NOTES of a sermon preached by the Rev. A. F. Mackay, M.A., retiring Moderator, at Inverness, on Tuesday, 21st day of May, 1946. The apostle was concerned about the welfare of the Church generally for upon him lay “the care of all the churches.” His purpose in writing this epistle to the Hebrew Christians was to confirm them in Christianity as the final or ultimate religion for which the whole Jewish economy was the preparation. The most notable feature of Christianity or the Gospel is its grace, the full and free favour of God, revealed in Christ Jesus and declared to sinners in the Gospel, and he felt that the best security which believers could have was to be established in this grace or the doctrines of grace, as opposed to the “strange doctrines” which, even at that early period, were beginning to disturb the Church. The danger was that the ill-informed, or those slightly acquainted with the principles of Christianity, would be drawn away from the Gospel and turned to error. For unstable souls this was a real danger. The gospel cannot suffer to be adulterated. There is but one faith, declared by Christ and His disciples, and whatsoever does not agree with it or is opposed to it must be disowned. Whether the question were concerned with “meats” as in this epistle, or with “circumcision and the keeping of the law,” as in the epistle to the Galatians, the results were the same: it meant proclaiming another gospel. The faith of the believer would be overthrown and the Apostle’s labours in vain; dishonour would be done to the work of Christ, to His righteousness and sacrifice, if the works of men were put in their place. To the Galatians, he declared that they were in danger of falling from grace and coming short of eternal salvation if they trusted in any other foundation other than the cross of Christ. And to the Hebrews he showed that “meats” only entangled them in uncertainty and doubt and must be fully renounced; “they must go forth unto Him without the camp.” They were exposed to great temptations and their safety lay in being established with grace. If religious principle be strengthened and confirmed in them, error would lose its attraction and cease to have the power to pervert them. In the religious restlessness and unsettlement of the present time, this great truth needs to receive prominence once again.
You will notice that there is an intimate connection between these and the preceding words reminding the Hebrew Christians of those teachers who had gone before, the end of whose conversation was “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” My friends, the ministry which will establish the believer is the ministry which exalts Christ, especially the unchangeableness of Christ. How precious is such a ministry! Christ continues the same in the church for ever. Upon the person and office of Christ depend the great doctrines of the faith, and from His immutability is derived the “faith which was once delivered to the saints.” In the hand of God the gospel ministry is the great means of setting forth the sufficiency of Christ to meet the needs of sinners; when the things of Christ are revealed, His righteousness, obedience, saving work, His grace and power, they are found to be sufficient to save us from the wrath to come. His suitability is clearly explained; the doctrine of Christ is exactly adapted to our state and when clearly understood is seen to be the very thing to supply all our wants. The glory of Christ must always be the end of the gospel ministry; “we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” The great want of the times is a ministry of this nature. We need men who, as in the days of the apostles, will preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. It is because of this great want that the religious condition of our country is so dark and depressing.
1. The state of which the text speaks is “the heart established with grace.”
The heart is the seat of evil, “the heart is evil above all things and desperately wicked.” It is impossible to measure the sin that is in the human heart for every seed of wickedness dwells in it. It is because there is in him an “evil heart of unbelief” that man departs from the living God. The sins which proceed out of the heart defile the whole man. It is, therefore, the heart that is spoken of as being established with grace, for upon its state depends the thoughts that pass through the mind or the desires that arise in the heart. It may be possible to conceal the true state of the heart from others, and to refrain from the outward commission of sin, while its reign is unbroken within. If it is brought under the influence of religious principle, its evil will be checked and the love of God receive a place within it. The need of a new heart or conversion is therefore apparent for sin is a disease which affects the whole life and will end in death, unless removed. The Lord promised to Israel that, according to the new covenant, He would make with them, a new heart would be created within them, but this promise was reserved for its greater fulfilment for the days of the Gospel, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.” The writing of the law upon the heart and the putting them in the mind foretold by Jeremiah is the remedy provided by the gospel, the gift of a new heart upon which the Lord would write His law; in other words, the gracious work of regeneration. It is not only the forgiveness of sin that is necessary, but provision for future obedience, the heart must be made right with God. A new relationship is entered into and new dispositions formed in the heart. Obedience proceeds from an inward principle, love to God, and is given with the whole heart. Because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, the believer hates sin in the heart as well as in the outward life. “I will run the way of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart.” Although the love of sin may be removed its presence is not entirely destroyed, but the dominion of sin is broken and the believer has this encouragement in the struggle with the evil that daily perplexes him in his heart, that the law of God is his delight.
The power to effect this transformation is the grace of God. No one who sins will ever, of his own accord, return to God. The natural state of every human being is that of alienation from the life that is in God. Scripture describes his condition as being “dead in trespasses and sins,” and, as the dead have no interest in the world of the living, there is no inclination towards the things above. The creation of opposite feelings is the work of the Spirit of Grace. It is the nature of sin to separate the sinner from God and to confirm him in his enmity and hatred of God. It is only the supernatural power of God that can reach the seat of evil in the heart and bring about this striking change. Convictions of sin and wrath will not do it. A sinner may be greatly awakened and deeply impressed and feel concern for his soul, but the impressions of natural men soon wither and disappear. Some may feel the need of conversion and make resolutions to amend their lives and may keep these, but the trouble lies much deeper, and until the heart is changed the need is as great as ever. Nothing short of the almighty operations of the Spirit of God can bring a sinner to feel that he is truly lost and needs the righteousness of another. Everything that is holy and saving in its nature comes from above, and the power which will give a man confidence in the sight of God and make him steadfast in the faith of the gospel amid the deadening influences of earth must originate there. The believer is a debtor to the saving grace of the gospel, not only for the commencement of salvation, but for its continuance and final consummation. The apostle Peter, when speaking of the salvation which began to be revealed to the prophets through the sufferings of Christ, exhorted the Christian believers to “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter i, 13). The salvation which would bring the entrance into the kingdom above was to be of grace.
“It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” The religion of the Bible never leaves a man in uncertainty, but produces stability in the things of God. When the believer has tasted that the Lord is gracious, he has the evidence within himself of the truth of the Bible and depends for his opinions not upon the testimony of men but upon the power of God. The faith of the believer is the work of the Spirit and cannot be shaken by human speculation or persecution of enemies. The apostle Paul was a bitter persecutor of the church, but when the power of Christ overcame his persecuting zeal and subdued his rebellious spirit, he immediately began to exemplify the truth and power of the Christian faith. We read that “straightaway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” Up to the time of his being arrested on his way to Damascus, he was a follower of the Jewish faith, which he learned at the feet of Gamaliel, but the change wrought in him by the Spirit of God was unmistakable. It was more than a change of opinion, or a preference for the Christian faith, it was an entire change of heart; a change of principles and motives and actions wrought by the influence of the Holy Ghost. This is the experience which gave definiteness and conviction to his views of the gospel and Christianity. Many believe in God and in His mercy, but not in His Justice, or the depravity of the human heart, or in salvation through the blood of Christ, or in eternal punishment. Such a foundation is weak and unstable. Where there is no love for the doctrines of the gospel, there is indefiniteness of belief, as is so prevalent to-day showing itself in a dislike of creeds and systems of religious belief. But if the heart is touched by the love of Christ, the believer will hold the principles of the gospel with determination and boldness. He will be ready to declare his beliefs with definiteness and clearness. The religion of the believer is certain, and he desires to be “rooted and grounded” in the views he holds. This is the condition which the text says is good and is the only safe course amid abounding iniquity and error.
This seems to be the general doctrine contained in the words of the text. The Lord requires of those who receive the gospel that they should seek to be thus established in the faith. The word of God admits of no scepticism or speculation, but is fixed and unalterable and calls for determined views and settled opinions upon its doctrines. If these have been taught, not by the precept of men, but enforced by the Spirit of God, the believer will be preserved from drifting away from the gospel. True, experimental religion is the only security against error. It is possible at the present time to discern strong tendencies which serve to unsettle the faith of many which we may briefly refer to.
2a. There seems to prevail to-day a widespread tendency to return to the superstitions of the Middle Ages.
It shows itself in the reliance upon forms and ceremonies, ritual and sacraments, which take the place of a simple faith in the word of God. When the word of God is forsaken, it is reasonable to expect that such a system which appeals to the senses, and especially to human pride, will become general. Ritualism or Sacerdotalism is opposed to the grace of the gospel. Spiritual things are hidden from the eyes and superstitious practices and external observances made to take the place of the internal saving work of the Spirit of God. Such a ruinous system depends upon the delusive, but subtle, principle which exists in the human heart generally, the desire to find salvation and peace in works of human merit. Only the gracious work of the Spirit can destroy this idea that righteousness can be found in ourselves, or that we can find something in ourselves to commend us to God. They who hold such unscriptural views can only expect to fall into still grosser forms of error. The real danger in this tendency, however, is seen in the form in which it has found its fullest expression, namely, in Romanism.
The Church of Rome is putting forth every effort to-day to regain her lost ascendancy in our country, and her object is to bring this country back to the darkness of the Middle Ages, the darkest and dearest period in the history of the Christian Church. Until recently she cloaked her movements in secrecy, but now her efforts are no longer covert or concealed, but her declared policy is the subjugation of this land to the yoke of Rome. The success she has so far enjoyed is due to the ignorance of the word of God and blindness of heart, which reveal the spiritually backward condition of our people. She has found it comparatively easy to make progress with her claims and to spread her corrupt doctrines, when men have ceased largely to be guided by the clear statements of the word of God. Her hold upon her own people is maintained by the perversions which she has introduced into the system of religious doctrines which she has elaborated for many centuries past which obscure the free grace of the gospel, and makes human merit the ground of a sinner’s acceptance with God; Christ is given a subordinate place and the priest is made all important; tradition is exalted above scripture and, especially, the Church is made infallible in matters of faith and practice. It is fatal to remain indifferent to the menace of such a religious system, for the claims of Rome go far beyond religion; she has shown herself the enemy of progress and enlightenment. Only a false charity can tolerate the restless activity of Rome in our midst, for they extend to nearly every walk of life. Her aim is complete domination in State as well as Church.
If Romanism were a religion only, then it might be accorded the tolerance given to other religious faiths. But it is a civil and political power as well, and here lies the danger. She has her own Canon Law which, wherever she has the power, becomes the law of the State as well. This conflict between Roman Canon Law and the law of the State is revealed, in one instance, in the intolerant attitude Rome has taken up on the subject of marriage. Rome demands liberty to propagate her faith, while, at the same time, she covertly subverts the law of the land. The civil authorities seem to be quite unaware of this menace in our midst. The ambition of Rome is not only the destruction of our Protestant Faith, but the deliverance of our beloved land over to the supreme control of a foreign priest. A conquest of such magnitude may appear incredible, but is not impossible. Our love of liberty and enlightened institutions will not avail us if the Lord send our people a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. There is no security which will protect us from the menace of Rome but the strong convictions and determined views which are the fruits of the gospel when it is received in truth into the heart.
2b. There is apparent, too, a strong tendency to question the authority of scripture.
It might be expected that men would dislike the religion revealed in the Bible, the gospel in its simplicity and power. It restrains the openly ungodly and alarms the irreligious in his security. It is true that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” The Bible, in its very constitution, awakens the natural enmity of the human heart. It is unique in the world’s literature. In its sacred pages the Lord is drawing aside the veil and allowing us to look upon things as He sees them. They cast a revealing light upon events which, otherwise, would be hard to explain. When much of the Lord’s mind is given to the believer, he may read some distance into the future. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” But it is in its power of pronouncing judgment upon human conduct and especially of explaining the work of grace in the heart that the Bible is seen to be divine. We may take the case of Esau. When Esau met his brother who had wronged him so deeply and received him with every mark of kindness and affection, his conduct might be thought to be magnanimous; that, after all, there is some good in the roughest and wildest natures. It is affecting to read of how this hard, relentless man embraced Jacob and received him so kindly. But the secret of his conduct is explained when we read that Jacob had passed the previous night in prayer at the Brook Jabbok. The Lord answered his prayer and softened and turned the hard heart of his brother and constrained him to receive him with kindness and affection, when he was trembling and afraid. Here we see that the fairest actions of worldly men may be explained, not upon natural grounds, but entirely as the Lord’s work, in whose hand are even the hearts of kings to turn whatever way He wills. Or the case of Jonah. Jonah refused to bear the Lord’s message to Nineveh, but fled from the path of duty and sought refuge in a foreign country. The reason for this strange conduct seems to have been a desire to preserve his reputation as a prophet of the Lord, but the Lord pursued him with judgments until, at last, in the midst of a terrible storm at sea the sailors cast him forth into the deep as the cause of all their troubles. Then when the depth closed about him, and the weeds were wrapped about his head, and he sunk to the bottoms of the mountains, and the earth seemed to have put her bars about him for ever, he cried in his distress from the fish’s belly, and the Lord delivered him. The lesson he learned in this terrible way was that “Salvation is of the Lord.” The Lord may forsake His people temporarily and show them terrible things in righteousness in order to reveal to them His will. It is no wonder, then, that the ungodly should turn from the pure religion of the Bible with its insistence upon the Lord’s absolute sovereignty and grace.
Rationalism, however, has done a lot to weaken the authority of the Bible, especially in the form of destructive criticism. Its results have by no means disproved the truthfulness of any part of the Bible, but the dogmatic way in which they have been announced are misleading to many. True science has never been found in opposition to the scriptures, but, on the contrary, has done much to establish belief in many of its historical parts. But there is a widespread ignorance of the Bible in our land, and, views which have not been proved have been accepted without reflection. These have generally been hostile to the Bible, and have been allowed too easily to pass without criticism or question. When it has been possible to obtain the views of thoroughly competent scholars, it is seen that the Bible is not a discredited book, but has been proved to be the infallible record of the divine mind. To take the opinion of one of the greatest authorities on the Old Testament scriptures, Professor Robert Dick Wilson, of Philadelphia, at one time the renowned Princeton divine. This remarkable man seems to have made up his mind at an early age to devote his whole life to the study of the Old Testament, especially with a view to establish its integrity and trustworthiness, and, accordingly, mapped out a laborious course of preparation for the work. He devoted the first 15 years to the study of comparative philology, in the course of which he acquired facility in the use of some 30 languages which have some affinity with the Hebrew of the Old Testament. A further 15 years were given to the study of the Old Testament text, with the aid of his previous studies, and 15 more to arranging and publishing the fruits of his labours. By means of this intensive course of preparation, he thoroughly equipped himself to meet the destructive critics on their own ground, and, by subjecting their theories to a searching analysis, completely demolished most of their main or central ideas. The opinion of this outstanding scholar ought to be impressive, and his verdict upon the Old Testament is: “No man knows enough to assail the truthfulness of the Old Testament scriptures.” This verdict of the leading Old Testament scholar of a past generation is to-day being confirmed by the marvellous discoveries of Archaeology. The expeditions which went out from this country and America to excavate Biblical sites in the Holy Land have unearthed convincing evidence of the verbal accuracy of many of the Old Testament statements which received particularly unfavourable treatment from rationalistic critics. These have been made known to the public by the works of such men as the late Sir Charles Marston. Valuable as these testimonies are to the divinely inspired word of God, they can, in no sense, take the place of the internal evidence which is so vital to salvation. The clearest thinking or the profoundest scholarship cannot subdue or mortify the corruptions which are ceaselessly active in every breast. If our faith rests only upon the testimony of men or the traditions of the past, it will fail in the hour of trial. It is only by free, sovereign grace that the heart can be established. When the love of the truth is received into a heart visited by the Spirit of God, then the unsettling tendencies of the present time can no longer move the believer.
2c. There is also the prevailing pre-occupation with earthly things.
We live in critical times. Increasing worldliness and the desire for gain are slowly penetrating every class and community in the country. The Sabbath, which is the pillar of true, spiritual religion, is in danger from the flood of worldliness which seems to be submerging everything before it. No one who has the life of grace in his soul can convert this day into a day for visiting, or tramping the lanes and by-ways of the country, or for idle conversation. The declension which may remain hidden becomes marked when it takes the form of desecration of the Lord’s Holy Day. Many broken lives and premature deaths have had their beginnings in the departure from the pure, spiritual observance of this Day of Rest, for the Lord is jealous and is bound to show His displeasure where His glory is concerned. There is evidence, too, of a widespread decline of morals. Petty pilfering and the flood of immorality which threatens the marriage institution show the want of principle and religion throughout the country. Irreligion and vice are the conditions which produce divine judgments. The peril of such a time lies in the indifference to spiritual things which makes a barren profession without a holy life suffice to prepare us for heaven. The gospel of the grace of God provides the remedy which will prove effective at all times. “The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” The gospel possesses the power of cleansing away the sins and pollutions of the nation and the people, and of “purifying unto Himself a people zealous of good works,” when the Lord applies its saving doctrines to the heart and conscience. Its effect may be seen in purifying the land of its Sabbath desecration and subduing the crimes and vices of its people, because it is the great means by which sin in the heart may be destroyed. It is useless until it is applied to the source of evil, but once it has begun to pervade the different ranks of society with its cleansing, sanctifying influence, the land will be healed of her plagues and the people cleansed of their iniquity. When Christ suffered and rose again from the dead the third day, He gave directions that the disciples should preach in His name, repentance and remission of sins among all nations, and general reformation must be preceded by repentance and a general turning to the Most High. It is impossible to control vice, when it becomes general, by civil laws. It is the law planted in the heart that will produce honesty and purity; obedience is better than sacrifice and a holy life than strict attendance upon religious means of worship. Formal religion, without the habits and practices of the heart being changed, will yield no permanent results.
The appearance of religion will not do, for, in referring to Christianity or religion, we mean it in the New Testament sense of the term, the product of the new birth or regeneration. There is much religion of a superficial kind professed in the country to-day, but its influence upon the moral and spiritual life of the people is very slight. The new birth, “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” will make the believer ready and willing to devote both body and soul to the Lord’s service. Naturally, man is spiritually dead, like the tree which withered under the Lord’s curse. But when the Spirit quickens him and re-creates him, unites him to Christ and dwells in his heart by faith, he will then begin to produce those fruits of Christianity which have proved such blessings to the Church and the world in general. This is the only preservative in the midst of abounding iniquity, a thriving, vital godliness, the heart cleansed by faith in Christ and established by His grace. This is the security we recommend, which will preserve us in these dangerous, unsettled times. Seek, my friends, to have your “hearts established with grace.”