in themselves, but they keep close to God’s Word in all their steps.”
Donald Macrae
Donald Macrae.—”We heard a lot about these people here to-night, and I cannot say more than we heard already, but many a day they took at this work of trying to gain God’s favour by their own works; reading the Word and waiting on the means, and although their conscience was convincing them that that would not do, still they would be going back to these things; but they will not go back to their former ways. They are brought to learn that their own works will not do, and that ‘By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight.’ They learned that they could never give perfect obedience to God’s law, and that they were under its curse and could never free themselves until the Word came with power and revealed to them the redemption purchased by Christ. They were enlightened and made to see that this was the way opened by God to poor, guilty sinners; a way in which justice was satisfied and the law glorified; and they by looking to this Person saw this was the way opened by God in His mercy, and they were brought to say as the Disciples said to Christ: ‘To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’ Their own works became filthy to them, but the obedience and death of Christ became all in all to them, and they are brought to lean on Him alone. They will very often have the prayer of the poor publican: ‘Lord be merciful to me a sinner.'”
Rev. D. A. Macfarlane
Rev. D. A. Macfarlane closed “the question.—[Only the beginning of what he said is given here.] “We have heard a lot this night from the brethren, and we should be praising God that He is keeping the truth before us yet and that we heard what we heard here. We heard that where the work was begun that there will be a desire to praise God for His mercies. We should ask the blessing of the Spirit on what the brethren said to-night. You heard many things that are suitable for you to teach and instruct and comfort you. We should be seeking to put our Amen to Paul’s words: ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.’ We must say we think we like to hear and are glad to hear what we heard to-night, we are not saying this in a way of flattery, far be it from us; but these words came before me when I was listening to the brethren: ‘They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus’ (Acts iv. 13). Blessed be God, there are brethren yet who have been with Christ. Let us then acknowledge the goodness of God, in that we could say in sincerity that we feel that we rejoiced in the words of the brethren. As one said: ‘Let the earth be filled with His praise’; we would like, we think, that although we could not say it ourselves that others would be saying so. The carnal world will be wanting you to come and learn its ways, but we should be praying to God that He would make us His soldiers, and that we would not be going ‘About Turn’ to the things of the world. Let the words of the brethren to-night be fields to us in which we would be going in and out and finding pasture in the coming days.”