Tag: Gardiner Spring

Faith from the Cross–Gardiner Spring

By Gardiner Spring

Excerpts from The Attraction of the Cross

Intro by Bob Beanblossom

10 August 2016

It seems to me that faith is a subject that we can never learn too much about. We all have faith in something.  We have faith that the unseen driver coming over the hill on a two lane road is driving on the proper side of the road. There are, of course, many more examples. Although they dispute the contention, even atheists have faith–but theirs is a faith in man, not God. ‘A rose by any other name,’ so to speak.

When we consider Christian faith, we recognize three aspects:  1) It is a gift of God, 2) Conversely, it is not a result of the pursuit or will of man, and 3) We can never reach a full understanding of faith this side of death. For the Christian:

Faith is a commandment of our Lord: “And Jesus, answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22)

Faith is the gift of God, given in the measure He decides: “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5)  “. . . that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every the man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)

Faith is the source and result: “For therein is the righteousness of God in revealed in faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Faith results in action: “. . . I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galations 2:20b) “. . . The just shall live by faith,” (Galations 3:11b) “. . . remembering without ceasing your work in faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” (1 Thessaloonians 1:3)

Faith is the power and protection of the Christian: “above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fire darts of the wicked.” (Ephesians 6:16) “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love . . .” (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

This article is an excerpt without comment from Gardiner Spring’s book, “The Attraction of the Cross,” from his chapter “The World Crucified by the Cross.”   Gardiner Spring was an American preacher, born in 1785. Trained in the law, he turned to the ministry when he felt the call of God. He died in 1873 after serving 63 years in the pulpit of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.

For me, Gardiner Spring is not light reading.  He is profound and insightful, but not ponderous. The challenge is to understand the depths of his insight into our relationship with God. 

Here, then, is the excerpt from “The Attraction of the Cross.”

“The faith of a true Christian is one of the senses of the soul. It is the taste which has a sensible relish for Divine things; it is the touch which is conscious of the correspondence between the renewed nature and its Divine Author; it is the delicate sense which inhales those fragrant breezes of heaven which fan and blow upon it;  it is the ear to which things unseen are no longer shadows, because “God hath revealed them by His Spirit.”

“This is the source and principle from which all right views of eternal realities originate, and which give them their peculiarity. Because they are convictions of certainty, they are strong and impressive convictions. There is a strength and vividness in the impressions of eternal things entertained by a spiritual mind, which the world knows not of. They have an unction from the “Holy One.”

“They are habitual, if not steadfast views. While neither perfect constancy nor perfect uniformity may be claimed for them, they possess a power which, when duly felt, extends itself to all times, as well as to all places.

“The objects of faith have in themselves no such mutability. God never alters; heaven never alters; hell never alters; the truths of the Gospel never alter.  Nor is it of less importance to remark, that the views of eternal realities, taken at the cross, are welcome and joyous views. Unhappy Christians there are, but unhappy Christianity there is none. It were not surprising if such views should exert a strong practical influence.

“There is no part of the Christian character that is not affected by them. The cross is the mirror which reflects eternity. It is here that the believer feels that a few years at most, perhaps a brief day, is all that separates him from that vast world which is unseen and eternal.  It is but a little step, a span’s breadth, a pulse stop, and the finite is exchanged for the infinite.

“The thought of eternity is a great and stupendous thought. This is both the starting-point, and the goal; the beginning, the middle, and end.  It is the “prize of our high calling.”

There is much more.  Reprints of his books are available on Amazon and elsewhere.

 

The Gift

By Bob Beanblossom

27 July 2016

 It seems to me that we sometimes forget how great the gift of salvation is. We rest in the great grace of His sacrifice and forget that justification by faith thru grace is but the beginning of a great adventure, not the end. Running in place or dragging our feet here limits both our personal growth and His ability to use us for His glory.

Gardiner Spring wrote that, “Pardon thru the blood of the cross is preliminary to advancement thru its righteousness.” (The Attraction of the Cross, 1845)  He anchored our relationship with our Creator firmly in the blood of our Savior. There is no other course to salvation. The way is fixed, immovable, set by the very God of the universe who will have no other gods before Him.

Spring then pointed to our sanctification, the growth that yields an increasingly ‘setting aside’ of ourselves for His use.  God has set an impossible goal for us to reach:  “as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

We might be tempted to give up the fight against the impossibility of God’s command for each of us. Holy as God—not in this life. Exactly. But, before we go hide in a corner, we need to remember that, as children of the Most High God, we have a relationship with that God through the Blood of the Lamb and the indwelling Holy Spirit: we have access to the power of the Creator to move forward in that quest for holiness. There is a path laid out for us as we strive to please Him. God never demands of us what He will not join with us in achieving—if we let Him.

First, the warning: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?” (Mark 12:24) We are not called to be spectators or passive vessels waiting for God to move upon us. Paul, in Ephesians 4:1, declared himself to be “the prisoner of the Lord.” A prisoner does his captor’s bidding. Paul, a voluntary prisoner of the Lord as we are, yielded himself to the service of his Master. A primary mission for Christians is to learn of Him through His Word and prayer.

Next, the power: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) That power comes with the gift of love and of a sound mind.  The power comes with the ability to use it.

Then come the tools: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The Word of God is our primary tool and growth requires time in His Word (not reading about the Word) in the spirit of prayer. Fellowship with likeminded Christians and a careful selection of other reading material help, but are no substitutes for the real thing. Limitations to this gift are within us, not in the gift: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4) He is giving us all things—all things that pertain to life in Him and godliness. We are given promises: each promise comes with conditions, with obligations on our part. When we ask, He will give us wisdom and understanding to discern those conditions and obligations.

Why does he give us these magnificent gifts? That we should: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16) This is the fellowship of fellow Christians; fellowship in the sense of sharing Jesus and His blessings, sharing our challenges and failures; upholding one another in specific prayer. A cup of coffee and discussion of the Big Game or The Election are not fellowship in this sense.

As we grow–a parallel activity, with each supporting the other–we have that familiar command, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:7) We are to tell others of our salvation. We don’t need to be great orators—Paul said that he spoke in simplicity. We don’t need three points to a rehearsed message—we simply need to share the change in our hearts and lives. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.