In The Master's Service

THE OLD BAPTIST TEST

Section 12
Bible Signs Of The Lord’s People

Elder John M. Watson

THE PRACTICAL EVIDENCES OF FAITH

1. It embraces the Lord Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life.
2. It receives and acknowledges Gospel truths, and `the doctrine which is according to Godliness.’
3. It is `not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.’
4. It works by love.
5. Shows itself by its works.
6. It established the law by recognizing its perfection in the obedience and sacrifice of Christ.
7. It overcomes the world.
8. It resists the devil.
9. It relies on `the evidence of things not seen.’
10. It looks to Christ as its `Author and Finisher.’
11. It subserves the power of God in the safe keeping of His people. `The time would fail me to tell’ of all its practical signs; and yet one more I will relate.
12. The best test of faith is its reliance on the declarations, assurances and promises of God, irrespectively of visible means, reliable inclinations, or strong probabilities. The faith which does not trust in the Lord, in the absence of these, is not of the right kind. HEB. xi.

 

I will now treat of my subject in a more general way.

Self-denying, cross bearing, following Christ, walking in Him are favorable signs. Watching, fasting and praying are holy indication of spiritual life. God’s `own elect’ evince their renewed state by crying unto Him `day and night.’ LUKE xviii, 7. the 'of the word' Show their 'faith by their works.’ Contending earnestly `for the faith once delivered to the saints,’ is a mark of distinction - a remarkable one, indeed, in the present day.

Deeds of charity, about which the left hand knows nothing, are, when accidentally known, a very reliable practical test. Their spiritual strength is renewed by waiting on the Lord. Growing in grace and in the knowledge of God our Saviour, furnishes very reliable proof of the presence of eternal life in the soul.

It is a favorable sign when neither 'heights nor depths' separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Finally, not to be tedious, as the tree is known by its fruit, so is the professor of Christianity known outwardly by his works, while his inward, or hidden state is known to God and to God only. The failings, backslidings and departures of true believers, have, in the main, strong peculiarities, which contradistinguish such defections from those of the Pharisee or hypocrite. `Their spot is not the spot of his children,’ as I will now show. DEUT. xxxii, 5; JUD. i, 12.

1. Their backslidings do not end in final unbelief, but are healed by the Lord. JER. iii, 22; HEB. xiv, 4.
2. Their unbelief does not continue, but yields to the prayer, `Lord, increase our faith.’ MARK ix, 24; LUKE xix, 5.
3. Their transgressions are visited with `the rod, and their iniquity with stripes,’ yet the `loving kindness’ of God is not withdrawn from them. PS. lxxx, 33.
4. Their chastisements yield unto them `the peaceable fruits of righteousness.’ HEB. xii, 11.
5. All things, whether they be good or evil, work together for good to them that love God; to them who are the called according to His purpose. ROM. viii, 28.
6. Their> denial of the Lord Jesus Christ by word or deed is attended sooner or later, with a spiritual reaction of the soul, in the production of penitential shame and sorrow constraining the sufferer to seek that forgiveness, which is realized through Jesus Christ. MAT. xiv, 72.

Having adduced some of the Bible-signs of the people of God, I shall now take in hand the second division of my subject:

PROOF OF THEIR APPLICABILITY TO THE OLD ORDER OF BAPTISTS

The popular objections, of the present day, to the Old Order of Baptists, when fully tested, in conjunction with the Bible-signs just related, prove them to be the people of God very conclusively. Objections are openly made by some to their tenets, when critically examined, amount to quasi exceptions to plainly revealed truths themselves!

The plan which I shall adopt by which to establish their claims to the Bible tests of `God’s elect,’ will be to answer these objections one by one:

1. THAT THEY ARE FEW IN NUMBER WHEN COMPARED WITH THE `MANY’ OF OTHER DENOMINATIONS.

Flavel says: "If none but new creatures be in Christ, how shall a remnant among men belong to Christ in this world? Among the multitude of rational creatures, inhabiting this world, how few, how very few are new creatures. It is the observation of the learned Mr. Brerewood, that if the world be divided into thirty parts, nineteen parts are heathenish idolaters, six parts Mahometans, and only five out of thirty which may be in a large sense called Christians; of which the far greater part is overspread with Popish darkness, separate from the remainder, the multitude of profane, merely civil, hypocritical professors of religion, and how few will remain for Jesus Christ in this world! Look over the cities, towns and parishes in this populous kingdom – England – and how few shall you find that speak the language and do the works of new creatures."

Christ said on different occasions, in regard to this subject: "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." MAT. vii, 13. "Many be called, but few chosen." MAT. xx, 26. "Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." LUKE xii, 32.

Who would not rather be one of the few who find the narrow way – one of the few "chosen" - one of the little flock to whom the kingdom is given, than one of the almost countless Roman Catholics, or one of the millions of Russo-Greek heretics, or even one of the multitude of modern Protestants? The word 'few,' may be regarded as a numerical adjective, belonging, in a scriptural sense, to the Lord’s people, while the word 'many' is seldom applied to them relatively, but only collectively.

To be continued . . .

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