Our Holiness Heritage

INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN HOLINESS by Westlake Taylor Purkiser

2010-04-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Chapter Four: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

W. T. Purkiser (1910-92) was a prolific writer, respected scholar, and well-loved preacher within the Church of the Nazarene who also had a significant voice in the larger evangelical Christian community. He authored and contributed to some of the most widely disseminated and enduring works in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition.

For better or for worse, we live in an age that is incurably psychological. The post-Freudian world can never be the same as the world before Freud. This is not all bad. Whatever we can learn that, will help us understand the nature of man will help us understand a little better the experience of holiness.

Just as archaeology and secular history have shed light upon places and events reported in the Bible, so the sciences of human nature -- psychology, anthropology, sociology may help us understand better what it was God created when He formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life, so that man became a living soul fashioned in the image of his Maker.

Theology itself has felt the impact of psychology. Archbishop William Temple, who anticipated so much that has come to the fore in contemporary theology, wrote: "Our theology has been cast in a scholastic mold, i.e. all based on logic. We are in need of and we are gradually forced into, a theology based on psychology. The transition, I fear, will not be without much pain; but nothing can prevent it." [1]

It, is only necessary to add that, if the psychology upon which such theology is based is biblical psychology the gain will be great.

I. Never should we underestimate the divine element in our sanctification. What God does in and for us is nothing short of a miracle. Yet right along with this is another truth that needs to be brought into focus. Divine grace does not cancel our humanity.

We still live in an imperfect world, conditioned by a hundred factors over which we have no control, some of which go back into infancy and early childhood. And God works within the limits of that humanity.

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels,' " wrote the Apostle Paul (II Cor. 4:7). I have never had the temerity of the seminarian who took this as his text and spoke in his preaching class on "The Glory of the Cracked Pot." But the truth is, some of the vessels are chipped, some of them are marred, and some of them are a bit, cracked.

Psychology can help us understand better the complexity of our motivations, the degree to which our reactions are conditioned by past experiences, the way in which apperception actually alters our grasp of truth, and the unsuspected ways in which the unconscious colors and affects conscious experience. It may aid us in freeing ourselves from the myth that people always react alike and are equal in temperament and personality.

Our psychological age should also alert us to the need to be careful in our modes of expression. Carelessness in the use of psychological terms sometimes involves us in saying what we do not mean.

A prime example of this is the term "self."' We sometimes talk about the eradication or destruction of "self."' We know what we mean, or at least, it is to be hoped that we do. We mean self in the sense of "selfishness."' We mean the eradication or destruction of the sinfulness of the self. In this sense we may talk about "self' being "crucified and slain, and buried deep, and all in vain may efforts be to rise again'" In this sense we understand the prayer we sometimes hear,

"Lord, slay the self in me.

But self more properly means the real inner being, the ego, the core and soul of personal identity. It is the "I", the "me," that persist through all modifications and changes from birth to death. If this psychological ego were to be crucified or destroyed in any literal sense, the result would be nonentity.

Whatever else it, is, carnality is the human self corrupted, diseased, fevered, and warped.

Holiness cleanses the corruption, heals the disease, takes away the fever, and straightens the warp. But it does not destroy the self. That self must be consecrated and cleansed and committed to the purposes of God.

Paul the Apostle expressed it all in one of his great paradoxes: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Here, as Dr. William Greathouse has so well expressed it, is a sinful "self" to be crucified with Christ, a human self to be controlled by Christ, in order that the true self may be realized in Christ.

E. Stanley Jones testified: "I laid at His feet, a self of which I was ashamed, couldn't control, and couldn't live with; and to my glad astonishment He took that self, remade it, consecrated it to Kingdom purposes, and gave it back to me, a self I can now live with gladly and joyously and comfortably." [2]

Such a surrender is the heart and soul of Christian consecration. Consecration is not chiefly the surrender of possessions, things, or even other people. It is the submission of the central self to the sanctifying will of God. Possessions, things, and others are involved in the believer's consecration. But it is only when the final "Yes" is said which permanently admits the Saviour to the innermost recesses of the soul that consecration becomes real and complete.

This is the insight expressed in the order in Frances Ridley Havegal's familiar "consecration" hymn. Life, hands, feet, voice, lips, silver and gold, will, heart, and love are all presented in that sequence. The process might go that far and still fall short were it not for the final, climactic gift of all:

Take myself and I will be

Ever, only, all for Thee.

The radical, uncompromising claim of Christian consecration is sketched in clear outline by the late C. S. Lewis in his spiritual autobiography, Surprised by Joy. When he turned from atheism to Christianity, he found, so he said, that "there was no region even in the innermost depth of one's soul (nay, there least of all) which one could surround with a barbed-wire fence and guard with a notice, No Admittance. And that was what I wanted; some area, however small, of which I could say to all other beings, "This is my business and mine only." "But God would not be satisfied with less than all."

The self is not to be slain. It is to be surrendered. It is the "vessel unto honor" of which Paul wrote: "sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (II Tim. 2:21). What makes the difference is that self is no longer on the throne, pretending to be the lord of the life. Self is in the servant role, on its knees, consecrated to the Lord of all life – no longer central but submissive.

II. The distinction between humanity and carnality is of prime importance for a psychological interpretation of holiness. Theoretically, it is not hard to state the difference. Practically, one man's "humanity" may be another man's "carnality," and what would be condemned as carnality in others may be excused as humanity in oneself.

Objections to the possibility of holiness usually fall into one of two classes. Either it is claimed that human nature as such is sinful or it is said that the source of sin is in the physical body.

Neither of these views is defensible. Those who claim that human nature as such is sinful have a twofold problem on their hands. They must either hold that God did not create Adam and Eve as truly human or else that He created them as sinful beings. And they must either hold that the sinfulness of human beings is eternal or that the redeemed will be transformed into something other than human when they enter heaven.

Neither pair of alternatives is very promising. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God in innocence and primitive holiness, untested but still real. They were created as human beings. The very name Adam" means "man. . .

Nor do the finally redeemed become anything other than human beings in heaven. The Saviour, who took upon Him the nature of man, is still "the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5), although exalted to the right hand of God. In the new heavens and the new earth, the dwelling of God shall be with men and they shall be His people (Rev. 21:3).

The view that the seat of sin is the physical body is equally mistaken. It is true enough that many of the sins common to human life are those which come through the pull of bodily appetites and desires. Yet in the 17 works of the flesh listed by Paul in Gal. 5:19-21, the majority have no physical basis whatsoever -- as, for example, "idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings."'

The idea that the body is sinful also runs head on into the doctrine of the incarnation. Every evidence in Scripture points to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, the sinless, holy Son of God, had a normal human body. He grew hungry and tired; He slept; He ate; He rejoiced; He suffered; He was subject to every kind of temptation we have, "yet without, sin" (Heb. 4:15).

Sin in human nature is an intrusion. It does not belong in man as he was designed to be. It is no necessary part of anything essential to a full and normal human life.

But where is the dividing line between the human and the sinful? How can one tell the difference between those tendencies, inclinations, and desires which are part of our necessary human existence and those which come from and together constitute the nature of inbred sin?

There is an important clue in the statement, about "the mind of the flesh" in Rom. 8: 6-7, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

In the phrase "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" we have the line of distinction drawn. Whatever is human within us -- part of man's normal psychological makeup -- can be and is subject, to the law of God. Whatever is carnal is not and cannot be subject to God's law.

In fact, the entire purpose of the moral law is to give guidance and direction to human nature and its varied expressions. Every human instinct,, need, and desire has a possible legitimate expression within the guidelines laid down by God's law. Each of the Ten Commandments, for example, establishes limits and guidelines for human tendencies which are legitimate and right in their proper place.

On the contrary, no carnal impulse, attitude, or tendency can find an expression in Christian life within the law of God. None is subject to His law. All are outlaw propensities and inevitably lead to sin.

Consider the sorry list: envy, malice, animosity, bitterness, retaliation, selfish temper, pride, covetousness, grudge holding, lovelessness, divided loyalty, double-mindedness. How can one be envious or malicious in keeping with the law and nature of Christ,? How can one manifest, animosity and bitterness in harmony with Christian ideals? Even to ask the question is to see the answer.

Human psychological impulses and tendencies, as Paul said of the physical body, are to be "kept under" (I Cor. 9:27). All carnal impulses and the other hand, are to be eliminated by that divine conditioning of our selfhood by the indwelling Spirit, who alone enables us to love God supremely and our neighbors as ourselves.

III. Involved in the psychological interpretation of holiness is the need to learn to live with limitations. We all have to walk the narrow path between the too easy acceptance of our limitations and the futility of constantly heating our heads against a stone wall. Some too quickly surrender to their obstacles. They accept as inevitable what they should attack and overcome. Others make themselves and everyone around them miserable by a hopeless struggle against limitations in their lives they should learn to accept.

It is important that we rightly measure our limitations. Some of them we may overcome by direct action and with the help of God. Others we must come to terms with and learn to live with.

There are limitations in the measure of health and strength. There are limitations in education and training. There are limitations in native ability and talent,. There are limitations that come with advancing age. And there are limitations in circumstances, past and present. A man cannot lift himself by his bootstraps when he has no boots.

The New Testament has a comprehensive word for limitations. It is the word "infirmity," and it literally means lack of strength, weakness, or "inability to produce results."

Paul, more than any other New Testament writer, speaks of infirmities. He gives us the promise that the Holy Spirit "helpeth our infirmities"' (Rom. 8:26). While the particular weakness in view is lack of knowledge about what to pray for, the term is plural and the statement is general.

The very word "help" is full of meaning. When a person promises to help us with something, it does not mean that he is going to do it for us. The only way we can need help is to be doing something too big to be done alone.

Sometimes limitations can be taken away. More often, we climb on top of them.

Paul, again, is our teacher. Whatever his "thorn in the flesh" may have been, it seems almost certain it was a physical fact. The apostle prayed three times for deliverance and the idea is clear that these prayers were not casual wishes beamed Godward, but prolonged and intense seasons of supplication.

When the answer came, it was not exactly as the apostle had expected. But it satisfied him fully. Christ said to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in [your] weakness."

Then Paul gives us our best secret for successfully living with limitations. He said, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me"" (II Cor. 12:8-9).

This is turning liabilities into assets. When one is not so gifted, he works harder. When one cannot run like a hare, he plods like a tortoise -- and usually comes in ahead.

We can, to be sure, put up with our limitations. We can accept them and suffer them. But, it is better to use them for stepping-stones and climb over them. We grow by working away at the edges of our liabilities. We may not completely overcome them. But if we face them honestly and bravely, we shall find that in the long run we are both bigger and better for the effort.

IV. The best of saints still have a long road to travel. There are rough places to be smoothed, kinks of mind and personality to be straightened out,, failings and weaknesses to be faced, corrected, and strengthened.

As James McGraw has well put it, "Psychological weakness is not necessarily spiritual wickedness." One may have the baptism with the Spirit and still need help with personal problems of emotional adjustment.

We must not forget that people may be pure in heart but immature in personal development. Paul described the aim of the Christian gospel as not only "the perfecting of the saints" but also "that we may henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" and that we may "grow up" (Eph. 4:12-15).

Sanctified people may have problems with prejudices that have been drilled into them from early childhood until they have become a stubborn part of their entire outlook on life. One has only to recall Peter's struggle over establishing fellowship with Gentile Christians, as reflected in Acts 10 and Gal. 2:11-14, to see a vivid illustration of this. When Peter was sanctified at Pentecost, he didn't lose his Jewish prejudices overnight.

Sanctified people may have problems that arise from differences of judgment, or from the emotional conditionings of close family ties. We have but to remember the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark (Acts 15:36-41) to see this.

Without, the Spirit's help, we could never cope with our human weaknesses effectively. Without the indwelling Spirit, Peter never would have conquered his prejudices, nor would he have written about "our beloved brother Paul" (II Pet. 3:15) after Paul took him to task for them. Without the openness of perfect love, Paul never would have conceded that John Mark had vindicated himself (II Tim. 4:11).

But the problems still arose and had to be faced. If they had not been solved, they could have defeated the purpose of God in the lives of Peter, Cornelius, Barnabas, Mark, and Paul. Without the Holy Spirit, they could not. Without their honest effort, He would not.

V. Important to the psychology of the sanctified life is an understanding of the place and function of emotions in our humanity. Many seem to expect an experience of constant joy and blessing. Because peace with God and the witness of the Spirit to a clean heart often find expression in high emotional tides, some have tended to make feelings an indicator of the spiritual state.

The problem is, of course, the emotions have a way of changing from day to day. They are affected by factors that have no relationship whatsoever to one's spiritual and moral condition. There is nothing but danger in identifying feelings with the grace of God.

Even Jesus is described as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3), whose tears flowed when He was confronted with the sorrow of His friends and the hardness of those He had come to help (John 11:35; Luke 19:41 Paul confessed his continual heaviness and sorrow of heart for his own nation (Rom. 9:1-2), and found occasion to need encouragement from Christian friends (Acts 28:15).

Peter writes to those "who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 1:5-7).

John Wesley wrote

A will steadily and uniformly devoted to God is essential to a state of sanctification, but not a uniformity of joy, or peace, or happy communion with God. These may rise and fall in various degrees; nay, and may be affected either by the body or by diabolical agency, in a manner which all our wisdom can neither understand nor prevent. [4]

Emotion and blessing play an important part in Christian life. A religious experience which had no effect on the feelings would not meet the needs of the whole person. It would not go far enough.

But the purpose of emotion in religion is akin to the purpose of emotion in other areas of life. It is not primarily to be enjoyed. It is to be employed. It is the natural prelude to action.

There is more in common between "emotion" and "motion"' than the fact that the two words differ by only one letter. God has given us physical feelings, for instance, as part of the preparation for some sort of physical action. Fear is a good example. In fright, the glands pump additional adrenaline into the bloodstream, the heartbeat is quickened, and the body is prepared for "fight or flight."

Conversely, the appropriate action strengthens the emotion which corresponds to it. Running away increases the fright. Clenching the fists strengthens anger. Whistling tends to lift the spirits.

The application of this to the spiritual life is not difficult to see. God gives high tides of blessing and joy, not simply for the sake of making us happy, but to prepare us for service to the Kingdom and to our fellowmen. Just as emotion in the physical life can actually be harmful unless followed by action appropriate to it, so blessing and spiritual joy miss their purpose unless they work out in heightened devotion. Emotion which is not expressed in devotion eventually dries up.

But the very best state of grace will not guarantee high emotions all the time. Holiness is not hilarity. Feelings are a by-product of spirituality and neither its cause nor its measure.

C.W. Ruth used to say, "Feelings are the most undependable dependence anyone ever depended on!" He would comment that the only man in the Bible who went by "feeling" was Isaac, who as a result blessed the wrong boy!

Faith is the supreme condition for salvation. Holiness is a relationship based, not on feelings, but on faith. Faith anchors to facts: the fact of God's promises, and the fact of consecration and obedience. Feelings are swayed by circumstances, and may have no direct relationship whatsoever.

Feelings are conditioned by the physical tonus of the individual. The state of health and the condition of one's nerves make a great deal of difference in the emotions he has.

Two excerpts from the journal of a pioneer New England circuit rider serve to illustrate this point. The first entry is dated Wednesday night at bedtime:

Arrived at the home of Brother Brown late this evening, hungry and tired after a long day in the saddle. Had a bountiful supper of cold pork and beans, warm bread, bacon and eggs, coffee and rich pastry. I go to rest feeling that my witness is clear; the future is bright; I feel called to a great and glorious work in this place. Brother Brown's family are godly people.

But the next entry, written late on Thursday morning, tells a different story:

Awakened late this morning after a troubled night. I am very much depressed in soul; the way looks dark; far from feeling called to work among this people, I am beginning to doubt the safety of my own soul. I am afraid the desires of Brother Brown and his family are set too much on carnal things. [5]

Because feelings vary, will and purpose must govern our lives and not feelings and impulse. Every Christian must learn to do what is right whether he "feels like it" or not.

Conviction, not convenience must be our guide to conduct. It, is well to go to church, to serve in the Kingdom, to read the Bible, and to pray -- when we "feel like it." It is better to do these things whether we feel like it or not,.

While we cannot always account for the fluctuation of our moods and the changing tide of emotions, we need not surrender to them. The peril of uncontrolled moods is discouragement, one of Satan's most powerful tools.

There are some important lessons at this point in the story of Elijah, "a man subject to like passions as we are" (Jas. 5:17). After the tremendous victory on Mount Carmel, under the threats of Jezebel, Elijah fled to the wilderness, fell under a juniper tree, and wished to die. His emotional collapse was complete. Utter discouragement filled his soul.

In this extremity, God did three things for Elijah.

First, the Lord provided for the prophet' s physical needs. An angel fed him, and he slept soundly. His nerves had been stretched to the breaking point. His reserves were exhausted. Good emotional health is closely connected with good physical health.

Second, God gave Elijah normal companionship. He directed him to find Elisha and call the younger man to be his associate. The tendency of those who are discouraged is to withdraw from friends and Christian associations. This is the worst possible thing to do. One way to throw off undesirable moods is to seek the company of good Christian friends.

The third step in Elijah's recovery was the challenge of a new task. Instead of sitting and brooding over his difficulties, the prophet was given a new assignment. To be active, to find a job and do it wholeheartedly, is a sure cure for the "blues."

There are two elements more fundamental than feelings in holiness. These are obedience and faith -- the two "feet" whereon the child of God must walk.

When high feelings subside, and "heaviness through manifold temptations' " comes, then one should check his consecration and obedience, "dig in,'" and hold on by faith. Like all trials, "this, too, will pass"; and faith, so much more precious than gold, though it be tried in the fire, will "be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

1. Quoted by J. G. McKenzie, Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Evangelicalism. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1940), p. vii. 2. Mastery: The Art of Mastering Life (New York: Abingdon Press, 1955), p.97. 3. (New York: Harcourt,, Brace and Company, 1955). The last two chapters illustrate this point. 4. Letters, VI. 68; quoted by J. Baines Atkinson in The Beauty of Holiness (London: The Epworth Press, 1953), pp.131-32. 5. Leslie R. Marston, From Chaos to Character (Winona Lake, Ind: Light and Life Press, 1944), pp.76-77.

Coming Next: THE SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN HOLINESS by Westlake Taylor Purkiser

2010-02-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Chapter Three: THE THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

"Theology" is a forbidding word to many. It suggests hairsplitting and dry-as-dust distinctions without, end.

But theology is a very important part of the total Christian enterprise. It is, by definition, the systematic arrangement and exposition of truth about God and man in redemption. It seeks to bring religious truth into a coherent pattern in which each fact or datum finds expression. It is concerned with wholeness, with relatedness.

A theological interpretation of holiness will point out its lines of connection with every other major truth in Christian doctrine.

I remember a discussion years ago with Dr. H. Orton Wiley, author of the monumental, three-volume Christian Theology. The discussion concerned a course in the college curriculum dealing particularly with the doctrine of holiness.

Dr. Wiley objected. "How can you teach the doctrine of holiness without relating it to the doctrines of sin, salvation, the Holy Spirit, Christ, the atonement, grace, love, and all the rest?" he asked.

There was no answer.

The truth is that every major theme in Christian theology is important for an understanding of holiness. No truth stands alone. It is supported by, and has implications for, every other truth in the whole system of doctrine.

There is a new interest, among theologians today in the doctrine of sanctification as it.

develops in the New Testament. Such is the contention of William Hordern, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Canada, in the chapter entitled "Sanctification Rediscovered" in Volume I of New Directions in Theology Today. [1] Dr. Hordern writes:

"An important development in recent theology is a renewal of interest in sanctification. The theological analysis of Christian salvation is often divided into justification and sanctification. Justification deals with how a man becomes a Christian. It describes God's forgiving acceptance of the sinner and the sinner's response of faith. Sanctification is the act of God whereby the forgiven man is made righteous, it describes how a man grows in his Christian life.

Dr. Hordern goes on to comment that this new theological concern with sanctification comes at a very appropriate time in the history of the Church. There is abroad in the world today a widespread wave of criticism directed against the life and practice of the Church, as contrasted with former criticisms of its teachings.

During the fifties of this century, as Hordern notes, the Church, in America at least, "sailed on a wave of popular approval." There was little serious criticism. "Happily, for the sake of the church's soul," Dr. Hordern writes, "those days have passed."

From within and without,, organized Christianity is being subjected to searching criticism.

There are deep doctrinal issues being raised. But more painfully, it is the life and practice of the Church which is being challenged most seriously.

Because sanctification is that aspect of salvation that deals primarily with the character and life of the Christian, the challenges of today are leading theologians to take a new, long, hard look at the biblical teaching about this neglected subject. Sanctification has to do with the inner changes the grace of God makes. In words that are correct as far as they go, justification is "Christ, for us," while sanctification is "Christ in us.

Bonhoeffer, Brunner, Barth, and DeWolf, as well as the "new conservatives," are among those cited as having shown special interest in taking a "new look at the doctrine of sanctification."

There is in all of this a broad use of the term "sanctification." Yet the closing paragraph of Hordern's chapter is noteworthy:

The concern for sanctification, as we have discussed it, transcends theological schools of thought. Those who are dedicated to it are not in complete agreement with one another. But the fact that men of different theologies and backgrounds are converging on this doctrine indicates that it represents an area of vital concern to theology and the church today.

It is this convergence of "men of differing theologies and backgrounds" and the surprising unity of opinion among them in defining sanctification theologically that should be underlined here.

R. H. Coats wrote in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: "In general, sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, in delivering men from the guilt and power of sin, in consecrating them to the service and love of God, and in imparting to them, initially and progressively, the fruits of Christ's redemption and the graces of a holy life." [2]

Presbyterian Kenneth J. Foreman wrote in The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge:

In Protestant thought, sanctification is the name given to what in Roman theology is called infused grace; but with a difference. In the latter, grace is conceived as a force, sometimes all but impersonal; in the former, sanctification is a continuing activity of God by his personal Spirit. Sanctification is what makes goodness possible; it is not the good and gracious acts of men, but that operation of the Spirit which produces these acts. [3]

Southern Baptist Charles A. Trentham wrote: "Sanctification is thus the perfecting of the Christian life or the progressive cleansing of the soul." [4]

Dr. Charles Hodge is recognized as one of the leading Calvinistic theologians of the nineteenth century. He wrote: "Sanctification, therefore, consists in two things: first, the removing more and more the principles of evil still infecting our nature, and destroying their power; and secondly, the growth of the principle of spiritual life until it controls the thoughts, feelings, and acts, and brings the soul into the image of Christ." [5]

Admittedly, these definitions stress the progressive element in sanctification, and some of them imply that it cannot be completed during the course of this earthly life. But all agree that the goal of sanctification, as it has been understood in Protestant theology of all schools, is the removal of the principle of evil still infecting the nature of the believer or complete deliverance from sin. All agree that sanctification is not identical with nor effected at the time of justification. And all agree that there is a sinful nature remaining in believers which must be dealt with.

It is this which brings into special significance the truth of I Thess. 5:23-24, "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. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."

There are instances in the New Testament where the context shows the sanctification described to be ceremonial or partial and incomplete (cf. Matt. 23:17, 19; I Cor. 1:2; 6:11; 7:14; I Tim. 4:5; Heb. 9:13; and I Pet,. 3:15).

Where such indication is lacking, we should consider the sanctification referred to as "whole" or "entire" in the Pauline sense in I Thess. 5:23. Such uses include John 10: 36; 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; 26:18; I Cor. 1:30; Rom. 6:19, 22; 15:16; Eph. 5:26; I Thess. 4:3, 7; II Thess. 2:13; I Tim. 2:15; II Tim. 2:21; Heb. 2:11; 10:10, 14, 29; 12:14; 13:12; I Pet,. 1:2; and Jude 1.

Four specific themes in theology have particular bearing on our understanding of Christian holiness:

I. Central to the Christian faith are the atoning death and the victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Cross is the focal point for all that distinguishes true Christianity from both its rivals and its imitations.

It is a strange fact, as the late Vincent Taylor pointed out, that all theological discussions of the Cross relate to justification -- how the death of Christ makes possible the forgiveness of our sins.

Yet the New Testament makes it clear that the atonement has as much to do with sanctification as it does with justification. "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:25-26). "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:10, 14). "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Heb. 13:12).

It is by the provision of a real cleansing of the heart from the stain of racial sin that the Cross becomes vital in our understanding of holiness. The writer to the Hebrews asks in one of his great rhetorical questions, "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without, spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (9:13-14)

I John 1:6-7 also makes the same point: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not, the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

In these passages, we have a real inner cleansing as contrasted with the "positional

holiness" or "holy in Christ" view made so popular by the widely used Scofield Bible. The doctrine of positional holiness is, in brief, that the believer's sanctification is not an impartation of the divine nature to him, freeing him from inner sin, but is an imputation of Christ's righteousness by virtue of which God counts him holy in spite of the continued corruption of his heart.

One brother is alleged to have testified in prayer meeting: "The righteousness of Christ in my life is like a beautiful, white covering of new-fallen snow in a barnyard hiding the filth and corruption of my heart."

Someone in the back spoke up: "Yes, Brother, but what do you do when the thaw comes?"

This is a proper question because the thaw always comes.

In its actual development, the "holy in Christ," theory leans heavily on the fourth chapter of Romans, in which it is stated that "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (verse 3). It is assumed that "for" means "instead of," and that Abraham's faith was a substitute for a righteous character.

But God does not deal in fictions. When God counts a man righteous, it, is because His grace has made him righteous. "For" as used here means as a condition of "or as a requisite for."

There is a basic misunderstanding of the very words Paul used. "To count, reckon, or impute" are all English translations of a Greek word which, as C. Ryder Smith has pointed out, is a bookkeeping term and means "to take account of what is." [6] Paul's point here is that Abraham's righteousness was an asset he had received without earning it by works. But it, was an asset that was genuine and real, not fictional or imaginary.

When a bookkeeper enters figures on the asset side of the balance sheet, those figures represent values which actually exist. To put down sums as assets for which there are no corresponding realities is one of the ways embezzling is done. Men go to jail for such practices as this.

God is most certainly not the cosmic embezzler. His books are accurate and true. What He imputes, He imparts. He does not whitewash -- He washes white through the blood of His own Son. The basic issue is whether the righteousness and holiness of which the Bible speaks is fiction or fact, imputed but not actually given -- or imparted. Peter's statement at this point is clear and forceful: "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy"" (I Pet. 1:15-16). There is nothing fictional or imaginary about the holiness of God. Nor is there anything fictional or imaginary about the divine nature He imparts (II Pet. 1:4).

Even more specific is John's statement about those who have hope of seeing and being like the Lord at His appearing: "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I John 3:3). The purity of the believer is to be the same in quality as the purity of the Saviour.

There is no suggestion that a human being will become like God in His infinity and deity. A single ray of sunshine is never the sun itself. But each ray shares the light and purity of the sun. The likeness is a matter of quality, not quantity. But it is a real likeness.

It is through the atonement that the prayer of the Psalmist is answered in the provision of the Saviour: "Purge me with hyssop [the desert shrub with which the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled], and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps. 51:7), is answered with the assurance, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7).

II. Another theme at the heart of theology is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Overshadowed in historical theology by the doctrines of the Father and the Son, the doctrine of the Spirit has come to new recognition within the past few decades.

The theology of the Holy Spirit is crucial for an understanding of sanctification. Christian holiness is bought by the blood of the Cross. It is wrought by the Holy Spirit applying the merit of that Blood to the cleansing of the heart.

Everything in Christian experience from the earliest dawn of conscience down to the resurrection from the grave comes to us through the agency of the Third Person of the Trinity. Daniel Steele rightly called Him "the Executive of the Godhead."

a. The Holy Spirit is the Source of conviction for sin and the earliest interest in things spiritual (John 16:7-11).

b. The Holy Spirit brings into human life the power for righteousness which is regeneration, "the new birth' " (John 3:3-7).

c. The Holy Spirit gives us His witness to sins forgiven and sonship to God (Rom. 8:15-17).

d. We are led through the Christian life by the Spirit, (Rom. 8:14), and He guides us into all truth (John 16:13) and helps us pray as we ought, (Rom. 8:26-27).

At, the Last, Supper, Jesus made five historic statements concerning the Holy Spirit -- passages that have come to be known as "The Paraclete Sayings" from the Greek term Parakletos, translated "Comforter" (John 14:15-18, 26-27; 15:26; 16:7-11 and 12-15).

The first "saying"" summarizes the whole. That there is a dispensational or historical aspect to these words is, to be sure, true. But the whole tone of the Last Supper discourse, as well as the specific extension of the prayer of John 17 to "them also which shall believe on me through their word," makes its truth the heritage of believers in every age and clime.

It is Christ's own who are addressed. Those who love Him will keep His commandments (John 14:15). For such, He will pray the Father, "and he shall give . another Comforter" (verse 16). A parakletos is literally "one called alongside to help" -- a helper, an advocate, a counselor, one to support, hearten, and strengthen. "Another" implies that Jesus himself had already been such to them.

The Parakletos is "the Spirit of truth." People identified with the world cannot receive Him, although He convicts them; and when they repent and believe, He regenerates them and begins to dwell with them (verse 17). "With" and "in" do not mean "outside" and "inside" as a first glance might indicate -- for verse 23 uses "with' " in the same sense as "inside." Rather to "dwell in" means to take up a fixed and settled abode -- to "abide with you for ever" (verse 16).

This "abiding forever" is identified in Acts 1:5 as being "baptized with the Holy Ghost," and in Acts 2:4 as being "filled with the Holy Ghost." It is a far cry from the transient and fleeting presence implied in the idea of "breathing out" in daily confession of sins and "breathing in" the Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit's fullness that fully sanctifies. Sanctification is identified in the New Testament as being the special work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16; I Thess. 4:7-8; II Thess. 2:13; and I Pet. 1:2).

The continuity of the Holy Spirit's work in Christian experience must always be kept in mind. The new birth is a "birth of the Spirit." He is the young Christian's Guide and Witness (Rom. 8:14-17). "You know him," Jesus said to His disciples before Pentecost; "for he dwelleth with you' " (John 14:15-17).

Holiness is the result of the "baptism with" the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit. One hesitates to put too much weight on the language of metaphor. But there is an obvious difference between birth and baptism. And in the order of grace as well as the order of nature, birth must of necessity precede baptism.

Nor is there any puzzle as to how the same Spirit may be at one time the Source of regeneration and later become the Source of entire sanctification. He is the same Person in a different relationship. A man may have the same girl as first his fiancé and later his bride. A man may have the same doctor first as his physician and later as his surgeon. It isn't a matter of more or less of the of the doctor. It is a matter of the relationship and the function.

III. The doctrine of sin is central in Christian thought. A theologian's stance in regard to the nature of sin tends to color and control his whole thought about God, man, and salvation. To minimize sin is to minimize the Saviour. To misunderstand sin is to misunderstand salvation. Sin is the source of our whole human predicament.

One of the clearest, distinctions in biblical theology is the distinction between sins as acts or deeds, and sin as an attitude or disposition. Our human problem in regard to sin is twofold. It is the problem of the wrongs we have done, the guilt we have incurred -- what Paul had in mind when he wrote, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God' " (Rom. 3:23). But it is also the problem of what we are, the nature we have inherited -- estranged from God, corrupted, and bent toward evil. This is what Paul meant when he spoke of the "sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7:17).

The new birth, experienced in any genuine conversion to Christ, puts an end to sinning when understood as avoidable transgressions of the revealed will of God. Some have broadened the idea of sinning to include mistakes, unavoidable faults and failures, lapses of memory, or unconscious deviations from perfect righteousness. But to do this makes nonsense of such scriptures as John 5:14; Rom. 6:1, 15; I John 2:1-4; 3:6-10; and 5:18. If God means what He says, then regenerating grace stops a career of sinning.

But the new birth does not end the problem of inner sin -- sin as attitude, disposition, propensity, or tendency. The New Testament witnesses to this in many ways. There is an echo in the justified life of the struggle Paul describes in Rom. 7:14-25, a struggle not entirely ended until the position described in Rom. 8:2-4 is reached.

The carnal mind is enmity against God (Rom. 8:7). Even babes in Christ experience its presence (I Cor. 3:1-3). Unsanctified Christians need to cleanse themselves of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (II Cor. 7:1). "Flesh" and "Spirit" are locked in unrelenting struggle until the "flesh" is "crucified . . . with the affections and lusts" (Gal. 5:17, 24).

The "old man" as the corrupt cause of the former manner of life must be "put off' (Eph. 4:20-24; cf. Rom. 6:6). Sinful dispositions and tendencies are to be put to death (Col. 3:5-7).

God's people must beware of an evil heart of unbelief, the potential cause of backsliding and apostasy (Heb. 3:12). The root of bitterness springing up troubles the believer. Following peace with all men, and holiness, is the cure (Heb. 12:14-15).

There is a double-mindedness resulting in instability and cured only in the purifying of the heart (Jas. 1:8; 4:8).

"Sin in believers" as John Wesley used the phrase [7] consists not in the choices they make or acts in violation of God's law they commit. It exists as a latent condition or state, a principle or propensity rather than an activity. It is variously described as the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, the flesh, the old man, the root of bitterness, the seed of sin, indwelling or inbred shaven, original sin, or depravity.

It is with this problem of inner sin that entire sanctification deals. The result is what Scripture describes as a "pure heart" (Matt. 5:8; Acts 15:8-9; Titus 2:13-14; Jas. 4:8; I Pet. 1:22; I John 1:7; 3:3). The baptism with the Spirit thoroughly purges (Matt. 3:11-12). Our "old man" is crucified so that the "body of sin" might be destroyed (Rom. 6:6-7). The "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" makes us free from "the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2-4).

To "be holy" may mean much more but it can never mean less than to "be cleansed" or "made free from" the taint of sinfulness. Only on these terms can we serve God "in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life" (Luke 1:73-75), "holy and without, blame before him in love" (Eph. 1:3-6), "blameless and harmless without rebuke" (Phil. 2:14-16), enjoying a religion that is "pure" and "undefiled" (Jas. 1:27), "holy in all manner of conversation [living]" (I Pet. 1:14-16), "without spot, and blameless" (II Pet. 3:14).

Unless we are to think of God as making impossible and therefore unreasonable demands upon His children, we must recognize that "all His commandments are enablings."

In fact, those who deny the reality of cleansing from sin face a rather impossible dilemma. If God purposes to purify the hearts of His people and cannot, He is not the infinite God the Bible reports Him to be On the other hand, if God can purify the hearts of His people and will not, He is less than holy, taking more pleasure in sin than in righteousness. Neither alternative can be accepted.

The whole tenor of the scriptural revelation of God supports the view that He is both able and willing to fulfill His promises -- breathtaking though they may be. If it be not "thought a thing incredible . that God should raise the dead" (Acts 26:8), it should not be thought incredible that His people would be enabled to walk "in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

IV. The great word of both the Bible and theology is salvation. While we have drifted into the habit of identifying "salvation' " or "being saved"' with conversion, the true meaning of the term is far greater. The New Testament uses the term "salvation' " to describe the whole consequence of Christ's redemptive work in human lives.

Salvation in the Bible, therefore, has a past, a present, and a future. We have been saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8; II Tim. 1:9). We are being saved by the power of the Cross (I Cor. 1:18; II Cor. 2:15, cf. Greek). We shall be saved when Christ comes again (Matt. 10:22; Acts 15:11; Rom. 13:11; Heb. 9:28; I Pet. 1:3-5). Salvation is free (justification); it is full (entire sanctification); and it is final (glorification).

In a special way, the human name of our Lord conveys the idea of salvation: "Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). The term from is quite emphatic here, and it is a word that suggests deliverance from without. In no possible way can it be considered as meaning "in," "with," or "among."

It is with the idea of salvation from the presence and power of inner sin that we are concerned here. W. E. Vine gives as one of the meanings of "salvation" in the New Testament "the present experience of God's power to deliver from the bondage of sin. This present experience on the part of believers," he says, "is virtually equivalent to sanctification." [8]

In a similar vein, Ryder Smith claims that "it goes without saying that Paul's exposition of such terms as 'justify' and 'sanctify' is an exposition of salvation." [9]

That salvation in its full and unqualified sense includes sanctification is seen rather clearly in II Thess. 2:13, "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Salvation is "through sanctification of the Spirit," not "as a preparation for" sanctification.

Titus 2:11-14 also shows that the salvation which comes from the grace of God includes both redemption from all iniquity and the purification unto Christ of a people for His own, marked by their zeal for good works. This is not something to be achieved in a future life, but to enable us to "live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world."

Heb. 7:25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." The Phillips translation most accurately catches the meaning of the phrase "to the uttermost" as being "fully and completely.' "

It is of salvation in this full sense that it has been said:

God thought it.

Christ brought it.

The Spirit wrought it.

The Blood bought it.

The Bible taught it.

The devil fought it.

Love sought it.

Faith caught it.

And happy the Christian who can say,

"I've got it!

1. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1966). The quotations that follow in the text have been taken from the chapter indicated. 2. Edited by James Hastings (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1924), XI, 181. 3. L. A. Loetscher, editor in chief (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1955), p.1053. 4. Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1958), p.1184. 5. Systematic Theology (New York: Charles Scribner and Co., 1872), p.221. 6. The Bible Doctrine of Sin (London: The Epworth Press, 1953), p.140. 7. The title of one of Wesley's "standard sermons." Sermon XIII, Works, V, 144-56. 8. Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London: Oliphants, Ltd., 1940), III, 316. 9. The Bible Doctrine of Grace (London: The Epworth Press, 1956), p.74.

Coming Next: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN HOLINESS by Westlake Taylor Purkiser

2009-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

Chapter Two: THE HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

Christian holiness not only has a basis in the Bible, It also has a history in human understanding. God's truth never changes. Men's understanding of that truth does change. Theology, like all other human disciplines, is constantly changing -- pushing forward, and sometimes regressing.

It is because important insights are often lost that we need a basic acquaintance with the history and literature of the Wesleyan movement. Generations, like groups of people within any generation, may become provincial and cut off from the experience and thought of the Church universal.

One of the major problems of our age is its rootlessness, its lack of any sense of continuity with its past. Part of this, as Kenneth Keniston has pointed out, is due to the rapidity of change in these times in which we live. Because change comes so fast, we suffer an intensification of the present -- a heightening of the now until we have come to talk about the "now generation," the "now people." We are, as Keniston described it, "stranded in the present." [1]

Traditionally, to be sure, church people are a conservative crowd. Most of us dislike any change we can't jingle in our pockets. But change is with us, and Thomas Wolfe was most certainly right when he wrote, "You can't go home again . . . to your childhood . . . back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time." [2]

But having conceded this much to the present, and the changing future, we still need the perspective that comes from at least some awareness of the past. Not all the brilliant theologians and Bible scholars have been born in the twentieth century by any means. The same advice might be given to theological reconstructionists that has been offered to young protesters against the "Establishment": "Don't scuttle the ship before you have learned how to build a raft."

A sense of history provides the correctives needed for some of our one-sidedness. We need the balance that can be found in many of the older holiness classics, such as:

John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

A. M. Hills, Holiness and Power

Daniel Steele, The Gospel of the Comforter and Milestone Papers

J. A. Wood, Perfect Love and Purity and Maturity

H. A. Baldwin, Holiness and the Human Element

Thomas Cook, New Testament Holiness

And the sound, practical wisdom of George D. Watson, Samuel Logan Brengle, S. A. Keen, Beverly Carradine, and a dozen more.

Men are still writing, and in the Kingdom the new wine may be as good as the old. But the past has insights in it which we need to correct some of the overcompensations we have made -- the swing of the pendulum past center point.

Two items are particularly important in the present.

I One is the common, modern version of Wesleyan "eternal security." It differs from Calvinistic eternal security in that it relates to entire sanctification rather than to justification and the new birth. It is the notion that in the experience of holiness we have a sort of deposit of grace sufficient for the rest of life, and that sanctification is an end to be gained which when reached insures an easy slide down the slope into the Pearly Gates.

Put in such bald terms, no one would own up to such a view. But in one form or another it is surprisingly common among holiness people. Here the historical interpretation of Christian holiness can help.

Let us hear again the words of John Wesley, and let us inscribe them on the fleshy tables of our hearts:

The holiest of men still need Christ as their prophet, as "the light of the world." For he does not give them light, but from moment to moment: the instant he withdraws, all is darkness. . . . God does not give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but un holiness would remain. [3]

If the Bible makes anything clear, it is that the cleansing which is the heart of holiness is not only a cleansing that begins at a definite point of consecration and faith, but it is also a cleansing which continues moment by moment. This is the meaning of the verb in I John 1:7, which literally reads, "If we are walking in the light as He is in the light, we are having fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son is cleansing us from all sin." It begins to cleanse, and it keeps right on cleansing completely and continuously.

The experience of entire sanctification is not an end but a beginning, not a goal but a starting place. True, it is an end of carnal strife and confusion within the soul. It is an arrival at a realization of God's will for all His people. Yet the end of carnal strife and confusion is for the sake of a beginning of peace and victory. And the point of arrival is but a portal that leads onto a highway stretching across all of life and on into eternity.

We do not retain the grace of God by hoarding it, like the man in the parable -- wrapping it in a napkin to bury for safekeeping. We retain it by risking it in the marketplace, investing it in the commerce of human life, spending it freely on others in the assurance that it will return increasing dividends.

The light is present as long as the windows are open to the sun. The holiness to which God calls us is the sanctifying presence of the Lord of Glory moment by moment.

Puzzles as to "how carnality gets back into the heart" of a person who backslides after he has been sanctified are completely artificial. If the light is lost, "all is darkness." Without a supply of holiness every moment, "nothing but unholiness would remain." Carnality returns as blindness comes when sight is lost, as poverty returns when a fortune is squandered, as disease recurs when the laws of health are violated, and as death and corruption invade a branch when it is cut off from the vine (John 15:1-6).

Holiness is not a storage battery to be used whenever and wherever, apart from the ultimate source of its energy. Holiness is a throbbing, pulsating connection with the divine Dynamo.

Holiness is not a tank of water. It is a pipeline directly into the Reservoir.

This is the truth in May Whittle Moody's familiar lines:

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;

Living with Jesus, a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Moment by moment I'm kept in His love

Moment by moment I've life from above.

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Hannah Whitall Smith in The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life says that, in the ongoing life of holiness, our part is continual surrender and continual trust. [4] There is a "once-for-all" surrender in the moment of full consecration, and there is a "once-for-all" act of appropriating faith. But the going and growing life in the Spirit requires that we continually surrender and continually trust.

Holiness is not only a work of grace; it is the workings of grace. It is not only an act of God; it is a relationship begun at a given time and place and renewed and maintained day by day.

This is so familiar to us in human relationships that it is hard to see why we find the idea so difficult, in our relationship with God.

There is, for instance, an obvious difference between a wedding and a marriage. The wedding is a "once-for-all" event, permanently identified with a time and place, a calendar and a geography. The wedding is unrepeatable. By its very nature, it, establishes what both God's law and human ideal intend to be a permanent, union.

But the marriage is not a "once-for-all" event. It is an ongoing relationship.

When the wedding is over, there is nothing more we need to do about it. But we have to work at the marriage.

The wedding may take place in church or chapel. The marriage is lived daily in the home, and its implications pervade every other possible association between men and women in the shop, the office, the school, the marketplace, or wherever people are together.

Need it be said that homes which fail do not fail at the time of the wedding, but in the course of the marriage? The test does not come during the beauty of the wedding. The test comes when "moonlight and roses turn to daylight and dishes." The test comes after the "billing and cooing," when there are too many bills and not enough "coos.

"Which things," as Paul would say, "are an allegory."'

All that is true about the wedding, and more, is true about the moment when the child of God first enters the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. It, is "once-for-all." It begins what is meant to be a permanent state of affairs. It has a time and a place. It is complete. It alters everything that happens, every relationship and every decision, from that time on until the end of life.

And all that is true about the marriage, and more, is true of the processes wherein God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. The life of holiness is a daily life in the home, the shop, the office, the school, the marketplace. It, is not history; it is biography. It is never completed. It never ends.

Just as one cannot have a marriage without a wedding, so one cannot have the ongoing life without the experience of grace that initiates it. But just as the wedding has little value unless it is followed by a sound marriage, the experience of grace doesn't mean much unless it is the beginning of a deepening and ever richer relationship.

Oswald Chambers wrote, "The test of life 'hid with Christ in God' is not the experience of salvation or sanctification, but the relationship into which these experiences have led us."

Chambers went on to explain that "experience is absolutely nothing if not the gateway only to a new relationship. The experience of sanctification is not the slightest atom of use unless it has enabled me to realize that the experience means a totally new relationship. The experience may take a few moments of realized transaction, but all the rest of life goes to prove what that transaction means."

The problem, Chambers said, is that "people stagnate because they never go beyond the image of their experiences into the life of God which transcends all experiences.

"We must beware," he warned, "of turning away from God by grubbing amongst our own experiences." [5]

II A second item wherein we may learn from history lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from the matter just considered. It is the view commonly held today that a act of sin in the sanctified life immediately cuts off the soul completely from God and plunges it into total rebellion and complete depravity once more.

Here again the Wesleyan classics can help us. The older holiness writers -- and by this I mean such people as S. A. Keen, G. D. Watson, Daniel Steele, M. L. Haney, Hannah Whitall Smith, Thomas Cook, and Beverly Carradine -- almost without exception said that a sanctified Christian involved in an unpremeditated act of sin (what Thomas Cook called a "surprise sin") could be immediately forgiven and fully restored by confessing that sin and receiving forgiveness through our divine Advocate with the Father.

This view is based directly on I John 2:1-2, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

These verses are set in the context of one of the finest expressions of cleansing from all sin and all unrighteousness in the New Testament (I John 1:6-10). Nor are they in conflict with the strong statements of I John 3:6-9, where the grammar shows that repeated sins are in mind.

The purpose of John's writing in fact is "that ye sin not," (verse 1) -- and the grammar is such as to imply, "not even a single time." The apostle chooses his words carefully. He does not say, "When every Christian sins," or even, "When any man sins." The sin is not expected. There is no suggestion that it is necessary. The statement is, "If any man sin," and the conditional form of the statement implies the possibility of its opposite.

Yet when defeat comes, when there is an impulsive and unpremeditated transgression of God's law, the case is not hopeless. There is an instant remedy. Immediate confession brings immediate forgiveness and cleansing. Christ is the "Mercy Seat" for His own in the moment of tragic defeat as well as "for the sins of the whole world."

It is true that some have not recognized this possibility. They have suffered a bit, perhaps, from what someone has called "hardening of the categories," and have been quite vehement in the claim that a single act of sin under any circumstances plunges the sanctified soul into complete depravity and necessitates a definite two-stage restoration involving forgiveness followed later by entire sanctification.

The result of this hardened view is one of two extremes. On the one hand, the Christian trapped into sin may go into despair and throw over his entire covenant with Christ, lapsing into total backsliding. Or, more commonly but even worse, he may cover his sin, rationalize, excuse, or deny it, and thereby drive it into his subconscious. There it festers and poisons the soul and comes out in legalism, rigidity, and a critical, judgmental, suspicious, and defensive attitude toward everybody and everything. Other people must be torn down in order to build up the crippled ego.

In extreme cases, actual physical collapse takes place for which there is no medical cure. For while the conscious mind may reject the truth, the heart does not forget.

What we need to remember was said by the "fathers" in many ways:

John Wesley: "A believer may fall, and not fall away. He may fall and rise again. And if he should fall, even into sin, yet this case, dreadful as it is, is not desperate. For we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. [6]

M. L. Haney: "One act of disobedience brings defilement, and with it comes the consciousness of impurity, and the only refuge is immediate flight to Christ, that the stain may be washed out. Satan will tempt you to throw away all that God has previously done for you, and send you back to the beginning to repent and believe for justification, and the substitution of a new consecration for the former one, that you may believe and be sanctified. . . . Don't listen to him; but go straight to Christ with that one offense, and let him heal the wound thus made, and you will again be pure in his sight. If you delay, you will be almost certain to add other offenses, for one sin paves the way to another, and every moment of delay increases your danger. Therefore hasten while the wound is fresh, and be healed in Christ's all-cleansing blood." [7]

S. A. Keen: "There may come spiritual failures to the fully-saved soul, such as temporary disobedience, inadvertent yieldings to temptations, impulsive indulgences in wrong feelings, occasional lapses into sin. . . . The anchor that can hold the soul in this fierce storm, is to know that such spiritual repulses do not forfeit the gracious state of cleansing from all sin, unless they come from a preceding repudiation of its consecration and trust, or are immediately followed by the cancellation of the same. The soul must know, whenever such spiritual calamities come, that an immediate confession to God, and a reassertion of its trust in the all-cleansing blood, will prevent the forfeiture of its experience, and bring an immediate renewal of the witness to full salvation." [8]

Hannah Whitall Smith: "In this life and walk of faith, there may be momentary failures [defined in the context as conscious, known sin], which, although very sad and greatly to be deplored, need not, if rightly met, disturb the attitude of the soul as to entire consecration and perfect trust, nor interrupt, for more than the passing moment, its happy communion with its Lord." [9]

Daniel Steele: "So long as love to God is the undiminished motive there can be no career of sin. But faith may become weak and love may decline. Then under the pressure of temptation the child of God may commit a single sin, as [I John] 2:1 implies, and have recourse to the righteous Advocate with the Father, and thus retain his birthright in the kingdom of God. Or he may with Judas pass out of the light into so total an eclipse of faith as to enter upon a returnless course of sin entirely sundering him from the family of God, and enrolling him as a 'son of perdition,' a 'child of the devil,' whose characteristics he has permanently taken on.""

None of this is to excuse sin or treat it lightly. It ought never to happen in the sanctified life. But if it does, it must be dealt with honestly and forthrightly. We have been much less open and clear about this whole matter than our fathers, and much to our detriment.

It, must be recognized, to be sure, that there is premeditated sin, calculated and presumptuous, which is in itself an indication of a backslidden heart. A person so involved, however, had long since lost the sanctifying fullness of the Spirit. When he comes back after his sad journey to the far country, he comes as a rebel to be forgiven and restored. He must then make his consecration anew and receive anew the fullness of the blessing of the gospel.

Even in such a case, there need be no more than a moment of time between the renewed sense of forgiveness and prayer for the cleansing touch.

Without obscuring some real differences between piety in the Old Testament, and in the New, this is what happened in David's restoration after his sin with Bathsheba as recorded in Psalms 51. Here, with but a moment between, is the prayer for forgiveness of specific sins and transgressions (verses 1-4), and the plea, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (verses 7-10).

1. Quoted in Sheldon Garber, ed., Adolescence for Adults (Chicago: Blue Cross Association, 1969), pp. 74-75. 2. You Can't Go Home Again (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1941, p.706. 3. A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1966, reprint), p. 82. 4. (Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Company, reprint), p.32. 5. If Thou Wilt Be Perfect (London: Simpkin Marshal, Ltd., 1949, reprint), p.85. 6. Sermon on Matthew 5:13-16. Works, V, 301. 7. The Inheritance Restored, Fourth Edition Revised and Enlarged. (Chicago: The Christian Witness Co., 1904), p.171. 8. Salvation Papers (Cincinnati: M. W. Knapp, 1896), pp.97-103. 9. Op. cit., p.163. 10. Half-Hours with St. John's Epistles (Boston: Christian Witness Co., 1901), Comment on I John 3:9, loc. cit.

Coming Next: THE THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

INTERPRETING CHRISTIAN HOLINESS by Westlake Taylor Purkiser

2009-10-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

PREFACE

Christian holiness has three aspects. There is a grace to receive, a style of life to be lived and a truth to be understood. It is with the truth or doctrine of holiness that we are here concerned, together with some of its implications for life.

The doctrine of Christian holiness is the conviction that, within the limitations of our humanity, the sanctifying grace of God is sufficient to free the Christian heart from the power and presence of inner sin, to fill it with pure love for God and man, and to impart power for Christian life and service in this present world. The provision for this gift of grace is found in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and its dynamic is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of this little volume is to interpret the theory and practice of holiness in some of its biblical, historical, theological, psychological, and sociological facets. It is an attempt to do what we are charged to do in I Pet. 3:15-16, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ."

Christians have a twofold task in relation to their faith. The task is, first, proclamation. It is, second, interpretation. We must proclaim the truth to those who have never heard. But we must also explain the truth to those who have heard but need to understand it more adequately.

Candor compels us to confess that we have generally been stronger on proclamation than we have on explanation. We have insisted to all who would hear that the will of God is their sanctification. We have not always been as clear as we might in telling them what it means to be sanctified.

There is a vast difference between explaining a truth and explaining it away. Some calls for "reinterpretation" seem not so much the desire for better understanding as the wish to get rid of the truth entirely. But we must be interpreters, not corrupters. We are to be translators, not transformers, of the truth. We are to explain and apply the doctrine, not change its content.

Like a city set on a hill that may be approached from different directions and by different paths, the full truth of Christian holiness must be sought in a variety of contexts.

The approaches considered here are not the only interpretations that might be given. But they represent areas in which most of the major questions arise for which we are commanded to give an answer to those who ask.

W. T. Purkiser

CONTENTS

01 -- The Biblical Interpretation of Holiness

02 -- The Historical Interpretation of Holiness

03 -- The Theological Interpretation of Holiness

04 -- The Psychological Interpretation of Holiness

05 -- The Sociological Interpretation of Holiness

Reference Notes

01 -- THE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION OF HOLINESS

All Christian truth must be based on the teaching of the Bible. God has spoken in the Scriptures and has made known to us both His will for our lives and His provision for our needs.

No important Bible truth depends on scattered and isolated proof texts. One man is said to have claimed that he could prove atheism from the Bible. He offered the text, "There is no God."

What he did not say was that the context read, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Ps. 14:1).

The doctrine of Christian holiness is based upon the total thrust of the Scriptures. It is not merely a thread or line of truth running through the Word of God. It is rather a network of teaching which is an essential part of the fabric of the whole.

Holiness has its roof texts -- although it would be more correct to call them data --

evidences which support the conviction that sanctifying grace is real in human life. They should not be ignored. But even more important, is the message of the whole. Behind clichés and stereotypes based on a few isolated passages is the rich and varied teaching of the Bible itself.

Before turning to the biblical presentation of holiness, it should be noted that there are two sets of English terms in the King James Version used to translate a single Hebrew word in the Old Testament and a single Greek word in the New Testament.

One of these sets of English terms comes from the Germanic roots of our language. It includes the verb "to hallow, make holy," the noun "holiness," and the adjective 'holy."

The other set of English terms is derived from the Latin roots of English. It includes the verb "to sanctify," the noun "sanctification," and the adjective "sanctified."

Theologians sometimes make distinctions between these two sets of English words. For example, sanctification is sometimes defined as the act or process whereby a person or thing is made holy; and holiness is defined as the state or condition resulting from the act or process of sanctification. But since the two sets of words from which sanctification and holiness come are alternative translations of single terms in the original biblical languages, it is better to regard as equivalent expressions the verbs "to sanctify" and "to make holy," the nouns sanctification" and "holiness," and the adjectives "sanctified" and "holy."

The Bible is an amazingly realistic Book. It describes with great faithfulness the sorrows and sins, the struggles and hopes, the weakness and pain of the men and women who walk its pages. Yet through it all there shines a light of redemption and victory, the light of that "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

In swift strokes, the early chapters of Genesis paint the picture of creation and catastrophe, holiness given and holiness lost.

Genesis 3 tells us of the source of that corruption of our moral natures for which

sanctification is the divine cure. Created in the image of God, but using the freedom which was part of that image to seek to "be as gods" (Gen. 3:5) themselves, Adam and Eve brought upon their descendants the corruption that comes to a branch cut off from the source of spiritual life in the Vine (cf. John 15:1-6).

The man created in the image of God "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image" (Gen. 5:3) whose "every imagination [yetzer, tendency, propensity, direction] of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). The sinful condition of the race is due to the depravity that comes from "depravity," that is, human nature apart from the life of the Spirit.

Yet such is the marvel of God's love and patience that the very scene of human rebellion was the occasion for the first promise of divine redemption, of One who at the cost of His own suffering would crush the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20).

Through long centuries of preparation, the fact God's holiness was revealed in a dozen different ways -- by His wonderful works, by the awe men felt in is presence, by the ritual and sacrifices of Tabernacle and Temple, as well as by the prayers, aspirations, and proclamations of those men to whom God made himself known. God was seen to be, in Isaiah', favorite phrase, "the Holy One of Israel" (1:4; 5:19; 10:20; etc.). Holiness was seen to be the very inwardness of God's being. It is His nature, His "Godness."

Equally strong was the call for men who walked with God to be like Him in moral

character. In the Old Testament, the familiar biblical term "sanctify" (102 Times in various forms) often has the meaning we have come to attach to "consecrate." This is clearly true when men are told, as they frequently are, to sanctify themselves; to sanctify places, garments, altars, vessels, days, priests, and people to the Lord. The meaning is to separate or set apart as dedicated to God.

This is not the whole story, however. Present from the beginning, and growing stronger through the centuries, was the recognition that people who belong to God are not only consecrated but are to be different in a real and personal way. Ritual purity is symbolic of moral purity. The repeated command, "Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:26), makes no distinction between the holiness of God and the holiness of His people, and is set in the context of moral conduct in I Pet. 1:15-16.

It is clear, certainly, that the holiness possible to man is not a property of his own nature. It is God's gift. But even before the finished work of Christ on the cross it was possible for inspired writers to describe Noah as one who "found grace in the eyes of the Lord . . . a just man and perfect in his generations" (Gen. 6:8-9); to record God's command to Abraham, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1); and to speak of Job as "perfect and upright" (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3).

The sacrifices and ceremonies that make up so much of Exodus, Leviticus, and

Deuteronomy had a dual purpose. They were object lessons in the need for a blood-sprinkled way into the "holiest of all," the redemptive presence of the Lord God. And they pointed ahead to the Cross -- the coming of the Lamb of God, who was to bear away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

The Psalms give us one of the best measures of the piety of the Old Testament, the type of character possible to men who walk with God. There are many insights into the nature of God's holiness and its demands upon those who worship Him (15:1-2; 24:3-4). The Psalmist distinguishes between his sins and transgressions -- the iniquities he has done (51:1, 3-4, 9) – and the disposition behind the deeds, the inward "sin" for which the only remedy is the purging blood and the washing that brings a clean heart (51:2, 5-6, 10).

Old Testament teaching about the godly life came to full flower in the prophets. There was Isaiah, already a prophet (1:1 in comparison with 6:1), who experienced the taking away and purging of his iniquity or "sin" (note the singular), and who pointed the way to the age of the Spirit which was to come (6:1-8; 32:15, 17; 35:8-10; 44:3; 59:19, 21; 62:12 -- with the solemn warning of 63:7-10).

There was Jeremiah, who wrote of the "new covenant" (31:31-33; cf. Heb. 10:14-22); Ezekiel's promise of the cleansing to come from the "new spirit" within (36:25-26, 29); Joel's famous prediction of Pentecost (2:28-29); Zechariah's vision of the "fountain . . . opened for sin and for uncleanness" (12:10; 13:1, 9); and Malachi's prophecy of the Messiah's refining fire to purify and purge and make possible "an offering in righteousness" (3:1-3).

While holiness in the Old Testament did not come up to the full-orbed truth of the New Testament, the ideal is clear and the promise is sure. Its fulfillment in Christ and the age of the Spirit is the apex of the new covenant.

III

The Gospels present God's purpose for His people in two ways: in their record of the Life that must forever be the ideal for Christian aspiration, and in the teachings of Jesus and the inspired men who recorded His words.

Jesus spoke of the blessedness of the pure in heart (Matt. 5:8). He called the children of God to perfection of love (Matt. 5:43-48; 22:35-40; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 6:40). He taught that the source of evil is the depravity of a carnal heart (Mark 7:21-23) in contrast with the emphasis on the outward or cultic holiness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Christ promised the Holy Spirit as rivers of living water to those who believed (John 7:38-39), the Father's Gift to those of His children who ask (Luke 11:13). He spoke of "another Comforter" to be given to those who love Him and keep His commandments, a Bestowment whom "the world cannot receive" (John 14:15-17)

Jesus prayed for His own (John 17:9) and for those who would believe on Him through their word (17:20) that God would "sanctify them" (17:17) -- so that His joy might be fulfilled in them (17:13); that they might be kept from the evil (17:15); that they might be made perfect in one (17:21, 23); that the world might believe (17:21, 23); and that they might be with Him at last and behold His glory (17:24).

Our Lord's parting command was to tarry in the city of Jerusalem (Luke 24:49) until baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5) -- a baptism which follows the water baptism that seals repentance (Matt. 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17; John 1:33; Acts 11:15-16) and which empowers a consistent life and witness (Acts 1:8).

The Book of Acts records the fulfillment of the promise and prayer of Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit. While the Jerusalem Pentecost of Acts 2 had an unrepeatable historical side to it as the beginning of the long-awaited "age of the Spirit," its deeper personal meaning is attested by the Samaritan Pentecost of Acts 8, the Caesarean or Gentile Pentecost of Acts 10, and the Ephesian Pentecost of Acts 19.

Few are disposed to dispute the spiritual power that comes with the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Its cleansing aspect has not seemed as apparent, despite the fact that one of the meanings of the Greek term for baptism is itself "cleansing."

The matter is settled beyond reasonable doubt, however, in Acts 15:8-9. This is Peter's testimony as to what happened to Cornelius and the people of his household: "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."

Although there had been speaking in other languages in Caesarea as in Jerusalem (10:46),

Peter did not mention this at all. When he was concerned to show the identity of the Gentile Pentecost with what happened in Jerusalem, the only "sign" he appealed to was the fact that God purified by faith the hearts of those upon whom the Holy Spirit came.

The Epistles of the New Testament, Pauline and General, give full expression to the truth of Christian holiness. It must be remembered that the letters of the New Testament are all addressed to Christians. They were written from within the context of faith, and directed to those who had been converted.

For this reason, there is no effort on the part of the writers to identify sanctification as a work of grace following conversion or the new birth. The readers are assumed already to have passed from death to life Whatever is urged upon them must, therefore, be understood as part of what follows the initial experience of salvation. God's redemptive work in its totality is the theme of the New Testament letters. It is expressed in many ways:

a. Christians must experience in reality what is implied in baptism and provided by the Cross (Rom. 6:1-7:6).

b. Both the law and human willpower are futile in dealing with inner sin (Rom. 7:7-25).

c. Only the Spirit of life can make the believer free from the fleshly or carnal mind (Rom. 8:1-13).

d. The very mercies of God call for His people to make of themselves living sacrifices

(Rom. 12:1-2).

e. Spiritual infancy and carnal living rend the body of Christ (I Cor. 3:1-4).

f.. More excellent than spiritual gifts is the way of divine love (I Cor. 12:31-13:13).

g. The promises of God call us to cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (II Cor. 7:1).

h. The struggle between "flesh" and "Spirit" goes on until the "flesh" is crucified with its affections and lusts (Gal. 5:17-24).

i. Those chosen to be holy and without blame before God in love must put off "the old man. . . corrupt according to the deceitful lusts," and put on" the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 1:4; 4:22-24).

j. Christ loved the Church and gave himself to "sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word," that it "should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27).

k. There is no "perfection of glory" in this life (Phil. 3:12-14), but there is a "perfection of grace" (3:15).

l. Putting off the old man and putting on the new man must lead to life on a new and higher ethical plane (Col. 3:1-13). m. God's will and call are to holiness, entire sanctification (I Thess. 4:3, 7-8; 5:23-24).

n. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live holy lives in this present world, looking for the coming of the God-man, who gave himself both to "redeem us from all iniquity," and to purify unto himself a people peculiarly His own, "zealous of good works' " (Titus 2:11-14).

o. The strong, practical emphasis of the letter to the Hebrews is the need for converts to "go on":

-- to a sanctifying union with the Captain of their salvation (2:10-11)

-- into the "rest of faith" (3:12-4:11)

-- to become teachers of others (5:11-14)

-- unto "perfection" (6:1-3)

-- to the reality of Christ's sprinkled blood (9:13-14)

-- into the holiest of all (10:19-22)

-- following "holiness, without, which no man shall see the Lord" (12:14-17)

-- with Christ, without, the camp where He suffered to sanctify the people of God with His own blood (13:12-14). The alternative to going on is the chilling possibility of going "back unto perdition" (10:39).

p. The double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, is directed to purify his heart (Jas. 1:8; 4:8).

q. God's obedient children are to be "holy, as he . . . is holy" in every area of their lives (I Pet. 1:14-16).

r. By the promises of God, we become partakers of His nature, and thus escape the corruption in the world through lust (II Pet. 1:4).

s. If we walk in the light of God instead of the darkness of sin, we have fellowship with Him, and the blood of Jesus Christ, cleanses from all sin. To deny the need for such cleansing is to deceive ourselves (I John 1:7-8).

t. In the perfection of love, there is boldness in the day of judgment (I John 4:17-18). Putting all this together, one can hardly escape the almost boundless optimism of the New Testament writers as they reflect the possibilities of grace. They are fully aware of the tensions involved in living godly lives in this present world in bodies that still await the full redemption of the sons of God. They know that it is tribulation we enter the kingdom. Yet they thrill to the reality of the resurrection life even in the stresses, partialities, and incompleteness of the present age.

One of the crucial issues in discussions of the "higher life" portrayed in the New Testament is always the nature and extent of deliverance from inner sin, the old nature. "Eradication" is a term sure to be questioned. We are told that it is not a biblical term -- and indeed it is not, exactly in that form -- although the idea comes through rather clearly in Heb. 12:14-15.

But is it necessary to contend for a term? If anyone objects to "eradication" -- and there are some overtones to the word that say more than we mean -- then why not just settle for biblical language and talk about crucifixion, destruction, mortification, putting to death, putting off, purging, cleansing, purifying, or making clean? Really, it all comes out at the same place.

If we interpret Christian holiness biblically, we shall not concern ourselves with a single group of words -- "holy," "holiness," "sanctify," "sanctification." We shall also stress the baptism with or fullness of the Holy Spirit; the risen or resurrected life with Christ; the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us; circumcision of the heart; salvation to the uttermost -- or in Luther's sparkling phrase, "through and through"; the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ; purity of heart and power for witnessing; and so on and on.

We shall turn to other interpretations of Christian holiness. But all of them must finally rest back upon the teachings of the Holy Bible with its clarion call "not unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (I Thess. 4:7).

[Coming next: The Historical Interpretation of Holiness]

Sanctification, What It Will Not Do

2009-09-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

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.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." II Corinthians 4:7.

For the past few Sundays we have spoken to you on the subject of sanctification -- what it is, whom it is for, when obtained, and why necessary. I fear there is considerable confusion as to what God accomplishes for us when we are sanctified and filled with His Spirit; therefore, I have felt directed to speak to you on what sanctification does not do, or what God does not perform for us when we are sanctified. There are two dangers; one is to place the standard too low, and the other is to place the standard too high. Placing the standard too high will cause confusion; placing it too low will rob us of God's promised blessing. What we are interested in is knowing exactly what God has to say about this all-important subject of sanctification.

Free Moral Agency

Fundamentally man always has been, and always will be, a free moral agent. God never takes away from man this original quality; in fact, He removes nothing from man by grace that He gave him in creation. We have sometimes heard it said as an objection to sanctification and the Spirit-filled life, that it is an experience which makes it impossible to sin. God has not provided any degree of grace that takes away our possibility to sin; we shall always be free moral agents, which in itself shows that any man may sin, and that any man can sin, but proves also conclusively that no man must sin. I have never heard a reputable minister teach that God has provided an experience of grace that makes it impossible for man to commit sin. Free moral agency has been the inherent right of man since the creation of Adam. God does not destroy this in sanctification. Man still has the power to choose his conduct as he wills to do. The power to choose and the right to obey or disobey are the moral privileges of the sanctified man, as well as the justified man, or even the sinner. To be born of the Spirit, or to be filled with the Spirit, does not mean that I have come into possession of something that it is forever impossible to forfeit under any condition, for it is clearly stated that Jesus Christ became the author of eternal life to them that obey Him, and I am sure that latter part needs to be emphasized -- TO THEM THAT OBEY HIM. (Hebrews 5:9).

The term "eternal life" does not mean that it is an eternal, unconditional possession, but rather expresses the kind of life imparted to us as the gift of God. Eternal life is God's life, spiritual life, divine life. Just as Adam and Eve, who were holy and in the image of God could sin; and just as angels, who were holy and in the very presence of God in a holy Heaven, could sin; just so, they who have been sanctified and filled with the Spirit may again yield to temptation and fall into sin.

Sanctification does not exempt men from temptation, and neither does sanctification destroy the free agency of man and so change him into a machine, making him do the things which he does not desire to do. While God has not provided a state of grace whereby we do not have power to sin, or could not sin if we wanted to, I am glad to say that God has provided something for us that will take the desire to sin out of our hearts and lives and also give us power to overcome in this world.

Neither one who professes to be born again, nor one who professes to be born again and filled with the Spirit, has license or liberty to sin. "He that committeth sin is of the devil." I John 3:8. Men are not primarily admonished to seek sanctification, or seek to be filled with the Spirit, in order to quit sinning. This was taken care of in the new birth-when one was regenerated and justified in God's sight. A man goes out of the sinning business when God regenerates him. Genuine conviction and repentance many times will result in the forsaking and abhorrence of all sin. Someone may be asking, "What then is the advantage of being sanctified?" I would answer, "Much every way." While there is yet the possibility of a man losing this grace out of his heart and committing sin, the inward responses to the temptation of Satan without have ceased in the sanctified soul. Hence the probabilities and liabilities to commit sin are not nearly so great as where there is evil within and a foe without.

When our hearts are cleansed and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the inward conflict has ended, thus giving us a free hand to cope with the enemy without. If, after God saves us, there is no possibility of falling, why has God given us the admonitions and warnings all through the New Testament, implying this possibility? Peter said, "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." II Peter 1:10.

Paul says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." I Corinthians 10:12. Again, "Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil." I Corinthians 3:6. Here is a warning given as to what bishops should and should not do, and the warning climaxes with, "lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil." Surely a man cannot fall into the condemnation of the devil and remain a child of God. The Apostle plainly declares, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 If there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and this man has fallen into condemnation, surely it is made as plain as the English language can make it, that he is no longer in Christ.

Temptation

In the second place, I want to call your attention to the fact that sanctification does not place the soul beyond temptation. Even though God has filled us with His Spirit, we are human and fallible, thus being susceptible to temptation. Jesus Christ was both human and divine, and therefore susceptible to temptation. God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth He any man; yet we are told that Jesus was tempted in all points, like as we, yet without sin. Why was He tempted like as we? Because, like as we, He was human, having taken upon Himself the human nature which was susceptible to temptation. It was for this reason that the Apostle declared, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when 1 have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." I Corinthians 9:27. We must remember that the sanctified man has all the human elements with which to reckon. He has appetite, passion, human propensities, and human desires. All of these must be kept in their proper and lawful relation. In other words, the body with all its natural desires must be kept in subjection. Though we may be tempted and tried, we can be overcomers in the warfare of grace, because as John says, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4

We must remember that even though God has saved and sanctified the soul, yet sin continues to exist in the world and will be temptation to the child of God. Also, to the saints, Satan comes as an angel of light. The beast is transformed into the likeness of a lamb. The very elect are deceived if they cease to live in the Spirit, through Whom comes discernment as well as power. God is able to keep us from stumbling and to bring us in the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy, but we need to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation.

It is by trial and temptation that God proves us and discovers the spirit of our purpose and the fidelity and loyalty of our hearts. As He said to the children of Israel, "The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no." Deuteronomy 8:2

Not only does He thus prove us, but it is in the hour of temptation that we prove God and demonstrate to others His faithfulness and the reality and power of His saving grace. It is thus as Peter says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." I Peter 1:7.

As long as there is a devil, we will have temptation. Temptation is that which proceeds from the enemy, but sin is that which proceeds from the individual. The devil works through the intellect, sensibilities, and the will; and so long as you have not willed to sin, you have not transgressed God's law, and can be assured of the fact that you are still God's child; your heart is cleansed, and you are filled with His Spirit.

Let us not be surprised when the devil tempts us. He will do all in his power to drag us down, because the victorious life is the only one that really counts. Every child of God will be tempted, but we can count it all joy, for we are told that the shield of faith is able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)

Mistakes

In the third place sanctification does not guarantee against mistakes. Some have said that those who teach this truth not only claim deliverance from sin, but from all error, limitation, and defect. Such have not understood, or have perverted, the teaching of God's Word on this subject of the Spirit-filled life. Christian perfection or sanctification is not infallibility. It does not deify men; it does not rob us of humanity, but sanctifies us. A clean heart does not imply a perfect head. So long as we are in this world, there will be unavoidable errors and imperfections of judgment. A mistake is that which you do because you do not know better. Sin is that which you do when you do know better. Many have confused mistakes and sins, and cast away their confidence. We may be perfectly honest and sincere, and yet err in judgment. Having wrong premises, we may arrive at wrong conclusions, even though the heart is pure and the motive right.

In Matthew 5:48, we read that Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." It must be remembered that here He speaks of the perfection of love. Our hearts may be perfect in love, and yet our powers of discrimination may be at fault. Thus, it is evident that though the heart is perfect toward God, the work of God in the soul is perfect, and the experience of heart cleansing is without fault -- our ethics may not be perfect because of limited light and lack of keen discrimination.

As I have said, the Bible demands perfection, but we must remember that there are different standards of perfection. The highest state that we know anything about is absolute perfection. None but God lives in this realm. Then there is another standard of perfection that is called angelic perfection. There is still another, which is much lower, called Adamic perfection. Finally, there is what we call Christian perfection. This is the only kind which we are commanded to attain, but Christian perfection is not expected to exempt us from mistakes. Sanctification is only love made perfect and not judgment made infallible. If a man is faulty in his judgment, he will likely go astray in his conduct, for one cannot do better than he knows.

To be filled with the Spirit does not carry with it the gift of omniscience, thus making infallibility an impossible fruit of the sanctified life. Someone has said that there are only three classes that never make any mistakes; those who are dead, those yet unborn, and those who have never done anything. I am sure, of course, that you are not among the first two classifications, and I trust that you are not one of those who have never done anything. Therefore, if you are saved and filled with God's Spirit, there is certainly a possibility of making a mistake, but we can be assured that God will not hold this against us, and we can go on serving Him faithfully, having His smile of approval upon our lives.

Maturity

The fourth thought is that of maturity. Here we must remember that there is a difference between purity and maturity. Our hearts may be pure, and yet we are not mature Christians. The new birth brings us into the family of God, making us sons and daughters of the Most High. Sanctification cleanses our hearts and fills us with the Holy Spirit; then we are in a position to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christian maturity comes as a result of growth and development. Purity is an obtainment; maturity is an attainment. Purity is moral cleanness; maturity is moral stature. Purity is the work of destruction; maturity is the work of construction. Purity is a crisis; maturity is a process. To have the heart cleansed and to be filled with the Spirit is not the final goal of the Christian, but is only the gateway into the blessings of the Christian life.

There is always more beyond. God said to Joshua after he had been in the land a long time, "There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." Joshua 13:1 What He said to Joshua, I am sure could be said to each one of us in our Christian life and experience. There remains much land ahead of us in various realms. Much land ahead to be possessed in Christian living; in the Word of God; in Christian work -- especially in the effectiveness of that work; and also in the realm of Christian experience. While sanctified people are likely to make mistakes because of mental infirmities and physical limitations, it is nevertheless true that the liabilities are not so great and the mistakes perhaps not so numerous, owing to the fact that they are walking in the clear light of God, and hence have keener discernment, a clearer vision, and quicker moral perception.

A man working in the clear light of the noon-day sun is certainly not as likely to stumble as he who walks in the shadows. Doubtless because some have failed to distinguish between mistakes and sins, they have concluded they could not live the Spirit-filled life and consequently concluded also that no one else could live this life. We conclude this thought, then, by saying that sanctification does not produce infallibility but a holy heart. We should be thankful to God that we can have a holy heart, and in the sight of God, can live a holy life.

Uniformity

Finally, let me say that sanctification does not produce uniformity; in fact, this would not be, or is not desirable. In John 17 Jesus prayed that His disciples might be sanctified, that they might be one, that the world might believe. This is sanctification, in order to unification, in order to evanglization. When we speak of unity, there are some who seem to think that we mean uniformity, and because they do not find uniformity, they seem to have the idea that we do not have unity, and therefore there is no such thing as sanctification or the Spirit-filled life. This certainly would be a monotonous world in which to live if we would all think alike, act alike, dress alike, and so on. Someone has said that there are Irish "taters," sweet "taters," commentators, but the worst kind of a "tater" is an imitator, and I am sure God does not desire imitators in His kingdom. He does not change our personality; He does not make us like someone else, but He gives us an experience that exactly suits our own personality and our own make-up. To be sure, many times the personality of the individual is beautified and becomes more attractive after an individual is saved and filled with the Spirit, but we should not seek something that will cause us to appear or act like another individual.

Many churches and preachers have seriously impaired their ministry because they insisted on uniformity. Some seem to feel that we must act and talk just as they did on the day of Pentecost, or we have not been filled with the Holy Ghost. The important thing is not to seek something that will make us all speak with other tongues, but to seek that which will enable us to use the tongue we have to the glory of God. We may be well saved and sanctified and yet differ in our abilities. Jesus recognized this in the parable of the talents. The question is not whether we have as many talents as our fellow church member, or a fellow minister, but are the talents which God has given us sanctified and being used for His glory?

I am also sure that those who are filled with the Spirit will not always think alike. Their minds will differ. We will never be able to think alike on the practical things of life. Some will see things in one light, and some in another. We do not think alike doctrinally. We cannot all think alike regarding the doctrine of water baptism, the doctrine of divine healing, the doctrine of the second coming of Christ and so on. I fear that many people have given way to unkind criticism because the opinions of others did not always coincide with theirs. May God help us to have the Christ-like spirit of tolerance that seems to be lacking in many circles.

I am not asking for the broad shallowness that is leading us into compromise, but that we have a Christlike consideration for our fellowmen who are serving the Lord to the best of their ability and who may not always see as we do. I am sure we do well to study carefully the admonition of the Apostle Paul when he says, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3.

These are a few of the things that sanctification will not do for us. I am sure if we ask God to help us to be sane and sound in our study and interpretation of the scriptures, it will save us much confusion. Paul has said in our text, "Let us remember that we have this treasure in earthen vessels."

We are still human, and the failure to realize this will cause considerable difficulty. Carnality is wilful rebellion. Thank God, provision has been made for that, but humanity is weakness, rather than willfulness. If you are a believer, if you have been born into the family of God, your sin.s are forgiven; but if you are conscious of the fact that there is something in your heart that should not be there, I am glad to tell you that right now God can cleanse you and fill you with His Holy Spirit. If you will right now consecrate your all to God, ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart, you will be the possessor of a new joy, love, power, and a new effectiveness in your Christian life. May God bless you and help you to follow the leadings of the Spirit is my prayer.

Note: This is the last 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.

Sanctification, Why Necessary?

2009-08-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

by Dr. Quinton J. Everest

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

"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.

The Testimony of Charles G. Finney

2009-08-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-08-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

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.

The Testimony of Gordon Lilly

2009-07-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Rev. & Mrs. Gordon Lilly

I, Gordon Lilly, will forever be grateful for the saving, sanctifying and keeping grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I praise God for allowing me to be born into a Christian home where Christ and His Church were first place at all times. I cannot remember a time when work took priority over the church. I grew up on a farm where the work never seemed to be done. However, that did not keep our family from attending church. The word vacation was not in my father’s vocabulary. We did, however, observe the Lord’s Day religiously. On Sunday the field work stopped, although the cows were milked morning and night and the other farm animals were fed and watered. We were in church Sunday AM and PM and back in church on Wednesday night and every other night when extended evangelistic meetings were scheduled for one to two weeks. Every time the church door was open we were there. Only Sunday afternoons were rest times.

The only thing close to entertainment was listening to the radio. My father listened to little except the radio preachers, the news and farm reports. Radio gospel messages were a constant companion while I was growing up, whether in the house or in the barn. Many mornings I awoke to Mrs. D Howard Cadle singing “Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?” There was no place to hide from God’s influence. I must admit, that on the sly, I tried to listen to the Detroit Tiger’s baseball games. It was mostly futile because the radio stations were too distant to come in clearly. Some weekday nights I was able to listen to “The Lone Ranger,” and “Sky King” before father came in from his work. When he did come in the radio dial belonged to him.

I believe every child is born with a sin nature which is the cause of the wandering of every prodigal son or daughter from the things of God. My parents made heroic efforts to keep worldly influences from drawing my heart from God. I have said, in humor, “My mother was almost omniscient in detecting and heading off the sin in me.” PTL! However, because of the indwelling sin nature, I needed to be saved and was saved as a young child. I soon discovered, by experience, what the Apostle Paul described in Romans as the inability to do all he should and the inability to refrain from all he should. He then went on to describe a victorious life in Christ lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. As a young person, I was not always victorious, nor did I love Jesus with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.

I had heard the message of holiness all my life and was fully convinced of the validity of the theology. Three texts that I heard preached over and over were:

1. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

2. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification . . . .

(I Thessalonians 4:3)

3. 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. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). This text rings in my memory. I can still hear Dr Kenneth Geiger preaching it at Prairie Street Camp in Indiana.

I was a member and traveled with the Helmsmen Quartet from Bethel College located in Mishawaka Indiana. One summer while the quartet was at the Ludlow Falls Camp in Ohio, the Holy Spirit convicted my heart of my spiritual need. The quartet was sleeping in a tent some distance from the tabernacle. Early one morning when I awoke I was under deep conviction and in the quietness of my heart I cried, “Oh God, I need you.” With that cry, the sanctifying power of God sent a deep settled peace into my soul. Previously all my spiritual striving had left me needy, but now the power of God filled and produced a victorious life which has held me steady for over 50 years. In a moment of time God made a radical change in my heart’s desires. Yes, maturity and growth were still needed and still is. By God’s grace I expect it to continue. About 20 years later I returned to Ludlow Falls Camp and was delighted to find a little prayer chapel had been built on the spot where the tent in which I was sanctified was pitched. PTL!

I am painfully aware that many who have professed the experience of sanctification have not exhibited a sanctified life. Hypocrites have always dwelt with the saints. The tares have always grown with the wheat. Only God can separate them at the end of the age. The dust had hardly settled from Pentecost when Anaias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. They came under judgment in order to keep the church pure. The failure of Anaias and Sapphira or the failure of any professed saint does not disprove the clear command of Scripture to be holy; the essence of which is loving God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. Peter’s recounting of what happened at Pentecost was that their hearts were “purified by faith” (Acts 15:9). The evidence of a drastic change in Peter between John 18 and Act 2 cannot be denied. In Peter’s own words his heart was “purified by faith.” Nothing else can explain the change of a coward’s heart into a martyr’s heart. I pray that Pentecostal purity and power will return to the church and that hearts will again be “purified by faith.” If Peter’s heart was not cleansed and changed by faith he was deceived as to what took place.

In the Holy Bible I read of a God who is Holy and commands His people to be Holy. The closing chapter of the Word warns that nothing unclean will enter the Holy City and further warns that to add or take away from the Word is to forfeit our right to the Tree of Life and our right to the Holy City. Our names will also be removed from the Holy Book where the names of the saints, the Holy Ones, are recorded.

Sanctification, Whom It Is For

2009-07-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

by Quinton J. Everest

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

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

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." John 17:17, 20.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the pro. mise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:38, 39.

Matthew Henry says, "that when Christ died He left a will, in which He bequeathed His soul to His Father, His body to Joseph of Arimathea, His clothes fell to the soldiers, His mother He gave to John; but to His disciples, who had left all for Him, He left not silver and gold, but something that was infinitely better -- "His peace." "My peace I give unto you."

It is one thing to be at peace with God, but it is quite another to have the peace of God. It is a peace handed down from Heaven and implanted in the believing soul. This is the peace that comes to the believer who consecrates himself to God for heart-cleansing and Holy Spirit-infilling.

Scripture Proof

In searching the scriptures, we find that the truly Sanctified life, the Spirit-filled life, the life of fullness of joy is only promised to, and provided for, the born-again believer. It was for the disciples that Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them."

The promise of the Father was to them. The promise of power resulting from the incoming Holy Spirit was to them. The indictment against the Corinthians was "Ye are yet carnal." I Corinthians 3:3.

They were babes in Christ, but evidently Paul realized that they were remaining in the baby stage too long. They were natural men, and now they are classed as carnal; but Paul, wants them to move on to the stage where they can be called spiritual. They had been saved, but they needed a cleansing, sanctifying, infilling work performed in their hearts. In Acts 19:2 Paul coming to Ephesus asks: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" and these Ephesians replied, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost."

Going on in this passage, we see that they were then definitely filled with the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Spirit was not expected in, but after conversion. The same fact is referred to and affirmed in Ephesians 1:13:

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." This reveals that there is a seal for those already saved. The seal is the promised Holy Spirit. This seal carried with it the thought of ownership, authority, power, protection, security, and identity. When a Christian is "sealed" by the Holy Ghost, "sealed" as the property of his Master, there will be no need to ask, "Whose image and superscription is this?" Matthew 22:20.

The King's image the image of God, will be visibly and unmistakably stamped upon us. This definitely reveals the tragic condition of much present-day Christianity. Many may have at one time been saved, but have failed to go on to the Sanctified, Spirit-filled Life, and as a result are spiritually dead, worldly, passionless, visionless, and earthly minded.

Again in Acts 8, we learn that this need Was the common conviction of the disciples. Note verses 14-17: "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; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."

Here again it is made very plain that as soon as individuals believed, the great concern was that they should then be "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." The first thing to remember then in speaking of the Sanctified and Spirit-filled life is that it is promised and provided for the Christian. On the day of Pentecost, only those who were followers of Christ received the Holy Spirit. Following this, they began to preach Christ crucified, and to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who would repent and accept Christ. Under the power of Holy Ghost preaching, men were pricked to the heart and cried out: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter replied,

"Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:37, 38.

So today, to all who are crying out, "What must I do?" the answer is -- "repent and accept Christ." You don't repent by joining the church or by water baptism, or by any other form or ritual; but by confessing your sins and your sinfulness to God and to your fellowmen where necessary. Included in repentance is not only confession of sins, but also sick enough of sin to quit the sinning business. If you have gone through a sort of confession, but are still living in sin, you have not really repented. There is no use for you to ask God to sanctify you and fill you with His Spirit until you have genuinely repented. This is one great trouble with many who seek to be sanctified. They want to hold on to some sin and at the same time be powerful Christians.

If God has saved you and has asked you to give up worldly associations, immodest dress, your tobacco habit and other anti- and non-Christian practices, habits, and attitudes, and you still insist on holding to these things, you need not expect God to sanctify you. You are not on sanctifying ground. When God saves a man, He does a complete job of it if the man will let Him. Then when God sanctifies a man, He also does a complete work if there is an unreserved consecration. (In a moment, we shall say more about this.)

Some have opposed this indispensable truth of the sanctified life. You never need worry about enjoying the gracious fullness of the Spirit's presence in your heart if you do not want Him there. When Jesus came in the flesh to the Jewish church, only those who were Israelites indeed recognized and received Him as the Son of God. The chief priests and scribes could not understand that Jesus was the Messiah even when He healed the sick and raised the dead. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." Psalm 25:14.

Therefore, Simeon and Anna had no trouble recognizing Him. Just as the unbelieving and godless Jews in the church under the old dispensation rejected Jesus, so do the unconverted and backslidden in the Christian church in this new dispensation reject the Holy Ghost. Many know full well that we need the Holy Spirit in the individual life and in the church, but they refuse Him admittance. They are willing to give Him a restricted place in creeds and confessions; they may occasionally refer to Him in songs and sermons, but they shut Him out of their hearts. They object to His revelations, demonstrations, and manifestations. The lives of many church members are full of worldly desires and pursuits, full of jealousy and envy; and full of sectarian prejudice simply because the Holy Ghost has been kept out of the heart.

Prior to Pentecost, the disciples gave evidence of a further need in their hearts. James and John wanted to be the "big shots" in the coming kingdom. They manifested a spirit of revenge when the wicked Samaritans would not accept Christ. Fire was needed all right, not to burn the Samaritans, but to burn the spirit of carnality out of the hearts of these disciples. On various occasions they were too materialistically minded. Their behavior during the apprehension, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus and their lack of unity-all this and more revealed a lack in their lives. Had these disciples failed to obey the command of Jesus in waiting for the promise of the Father, we would never have heard of them. Either the cause of Christ would have been defeated or God would have had to call others who would have been obedient to His commands.

Surely it is dangerous and arrogant presumption for any one to undertake the work of Christ without going to Him for the promised purity and power. It surely is a sad sight to see an institution claiming to be the church of God undertake to do with organization, entertainment and socials the work that can be done only by the enduement of power which comes with the Sanctified, Holy Ghost-empowered life. No natural gifts, mental developments, or scholastic training can possibly take the place of the divine energy and unction that comes by the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost.

I am not inappreciative of the activities of the church today, yet I cannot help feeling that our spiritual power is at a tragically low ebb; the spiritual temperature is too chilling. We need fire! We need power -- the power of the Holy Ghost! It is comparatively easy to get a good crowd for an ice cream social or a church movie. It is not too hard to get a crowd for a picnic, but how about the mid-week prayer meeting? Some professing Christians are just as interested in a mid-week prayer meeting and just as interested in the real spiritual progress of the church as a dead man is in a sizzling porter-house steak. "Instead of the church evangelizing the world, the world is secularizing the church."

Friends, let us not attempt to battle against the foes of sin and Satan in our strength, but in humble, faithful prayer let us trust in God and receive the cleansing and power He has provided for His children. If we wait in humble prayer until we receive Him, then it will be said of us: "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4. Since we must go forth to war against devils and mighty evil spirits, and since we must battle the prince of the power of the air, let us do it in the power of the Holy Ghost and be assured of victory.

Historical Proof

In the past, many churches placed emphasis on this very truth which is so clearly and emphatically taught in God's Word. Not all have used the same theological terminology, but the important thing is to know we are sanctified and that the Holy Ghost abides.

The Methodists have described it as "entire sanctification," "holiness," or "perfect love." The Baptists and others may call it the "baptism with the Holy Ghost," or the "filling of the Spirit." The Presbyterians may call it the "life of faith," or the "rest of faith." The Quakers may call it "living in the Spirit," or "overcoming power." Some view it from the human side -- others from the Divine side; but the all-important thing is to come into possession of that which is provided.

There are many recorded testimonies of our church fathers which speak of this second definite work in the heart: Polycarp, the martyr, the Bishop of Smyrna, said: "He who is possessed of love is free from all sin."

Ignatius in commenting on I Thessalonians 5:23 declared that "he who presents these three (spirit, soul, and body) to God without fault is therefore perfect."

John Chrysostom, the golden-tongued preacher declared that "to obtain such power and to receive forgiveness of sins are not one and the same."

Matthew Henry, the noted commentator, says regarding the prayer of Jesus in John 17: "Jesus prayed for all that are His that they might be sanctified. He could not, for very shame, own them as His, either employ them in His service or present them to His Father if they be not sanctified."

Richard Watson, a renowned theologian said: "We have already spoken of regeneration, adoption, and the witness of the Spirit; we proceed to another experience as distinctly marked and as graciously promised in the scriptures: namely, the entire sanctification or perfection of believers."Charles Wesley sang:

"Speak the second time, 'Be clean'!

Take away my inbred sin;

Every stumbling-block remove,

Cast it out by perfect love."

Someone has suggested that those who do not believe in Entire Sanctification ought to sing the song, "Whiter Than Snow," like this:

"Dear Jesus, I long to be partially whole;

I want Thee occasionally to live in my soul:

Break down some of the idols, cast out a few foes,

Now wash me and I shall be whiter than I was a little while ago."

Little needs to be said of John Wesley and his experiences and teaching. Few, if any, have had such tremendous influence since the days of the Apostles. He preached, expounded and defended the doctrine of Entire Sanctification. He inquired of his preachers regularly whether they had received the gift of perfect love. If their testimony was not very clear, the question was followed by another! "Are you groaning after it?" Everywhere he inquired if believers were living in the enjoyment of entire sanctification. Nothing less was sufficient. New converts were urged to seek full salvation, lie observed that where this was not experienced, the cause of Christ suffered:

D. L. Moody relates that two ladies informed him that they were praying that he "might receive the power of the Spirit." Moody said he thought he had all that was needed, but soon there came a hunger into his soul. One day on a street in New York City, God filled him with His Spirit. Of that Moody says: "Oh, what a day.! I cannot describe it; I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name." Then he said, "I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths; and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world."

Your Need

My friend, what is your need? Are you saved-born again -- a child of God? If you are, thank God for it, but do not stop there. Let God sanctify you and fill you with His Holy Spirit. Confession of your need to God and a consecration of your possessions and" yourself to God will open the way for the Holy Spirit to come into your heart.

If you have a definite experience of sins forgiven-if you have been truly born of the Spirit -- inner, entire sanctification is for you.

Note: This is the second 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 it is for? 3) Sanctification, when obtained? 4) Sanctification, why necessary. 5) Sanctification, what it will not do.

Sanctification, What Is It?

2009-06-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

by Quinton J. Everest

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

For the next five Sundays I want to speak on the subject of Sanctification. I realize, however, it is a subject of much discussion and much disagreement. I am not speaking on it for the sake of controversy, but for the sake of helping men into the fullness of God's provided salvation.

I am sure you agree with me that everything God has provided for us through the death of Christ is necessary. God would not, and has not, provided something we do not need. Man needs forgiveness, and God provided it. He needs heart-cleansing, and God has provided it. He needs power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, and God has provided it. Paul said to the Corinthians, "All are yours," I Corinthians 3:22.

Everyone who believes the Bible will agree that there is such a thing as Sanctification, and that it is provided for sin-contaminated humanity. Someone has said that the words, "Sanctify," "Sanctified," and "Sanctification," appear 164 times in the Bible. This being true, no one can pass over the subject without proper consideration.

Going back to the Old Testament, we note that not only people, but things are said to be sanctified. We read that God sanctified the seventh day. It was to be a day made holy by worship and rest. Mt. Sinai was said to be sanctified, for it was there God in a peculiar way revealed Himself to Israel. The temple and its furniture were said to be sanctified which meant that it was set apart for holy purposes. God commanded Israel to sanctify themselves, which meant that they were to submit to certain bodily washings and cleansings. Within Israel there was the Sanctified tribe of Levi or the tribe especially set apart by God to minister those things which were holy.

In our text Jesus prays for the Sanctification of the disciples, and then in verse 20 He says:

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word."

In I Thessalonians 5:23 Paul says: "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."

Again in Chapter 4, verse 3, he says, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." I would like for you to note carefully what Jude has to say in his introduction: "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called."

He writes to "them that are sanctified"; not to those who are being sanctified or to those who will be sanctified, but to those who are sanctified. These references and scriptures are ample proof that the Bible teaches Sanctification and that it is something to be experienced here in this world.

It is also interesting to read the definition of the word "Sanctify" in the Standard Dictionary, which reads: "To make holy; render sacred; morally or spiritually pure, cleansed from sin... sanctification, especially in theology, the gracious work of the Holy Spirit whereby the believer is freed from sin and exalted to holiness of heart."

Someone may be saying, "If you have confessed your sins and God has forgiven you, and Christ has come into your heart, isn't that sufficient?" My answer would be that to be born of the Spirit is not sufficient, for God also commands that we should "be filled with the Spirit." Ephesians 5:18.

Going over to Acts 15:8, 9, we read that when the people on the day of Pentecost and those of the house of Cornelius were filled with the Spirit, "their hearts were purified." Since their hearts were purified, we must conclude that, prior to the purifying, there was impurity in their hearts.

Now let us go back to Luke 24:49 and read the instructions which Jesus gave to the disciples. "Behold; I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Again in Acts 1:4 Jesus said: "And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me."

The promise of the Father is, as revealed, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, notice again what Jesus has to say in Acts 1:8: "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

Now putting all, these scriptures and definitions together, we have.the following: first, the prayer of Jesus for the Sanctification of His disciples and all those who should believe on Him through their word; second, the purifying of the hearts of believers; and third, the infilling of the Holy Spirit. These are not three separate operations, but three phases of one work of God in the heart of man. We must then conclude that after a man becomes a child of God, he needs to consecrate (Romans 12:1) himself to God in order to be sanctified -- or to be inwardly cleansed and filled with the Spirit. But someone says, "Aren't we filled with God's Spirit when we are saved?" I am sure my answer to this question would be insufficient, so we will call on Paul and Jesus to answer it for us. Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:16, 17: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

Here Jesus definitely states that only the child of God can receive and experience the Holy Spirit in his heart. The worm knows nothing about spiritual things nor the Holy Spirit; therefore, they cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

Paul not only asks the Ephesians in Acts 19:2 whether they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed, but in Ephesians 5:18 he commanded that they "be filled with the Spirit."

The Two-Fold Need

When we have a proper conception of sin, then we can understand what Sanctification is and why it is necessary. The man who has felt his guilt most deeply appreciates the redeeming work of Christ. The man who is made to realize the condition of his heart and who is conscious of the need of power, appreciates the redeeming work of Christ in Sanctification.

Sin has many aspects, but there two primary forms in which it exists. We cannot form a right conception of sin, nor of the remedy God has provided, unless we look at it from these two points of view. There must be a discrimination between guilt and depravity. There are the sinful acts of a man's life, but there is also the depraved condition of the heart. The one demands pardon and forgiveness, but the other demands cleansing. John clearly reveals this when he says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9. Here we have both the forgiveness and the cleansing.

Dr. John Church, General Evangelist of the Methodist Church, portrays this truth vividly in Old Testament type. He says: "In the provision made for the Great Day of Atonement, God recognized the twofold nature of sin. The people were commanded to bring two offerings. The priest cast lots over them, and the one upon whom the lot fell was known as the scapegoat. The priest placed his hand upon this one's head and confessed all the sins of the people upon it. In other words, the sins of the people were placed upon this scapegoat. It was then led away into the wilderness to be let loose and never was seen again. This was a type of Jesus, who became our scapegoat and took all our sins in his own body and bore them away to Calvary. They are never seen again, thank God? The Other offering was known as The Sin Offering. It was taken outside the camp and slain. Its blood was caught, and with it the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and presented it upon the mercy seat in the sight of God. The carcass of the sin offering was wholly burned outside the camp and the ashes were buried. This is just what the writer of Hebrews is speaking of when he says "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." In other words, Jesus not only became our scapegoat, who bore our sins (the acts) away, but He also became our sin offering and made provision whereby we may be cleansed from inbred sin and may be sanctified wholly. He provided a double cure for sin.

There are many people who have been born again-their sins are forgiven, but they need to pray and ask God to give them clean hearts and the Holy Spirit. Real victory would come if they would really say with the song writers:

"Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole,

I want Thee forever to dwell in my soul,

Break down every idol, cast out every foe,

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

"Breathe, O breathe, thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast,

Let us all in Thee inherit, let us find that second rest.

Take away our bent to sinning, Alpha and Omega be,

End of faith as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty."

"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it: prone to leave the God I love,

Here's my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.

John the Baptist was a preacher of this two-fold need and cure. To the people of his day he said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Matthew 3:11.

With genuine, scriptural repentance, there comes the forgiveness of sins, but it takes the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire to really cleanse and sanctify the heart.

As already stated, remember that sin is deeper than the outward act. Jesus teaches this in the Sermon on the Mount. There the emphasis is shifted from the outward act to the inward desire. Thank God, there is provided not only forgiveness and the washing of regeneration (which are but two phases of initial salvation) but also a remedy whereby the heart can be cleansed from all sinful desires and passions.

It is therefore clear, then, that in justification our sins are forgiven, and we become sons of God; but there is a sinful condition of heart remaining which needs the cleansing fire of the Holy Ghost.

The Two-Fold Cure

When a sinner comes to God, he is primarily interested in forgiveness. He is guilty and desires pardon. Every other thought is swallowed up in the thought that he needs God's mercy in forgiveness. His prayer is, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13. It is such a prayer that God hears and answers. All his sins are fully forgiven through the blood of Christ. The man has received according to his faith. But as yet this man knows little of the deep depravity of his heart. However, as he now walks in the light of God and in the light of God's Word, his further need will be revealed. God will be faithful in revealing the need of heart-cleansing as soon as the individual can receive such a revelation. God saw that Israel would go down in defeat if He took them into Canaan immediately after they had crossed the Red Sea. They would have given up in despair in view of the difficulties. It would paralyze the faith and extinguish the hope of many if they had revealed to them their inward defilement when they first see and feel guilt and danger. When God reveals to the born-again believer the need of cleansing and infilling, He has a definite sense of need until the work is accomplished.

Many of you listening to me know by experience what I am talking about. Your conversion was indeed a miracle of Divine Power, but if you have been saved very long, you have also realized the need of a further work of God in your heart. My friend, what you need is to be sanctified, to have your heart cleansed and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the New Birth you received a new nature. Condemnation was removed; a great change was wrought by the Holy Spirit, creating within your soul a new spiritual life. The love of sin was destroyed; the power of sin was broken, and there was begotten a desire for the things of God. This is sanctification begun, but there is further need of an inward cleansing. Practically all, if not all, church creeds agree on this point; however there are different opinions as to the time and method of heart cleansing, which we will take up further in a future message. We must conclude, however, from the Word of God and from experience that subsequent to conversion, there is need of a further work in the heart. This need, as I have stated, is an inner sanctifying. It is a cleansing. co-instantaneous with cleansing there is the infilling with the Holy Spirit.

John Wesley said, "We do not know of a single instance, in any place, of a person's receiving at one and the same moment, remission of sins, the abiding witness of the Spirit, and a new and clean heart."

Adam Clarke said, "I have been twenty-three years a traveling preacher and have been acquainted with some thousands of Christians during that time, who were in different states of grace; and I never, to my knowledge, met with a single instance where God both justified and sanctified at the same time."

We conclude then by saying that Sanctification as Jesus speaks of it in our text is the cleansing of the believer's heart. It is a work subsequent to regeneration. It includes the negative and positive; namely, cleansing and filling. "Regeneration is for a perishing world. Entire Sanctification is for a polluted church." The second work is not to patch up the first. Each experience is complete and perfect within its own limits. The first experience is referred to in terms such as "Justified," "Forgiven," "Born Again," "Adopted," etc, The second is designated by terms such as "Sanctification," "Baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire," "Pure in heart," etc.

My dear listener, if you have this need, if you have never been sanctified, if you have never been filled with the Spirit -- won't you kneel by your radio, consecrate yourself to God, ask Him to cleanse your heart and fill you with His Holy Spirit?

In Romans seven, Paul is clear in stating that the law could reveal this inward condition of heart and that this inward condition was also a hindrance, but the law could not remove the depravity. Therefore, he cries out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" v. 24.

Then he answers the heart-rending question by saying, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Going on into the eighth chapter, you no longer see a man and he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will seal this truth to your heart and help you receive all that God has in store for you. Jesus, the First and Last, On Thee my soul is cast: Thou didst Thy work begin By blotting out my sin; Thou wilt the root remove, And perfect me in love. Yet when the work is done, The work is but begun:

Partaker of Thy grace,

I long to see Thy face;

The first I prove below,

The last I die to know.

Note: This is the first 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.