When man is made thus pure in all the faculties of his being he is said to be pure even as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3), and is then a perfect example of purity to the world. 1 Tim. 4:12.
The question is asked, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” Psa. 24:3. The answer is, “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.” Purity is a requisite for heaven. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” In this language there is indubitably implied the impossibility of seeing God without purity of heart. God is pure, and heaven is a pure place, and without purity of soul and heart and life you can never enter heaven nor see God.
Righteousness.
This is one of the terms used in the Scriptures describing the character of God and his people. “The [pg 092] Lord is righteous,” and the source of all righteousness. Man can not possess righteousness independent of God. It is beautiful to contemplate the righteous character of the Almighty as revealed in the holy Scriptures. It enables us to better understand our own nature when we are “filled with all the fulness of God.” The Savior in his prayer addresses God as “righteous Father.” John 17:25. The Revelator in his vision heard an angel proclaiming, “Thou art righteous, O Lord.” Rev. 16:5. The Psalmist in exalting the righteousness of the Lord said: “Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high.” Psa. 71:19. It is far above the ways and life of natural man: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55:9. All of God's ways are in righteousness: “The Lord is righteous in all his ways.” Psa. 145:17. God's acts are done in righteousness: “Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord which he did to you and your fathers.”
Oh, the sublimity of the righteous character of God! How lofty and high. How far above the ways and acts of natural man. Man in his natural state does not possess any of the righteous principles of God: “There is none righteous, no not one.” But God in the incarnation of his Son is both God and man, and through this means the righteousness of God [pg 093] is delegated unto man. In Jesus Christ we have the combining of man and God—the righteousness of God and humanity of man. Through the death of the man Christ Jesus and his resurrection the way was prepared for mankind to receive the righteousness of God. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Cor. 5:21. Jesus in his innocency and righteousness bore the sins of the guilty, so that in him we can experience a cleansing “from all unrighteousness” and receive instead “the righteousness of God.”
Jesus likens himself and his people to a vine and its branches. He says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” It is through the vine that the branches receive substance and strength and life from the soil. It is through Jesus that we receive righteousness, grace, and strength from God. It is only in Jesus' name that we receive anything from the Father. The branches bear the fruit. Receiving the righteousness of God through Jesus we bear the fruit of righteousness. The more of this fruit we bear the more we show forth the praise of God. When there is a large yield of grain we conclude it was sown in good soil, and thus the soil gets the praise. We “being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ” do show forth “the glory and praise of God.” Phil. 1:11. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” John 15:8. Though the [pg 094] grain be planted in good soil, cultivation is necessary to a bountiful harvest. Though we be planted in Christ cultivation is necessary to the production of rich fruit. “And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” John 15:2. Sin—all sin must be purged or cleansed away in order to bear fruits of righteousness.
“A tree is known by its fruits.” Should there be a tree bearing promiscuously throughout apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, etc., who could tell what kind of a tree it was? Should it bear apples alone we at once know the kind of tree. All sin is therefore purged away from the heart of a Christian that he may be “filled with the fruits of righteousness,” and be known as a light in the world. Sin and righteousness do not grow upon the same tree. How clearly and plainly this is taught in the sixth chapter of Romans. Except they be blinded by prejudice and false teaching all the world must understand this. Verse eighteen says, “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” There are two things plainly taught in this text that we wish to call your attention to. First, to become a servant of righteousness necessitates a freedom from sin. “Ye can not serve two masters.” Second, this experience of being made free from sin and becoming servants of righteousness the Roman brethren had received some time in the past. “Ye became the servants of righteousness.” Ver. 20. “For when [pg 095] some time in their past life ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness.”
In the face of these two texts how can man be so daring and proud and self-conceited as to teach the impossibility of Christians living a pure and sinless life in this world? Surely, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Verse eighteen declares that to become servants of righteousness necessitates freedom from sin; and verse twenty declares that to be a “servant of sin” necessitates freedom from righteousness. “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” Ver. 21. Of the things of sin they once engaged in they are now ashamed. “What fruit had they then?” Ans.—“No fruit of righteousness.” “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness.” Ver. 22. Praise God! You must be made free from sin to be capable of bearing fruit unto holiness or righteousness. The fruit of the righteous is to the praise and glory of God. The Lord makes use of the fruit of the righteous to induce sinners to seek him. In this way the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. How blessed and noble to be a tree planted by the river of waters richly laden with righteous fruit. Amen.
Redemption.
The authors of the dictionaries define the word redemption as “the act of deliverance, release, repurchase,” [pg 096] etc. The redemption through Christ is the deliverance or repurchase of man. Man in his original, primeval state enjoyed unity and an affinity with God. Because of transgression on the part of man this natural agreement between God and man was destroyed. All creation—herb, and tree, beast and fowl, and man—was pronounced very good by the Creator as he beheld it in review after creation. Gen. 1:29–31.
But because of Eden's sin the very nature of all things became changed. The ground became cursed, and thorns and thistles sprang up. Gen. 3:17, 18. The nature of the beast creation, no doubt, became affected by man's transgression. Gen. 6:7, 11–13. The transgression in Eden was the entrance of sin into this world. Rom. 5:12. Previous to this, all in the world was sinless harmony, and the earth itself uncursed by thorns and thistles. By the entrance of sin man's nature became changed, and since the nature of man became depraved there has not been a single individual born of the flesh but has possessed a depraved nature, except the child conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Psalmist says: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psa. 51:5.
This same is true of every child. The nature of the child in its formation in the womb is depraved. The moral condition of the parents may modify to an extent, but never wholly change that nature. The [pg 097] child does not inherit a depraved nature from its parents. It is not because the parents are depraved that the child is conceived in sin, but because nature is depraved. It required a supernatural conception to beget a pure child, everything in nature being depraved. The child does not inherit either physical or moral image directly from its parents. It is true, the child generally bears a marked resemblance to the parent, both physically and morally, but on the whole it is born in the image of Adam, morally and physically. It is generally the case that if a parent have three arms, or possess but one, his offspring will have two, receiving its physical image