Friday, August 28, 2009

Sanctification, Why Necessary?

by Dr. Quinton J. Everest

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17.

Dr. Quinton J. Everest, was the speaker for Your Worship Hour which was heard around the world for over fifty years. He and Seth Rohrer were two of the founders of Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana and the Everest-Rohrer Chapel pictured above is named in their honor.

"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."

Acts 15:8, 9.

All anyone needs to do to realize the necessity of the sanctified life is to take a look at the Pre-Pentecostal church and at any Christian or church today that ignores or rejects this important truth.

E. Stanley Jones in his book, "The Christ of Every Road," says: "The church is living between Easter and Pentecost. Easter stands for life wrought out, offered; Pentecost stands for life appropriated, lived to its full, unafraid and clearly and powerfully witnessing to an adequate way of human living.

"The church stands hesitant between the two. Hesitant, hence comparatively impotent. Something big has dawned on its thinking -- Christ has lived, taught, died, and risen again and has commissioned the church with the amazing Good News. But something big has yet to dawn in the very structure, make-up, and temper of the life of the church -- Pentecost. Easter has dawned; Pentecost has not. If the church would move up from that between-state to Pentecost, nothing could stop it -- nothing!"

There isn't any question but what this is true. We are confronted with great needs and find ourselves inadequate to meet them. If the Apostles and their associates would have failed to "wait for the promise of the Father," Acts 1:4.

The early church would have been utterly and completely defeated. The great business of the church is to present Christ to a lost world. The world needs to know of the virgin-born Son of God, of the miracles, of the cross, the blood, the resurrection, the ascension, and the ministry of intercession. The only organism, the only body, the only group that can make this great message known is the true church filled with the Holy Ghost. Peter and the rest of the Apostles were not filled with the Holy Ghost just to enjoy a personal experience or blessing, but to be a blessing. They were saved and sanctified to serve.

Samuel Chadwick says, "The church is the body of Christ, and the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He fills the body, directs its movements, controls its members, inspires its wisdom, supplies its strength. He guides into truth, sanctifies its agents, and empowers for witnessing. The church that is managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college-trained, but not Spirit-filled, works no miracles. The church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labors in vain and spends its strength for naught."

What we need my friends, is purity of heart and power for service. We can run an organization without God the Holy Spirit, but if the church is to fulfill its God-given mission, she must experience the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.

Purity

The negative phase of sanctification or purity of heart is necessary before there can be the impartation of power. Purity of heart is to meet my need.

Propagating Power is to meet the need of a lost world. Before the need of a lost world can be met, the individual needs of Christians must be supplied. Jesus was very clear in His command that the disciples were to wait for the promise of the Father before going into the world with the message of salvation. Examining the lives of the disciples before and after Pentecost, I am sure one of the great problems was not to get them to see the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit, but to get them to see the need of being cleansed of their self-seeking and carnal spirit. Perhaps the ten days were not so much for the purpose of infilling as emptying and cleansing. Many people today would have been filled with the Holy Spirit long ago had they been willing for God to cleanse and purify their hearts.

A minister heard a servant of God preach on entire sanctification. He told the speaker that he agreed that there was a baptism with the Holy Ghost and that he felt the need of it and was seeking it. "But," said he, "I do not care for your teaching on entire sanctification or heart cleansing." The speaker told this minister that if he ever got the gift of the Holy Ghost, he would have to take entire sanctification with it, for the first thing the baptism with the Holy Ghost does is to cleanse the heart from all sin. He later permitted God to sanctify him and was filled with the Holy Spirit and mightily empowered to work for God.

Many have looked at the results of Pentecost and the results of other Spirit-filled lives and desired to possess such power, but were unwilling to permit God to cleanse the heart. The great hindrance in the hearts of God's children is that dark, defiant, destructive, evil something that struggles for the mastery of the soul. It refuses to be meek, lowly, patient, forbearing, and holy.

In our text, Peter is reiterating the time when the people on the day of Pentecost and the people at the house of Cornelius were filled with the Holy Ghost. Evidently the purifying effect of that occasion made a deep and lasting impression upon him, for years afterward in the Council of Jerusalem he stood up and affirmed that when they were filled with the Holy Ghost, their hearts were purified.

When unsanctified men see themselves as God sees them, it is not so much the need of power, but the lack of purity that troubles them. This is illustrated in the life of the Prophet Isaiah. He had a vision of the Lord upon His throne, and he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts," Isaiah 6:5.

The scene that follows is then one of purification.

Power

The natural consequence of purity is power. Even a man who lives a clean, moral, respectable life has a certain power which a vile, cursing, liquor-drinking man does not possess. Men are not influential because they are vile sinners, but many men, even though they may lack in ability and education, if they live good lives are admired and have a dignity and power about them which others do not possess. If a certain amount of outward correctness of conduct increases influence and has a certain power connected with it, how much more powerful will be the life that is cleansed by the power of God. It will not only be the power of good living, but it will also be the power of the Holy Ghost emanating from the life. Unquestionably this power is needed to live victorious over the world. We need to be,

"Dead to the world and all its toys,

Its idle pomp and fading joys."

The world has mastered many a church and professor of religion. The Laodicean church characteristics picture to us the church of the present day. This Laodicean church boasts that she is "Rich and increased with goods, and has need of nothing."

But God says, "Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Revelation 3:17. They were neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. Present-day conditions could not be more clearly depicted. Subtle and sneering influences are producing distrust and unbelief in the definite works wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The blood of Christ is underestimated. The miraculous is rejected. Repentance is replaced with reformation and good works. The witness of the Spirit is called "misguided emotion." Real, genuine, scriptural revivals are scarce. An increasing number of professors of religion dance, play cards, attend theaters, dress immodestly, and read the Sunday newspapers instead of the Bible. Only a fraction of one percent go to mid-week prayer meeting. Very few are found in Sunday evening services. In some instances, pulpit fads, sensational, programs, and extravagant methods are used to catch the masses, but they are many times sent away from such a service less susceptible to the real Gospel than when they came. Surely the world has invaded the church or perhaps I should say the church has invited the world. Many leaders are wondering what to do. They want to know how to get back the old-time power and how to get the world out of the church. My friends, when we are willing to let God in our lives and in our churches, the world will go out. The two never dwell together. Worldly power, position, and fame are ruled out when the Holy Ghost comes in. Paul said, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Galatians 6:14.

They whipped, stoned, and imprisoned his body and finally cut off his head, but his soul was free. The Apostle had the Holy Spirit in his life, and as a result had power over the world. This same power is for you; it is for the church, and it is the only power that will do for us what needs to be done.

There is also power over the flesh. God has given us desires for self-preservation and race propagation. These desires are normal and legitimate, but the devil perverts them to wrong uses. Every Christian needs the power of the Holy Ghost in his life to enable him to live victorious over the flesh. When the Holy Ghost enters a man's heart, He does not destroy these desires, but He purifies and regulates them. I know men, who for years, used tobacco and liquor and were given to other sinful habits. God saved and delivered them from these things in regeneration, but in some instances at least, it took the fullness of the Holy Ghost's power to enable them to overcome the temptations that came to them later on.

Again, let me say that we need the Holy Ghost in our lives to overcome the power of the devil. Some would have us believe that there is no personal devil, but I would like to ask, what is the source of all the present-day evil if there is no devil? Jesus knew all too well that there was a devil; the Apostles knew it, and I am sure you know it. He is constantly busy seeking to destroy the work of God and damn the souls of men. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, we can overcome and outwit Satan. Power over all evil and over Satan is God's promise to His children. If you do not have this power, I entreat you to yield yourself fully to Him and ask in faith, and you shall receive.

Unity

Sanctification is also necessary in order to unity. In John 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them.. that they all may be one." Verses 17, 21

What we want is not some blessing that will make us independent of the Lord Jesus, but something that will make us one with Him -- one in desire, one in will, one in motive, and one in God's desire for the salvation of a lost world. If this is not what we are seeking, we will get little that is of any value. Religion does not consist alone of ecstasies, emotions, thrills, and talking in tongues. It is rather that which brings me into oneness with Christ, not only in a life of holiness, but also in a desire to help a lost world find Christ. Some people are always wanting something that will make them feel good -- something that will give them a thrill. What is needed far more than that is the Holy Spirit Who will help us to look at the world as He looks at it, feel as He feels, love and walk as He loved and walked in the person of Jesus.

This vital unity with Christ will also produce a unity in the church. The same Holy Spirit dwelling in all the hearts of the believers will enable them to love one another and work together with love and consideration. There would be fewer church feuds and factions if the Holy Ghost's sanctifying power would be experienced by each individual.

If time would permit, we could speak of Sanctification as necessary to bear reproach, to bring us to the place of perfect obedience, etc., but we will close by saying that it is necessary in order to be prepared for the Second coming of Christ. Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." In Titus 2:13 and 14 Paul says: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

Holiness of heart and the second coming of Christ are vitally connected. Surely it would be an embarrassing, disappointing thing if Jesus would come and find in our hearts envy, pride, malice, uncharitableness, unbelief, unconcern, the fear of man, and the shame of the cross. I don't know how much of these things you want in your heart, but as for me, I want to have everything taken out of my heart that is foreign to God's will. When God says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord," Hebrews 12:14.

I believe He means just that. If He has made provisions for me to have a holy heart, then it is my business to accept those provisions. If I reject them, it will mean that I will have to take the consequences. Someone says, "Oh! we must have a little sin in our lives to keep us humble." Someone has said also that if we really believed that and if it were true, the devil would be the humblest creature in all God's creation. Any man with the smallest amount of judgment knows that such a thing is not true. It takes the grace of God to make and keep men humble.

The sanctifying baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire is an important part of the preparedness and fitness for the second coming of Christ. My friend, God has revealed this need to you. He calls you to a life of heart purity and propagating power. He calls you to unity and love. With the Holy Spirit's revelation before you, only Christ as your sanctification, appropriated and put on, can make you ready for His appearing.

May God bless and help you to accept that which He has provided for you.

Note: This is the fourth of a five series radio broadcast originally aired from June 15 - August 3, 1947. Let God Lead Us will be posting all the sermons in the series as follows: 1) Sanctification, what is it? 2) Sanctification, whom is it for? 3) Sanctification, when obtained? 4) Sanctification, why necessary. 5) Sanctification, what it will not do.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Testimony of Charles G. Finney

Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was a Presbyterian minister who became an important figure in the Second Great Awakening. His influence during this period was enough that he has been called "The Father of Modern Revivalism".

(from the “Life of Charles G. Finney” by A. M. Hills)

On a Sabbath evening in early October, 1821, when Finney was past twenty-nine years old, he deliberately made up his mind that he would settle the question of his soul's salvation at once, and, if it were possible, would make his peace with God. On Monday and Tuesday he was not much occupied, and read his Bible, and engaged in prayer most of the time. But when he began to seek God in real earnest, it developed that he was very proud without knowing it. He became ashamed to let any one know of his seriousness. He stopped up the keyholes of his room and office, and only whispered his prayer, ashamed to have it said of him, as of Saul, "Behold, he prayeth!" Before that time his Bible had laid openly on the table in his office among his law books; now, from wicked shame, he hid it from the sight of others. Like other convicted sinners, he resorted to the familiar device of hiding away from his pastor and all others who might have the slightest concern in his salvation. The wicked cowardice of a guilty sinner! Tuesday night the conviction was so great that he thought he should die; and he knew, if he did, that he would sink down to hell. Wednesday morning an inward voice seemed to say to him: "What are you waiting for? Did you not promise to give your heart to God? And what are you trying to do? Are you endeavoring to work out a righteousness of your own?"

He had started for his office, and was in the street, when the voice spoke to him. "Just at this point," he says, "the whole plan of salvation opened to my mind in a most wonderful manner. I saw the atonement of Christ was a finished work as clearly as I ever saw it in my life. Gospel salvation seemed to me to be the offer of something to be accepted, and that it was full and complete, and that all that was necessary on my part was to get my own consent to give up my sins and accept Christ." "I had stopped in the street, where the inward voice seemed to arrest me. How long I remained in that position, I can not say; but, after this distinct revelation had stood for some time before my mind, the question was put, 'Will you accept it now, today?' I replied, 'I will accept it today, or I will die in the attempt.'" He started for the woods to pray; but again his pride appeared, and he found himself skulking along under the fence, for fear some one might see him. As he entered the woods, he said, "I will give my heart to God, or I will never come down from there."

A quarter of a mile in the woods he crept into a covert where great trees had fallen across each other, making a closet for him. He thought that he could be alone where he might pray freely and not be overheard! But lo! when he came to try, he was dumb; he had nothing to say to God! He found himself fast verging to despair, and he cried, "My heart is dead to God, and will not pray!"

He thought several times he heard a noise, and he stopped to listen and see if any one was overhearing him. Then and there the senseless, wicked pride of his heart was revealed to him. "An overwhelming sense of the wickedness of being ashamed to have a human being see me on my knees before God took powerful possession of me. The sin appeared awful, infinite! 'What!' I said, 'such a degraded sinner as I am, on my knees, confessing my sins to a great and holy God, and ashamed to have any human being, and a sinner like myself, find me on my knees, endeavoring to make my peace with an offended God!' It broke me down before the Lord. I cried at the top of my voice that I would not leave that place if all the men on earth and all the devils in hell surrounded me." Then his heart was melted, and his tongue was loosed, and he could pray.

The Spirit brought a promise to his mind: "Then shall ye go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. Then shall ye seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for me with all your heart." He seized upon the heavenly promise with the grasp of a drowning man, and cried, "Lord, I take Thee at Thy word!"

He continued thus to pray and appropriate promises for a long time, until he found himself tripping through the bushes on the way to the road, and saying, "If ever I am converted, I will preach the gospel." In his ignorance he did not realize that peace with God had come, and he was already converted.

He reached the village, and found that it was noon. He had spent the whole forenoon with God. Such a wonderful quiet and peace had come to his soul; all sense of sin and all consciousness of guilt had so completely departed, and his repose of mind was so unspeakably great that he thought he must have grieved the Holy Spirit entirely away. But no burden came back. And when, after dinner, he took down his bass-viol and began to sing a sacred hymn, his whole heart melted before God, and he began to weep.

And now began the spiritual wonders of this wonderful life. Night came on. Squire Wright bade him good-night, and went home. He built a fire in the front room of his office, and went to the back room to pray. He says:

"There was neither light nor fire in the room; nevertheless it suddenly appeared perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seems as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me at the time, nor for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. I have always since regarded this as a most remarkable state of mind; for it seemed to me a reality that He stood before me, and I fell down at His feet, and poured out my soul to Him. I wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet with my tears. I must have continued in that state a good while, absorbed with the interview. I returned to the front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism with the Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love. It seemed like the very breath of God.

"No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me and over me and over me, until I cried out: 'I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me. Lord, I can not bear any more!"

The next morning these marvelous experiences were repeated, till he was overwhelmed with the baptism, with the Spirit, and with the resulting emotions. He wept aloud, and poured out his soul to God.

I question if there is a parallel to this in all the literature of the saints -- a man receiving such a baptism with the Spirit so soon after conversion, without asking for it or expecting it, and when he was too utterly ignorant of the whole subject to even think about it. In this instance God seems to have stepped beyond the bounds of His ordinary method of conferring the great gift. Finney was the instrument God wanted, and He used His sovereign right to deal with him spiritually after an unusual manner, and equip him at once for a matchless service.

Sanctification, When Obtained?

by Dr. Quinton J. Everest

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." John 17:17.

Dr. Quinton J. Everest, was the speaker for Your Worship Hour which was heard around the world for over fifty years. He and Seth Rohrer were two of the founders of Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana and the Everest-Rohrer Chapel pictured above is named in their honor.

"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Acts 15:8, 9.

"Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Acts 19:2.

The past two Sundays we have considered Sanctification -- "What It Is" and "Whom It is for." Today we will consider when it is obtained. I am sure we will find an answer to this question if we search sincerely and with open hearts. Certainly we should be interested in defending the doctrines of God's Word -- as Jude says, "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." vs. 3.

However, I am not primarily interested in defending a doctrine, but desirous of presenting a truth which needs a definite and sane reemphasis in the day in which we are living.

If because of an impure heart condition and if because of the need of spiritual power, the disciples and others in Jesus' day needed to be sanctified, surely it can be said without fear of contradiction that the need of this experience is equally as great today. If God's sanctifying power is needed to purify the heart and to empower for effective Christian living and service, where is the honest, sincere Christian who would object to the application of this sanctifying grace? Surely every one of you Christians listening to me is interested in having all that God has for you, and furthermore, you are no doubt interested in the greatest possible advancement of Christ's cause. This being true, I trust you will prayerfully consider whether you have been sanctified and filled with the Spirit.

When? -- Subsequent To Conversion

As we study the scriptures and as we consider Christian experience, we are impressed with the fact that "the when (or the time) of sanctification" is an important phase of this doctrine. If every individual is sanctified when he is born again, then, of course, we need not spend much time in urging sanctification. As I said last week, sanctification is begun in the New Birth, but if Jesus' words are true in John 17:17, we know that there is still a further work of sanctification necessary.

Some attempt to prove that sanctification or the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is not subsequent to regeneration by stating that the Apostles and their company were only converted on the day of Pentecost. We soon realize that this statement and theory is false when we consider such passages as Luke 10:20 where Jesus said to the disciples, "Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

Anyone knows that evil spirits are not subject to sinners, but sinners are subject to evil spirits. Here we see that evil spirits were subject to the disciples; therefore, the disciples were not sinners. We know also that sinners' names are not written in Heaven, but here Jesus says that the disciples' names are written in Heaven; therefore, the disciples were not sinners, When we remember that these words of Jesus were uttered some months before the baptism at Pentecost, we are forced to the conclusion that the disciples were pardoned, regenerated men long before they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Jesus also says in John 17:12: "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition."

If none of them were lost but Judas, then the eleven disciples were saved. This statement was made before Pentecost. In the sixteenth verse Jesus also says, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

Any candid mind reading chapters 14 to 17 of St. John cannot ask for further proof that the disciples were regenerated men long before their sanctification by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Again, consider the revival held by Philip at Samaria. A genuine work of grace was performed in the hearts of the Samaritans. We read that: "The people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake... unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them... And there was great joy in the city." Acts 8:6.

We can be sure that the great joy was not among sinners, who rejected Philip's message. Those who rejoiced were of the number out of whom the unclean spirits had been cast, and others who, believing the Gospel message, had forsaken their sins and accepted Christ. We read further that, "When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women," Verse 12.

Luke then goes on clearly revealing what follows the regeneration and baptism of these Samaritan converts: "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: For as yet he was fallen upon none of them," Verses 14-16.

Surely nothing could be more plain or clear. They had received the word and believed in Jesus; the unclean spirits had been cast out of them; they had great joy and had been baptized. No one would dare say that they were not forgiven and made children of God. But they had not yet received the Holy Ghost. We note, however, that when Peter and John prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost and laid their hands on them, they did receive the Holy Ghost. The ]act that they were sanctified by the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to regeneration is an undisputable fact.

Take the case of Cornelius for another illustration of the fact that sanctification is subsequent to regeneration. It certainly would be heard to doubt that Cornelius was a pardoned man prior to Peter's visit to him. The Scripture says of Cornelius that he was: "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." Acts 10:2.

The angel who visited him said, "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial be]ore God," Verse 4. Surely God could never say all this of a man who was still a sinner. I am sure you will agree that there is no such thing as a "devout" sinner " fearing God with all his house." God says that, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight." Proverbs 15:8.

If Cornelius had been a wicked man, his prayer and alms would not have come up for a memorial before the Lord. What he did was accepted and acceptable to the Lord; therefore, we must conclude that he was not a sinner.

But now note! Even though Cornelius obeyed, feared, and worshipped God, yet he had not received the Holy Ghost. While Peter preached to this devout, prayerful, charitable, righteous, obedient, God-fearing man, the Holy Ghost fell on him and on his household, purifying their hearts by faith. No one could ask for a clearer case of sanctification by the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to regeneration.

I could give other scriptures bearing out this same thought, but surely this is sufficient to convince any honest man or woman. Listen, my friend, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Have you been definitely filled with God's Holy Spirit since you became a child of God? If you have not, it is provided for you. And, furthermore, let me say that you will not be the victorious Christian that God wants you to be and that even you yourself desire to be until you are sanctified by the baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

What we need in most of our churches is not more machinery, more committees, more members, or more organization, but more of the Holy Ghost. The more of the Holy Ghost we get, the less of the world we will have, and we surely can stand less of the world. The church is being ruined and cursed with an overdose of worldly plans and programs. The only hope of the church is salvation through the blood of Christ and sanctification by the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

To every humble, believing, born-again heart in my audience, I want to say that the Comforter is promised to you. By sincere prayer and faith consecrate your redeemed and ransomed powers to the Lord, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. All through the history of the church of Christ witnesses can be found who will gladly testify from personal experience that the promise was not restricted to the few, but was promised to "All that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call," Acts 2:39.

Some have said that sanctification is a work which takes place at death. Personally I do not know of anything in the Bible to substantiate such a view. The idea of death purification springs from the false notion that sin is in matter. I am sure that just a little careful thought will prove this to be absurd. Sin is not found in wood, cloth, skin, bone, muscle, and heart of man. The body is simply an instrument of the soul and spirit within. The body will die, but the real man will live on eternally. Death, therefore, is not an entity -- it is not a purifier or sanctifier -- but it is simply the dissolution of soul and body and seals destiny. There is nothing in this dissolution to impart spiritual life or to sanctify the soul.

The Bible declares that death is an enemy, but if it could do what some have claimed, it would certainly be a friend. Jude in writing his Epistle writes to those who "are sanctified by God the Father."

He does not say sanctified by death or by some other process, but by God the Father. No, my friend, there is no saving efficacy in death. If there were, God would never have permitted His Son to suffer and die for the salvation and sanctification of lost, sinful men. If death could perform it, everyone would have his need met in the hour of death.

Still others contend that while pardon and spiritual life are realized in regeneration, heart sanctification comes as a development. That is, if we attain it at all, it must be by the long process of a silent growth. I have found that one trouble with the people who advocate this is that they never arrive. Evidently the people to whom Jude had written had arrived, for he writes to those who "are sanctified."

I have yet to meet the first person who has testified that he was sanctified by growth. I have heard thousands testify that they definitely, instantaneously experienced the sanctifying baptism with the Holy Ghost. The mistake made here is confusing purity of heart with Christian maturity. Christian maturity or ripeness comes with the flight of time, both in nature and in grace, but heart cleansing and the baptism with the Holy Ghost is to be obtained as suddenly and sensibly as pardon and regeneration. A sinner cannot grow into the experience of salvation; neither can a Christian believer grow into the experience of sanctification. Consecration and faith on the part of the Christian and the cleansing power of God are the factors producing sanctification, and when this is effected, then there are unparalleled possibilities for Christian growth.

Revelation Of Experience

The experiences of born-again individuals reveal that there is need of a further work of grace in the heart of man. It was very evident in the lives of the disciples. A study of their lives previous to and following Pentecost will reveal the fact that something definite took place. Following the infilling of the Holy Spirit, there was greater faith, a new power, and a more intense love. Selfish desires and personal interests were subservient to the plans and desires of the Spirit of God.

Of the Corinthians Paul said, "Ye are yet carnal," I Corinthians 3:3. They were in the state of prolonged babyhood. Paul had to feed them on milk when they should have been feeding on the meat of God's Word. Paul says, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ," Verse 1. There were among them envying, strife, and division. If many a professor of religion would search his heart and if many churches would make a bit of investigation, they would find that carnality is the thing that is causing trouble. What is needed is the sanctifying baptism of the Holy Ghost. On every hand a lack of something is felt and expressed by God's people. Their Christian experience is not all that they expected it would be. Instead of expected victory, it is oft recurring, dreaded defeat; instead of deep, abiding heart rest, it is disquiet and discontent; instead of advancing, it is losing ground. The question is -- is this life of constant disappointment the normal life of the Bible Christian? To these questions God's Word answers with an emphatic, "No!" The grand, glorious, adequate supply is the sanctifying fullness of the Holy Spirit. This fullness is the birthright of every believer. My dear listener, what have you done with your birthright? Have you claimed it, and are you this very moment living in possession of it, or are you, Esau-like, "despising your birthright?" It is my prayer that every one of you will have the desire awakened to inherit your birthright blessing.

To have our sins covered by the blood -- to have our transgressions forgiven -- is a wonderful experience, but it is also possible and is the gracious privilege of each believer to have his heart cleansed and purified, thus ridding him of all unrighteousness.

Can Be Obtained Now

Some have inquired as to the time that must elapse between the regenerating by the Spirit and the filling with the Spirit. In the case of the Apostles, a little over three years elapsed between the day when they heard the call of Christ to "Follow Him" and the day when they were "filled with the Holy Spirit." In the case of the Samaritans and Ephesians, there were a few weeks, and in the case of Saul only a few days. In a meeting where I served as evangelist, one man was both born of the Spirit and filled with the Spirit the same night. As soon as God forgave him of his sins he prayed that God would fill him with His Spirit, and his need was met. From this, we conclude that there is no definite period of time which the believer must wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but as soon as God reveals the need, there should be an obedient seeking.

Some contend that there must be a prolonged period of tarrying and that the gift of the Holy Spirit is always accompanied with "speaking in tongues." But we find that in Acts immediately when prayer was offered for the infilling of the Spirit, there was an answer. And not in every instance did they speak in tongues; in fact, Paul argues quite strongly against this in I Corinthians 14.

It is both foolish and unwise to try to force God to a certain outward manifestation. My friend, the thing you need to see is that if you have never been sanctified, it is your privilege to have this experience now. If you are definitely assured that you are justified freely, consecrate yourself and all you have to God right now. Ask Him to cleanse your heart, and you can be assured that the Holy Spirit will infill you.