DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER IN THE REDEEMED

"The God of Jacob!" Not the God of Israel. Wonderful God! Blessed assurance, that "the God of Jacob is our refuge,"—the God who saves the man without character, irrespective of character,—makes of him,—Israel. Jacob, the supplanter, the trickster, the weak character, the warped character, the sinner, God takes, and through trials, tests, develops him and makes of him Israel,—a prince of God. That is God's plan with men. Consider it.

There are two theories, the poles apart. The one is, salvation by character; that by acquiring a suitable character, by developing the right kind of a character, man can be saved, can go to Heaven; that one's character, if of the proper kind, entitles him to Heaven; that if one has lived right, he will go to Heaven. The other theory is, that God by grace, pure unmerited favor, saves irrespective of character. It is a tremendous issue. It is vital; one or the other is fatal. If those who hold one theory go to Heaven, all who hold to the other will be lost, will go to Hell. We would as well face the issue. They are two widely different ways of salvation, and God has but one. Jesus said, "I am the way" (John 14:6), not one way, The Way. And He leaves no possible ground for misunderstanding the meaning, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me."—John 14:6. Either, then, He is the only way, or He was the vilest deceiver the world ever knew, or He was a simple-minded, ignorant fanatic, who honestly thought Himself "The Way" when He was not.

Against this theory of salvation by character there are four serious, fatal charges:—

First, it is utterly cruel, heartless and selfish. It is cruel, because to the weakest, most needy, most helpless class, the vast body of men, born of vicious, debased parents, reared amidst vice and sin, weakened by appetite and tied by habit, it does not give one-millionth the chance to be saved, to go to Heaven, that men have who were born of noble, godly parents, reared amidst moral, uplifting surroundings, and strengthened by noble aspirations and splendid training. Stand before you two young men representing these two classes, and tell them of life beyond this life, and of Heaven; and then tell them of salvation by character. To the one it would mean a bright, hopeful anticipation; to the other, it would mean but taunting him with his hopeless condition and prodding him with despair.

The theory of salvation by character is heartless, because, wrapt in the robe of its own self-righteousness, it coolly condemns to hopeless despair a vast body of the human race. Go stand by the helpless, hopeless drunkard, and the drunken, sinful woman, and tell them of salvation by character, and hear the sob of despair or see the jeering look on their faces at the thought of salvation by character for such as they! Before a pastors' conference, the polished, brilliant, highly educated pastor of a wealthy, refined, intellectual congregation read a seemingly learned paper on "Salvation by Character." When he had finished reading the paper, some of his fellow-pastors endorsed the paper and gave it high praise. Finally, the pastor of a people who had been unfortunate in life, many of whom had gone far down in sin, and were fettered by habit, arose and said, "Brother Moderator, the brother has given us his wonderful paper on salvation by character. I would like to ask him, what would he preach if he were the pastor of a people who have no character?" The author of the paper arose and made the heartless reply, "Brother Moderator, my brother and I have been raised in such different intellectual atmospheres, that I don't suppose I could make it plain to my brother." The other replied, "That is doubtless true, Brother Moderator; but the trouble is, that he can never make it plain to any one else."

It is selfish, because those who teach this theory are generally men of intelligence, refinement, and are considered, and they consider themselves, men of moral character. They thus provide for themselves by their theory, but leave a vast body of the race with a very slight hope or with no hope whatever.

The second charge against those who hold this theory is that by their own theory none will be saved. If salvation is by character, by what kind of character, a perfect character, or an imperfect character? If by a perfect character, no one has it; no one even claims it. If by an imperfect character, how imperfect may it be and the man yet be saved? Where is the standard? If a man's character, in order to be saved by it, must be the best he can make it, no one has even that character,—no one's character is the best he could have made it. Hence, salvation by character is a chimera.

The third charge against salvation by character is, that even if a man's character were perfect from man's standpoint, in the sight of God his character would still be corrupt. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."—Is. 64:6. Why? Because motive is the measure of the character. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."—Rom. 8:8. Why? Because they have not, and cannot have, the right motive. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."—1 Cor. 13:1-3. And no man has this love, no man can have this love, until he is saved by Christ dying for his sins (1 Cor. 15:3). "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again."—2 Cor. 5:14, 15.

The fourth serious, fatal charge against the theory of salvation by character is that it is contrary to the teaching of the Saviour. "Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."—Matt. 21:31. Certain it is that the publicans and the harlots had worse characters than those to whom the Saviour was speaking; the fact is therefore evident that Jesus taught salvation without character, irrespective of character.

Let the reader consider two cases that will show conclusively that the teaching of salvation by character is absolutely contrary to the teaching of the Saviour. "The chief priest, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also that were with him, cast the same in his teeth."—Matt. 27:41-44. Let the reader notice that both the thieves "that were with him, cast the same in his teeth." Then "one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."—Luke 23:39-43. From the time that both thieves "cast the same in his teeth," to the time the one made his earnest plea, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," there had been no time in which this thief could have formed, developed a character that merited salvation. Hence, when Jesus said, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," to this thief, He branded the teaching of salvation by character as not from Heaven. The one who does not see from this case that the cruel, heartless, selfish teaching of salvation by character contradicts the Lord Jesus, will never see anything contrary to his own preferences and preconceived opinions.

The second case is just as conclusive. As the Saviour was reclining at meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman, noted as a sinner, came in and stood behind him weeping. "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."—Luke 7:50. The Saviour said the woman was saved, yet she was of notorious character,—she had no character.

That the Saviour saved irrespective of character is shown by two cases in the book of Acts. We have the accounts of the salvation of two men of opposite characters. One was "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always,"—Acts 10:2, a man of most excellent character. Among all the unredeemed men of the earth, not one could show a better character. If any man could be saved by character, here is the man. God sends word to him, "Send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shalt be saved."—Acts 11:13. Notwithstanding his noble, unusual character, God tells him that he is unsaved. If he, with his character unexcelled among unredeemed men, was yet unsaved, how can any other unredeemed man hope for salvation by character? Peter's message to this man of irreproachable character was, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins."—Acts 10:43. Why is it necessary for this man of character to believe on Christ in order to be saved? Because, though of unusual character, he had sinned, "for all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23); and sin once committed can only be atoned for by blood, "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22), and there is no blood of atonement in a noble character.

Over against this case is that of the Philippian jailor, a man of hardened character; for he took two helpless, bleeding preachers who had been beaten by a mob, and "thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks" (Acts 16:24), and left them with their backs bloody and gave them no supper. When the earthquake came and the doors were opened, the hardened jailor started to commit suicide. Paul having called to him and prevented the suicide, the jailor "came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"—Acts 16:30. If ever a man should be told of salvation by character, here was the opportunity, that he might at once begin the tremendous and all but hopeless task of changing, so late in life, a hardened character into one that would enable him to merit Heaven. Instead, they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."—Acts 16:31. How similar the answer to the instructions of Peter to Cornelius, and yet how widely different the characters of the two men! Why this similarity? Because God has but one way of salvation, and that is irrespective of character. "He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel" (Ps. 147:2), the God of Jacob.

While the Saviour saves without character, and irrespective of character, God the Father does not leave them without character, but develops in them the right kind of a character. The man redeemed, saved, without character, does not remain without character. "And such were some of you" (1 Cor. 6:11), but they did not remain such characters,—but "sanctified, called to be saints."—1 Cor. 1:2. God's plan with men, then, is to save irrespective of character, and then develop in the redeemed, saved man a character that shall "be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."—1 Peter 1:7.

Three ways in which God develops character in the redeemed are:

First, by purifying the motive of the life. Character is not formed by deeds, but by the motives prompting the deeds. Two men flag the night express train on two railroads; the deeds are the same, but one flags the train that he may warn, and save the lives of the people, because a bridge has been destroyed; the other flags the train that he may rob it. While the deeds are the same, the character of the deeds is different, and that difference is in the motive prompting the deed, and that motive affects, moulds the character of the one who performs the deed. No deed is right in the sight of God that is not performed from the motive of love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); hence, no character can be right in the sight of God if the deeds that formed that character were not prompted by the motive of love. All deeds performed from simply the motive of duty, or from the desire to be saved, to go to Heaven after this life, or from fear of Hell, are, in the sight of God, unworthy deeds, and the characters formed by such deeds are unworthy characters. And the Saviour defines clearly what love is: "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged."—Luke 7:41-43. And John likewise defines love: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."—1 John 4:10. This explains why God says: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."—Rom. 8:8. Their motive is wrong and they cannot have the right motive, because they have not been "forgiven most." Hence all characters are wrong in the sight of God that were formed by deeds whose prompting motive was a simple sense of duty, a desire to be saved, to go to Heaven, or from fear of Hell. And all who have such a character are lost, have never been redeemed, are not real Christians.

Second, God develops character in the redeemed, His real children, by chastisements. Our earthly fathers "verily for a few days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby."—Heb. 12:10, 11.

Third, God moulds the character of the redeemed by afflictions, burdens, sorrows, etc. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."—2 Cor. 4:17. "Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."—James 1:14.

The shallow conception of God's plan with men that makes it His ultimate purpose simply to save men, leaves the life of the redeemed man here on earth an unsolved riddle, often an inexplicable tragedy. The heartaches, the disasters, the burdens, the afflictions, the sorrows,—what of all these, when God assures us that "all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28), if the ultimate purpose is simply salvation? "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The silver has been mined, digged from the earth, but there is dross in it. The redeemed have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13); have had the spirit sent into their hearts ("because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,"—Gal. 4:6); but there are defects from heredity, from environment. The purifying process, the development of character, comes, not in order to be saved, but after we are saved, because we are saved.

With God as the Father of the redeemed, many of the afflictions, and sorrows of real Christians can be accounted for as chastisements; many of the severe, heavy afflictions in the lives of real Christians can be accounted for in this way. "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."—Heb. 12:5, 6. Scourging is severe, yet God says it is for every son.

But there are many, many trials, afflictions, burdens, sorrows, which cannot be explained by chastisements; for chastisements are for wilful sins of God's children: "If his children forsake my law ... then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes."—Ps. 89:30-32. In the lives of many of the redeemed who are living obedient lives there are some of the most severe trials and afflictions. If God is their Father and loves them, what can these severe trials and afflictions mean?

God Himself hath said it, "All things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose."—Rom. 8:28. Had God said, "Some things," what confusion would have come to many of God's children! What enigmas would many things in the lives of many of the redeemed have been! But when God said "All things," He placed a key in the hands of every redeemed man, every real child of His, with which to unlock the door of every mystery; that every trial, every disaster, every accident, every burden, every humiliation, every disappointment, every affliction, every sorrow,—"All things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose";—"that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ."—1 Peter 1:7.

Muscles are developed by trials; minds are developed by trials; God's redeemed people are developed by trials. To murmur against one's trials after being redeemed, means to murmur against being developed for one's eternal destiny. To give the muscles no trials, means for the body never to be developed; to give the mind no trials, means for the mind never to be developed; to give the redeemed man no trials, means for his character never to be developed. Two children are born into the world. The father and mother of one decide that he shall never be required to do any unpleasant things; that he shall never have any hardships. The father and mother of the other decide to give their child every unpleasant thing to do, every hardship and burden to bear, that will best develop him in body and mind. Often the redeemed plead with their Father in Heaven to give them only pleasant things, and He, the All-wise, All-powerful, in love gives them—trials.

The trials of life for the redeemed are so various. If the muscles have only one trial, the body will never be fully developed. The muscles need various trials. If the mind has only one trial, it will never be fully developed. If the mind studies only one thing, it will never be trained, developed, educated. If the soul has only one kind of trial, it will never be developed. "Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations."—James 1:2 (R. V. Margin, trials).

But the redeemed, the children of God, often complain that their trials are so hard. Easy trials do not develop. The one who takes only light exercises for his muscles will never be fully developed physically. The boy who works the easy examples and skips the hard ones, will never be an educated man; he will be only a "hewer of wood and drawer of water." It takes hard trials to develop the body properly. It takes hard trials of the mind to develop it properly. It takes hard trials to develop the soul properly; "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire." He who asks for only easy trials of his muscles, asks to remain undeveloped physically; he who asks for easy trials of his mind, asks to remain undeveloped mentally; he who asks, yearns, to have no hard trials spiritually, yearns to remain undeveloped in real character, in his spiritual nature. The hard trials are the ones that develop. And the more one's muscles have been developed, the harder should be the trials for those muscles; the more one's mind is developed, the harder should be the trials for the mind; the more the redeemed man's spiritual nature is developed, the harder his trials will be.

That would be an unwise educator who, after training the pupil's mind up through geometry, would then put him back to studying the simple branches of mathematics, instead of taking him on into higher mathematics. Likewise the Heavenly Father does not, after partly developing the redeemed, His children, by hard trials, return them to lives of easy trials, but He leads them into yet harder trials. Take Elijah as an example (see F. B. Meyer's "Elijah"). He is sent to pronounce God's sentence against Ahab (1 Kings 17:1); he is then sent into obscurity (17:2, 3); he is left dependent on the ravens for food (17:4-6); he sees the brook dry up, his only hope for water, for life (17:7); he is submitted to the humiliation of being supported by a poor widow (17:8, 9); God delays answering his prayer (17:17-22); God requires him to expose himself to danger by showing himself to Ahab (18:1); he is led to face popular religious error, and in doing so is left to stand alone (18:19-38); God delays answer to his prayer till he prays seven times (18:42-45); he suffers the further humiliation of Elisha being anointed prophet in his room (19:15, 16); he is taken up by a whirlwind to Heaven (2 Kings 2:11). A study of these trials will show that they were all hard trials, and that they increased in severity. God tells us that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are (James 5:17); but by trials, hardships, burdens, God developed him into one of the noblest characters of all ages. God's redeemed people may expect, then, trials through their lives, and that the trials shall be increasingly severe, as they advance in the Christian life.

Often God's children are discouraged because they cannot see any purpose in their trials. But God assures us that there is a purpose. The child cannot understand the purpose of the lessons at school, but the father has the purpose. Elijah, possibly filled with apprehension, sitting by the drying brook Cherith, did not see any purpose, but God, who makes all things work together for good to His people, had the purpose and accomplished it in the development of Elijah's character; and so, as F. B. Meyer has so aptly put it, the redeemed, sitting by the drying brook of health, of property, of reputation, of family happiness, may not see the purpose, but the Heavenly Father will work, in His plan for each, every trial into the warp or woof of each life. The Saviour said to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."—John 13:7.

Who knows the defects, the weaknesses, of each character? Only God. Who knows what each character ought to be? Only God. Who knows how to develop each character properly? Only God. Who is able to so shape the circumstances of each life as to properly develop each character? Only God. And He has promised that He will. "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28); "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."—1 Peter 1:7. This is the only explanation of the many harassments of life.

God has revealed that the standard by which character is measured is patience, endurance. "Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."—James 1:4. If there were no harassments, no afflictions, no burdens, no sorrows, no disappointments, no sufferings, there could be no patience, endurance; and if there were no patience, no endurance, there could be no maturity and completeness of character. As to what trials are needed, and are best in each case, only God can decide. In our dimsightedness we think that many things are mistakes in God's plans, and that He cannot bring good out of them; but He will. A boy was born with a badly deformed foot. When he was eight years of age his father had two surgeons to operate and try to straighten the foot, but they failed. After a second operation, the foot was placed in a brace which was worn for months. But the foot remained as badly deformed as ever. The surgeons then informed the father that the foot could never be straightened. The father studied the deformed foot for many days, and then had a strange-looking box made with screws, felt taps and iron rods in different parts of it. He had the surgeons to operate again on the boy's foot, cutting the muscles and tendons in different places. The foot was then placed in the strange box; a screw was turned till the felt tap pressed against the foot at one place, almost breaking the bones; then another screw and felt tap were brought to bear on another deformed part of the foot, straightening the foot and almost breaking the bones in that part of the foot; then the iron rod was used to straighten another part. For months the boy's foot was kept in that box. The suffering, day and night for months, was indescribable. The child would weep for hours, the pain being all but unbearable; and when the father would come home the child would beg piteously for the box to be taken off and to be left a cripple. The father, mingling his tears with the tears of the suffering child, would turn the screws tighter than before, and the child would shriek in fearful agony. During those weeks and months of suffering he looked upon his father as being harsh and cruel and without love for him. Finally the father loosened all the screws and said, "Son, stand up," and for the first time in his life the boy stood erect. Often has that son, now a gray-haired man, stood over the grave of that father, long since dead, and bedewed the grave with his tears, and thanked God that he had a father who was true enough to continue the suffering until the terrible deformity was corrected. The father may have turned the screws one thread too much, but the Father in Heaven makes no mistakes, and far beyond the grave many of the redeemed will praise Him, when they understand, for the sufferings and afflictions and burdens they were led to endure here.

With the reader this may seem mere theory; he may feel that it cannot explain all the seemingly unfathomable mystery of suffering in the lives of many of the redeemed, the real children of God. Let the reader consider two things: first, that as a juror, he would not form a judgment till all the evidence had been placed before the jury. God's purpose in each case, and what God actually accomplishes in each case, in the development of character,—these have not yet been placed before the jury; but, backed up by many fulfilled prophecies, by the character of Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, by what He has accomplished in the world, we have God's solemn assurance that He will yet place this evidence before the jury.

Second, let the reader remember that with God character counts more than comfort. What father would prefer his son to be a brutal, ignorant pugilist, enjoying food and drink, physical life,—to a useful, noble, highly educated, refined, learned son who could "listen in the orange groves of Verona to the sweet vows of Juliet, or to the blind bard's harp as he strikes the chords but seldom struck harmonious with the morning stars, or to the music of the spheres as they hymn His praises around their Creator's throne"? Far more than the earthly father would choose the latter for his son, does the Heavenly Father value the soul and its development above that of the body.

Could God's redeemed people only learn that perfection of character comes only through suffering, that as certain as God is true, a blessing will come from every sorrow, every burden, every affliction, every pang, every heartache!

Rarely has the author been stirred, thrilled, as he was while listening to an audience of a thousand colored people of the South sing the following hymn. Some of them had been slaves; many were poor; many uneducated; some Greek scholars; some were destitute; some were half-invalids; some were aged and infirm; but few had the comforts of life; all were heavy burden-bearers. White people from New York and Texas, from Mississippi and Kansas, were moved to tears, as that audience sang with such rhythm, such cadence, such pathos, such sweetness, such soul-power, as only they can sing:—

But they are not the only ones who

They are not the only ones who can say,

But they and all the redeemed, God's real children, can say,

Till then they can rest upon His word, that "the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,"—1 Peter 1:7; for "we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose."—Rom. 8:28.

FOR FURTHER STUDY:—Some readers may conclude, because trials come to the lives of the unredeemed as well as the redeemed, to those who are not God's children, as well as to those who are God's children, that, therefore, their characters are likewise developed by trials. Let such readers consider two facts:—

First, it is a creature of God being developed in one case; in the other, it is one who has been redeemed and adopted as a child of God (Gal. 4:4-7), and born of the Spirit (John 3:8), that is being developed.

Second, the characters being developed in the two classes, while they may appear to men as similar, in the sight of God are as different as light and darkness are to men, as different as Heaven and Hell. Let it be remembered that character is dependent, not on the deed, but on the motive back of the deed (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

No unredeemed man can have that motive, because it springs from complete redemption through Christ (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Hence, "they that are in the flesh cannot please God."—Rom. 8:8. Their motive power is all wrong and cannot be otherwise; hence their characters, however they may be developed, are all wrong in the sight of God. Jesus said, "Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may be clean also."—Matt. 23:26. The child who, from love, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the father, the slave who, from fear of the lash, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the master, the hireling who, from desire for the wages, bears trials and burdens, and the stoic who, from sheer force of will, or from a cold sense of duty, bears trials and burdens, because he must,—are developing altogether different characters. Even so, the child of God, redeemed and adopted, who, from love, bears the trials and burdens of life, the unredeemed one who, from fear of the law, from fear of Hell, bears the trials and burdens of life; the unredeemed one who, from what he hopes to gain thereby, a home in Heaven (as the hireling his wages), bears the trials and burdens of life, and the unredeemed one who, from a cold sense of duty, bears the trials and burdens of life, are developing widely different characters for eternity. Which shall it be in your case, reader?

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