The Time Of The Latter Rain

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Yes, I agree, and his works do follow him.

Here is some more:

"Elder D.C.Babcock.--Brother Jones, please read Job 29:23. Elder Jones.--Very good, 'And they waited for Me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.' All right. What shall we do? What does the Lord want us to do? Wait for His Spirit as for rain. Open your mind; wait as for the latter rain. What did He say to David? 'Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.' Brethren, let us sit down here and open our mouths just like little birds; you know how they do;--it looks as though the mouth was all the bird there was. That is what He wants us to do.

Can we not trust God to give to us what He wants us to have? Brethren, there is a quetion in that that I want to ask: When we come into a place like this, come with hundreds of people who are seeking the Lord, come asking the way to Zion, with our faces thitherward, do we need to sit here suspiciously looking cross-eyed at the Lord as though we did not dare to trust Him for what he would give? Is that honest? (Congregation: 'No.') Is that fair? (Congregation: 'No.') No sir. I believe this much in the Lord; that when we come together with our hearts seeking Him, every one that lays his heart wide open to receive what the Lord has to give, will not receive anything but what God gives.

And the man who comes into such a place as this, with his suspicions aroused and with a readiness to look askance at the Lord--that man is not treating the Lord as a person ought to treat the Lord: he is treating the Lord just as a person might fairly treat the devil. Is he not?

Now, brethren, let us treat the Lord honestly; let us be honest with Him, and He will be honest with us. 'To him that showeth himself froward the Lord will show himself froward.' If you and I treat the Lord honestly, He will treat us just exactly like God treats people. So I say, we need not come into this house with a particle of suspicion as to whether the Lord is going to give us things straight. He will do it; and I am going to expect He will do it, and so I am going to receive lots of blessing out of this thing. That is settled.

Now put those two things together: 'Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.' He who receives it, what does he receive? (Congregation: 'A gift.') He who receives it as the gift that it is, receives what? (Congregation: 'Righteousness.') According to what? God's idea of righteousness. Will He give us anything than that which is righteousness in His own sight, and according to His own will? (Congregation: 'No.') Do you see that point? Then he who does not receive the righteousness of God as the free gift of God, does he have it? (Congregation: 'No.') and he cannot so have it, you see, because it is a gift. It is of God. It comes from God by the precious gift that it is. And therefore it being of God, and He giving it of His own gift, it is left to me to get it in His own way. He gives what is His own and He gives it according to His own idea. That is the genuine article; that is the righteousness of God alone.

Then don't you see in that there can be no room for a single thread of human invention? We cannot get it in there at all. Don't you see what ample provision the Lord has made that we may have the perfect robe which He Himself hath woven, which is the righteousness of God itself, and which will make us complete now, and in the time of the plagues, and in every other time, and throughout eternity? Brethren, I am glad that that is so. I am just as glad as I can be." A.T. Jones, 1893 G.C.B. p.360,361.

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"You cannot explain this faith that lays right hold upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour to bring Chris's righteousness into the life. Clothed with the righteousness of Christ and not your own righteousness, you will not depend upon what you can do or what you will do," for "Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything." E.G. White, Faith & Works,65,66,27.

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"A sister told me not long ago that before that time four years ago (1888) she had just been lamenting her estate, and wondering how in the world the time was ever going to come for the Lord to come, if He had to wait for His people to get ready to meet Him. For she said the way she had been at it--and she had worked as hard as anybody in this world, she thought--she saw that she was not making progress fast enough to bring the Lord in any kind of reasonable time at all; and she could not make out how the Lord was going to come.

She was bothered about it; but she said when the folks came home from MINNEAPOLIS and they said, 'Why the Lord's righteousness is a gift, and we can have it now.' 'O,' said she, 'That made me glad; that brought light; for then I could see how the Lord could come pretty soon. When He Himself gives us the garment, the clothing, the character, that fits us for the judgment and for the time of trouble, I could then see how He could come just as soon as He wanted to.' 'And,' said she, 'it made me glad, and I have been glad ever since.' Brethren, I am glad of it too, all the time.

Now there is sense in that thing to-day. You know we have all been in that same place. You know the time was when we actually sat down and cried because we could not do well enough to satisfy our own estimate of right doing; and as we were expecting the Lord to come soon, we dreaded the news that it was so near; for how in the world were we going to be ready? Thank the Lord He can get us ready. (Congregation: 'Amen.') He provides the wedding garment. The master of the wedding feast always provided the wedding garment. He is the Master of the wedding supper now; and He is going to come pretty soon; and He says, 'Here is clothing that will fit you to stand in that place.' Now there will be some folks that cannot attend that feast, because they have not on the wedding garment, but the Lord offers it as a free gift to all, and as to the man who does not take it--who is to blame?" A.T. Jones, 1893 G.C.B. p.361.

HE HIMSELF GIVES US THE CLOTHING!

If you please, I would like to quote the words of Ellen White which I believe are most appropriate at this point and in perfect harmony with brother Jones' presentation:

"Some seem to feel that they must be on probation and must prove to the Lord that they are reformed, before they can claim His blessing(His righteousness). But these dear souls may claim the blessing even now. They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their infirmities, or they cannot form a Christian character. Jesus loves to have us come to Him as we are--sinful, helpless, dependent... He who will lay hold of Christ's righteousness need not wait one moment that he himself may blot out his own sins. He need not wait until he has made a suitable repentance before he may take hold upon Christ's righteousness. We do not understand the matter of salvation. It is just as simple as ABC. But we don't understand it." F.W38,64.

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[skyblue888]

Another thing: Do you believe now--let us have that settled before we go any further. I want to know how many people in this house actually believe, right down honestly in their hearts, that God is able to say what He means when He says it?(Congregation:'Yes.') What the Lord asks of you and me is stated in 2 Tim.2:7, and it is the key of all Bible study; it is God's directions for Bible study; 'Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.' The only things He asks of you and me to consider is what He says; and if we have to consider it for ten, fifteen, or twenty years to find out what it means, we will find that it was worth twenty years of waiting; we need not be disappointed at all. Bear in mind that the longer you have to consider a text to find out what is in it, the more it will be worth when you get it. So there is no place for discouragement, ever. Therefore if I cannot measure the depths of it, I am going to be glad that it is so deep that when I do get it, I shall rejoice as long as I live.

All we have to do in these lessons is to consider what He says, and depend upon Him to give us the understanding. Luke 24:45. That is all. That is all I can do, and every one that will do that will get more out of it than the one who does not consider what He says.

Then 'their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord,' That is what He says.(Congregation:'Yes.') It is a gift of righteousness; it is a gift; is that so?(Congregation:'Yes.') Now how do we receive a gift?'Their righteousness is of Me;' He gives it, a free gift; how do we get it?(Congregation:'By faith.') By faith. Let us bear in mind also the definition which we have studied, of what faith is: not a satanic belief; that is not faith at all; but a submission of the will to God, a yielding of the heart to Him, the affections fixed upon Him,--there is faith. That is God's idea of faith. And when we read of faith, and get His word of belief which He has spoken in His word--that is what He means.

Mark this: it is received by faith; it is known by faith: but let us read the text and see that it is so. Rom.1:17. The 16th verse is talking about the gospel.'For therein is the righteousness... revealed from faith to faith.' What alone can obtain it, then?(Congregation:'Faith.') Not from faith to works; but from faith to faith. But what is faith? Submission of the will to Him; yielding of the heart to Him, the affections fixed upon Him. That is surrender of self, and takes what God says as the fact; in other words, faith is just simply this: that when God says a thing, and you and I read it, we say,'That is so.' That is faith...

[skyblue888]

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom.10:17. What is the source of faith, then?(Congregation:'The word of God.') How does faith come to us?(Congregation:'By hearing the word of God.') Faith comes to us by the word of God. That is the source, the fountain of faith. Then when that word is read, you yield to that and say,'That is so.' I take that as it says; with no attempt to explain it even to myself. I take it as God says it; I receive it just as He says it; I rest upon it just as He says it; He giving me understanding of it,--then I want to know whether I do not receive in that word and from it just what He has in it to give to me. Assuredly. That also precludes our getting any thread of human invention into it.

Then it is of faith; it comes by faith; we receive it that way. Then don't you see, that with the man who does not understand, who begins to question righteousness by faith alone, the trouble is that his soul is not submitted to God, his heart is not yielded to God, the affections are not fixed upon Him? That is the difficulty. All the trouble that ever comes to anybody in this world over justification by faith is in the heart; in the refusal to submit to God; and that is the carnal mind; as we read the other night, the carnal mind cannot comprehend it; does not know it." A.T. Jones, 1893 G.C.Bulletin, p.361,362.

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