The following statements are excerpted from the book
Romans Verse-By-Verse by William R. Newell:
A FEW WORDS ABOUT GRACE
I
The Nature of Grace
1. Grace is God acting freely, according to His own nature as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfil; and acting of course, righteously—in view of the cross.
2. Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient: its cause lies wholly in the GIVER, in GOD.
3. Grace, also is sovereign. Not having debts to pay, or fulfilled conditions on man's part to wait for, it can act toward whom, and how, it pleases. It can, and does, often, place the worst deservers in the highest favors.
4. Grace cannot act where there is either desert or ability: Grace does not help—it is absolute, it does all.
5. There being no cause in the creature why Grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His Grace.
6. The discovery by the creature that he is truly the object of Divine grace, works the utmost humility: for the receiver of grace is brought to know his own absolute unworthiness, and his complete inability to attain worthiness: yet he finds himself blessed,—on another principle, outside of himself!
7. Therefore, flesh has no place in the plan of Grace. This is the great reason why Grace is hated by the proud natural mind of man. But for this very reason, the true believer rejoices! For he knows that "in him, that is, in his flesh, is no good thing" [Rom. 7:18]; and yet he finds God glad to bless him, just as he is!
II
The Place of Man under Grace
1. He has been accepted in Christ, who is his standing!
2. He is not "on probation."
3. As to his life past, it does not exist before God: he died at the Cross, and Christ is his life.
4. Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn: for God knew all the human exigencies beforehand: His action was independent of them, not dependent upon them.
5. The failure of devotion does not cause the withdrawal of bestowed grace (as it would under law). For example: The man in 1 Cor. 5.1-5; and also those in [1 Cor.] 11.30-32, who did not "judge" themselves, and so were "judged by the Lord,—that they might not be condemned with the world"!
III
The Proper Attitude of Man under Grace
1. To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.
2. To refuse to make "resolutions" and "vows"; for that is to trust in the flesh.
3. To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth.
4. To testify of God's goodness, at all times.
5. To be certain of God's future favor; yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.
6. To rely on God's chastening hand as a mark of His kindness.
7. A man under grace, if like Paul, has no burdens regarding himself; but many about others.
IV
Things Which Gracious Souls Discover
1. To "hope to be better" is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
2. To be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself.
3. To be discouraged is unbelief,—as to God's purpose and plan of blessing for you.
4. To be proud, is to be blind! For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
5. The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion.
6. Real devotion to God arises, not from man's will to show it; but from the discovery that blessing has been received from God while we were yet unworthy and undevoted.
7. To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God's order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man's blessing depend on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so,—in proper measure.
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Excerpted from William R. Newell, Romans Verse-By-Verse, pp. 245-247. This segment is the same as the original except that the numerical points have been aligned with the left margin instead of indented.
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| WILLIAM R. NEWELL (1868-1956) |
2 comments:
I was listening to an old sermon by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, and he made the following amazing statement in regards to what William R. Newell writes above. This is what Dr. McGee said about it to his congregation in his sermon titled "Struggle of a Saved Soul". McGee says the following:
"I want to pass on to you in closing now, this statement of Dr. Newell. It's meant, I suppose, more to me than any statement I have ever read. Dr. William Newell says, 'Things Which Gracious Souls Discover.' Will you listen to this? It may be helpful to you. 'To hope to be better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.' Have you ever said, 'I hope I'll be better?' And then you weren't? My friend, that's to fail to see yourself in Christ. 'To be disappointed with yourself means that you believed in yourself.' Didn't you? The thing worked out exactly as God's Word said it would when we believed in ourselves. 'To be discouraged is unbelief, as to God's purpose and plan of blessing for us.' 'To be proud is to be blind. We have no standing before God whatsoever in and of ourselves.' What is the problem today? 'The lack of blessing today comes from unbelief, not from lack of devotion.'"
[Continued below....]
I hear people say, 'Oh, if I could just be more devoted to Him.' And then you see them come, again and again and then again. And they will kneel down at an altar. I went to a young couple, I was speaking at a Pentecostal church in Memphis Tennessee several years ago, and the Lord blessed that morning with salvation, but the preacher wouldn't leave it there; he had over a hundred down [to the altar]. They flooded everything. There was a fine looking young couple that came down [to the altar]. And I went to them afterward because I wanted to talk with them. I said to them, 'Why did you come forward?' They said, 'We want all God has for us.' And I said, 'Well, you are to be congratulated, because there not many young couples today that'll say that. You want all that God has for ya?' She said 'Yes.' I said, 'Is this the first time you've ever come forward?' They said, 'Oh no.' I said, 'How often do you come?' They said, 'We come every Sunday.' 'Well,' I said, 'have you yet got all that God has for you?' And they said, 'No.' 'Well,' I said, 'you had probably thought it over that maybe this is a futile trip that you make down here every Sunday?' They said, 'To tell the truth, we had. And we're very discouraged.' I said, 'Look, you don't have to come down here. That's not necessary.' I said, 'I know people that have been coming forward for years, and they're not any better today than they were when they began.' The problem is not lack of devotion, the problem today is unbelief! Many of us sit here this morning practical atheists. We don't believe God! He says today, that what you can't do and what the Law can't do the Spirit of God can do if you'll let Him do it. Dr. Scofield said years ago, he said, 'I was coming home from school and a bully jumped on me. I was a little bitty fellow when I was a boy, and this bully was a great big feller and he jumped on me and he was just beating me up; he was on top of me.' And he said, 'I didn't know what to do, I fought back the best I could. But I was, I was losing.' He said, 'I looked down the road and I saw my big brother coming, he was taking off his coat.' And he said, 'You know, when my big brother got there he took that bully by the scruff of the neck and I tell you,' he says, 'he beat him up.' He says, 'I crawled up on a stump and rubbed my bruises. And just watched my big brother.' He said, 'You know, it took me years, because the old nature was the bully beating me up. Then one day, I turned it over to the Spirit of God. And now I'm sittin on a stump just rubbin my bruises. Trusting Him to do what I cannot do.' We are never wonderful saints of God, in whom He may justly be proud. We are as little children, immature, filled with foolishness. But He is endlessly patient with us. And He has bestowed on each one of us His infinite heart of love. He loves you. He wants to help you. But we must remember: He is wonderful! We are not. He is wonderful. We are not."
Source: J. Vernon McGee, "Struggle of a Saved Soul" (time stamp: approx. 39:00 - 44:15 minutes), YouTube.
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