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How many believe there will be a tracking chip?
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Posted:Jul 24, 2008 6:15 pm
Last Updated:Aug 1, 2008 8:56 pm 6081 Views
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This is only a scenario....You have heard of the tracking chip that is suppose to be part of the New World Order, right. Let's say that the government as a way of implementing this chip gave an incentive to all employers via a tax break to help them implement the chip. Let's say each employer would be required to make it mandatory for their employees to receive the chip via a payroll card with the chip embedded in the card. This is the only way that you would be able to receive your pay. Let's assume that all employers will someday be required to use this same system. With this chip card, the government would have access to everyones account. If you became delinquent on your taxes, they could take your money due them, immediately. If you became delinquent in support, they could also take your money immediately in the form of garnishment. If you owe taxes to the government, they can take your money. Perhaps, we won't even have to file a tax return, they will just take what is due.
Does anyone care to discuss the possibilities and if so how close do you think we are to this type of system or systems?
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How does a Christian make the dual life a real life in Christ.?
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Posted:Jul 22, 2008 10:39 pm
Last Updated:Oct 31, 2010 2:54 pm 6047 Views
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Are you one of the ones that can relate to this: there comes a time when a certain Church becomes a narcotic and you realize you are hooked. Your whole life becomes wrapped up with church people. You have no good non-Christian friends and in fact you don't even see that it is realistically possible. You put on the Christian mask so much that you lose your own face. You have divided the world into two completely separate compartments.
Instead of life being a unity, there are the two: the secular and the spiritual. Each category has its own unspeakable description. It's not really conscious, but it's definitely there in your mind. Secular is bad. Spiritual is good. You spend most of your mental time measuring and weighing everything. Swallowing camels, ya know? You try to control everyone and everything.
People don't dress modestly, even in the work world and somehow everyone in upper management seems to think it is ok or overlooks it, of course. This means you have to avoid them. People use words in the wrong ways. People don't have enough devotion. People don't like what you like as much as you like it. And no one can fault you. You have a reason for everything. You try to do what is right to no avail., ie, always being to work on time and not calling in. When people confront you, you smile that Christian smile and say the right Christian words and then disappear into your brooding. Isolation becomes the means of preservation of the false self. Finally, you get so sick of it that you just run away...ever felt like this...? P.S. this is not my situation.
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Interesting history about the Christian fish symbol
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Posted:Jul 18, 2008 11:45 pm
Last Updated:Jul 20, 2008 7:55 pm 5536 Views
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Back in the late days of the Roman Empire, certain groups were forced into hiding by the oppressive hand of Roman authorities. Many sought refuge in caves, and catacombs. The groups used symbols to identify themselves, and separate themselves from other groups using the same caves, or catacombs.
One group used a fish, as its symbol. The fish, was a simple, but crude shape. It started with one arch. A second arch would begin at the tip of the first arch, but at a reverse angle, and intersect the first arch. The result was something that looked like the picture on this blog.
It was said that someone would draw the first arch, and wait. Others would pass by, some looking at the arch, but would just continue on their way. Eventually someone, knowing what the arch represented, would complete the fish. Both parties knew they could talk without fear.
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Safety, Certainty, And Enjoyment "Which Class Are You Travelling?"
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Posted:Jul 17, 2008 5:52 am
Last Updated:Jul 21, 2008 6:43 pm 5349 Views
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Safety, Certainty, And Enjoyment
"Which Class Are You Travelling?"
by George Cutting
What an oft-repeated question! Let me put it to you; for travelling you most certainly are, travelling from time into Eternity; and who knows how very, very near you may be at this moment to the GREAT TERMINUS?
Let me ask you then, in all kindness, "Which class are you travelling?" There are but three. Let me describe them, that you may put yourself to the test as in the presence of "Him with whom we have to do."
* 1st Class - Those who are saved and know it.
* 2nd Class - Those who are not sure of salvation, but anxious to be sure.
* 3rd Class - Those who are not only unsaved, but totally indifferent about it.
Again I repeat my question, "Which class are you travelling?" Oh, the madness of indifference, when eternal issues are at stake! A man came rushing into the railway station and, while scarcely able to gasp for breath, took his seat in one of the carriages just on the point of starting.
"You've run it fine," said a fellow-passenger. "Yes," replied he, breathing heavily after every two or three words, "but I've saved four hours, and that's well worth running for."
"Saved four hours!" I couldn't help repeating to myself; "four hours" well worth that earnest struggle! What of Eternity? What of Eternity! Yet are there not thousands of shrewd, far-seeing men today, who look sharply enough after their own interests in life, but who seem stone-blind to the Eternity before them? In spite of the infinite love of God to helpless rebels, told out at Calvary; in spite of His pronounced hatred of sin; in spite of the known brevity of man's history here; in spite of the terrors of judgement after death, and of the solemn probability of waking up at last with the unbearable remorse of being on hell's side of a "fixed" gulf, man hurries on to the bitter, bitter end as careless as if there were no God, no death, no judgement, no heaven, no hell! If the reader of these pages be such an one, may God this very moment have mercy upon you; and while you read these lines, open your eyes to your most perilous position, standing as you may be on the slippery brink of an endless woe!
Oh, friend, believe it or not, your case is truly desperate! Put off the thought of Eternity no longer. Remember, that procrastination is like him who deceives you by it, not only a "thief," but a "murderer." There is much truth in the Spanish proverb which says, "The road of 'By-and-by' leads to the town of 'Never'." I beseech you, therefore, to travel that road no longer; "NOW is the day of Salvation".
"But," says one, "I am not indifferent as to the welfare of my soul. My deep trouble lies wrapped up in another word - UNCERTAINTY. I am among the second-class passengers you speak of."
Well, both indifference and uncertainty are the offspring of one parent - unbelief. The first results from unbelief as to the sin and ruin of man, the other from unbelief as to God's sovereign remedy for man. It is especially for souls desiring before God to be fully and unmistakably SURE of their salvation that these pages are written. I can in a great measure understand your deep soul-trouble, and am assured that the more you are in earnest about this all-important matter, the greater will be your thirst, until you know for certain that you are really and eternally saved. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" The only of a devoted father is at sea. News comes that his ship has been wrecked on some foreign shore. Who can tell the anguish of suspense in that father's heart until, upon the most reliable authority, he is assured that his boy is safe and sound?
Or, again, you are far from home. The night is dark and wintry, and your way is totally unknown. Standing at a point where two roads diverge, you ask a passer-by the way to the town you desire to reach, and he tells you he thinks that such and such a way is the right one, and hopes you will be all right if you take it. Would "thinks", and "hopes," and "may be's" satisfy you? Surely not. You must have certainty about it, or every step you take will increase your anxiety. What wonder, then, that men have sometimes neither been able to eat nor sleep when the eternal safety of the soul has been trembling in the balance!
"To lose your wealth is much,
To lose your health is more,
To lose your soul is such a loss
As no man can restore."
Now, there are three things I desire, by the Holy Spirit's help, to make clear to you; and, to put them into Scripture language, they are these:-
* The Way of Salvation
* The Knowledge Of Salvation
* The Joy Of Salvation
We shall, I think, see that, though intimately connected, they each stand upon a separate basis; so that it is quite possible for a soul to know the way of Salvation without having the certain knowledge that he himself is saved; or, again, to know that he is saved, without possessing at all times the joy that ought to accompany that knowledge.
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The Way of Salvation
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Posted:Jul 17, 2008 5:46 am
Last Updated:Oct 13, 2010 8:27 pm 5391 Views
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Please open your Bible, and read carefully Exodus 13:13; there you find these words from the lips of Jehovah: "Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt NOT redeem it, THEN THOU SHALT BREAK HIS NECK: and all the firstborn of man among thy shalt thou redeem."
Now come back with me in thought to a supposed scene of 3,000 years ago. Two men (a priest of God and a poor Israelite) stand in earnest conversation. Let us stand by, with their permission, and listen. The gestures of each bespeak deep earnestness about some matter of importance and it is not difficult to see that the subject of conversation is a little ass that stands trembling beside them.
"I am come to inquire," says the poor Israelite, "if there cannot be a merciful exception made in my favour this once. This feeble little thing is the firstling of my ass, and though I know full well what the law of God says about it, I am hoping that mercy will be shown, and the ass's life spared. I am but a poor man in Israel, and can ill afford to lose the colt."
"But," answers the priest firmly, "the law of the Lord is plain and unmistakable: 'EVERY firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.' Where is the lamb?
"Ah, sir, no lamb do I possess!"
"Then go, purchase one, and return, or the ass's neck must surely be broken. The lamb must die, or the ass must die."
"Alas! then all my hopes are crushed, " he cries, "for I am far too poor to buy a lamb."
While this conversation proceeds, a third person joins them, and after hearing the poor man's tale of sorrow, he turns to him, and says kindly, "Be of good cheer, I can meet your need," And thus he proceeds: "We have in our house, on the hill-top yonder, one little lamb, brought up at our very hearthstone, which is 'without spot or blemish.' It has never once strayed from home, and stands (and rightly so) in highest favour with all that are in the house. This lamb will I fetch." And away he hastens up the hill. Presently you see him gently leading the fair little creature down the slope, and very soon both lamb and ass are standing side by side.
Then the lamb is bound to the altar, its blood is shed, and the fire consumes it.
The righteous priest now turns to the poor man, and says, "You can freely take your little colt in safety; no broken neck for it now. The lamb has died in the ass's stead, and consequently the ass goes righteously free. Thanks to your friend."
Now, poor troubled soul, can't you see in this, God's own picture of a sinner's salvation? His claims as to your sin demanded "a broken neck", i.e., righteous judgment upon your guilty head; the only alternative being the death of a divinely-approved substitute.
Now you could not find the provision to meet your case; but in the Person of His beloved , God Himself provided the Lamb. "Behold the Lamb of God," said John to his disciples, as his eye fell upon that blessed, spotless One, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Onward to Calvary He went, "as a lamb to the slaughter," and there and then He "once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:1 . He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). So that God does not abate one jot of His righteous, holy claims against sin when He justifies (i.e., clears from all charge of guilt) the ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). Blessed be God for such a Saviour, such a Salvation!
"DOST THOU BELIEVE ON THE OF GOD?"
"Well," you reply, "I have, as a condemned sinner, found in Him One that I can safely trust. I do believe in Him."
Then I can tell you that the full value of His sacrifice and death, as God estimates it, He makes as good to you as though you had accomplished it all yourself.
Oh, what a wondrous way of salvation is this! Is it not great, and grand, and Godlike, worthy of God Himself - the gratification of His own heart of love, the glory of His precious , and the salvation of a sinner, all bound up together? What a bundle of grace and glory! Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has so ordered it that His own beloved should do all the work, and get all the praise, and that you and I, poor, guilty sinners, believing on Him, should not only get the blessing, but enjoy the blissful company of the Blesser for ever and ever: "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Ps. 34:3).
But perhaps your eager inquiry may be, "How is it that since I do really distrust self and self-work, and wholly rely upon Christ and Christ's work, that I have not the full certainty of my salvation?" You say, "If my feelings warrant my saying that I am saved one day, they are pretty sure to blight every hope the next and I am left like a ship storm-tossed, without any anchorage whatever." Ah! there lies your mistake. Did you ever hear of a captain trying to find anchorage by fastening his anchor inside the ship? Never. Always outside.
It may be that you are quite clear that it is Christ's death alone that gives SAFETY; but you think that it is what you feel that gives you CERTAINTY.
Now, again, take your Bible; for I wish you to see from God's word how He gives a man.
Written by: George Cutting
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The Knowledge Of Salvation
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Posted:Jul 17, 2008 5:43 am
Last Updated:Jul 17, 2008 6:05 am 5519 Views
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Before you turn to the verse which I shall ask you very carefully to look at, which speaks of HOW a believer is to KNOW that he HAS Eternal Life, let me quote it in the distorted way in which man's imagination often puts it. "These happy feelings have I given unto you that believe on the name of the of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Now open your Bible, and, while you compare this with God's blessed and unchanging Word, may He give you from your very heart to say with David, "I hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I love" (Ps. 119:113). The verse just misquoted is 1 John 5:13, and reads thus in the Bible, "These things HAVE I WRITTEN unto you that believe on the name of the of God; that ye may KNOW that ye HAVE eternal life."
How did the firstborn sons of the thousands of Israel know for certain that they were safe the night of Passover and of Egypt's judgment?
Let us pay a visit to two of their houses, and hear what they have to say.
We have in the first house we enter that they are all shivering with fear and suspense.
What is the secret of all this paleness and trembling? we enquire; and the firstborn informs us that the angel of death is coming round the land, and that he is not quite certain how matters will stand with him at that solemn moment.
"When the destroying angel has passed our house," says he, "and the night of judgment is over, I shall then know that I am safe; but I can't see how I can be quite sure of it until then. I hear they ARE sure of salvation next door, but we think it VERY PRESUMPTUOUS. All I can do is to spend the long, dreary night HOPING for the best."
"Well," we enquire, "but has the God of Israel not provided a way of safety for His people?"
"True," he replies, "and we have availed ourselves of that way of escape. The blood of the spotless and unblemished first-year lamb has been duly sprinkled with the bunch of hyssop on the lintel and two side-posts, but still we are not fully assured of shelter."
Let us now leave these doubting, troubled ones, and enter next door.
What a striking contrast meets our eye at once! Peace rests on every countenance. There they stand, with girded loins, and staff in hand, feeding on the roasted lamb.
What can be the meaning of all this tranquillity on such a solemn night as this? "Ah," say they all, "we are only waiting for Jehovah's marching orders, and then we shall bid a last farewell to the taskmaster's cruel lash and all the drudgery of Egypt!"
"But hold! Do you forget that this is the night of Egypt's judgment?"
"Right well we know it; but our firstborn is safe. The blood has been sprinkled according to the wish of our God."
"But so it has been next door," we reply; "but they are all unhappy, because all uncertain of safety."
"Ah!" firmly responds the firstborn, "but WE HAVE MORE THAN THE SPRINKLED BLOOD; WE HAVE THE UNERRING WORD OF GOD ABOUT IT. God has said: 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you'. God rests satisfied with the blood outside, and we rest satisfied with His word inside."
The sprinkled blood makes us SAFE.
The spoken word makes us SURE.
Could anything make us more safe than the sprinkled blood, or more sure that His spoken Word? Nothing, NOTHING.
Now, let me ask you a question. "Which of these two houses, think you, was the safer?"
Do you say number 2, where all were so peaceful? Nay, then, you are wrong.
Both are safe alike.
Their safety depends upon what God thinks about the blood outside, and not upon the state of their feelings inside.
If you would be sure of your own blessing, listen not to the unstable testimony of inward emotions, but to the infallible witness of the Word of God.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life" (John 6:47).
Let me give you a simple illustration from everyday life. A certain farmer in the country, not having sufficient grass for his cattle, applies for a nice piece of pasture land which he hears is to be let near his own house. For some time he gets no answer from the landlord. One day a neighbour comes in, and says, "I feel quite sure you will get that field. Don't you recollect how that last Christmas he sent you a special present of game, and that he gave you a kind nod of recognition the other day when he drove past in the carriage?" And with such like words the farmer's mind is filled with sanguine hopes.
Next day another neighbour meets him, and in course of conversation he says, "I'm afraid you will stand no chance whatever of getting that grass-field. Mr. _____ has applied for it, and you cannot but be aware what a favourite he is with the Squire - occasionally visits him," etc. And the poor farmer's bright hopes are dashed to the ground and burst like soap-bubbles. One day he is hoping, the next day full of perplexing doubts.
Presently the postman calls, and the farmer's heart beats fast as he breaks the seal of the letter, for he sees by the handwriting that it is from the Squire himself. See his countenance change from anxious suspense to undisguised joy as he reads and re-reads that letter.
"It's a settled thing now," exclaims he to his wife. No more doubts and fears about it; "hopes" and "ifs" are things of the past. "The Squire says the field is mine as long as I require it, on the most easy terms, and that's enough for me. I care for no man's opinion now. His word settles all!"
How many a poor soul is in a like condition to that of the poor, troubled farmer - tossed and perplexed by the opinions of men, or the thoughts and feelings of his own treacherous heart; and it is only upon receiving the word of God as the word of God, that certainty takes the place of doubts and peradventures. When God speaks there must be certainty, whether He pronounces the damnation of the unbeliever, or the salvation of the believer.
"For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89); and to the simple-hearted believer HIS WORD SETTLES ALL.
"Hath he said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Num. 23:19).
"I need no other argument,
I want no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me"
The believer can add:
"And that God says so"
"But how may I be sure that I have the right kind of faith?"
Well, there can be but one answer to that question, viz., "Have you placed your confidence in the right person; i.e., in the blessed of God?"
It is not question of the amount of your faith, but of the trustworthiness of the person you repose your confidence in. One man takes hold of Christ, as it were, with a drowning man's grip. Another but touches the hem of His garment; but the sinner who does the former is not a bit safer than the one who does the latter. They have both made the same discovery, viz., that while all of self is totally untrustworthy, they may safely confide in Christ, calmly rely on His Word, and confidently rest in the eternal efficacy of His finished work. That is what is meant by believing on Him. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life" (John 6:47).
Make sure of it then, that your confidence is not reposed in your works of amendments, your religious observances, your pious feelings when under religious influences, your moral training from childhood, and the like. You may have the strongest faith in any or all of these, and perish everlastingly. Don't deceive yourself by any "fair show in the flesh." The feeblest faith in Christ eternally saves, while the strongest faith in aught beside is but the offspring of a deceived heart - but the leafy twigs of your enemy's arranging over the pitfall of eternal perdition.
God, in the gospel, simply introduces to you the Lord Jesus Christ, and says: "This is My beloved , in whom I am well pleased." "You may," He says, "with all confidence trust His heart, though you cannot with impunity trust your own."
Blessed, thrice blessed, Lord Jesus, who would not trust Thee, and praise Thy Name?
"I do really believe on Him," said a sad-looking soul to me one day, "but yet, when asked if I am saved, I don't like to say yes, for fear I should be telling a lie." This young woman was a butcher's in small town in the Midlands. It happened to be a market-day, and her father had not then returned from market. So I said, "Now suppose when your father comes home you ask him how many sheep he bought today, and he answers 'ten'. After a while a man comes to the shop, and says, 'How many sheep did your father buy today?' and you reply, 'I don't like to say, for fear I should be telling a lie." "But," said the mother (who was standing by at the time), with righteous indignation, "that would be making your father the liar."
Now, don't you see that this well-meaning young woman was virtually making Christ out to be a liar, saying, "I do believe on the of God, and HE says I have everlasting life, but I don't like to say I have it, lest I should be telling a lie." What daring presumption!
"But," says another, "how may I be sure that I really do believe? I have tried often enough to believe, and looked within to see if I had got it, but the more I look at my faith, the less I seem to have."
Ah, friend, you are looking in the wrong direction to find that out, and your trying to believe but plainly shows that you are on the wrong track.
Let me give you another illustration to explain what I want to convey to you.
You are sitting at your quiet fireside one evening, when a man comes in and tells you that the station-master has been killed that night on the railway.
Now it so happens that this man had long borne the character in the place for being a very dishonest man, and the most daring, notorious liar in the neighbourhood.
Do you believe, or even try to believe, that man?
"Of course not," you exclaim.
"Pray, why?"
"Oh, I know him too well for that!"
"But tell me how you know that you don't believe him. Is it by looking within at your faith or feelings?"
"No," you reply, "I think of the man that brings me the message."
Presently a neighbour drops in, and says, "The station-master has been run over by a goods train tonight, and killed upon the spot." After he has left, I hear you cautiously say, "Well, I partly believe it now; for to my recollection this man only once in his life deceived me, though I have known him from boyhood."
But again I ask, "Is it by looking at your faith this time that you know you partly believe it?"
"No," you repeat, "I am thinking of the character of my informant."
Well, this man has scarcely left your room before a third person enters and brings you the same sad news as the first. But this time you say, "Now, John, I believe it. Since YOU tell me, I can believe it."
Again I press my question (which is, remember, but the re-echo of your own), "How do you KNOW that you so confidently believe your friend John?"
"Because of who and what JOHN is," you reply. "He never has deceived me, and I don't think he ever will."
Well, then, just in the same way, I know that I believe the Gospel; viz., because of the One who brings me the news. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His . He that BELIEVETH NOT GOT HATH MADE HIM A LIAR; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His " (1 John 5:9-10). "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3).
And anxious soul once said to a servant of Christ, "Oh, sir, I can't believe!" To which the servant wisely and quietly made reply, "Indeed, WHO is it that you can't believe?" This broke the spell. He had been looking at faith as an indescribable something he must feel within himself in order to be sure he was all right for heaven; whereas faith ever looks outside to a living Person, and His finished work, and quietly listens to the testimony of a faithful God about both.
It is the outside look that brings the inside peace. When a man turns his face towards the sun his own shadow is behind him. You cannot look at self and a glorified Christ in heaven at the same moment.
Thus we have seen that the blessed PERSON of God's wins my confidence. His FINISHED WORK makes me eternally safe. GOD'S WORD about those who believe on Him makes me unalterably sure. I find in Christ and His work the way of Salvation, and in the Word of God the knowledge of Salvation.
"But, if saved," you may say, "how is it that I have such a fluctuating experience, so often losing all my joy and comfort, and getting as wretched and downcast as I was before my conversion?" Well, this brings us to our third point, viz.,
Written by: George Cutting
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The Joy Of Salvation
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Posted:Jul 17, 2008 5:38 am
Last Updated:Jul 20, 2008 6:12 pm 5333 Views
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You will find, in the teaching of Scripture, that while you are saved by Christ's work and assured by God's word, you are maintained in comfort and joy by the Holy Ghost, who has come to indwell every true believer.
Now you must bear in mind that every saved one has still "the flesh" within him, i.e., the evil nature he was born with and which, perhaps, showed itself while still a helpless infant on his mother's lap. The Holy Ghost in the believer resists the flesh and is grieved by every activity of it, in motive, word or deed. When he is walking "worthy of the Lord," the Holy Ghost will be producing in his soul His blessed fruits - "love, joy, peace," etc., see Gal. 5:22. When he is walking in a carnal, worldly way the Spirit is grieved, and these fruits are wanting in greater or less measure.
Let me put it thus for you who do believe on God's :
Christ's Work and Your Salvation stand or fall together .
Your Walk and Your Enjoyment stand or fall together.
When Christ's work breaks down (and, blessed by God, it never, never will), your salvation will break down with it. When your walk breaks down (and be watchful, for it may), your enjoyment will break down with it.
Thus it is said of the early disciples (Acts 9:31), that they were "walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost."
And again in Acts 13:52: "And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost."
My spiritual joy will be in proportion to the spiritual character of my walk after I am saved.
Now do you see your mistake? You have been mixing up enjoyment and your safety, two widely-different things. When, through self-indulgence, loss of temper, worldliness, etc., you grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost your joy, you thought your safety was undermined. But again I repeat it:-
Your safety hangs upon Christ's work FOR you.
Your assurance upon God's Word TO you.
Your enjoyment upon not grieving the Holy Spirit IN you.
When, as a believer, you do anything to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, your communion with the Father and the is, for the time, practically suspended; and it is only when you judge yourself, and confess your sins, that the joy of communion is restored.
Your has been guilty of some misdemeanour. He shows upon his countenance the evident mark that something is wrong with him. Half an hour before this he was enjoying a walk with you round the garden, admiring what you admired, enjoying what you enjoyed. In other words, he was in communion with you; his feelings and sympathies were in common with yours.
But now all this is changed, and as a naughty, disobedient he stands in the corner, the very picture of misery.
Upon penitent confession of his wrong-doing you have assured him of forgiveness; but his pride and self-will keep him sobbing there.
Where is now the joy of half an hour ago? All gone. Why? Because communion between you and him has been interrupted.
What is become of the relationship that existed between you and your half-an-hour ago? Is that gone too? Is that severed or interrupted? Surely not.
His relationship depends upon his birth.
His communion depends upon his behaviour.
But presently he comes out of the corner with broken will and broken heart confessing the whole thing from first to last, so that you see he hates the disobedience and naughtiness as much as you do, and you take him in your arms and cover him with kisses. His joy is restored because communion is restored.
When David sinned so grievously in the matter of Uriah's wife, he did not say, "Restore unto me Thy salvation," but "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" (Ps. 51:12).
But to carry our illustration a little farther. Supposing while your is in the corner there should be a cry of "house on fire" throughout your dwelling, what would become of him then? Left in the corner to be consumed with the burning, falling house? Impossible!
Very probably he would be the very first person you would carry out. Ah, yes, you know right well that the love of relationship is one thing, and the joy of communion quite another.
Now, when the believer sins, communion for the time is interrupted, and joy is lost until, with a broken heart, he comes to the Father and confesses his sins.
Then, taking God at His Word, he knows he is again forgiven; for His Word plainly declares that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Oh, then, fellow-believer, ever bear in mind these two things: There is nothing so strong as the link of relationship; and nothing so tender as the link of communion.
All the combined power and counsel of earth and Hell cannot sever the former, while an impure motive or an idle word will snap the latter.
If you are troubled with a cloudy half-hour, get low before God, consider your ways. And when the thief that has robbed you of your joy has been detected, drag him at once to the light, confess your sin to God your Father, and judge yourself most unsparingly for the unwatchful careless state of soul that allowed the thief to enter unchallenged.
But never, never, NEVER, confound your safety with your joy.
Don't imagine, however, that the judgement of God falls a whit more leniently on the believer's sin than on the unbeliever's. He has not two ways of dealing judicially with sin, and He could no more pass by the believer's sin without judging it, than He could pass by the sins of a rejecter of His precious . But there is this great difference between the two, viz., that the believer's sins were all known to God, and all laid upon His own provided Lamb when He hung upon the cross at Calvary, and that there and then, once and for ever, the great "criminal question" of his guilt was raised and settled, judgment falling upon the blessed Substitute in the believer's stead, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).
The Christ-rejecter must bear his own sins in his own person in the lake of fire for ever. But, when a genuine believer fails, the "criminal question" of sin cannot be raised against him, the Judge Himself having settled that once for all on the cross; but the communion question is raised within him by the Holy Ghost as often as he grieves the Spirit.
Allow me, in conclusion, to give you another illustration. It is a beautiful moonlight night. The moon is at full, and shining in more than ordinary silver brightness. A man is gazing intently down a deep, still well, where he sees the moon reflected, and thus remarks to a friendly bystander: "How beautifully fair and round she is tonight! How quietly and majestically she rides along!" He has just finished speaking when suddenly his friend drops a small pebble into the well, and he now exclaims, "Why, the moon is all broken to pieces, and the fragments are shaken together in the greatest disorder!"
"What gross absurdity!" is the astonished rejoinder of his companion. "Look up, man! The moon hasn't changed one jot or tittle. It is the condition of the well that reflects the moon that has changed."
Apply the simple figure yourself. Your heart is the well. When there is no allowance of evil the blessed Spirit of God takes of the glories and preciousness of Christ, and reveals them to you for your comfort and joy. But the moment a wrong motive is cherished in the heart, or an idle word escapes the lips unjudged, the Holy Ghost begins to disturb the well, your happy experiences are smashed to pieces, and you are all restless and disturbed within, until in brokenness of spirit before God you confess your sin (the disturbing thing) and thus get restored once more to the calm, sweet joy of communion.
But when your heart is thus all unrest, need I ask, Has Christ's work changed? No, no. Then your Salvation is not altered.
Has God's Word changed? Surely not. Then the certainty of your Salvation has received no shock.
Then, what has changed? Why, the action of the Holy Ghost in you has changed, and instead of taking of the glories of Christ, and filling your heart with the sense of His worthiness, He is grieved at having to turn aside from this delightful office to fill you with the sense of your sin and unworthiness.
He takes from you your present comfort and joy until you judge and resist the evil thing that He judges and resists. When this is done communion with God is again restored.
The Lord make us to be increasingly jealous over ourselves lest we grieve "the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30).
However weak your faith may be, rest assured of this, that the blessed One who has won your confidence will never change.
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and FOR EVER" (Heb. 13:.
The work He has accomplished will never change.
"Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be FOR EVER: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it" (Eccl. 3:13).
The word He has spoken will never change.
"The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth FOR EVER" (1 Pet. 1:24-25).
Thus the object of my trust, the foundation of my safety, and the ground of my certainly, are alike ETERNALLY UNALTERABLE.
"My love is oft-times low,
My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same,
No change Jehovah knows.
I change, He changes not;
God's Christ can never die;
His love, not mine, the resting-place,
His truth, not mine, the tie"
Once more, let me ask, "WHICH CLASS ARE YOU TRAVELLING?" Turn your heart to God, I pray you, and answer that question to Him.
"Let God be true, and every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4).
"He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true" (John 3:33).
May the joyful assurance of possessing this "great salvation" be yours, now and "till He come."
Written by: George Cutting
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Doctrinal Part II - Relative Sanctification
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Posted:Jul 15, 2008 9:21 pm
Last Updated:Jul 16, 2008 4:59 pm 5488 Views
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The following is excerpted from the book Holiness the False and the True by the popular Brethren author, Harry A. Ironside (used by permission; Loizeaux Brothers,). The book is divided into two parts: Autobiographical and Doctrinal. The following is the Doctrinal section. Ironside's testimony is extremely important in light of the widespread confusion regarding justification and holiness in Christian circles today. We are happy to commend Ironside's doctrine of sanctification. It is a sound, healthy, and balanced look at what the Bible teaches on this important subject.
RELATIVE SANCTIFICATION
Nothing more clearly establishes the proposition we have been insisting on throughout–that sanctification is not the eradication of our sinful nature–than the way the word is used relatively, where it is positively certain there is no work of any sort contemplated as having taken place in the soul of the sanctified. Having carefully considered the absolute and practical aspects of sanctification, without which all profession is unreal, it may now be profitable to weigh what God has to say of this merely outward, or relative, holiness.
Already, in the chapter on sanctification by blood, we have seen that a person may in a certain sense be sanctified by association and yet all the time be unreal, only to become an apostate at last.
It is also true that in another sense people are said to be sanctified by association who are the subjects of earnest, prayerful yearning, and may yet–and in all probability will–be truly saved. But they are sanctified before this, and in view of it.
The seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians is the passage which must now occupy us. It contains the fullest instruction as to the marriage relation that we have in the Bible. Beginning with verse 10, we read, "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband: but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife." As to this, the Lord had already given explicit instruction, as recorded in Matt. 19:1-12.
But owing to the spread of the gospel among the heathen of the gentiles a condition had arisen in many places which the words of the Lord did not seem fully to meet, having been spoken, as they were, to meet, having been spoken, as they were, to the people of the Jews, separated as a whole to Jehovah. The question that soon began to agitate the Church was this: Suppose a case (and there were many such) where a heathen wife is converted to God but her husband remains an unclean idolater, or vice versa: can the Christian partner remain in the marriage relationship with the unconverted spouse and not be defiled? To a Jew the very thought of such a condition was an offense. In the days of Ezra and Nehemiah certain of the returned remnant had taken wives of the surrounding mixed nations, and the result was confusion. "There spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people" (Neh. 13:24). This state of things was abhorrent to the Godly leaders, who did not rest until all the strange wives had been put away, and with them the , who were considered likewise unclean, and a menace to the purity of Israel.
With only the Old Testament in their hands, who could have wondered at it if some zealous, well-meaning legalists from Jerusalem had gone like firebrands through the Gentile assemblies preaching a crusade against all contamination of this kind, and breaking up households on every hand, counseling converted husbands to cast out their heathen wives and disown their as the product of an unclean relationship, and urging Christian wives to flee from the embraces of idolatrous husbands, and, at whatever cost to the affections, to forsake their offspring, as a supreme sacrifice to the God of holiness?
It was to prevent just such a state of affairs that the verses that follow those we have already considered were penned by inspiration of the God of all grace. Concerning this anomalous state the Lord had not spoken, as the time had not come to do so. Therefore Paul writes: "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your unclean; but now are they holy [or, sanctified]. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" (vers. 12-16).
What an example have we here of the transcendent power of grace! Under law the unclean partner defiled the sanctified one. Under grace the one whom God has saved sanctifies the unclean.
The family is a divine institution, older than the nations, older than Israel, older than the Church. What is here, and elsewhere in Scripture, clearly indicates that it is the will of God to save His people as households. He would not do violence to the ties of nature which He Himself has created. If he saves a man who is head of a household, He thereby indicates that for the entire family He has blessing in store. This does not touch individual responsibility. Salvation, it is ever true, is "not of blood"; but it is, generally speaking, God’s thought to deliver His people’s households with themselves. So he declares that the salvation of one parent sanctifies the other, and the too are sanctified.
Is it that any change has taken place within these persons? Not at all. They may still be utterly unregenerate, loving only their evil ways, despising the grace and fearing not the judgment of God. But they are nevertheless sanctified!
How does this agree with the perfectionists’ view of sanctification? As it is evident the word here cannot mean an inward cleansing, his system falls to the ground. The fact is, he has attached an arbitrary meaning to it, which is etymologically incorrect, Scriptural untrue, and experimentally false.
In the case now occupying us the sanctification is clearly and wholly relative. The position of the rest of the family is changed by the conversion of one parent. That is no longer a heathen home in God’s sight, but a Christian one. That household no longer dwells in the darkness, but in the light. Do not misunderstand me here. I am not speaking of light and darkness as implying spiritual capacity or incapacity. I am referring to outward responsibility.
In a heathen home all is darkness; there is no light shining whatever. But let one parent of that family be converted to God; what then? At once a candlestick is set up in that house which, whether they will or no, enlightens every other member. They are put in a place of privilege and responsibility to which they have been strangers hitherto. And all this with no work of God, as yet, in their souls, but simply in view of such a work. For the conversion of that one parent was God’s way of announcing His gracious desires for the whole family; even as in the jailer’s case He caused His servants to declare, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The last few words do not guarantee salvation to the household, but they at once fix upon the jailer’s heart the fact that the same way is open for the salvation of his house as for himself, and that God would have him count upon Him for this. They were sanctified the moment he believed, and soon rejoicing filled the whole house, when all responded to the grace proclaimed.
This, then, is, in brief, the teaching of Holy Scripture as to relative sanctification–a theme often overlooked or ignored, but of deep solemnity and importance to Christian members of families of whom some still unsaved. "What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how Knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" Labor on; pray on; live Christ before the rest from day to day, knowing that through you God has sanctified them, and is waiting to save them when they see their need and trust His grace.
I cannot pursue this theme more at length here, as to do so would divert attention from the main theme that is before us; but I trust that the most simple and uninstructed of my readers can now perceive that sanctification and sinlessness must in the very nature of the case be opposing terms.
And with this paper I bring to an end my examination of the use of the actual term sanctification in Scripture. But this by no means exhausts the subject. There are other terms still to be examined, the meaning of which the perfectionists consider to be synonymous with it, and to teach their favorite theory of the entire destruction of the carnal mind in the sanctified. These will be taken up, the Lord willing, in a few more papers in continuance.
[This is the conclusion of the Doctrinal Section of Holiness: The False and the True by Harry A. Ironside. For the Autobiographical Section see "Holiness: The False and the True - Part 1." The reader is encouraged to purchase the book Holiness: The False and the True.
To return to the beginning of this series of posts go to: Holiness The False and the true part 1
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Doctrinal Part II - Sanctification by the Word of God
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Posted:Jul 15, 2008 9:17 pm
Last Updated:Jul 16, 2008 4:59 pm 5524 Views
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The following is excerpted from the book Holiness the False and the True by the popular Brethren author, Harry A. Ironside (used by permission; Loizeaux Brothers,). The book is divided into two parts: Autobiographical and Doctrinal. The following is the Doctrinal section. Ironside's testimony is extremely important in light of the widespread confusion regarding justification and holiness in Christian circles today. We are happy to commend Ironside's doctrine of sanctification. It is a sound, healthy, and balanced look at what the Bible teaches on this important subject. For the Autobiographical Section see "Holiness: The False and the True - Part 1."SANCTIFICATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT:Holiness The False and the true part 1
SANCTIFICATION BY THE WORD OF GOD:
EXTERNAL RESULTS
In His great high-priestly prayer of the 17th of John, our Lord says of men given to Him by the Father, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth" (vers. 16-19). This precious passage may well introduce for us the subject of practical sanctification–the ordering aright of our external ways, and bringing all into accord with the revealed will of God. At the outset we shall do well if we get it fixed in our mind that this is very closely related to that sanctification of the Spirit to which our attention has already been directed. The Spirit works within us. The Word, which is without us, is nevertheless the medium used to do the work within. But I have purposely dwelt separately upon the two aspects in order to bring the clearer before our minds the distinction between the Spirit’s sanctification in us, which is the very beginning of God’s work in our souls, and the application of the Word thereafter to our outward ways. New birth is our introduction into god’s family; but although born again, we may be dark as to many things, and need the light of the Word to clear our bewildered minds. But through the sanctification of the Spirit we are brought to the blood of sprinkling: we apprehend that Christ’s atoning death alone avails for our sins. We are sanctified by the blood of Christ, and able to appreciate our new position before God. It is now that in its true sense the walk of faith begins, and thereafter we need daily that sanctification by the truth, or the word of God, spoken of by our Lord.
It is evident that in the very nature of things this cannot be what some have ignorantly called "a second definite work of grace." It is, on the contrary, a life–a progressive work ever going on, and which ever must go on, until I have passed out of the scene in which I need daily instruction as to my ways, which the word of God alone can give. If sanctification in its practical sense be by the Word, I shall never be wholly sanctified, in this aspect of it, until I know that Word perfectly, and am violating it in no particular. And that will never be true here upon earth. Here I ever need to feed upon that Word, to understand it better, to learn more fully its meaning; and as I learn from it the mind of God, I am called daily to judge in myself all that is contrary to the increased light I receive, and to yield to-day a fuller obedience than yesterday. Thus am I sanctified by the truth.
For this very purpose the Lord has sanctified or set Himself apart. He has gone up to heaven, there to watch over His own, to be our High Priest with God in view of our weakness, and our Advocate with the Father in view of our sins. He is there too as the object of our hearts. We are called now to run our race with patience, looking unto Jesus, with the Holy Spirit within us and the Word in our hands, to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. As we value it, and are controlled by its precious truth made good to us in the Spirit’s power, we are sanctified by God the Father and by our Lord Jesus Himself. For in the 17th of John He makes request of the Father, "Sanctify them through Thy truth." In Eph. 5:25-26 we read, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word." Here it is Christ who is the sanctifier, for He could ever say, "I and the Father are one." Here, as John, sanctification is plainly progressive; and, indeed, that waterwashing of Ephesians is beautifully illustrated in an earlier chapter of John–the 13th. There we have our Lord, in the full consciousness of His eternal Sonship, taking the place of a girded servant to wash His disciples’ feet. Washing the feet is indicative of cleansing the ways; and the whole passage is a symbolical picture of the work in which He has been engaged ever since ascending to heaven. He has been keeping the feet of His saints by cleansing them from the defilement of the way–those earth-stains which are so readily contracted by sandaled pilgrim-feet pressing along this world’s highways.
He says to each of us, as to Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me." Part in Him we have on the ground of His atoning work and as a result of the life He gives. Part with Him, or daily communion, is only ours as sanctified by the water of the Word.
That the whole scene was allegorical is evident by His words to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Literal feet-washing Peter knew and understood. Spiritual feet-washing he learned when restored by the Lord after his lamentable fall. Then he entered into the meaning of the words, "He that is bathed* needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." The meaning is not hard to grasp. Every believer is bathed once for all in the "bath of regeneration" (Titus 3:5, literal rendering). That bathing is never repeated. None born of God can ever perish, for all such have a life that is eternal, and consequently non-forfeitable (John 10:27-29). If they fail and sin, they do not need to be saved over again. That would mean, to be bathed once more. But he that is bathed needs not to have it all done again because his feet get defiled. He washes them and is clean. [As many now know, this word means a complete bath, and differs from the word used later for "wash" in the same verse.]
So it is with Christians. We have been regenerated once, and never shall be a second time. But every time we fail we need to judge ourselves by the Word, that we may be cleansed as to our ways; and where we daily give that Word its rightful place in our lives, we shall be kept from defilement and enabled to enjoy unclouded communion with our Lord and Saviour. "Wherewithal," asks the psalmist, "shall a young man cleanse his way?" And the answer is, "By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word."
How necessary it is then to search the Scriptures, and to obey them unquestioningly, in order that we may be sanctified by the truth! Yet what indifference is often found among professors of a "second blessing" as to this very thing! What ignorance of the Scriptures, and what fancied superiority to them, is frequently manifested! --and that coupled with a profession of holiness in the flesh!
In 1 Thess 4:3 there is a passage which, divorced from its context, is often considered decisive as proving that it is possible for believers to attain to a state of absolute freedom from inbred sin in this world: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Who can deny my title to perfect holiness if sanctification means that, and it is God’s will for me? Surely none. But already we have seen that sanctification never means that, and in the present text least of all. Read the entire first eight verses, forming a complete paragraph, and see for yourself. The subject is personal purity. The sanctification spoken of is keeping the body from unclean practices, and the mind from lasciviousness.
Grossest immorality was connected with, and even formed part of idolatrous worship. The Greek mythology had deified the passions of fallen man; and these Thessalonian Christians had but just "turned t God from idols, to serve the living and true God." Hence the special need of this exhortation to saints newly converted, and who were living among those who shamelessly practiced all these things. But think of calling for this upon men freed from inbred sin! And the saints, as God’s temple are to be characterized by a clean life, not by a life polluted by fleshly lusts.
Another aspect of this practical sanctification is brought before us in 2 Tim 2:19-22. We might call it ecclesiastical sanctification; for it has in view the faithful believer’s stand in a day when corruption has come in among professing Christians, and the church as a whole, viewed in its character as the house of God, has fallen, and become as a great house in which good and evil are all mixed up together. It is a matter of most solemn import that, whereas here and elsewhere in Scripture he who would walk with God is called to separate himself from unholy associations and the fellowship of the mixed multitude, even though it be found in what calls itself the Church, yet there are large numbers, who testify to "living without sin," who nevertheless are united in church (and often other forms of) fellowship with unbelievers and professing Christians who are unholy in walk and unsound as to the faith. For the sake of such it will be well to examine the passage in detail.
The apostle has been directing Timothy’s attention to the evidences of increasing apostasy. He warns against striving about words (verse 14), profane and vain babblings (verse 16); and points out two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, in verse 17, who have given themselves over to these unholy speculations, and have thereby, through accepted by many as Christian teachers, overthrown the faith of some. And this is but the beginning, as the next chapter shows, for "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (3:13).
Now I apprehend that the first verse of chapter 3 follows verse 18 of chapter 2 in an orderly, connected manner. The apostle sees in Hymenaeus and Philetus the beginning of the awful harvest of iniquity soon to nearly smother everything that is of God. Go on with these men, listen to them, fellowship them, endorse them in any way, and you will soon lose all ability to discern between good and evil, to "take forth the precious from the vile."
But ere depicting the full character of the rapidly encroaching conditions, Timothy is given a word for his encouragement, and instruction as to his own path when things reach a state where it is impossible longer to purge out the evil from the visible church.
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord* depart from iniquity" (or, lawlessness) (verse 19). Here is faith’s encouragement, and here too is the responsibility of faithfulness. Faith says, "Let the evil rise as high as it may–let lawlessness abound, and the love of many wax cold–let all that seemed to be of God in the earth be swallowed up in the apostasy–nevertheless God’s firm foundation stands, for Christ has declared, ‘Upon this rock I will build My Assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it"!
But this brings in responsibility. I am not to go on with the evil–protesting, perhaps, but fellowshipping it still–though it be in a reserved, halfhearted way. I am called to separate from it. In so doing I may seem to be separating from dear of God and beloved servants of Christ. But this is necessary if they do not judge the apostate condition.
To make clear my responsibility an illustration is given in verse 20: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor." The "great house" is Christendom in its present condition, where good and evil, saved and lost, holy and unholy, are all mixed up together. In 1 Tim 3:15 we read of "the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." This is what the Church should ever have been. But, alas, it soon drifted away from so blessed an ideal, and became like a great man’s house in which are found all kinds of vessels, composed of very different materials, and for very different uses. There are golden and silver vessels for use in the dinning-room; and there are vessels of wood and earth, used in the kitchen and other parts of the house, often allowed to become exceedingly filthy, and at best to be kept at a distance from the valuable, and easily scratched or polluted, plate up-stairs.
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work" (verse 21). The parable is here applied. The vessels are seen to be persons. And just as valuable plate might stand uncleansed and dirty with a lot of kitchen utensils waiting to be washed, and then carefully separated from the vessels baser uses, so Timothy (and every other truly exercised soul) is called upon to take a place apart, to "purge out himself" from the mixed conditions, that he may be in very deed "a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work."
Unquestionably this sanctification is very different from the Spirit’s work in the soul at the beginning, or the effect of the work of Christ on the cross, by which we are set apart to God eternally. It is a practical thing, relating to the question of our associations as Christians. Let me follow out the illustration a step further, and I think all will be plain.
The master of the great house brings home a friend. He wishes to serve him with a refreshing drink. He goes to the sideboard looking for a silver goblet, but there is none to be seen. A servant is called, and inquiry made. Ah, the goblets are down in the kitchen waiting to be washed and separated from the rest of the household vessels. He is indignantly dispatched to procure one, and soon returns with a vessel purged out from the unclean collection below; and thus separated and cleansed it is meet for the use if the master.
And so it is with the man of God who has thus purged himself out from what is opposed to the truth and the holiness of God. He is sanctified, or separated, and in this way becomes "meet for the master’s use."
Of course it is not enough to stop with separation. To do so would make one a Pharisee of the most disgusting type; as has, alas, often been the case. But he who has separated from the evil is now commanded to "flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, Faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." To do this, what need there is of the daily application of the word of God, in the spirit’s power, to all our ways!
And this, as we have seen, is true feet-washing. Through the Word we are made clean at new birth. "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). That Word is likened to water because of its purifying and refreshing effect upon the one who submits to it. In it I find instruction as to every detail of the walk of faith. It shows me how I am called to behave in the family, in the church, and in the world. If I obey it the defilement is washed out of my life; even as the application of water cleanness my body from material pollution.
Never shall I attain so exalted a state or experience upon earth that I can honestly say: Now I am wholly sanctified; I no longer need the Word to cleanse me. As long as I am in this scene I am called to "Follow peace with all men, and holiness (or, sanctification), without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). This one passage, rightly understood, cuts up by the roots the entire perfectionist theory; yet no verse is more frequently quoted, or rather misquoted, in holiness meetings!
Observe carefully what is here commanded: We are to follow two things: Peace with all men, and holiness. He who does not follow these will never see the Lord. But we do not follow that to which we have attained. Who has attained to peace with all men? How many have to cry with the psalmist, "I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war"! (Ps. 120 ). And who have attained to holiness in the full sense? Not you, dear reader, nor I; for "in many things we all offend" (James 3:2). But every real believer, every truly converted soul, every one who has received the Spirit of adoption, does follow holiness, and longs for the time when, at the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, "He shall charge these bodies of our humiliation," and make them like "the body of His glory." Then we shall have reached our goal: then we shall have become absolutely and forever holy.
And so when the apostle writes to the Thessalonians, in view of that glorious event, he says: "Abstain from all appearance (every form) of evil. 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 Thess. 5:22-24). This will be the glad consummation for all who here on earth, as strangers and pilgrims, follow peace and holiness, and thus manifest the divine nature and the fruits of the Spirit.
But so long as they remain in the wilderness of this world they will need daily recourse to the laver of water–the cleansing word of God–which of old stood midway between the altar and the holy place. When all are gathered Home in heaven the water will no longer be needed to free from defilement will no longer be needed to free from defilement. In that scene of holiness therefore there is no laver; but before the throne John saw a sea of glass, clear as crystal, upon which the redeeming were standing, their trails and their e warfare over.
So throughout eternity we shall rest upon the word of God as a crystal sea, no longer needed for our sanctification, for we shall be presented faultless in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.)
"Then we shall be where we would be;
Then we shall be what we should be:
Then that are not now, nor could be,
Then shall be our owe."
Doctrinal Part II Relative Sanctification
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