The Sure Foundation

We are passing through a crisis in our history as a movement. And as we are pressed on every side, we ought to ask ourselves, What is God's plan for His work, and for us today? We know of a certainty that God has a plan, and it is for us to learn what His plan is. It is for us also to discover and make available those resources that are greater than men and infinitely more valuable than money. And we ought earnestly to study why the resources that are at our command are not made available to us to the degree that they should be.

We have been told that "we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history." This means more than the points of faith that have been made clear to this people, and that consti­tute what we are pleased to term the message. It includes God's divine and providential leadings and dealings with us individually and as a people. In the light of this, there are three words which I desire to make the key words of our study. The first is truth, the next is doctrine, and the third is power.

According to Jesus, the perception and appreciation of truth depend less upon the mind than upon the heart. It must be received into the soul. It claims the homage of the will. It is to be received through the word of grace in the heart, and its effectiveness de­pends upon the relinquishing of every sin that the Spirit of God reveals. To those who thus yield themselves to God, having an honest desire to know and to do His will, the truth is re­vealed as the power of God for their salvation. Thus we shall be able to distinguish between one who speaks for God and one who speaks merely for himself.

I am persuaded, first, that it is im­possible to distinguish between the power of God unto salvation and the truth of God unto salvation. Said Jesus: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Free from what?—From sin. It is the uni­form thought of Scripture that the work of salvation for the soul, the work of deliverance from sin, is con­nected directly with the operation of truth.

Next take the word "doctrine:" "Holding fast the faithful word as he bath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." Titus 1:9. Doctrine is that which is taught, or held as a teaching. Doctrine denotes what is reckoned as truth, just as a precept is a rule laid down to be obeyed. Doctrine implies an authoritative teacher, just as precept implies an authoritative law. The doctrine spoken of in the Scriptures, the doc­trine of Christ, the doctrine of our sal­vation, is used synonymously with the word "truth."

Now consider for a moment the word "power." "What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." Eph. 1:19, 20. The apostle Paul prays, in Philippians 3:10: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrec­tion, and the fellowship of His suffer­ings, being made conformable unto His death." Clearly, then, the truth, the doctrine, the teachings, of Jesus will strengthen us with all might, accord­ing to His glorious power, unto all patience, and long-suffering with joy­fulness. I can never think of the min­istry of the Holy Spirit, and not pour out my soul in confidence and faith in His divine work and in His promises.

As I have pondered the history of the church of God in former genera­tions, and the history of this people in the early years of our work, I have been profoundly impressed that every mighty movement of God in the history of the church from apostolic days to the present hour, every great reforma­tion, every mighty revival, has been borne on the shoulders of men who were possessed of a deep conviction of the importance of the doctrines that were the carriers of their message. Notice this thought from John R. Mott:

"The age of great preachers has al­ways been the age of great religious beliefs. Preaching, to be robust, trenchant, down-reaching, soul-search­ing, will-compelling, life-molding, must be theological, dogmatic, authoritative. The great preaching has always and only been done by the theological ath­letes, by men who believed something, by men who were saturated and steeped with the spiritual certitudes, by men who could think God's thoughts after Him and thread their way through that ordered plan by which God saves the world to the glory of His grace. We notice, if we have read any history, that the notable spiritual world movements and upheavals have all been inspired by great convictions of truth. From the apostolic age to the Augustinian, from the Reformation to the Puritan, they have been theo­logical ages. The great epochs have been theological; the great revivals have been doctrinal; the notable revo­lutions have been driven under the lash of great moral and doctrinal con­victions."

When you think of the rise and de­velopment of this message, and of its penetration in recent years into the darkest corners of this world, you can­not, separate that great and mighty ad­vance movement from the doctrines that have distinguished this people. As I have thought of it, I have asked my­self the question, Why are we shorn, in a measure at least, of power in this time when it is so sorely needed? Is it simply because the world is crowd­ing in, and the interests and affections of many are being shifted to things of this life? This is one reason, without doubt. But may it not also be true that one source of weakness is the fact that there is altogether too much ques­tioning of the foundation truths of this message, and a disposition on the part of some to criticize that foundation? You are all familiar with the descrip­tion of this very thing in "Early Writ­ings," pages 258, 259.

This message has been laid on a firm, sure platform; and I believe that the latter rain, which we are admonished to pray for and to prepare our hearts for, will be poured out upon God's peo­ple on the basis that their feet are planted solidly upon the platform of truth. Nothing will so weaken a man's ministry as to allow doubt to creep into his mind concerning any of the funda­mental points of faith that led him to accept God's plan for his own salva­tion. It is essential to the receiving of the Holy Spirit that we stand firm, unshaken, unmoved, established in the truth.

I recognize that there is a large field of undiscovered truth; that we must advance in light; that God would have us study earnestly with prayer; that new truth will be unfolded to us; that new degrees of power will be dis­covered to us; but I do not understand that the new light and beauty and power that will come through the ear­nest searching of God's word will lead us away from the fundamental truths that have been established through earnest study and prayer and by divine revelation. Advanced light will give a clearer luster and greater power and blessing to the grand truths that we cherish as a people, and will give us a broader view, a better understanding of them. This is clearly stressed in "Gospel Workers," pages 306-308.

The time has fully come when we as leaders ought to lay emphasis upon the power of God in its fullness, praying for the full manifestation and demon­stration and leading and grace of the Holy Spirit in all the power of God, to be poured out upon His people, in harmony with His truth as revealed in His word, and with the special light that He has given to this people.

There is a world of light and truth yet in store for this people; but I do not believe that new light from God will ever discount or in any degree question the ministry of our Saviour in the heavenly sanctuary, with all the truths that center there, or that any so-called truth can come to this people giving light on the Sabbath, that will lead us to keep some other day than the one which God Himself set apart for His worship.

If we study earnestly and prayer­fully, we shall discover why it is that there is not the fullness of power at­tending our ministry that there should be; why altogether too many are not as productive in soul winning as it is their privilege to be; why many of our people are backsliding; and why many of us workers do not have the spirit of sacrifice and self-denial that ought to characterize those who are coming up to the very hour of Christ's return. I praise God with all my heart for the spirit of sacrifice that holds possession of so many of the hearts of the Ad­ventist people, yet at the same time I deplore the coldness and indifference that prevail in many places.

I fear that many prayers are offered for the outpouring of the latter rain today that will never be answered, be­cause men have allowed God's truth to grow dim in their minds. And just to the degree that it has become ob­scured, the individual will be shorn of power, and unprepared for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,

O that God would help us as men who stand in responsible places to en­courage our ministers, and all who have any part in leading or directing or instructing our people, to study the truth for this time, and order our lives in harmony with it! Then would the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit soon come in the wondrous showers of the latter rain.

Washington, D. C.