W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

our Lord.
There are four justifications in human life:
FIRST, in infancy we are all justified without faith or works, but purely by the work of Christ.
SECOND, the sinner is justified by faith alone, as he is in the devil's kingdom and if he did any good work the
devil would get it. Therefore it is impossible for him to do anything but cast himself on the mercy of God in
Christ and trust Jesus for pardon and salvation. The Campbellite policy of having him depend on works is most
nonsensical, as he cannot possibly do anything that would not belong to the devil until he gets out of his
kingdom, which he can never do till he is freely justified by the work of Christ, which he can only receive and
appropriate by faith. Then God freely forgives him all his sins for Christ's sake and the Holy Spirit regenerates
him, therefore this awful diabolical priestcraft that sends the weeping penitent to the water instead of Jesus is the
cunning device of Satan for his certain damnation. Better that preacher never had been born than to assume this
awful responsibility of coming between the lost soul and the Savior, and offering him the vain substitute of
church rites instead of the precious blood of Jesus. If this doctrine had been true, the Son of God might have
saved His life and stayed in Heaven, for we had the law from the beginning with nothing to do but to obey; we
always had plenty of water to immerse people. This horrific, Satanic legalism of salvation by obedience, which
those people preached boldly with all their might, (and I doubt not their sincerity, because blind people do not
see anything), is shocking and appalling beyond all conception, as it actually treats with contempt the dying love
of Jesus, which brought Him from Heaven to redeem us by His blood.
If this doctrine were true, you plainly see the work of Christ was not necessary. Truly, this terrific falsehood
hatched in the bottomless pit shoves away Jesus in a corner and gives the Campbellites, the Mormon prophet,
and the Roman Catholic priests the field, honored with the investiture of life and salvation. You may take a
whole community under this influence and this state of things will normally obtain; the preachers coming to the
front and Jesus relegated to the rear. It really becomes a puzzle to know what use they have for Him, as they are
just ready to take the candidate's confession, immerse him for the remission of his sins, and thus make him a
Christian, after their bogus nomenclature, independent of Christ. Shocking to think! After the poor sinner has
been freely justified by the vicarious substitutionary atonement of Christ, received and appropriated by faith, he
is then gloriously regenerated by the Holy Ghost.
THIRD, as bona fide citizens of the kingdom, we must always obey God, proving our faith by our works, as
James beautifully teaches us, in perfect harmony with Paul's powerful and unmistakable deliverances on the
justification of all sinners by faith, “without deeds of law.” Baptism is a deed of the ritual law, and therefore,
with all other deeds of law, eternally and unequivocally excluded from the realm of justification. It comes in
with all other good works, after we are freely justified by the grace of God in Christ, and joyfully regenerated by
the Holy Ghost.
FOURTH, there is also a fourth justification which takes place when we stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. This justification is by works alone. Revelation 22:12: “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with
me, to give unto each one as his work is.” You see that while the doctrine of good works has not anything to do
with saving us from our sins, which is the work of Christ alone, yet they are the measure of our reward in
Heaven. Therefore we should work for the Lord night and day after we get into His kingdom; but beware of
Satan's awful lies, telling you that you can get saved by good works. Until you are saved, you are still in the
devil's kingdom, therefore, as you are under his influence, he will hallucinate you by the idea that you can be
saved by your good works; because in this way he will drive off your convictions, thus making you believe you
are a Christian, when he knows you are a sinner. If he can keep you under that delusion, he will soon have you
in Hell
6. VARIOUS FORMS OF IDOLATRY
Churches which do not send people directly to the feet of Jesus to implore the pardoning mercy of God which
He purchased on Calvary, are all Hell traps, hallucinating the people with the vain delusion that they are
Christians, when they are sinners on the broad road to Hell.