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Time: Spring 1937Place: CantonScripture Reading: 1 John 4:16; John 3:16; Rom. 3:24; 4:4; 5:8; 11:6; Eph. 2:4, 8-9; Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 13:14
Last night we saw that man was born a sinner. We also saw that man has two kinds of sins: One is a power within which causes man to commit sins; the other is the outward acts of sins. The power of sin within causes man to sin; the outward acts of sins bring man into judgment. The sin within is the cause of man's perdition, while the sins without are the cause of God's righteous judgment. Because man has committed sins outwardly, he needs to be saved, and because he possesses the inward sin, he needs to overcome. Because of the many sins without, man needs to be justified before God, and because of the inward sin which compels him to sin, man needs to be sanctified within. These two kinds of sins are different in operation. God wants to save man. But in order for Him to accomplish a full salvation, He needs to deal with the sin that is within as well as the sins that are without. If God only dealt with the outward sins, man's salvation would be incomplete. The outward sins of Christians have been forgiven by the blood of Christ. Yet the inward power of sin still remains. If you ask such a Christian, "Have your sins been forgiven?" He will answer, "Yes, my sins have all been forgiven." But every day he will continue to sin. After he sins, he will come back to ask for forgiveness. This is because he has only received a half salvation. He has not yet obtained a full salvation.
If a man is ignorant of himself and does not know who he is, he will look at himself and say, "I am not a sinner. I have no need of the Savior or salvation." But once he realizes that he is a sinner, what will he do? Suppose I am in a hospital, sick and about to die. Am I the one who is desperate, or is the hospital administrator the desperate one? Unless I am crazy with a high fever, surely I will be desperate. The hospital administrator cannot worry about me. He cannot worry about all the patients in Canton. If he did, the hospital would have to render treatment to him as well. However, many sinners are not concerned about their sickness. Before the birth of the Lord Jesus, no one was prepared for the coming of the Savior. When Christ was born, no one had invited Him or made any preparations for Him. God Himself made the preparations for Him. Man was not concerned about his own sins, but God was. He wanted to save us; therefore, He prepared a Savior for us. Since man is a sinner, is it not fitting that he should die and perish? Why did God need to be concerned? Why did God need to think of a way to save us? This leads to another question: What has motivated God's salvation?
Man fell through sin and deserves death and perdition. But he has no intention to seek salvation. Salvation belongs to Jehovah. It is God who wants to save us; man has no intention of saving himself. According to God's Word, the motivation for God's salvation is His love. Those who become sinners do not love themselves. Yet God loves man. Even though man himself is not concerned or anxious, God is concerned. Man has no intention of saving himself, but God can find a way to save man. The greatest and most precious fact in the Bible is that God's thought towards man is love. In the Bible God's love has three aspects: (1) God is love (1 John 4:16); His very nature is love; (2) God loves the world (John 3:16); God's feeling toward man is love; and (3) God's love is manifested through the cross (Rom. 5:8); this is the work of God's love.
The first aspect of God's love is that God is love. What is the meaning of these words? Christians are very familiar with 1 John 4:16, which says that God is love. This means that love is God's nature. Hence, God is love. For example, I have a little brother who loves to ask questions. He likes to ask questions about wild flowers, chalk, puppies, kittens, etc. Every time I see him, I am apprehensive. I may answer two or three or even ten of his questions, but I cannot answer his countless other questions. When I see him, I address him as Mr. Question and give him some money to go away. Asking questions is part of his nature. This is why I call him Mr. Question. In other words, he embodies the essence of a question. Likewise, love is God's nature. Therefore, God is love. Thank God that He is love. Love is His nature. We must realize that the greatest revelation in the Bible is that God is love.
Second, God loves the world, that is, God loves man. Today many do not believe that God loves them and will save them freely. They think that they must go through many sufferings before they can be saved. Martin Luther was like this before he was enlightened. He knelt on the stairs of the cathedral, fasted, prayed, and afflicted his own body. He thought that this might cause God to forgive him of his sins. This is the concept and practice of many Catholics. They think that they must beg and implore before God will change His heart and mind to forgive them. This is man's biggest misunderstanding. The Bible says that there is no need for us to beg God to change His mind. His love is not affected by what we have done; He loves the world to the uttermost. God's nature is love; love is even God Himself. God's feeling toward man is just love. The biggest misunderstanding man has toward God is to think that God hates man or that He wants to punish man.
One time I came across 1 John 4:16 and John 3:16 and became almost ecstatic with joy. I put down the Bible in the house and ran out to the streets of Shanghai. I said to the first person I saw, "Do you know that God loves you?" Then I said the same thing to the second person I saw.
I know of a young man in America whose parents were very poor. The family's whole livelihood depended on the little work that the aging father did. One day the young man said to his father, "I am going to leave home." His father asked, "Why are you leaving home?" He said, "Because this family is too poor; there is not enough money for food and clothing." When the father heard this, tears came down his face. The next morning the father got up and prepared some food for the son. Handing a parcel to the son, he asked when the son would be leaving. The son said that he was leaving that very day. The father put the package in the son's hand and accompanied him for a little while. They walked on the village road without saying a word. When the son was about to bid farewell, the father said, "In my whole life, I have never wanted to be rich. But last night I hated myself for not being rich. It is because we are poor that you are leaving. I feel very sad. I am giving you all that I can give you. I have put the best items in here." They continued walking together for another two or three miles. Finally, the father gave a silver coin to his son, saying, "Perhaps you will need some money. For the last four or five years, you have not seen any silver coins, only copper coins. Here is a silver coin today; it is passed on to you from your mother. Good-by, my son. May God bless you." At this point the young man saw something. He realized how much his father loved him. Even though his family was very poor, he felt that he had no choice but to accept the parcel. Then he left his father and went to a big city. He worked as a chief editor for a newspaper and earned a great deal of money. Soon he forgot his poor family. Later, the newspaper business closed, his money ran out, and he became sick. One day he took the parcel that his father had given him and went to an inn. As he was lying in the inn, he began to realize that his condition was worse than when he was at home. He did not know whether he could return home. He thought, "I cannot go home, because I did not treat my father well. Perhaps my father hates me. I did not send any money home when I was making all the money in the city. I did not correspond with anyone in the family. I wonder if I still have my father's love."
Later, he became so sick that he thought he should go home to see his father before his death. He gathered his luggage and returned home. When he got to the house, he did not go in immediately. He took a peek from the outside of the house and saw his father, who had aged even more. The furniture inside the house was as old and worn as it was before. He saw his aging father eating alone and looking very devastated. Then his father picked up his Bible and began to pray, saying, "May You be gracious to save and bless my son. May he not suffer because of the poverty at home. May he find happiness and no longer suffer so much hardship." When the son heard his father's prayer from the outside, he knew his father still loved him very much. He opened the door and entered the house, weeping and saying to his father, "From now on, even if I become the richest person in the whole world, I am not going to leave."
This is a picture of man today. He thinks that God does not love him. We have to realize that it is we who fail to love God rather than God who fails to love us. We are the ones who reject God; God has never rejected us. The Lord said to Jerusalem, "How often I desired to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matt. 23:37). The Lord is willing, but we are not willing. God never fails to love us; it is we who fail to love God. Human beings have no love; it is impossible for us to love God. However, God is love; it is impossible for God not to love. As far as God's love is concerned, the second greatest revelation in the Bible is that God loves man. God's feeling toward man is forever love.
Third, we need to see how God's love is manifested. We need to see the work of His love. God is love, and He loves man. But how does He love man? Does He show His love by simply patting us on the shoulder and saying, "I love you"? What would be the use of this kind of love? We have already seen that man is a sinner and that he needs to be saved. But man has no way to save himself. Since man has no way, God provides the way. We have no way, but God's love provides the way. Romans 5:8 says, "God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God's love was expressed by Christ coming to this world to die on man's behalf and solve the problem of perdition. Man is a sinner and cannot afford to pay the high price that is required to save himself. How does God save man? He put man's sins upon Christ; Christ received God's judgment on our behalf. When we see Christ's vicarious death on the cross, we know that God's love has been manifested. This is the third revelation in the Bible concerning God's love. There are three great revelations concerning God's love in the Bible: (1) God is love, (2) God loves man, and (3) God's love is manifested through the cross. These three great revelations give us an assessment of God's love.
The word love results in many things. Because God loves us, He does many things for us. If God did not love us, there would be nothing for Him to do. Suppose a person does not love anyone; his life will be very ordinary. However, the minute he loves someone, trouble comes. He wants to do many things for the one he loves. Because God loves man, He does many things for man. God's salvation is based on His love for man; there is no other explanation for God's salvation. He has saved us because He loves us, not because He owes us some debt or has some moral responsibility to do so. God does not have any responsibility to save us. The salvation that is spoken of in the Bible is based upon love. Love is the only reason, the only motivation, of God's salvation. If God did nothing, no one could say that He was wrong. But because God loves us, He is willing to do a great deal, even having Christ die on the cross for us.
Now let us consider how God's love is manifested. The Bible shows us that God's love is manifested in two aspects: One is grace, which is positive; the other is mercy, which is negative. There are several verses in the New Testament that put mercy and grace together. Mercy is God's perception of man's present condition; grace is God's saving of man from his present condition. Mercy is God coming to us, whereas grace is God bringing us to Himself. Mercy is God coming down, whereas grace is God lifting man. Mercy is God looking upon man's suffering, whereas grace is God granting man salvation.
Suppose a brother has ragged clothes, ill health, and a poor family. If you have compassion on him, you will have concern for his ragged clothes, ill health, and poverty. This is mercy. This is not grace, because you did not do anything for him. If you treat him nicely, provide him with clothes, food, dwelling, and some money, this is grace. Grace is your favor toward him, whereas mercy is your concern toward him. It is not enough to have just mercy. Mercy cannot solve man's problems. Grace must come in before one can receive the help.
Mercy is God coming into our midst, whereas grace is God bringing us into His midst. In His incarnation as a man, God apprehended man's sufferings and bondage to sin, pain, and Satan. This is His mercy. When Christ came to the earth, He spoke mostly of mercy and not much of grace. The four Gospels rarely mention "grace." Grace came in only after He died on the cross, when God put man's sins upon Christ and Christ took our sins away. The Epistles frequently speak of grace because God's salvation has been accomplished. God loves us; His heart is filled with mercy toward our condition. Therefore, He accomplished something for us to save us. God's heart is full of mercy for us — this is the best factual basis for asking God to do something for us. When we pray that God would forgive our sins, what is God's basis for answering our prayer? We can say, "O God, I am evil. I am a sinner. I cannot save myself. I cannot even come to You for salvation. But the Bible says that You love mercy and not sacrifice. O God, please have mercy on me; forgive me." Both the New Testament and the Old Testament say that God desires "mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. 9:13; Hosea 6:6). Mercy is God giving something to man, whereas sacrifice is man giving something to God. But God says, "I like to give something to you, but I do not like you to give anything to Me." We cannot perform any good. Even if there is some goodness in us, it is not perfect. We have nothing to depend on; we have nothing to rely upon. We can only depend on God's mercy. We can count on God's mercy and say, "God, unless You have become a merciless God, I am delighted and happy to seek Your mercy. I want to be a person on whom You have mercy."
Grace, however, requires some kind of work. Love is in the heart, mercy is in the feelings, but grace is in the actions. If there is love within but no grace without, nothing much can be accomplished. Love is something hidden within, and grace is accomplished without. When grace is received, it becomes love. When love is manifested, it becomes grace. What is within is love, and what is acted out is grace. Grace has two special characteristics. First, it is generous, and second, it is God doing something for man. In the Bible there is God's grace and Christ's grace. God's grace mainly refers to His generosity, whereas Christ's grace mainly refers to His work for us. One verse which we are all familiar with and which is often used by pastors in the denominations for their benedictions is 2 Corinthians 13:14: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Why does this verse speak of the love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Can we change it to "the grace of God," "the love of the Lord Jesus Christ," and "the fellowship of the Holy Spirit"? No, because the characteristic of God is love. God is love. God in heaven is the source of all love. He is the source of love. Then Christ came to the earth to actually accomplish God's work of love. He died on the cross; He was crucified by men for the redemption of man. This is the work of God's love for man, which is grace. Therefore, God's characteristic is love and Christ's characteristic is grace. The fellowship of the Spirit is the flowing into us of all that Christ has accomplished for us. The source is God. Following God's love is Christ's work which is His grace. God is love and Christ came to manifest this love. But if it merely stops there, it is still of no benefit to us. Christ died on Calvary. He died on the cross to accomplish the work of redemption for us. This is good. But the accomplishment of Christ can only be applied to man through the Spirit. God's love is the source, Christ's grace is the operation of God's love, and the Spirit's fellowship channels this work of Christ to man. The Spirit changes the objective things of Christ into subjective experiences of Christ. He wroughts that which is outside of man into man. This is why 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
An illustration of this can be found in the hospital where a doctor gives a prescription, a pharmacist dispenses the medicine, and the nurse ultimately delivers the medicine to the patient. If you only know the kind of medicine you need without having anyone deliver it to you, the medicine cannot get into your body. You need to have all three before the medicine can take effect. Hence, 2 Corinthians 13:14 speaks of the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit.
Grace is what Christ does. If it is something we do, it is not grace. If you earn money for your living, it is not grace. Suppose I am a beggar, and others give me something to eat — this is grace. Since grace is Christ's work, it is generous. In the Bible grace has three qualities. We can describe them in business terms. The first quality of grace is that it is not a purchase; it is not even a fair exchange. It is not something that is worth a few dollars and that is bought for a few dollars. Second, grace is not cheap; it is not like an item that is worth two dollars but is sold for one dollar. Third, grace is not loaned; it is not something which you receive that must be repaid later.
Grace cannot be purchased. If we have to do something before we can come before God to be saved, this salvation is not based on grace. Grace does not use our good work as the basis for our redemption. Grace is given to us freely. Therefore, the Bible says we are saved by grace, not by works (Eph. 2:8-9). Grace is freely given to us by God.
Grace is not cheap. Grace is not something that we can bargain for at a low price. It is not that we work a little and Christ supplements the rest, as if Christ were some kind of collateral. If we had to do something first and then trust in the Lord for what we could not do, our salvation would be nothing more than shopping for a bargain, because we would be paying a certain amount first and then relying on Christ to pay the rest. No, grace is absolutely not a bargain purchase. None of us can afford to pay even the slightest amount of the price. Grace is entirely the work of Christ.
Third, grace is not a loan. Many people say that grace is necessary for salvation, but that Christ will reclaim His salvation if we do not produce good deeds after salvation. This is like saying that grace has been loaned to us, and that it needs to be repaid. This is absolutely wrong. Grace is forever the work of Christ. It is totally and freely given. There is no need for us to ever repay anything.
Now let us read some more verses. If this is God's word, you have to believe it; if it is my word, you can ignore it. Please read Romans 3:23-27. This is the most difficult passage in the Bible. Man has a big problem: He is a sinner. If God did not love us, nothing would happen even though man is a sinner. Since man sins, God could let man perish, and there would be nothing that God would have to do. But God has two big problems. First, man has sins, and second, God loves man. Satisfying the demands of these two items requires God's work. In order for God to satisfy His love toward man, He must first solve the problem of man's sins. Because man has sinned and because God loves man, there is the need of grace. The initiation or motivation of grace is God's love for man, while the necessity of grace is due to man's sins.
There is another problem that, if left unresolved, would prevent God from saving man even if He wanted to. This is the problem of satisfying His righteousness. If the righteousness of God was left unresolved, untouched, and unsettled, that is, if God's righteous requirements were not met, He could not save man. Romans is a most important book. Those who have not read this book do not know of these two seemingly insurmountable obstacles. These two obstacles are: (1) God has to satisfy His love for man, and (2) God has to satisfy His own righteous requirements.
What is God's righteousness? God's righteousness is the principle by which God works. When God works, He must operate according to righteousness. Everything that God accomplishes is accomplished according to righteousness. The Bible shows us that there are three items specially related to God: glory, holiness, and righteousness. God's glory is God Himself; God's holiness is God's nature; and God's righteousness is the method, the way, in which God works. Every time we read about God's glory in the Bible, we should realize that it refers to God Himself. Every time we read about God's holiness, we should realize that it refers to God's nature. Every time we read about God's righteousness, we should realize that it refers to the method or the way in which God works. God is righteous, and the procedure by which He works also has to be righteous. Hence, God's salvation of man must also be righteous. God can save man in many ways, but no matter which way He takes, He has to do it according to righteousness. This is the most difficult problem in God's salvation of man. If God were not strict, He could resort to any kind of method. But it is a challenge for God to do things without conflicting with His righteousness. A sinner only cares to be saved; he does not care about the method which is used. But God cannot be unrighteous in saving man. Righteousness is the foundation of God's throne (Psa. 89:14). God cannot do something that is unrighteous. God wants to save man, but He also wants to maintain His own righteousness. Hence, God has a problem. He must find a way to save man that is righteous, a procedure that is compatible with His righteousness, which also will enable Him to save man?
Two years ago the father of one of our co-workers was imprisoned for violating the law of the country. He had indeed violated the written regulation. But the sin he committed was forgivable because he was forced by others to do it and did not commit the crime intentionally. The law he violated carried a very severe punishment. I felt that, under the circumstance, the offense he committed should be pardoned. Moreover, he was advanced in age and was the father of one of my co-workers. He was quite close to several co-workers, and we all treated him as our own father. Because of my family connections, I knew some prominent persons in the government, and I promised to try my best to help him. We went to a prominent one in the Nanking government, and said to him, "Our friend is an upright person. We can guarantee that he did not commit the crime. We only need a statement to be issued in order for him to be released." But he replied, "I believe what you said. In my heart I also want to release him. In the last ten days, I have solicited the help of some influential people, but I still do not have a way. This is not just a matter of personal influence. I could release a statement immediately, but I must have the proper basis before I can issue the statement. I cannot transgress against the state through my act. I will try to think of a way to release him, but I have to use a method that is legal and proper. I cannot incriminate myself by releasing him." Do you see this? God was faced with a similar situation in order to save us. He wants to save us, but He must find a way that is righteous and that will also save at the same time. God's righteousness is manifested in the fact that when He saves man, He does so by not making Himself unrighteous.
Here we see the problem that God has in saving man. On the one hand, He must satisfy His love, and on the other hand, He must satisfy His righteousness. He cannot sacrifice love for the sake of fulfilling His righteousness. He also cannot become unrighteous for the sake of love. Neither of the two can be sacrificed. The Bible says that unrighteousness is a sin (1 John 5:17). God cannot do anything that is not according to righteousness. God wants man to know that he is saved through righteousness; it is a salvation that is lawful, proper, and procedurally righteous. This is why God has to be careful in how He deals with the sins of the world. Now we have three facts: Man is a sinner, God is full of love, mercy and grace, and God is righteous. Romans 3:25 says, "God set forth [Jesus] as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness." Verse 26 continues, "With a view to the demonstrating of His righteousness in the present time, so that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus." This means that in reckoning those who believe in Jesus to be righteous, God demonstrates to man that He is righteous. Through His act of saving man, God wants man to know that He is righteous. God cannot violate the law. He cannot make Himself unlawful just because He wants to save man.
Romans 3:21 says that God's righteousness has been manifested apart from the law. If God's righteousness was manifested according to the law, we would have to die because the law says that all who sin must die. Therefore, if God's righteousness was according to the law, all sinners would have to die, and there would be no gospel to preach. God's righteousness is apart from the law; therefore, man can be saved, and God is still righteous.
How does God preserve His righteousness and save us at the same time? This was accomplished by the cross of Christ and the precious blood of Christ. Friends, I do not know whether or not it has ever occurred to you that without God's righteousness, there would be no need for Christ to die. Why was the cross needed? It was so troublesome. Jesus had to go from Bethlehem to Calvary to be crucified on the cross. Why did God go to such lengths? He could have declared to the world that everyone was forgiven and could go away free. This would only involve God's forgiveness. Would this not be the simplest thing to do and the most efficient way to take? However, if He took such a simple and efficient way, His righteousness would be sacrificed. This is why God cannot be so free. He needed the Lord Jesus to come as a man and put on a body of flesh and blood. One day He was crucified on the cross and shed His precious blood so that all those who believe in Him could have their sins forgiven. This is how God fulfilled His righteousness and accomplished His goal of saving man. In God's righteous salvation, He sent the Lord Jesus to die on the cross and to accomplish the work of redemption on our behalf. This satisfied the love that God has toward man and also fulfilled His own righteous requirements. Hallelujah for God's wonderful love, mercy, grace, and righteousness! Praise Him!
