  The Divine Doorway. The Most Important Personage.—What particular acts of obedience are required from man, in order that the One who redeemed may likewise save and exalt him? What must he do for himself, to the end that he may profit by the great things done in his behalf? In other words, how shall the alien seeking citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, obtain it? What are the divine laws of naturalization? The one who can answer such questions, is easily the most important personage of his time. Such a one was Peter, the Galilean fisherman, chief of the twelve special witnesses of the Savior. The Pentecostal Proclamation.—When Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, preached "Christ and him crucified," and the conscience-stricken multitude, "pricked in their heart," cried out, "men and brethren, what shall we do?" a question was propounded which the most learned philosophers of that age could not answer. Caesar, sitting upon the throne of the world, would have been mystified had the question been put to him—What shall men do to be saved? Not so, the Galilean fisherman. He knew, and he told them straightway: "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."[ The Gospel Unchangeable.—These requirements have not changed. They are in force today. They will remain in force so long as the Gospel is preached. The Apostle did not say that these were all the requirements. But he answered the question put to him, and it was the appropriate and sufficient reply for that occasion. In the Pit.—When Adam and Eve had transgressed the divine command by partaking of the forbidden fruit, it was as if the human race had fallen into a pit, from which they were powerless, by any act of their own, to emerge. They could not climb out, for they knew not how to climb; and even if they had known, there was no means by which to ascend. Human endeavor, unassisted, could accomplish nothing in the way of deliverance. Man in his mortal condition needed revelation, spiritual enlightenment, having forgotten all that he had previously known. He also needed a ladder. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ladder to Freedom and Light. Without it there is no salvation, no exaltation. The Tower of Babel symbolizes the situation. All man's efforts to reach Heaven without divine assistance, must end in confusion and failure. Self-Help Necessary.—Before there was a Ladder, or while it was not within reach, fallen man could not climb. All his intelligence and skill were unavailing. But the ladder having been let down, if he will use his God-given powers and all the means provided for the purpose, he can mount from Earth to Heaven, round by round. If he refuses to climb, who but himself is to blame for his remaining at the bottom of the pit? The Gospel is not a substitute for self-help. It does not supersede man's efforts in his own behalf. It is the divinely appointed means whereby those efforts are made effectual. It does for man what he cannot do for himself. Redemption by Grace.—The Gospel of Salvation rests upon the rock of Christ's Atonement—an act of grace, a free gift from God to man, to the wicked as well as to the righteous. All profit by it, for through that atonement, all are brought forth from the grave. This is eminently just. Adam's posterity were consigned to death for no deed of their own doing. It is fitting, therefore, that their redemption should be unconditional. Salvation by Obedience.—But redemption is not salvation, nor salvation exaltation. Men must "work out" their salvation,[ The First Requirement.—Faith is the first requirement of the Gospel. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." So the Savior declared, when he commissioned his Apostles to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."[ In like manner, the Savior, when making his conditional promise of salvation, left out repentance, it being implied, virtually included, in the admonition to believe and be baptized; since baptism is "for the remission of sins"—sins of which man has repented. Faith, not repentance, is the first essential—the initial requirement made of the seeker for salvation. The Second Step.—The first fruit of faith is repentance. It follows faith as naturally as kindness follows love, as obedience springs from reverence, as a desire to be congenial with, succeeds admiration for, one whose example is deemed worthy of emulation. God commands all men to repent; and a desire to please him and become acceptable in his sight, naturally leads the soul of faith to repentance. "Sin No More."—Repentance is not that superficial sorrow felt by the wrongdoer when "caught in the act"—a sorrow not for sin, but for sin's detection. Chagrin is not repentance. Mortification and shame alone bring no change of heart toward right feeling and right living. Even remorse is not all there is to repentance. In highest meaning and fullest measure, repentance is equivalent to reformation; the beginning of the reformatory process being a resolve to "sin no more." "By this ye may know that a man repenteth of his sins: Behold he will confess them and forsake them."[ What is Sin?—Sin is the transgression of divine law, as made known through the conscience or by revelation. A man sins when he violates his conscience, going contrary to light and knowledge—not the light and knowledge that has come to his neighbor, but that which has come to himself. He sins when he does the opposite of what he knows to be right. Up to that point he only blunders. One may suffer painful consequences for only blundering, but he cannot commit sin unless he knows better than to do the thing in which the sin consists. One must have a conscience before he can violate it. "Where there is no law given, there is no punishment . . . . no condemnation."[ Degrees of Damnation.—Souls who know that they have sinned, and who refuse to forsake their sins, will be damned. They damn themselves by that refusal. Damnation is no part of the Gospel. It is simply the sad alternative, the inevitable consequence of rejecting the offer of salvation. Damnation (condemnation) is not necessarily permanent, and it may exist in degrees, the degree being determined by the measure of culpability in the one condemned. Even the damned can be saved if they repent. The Sin Unpardonable.—It is possible, however, to sin so far and so deeply that repentance is impossible. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of one of his characters—the guilty King Claudius—this speech: "Try what repentance can: what can it not? Yet what can it when one cannot repent?"[ Those who cannot repent are sons of perdition. Their sin is unpardonable, involving utter recreancy to divine light and power previously possessed. The Washing of Regeneration.—Sin must not only be repented of; it must be blotted out. The soul must be cleansed of it. Baptism is the soul-cleansing process, the divinely instituted means whereby sins are remitted—that is, forgiven and washed away. Immersion in water, symbolizing birth, or burial and resurrection, is the true form of the baptismal ordinance. Baptism is the third principle of the Gospel. Divine Illumination.—The soul cleansed from sin is in a condition to enjoy the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, which "dwelleth not in unclean tabernacles." Through this precious gift comes the divine light that "leads into all truth," making manifest the things of God, past, present, and to come. There is a light that illumines, in greater or less degree, every soul that cometh into the world; but the Gift of the Holy Ghost, imparted by the laying on of hands of one divinely authorized to bestow it, is a special endowment, and only those having membership in the Church of Christ can possess it. Each is thus given a direct personal testimony of the Truth, and is founded upon the Rock of Revelation, against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail. Gospel Principles Eternal.—The Everlasting Gospel is not an empty phrase. It means just what it says. The principles underlying it are eternal. "Intelligence or the light of truth was not created or made, neither indeed can be."[ A code or system of laws and ordinances can readily be conceived of as a creation. Not so the principles embodied therein. The Gospel, like all other creations, was organized out of materials already in existence—eternal principles adapted to the needs of man and the purposes of Deity. The Supreme Intelligence, recognizing these principles as ennobling and exalting in their tendency, created a plan embodying them as the most effectual means for man's uplift and promotion. That plan, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the divinely appointed doorway into the Kingdom of Heaven. Footnotes |
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