God’s Side And Man’s Side

Faith involves two essential parts, which include God’s role in transforming us and man’s role in trusting Him. While we must surrender and trust God, it is He who does the actual work of sanctification, shaping and purifying us. This process is similar to clay being molded by a potter, where the clay’s job is to yield, and the potter does the shaping. Trusting God is not passive; it allows Him to work in us, leading to real spiritual transformation, as we rely on His power to make us more like Christ.

In discussing the life and walk of faith, I want to address a common misunderstanding that often hinders a clear understanding of the subject. This misunderstanding arises from the tendency to focus on only one aspect of the topic without considering the other. As a result, people often see a well- presented perspective on one side but overlook the balance that comes from viewing both sides together. Unsurprisingly, this can lead to a distorted view of the whole matter.

There are two strong, distinct sides to this subject and, like all other subjects, it cannot be fully understood unless both of these sides are kept constantly in view. I refer, of course, to God’s side and man’s side; or, in other words, to God’s part in the work of sanctification, and man’s part. These are very distinct and even contrasting. They are not contradictory. But, to a casual observer, they sometimes appear so.

This was illustrated to me in a striking manner not long ago. Two teachers of this higher Christian life held meetings in the same place, at alternate hours. One s poke only of God’s part in the work, and the other dwelt only upon man’s part. They were in perfect sympathy with one another. They knew they were each teaching different sides of the same great truth. A large part of their hearers also understood this. But, it was different with some of the hearers. One lady said, in great perplexity, "I cannot understand it at all." Two preachers are trying to teach the same truth. Yet, they seem to contradict each other.”

I felt her puzzlement. It troubles many honest seekers of truth. Suppose two friends visit a famous building, then return home to describe it. One has seen only the north side, and the other only the south.

The first says, “They built the building in such a manner, and it has such and such stories and ornaments.” “Oh, no!” says the other, interrupting him. "You are quite mistaken. I saw the building.

They built it distinctly.

Its ornaments and stories were so and so." A lively dispute would likely arise over their descriptions.

Then, the two friends would find they had described different sides of the building. Everyone would reconcile at once.

I want to be clear about the two sides in this matter. Focusing on one side, without seeing the other, will create false views of the truth. In brief, I would say that man's part is to trust and God's part is to work. These two roles are distinct, but they do not have to conflict with each other.

I mean this. Someone needs to do a certain work. God will deliver us from the power of sin and will make us perfect in every good work to do His will. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another’s For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”2 Corinthians 3:18. We must transform ourselves by renewing our minds. Then, we can prove God's good, acceptable, and perfect will. A real work is to be wrought in us and upon us. We must conquer besetting sins. We must overcome evil habits. We must root out wrong dispositions and feelings. We must develop holy tempers and emotions.

A positive transformation is to take place. So at least the Bible teaches. Now somebody must do this.

Either we must do it for ourselves, or another must do it for us. Most of us tried to do it ourselves at first, and failed. Then, we learned from the Scriptures and our own experience that we cannot do it.

But, the Lord Jesus Christ came to do it. He will do it for all who trust Him completely.

Now under these circumstances, what is the part of the believer, and what is the part of the Lord? The believer can only trust. The Lord, in whom he trusts, does the work entrusted to Him. Trusting and doing are opposite, and often contradictory. But, are they contradictory in this case? Manifestly not, because two different parties are concerned. It is a contradiction to say one party in a transaction trusted his case to another, but attended to it himself. But, when we say one party trusts the other in a transaction, and the other does it, we make a simple, harmonious statement.

We do not present a difficult problem. In this higher life, man's part is to trust, and God's is to do the thing entrusted to Him. The preacher, speaking for man, can only talk of surrender and trust. That is all a man can do. We all agree about this. Yet, such preachers are often criticized. Their words imply there is no other part. So, we only trust. And the cry goes out that this doctrine of faith does away with all realities. Souls are told to trust, and that's it. They then sit in a sort of religious easy-chair, dreaming away a life that has no real results.

This misapprehension arises, of course, from a failure to communicate. Either the preacher neglected to state, or the hearer failed to hear, the other side of the matter. It is, that when we trust, the Lord works. He does a great deal, not us. Our trust brings results. Our Lord undertakes what we trust to Him and accomplishes it. We do not act, but He does. This makes His work more effective.

The puzzle about the preaching of faith vanishes when this is clear. But critics target the preacher who favors God's view for a different reason. He does not speak of trust, for the Lord’s part is not to trust, but to work. The Lord does the thing entrusted to Him. He disciplines and trains the soul by inward exercises and outward providences.

He brings to bear all the resources of His wisdom and love upon the refining and purifying of that soul.

He makes all of a person's life and circumstances serve one purpose: to grow him in grace and to make him like Christ, hour by hour.

He carries him through a process of transformation, as his case requires. He makes actual and experimental the results for which the soul has trusted. We have dared, for instance, according to the c ommand in Romans. 6:11 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” by faith to reckon ourselves dead unto sin. The Lord makes this real. He leads us to victory over self by His daily, providential discipline. Our reckoning is available only because God makes it real.

Yet, the preacher who focuses on this practical side is accused of having no faith. He is said to promote a gradual sanctification by works and to present an impossible task.

Now, sanctification is both a sudden step of faith and a gradual process of works. We consider it a step; God sees it as a process. By a step of faith, we get into Christ; by a process, we are made to grow up unto Him in all things.

By a step of faith, we trust the Divine Potter. By a gradual process, He makes us a vessel for His honor, fit for His use, and ready for every good work. To illustrate: I will describe, to a beginner, how to turn a lump of clay into a beautiful vessel. I first tell him the clay's role in the matter. All I can say is this: the potter puts the clay into his hands. It then lies passive, submitting to all his turning and overturning of it.

There is really nothing else to be said about the clay’s part. But could my hearer argue from this that nothing else is done, because I say that this is all the clay can do? If he is an intelligent hearer, he will not dream of doing so, but will say, “I understand. This is what the clay must do; but what must the potter do?” “Ah,” I answer, “now we come to the importan t part. The potter takes the abandoned clay and begins to work it. He molds it to his own will. He kneads and works it, he tears it apart and presses it together again, and he wets it and then suffers it to dry.

Sometimes he works at it for hours. Sometimes, he lays it aside for days and does not touch it. Then, when he has made it perfectly soft, he proceeds to make it into the vessel he has planned. He turns it on the wheel, planes, and smooths it. Then, he dries it in the sun. Next, he bakes it in the oven. Finally, he turns it out of his workshop, a vessel to his honor and fit for his use.” Will my hearer now say I am contradicting myself?

I had said the clay could do nothing but lie passive in the potter's hands. Now, I am demanding it to perform great work. To make itself into such a vessel is an impossible task. Surely not.

He will see that, while I spoke of the clay's part, I am now speaking of the potter's. These two are contrastive, but not contradictory. The clay must not do the potter's work, but yield to it. The harmony between these two teachings, which seem contradictory, is unmistakable. What can be said about man's role in this great work? He must surrender and trust without hesitation.

But, on God's side of the question, what can be said about the many, wondrous ways He accomplishes His work entrusted to Him? It is here that the growing comes in. The lump of clay would never grow into a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the clay-pit for thousands of years. But once is put into the hands of a skillful potter, and, under his fashioning, it grows rapidly into a vessel to his honor. So, the Heavenly Potter changes the abandoned soul. The Spirit changes it from glory to glory into the Lord's image.

You have taken a step of faith. You have put yourself completely in His hands. Now, you must expect Him to begin to work. His way of accomplishing what you entrusted to Him may differ from yours.

But he knows, and you must satisfy yourself. I knew a lady. She had entered this life of faith with a great outpouring of the Spirit and a wonderful flood of light and joy. She supposed, of course, this was a prep for some great service. She expected to be sent into the Lord's harvest field. Instead of this, her husband soon lost all his money. She shut herself in her house to do endless chores. This left her no time or strength for any gospel work.

She accepted the discipline. She then devoted herself to sweeping, dust, baking, and sewing. She would have done the same to preach, pray, or write for the Lord. Through this training, He made her a vessel "meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Another lady, who had come to faith under similar circumstances, expected to be sent to do some great work. Instead, she was shut up with two peevish invalid nieces to nurse, humor, and amuse them all day long.

Unlike the first lady, this one did not accept the training. She grew restless and angry. In the end, she rebelled. She lost all her blessings and fell into a state of cold misery. She had understood her part in trusting, at first. But, not knowing the divine way to do that, she took herself from the hands of the Heavenly Potter. The wheel marred the vessel.

I believe many a vessel has been similarly damaged due to a lack of understanding these things.

Christian experience matures over time. It is the work of God’s Holy Spirit. His power transforms us and helps us grow into Christ in all things. We can only reach this maturity by yielding ourselves to His mighty work. But, the Scriptures urge all believers to seek a present sanctification. It does not consist in the maturity of growth, but in the purity of heart. This may be as complete in the babe in Christ as in the veteran believer.

The lump of clay, once it comes under the potter's hand, is, at every hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be. Therefore, it pleases him. But it is very far from maturing into the vessel he intends to make in the future. The baby may be perfect. It may please its mother. But, it is not what she wishes it to be when it matures.

The apple in June is a perfect apple for June. It is the best apple that June can produce. But, it is very different from the apple in October. That is a perfected apple. God's works are perfect at every stage of their growth. Man’s works are never perfect until they are in every respect complete. In this life of sanctification, we claim only this: By a step of faith, we put ourselves in the Lord's hands. We trust Him to work in us all His goodwill. By faith, we must keep ourselves there.

This is our part 8 in the matter. In doing so, we are, in the Scriptural sense, pleasing to God. It may require years of training to mature us into a vessel, fit for His honor and every good work. Our part is to trust; it is His to achieve the results. When we do our part, He never fails to do His, for no one ever trusted in the Lord and felt confounded.

Do not fear that if you trust or tell others to, it will end there. Trust is only the beginning and the foundation. When we trust, the Lord works. His work is an important part. And this explains that apparent paradox which puzzles so many. They say, “In one breath you tell us to do nothing but trust, and in the next you tell us to do impossible things. How can you reconcile such contradictory statements?”

We must reconcile them. It's like reconciling statements about a saw in a carpenter's shop. We say, at one moment, that the saw has cut a log. Then, we declare that the carpenter did it. The saw is the instrument used, the power that uses it is the carpenter’s. So, we yield ourselves to God. We also give our bodies to Him as instruments of righteousness. We find that He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. We can say with Paul, “I labored; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

For we are to be His workmanship, not our own. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them . (Eph. 2:10.) Only God, who created us, can re-create us. He alone understands the "work of His own hands." All attempts at self-creation mark the vessel. No soul can find its highest fulfillment except through His work. He "works all things after the counsel of His own will."

I will, of course, focus on man's side in this matter. I am writing for men. I hope to teach believers how to fulfill their part of the great work. But I want it clearly understood. Unless I believed in God's work, I would not have written a word of this book.