THE TABERNACLE
Some of the most deeply spiritual truths are taught in connection with the tabernacle.
(1) It is a type of Christ. "And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us" (John 1:14, R. V.).
(2) It has its fulfillment in His saints. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" (I Cor. 6:19).
When a believer enters into the blessing of Entire Sanctification and the Holy Ghost takes up His abode in the heart, he becomes God's tabernacle. His body corresponds to that of the outward court which was rough and visible to the eye his soul to the holy place, and his spirit to the holy of holies, where the Shekinah dwelt.
This beautiful structure was forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The holy place was fifteen feet by thirty feet. The holy of holies was fifteen feet square. Let us notice its spiritual meaning. The first thing we approach is the outward court. There were two objects in this place -- the brazen altar of burnt offering and the laver or fountain of water. The altar where the blood was shed was at the entrance of the door, in order that every one coming into the tabernacle had to pass this altar. The priests were required to have their garments sprinkled with blood from this altar. Their right ear, right thumb and right toe must be touched with blood before they could minister before the Lord. All of the vessels in the holy place were sprinkled with blood. Oh, how God burned into the minds of His children the need of the blood! Even the High Priest did not dare go into the presence of God behind the second vail without first taking blood from this altar and sprinkling it seven times before the mercy-seat and once upon it. This done, he confessed the sins of the people; he then reappeared and blessed them because the blood had made atonement for them. Blood is life. The blood of Christ is the heart of Christianity. Christ's life reaches us only through His blood. Salvation through the Blood is the only salvation. To reject the blood of Christ is to reject the whole plan of salvation. The blood of Christ is the touchstone that tests every religious teaching, hence salvation or damnation depend on the attitude toward the Blood.
Let us notice some places where the blood was found. First, we find it on the door posts of the houses of the children of Israel just before they passed out of bondage. A death sentence had been pronounced on the firstborn of all Egypt. God's promise to the Israelites was: "When I see the blood, will pass over you." The blood was not only to be shed, but it must be applied in order to avail. It is not sufficient to believe in the blood in a general way; we must believe in it in a specific way -- to the extent that we will have it applied to our hearts. Notice, He said: "When I see the blood," not "when I see your good works." Good works apart from the precious Blood count for nothing, some unwise ministers during the World War went so far as to tell the soldiers, who were on their way to the battle's front (many to meet death) that, no matter what they believed nor how wicked they were, if they fought and bled and died for their country that they made their own atonement and were saved. Could anything be more blasphemous? St. Paul said that we may give our bodies to be burned, but without Divine love it profits us nothing. God does not say, "When I see your prayers and your tears," essential though they are, but it is the Blood that is the plea that avails with Him for the guilty soul.
Second, we find blood on Abel's altar. In Heb. 11:4, we are told that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than did Cain, by which he obtained the witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. Real faith in the blood always brings the clear witness of the Spirit-not a feeling forced from the brain, but a living, heart-faith, moving God into instant action. He will break the silence of eternity to let a soul know its standing. We are told in Gen. 4:4 that the Lord had respect unto Abel first, then to his offering. "But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." This was because Cain made no confession of his need of the Blood.
Nothing insults God more than to reject the blood of His precious Son. The world is full of Cain religion, which is a bloodless, fireless, powerless, juiceless, formal religion, which denies the virgin birth and Deity of Christ, and tries to rob Him of His Divinity. Concerning Cain's innate depravity, God says, "Sin lieth at the door;" or, this is translated, "Coucheth like a wild beast, ready to spring on its victim." The picture is not overdrawn. Inbred sin, that devilish twist in the warp of the nature, is truly like a wild animal when it is stirred. In Heb. 12:15, inbred sin is compared to a "root of bitterness" springing up and troubling believers. Notice that a root is something below the surface and is out of sight. This is true of carnality. It can remain invisible for a long time. A root remains after the tree is cut down; so does the "old man" remain after conversion; and not until the refining fire goes through the soul, purifying every part, is the root of bitterness removed. No believer is safe as long as this powder-like nature remains in the heart.
Another thought concerning the Blood is this: It atones for and covers our mistakes. If provision were made under the old covenant for a Jew who sinned through ignorance to be restored to favor, would not an all-wise and loving Father, in the new covenant, which is far superior to that of the old, make provision for a remedy in case of lapses, blunders and mistakes? Let no one despair here, for our all-sufficiency is in the cleansing Blood. John says the Blood cleanseth from all sin. (See I John 1:7.) This one verse forever does away with the old dark-age theology that bodily mortification, penance, pilgrimages and long seasons of fasting are invested with saving power. There is nothing in these to cleanse the soul. It is all right and necessary to fast and to humble one's self, but it is the Blood, after all, that finally saves and sanctifies.
John also says that it cleanseth from all sin now. The verb is in the present tense. There is no efficacy in waiting, or in the flight of years. to cleanse the soul. Christ can save in two minutes just as easily as He can save in two years.
A little more than twenty years ago, the writer, by speaking unadvisedly to a brother, grieved the Spirit and fell into darkness. Had we had light on the efficacy of the precious, cleansing Blood to avail in case of blunders and mistakes, we could have been instantly restored, as the mistake was an unintentional one. Through doubting, the sweet, warm presence of Christ was lost from the heart, and a horror of gloom settled down upon us. For three months the suffering was like death to both mental and spiritual natures. Satan tempted us to believe that we had sinned against the Holy Ghost. Only God knew the lonely hours spent in the grove weeping, praying and humbling ourselves; but the way grew ever darker. At this time, a copy of Heart Talks, by Rev. B. Carradine, was providentially given us. In commenting on John 1:7, the author said that, no matter the nature or the cause of the sin committed, if only a full confession were made to Christ, and a perfect trust exercised in the cleansing Blood, instant forgiveness would result. This statement proved like a sunburst from behind a black cloud. Tears gushed forth as the floodgates from the skies seemed suddenly to open. Looking up, and without rising from the chair, we cried, "Lord, I believe the Blood cleanseth even now." Like a flash, the Spirit returned, the wonderful presence of Christ reappeared, the birds beg an to sing, the heavenly choir took up the glad refrain in the soul, and for over twenty years the witness of the Spirit has been ours without a break. We have never quoted "The blood cleanseth" more than once or twice without the precious presence of the Spirit answering to the Blood. When will God's people learn the lesson that we do not forfeit pardon or purity because of errors or mistakes? If we will go at once to Christ and appropriate the Blood, we will find ourselves most blessedly kept.
Do not cast away your confidence. Do not argue with Satan; he will out-talk you. In case of mistakes, errors or weaknesses, fly at once to the all-cleansing Blood; plead its merits, wait until the spirit answers with His conscious, illuminating presence, telling you that you are clean. Thank God for the remedy that never fails!
The second object in the court of the tabernacle was the laver, with its mirrored sides, which held the cleansing waters. This served a two-fold purpose. The priests saw their defilement in the mirror-walls; and the fountain of the cleansing was also revealed.
Dr. A. B. Simpson says: "This laver was a type of the Holy Spirit, as our fountain for cleansing and our way of approach to the holy place of Christ's immediate presence. Only as we are cleansed in that laver can we enter in as the priests of God and feed upon the Living Bread, dwelling in the light of the golden lamps and breathing the sweet odor of the incense that fills the chamber with the atmosphere of Heaven. At once it reveals and removes the defilements of our hearts and lives." But there is a constant liability to contract at least the stains of earth, if not the taint of sin. The very atmosphere is so laden with the breath of evil that it is almost impossible to escape its touch and taint. But the blessed Holy Spirit stands ministering within the sacred temple of the heart, ready every moment to wash away the faintest touch of earth or evil, keeping us spotless, undefiled and perfectly accepted in His sight.
In the description of the tabernacle furniture. we read not only of the laver, but its foot also is designated. For what purpose was the foot used? Perhaps it was a little outlet through which the waters could more easily flow within reach of one who sought cleansing. The laver itself was too high to be easily reached, at least at its brim; but through this little pipe, which probably could be opened by a simple mechanism, the waters flowed to the ground and were always within reach of even the smallest child who had need to come. How truly and beautifully this illustrates the blessed nearness of the Holy Ghost! Not in the highest Heaven do we need to seek Him, not afar off do we have to cry to Him but He is our Paraclete; one by our side, one very near, ever near to help in time of need. He is to us the Presence of the holy God already given, and ever present in the heart of His Church. He is as ready to enter the yielded and trusting heart, as light is to flow into the open window and as sunshine to meet the petals of the opening flower. Let us send Him this whole-hearted prayer:
"Blessed Holy Spirit,
Welcome to my breast;
In my heart forever
Be my holy Guest!"
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Monday, June 29, 2020
Deeper Things Part 10
ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN
When Moses, the leader of Israel, was called up to Mt. Sinai, he left the multitudes in the plains below and ascended the holy mount alone, where he spent forty days with the Lord. During that time the Ten Commandments were given him, and also a perfect vision of the tabernacle -- its shape, size, curtains, boards, vessels, the holy place, and the holy of holies. Before he descended from the mount, he was commanded to build this beautiful structure according to the pattern shown him in the mount.
There is something analogous to this that takes place in the life of every true saint. Some people will never be the same because of the wonderful visions they have received while in this holy mount. From this we wish to draw several lessons. First, he who would get God's thoughts and plan for his life must leave the crowds below and ascend some holy mount of prayer, tarrying there until the plan be given. Too many wait only long enough to obtain a partial vision, and in consequence their lives are lacking in symmetrical Christlikeness and their characters are never well rounded.
Second, God has a plan for each individual life. "The Bible is full of this thought, that for each one of us there is a course, a race, a work, an individual life to be lived, and to this end we have been created and redeemed, and for this purpose there is ample provision of grace and inspiration to accomplish the purpose of God in our life." Not only has God a plan for each individual life, but we separate and distinct from every other creature. It is of supreme importance that the individual ascertain this purpose and this plan. Multitudes are drifting without one purpose or one aim in life. There is no such thing as success or greatness of character without a high and holy ideal or pattern by which to build. For some, to "build according to the pattern" means to cross oceans and live and labor and die among a people of darkened minds and benighted souls. To others, it may mean to declare the everlasting Gospel and live a life of self-denial and sacrifice.
Third, it is possible to lose sight of the pattern and begin to build according to our own notions. Truths that are distasteful to the carnal-minded are left off. When this takes place, the glory and sweetness gradually departs from one's life. Dr. G. D. Watson says, in Bridehood Saints, "There are many Christians, it would seem, who miss their true mission in life, and, although they may be saved in the end, yet because of lack of perseverance, or by being influenced by other people's conscience, frustrate the special vocation to which they were called. . . . Here is a gifted preacher whom God distinctly calls to preach Sanctification, but for policy's sake he neglects it." He may get thoroughly awakened and allow God to make something out of him in his last days, but he has certainly frustrated God's plan for his life.
The story is told of the man who drew the plans and blue prints for the great Brooklyn Bridge, and, while it was under construction, he took sick and was bedfast for months. But the work went right on according to the blue print. Finally, when the bridge was completed, preparations were made for the great architect to see the workmanship. Tender hands lifted him from his sickbed, and he was conveyed to the bridge, and lowered in a boat to inspect the work. After carefully observing it, a look of satisfaction and a deep smile spread over his face, and he was heard to say, "It is according to the pattern." Wouldn't it be well to stop and ask ourselves the question, if we are building according to the pattern? Have we ever seen brighter and better days? Do we manifest a lamblike spirit when abused and misunderstood? In other words, if we are building "according to the pattern," we should have a larger faith, deeper joy, and more Christlike spirit.
When Moses, the leader of Israel, was called up to Mt. Sinai, he left the multitudes in the plains below and ascended the holy mount alone, where he spent forty days with the Lord. During that time the Ten Commandments were given him, and also a perfect vision of the tabernacle -- its shape, size, curtains, boards, vessels, the holy place, and the holy of holies. Before he descended from the mount, he was commanded to build this beautiful structure according to the pattern shown him in the mount.
There is something analogous to this that takes place in the life of every true saint. Some people will never be the same because of the wonderful visions they have received while in this holy mount. From this we wish to draw several lessons. First, he who would get God's thoughts and plan for his life must leave the crowds below and ascend some holy mount of prayer, tarrying there until the plan be given. Too many wait only long enough to obtain a partial vision, and in consequence their lives are lacking in symmetrical Christlikeness and their characters are never well rounded.
Second, God has a plan for each individual life. "The Bible is full of this thought, that for each one of us there is a course, a race, a work, an individual life to be lived, and to this end we have been created and redeemed, and for this purpose there is ample provision of grace and inspiration to accomplish the purpose of God in our life." Not only has God a plan for each individual life, but we separate and distinct from every other creature. It is of supreme importance that the individual ascertain this purpose and this plan. Multitudes are drifting without one purpose or one aim in life. There is no such thing as success or greatness of character without a high and holy ideal or pattern by which to build. For some, to "build according to the pattern" means to cross oceans and live and labor and die among a people of darkened minds and benighted souls. To others, it may mean to declare the everlasting Gospel and live a life of self-denial and sacrifice.
Third, it is possible to lose sight of the pattern and begin to build according to our own notions. Truths that are distasteful to the carnal-minded are left off. When this takes place, the glory and sweetness gradually departs from one's life. Dr. G. D. Watson says, in Bridehood Saints, "There are many Christians, it would seem, who miss their true mission in life, and, although they may be saved in the end, yet because of lack of perseverance, or by being influenced by other people's conscience, frustrate the special vocation to which they were called. . . . Here is a gifted preacher whom God distinctly calls to preach Sanctification, but for policy's sake he neglects it." He may get thoroughly awakened and allow God to make something out of him in his last days, but he has certainly frustrated God's plan for his life.
The story is told of the man who drew the plans and blue prints for the great Brooklyn Bridge, and, while it was under construction, he took sick and was bedfast for months. But the work went right on according to the blue print. Finally, when the bridge was completed, preparations were made for the great architect to see the workmanship. Tender hands lifted him from his sickbed, and he was conveyed to the bridge, and lowered in a boat to inspect the work. After carefully observing it, a look of satisfaction and a deep smile spread over his face, and he was heard to say, "It is according to the pattern." Wouldn't it be well to stop and ask ourselves the question, if we are building according to the pattern? Have we ever seen brighter and better days? Do we manifest a lamblike spirit when abused and misunderstood? In other words, if we are building "according to the pattern," we should have a larger faith, deeper joy, and more Christlike spirit.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Thirteenth Bible Study: Paul's Plans
Today's lesson comes from Romans 15: 13-26. At this point in his writing, Paul may have had some intimations of the trouble he would face in Jerusalem. He expresses his appreciation for his readers, sets forth his future plans, and sends his personal greetings. The first portion of the lesson (vv. 13-16) entails Paul's reasons for writing to these believers. There was an emphasis on God's calling him to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. In the first chapter, he wrote about imparting a spiritual gift to the church at Rome and as he closes, he becomes more specific. Paul's desire was that they might be "sanctified by the Holy Ghost." The second section (vv. 17-21) recounts his life as a missionary. He gives Jesus Christ the glory for the accomplishments and acknowledges that his ability should be credited to the "power of the Spirit of God." In the final section (vv. 22-26), he expresses his desire to evangelize Spain, but first has a pressing responsibility of taking an offering to Jerusalem. Paul wanted a unified church, with no separation between Jew and Gentile.
Paul had a consistent message to the church at Rome. You need to be sanctified! He taught how a man could be forgiven and stand justified before God by trusting in the atonement made by Christ. Moreover, he proved the corrupt nature of the heart can be cleansed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted believers to live the sanctified life, a life that is totally committed to Jesus Christ and lives a practical holiness. In the closing chapters of the book, Paul writes in a more personal manner, assuring his readers of his love and desires to be with them.
The first section is "A Gentile Ministry." (vv. 13-16) Paul wanted the Roman Christians to know that the source of real joy and peace were found in God through the power of the Holy Spirit. By faith in Christ, we have peace. The indwelling Holy Spirit provides the power to live a victorious life over sin, the flesh and the world. Verses 14-16 assure the readers of Paul's confidence in them. Paul had not started the Roman church, but he wanted any error in the church to be eliminated. He wrote boldly to them and wanted to emphasize the essential truths of the faith. He was a minister to the Gentiles and wanted them to be sanctified wholly. Paul was not content with scattering gospel seed, he wanted to see the fruit of personal holiness in their lives. He wanted them to be living sacrifices which would only be acceptable if they were "sanctified by the Holy Ghost." Paul wrote boldly that they might press on and obtain a sanctified heart. G.A. McLaughlin said: "The great work of the Holy Ghost in this dispensation is to sanctify the church. All His other operations tend either to this end, or to the building up of those who are sanctified."
The second section is "A Pioneer Ministry." vv. 17-21 Paul had been called to be a pioneer for Christ, and he desired that others would follow his example until the whole world had been reached with the good news of salvation. Paul was quick to give Jesus Christ the glory for the successes and he was careful not to exaggerate regarding what had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit did miracles through the hands of Paul in his ministry establishing the principle that the only effective work for God is that which is done by the power of the indwelling Spirit.
Paul engaged in pioneer work spreading the gospel in his missionary journeys. It is important to note that Paul did not soften the gospel message. Unlike many "preachers" today who try and make Jesus a social self-help guro, Paul preached salvation from sin and sanctification leading to a holy life. He declared that God was able to deliver a person from all sin, and that God expected the person who served Him to live a holy life.
The third section is "A Unifying Ministry." vv. 22-26 Paul had desired to go to Rome earlier, but his great zeal to spread the gospel to unreached areas had delayed him. Now Paul had reached a point in his ministry where there were "no more places in these parts" which had not been made aware of salvation through Christ. Thus, Paul felt it was time to push farther westward, and visit Rome on the way to Spain. Paul wanted to unite the Jewish believers with the Gentile Christians. A famine had swept through Palestine, causing the Jewish believers to be in want. The Gentile believers in Macedonia and Achaia had taken up an offering to send to their suffering brethren. The gift would do much to eliminate the legalistic attitude that some Jewish believers had toward the Gentile Christians. Paul had urged the Gentiles to give to acknowledge the spiritual debt they owed to the Jewish Christians that had spread the gospel to them. The Jewish believers would receive the compassion from the Gentiles and it would help facilitate the unity of the church. Paul wanted a unified church and this would help bring about his desire.
The Golden Text is: "And I am sure that, when I come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." (Romans 15:29) Every Christian has the blessing of Christ, but sanctified Christians have "the fullness of the blessing." Entire sanctification is the piece that fills up the experience of regeneration by casting out the old man. Carnality is not suppressed in entire sanctification, it is destroyed. In Romans, Paul states clearly the conditions and blessings of holiness. As we finish this quarter, have you entered into this rest? You can if you desire.
My summary points:
1. All believers need to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
2. God expects you to live a holy life.
3. Bring unity to the church by helping the needs of others.
This lesson ends this quarter. Next quarter we study Ezekiel and Daniel.The lesson next week is "Ezekiel's Call" from Ezekiel 2:1-10. If you would like the free study materials, please email me at bljenkins7@yahoo.com.
Read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Paul had a consistent message to the church at Rome. You need to be sanctified! He taught how a man could be forgiven and stand justified before God by trusting in the atonement made by Christ. Moreover, he proved the corrupt nature of the heart can be cleansed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted believers to live the sanctified life, a life that is totally committed to Jesus Christ and lives a practical holiness. In the closing chapters of the book, Paul writes in a more personal manner, assuring his readers of his love and desires to be with them.
The first section is "A Gentile Ministry." (vv. 13-16) Paul wanted the Roman Christians to know that the source of real joy and peace were found in God through the power of the Holy Spirit. By faith in Christ, we have peace. The indwelling Holy Spirit provides the power to live a victorious life over sin, the flesh and the world. Verses 14-16 assure the readers of Paul's confidence in them. Paul had not started the Roman church, but he wanted any error in the church to be eliminated. He wrote boldly to them and wanted to emphasize the essential truths of the faith. He was a minister to the Gentiles and wanted them to be sanctified wholly. Paul was not content with scattering gospel seed, he wanted to see the fruit of personal holiness in their lives. He wanted them to be living sacrifices which would only be acceptable if they were "sanctified by the Holy Ghost." Paul wrote boldly that they might press on and obtain a sanctified heart. G.A. McLaughlin said: "The great work of the Holy Ghost in this dispensation is to sanctify the church. All His other operations tend either to this end, or to the building up of those who are sanctified."
The second section is "A Pioneer Ministry." vv. 17-21 Paul had been called to be a pioneer for Christ, and he desired that others would follow his example until the whole world had been reached with the good news of salvation. Paul was quick to give Jesus Christ the glory for the successes and he was careful not to exaggerate regarding what had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit did miracles through the hands of Paul in his ministry establishing the principle that the only effective work for God is that which is done by the power of the indwelling Spirit.
Paul engaged in pioneer work spreading the gospel in his missionary journeys. It is important to note that Paul did not soften the gospel message. Unlike many "preachers" today who try and make Jesus a social self-help guro, Paul preached salvation from sin and sanctification leading to a holy life. He declared that God was able to deliver a person from all sin, and that God expected the person who served Him to live a holy life.
The third section is "A Unifying Ministry." vv. 22-26 Paul had desired to go to Rome earlier, but his great zeal to spread the gospel to unreached areas had delayed him. Now Paul had reached a point in his ministry where there were "no more places in these parts" which had not been made aware of salvation through Christ. Thus, Paul felt it was time to push farther westward, and visit Rome on the way to Spain. Paul wanted to unite the Jewish believers with the Gentile Christians. A famine had swept through Palestine, causing the Jewish believers to be in want. The Gentile believers in Macedonia and Achaia had taken up an offering to send to their suffering brethren. The gift would do much to eliminate the legalistic attitude that some Jewish believers had toward the Gentile Christians. Paul had urged the Gentiles to give to acknowledge the spiritual debt they owed to the Jewish Christians that had spread the gospel to them. The Jewish believers would receive the compassion from the Gentiles and it would help facilitate the unity of the church. Paul wanted a unified church and this would help bring about his desire.
The Golden Text is: "And I am sure that, when I come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." (Romans 15:29) Every Christian has the blessing of Christ, but sanctified Christians have "the fullness of the blessing." Entire sanctification is the piece that fills up the experience of regeneration by casting out the old man. Carnality is not suppressed in entire sanctification, it is destroyed. In Romans, Paul states clearly the conditions and blessings of holiness. As we finish this quarter, have you entered into this rest? You can if you desire.
My summary points:
1. All believers need to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
2. God expects you to live a holy life.
3. Bring unity to the church by helping the needs of others.
This lesson ends this quarter. Next quarter we study Ezekiel and Daniel.The lesson next week is "Ezekiel's Call" from Ezekiel 2:1-10. If you would like the free study materials, please email me at bljenkins7@yahoo.com.
Read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Deeper Things Part 9
PENTECOST AND ITS RESULTS
"But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." --- Luke 24:49.
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." -- Acts 2:4.
Pentecost, with its fiery baptism, was an epoch in the lives of the disciples, and they were never the same again. They were lifted into the realms of the supernatural world until spiritual truths and things Divine became a living reality in them. They learned more about Jesus and His divinity in three hours, after they were filled with the Holy Ghost, than in their three years association with His bodily presence. They were changed in a moment from moral cowards to heroes, until all traces of man-fear were completely burned out of them; whereas, before Pentecost, they were dull and slow to grasp Divine things; the Holy Ghost now opened up their understanding, clarified their vision, and gave them an insight into the Old Testament Scriptures until they took on a supernatural meaning to them.
The more we study the upper-room experience, the more we are convinced that the Twentieth Century church has reversed God's Divine order. The outstanding command in the New Testament is Tarry. We are persuaded it would pay the churches of today to stop all of their religious activity, and human fuss, and find an upper-room and tarry until Pentecost was fully come. The coming of the Holy Ghost would solve all of our church problems, fill our empty pews, burn up stinginess, and fill the empty treasury. Oh, to be struck with Pentecostal lightning that would knock sleepy devils off of the church roof, drive infidelity out of the pulpit, and melt the ice and the frost in the choir and Amen corners!
Let us notice what Pentecost meant to the church.
I. It attracted the multitudes. The question has been asked how to reach the masses, and how to bring the different classes together. Many answers have been given; but, nevertheless, there are more preachers preaching to empty pews than filled ones.
Wesley preached to sixteen thousand people from his father's tombstone; George Whitefield preached to as many as forty thousand, and would often see thousands converted in one service; Roland Hill never lacked for crowds, but preached to them by the acres.
Has the Gospel failed? Never! Let Pentecost, with its heavenly flame, strike a church nowadays and the crowds will come to see the heavenly glory. A big church caught fire some time ago and an infidel of the town came and made himself very free in fighting the fire. As the crowds were leaving, a lady approached him and said, "This is the first time I have ever seen you in our church." He said, "This is the first time the church has ever been on fire.' Fire has always attracted, and when it falls on the pulpit and pew, we will not have to resort to worldly methods to reach the people, but they will come from far and near to get to a devil-driving, sin-killing, blood-and-fire revival.
Pentecost meant conviction. The average church is trying to have revivals now without conviction, and conversion without regeneration. Remember, there is no such a thing as regeneration without conviction. We need a conviction that will cause men to repent, that will go deep enough that it will not have to be done over. At Pentecost, men smote their breasts and cried out, "What must we do to be saved?" The great need of the Twentieth Century church is old-fashioned Bible Holy Ghost conviction. In the early days of Methodism, those old-time preachers who were limited in their education, a great many of them with only a hymn-book, a Bible for their library, had their souls aflame with Pentecostal fire. Wherever they went it meant conviction and a revival. There was a power and glory that went with those early preachers that seems to have dropped out of the pulpit in these latter days.
Frequently, under the ministry of such men as Hezekiah C. Worcester and Benjamin Abbott, men felt as if shot in battle.
Speaking of Worcester, Dr. Bangs writes: "The grace of God wrought mightily in him. Oh, what awful sensations ran through the assemblies while Calvin Worcester and others of like spirit were denouncing the just judgments of God against the impenitent sinner!"
"Such was the unction of his spirit," says another, and the bold, resistless power of his appeals to the wicked, that few of them could stand before him. They would rush out of the house or fall to the floor under his word."
It is recorded of this holy man that when so far reduced as not to be able to speak above a whisper, utterances conveyed to others of the assembly would thrill them like a trumpet, and fall with such power on the hearers that stout-hearted men were smitten to the floor; and his very aspect is said to have so shone with the Divine glory that it struck conviction into the hearts of many who beheld him. Dr. Bangs further says: "At a quarterly meeting in the Bay of Quinte Circuit, as the preacher commenced his sermon, a thoughtless man in the front gallery, in a playful mood, began to swear profanely, and otherwise to disturb the congregation. The preacher paid no attention to him until he was in the midst of his sermon, when, feeling strong in faith and the power of God's might, he suddenly stopped, and fixed his piercing eyes on the profane man. Then, stamping his foot and pointing his finger at him, with energy cried out, 'My God, smite him!' He instantly fell, as if shot through the heart with a bullet. At this moment such a Divine afflatus came down upon the congregation that sinners came, crying to God for mercy, from every direction, while the saints of God burst forth in loud praises to His name. Similar instances were not uncommon in those days."
II. Pentecost meant oneness. This oneness has a threefold relation.
It is a oneness with Jesus. We read in Heb. 2:11: "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." The best way we can illustrate this wonderful relation is through the relation of marriage. The Bible teaches that in true marriage two become one, duality is lost in oneness. Where this takes place there is a growing likeness to each other, not only in ways and manners, but there is an increased resemblance to each other as the years pass by. When the soul is wedded to Christ in Sanctification, there is a growing likeness to Him day by day. The look of restfulness deepens in the countenance, the spirit grows more tender, and the voice more mellow, until you cannot look into the face of some of God's sanctified ones without thinking of Christ.
II. It is a oneness with each other. A truly sanctified soul is in blessed fellowship and unity with all other holy beings. This does not necessarily mean that we see eye to eye in little minor points, but we can agree to disagree, like John Wesley and George Whitefield, who failed to see alike on the fine point of Calvinism, but loved each other dearly. Dr. Daniel Steele said, "There are two kinds of church unity: mechanical, like the staves of a barrel, held together by the external pressure of the hoops; and vital, like the roots, trunk and branches of a tree which unifies by the mysterious inward force which we call life." There are two ways of holding a substance together; one is to freeze it, like a block of ice, and other is to melt it until the liquid runs together. The sanctified are melted together into a holy oneness. There is a great deal of difference between a big union meeting with a worldly choir, a popular evangelist with his easy catch, card-signing, hand-shaking, skim through, so-called conversion, and a unity meeting where the Gospel plow is put into the beam, and the truth is not rounded off at the corners, and God's people are in heart-union for an old-time revival.
III. It means a oneness with one higher and spiritual nature. There are three conditions of life we may live. A base, fleshly life, where one is controlled by the fleshly appetites and passions; or we may live in our soulish nature and be governed mostly by our affection and emotions; or, higher still, we can live in the spiritual realm. where the spiritual controls the soul and body. The great majority of believers, or, more strictly speaking, half-believers, are sadly mixed in their religious experience, partly carnal and partly spiritual. But the Bible standard is an unmixedness of character. Pentecost, with its cleansing baptism, unmixes the believer, until in our prayers affections, motives, and faith, there is oneness of purpose and desire.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost harmonizes and unites all the powers of the soul. High over all is the law of God written in the heart, with its radiating light falling on conscience; and a well enlightened conscience and will harmonize with the purified affection, until all the trends and powers of the soul are turned into one channel.
IV. It meant an increase of membership. "And the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved." We are told that there are forty thousand pulpits in America without a preacher. Churches are waning and losing members every year. Some conferences and assemblies are just holding their own. Pentecost, and Pentecost alone, will bring a revival where our membership will be increased. A revival makes preachers and sends missionaries to the ends of the earth.
V. Pentecost meant power not power for service only, but it is the power of a holy character, power to keep sweet and power to suffer. Some seem to think power consists of noise, So what is lacking in real unction and power they try to make up in noise and human fuss. It is not power to do miracles, but to live holy, and show a Christ-like spirit when opposed and misunderstood. Many an infidel has been converted to Christianity by the sweet example of a Christian, where argument, sermons or logic would have been powerless to have won them.
It is that indescribable something called unction. We have seen the great intellectual giants and star preachers at the camps, after argument, preach logical sermons which failed to move the audience, then some poor, unassuming preacher be put up to preach who never said a thing new, but, in less than an hour, he had melted and gripped the people. The altar was crowded. Amid the cries, laughter, clapping hands and shining faces of the newly born souls the outsiders looked amazed, while the service seemed to drip with unction and heavenly sweetness. Our fathers had the old-time power, and we may have it, too!
To your knees, O people of God! Pray until Pentecost, with its results, are repeated.
"But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." --- Luke 24:49.
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." -- Acts 2:4.
Pentecost, with its fiery baptism, was an epoch in the lives of the disciples, and they were never the same again. They were lifted into the realms of the supernatural world until spiritual truths and things Divine became a living reality in them. They learned more about Jesus and His divinity in three hours, after they were filled with the Holy Ghost, than in their three years association with His bodily presence. They were changed in a moment from moral cowards to heroes, until all traces of man-fear were completely burned out of them; whereas, before Pentecost, they were dull and slow to grasp Divine things; the Holy Ghost now opened up their understanding, clarified their vision, and gave them an insight into the Old Testament Scriptures until they took on a supernatural meaning to them.
The more we study the upper-room experience, the more we are convinced that the Twentieth Century church has reversed God's Divine order. The outstanding command in the New Testament is Tarry. We are persuaded it would pay the churches of today to stop all of their religious activity, and human fuss, and find an upper-room and tarry until Pentecost was fully come. The coming of the Holy Ghost would solve all of our church problems, fill our empty pews, burn up stinginess, and fill the empty treasury. Oh, to be struck with Pentecostal lightning that would knock sleepy devils off of the church roof, drive infidelity out of the pulpit, and melt the ice and the frost in the choir and Amen corners!
Let us notice what Pentecost meant to the church.
I. It attracted the multitudes. The question has been asked how to reach the masses, and how to bring the different classes together. Many answers have been given; but, nevertheless, there are more preachers preaching to empty pews than filled ones.
Wesley preached to sixteen thousand people from his father's tombstone; George Whitefield preached to as many as forty thousand, and would often see thousands converted in one service; Roland Hill never lacked for crowds, but preached to them by the acres.
Has the Gospel failed? Never! Let Pentecost, with its heavenly flame, strike a church nowadays and the crowds will come to see the heavenly glory. A big church caught fire some time ago and an infidel of the town came and made himself very free in fighting the fire. As the crowds were leaving, a lady approached him and said, "This is the first time I have ever seen you in our church." He said, "This is the first time the church has ever been on fire.' Fire has always attracted, and when it falls on the pulpit and pew, we will not have to resort to worldly methods to reach the people, but they will come from far and near to get to a devil-driving, sin-killing, blood-and-fire revival.
Pentecost meant conviction. The average church is trying to have revivals now without conviction, and conversion without regeneration. Remember, there is no such a thing as regeneration without conviction. We need a conviction that will cause men to repent, that will go deep enough that it will not have to be done over. At Pentecost, men smote their breasts and cried out, "What must we do to be saved?" The great need of the Twentieth Century church is old-fashioned Bible Holy Ghost conviction. In the early days of Methodism, those old-time preachers who were limited in their education, a great many of them with only a hymn-book, a Bible for their library, had their souls aflame with Pentecostal fire. Wherever they went it meant conviction and a revival. There was a power and glory that went with those early preachers that seems to have dropped out of the pulpit in these latter days.
Frequently, under the ministry of such men as Hezekiah C. Worcester and Benjamin Abbott, men felt as if shot in battle.
Speaking of Worcester, Dr. Bangs writes: "The grace of God wrought mightily in him. Oh, what awful sensations ran through the assemblies while Calvin Worcester and others of like spirit were denouncing the just judgments of God against the impenitent sinner!"
"Such was the unction of his spirit," says another, and the bold, resistless power of his appeals to the wicked, that few of them could stand before him. They would rush out of the house or fall to the floor under his word."
It is recorded of this holy man that when so far reduced as not to be able to speak above a whisper, utterances conveyed to others of the assembly would thrill them like a trumpet, and fall with such power on the hearers that stout-hearted men were smitten to the floor; and his very aspect is said to have so shone with the Divine glory that it struck conviction into the hearts of many who beheld him. Dr. Bangs further says: "At a quarterly meeting in the Bay of Quinte Circuit, as the preacher commenced his sermon, a thoughtless man in the front gallery, in a playful mood, began to swear profanely, and otherwise to disturb the congregation. The preacher paid no attention to him until he was in the midst of his sermon, when, feeling strong in faith and the power of God's might, he suddenly stopped, and fixed his piercing eyes on the profane man. Then, stamping his foot and pointing his finger at him, with energy cried out, 'My God, smite him!' He instantly fell, as if shot through the heart with a bullet. At this moment such a Divine afflatus came down upon the congregation that sinners came, crying to God for mercy, from every direction, while the saints of God burst forth in loud praises to His name. Similar instances were not uncommon in those days."
II. Pentecost meant oneness. This oneness has a threefold relation.
It is a oneness with Jesus. We read in Heb. 2:11: "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." The best way we can illustrate this wonderful relation is through the relation of marriage. The Bible teaches that in true marriage two become one, duality is lost in oneness. Where this takes place there is a growing likeness to each other, not only in ways and manners, but there is an increased resemblance to each other as the years pass by. When the soul is wedded to Christ in Sanctification, there is a growing likeness to Him day by day. The look of restfulness deepens in the countenance, the spirit grows more tender, and the voice more mellow, until you cannot look into the face of some of God's sanctified ones without thinking of Christ.
II. It is a oneness with each other. A truly sanctified soul is in blessed fellowship and unity with all other holy beings. This does not necessarily mean that we see eye to eye in little minor points, but we can agree to disagree, like John Wesley and George Whitefield, who failed to see alike on the fine point of Calvinism, but loved each other dearly. Dr. Daniel Steele said, "There are two kinds of church unity: mechanical, like the staves of a barrel, held together by the external pressure of the hoops; and vital, like the roots, trunk and branches of a tree which unifies by the mysterious inward force which we call life." There are two ways of holding a substance together; one is to freeze it, like a block of ice, and other is to melt it until the liquid runs together. The sanctified are melted together into a holy oneness. There is a great deal of difference between a big union meeting with a worldly choir, a popular evangelist with his easy catch, card-signing, hand-shaking, skim through, so-called conversion, and a unity meeting where the Gospel plow is put into the beam, and the truth is not rounded off at the corners, and God's people are in heart-union for an old-time revival.
III. It means a oneness with one higher and spiritual nature. There are three conditions of life we may live. A base, fleshly life, where one is controlled by the fleshly appetites and passions; or we may live in our soulish nature and be governed mostly by our affection and emotions; or, higher still, we can live in the spiritual realm. where the spiritual controls the soul and body. The great majority of believers, or, more strictly speaking, half-believers, are sadly mixed in their religious experience, partly carnal and partly spiritual. But the Bible standard is an unmixedness of character. Pentecost, with its cleansing baptism, unmixes the believer, until in our prayers affections, motives, and faith, there is oneness of purpose and desire.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost harmonizes and unites all the powers of the soul. High over all is the law of God written in the heart, with its radiating light falling on conscience; and a well enlightened conscience and will harmonize with the purified affection, until all the trends and powers of the soul are turned into one channel.
IV. It meant an increase of membership. "And the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved." We are told that there are forty thousand pulpits in America without a preacher. Churches are waning and losing members every year. Some conferences and assemblies are just holding their own. Pentecost, and Pentecost alone, will bring a revival where our membership will be increased. A revival makes preachers and sends missionaries to the ends of the earth.
V. Pentecost meant power not power for service only, but it is the power of a holy character, power to keep sweet and power to suffer. Some seem to think power consists of noise, So what is lacking in real unction and power they try to make up in noise and human fuss. It is not power to do miracles, but to live holy, and show a Christ-like spirit when opposed and misunderstood. Many an infidel has been converted to Christianity by the sweet example of a Christian, where argument, sermons or logic would have been powerless to have won them.
It is that indescribable something called unction. We have seen the great intellectual giants and star preachers at the camps, after argument, preach logical sermons which failed to move the audience, then some poor, unassuming preacher be put up to preach who never said a thing new, but, in less than an hour, he had melted and gripped the people. The altar was crowded. Amid the cries, laughter, clapping hands and shining faces of the newly born souls the outsiders looked amazed, while the service seemed to drip with unction and heavenly sweetness. Our fathers had the old-time power, and we may have it, too!
To your knees, O people of God! Pray until Pentecost, with its results, are repeated.
Friday, June 26, 2020
Deeper Things Part 8
A SANCTIFIED BODY
There are enough mysteries connected with the human body to convince the most incredulous mind of the existence of an omnipotent God. It is no wonder that the "Sweet Singer of Israel" cried out, "Man is fearfully and wonderfully made. He is made just a little lower than the angels." And the Apostle says that man is the temple for the Holy Ghost to indwell. There is an impassable gulf between the most poorly developed human body and the brute of the highest development.
Man has been called God's masterpiece. We get some conception of what he is when we see how God created him with faculties that are capable of God-consciousness, and cravings and longings that are eternal.
All kinds of errors are held concerning the body. Men in the Dark Ages believed the body to be vile, and that the only way to rid it of sin was to punish it. One of their favorite methods was that of flagellation. Every physical torture known was resorted to. Long whips were plaited and applied to the body; the flesh was bruised and lacerated, but still sin remained. Sin is not located in the flesh, bone, blood, nor in the nervous system. You may cut the body to pieces, but still sin is not destroyed. Others of that age retired to monasteries and convents to find deliverance from sin, but some of the wickedest spirits to be found were in the monk in his cell. Oh, the blessedness of genuine Holiness that can be in the world, and yet not of the world!
Another method in those days of trying to get rid of sin was that of fasting. Some fasted so long that they looked like skeletons, and still the old man" remained. Sin does not live on flesh and blood or bread and meat. One of the most refined errors which is now being taught is that of suppression. The trouble with this cult is that it does not "suppress." The "old man" refuses to stay in the background all the time. This, then, not only robs Christ of His power as an uttermost Savior, but it disqualifies the Christian worker as a real soul-winner. He would like to be instrumental in saving others, but he has himself on hand with this inward foe to keep down. Oh, the beauty and comfort there is in being delivered from the body of death!
Still another theory is that of counter-action. In this teaching the "old man" is said to be overpowered or held down, but not destroyed. One of the expressions used in this doctrine concerning the "man of sin" is that it is made "null and void" and rendered inactive. This is only Keswick belief dressed in a somewhat different robe; it really is not essentially different from the suppression idea, both leaving, as they do, carnality in the heart.
The soul is not to be a cemetery for the "old man." He is to be put off. Just as there is no more provision made for a corpse in this life, so we are to put off the "old man" and make no more provision for him. There is yet another class which tries to educate the "man of sin." Their idea is to improve and polish him so that, after all, he will not be so unpleasant. You can educate almost any wild animal, but you cannot take out of them the vicious nature. You may pet and caress them, but some day they will slay you.
The Apostle calls the carnal mind an outlaw. He says it is "not subject to the law of God." You may dress up old Adam, but you have not changed his nature. Some of the vilest wretches of earth have been noted for their polished manners and their soft, siren-like voices. We will have to go deeper than education, culture and polished manners to get rid of the carnal mind.
Let us notice God's "more excellent way" for the body, which is to cleanse and make it a temple for the Holy Ghost. The word soma, body, has 'a twofold meaning -- the outer and the inner parts conveying different definitions. The meaning of the outer division is the organized physical body with its flesh, bones and blood. The inner part is designed as the seat of the passions, appetites and desires. This is the part with which the Holy Ghost deals.
What is a sanctified body? It is a body that is saved and cleansed from all lust and impurity of every form, with its appetites and passions brought under control. God's plan is for the spiritual nature to control the physical; and the more one lives in the spiritual realm, the less trouble he has with the animal nature. A sanctified body is a dedicated body -- all of its members and faculties are dedicated to God.
I. Take the tongue. While it is a little member, yet in its power of evil it is a deadly member. A sanctified tongue is one that is saved, not only from falsehood in every form, but from gossip and from slander, and even from "small talk." In Deuteronomy we read, "There shall not go up and down the land, a talebearer." The "shall not" here is just as binding as the "shall not" in stealing or killing. The Bible pictures and figures of the unsanctified tongue are fearful. St. James says, "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." A spark of fire is dropped in a forest, and, behold, millions of dollars worth of precious timber that for years has been growing goes up in smoke in a few short hours. An old woman, one stormy night, went out to milk. The cow kicked over the lantern, and a great part of Chicago was wiped out by the flames.
Oh, the havoc that can be wrought by a word from a slanderous tongue! A word of slander is dropped, and the reputation and influence of some child of God or Christian worker is ruined, the cause of God hindered, and perhaps souls lost as the result.
Again, an unbridled tongue is likened to a deadly poison. India is the home of the most poisonous serpents of the world. A native was one day out hunting when he was bitten on the toe by one of these vipers. He sat down on a log, deathly sick. In a few moments he said, "My foot seems perfectly dead." In but another moment he said, "My leg is dead to the knee." As the poison traveled rapidly upward, his shoulders became benumbed; then, in agony, he fell to the ground and died an awful death. But there is nothing' more deadly than the slanderous tongue with its blighting touch. Homes have been broken up and families have been forever separated by this instrument of gall.
Reader, are you sure that your tongue is sanctified, under the control of the Holy Ghost, and seasoned with grace and the law of kindness? An unbridled tongue is a sure sign of an unsanctified heart. You cannot judge one's piety by the loudness of his profession. James says that the tongue is a test of Christian character. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." A sanctified tongue has put away all evil speaking and repeating all it hears. Even though true, why repeat many things that neither help man nor the cause of God? The Holy Ghost alone can rule and control the tongue.
II. A sanctified body means cleansed eyes that refuse to gaze on an impure object, if you will study the history of the fall, you will find that the entrance of sin was through the channel of the eyes. "The woman saw the tree." The eye conveys more to the mind than any of the five senses. It is like a camera taking in millions of pictures. It will pay us at times to close the shutters.
Some of the darkest sins that have ever been committed commenced by a look. The woman saw the tree, and "it was pleasant to the eye." This is where sin has its birth. The impure object becomes fascinating. When an unholy object becomes pleasing to the mind and is permitted to remain until it forms a mental image picture, it is then that impurity is injected. David looked from the housetop at an unlawful object. His lower nature was set on fire with the lust of hell. The animal nature, ascending the throne, dethroned and crushed the spiritual. Lot got into the corrupt city of Sodom, lost his property, a part of his family, and was, himself, saved as by fire. First, he "looked in the direction of Sodom" until the lure of the city got hold of him. Second, he "journeyed toward Sodom." He was going after the object at which he gazed Third, he "pitched his tent outside the city." Last, we find him in Sodom with influence gone and angels pulling him out to keep him from being destroyed. All of this began by an improper look. No one can keep sanctified and gaze at the impure, unholy objects of this sensual age. We had better see to it that we close the blinds from seeing evil.
III. A sanctified body is one in which the ears are dedicated to 'God. They have lost all desire for blood-curdling stories, for gossip, for tattling and for tidings of aught that is evil. "A person who will lend his ears to listen to a slanderous report and feel inwardly tickled, is just as evil as the person who is doing the talking." Some people permit their ears to become a sloptub or a sewer for all the filth to pass through, and then expect the Lord to keep their souls pure. Sanctified ears are ears that are dedicated to hear the "still small voice.
IV. A sanctified body is one that dresses for the glory of God. It will never rig itself out with painted cheeks, like a Jezebel, or as do the harlots of Paris, but it will robe itself in modest apparel as becometh saints. The word habit originally meant clothing. "Habit makes character." Then it might be said that the outward dress is an indication of the inward condition of the soul. The dress that is worn by some of the leading modern church members in our days would have made a harlot blush with shame a quarter of a century ago. A young man in college wrote a piteous letter to a magazine, asking the question, "How can we poor fellows live right and keep pure and clean when the average girl dresses, or fails to dress, as she does?"
A leading rescue worker said that the bathing beach, with its thin, immodest suits, paves the way for the downfall of many precious girls. The standard of morals has been lowered in some circles until modesty is almost a thing of the past. Samples of modesty in dress are needed in this age of laxness, and, be it said, even in our so-called Holiness ranks.
Thank God for a Holiness that touches the threefold nature of man, causing him to live where the Shekinah glory dwells, shedding its influence through every part and faculty of spirit, soul and body. The "old man" has been slain, and Christ is enthroned within.
There are enough mysteries connected with the human body to convince the most incredulous mind of the existence of an omnipotent God. It is no wonder that the "Sweet Singer of Israel" cried out, "Man is fearfully and wonderfully made. He is made just a little lower than the angels." And the Apostle says that man is the temple for the Holy Ghost to indwell. There is an impassable gulf between the most poorly developed human body and the brute of the highest development.
Man has been called God's masterpiece. We get some conception of what he is when we see how God created him with faculties that are capable of God-consciousness, and cravings and longings that are eternal.
All kinds of errors are held concerning the body. Men in the Dark Ages believed the body to be vile, and that the only way to rid it of sin was to punish it. One of their favorite methods was that of flagellation. Every physical torture known was resorted to. Long whips were plaited and applied to the body; the flesh was bruised and lacerated, but still sin remained. Sin is not located in the flesh, bone, blood, nor in the nervous system. You may cut the body to pieces, but still sin is not destroyed. Others of that age retired to monasteries and convents to find deliverance from sin, but some of the wickedest spirits to be found were in the monk in his cell. Oh, the blessedness of genuine Holiness that can be in the world, and yet not of the world!
Another method in those days of trying to get rid of sin was that of fasting. Some fasted so long that they looked like skeletons, and still the old man" remained. Sin does not live on flesh and blood or bread and meat. One of the most refined errors which is now being taught is that of suppression. The trouble with this cult is that it does not "suppress." The "old man" refuses to stay in the background all the time. This, then, not only robs Christ of His power as an uttermost Savior, but it disqualifies the Christian worker as a real soul-winner. He would like to be instrumental in saving others, but he has himself on hand with this inward foe to keep down. Oh, the beauty and comfort there is in being delivered from the body of death!
Still another theory is that of counter-action. In this teaching the "old man" is said to be overpowered or held down, but not destroyed. One of the expressions used in this doctrine concerning the "man of sin" is that it is made "null and void" and rendered inactive. This is only Keswick belief dressed in a somewhat different robe; it really is not essentially different from the suppression idea, both leaving, as they do, carnality in the heart.
The soul is not to be a cemetery for the "old man." He is to be put off. Just as there is no more provision made for a corpse in this life, so we are to put off the "old man" and make no more provision for him. There is yet another class which tries to educate the "man of sin." Their idea is to improve and polish him so that, after all, he will not be so unpleasant. You can educate almost any wild animal, but you cannot take out of them the vicious nature. You may pet and caress them, but some day they will slay you.
The Apostle calls the carnal mind an outlaw. He says it is "not subject to the law of God." You may dress up old Adam, but you have not changed his nature. Some of the vilest wretches of earth have been noted for their polished manners and their soft, siren-like voices. We will have to go deeper than education, culture and polished manners to get rid of the carnal mind.
Let us notice God's "more excellent way" for the body, which is to cleanse and make it a temple for the Holy Ghost. The word soma, body, has 'a twofold meaning -- the outer and the inner parts conveying different definitions. The meaning of the outer division is the organized physical body with its flesh, bones and blood. The inner part is designed as the seat of the passions, appetites and desires. This is the part with which the Holy Ghost deals.
What is a sanctified body? It is a body that is saved and cleansed from all lust and impurity of every form, with its appetites and passions brought under control. God's plan is for the spiritual nature to control the physical; and the more one lives in the spiritual realm, the less trouble he has with the animal nature. A sanctified body is a dedicated body -- all of its members and faculties are dedicated to God.
I. Take the tongue. While it is a little member, yet in its power of evil it is a deadly member. A sanctified tongue is one that is saved, not only from falsehood in every form, but from gossip and from slander, and even from "small talk." In Deuteronomy we read, "There shall not go up and down the land, a talebearer." The "shall not" here is just as binding as the "shall not" in stealing or killing. The Bible pictures and figures of the unsanctified tongue are fearful. St. James says, "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." A spark of fire is dropped in a forest, and, behold, millions of dollars worth of precious timber that for years has been growing goes up in smoke in a few short hours. An old woman, one stormy night, went out to milk. The cow kicked over the lantern, and a great part of Chicago was wiped out by the flames.
Oh, the havoc that can be wrought by a word from a slanderous tongue! A word of slander is dropped, and the reputation and influence of some child of God or Christian worker is ruined, the cause of God hindered, and perhaps souls lost as the result.
Again, an unbridled tongue is likened to a deadly poison. India is the home of the most poisonous serpents of the world. A native was one day out hunting when he was bitten on the toe by one of these vipers. He sat down on a log, deathly sick. In a few moments he said, "My foot seems perfectly dead." In but another moment he said, "My leg is dead to the knee." As the poison traveled rapidly upward, his shoulders became benumbed; then, in agony, he fell to the ground and died an awful death. But there is nothing' more deadly than the slanderous tongue with its blighting touch. Homes have been broken up and families have been forever separated by this instrument of gall.
Reader, are you sure that your tongue is sanctified, under the control of the Holy Ghost, and seasoned with grace and the law of kindness? An unbridled tongue is a sure sign of an unsanctified heart. You cannot judge one's piety by the loudness of his profession. James says that the tongue is a test of Christian character. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." A sanctified tongue has put away all evil speaking and repeating all it hears. Even though true, why repeat many things that neither help man nor the cause of God? The Holy Ghost alone can rule and control the tongue.
II. A sanctified body means cleansed eyes that refuse to gaze on an impure object, if you will study the history of the fall, you will find that the entrance of sin was through the channel of the eyes. "The woman saw the tree." The eye conveys more to the mind than any of the five senses. It is like a camera taking in millions of pictures. It will pay us at times to close the shutters.
Some of the darkest sins that have ever been committed commenced by a look. The woman saw the tree, and "it was pleasant to the eye." This is where sin has its birth. The impure object becomes fascinating. When an unholy object becomes pleasing to the mind and is permitted to remain until it forms a mental image picture, it is then that impurity is injected. David looked from the housetop at an unlawful object. His lower nature was set on fire with the lust of hell. The animal nature, ascending the throne, dethroned and crushed the spiritual. Lot got into the corrupt city of Sodom, lost his property, a part of his family, and was, himself, saved as by fire. First, he "looked in the direction of Sodom" until the lure of the city got hold of him. Second, he "journeyed toward Sodom." He was going after the object at which he gazed Third, he "pitched his tent outside the city." Last, we find him in Sodom with influence gone and angels pulling him out to keep him from being destroyed. All of this began by an improper look. No one can keep sanctified and gaze at the impure, unholy objects of this sensual age. We had better see to it that we close the blinds from seeing evil.
III. A sanctified body is one in which the ears are dedicated to 'God. They have lost all desire for blood-curdling stories, for gossip, for tattling and for tidings of aught that is evil. "A person who will lend his ears to listen to a slanderous report and feel inwardly tickled, is just as evil as the person who is doing the talking." Some people permit their ears to become a sloptub or a sewer for all the filth to pass through, and then expect the Lord to keep their souls pure. Sanctified ears are ears that are dedicated to hear the "still small voice.
IV. A sanctified body is one that dresses for the glory of God. It will never rig itself out with painted cheeks, like a Jezebel, or as do the harlots of Paris, but it will robe itself in modest apparel as becometh saints. The word habit originally meant clothing. "Habit makes character." Then it might be said that the outward dress is an indication of the inward condition of the soul. The dress that is worn by some of the leading modern church members in our days would have made a harlot blush with shame a quarter of a century ago. A young man in college wrote a piteous letter to a magazine, asking the question, "How can we poor fellows live right and keep pure and clean when the average girl dresses, or fails to dress, as she does?"
A leading rescue worker said that the bathing beach, with its thin, immodest suits, paves the way for the downfall of many precious girls. The standard of morals has been lowered in some circles until modesty is almost a thing of the past. Samples of modesty in dress are needed in this age of laxness, and, be it said, even in our so-called Holiness ranks.
Thank God for a Holiness that touches the threefold nature of man, causing him to live where the Shekinah glory dwells, shedding its influence through every part and faculty of spirit, soul and body. The "old man" has been slain, and Christ is enthroned within.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Deeper Things Part 7
A SANCTIFIED SOUL
In the previous chapter we learned that the spirit is the higher part -- the region of the conscience and of the will. The soul is the seat of the affections, understanding, emotions and tastes. We are told by the best scholars that the word "soul," translated in the Old Testament nephesh, is the exact equivalent of the New Testament word (Greek) psyche, for soul. The soul, with its emotions, sensibilities and affections is a little word within itself. It is like the ocean, with its storms and calms. Men have sailed its bosom, dived into its depths, walked up and down its shores, and still there are depths which are hidden and unknown.
We wish to notice the blessing of Sanctification as it is related to our threefold nature. Take the affections. While they are not sinful within themselves, they are in a fallen state and often prove an easy channel for sin. They are no more a safe guide than is an unenlightened conscience a correct guide. They should be brought under control of the sanctified judgment. The affections are like the tendrils of the vine whose nature it is to cling to some object. Often a beautiful vine is seen clinging to a rotten tree that is almost in the act of falling, or to some tottering wall. How often have we seen a beautiful life ruined by allowing its affections to cling to some human idol or to some forbidden object. The nature of a vine is to climb upward. So the Holy Ghost in conversion gently unwinds our affections from the low, earthly things and entwines them around things above. In Sanctification, they are purified, refined, enlarged and sweetened until even our love for friends is deeper, purer and holier.
The Bible speaks of an inordinate affection which we are to mortify and put to death, along with uncleanness and fleshly lust. In Gal. 5:24 we read: "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." There is a kind of earthly, sensual love which God says must be crucified if we live in the Spirit. Some of the darkest crimes of the ages began in the channel of unsanctified affections. Samson could strangle young lions, pick up gates of brass, slay whole armies, but he went down with a crash through unsanctified affection. There are thousands of shorn Samsons today who have had their spiritual locks clipped and have been robbed of their power by following their inordinate affection. No one is safe with an unsanctified nature. Oh, for hearts to be saved to the core!
The soul embraces the understanding, which has several departments, involving thought, reason, judgment. Then, there is the storehouse of memory and the faculty of the imagination, or image-room. When we pause to think how our future life is molded by our thoughts, and how the mind controls the body, and how the imagination, like an artist with brush in hand, is constantly painting pictures, how very essential it is to have all the powers and faculties brought under subjection and control of the Holy Ghost!
It is a psychological fact that to follow in any one line of thought produces little brain-paths, making it easy to continue in that channel of thinking, and thus is formed a fixed thought habit. It can readily be seen, then, the importance of refusing to entertain impure thoughts. Evil thoughts are like seeds blown by the wind. If allowed to remain, and if kept warm by our consent, they will produce a harvest of sin. Let us remember that chilled eggs never hatch. We can chill impure suggestions by refusing to harbor them.
In considering the storehouse of memory, it is the mission of the Comforter to bring all things to our remembrance concerning spiritual things. It is wonderful how the mind, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, becomes quickened, grasping the deep things of God and of spiritual truths with a vigor that would be impossible without this heavenly illumination. When precious truths are stored away in the subconscious mind, it is like depositing money in the bank to be drawn out for future use. Memory will bring them to consciousness when the need for them is realized. One of the blessed consolations of old age is that of a sanctified memory, recalling, as it does, a life well spent for God and for souls.
Another department of the mind is the imagination or image-room, where all kinds of pictures are painted. These are hung on the walls of the soul. The imagination is that power that can create a world of its own fancy. It can cross oceans or bring the distant near. The devil can take advantage of this faculty and use it to the destruction of the individual. This is what the Apostle meant by "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." -- 2 Cor. 10:5.
A celebrated writer describes a certain island which is every day thronged by thought-visitors. A young girl comes and spends hours here, but on her return she would not for worlds permit her mother to know of that visit. Then comes a married man who also spends hours under those beautiful shade trees. His faithful wife is all unconscious of these hours he has spent away from her in this deadly place. The writer calls this place the "Island of Imagination." How true that, without even leaving the room; trips may be taken where the vilest of earth are mingled with, the nearest of ties be sinned against, and the walls of the soul indelibly blackened and scarred. Here is where sin is conceived and has its birth. Oh, how we need to crush, as we would a viper, every unholy imagination! The Holy Spirit does not destroy this wonderful faculty in Sanctification; He only purifies it, until thought pictures can be painted of Jesus, Heaven, the Second Coming and heavenly things.
Next in order are the emotions of the soul. Psychologists have classified them forty-two in number, but only two shall be here considered. These are the pure and impure -- the holy and unholy. All pure emotions, such as love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, are constructive and real health-builders. Consider the power of love. It can transform any condition of life and make the heart that once was a nest of vipers blossom like an Eden. Love drives from the soul all hatred, malice, envy, strife and bitterness, at the same time starting emotions to working and flowing until every part of the mental and physical being is affected. Love puts a kindly tone in the voice, and a tenderness in the eye that changes the expression of the entire face. There is nothing more beautifying than pure, radiant joy.
Joy is the best stimulant and tonic that has been found for soul and body. It drives away blues and doubts and fears, and arouses all the faculties of the soul, putting it at its best for God and for humanity.
Peace quiets the nerves, takes the tired, careworn look from the face, and leaves in its stead the soft, lovelight from the hills of Glory.
Kindness has a reaction on the heart. It is impossible to do a kind act without being repaid in a sweetness that is beyond expression. While this is true, it is also true that hatred, malice, jealousy and envy have a deadening effect on all the faculties of soul and body.
Anger is like a furnace of fire. It quickens the circulation and produces heart trouble. Continued anger weakens the body equal to an attack of fever. It also poisons the blood and undermines the health. Another destructive force is malice. It has been said that malice is "anger cooled off." It dries up all of the finer sensibilities of the soul and puts a hard expression on the face; it drives kindness and tenderness from the heart; it eventually seriously injures the digestive organs.
The great blessing of Entire Sanctification affects every emotion of soul and body.
Again, belonging to the soul is another faculty of no small import. This is the faculty of taste. It is really surprising how much of life is governed by this power. Just as the taste of the mouth decides the kind of food to be taken into the system, so the inner taste of the soul decides the character of pabulum that is to be taken into the moral and spiritual life.
There are those who have a musical taste which, unless sanctified and dedicated to God, will prove a snare instead of a blessing. A leading evangelist tells of a beautiful, talented young girl who had an old-fashioned, sanctified mother. But this girl refused to take the narrow way, choosing rather to enjoy the cheap fame of a moving-picture star than to consecrate her gifts to the lowly Nazarene. Her brilliant musical powers brought her renown from ocean to ocean. While in the height of her glory, only a short time ago, she was found in her room in a hotel, murdered in a manner too horrible to relate, robbed of her jewels, her purity, her life, and her soul sent to hell. Her perverted taste had proved her doom. Much of the so-called "fine arts" is nothing more nor less than refined lust. A sanctified taste has no secret longings for the tawdry things of life, for worldly dress, for chaffy literature, for gay society nor worldly amusements. But the heart ever sings:
"Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved;
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved."
In the previous chapter we learned that the spirit is the higher part -- the region of the conscience and of the will. The soul is the seat of the affections, understanding, emotions and tastes. We are told by the best scholars that the word "soul," translated in the Old Testament nephesh, is the exact equivalent of the New Testament word (Greek) psyche, for soul. The soul, with its emotions, sensibilities and affections is a little word within itself. It is like the ocean, with its storms and calms. Men have sailed its bosom, dived into its depths, walked up and down its shores, and still there are depths which are hidden and unknown.
We wish to notice the blessing of Sanctification as it is related to our threefold nature. Take the affections. While they are not sinful within themselves, they are in a fallen state and often prove an easy channel for sin. They are no more a safe guide than is an unenlightened conscience a correct guide. They should be brought under control of the sanctified judgment. The affections are like the tendrils of the vine whose nature it is to cling to some object. Often a beautiful vine is seen clinging to a rotten tree that is almost in the act of falling, or to some tottering wall. How often have we seen a beautiful life ruined by allowing its affections to cling to some human idol or to some forbidden object. The nature of a vine is to climb upward. So the Holy Ghost in conversion gently unwinds our affections from the low, earthly things and entwines them around things above. In Sanctification, they are purified, refined, enlarged and sweetened until even our love for friends is deeper, purer and holier.
The Bible speaks of an inordinate affection which we are to mortify and put to death, along with uncleanness and fleshly lust. In Gal. 5:24 we read: "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." There is a kind of earthly, sensual love which God says must be crucified if we live in the Spirit. Some of the darkest crimes of the ages began in the channel of unsanctified affections. Samson could strangle young lions, pick up gates of brass, slay whole armies, but he went down with a crash through unsanctified affection. There are thousands of shorn Samsons today who have had their spiritual locks clipped and have been robbed of their power by following their inordinate affection. No one is safe with an unsanctified nature. Oh, for hearts to be saved to the core!
The soul embraces the understanding, which has several departments, involving thought, reason, judgment. Then, there is the storehouse of memory and the faculty of the imagination, or image-room. When we pause to think how our future life is molded by our thoughts, and how the mind controls the body, and how the imagination, like an artist with brush in hand, is constantly painting pictures, how very essential it is to have all the powers and faculties brought under subjection and control of the Holy Ghost!
It is a psychological fact that to follow in any one line of thought produces little brain-paths, making it easy to continue in that channel of thinking, and thus is formed a fixed thought habit. It can readily be seen, then, the importance of refusing to entertain impure thoughts. Evil thoughts are like seeds blown by the wind. If allowed to remain, and if kept warm by our consent, they will produce a harvest of sin. Let us remember that chilled eggs never hatch. We can chill impure suggestions by refusing to harbor them.
In considering the storehouse of memory, it is the mission of the Comforter to bring all things to our remembrance concerning spiritual things. It is wonderful how the mind, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, becomes quickened, grasping the deep things of God and of spiritual truths with a vigor that would be impossible without this heavenly illumination. When precious truths are stored away in the subconscious mind, it is like depositing money in the bank to be drawn out for future use. Memory will bring them to consciousness when the need for them is realized. One of the blessed consolations of old age is that of a sanctified memory, recalling, as it does, a life well spent for God and for souls.
Another department of the mind is the imagination or image-room, where all kinds of pictures are painted. These are hung on the walls of the soul. The imagination is that power that can create a world of its own fancy. It can cross oceans or bring the distant near. The devil can take advantage of this faculty and use it to the destruction of the individual. This is what the Apostle meant by "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." -- 2 Cor. 10:5.
A celebrated writer describes a certain island which is every day thronged by thought-visitors. A young girl comes and spends hours here, but on her return she would not for worlds permit her mother to know of that visit. Then comes a married man who also spends hours under those beautiful shade trees. His faithful wife is all unconscious of these hours he has spent away from her in this deadly place. The writer calls this place the "Island of Imagination." How true that, without even leaving the room; trips may be taken where the vilest of earth are mingled with, the nearest of ties be sinned against, and the walls of the soul indelibly blackened and scarred. Here is where sin is conceived and has its birth. Oh, how we need to crush, as we would a viper, every unholy imagination! The Holy Spirit does not destroy this wonderful faculty in Sanctification; He only purifies it, until thought pictures can be painted of Jesus, Heaven, the Second Coming and heavenly things.
Next in order are the emotions of the soul. Psychologists have classified them forty-two in number, but only two shall be here considered. These are the pure and impure -- the holy and unholy. All pure emotions, such as love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, are constructive and real health-builders. Consider the power of love. It can transform any condition of life and make the heart that once was a nest of vipers blossom like an Eden. Love drives from the soul all hatred, malice, envy, strife and bitterness, at the same time starting emotions to working and flowing until every part of the mental and physical being is affected. Love puts a kindly tone in the voice, and a tenderness in the eye that changes the expression of the entire face. There is nothing more beautifying than pure, radiant joy.
Joy is the best stimulant and tonic that has been found for soul and body. It drives away blues and doubts and fears, and arouses all the faculties of the soul, putting it at its best for God and for humanity.
Peace quiets the nerves, takes the tired, careworn look from the face, and leaves in its stead the soft, lovelight from the hills of Glory.
Kindness has a reaction on the heart. It is impossible to do a kind act without being repaid in a sweetness that is beyond expression. While this is true, it is also true that hatred, malice, jealousy and envy have a deadening effect on all the faculties of soul and body.
Anger is like a furnace of fire. It quickens the circulation and produces heart trouble. Continued anger weakens the body equal to an attack of fever. It also poisons the blood and undermines the health. Another destructive force is malice. It has been said that malice is "anger cooled off." It dries up all of the finer sensibilities of the soul and puts a hard expression on the face; it drives kindness and tenderness from the heart; it eventually seriously injures the digestive organs.
The great blessing of Entire Sanctification affects every emotion of soul and body.
Again, belonging to the soul is another faculty of no small import. This is the faculty of taste. It is really surprising how much of life is governed by this power. Just as the taste of the mouth decides the kind of food to be taken into the system, so the inner taste of the soul decides the character of pabulum that is to be taken into the moral and spiritual life.
There are those who have a musical taste which, unless sanctified and dedicated to God, will prove a snare instead of a blessing. A leading evangelist tells of a beautiful, talented young girl who had an old-fashioned, sanctified mother. But this girl refused to take the narrow way, choosing rather to enjoy the cheap fame of a moving-picture star than to consecrate her gifts to the lowly Nazarene. Her brilliant musical powers brought her renown from ocean to ocean. While in the height of her glory, only a short time ago, she was found in her room in a hotel, murdered in a manner too horrible to relate, robbed of her jewels, her purity, her life, and her soul sent to hell. Her perverted taste had proved her doom. Much of the so-called "fine arts" is nothing more nor less than refined lust. A sanctified taste has no secret longings for the tawdry things of life, for worldly dress, for chaffy literature, for gay society nor worldly amusements. But the heart ever sings:
"Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved;
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved."
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Deeper Things Part 6
A SANCTIFIED SPIRIT
"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." -- 1 Thess. 5:23.
Man has been called a trinity according to the philosophy of the Apostle in the above text, and also other Scriptures. He is a trinity, consisting of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the higher part, that which knows and is capable of God consciousness, worship and communion; receiving intuitively impressions from the heavenly world. It is the region of conscience, that which discerns between right and wrong. Here its voice is heard. It is the region of the will -- the king of man -- that which chooses and shapes our destiny.
The spirit is the inner man of the soul, and possesses five senses; the same as the body. In one who is not a Christian these senses are unawakened. That spirit and soul are not identical is proven by the Apostle in Heb. 4:12, speaking, as he does, of the Word of God, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." The soul and spirit do not, of course, occupy separate space, but are, like light, heat and air which fill the room simultaneously.
Man has been likened to a three-story building; the basement representing the body; the first story, the soul, and that of the upper, the spirit. The multitudes live in the basement -- the base, fleshly part of their natures -- their highest desire being to gratify the body, with its appetites and passions. This is the lowest plane on which a human can live; it is the plane of the animal nature. Others live a step higher, dwelling in their emotions and affections. Art, music, literature, culture and refinement appeal to them. This, however, is only a soulish, natural life. But God's thought and plan for His creatures is that they live up in the spiritual realm where the spirit controls the entire man.
The spirit is not the emotional and intellectual part of man's being; this belongs to the soul. The word for "spirit" in the New Testament Greek is pneuma, while that for soul is psyche, which means "mind." To say that spirit and soul are identical is to reduce Christianity to a mere intellectual state where our holy religion consists of Christlikeness, holy tempers and sweet dispositions. There is a great deal of mental religion which consists in accepting Christ from a mental standpoint without any radical change of heart. Here is a truth that should be known. There is such a thing as having an emotional, soulish sensation and a so-called conversion without being regenerated in the higher, spiritual nature, where the conscience and the will have their throne. The religion of some people seems to consist principally of their emotions. They can do questionable things and do not seem to suffer in their consciences. For instance, a certain lady making a high profession affirmed that her conscience did not condemn her while she was resorting to every conceivable means to thwart God's plan in her life. Some can leave old debts for others to pay; but let them get stirred in their emotions, and they can make enough noise for a whole camp meeting. If we are not careful, we shall be shouting over things for which we should be repenting.
When the Bible speaks of the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, neither being able to know them because they are spiritually discerned, the term physical man is used. The natural, physical man does not necessarily mean a low, brutal man. Dr. A. B. Simpson, in "Holy Spirit, or Power from on High," says: "When the New Testament talks about the natural man, it does not mean a gross, sordid, sensual, brutal wretch, groveling in swinish lusts. But it means a man with all the graces and gifts of the highest genius and the most refined culture. He may be a poet like Shakespeare, a composer like Mozart, a sculptor like Phidas, a painter like Raphael, an architect like Wren or an orator like Cicero, or with a face as beautiful as an angel and a life as virtuous and stainless as a marble statue, and yet be all purely natural, earth-born, and a mere soulish man. . . . Now, everybody knows that Psyche was not the figure of sensualism, but of beauty, virtue and moral purity." All this can be true without the individual's being saved and knowing the things of the Spirit. There are many counterfeits of Holy Ghost religion, one of the most subtle of which is culture, refinement and polished deportment. These can not be substituted for the Holy Ghost.
What is meant by being sanctified in the threefold nature? We shall begin with the spirit where the apostle commences. If you will notice in the erection of the tabernacle, that wonderful edifice which is a symbol of great spiritual truths, that they began with the holy of holies, where the Shekinah glory dwelt. They then worked outward until the outer court was complete. When God makes a saint, He begins in the spirit, where conscience reigns. To have a sanctified spirit means a purged conscience that has been so quickened and made so sensitive to God and things Divine that the least harsh or unkind word burns on the soul's sensibilities like a live coal.
It means a good conscience -- one that makes us honest with ourselves, and will not allow us to make a better impression on the public than we really feel in our hearts that we deserve; one that will not allow us to do small, mean, underhanded tricks. There is no such thing as deep piety without a live, quickened conscience.
The writer knew a leading minister who preached a great sermon. No doubt he had worked on it for a long time. Soon after this, he saw this sermon in book form, word for word, with the name of a young preacher appended as the author. This is what the world would call downright stealing. Decency and honesty alone would have required him to give due credit to the real author.
A young girl, by defrauding her classmate of her original essay won a medal over her at Commencement. The girl from whom the paper was taken was by far the happier of the two. Oh, the miserable, wretched condition of a stinging conscience. If we understand the power of conscience, it has a fourfold office: (1) It is the voice of God in the soul, warning against wrong. (2) It is a living witness and testifies against every wrong committed. (3) It ascends the judgment throne and proceeds to pronounce sentence against the guilty victim. (4) It descends from the judgment throne and lashes the soul with the scorpion's whip. To have a good conscience means an unaccusing conscience; a restful, peaceful, purged and quickened conscience.
If our bodies are God's temples, then in these temples dwell the spirit -- the holy of holies, the heart -- the ark of the covenant which holds the law. Here conscience reigns like a heavenly queen approving the right, condemning the wrong. Not only is the spirit the region of conscience, but it is that power that chooses, known as the will.
To have a sanctified spirit means a subdued, conquered will. If all who profess Holiness were really subdued and broken in will, God could get missionaries by the tens of thousands. We would let Him make all of our appointments.
There are two different departments of the will. One is the power of choice; the other the perseverance or the determination to go through at all costs. The secret of Daniel's strength of character was his fixed purpose to go through; so when the test came, he stood (Dan. 1:8). If today we had more preaching of the Finney type, where people were taught to enter into covenant relation with God until their wills gripped God's, we should have more converts of the old-fashioned type.
A sanctified spirit is a filled spirit, one in which the image and likeness of Jesus is stamped, and in which the spiritual senses are so clarified and quickened that spiritual truths become as real to the spirit, as the physical world is to the natural, senses. A sanctified spirit is a clean spirit, properly speaking. The incoming of the Holy Ghost first of all is purifying. The order is first cleansing, then empowering. There is a teaching abroad just now that one can have the Holy Ghost for service and power, but purifying efficacy is disclaimed. The baptism of the Holy Ghost not only cleanses the heart from all sin, but simultaneously fills it. Thousands are ready to seek to be filled with the Spirit, but have a distaste for the cleansing. But, remember, there is no such thing as a Spirit-filled life apart from Entire Sanctification.
A sanctified spirit is a gentle spirit -- one that is saved from harshness and roughness. Some think that power consists in being rough, loud and noisy, but it is true that, as one has said, "The ruin of spirituality among modern Christians is putting the fussy doing of religion ahead of the deep, Divine, inward being, like Jesus." A gentle spirit is a conquered, melted and subdued spirit. It has been bathed in a heavenly sea of tenderness. It can suffer injuries and receive all kinds of abuse and ill treatment without any bitterness. There is a great deal of mental and logical Sanctification nowadays which consists in saying that the altar sanctifies the gift, and in putting one's self on the altar and saying, "I am sanctified." But such an one knows nothing about the heart-throbs of Gethsemane or death to the "old man." Real gentleness comes only through suffering and death to self.
A sanctified spirit is a humble spirit. A holiness that does not produce humility is a sham and a spurious kind. There is nothing more beautiful in the Christian experience than a real, humble, Christlike spirit, where all the self-life and religious human strut and blustering have been burned out. Real humility makes us little in our own eyes, where we are willing to be overlooked and not feel sore or hurt. Humility likes to take a lowly seat. It can go through a camp meeting and not feel slighted or offended if not called upon or recognized. This kind of spirit never pulls wires for a place. It does not have to be the "bell sheep" to be kept in a good humor. Andrew Murray says: "Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble (not like the world). It is never to be fretted, vexed, irritated, sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, when I am blamed or when I am despised."
"When the soul enters Sanctification it is just the beginning of this spirit, which is to spread, intensify and brighten until crucifixion becomes an all-consuming passion, a sweetly, sorrowful, sadly beautiful flame, of self-abnegation, which takes hold of all sorts of woes, and troubles, and mortifications, and pains, poverties, and hardships, as a very hot fire takes hold on wet logs and makes out of them fresh fuel for more self-sacrificing love.
"This is the spirit that opens the gate of Heaven without touching it. This is the spirit that wears out the patience of persecutors, that softens the heart of stone, that in the long run converts enemies into friends, that touches the hearts of sinners, that wins its way through a thousand obstacles, that outwits the genius of the devil and that makes the soul that has it as precious to God as the apple of His eye."
"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." -- 1 Thess. 5:23.
Man has been called a trinity according to the philosophy of the Apostle in the above text, and also other Scriptures. He is a trinity, consisting of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the higher part, that which knows and is capable of God consciousness, worship and communion; receiving intuitively impressions from the heavenly world. It is the region of conscience, that which discerns between right and wrong. Here its voice is heard. It is the region of the will -- the king of man -- that which chooses and shapes our destiny.
The spirit is the inner man of the soul, and possesses five senses; the same as the body. In one who is not a Christian these senses are unawakened. That spirit and soul are not identical is proven by the Apostle in Heb. 4:12, speaking, as he does, of the Word of God, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." The soul and spirit do not, of course, occupy separate space, but are, like light, heat and air which fill the room simultaneously.
Man has been likened to a three-story building; the basement representing the body; the first story, the soul, and that of the upper, the spirit. The multitudes live in the basement -- the base, fleshly part of their natures -- their highest desire being to gratify the body, with its appetites and passions. This is the lowest plane on which a human can live; it is the plane of the animal nature. Others live a step higher, dwelling in their emotions and affections. Art, music, literature, culture and refinement appeal to them. This, however, is only a soulish, natural life. But God's thought and plan for His creatures is that they live up in the spiritual realm where the spirit controls the entire man.
The spirit is not the emotional and intellectual part of man's being; this belongs to the soul. The word for "spirit" in the New Testament Greek is pneuma, while that for soul is psyche, which means "mind." To say that spirit and soul are identical is to reduce Christianity to a mere intellectual state where our holy religion consists of Christlikeness, holy tempers and sweet dispositions. There is a great deal of mental religion which consists in accepting Christ from a mental standpoint without any radical change of heart. Here is a truth that should be known. There is such a thing as having an emotional, soulish sensation and a so-called conversion without being regenerated in the higher, spiritual nature, where the conscience and the will have their throne. The religion of some people seems to consist principally of their emotions. They can do questionable things and do not seem to suffer in their consciences. For instance, a certain lady making a high profession affirmed that her conscience did not condemn her while she was resorting to every conceivable means to thwart God's plan in her life. Some can leave old debts for others to pay; but let them get stirred in their emotions, and they can make enough noise for a whole camp meeting. If we are not careful, we shall be shouting over things for which we should be repenting.
When the Bible speaks of the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, neither being able to know them because they are spiritually discerned, the term physical man is used. The natural, physical man does not necessarily mean a low, brutal man. Dr. A. B. Simpson, in "Holy Spirit, or Power from on High," says: "When the New Testament talks about the natural man, it does not mean a gross, sordid, sensual, brutal wretch, groveling in swinish lusts. But it means a man with all the graces and gifts of the highest genius and the most refined culture. He may be a poet like Shakespeare, a composer like Mozart, a sculptor like Phidas, a painter like Raphael, an architect like Wren or an orator like Cicero, or with a face as beautiful as an angel and a life as virtuous and stainless as a marble statue, and yet be all purely natural, earth-born, and a mere soulish man. . . . Now, everybody knows that Psyche was not the figure of sensualism, but of beauty, virtue and moral purity." All this can be true without the individual's being saved and knowing the things of the Spirit. There are many counterfeits of Holy Ghost religion, one of the most subtle of which is culture, refinement and polished deportment. These can not be substituted for the Holy Ghost.
What is meant by being sanctified in the threefold nature? We shall begin with the spirit where the apostle commences. If you will notice in the erection of the tabernacle, that wonderful edifice which is a symbol of great spiritual truths, that they began with the holy of holies, where the Shekinah glory dwelt. They then worked outward until the outer court was complete. When God makes a saint, He begins in the spirit, where conscience reigns. To have a sanctified spirit means a purged conscience that has been so quickened and made so sensitive to God and things Divine that the least harsh or unkind word burns on the soul's sensibilities like a live coal.
It means a good conscience -- one that makes us honest with ourselves, and will not allow us to make a better impression on the public than we really feel in our hearts that we deserve; one that will not allow us to do small, mean, underhanded tricks. There is no such thing as deep piety without a live, quickened conscience.
The writer knew a leading minister who preached a great sermon. No doubt he had worked on it for a long time. Soon after this, he saw this sermon in book form, word for word, with the name of a young preacher appended as the author. This is what the world would call downright stealing. Decency and honesty alone would have required him to give due credit to the real author.
A young girl, by defrauding her classmate of her original essay won a medal over her at Commencement. The girl from whom the paper was taken was by far the happier of the two. Oh, the miserable, wretched condition of a stinging conscience. If we understand the power of conscience, it has a fourfold office: (1) It is the voice of God in the soul, warning against wrong. (2) It is a living witness and testifies against every wrong committed. (3) It ascends the judgment throne and proceeds to pronounce sentence against the guilty victim. (4) It descends from the judgment throne and lashes the soul with the scorpion's whip. To have a good conscience means an unaccusing conscience; a restful, peaceful, purged and quickened conscience.
If our bodies are God's temples, then in these temples dwell the spirit -- the holy of holies, the heart -- the ark of the covenant which holds the law. Here conscience reigns like a heavenly queen approving the right, condemning the wrong. Not only is the spirit the region of conscience, but it is that power that chooses, known as the will.
To have a sanctified spirit means a subdued, conquered will. If all who profess Holiness were really subdued and broken in will, God could get missionaries by the tens of thousands. We would let Him make all of our appointments.
There are two different departments of the will. One is the power of choice; the other the perseverance or the determination to go through at all costs. The secret of Daniel's strength of character was his fixed purpose to go through; so when the test came, he stood (Dan. 1:8). If today we had more preaching of the Finney type, where people were taught to enter into covenant relation with God until their wills gripped God's, we should have more converts of the old-fashioned type.
A sanctified spirit is a filled spirit, one in which the image and likeness of Jesus is stamped, and in which the spiritual senses are so clarified and quickened that spiritual truths become as real to the spirit, as the physical world is to the natural, senses. A sanctified spirit is a clean spirit, properly speaking. The incoming of the Holy Ghost first of all is purifying. The order is first cleansing, then empowering. There is a teaching abroad just now that one can have the Holy Ghost for service and power, but purifying efficacy is disclaimed. The baptism of the Holy Ghost not only cleanses the heart from all sin, but simultaneously fills it. Thousands are ready to seek to be filled with the Spirit, but have a distaste for the cleansing. But, remember, there is no such thing as a Spirit-filled life apart from Entire Sanctification.
A sanctified spirit is a gentle spirit -- one that is saved from harshness and roughness. Some think that power consists in being rough, loud and noisy, but it is true that, as one has said, "The ruin of spirituality among modern Christians is putting the fussy doing of religion ahead of the deep, Divine, inward being, like Jesus." A gentle spirit is a conquered, melted and subdued spirit. It has been bathed in a heavenly sea of tenderness. It can suffer injuries and receive all kinds of abuse and ill treatment without any bitterness. There is a great deal of mental and logical Sanctification nowadays which consists in saying that the altar sanctifies the gift, and in putting one's self on the altar and saying, "I am sanctified." But such an one knows nothing about the heart-throbs of Gethsemane or death to the "old man." Real gentleness comes only through suffering and death to self.
A sanctified spirit is a humble spirit. A holiness that does not produce humility is a sham and a spurious kind. There is nothing more beautiful in the Christian experience than a real, humble, Christlike spirit, where all the self-life and religious human strut and blustering have been burned out. Real humility makes us little in our own eyes, where we are willing to be overlooked and not feel sore or hurt. Humility likes to take a lowly seat. It can go through a camp meeting and not feel slighted or offended if not called upon or recognized. This kind of spirit never pulls wires for a place. It does not have to be the "bell sheep" to be kept in a good humor. Andrew Murray says: "Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble (not like the world). It is never to be fretted, vexed, irritated, sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, when I am blamed or when I am despised."
"When the soul enters Sanctification it is just the beginning of this spirit, which is to spread, intensify and brighten until crucifixion becomes an all-consuming passion, a sweetly, sorrowful, sadly beautiful flame, of self-abnegation, which takes hold of all sorts of woes, and troubles, and mortifications, and pains, poverties, and hardships, as a very hot fire takes hold on wet logs and makes out of them fresh fuel for more self-sacrificing love.
"This is the spirit that opens the gate of Heaven without touching it. This is the spirit that wears out the patience of persecutors, that softens the heart of stone, that in the long run converts enemies into friends, that touches the hearts of sinners, that wins its way through a thousand obstacles, that outwits the genius of the devil and that makes the soul that has it as precious to God as the apple of His eye."
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Deeper Things Part 5
Dr. John A. Wood, noted for his deep piety, after his wonderful baptism with the Holy Ghost, says: "Some of the precious results of the cleansing power of Jesus in my soul have been --
1. A sacred nearness to God my Savior. The distance between God and my soul has appeared annihilated, and the glory and presence of Divinity have often appeared like a flood of sunlight, surrounding, penetrating and pervading my whole being. Glory be to God, that even the most unworthy may be 'brought nigh by the blood of Christ!'
2. A sense of indescribable sweetness in Christ. The fact that He is the 'Rose of Sharon,' 'The Lily of the Valley,' 'The Bright and Morning Star,' 'The brightness of His (the Father's) glory,' and is altogether lovely, has at times so penetrated my soul as to thrill it with ecstatic rapture. Oh, how glorious and lovely has the dear Savior appeared to my soul, and how strong the attraction my heart has felt toward Him! Often His glory has shone upon my soul without a cloud."
Dr. B. Carradine tells the following: "A very superior Christian lady was seeking the blessing of Sanctification at an altar in a California city during one of our meetings. She had been instructed what to do, and had obeyed. All was on the altar. She was believing that the altar sanctified the gift, and stood looking upward as if watching for the descent of the Blessing. The writer felt moved to say to her, 'My sister, look into your heart and tell me what you see.' She closed her eyes, introverted her gaze, and in the next instant opened her eyes with a look of joy in her face, and a rapturous cry that we can never forget: 'Oh, He has come! Christ is in there!' Then followed, for nearly a half hour, a torrent of spiritual eloquence from her lips as she 'prophesied' before a spellbound audience. Months afterward we met her in another city, when, with a smile of unutterable rest, she said, 'He is still in there.' Speaking of it afterward, she said, 'When you told me to look within, I did, and the instant I did so I saw the Savior, and oh, He did smile upon me; and now whenever I look within, He is still there, always with the same sweet smile. . . . Thank God for an inward revelation! Not all have it. We can tell it by the faces of the people. Such a secret possessed by the soul could not but flash in the countenance, gleam in the eye, ring in the voice.'"
Let us notice what is meant by Christ being enthroned within. It
means purity.
He will not dwell in an impure temple. The first thing Christ did when He entered the Jewish temple was to cleanse it. Three years later He cleansed the temple the second time, which has its spiritual meaning and fulfillment. We are told that on His second entrance He came riding on an ass, which is the symbol of humility. All strut, swagger and egotism leaves the heart in which Christ dwells. Here we see also Divinity on top of the animal. Sanctification is that blessed work which puts the physical on the bottom and the spiritual on the top. Again, on His second entrance to the temple, we are told the people began to rejoice and shout. If there is anything that will start the shouts of Hosanna! Hallelujah! and turn loose a Heavenly choir in the soul, it is when Christ enters the temple in His cleansing, sanctifying power to take up His abode.
On His second entrance to the temple, the people spread their garments in the way. Here we see the dress question settled. It is put under Christ's feet. It seems to take the Second Blessing to properly adjust the dress question. Many a costly, showy, stylish garment comes off when the Savior comes in.
We are told that, as He entered, the people cut palm branches and spread them in the way. The palm branch has always been a symbol of victory. Here the soul begins its victorious march onward and upward. Isaiah says, "And thy mourning days shall be ended; sorrow and sighing shall flee away; and thy sun shall go down no more."
Thank God for a never-setting-sun experience which refuses to be discouraged! The hand drops the weeping willow which stands for defeats, failures, sorrow and sighing, and lays hold of the palm branch and waves it over Satan, sin, doubt and fear, and presses its way onward to another mountain peak. How can the soul be defeated with Christ reigning within?
Christ crowned within means constant victory over temptations. Just as a red-hot stove will throw off cold water and a live wire is its own protection, so Christ enthroned in the heart wards off the assaults of Satan and holds the soul steady and calm in the midst of conflict and fiery temptations. The beauty of being sanctified and cured to the core is that when Satan comes with evil suggestions and makes his appeal to the appetites, passions and affections, there is nothing on the inside that wants to respond.
As long as sin is in the heart it makes it easy for the devil to get in his work and disturb the peace of the soul. The difference between the temptations of the converted and that of the sanctified soul is that, in the sanctified experience, the battle has been transferred to the outside. Sometimes the most severe battles with the unsanctified are caused by the inward foe that wants to open the door to the tempter. Inbred sin is the seed and root of all sin. The writer to the Hebrews calls it the sin which doth so easily beset us -- that weak place in one's character where he is more likely to fall.
Judas' besetting sin was that of covetousness, which was the weak point in which the devil found gateway to his soul and caused him to turn traitor and go to a devil's hell. Sampson's besetting sin was an inordinate affection and undue love for the opposite sex. It is said that we are no stronger than our weakest point, but God's plan is to save us and crucify us to the fleshly life and enthrone Christ within, that right at the point where we have been the weakest we shall have complete victory. The ancient Parthians believed that the strength of every enemy they defeated went directly unto them. Suppose this was true. How could we stand before such a being? Spiritually this is true. With every triumph over a foe there is a growing strength and power until the soul learns to take from conquered difficulties the strength they sought to take from us.
Christ within you, the hope of glory, makes dying easy. St. Paul refused to use the word "death" in regard to his home-going. He used the word "depart," which was an old word used in connection with a ship leaving one port for another. A ship was not made to tie up at a port, but to sail the deep and plow through the storms, ride the billows and come in on the other side with a full cargo. The soul was not made for this short life. There are longings and cravings that will take all eternity to unfold and develop. The Apostle Peter, in his second epistle, chapter one, speaks of the abundant entrance given to those who have escaped the corrupt nature -- which means the depraved nature -- and are made partakers of the Divine nature, and have added all the Divine graces to their experience. He says they shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. This is something more than scarcely being saved, which is applied to a class in I Peter 4:18. The only comment we would make on this verse is that we see this acted out in a great many of our revivals every year. Some just barely get saved a few days before death. Here is still more light on it. Numbers, for the lack of light and teaching on Holiness, put off getting sanctified until near death's door. On account of the remaining carnality in their hearts there is a shirking from going into the white light of eternity. They are prayed with and dealt with until, at last, they say they are reconciled to go.
Dr. S. A. Keen, the noted evangelist, said that 75 per cent of the professed Christians of his day, whom he was called to visit in the dying hour, were unprepared to die. The testimony of all the saints down through the Church age was that Christ enthroned within robbed death of its sting and the grave of its gloom, and made leaving this world the "Saints' great Coronation Day."
Some years ago the writer read of a ship that was overdue. The crowds had been anxiously waiting for some news for days. At last the telegram announced that she had been sighted at sea. A later one said she was in the narrows and nearing the harbor. Finally, she came steaming toward her moorings, covered with ice, her boats swept away in the storm, one engine broken down; but, in spite of all, she had locked in with the storm, mounted ten thousand billows, and had come in with hundreds of passengers. Amidst the playing of bands and the boom of a cannon she received a glorious welcome. If the approaching of a ship will draw multitudes to welcome her, who can doubt but that Heaven's shores will be lined to welcome those who have braved the storms, and have mounted thousands of billows and kept their heads above the waves. What does it matter if they were misunderstood, slandered, wrongly attacked? They are nearing Home, while angels shout and all Heaven gives them welcome Home.
1. A sacred nearness to God my Savior. The distance between God and my soul has appeared annihilated, and the glory and presence of Divinity have often appeared like a flood of sunlight, surrounding, penetrating and pervading my whole being. Glory be to God, that even the most unworthy may be 'brought nigh by the blood of Christ!'
2. A sense of indescribable sweetness in Christ. The fact that He is the 'Rose of Sharon,' 'The Lily of the Valley,' 'The Bright and Morning Star,' 'The brightness of His (the Father's) glory,' and is altogether lovely, has at times so penetrated my soul as to thrill it with ecstatic rapture. Oh, how glorious and lovely has the dear Savior appeared to my soul, and how strong the attraction my heart has felt toward Him! Often His glory has shone upon my soul without a cloud."
Dr. B. Carradine tells the following: "A very superior Christian lady was seeking the blessing of Sanctification at an altar in a California city during one of our meetings. She had been instructed what to do, and had obeyed. All was on the altar. She was believing that the altar sanctified the gift, and stood looking upward as if watching for the descent of the Blessing. The writer felt moved to say to her, 'My sister, look into your heart and tell me what you see.' She closed her eyes, introverted her gaze, and in the next instant opened her eyes with a look of joy in her face, and a rapturous cry that we can never forget: 'Oh, He has come! Christ is in there!' Then followed, for nearly a half hour, a torrent of spiritual eloquence from her lips as she 'prophesied' before a spellbound audience. Months afterward we met her in another city, when, with a smile of unutterable rest, she said, 'He is still in there.' Speaking of it afterward, she said, 'When you told me to look within, I did, and the instant I did so I saw the Savior, and oh, He did smile upon me; and now whenever I look within, He is still there, always with the same sweet smile. . . . Thank God for an inward revelation! Not all have it. We can tell it by the faces of the people. Such a secret possessed by the soul could not but flash in the countenance, gleam in the eye, ring in the voice.'"
Let us notice what is meant by Christ being enthroned within. It
means purity.
He will not dwell in an impure temple. The first thing Christ did when He entered the Jewish temple was to cleanse it. Three years later He cleansed the temple the second time, which has its spiritual meaning and fulfillment. We are told that on His second entrance He came riding on an ass, which is the symbol of humility. All strut, swagger and egotism leaves the heart in which Christ dwells. Here we see also Divinity on top of the animal. Sanctification is that blessed work which puts the physical on the bottom and the spiritual on the top. Again, on His second entrance to the temple, we are told the people began to rejoice and shout. If there is anything that will start the shouts of Hosanna! Hallelujah! and turn loose a Heavenly choir in the soul, it is when Christ enters the temple in His cleansing, sanctifying power to take up His abode.
On His second entrance to the temple, the people spread their garments in the way. Here we see the dress question settled. It is put under Christ's feet. It seems to take the Second Blessing to properly adjust the dress question. Many a costly, showy, stylish garment comes off when the Savior comes in.
We are told that, as He entered, the people cut palm branches and spread them in the way. The palm branch has always been a symbol of victory. Here the soul begins its victorious march onward and upward. Isaiah says, "And thy mourning days shall be ended; sorrow and sighing shall flee away; and thy sun shall go down no more."
Thank God for a never-setting-sun experience which refuses to be discouraged! The hand drops the weeping willow which stands for defeats, failures, sorrow and sighing, and lays hold of the palm branch and waves it over Satan, sin, doubt and fear, and presses its way onward to another mountain peak. How can the soul be defeated with Christ reigning within?
Christ crowned within means constant victory over temptations. Just as a red-hot stove will throw off cold water and a live wire is its own protection, so Christ enthroned in the heart wards off the assaults of Satan and holds the soul steady and calm in the midst of conflict and fiery temptations. The beauty of being sanctified and cured to the core is that when Satan comes with evil suggestions and makes his appeal to the appetites, passions and affections, there is nothing on the inside that wants to respond.
As long as sin is in the heart it makes it easy for the devil to get in his work and disturb the peace of the soul. The difference between the temptations of the converted and that of the sanctified soul is that, in the sanctified experience, the battle has been transferred to the outside. Sometimes the most severe battles with the unsanctified are caused by the inward foe that wants to open the door to the tempter. Inbred sin is the seed and root of all sin. The writer to the Hebrews calls it the sin which doth so easily beset us -- that weak place in one's character where he is more likely to fall.
Judas' besetting sin was that of covetousness, which was the weak point in which the devil found gateway to his soul and caused him to turn traitor and go to a devil's hell. Sampson's besetting sin was an inordinate affection and undue love for the opposite sex. It is said that we are no stronger than our weakest point, but God's plan is to save us and crucify us to the fleshly life and enthrone Christ within, that right at the point where we have been the weakest we shall have complete victory. The ancient Parthians believed that the strength of every enemy they defeated went directly unto them. Suppose this was true. How could we stand before such a being? Spiritually this is true. With every triumph over a foe there is a growing strength and power until the soul learns to take from conquered difficulties the strength they sought to take from us.
Christ within you, the hope of glory, makes dying easy. St. Paul refused to use the word "death" in regard to his home-going. He used the word "depart," which was an old word used in connection with a ship leaving one port for another. A ship was not made to tie up at a port, but to sail the deep and plow through the storms, ride the billows and come in on the other side with a full cargo. The soul was not made for this short life. There are longings and cravings that will take all eternity to unfold and develop. The Apostle Peter, in his second epistle, chapter one, speaks of the abundant entrance given to those who have escaped the corrupt nature -- which means the depraved nature -- and are made partakers of the Divine nature, and have added all the Divine graces to their experience. He says they shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. This is something more than scarcely being saved, which is applied to a class in I Peter 4:18. The only comment we would make on this verse is that we see this acted out in a great many of our revivals every year. Some just barely get saved a few days before death. Here is still more light on it. Numbers, for the lack of light and teaching on Holiness, put off getting sanctified until near death's door. On account of the remaining carnality in their hearts there is a shirking from going into the white light of eternity. They are prayed with and dealt with until, at last, they say they are reconciled to go.
Dr. S. A. Keen, the noted evangelist, said that 75 per cent of the professed Christians of his day, whom he was called to visit in the dying hour, were unprepared to die. The testimony of all the saints down through the Church age was that Christ enthroned within robbed death of its sting and the grave of its gloom, and made leaving this world the "Saints' great Coronation Day."
Some years ago the writer read of a ship that was overdue. The crowds had been anxiously waiting for some news for days. At last the telegram announced that she had been sighted at sea. A later one said she was in the narrows and nearing the harbor. Finally, she came steaming toward her moorings, covered with ice, her boats swept away in the storm, one engine broken down; but, in spite of all, she had locked in with the storm, mounted ten thousand billows, and had come in with hundreds of passengers. Amidst the playing of bands and the boom of a cannon she received a glorious welcome. If the approaching of a ship will draw multitudes to welcome her, who can doubt but that Heaven's shores will be lined to welcome those who have braved the storms, and have mounted thousands of billows and kept their heads above the waves. What does it matter if they were misunderstood, slandered, wrongly attacked? They are nearing Home, while angels shout and all Heaven gives them welcome Home.
Monday, June 22, 2020
Deeper Things Part 4
CHRIST ENTHRONED WITHIN
(Col. 1:27)
There is nothing higher or deeper in human experience than to be God possessed -- a temple of the Holy Ghost. This is the climax of the Atonement. It is the very cream and marrow of Christianity. The Apostle says this mystery has been hidden for ages and generations, but is revealed in the last days to the saints. This mystery is Christ formed with in you, the hope of glory; not merely Christ with us or for us; not Christ in prophecy or Christ on yonder cross, or Christ in the heavens, as wonderful as that is, but Christ enthroned in the human heart, reigning, ruling, controlling the affections, conquering the will, bringing every appetite and passion of the soul and body under subjection.
The Apostle had this double experience in his own life. On his way to Damascus he had an outward revelation of Christ which prostrated him and transformed him from a bloody persecutor to an humble follower of Jesus. But we read in the first chapter of Galatians and the sixteenth verse that after he was called to preach he says, "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me. This was something entirely different from the Damascus experience. In the latter Christ was enthroned within him. We may get the life and sayings of Jesus from the four Gospels, but it takes the Holy Ghost to reveal the inward heart, life, tempers and disposition of Christ.
Peter, in the Second Epistle, first chapter and nineteenth verse, says: "Until the day dawn and day star arise in our heart." Jesus calls Himself, in Rev. 22, "The bright and morning star," and then tells us, in Rev. 2:28, that this star experience is given to the overcomers.
When we put all these Scriptures together it means Christ within our hearts; not only as our Sanctifier, but a Divine Person, a Comforter, Guide and Heavenly Guest.
Notice, Peter mentions two things -- the day-dawn and day-star. We know that the day-dawn means the eternal morning where there is no sorrow, sin or Satan, but the day-star is quite different. The stars shine in the night! We are living in the night age of this dispensation. Jesus is compared to the sunrise in His second coming, but long before the sunrise and day-dawn takes place we are to have the day-star hidden away in our hearts as the harbinger of the eternal day.
Again, this double blessing was beautifully illustrated in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud that led Israel. First, we see its presence in the heavens leading, hovering over, and protecting them from their enemies; but there came a day and time in their history when that fiery cloud became an inward as well as an outward presence.
We read in the fortieth chapter of Exodus that when that beautiful structure known as the tabernacle was complete -- the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, the candlesticks, the table of shew bread and golden altar in the Holy Place and every curtain hung -- that Moses and Aaron dedicated and anointed it with oil, took hands off, and that fiery Presence in yonder heavens began to descend, and a cloud filled the whole tent, and the fiery glow entered the Holy Place and the holy of holies, and between the wings of the cherubim and the mercy seat the glowing Shekinah finally rested. From this on God spoke to Moses, not from the mount, but from the tabernacle.
In the New Testament our bodies become God's temple. When we give this temple over to the Holy Ghost; with all its faculties, the "old man" is cast out, self is slain and Christ enthroned within.
The best saints of the ages have testified to this double revelation of Christ. Dr. Daniel Steele, the noted Greek scholar, says: "The Man of Calvary, the Son of God, treads all the avenues of my soul, filling its emptiness, melting its hardness, cleansing its impurities and pouring upon my head.
Blessed unction from above,
Comfort, life and fire of love."
(Col. 1:27)
There is nothing higher or deeper in human experience than to be God possessed -- a temple of the Holy Ghost. This is the climax of the Atonement. It is the very cream and marrow of Christianity. The Apostle says this mystery has been hidden for ages and generations, but is revealed in the last days to the saints. This mystery is Christ formed with in you, the hope of glory; not merely Christ with us or for us; not Christ in prophecy or Christ on yonder cross, or Christ in the heavens, as wonderful as that is, but Christ enthroned in the human heart, reigning, ruling, controlling the affections, conquering the will, bringing every appetite and passion of the soul and body under subjection.
The Apostle had this double experience in his own life. On his way to Damascus he had an outward revelation of Christ which prostrated him and transformed him from a bloody persecutor to an humble follower of Jesus. But we read in the first chapter of Galatians and the sixteenth verse that after he was called to preach he says, "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me. This was something entirely different from the Damascus experience. In the latter Christ was enthroned within him. We may get the life and sayings of Jesus from the four Gospels, but it takes the Holy Ghost to reveal the inward heart, life, tempers and disposition of Christ.
Peter, in the Second Epistle, first chapter and nineteenth verse, says: "Until the day dawn and day star arise in our heart." Jesus calls Himself, in Rev. 22, "The bright and morning star," and then tells us, in Rev. 2:28, that this star experience is given to the overcomers.
When we put all these Scriptures together it means Christ within our hearts; not only as our Sanctifier, but a Divine Person, a Comforter, Guide and Heavenly Guest.
Notice, Peter mentions two things -- the day-dawn and day-star. We know that the day-dawn means the eternal morning where there is no sorrow, sin or Satan, but the day-star is quite different. The stars shine in the night! We are living in the night age of this dispensation. Jesus is compared to the sunrise in His second coming, but long before the sunrise and day-dawn takes place we are to have the day-star hidden away in our hearts as the harbinger of the eternal day.
Again, this double blessing was beautifully illustrated in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud that led Israel. First, we see its presence in the heavens leading, hovering over, and protecting them from their enemies; but there came a day and time in their history when that fiery cloud became an inward as well as an outward presence.
We read in the fortieth chapter of Exodus that when that beautiful structure known as the tabernacle was complete -- the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, the candlesticks, the table of shew bread and golden altar in the Holy Place and every curtain hung -- that Moses and Aaron dedicated and anointed it with oil, took hands off, and that fiery Presence in yonder heavens began to descend, and a cloud filled the whole tent, and the fiery glow entered the Holy Place and the holy of holies, and between the wings of the cherubim and the mercy seat the glowing Shekinah finally rested. From this on God spoke to Moses, not from the mount, but from the tabernacle.
In the New Testament our bodies become God's temple. When we give this temple over to the Holy Ghost; with all its faculties, the "old man" is cast out, self is slain and Christ enthroned within.
The best saints of the ages have testified to this double revelation of Christ. Dr. Daniel Steele, the noted Greek scholar, says: "The Man of Calvary, the Son of God, treads all the avenues of my soul, filling its emptiness, melting its hardness, cleansing its impurities and pouring upon my head.
Blessed unction from above,
Comfort, life and fire of love."
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Twelfth Bible Study: Consideration of Others
Today's lesson comes from Romans 14: 1-19. When people get saved, they bring with them a backlog of experiences and training. Because of past sins, they may over-compensate to keep removed from old habits. They may have notions regarding the Christian life which are not Biblical and will take time to be corrected. Mature Christians must show patience with those who are "weak" in the faith.
There are clear-cut doctrinal and moral issues which we should never budge on. There are also areas on which the Bible is silent. Believers may have strong opinions in these areas, but a person's opinions should never become a source of contention or division.
In the lesson today, we are brought face to face with some of the difficult problems that me the early Christians. The church in Rome consisted of converted Jews and Gentiles who were brought up under different influences and patterns of life. Thus, they naturally differed on many questions of right and wrong. There are many similar problems today, but none of them are more difficult than these ancient ones. Paul gives the principles through which the solutions can be found. The same principles can help us to resolve our problems. The result will be peace in the body of believers, authentic Christian living, and effective outreach to the lost.
The first section is "is It Right or Wrong?" vv. 1-6 The first problem Paul addressed was the issue of food. What could a Christian eat? Some of the Jewish members were afraid of eating meat that had been offered to idols because it would become unclean. Others had the liberty to eat the meat because idols were not real, and thus the food was fine to eat. Paul instructed the Gentile converts, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." Paul did not want there to be debate over questionable points. There were two dangers in the dispute. Those that felt at liberty to eat the meat might "despise" those who were needlessly scrupulous--to look down upon them as ignorant or unenlightened. The other side could be tempted to "judge" or condemn those who ate--consider them as violating God's laws, taking undue liberties. Paul stated, "There is nothing unclean of itself." The food did not affect the spirit or the the character for good or evil. If the food had been offered to idols, it could still sustain the body. However, he cautioned the people not to go against their conscience. If it went against your conscience to eat the food, then you should not eat the meat.
Another issue in the church at Rome was the question of observing certain days as sacred. The Jewish nation had observed certain festivals such as Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, new moons, jubilee, etc. Some did not believe the festivals were obligatory because they had found fulfillment in Christ. Should the Jewish festivals be observed as part of the Christian faith? Paul's answer was, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Paul was saying let every man act according to his own convictions, and allow latitude for others to do the same. What a wonderful response on the non essentials of our faith!
The second section is "Christ Is Our Judge." vv. 7-13 As a Christian, we should always aim to do the will of God. He is our judge. While we will form opinions about people and events, we should not impute wrong motives to others. Here are the issues Paul was dealing with:
1. The Christian Jews judging the Gentile Christians because the latter did not think they were bound by the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law.
2. The Gentile Christians judging the Christian Jews because the latter does not believe that the gospel has set him free from the rites and ceremonies of the law.
Paul tells both groups that each one is responsible to God, not to his neighbor. However, that does not mean we are to condone wrong in others. We are to remember that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. We are to avoid putting a stumbling block in the way of others. We should be promoting each other's spiritual interest, and not be a means of hindering the cause of Christ. We advance the purity of the church when we lift each other up. That is the meaning of this second section.
The third section is "Follow After Peace." vv. 17-19 Paul tells us "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink."It does not consist of outward and indifferent matters. Righteousness, peace, and joy are the hallmarks of true Christianity. The purpose of the gospel is to give a person a holy heart, not merely to follow a list of external rules. Someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit will manifest these qualities. We are to lay aside contentions over trifles, and live in harmony. The law of love will put the highest things first and seek to do good for others. When we follow peace, we will manifest the fruits of the Spirit.
The Golden Text is: "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." (1 Corinthians 10:33) "Our conduct must often be limited, not only by what we think, but by what those around us think, to be right. Else we may lead them to do what their conscience condemns, and thus inflict upon them serious injury." (J. Agar Beet)
My summary points:
1. Avoid the appearance of evil.
2. We should try to lift our brothers and sisters up and not tear them down.
3. We are to follow peace and uplift others..
Next week's lesson "Paul's Plans." (Romans 15:13-26)
Don't forget to read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
There are clear-cut doctrinal and moral issues which we should never budge on. There are also areas on which the Bible is silent. Believers may have strong opinions in these areas, but a person's opinions should never become a source of contention or division.
In the lesson today, we are brought face to face with some of the difficult problems that me the early Christians. The church in Rome consisted of converted Jews and Gentiles who were brought up under different influences and patterns of life. Thus, they naturally differed on many questions of right and wrong. There are many similar problems today, but none of them are more difficult than these ancient ones. Paul gives the principles through which the solutions can be found. The same principles can help us to resolve our problems. The result will be peace in the body of believers, authentic Christian living, and effective outreach to the lost.
The first section is "is It Right or Wrong?" vv. 1-6 The first problem Paul addressed was the issue of food. What could a Christian eat? Some of the Jewish members were afraid of eating meat that had been offered to idols because it would become unclean. Others had the liberty to eat the meat because idols were not real, and thus the food was fine to eat. Paul instructed the Gentile converts, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." Paul did not want there to be debate over questionable points. There were two dangers in the dispute. Those that felt at liberty to eat the meat might "despise" those who were needlessly scrupulous--to look down upon them as ignorant or unenlightened. The other side could be tempted to "judge" or condemn those who ate--consider them as violating God's laws, taking undue liberties. Paul stated, "There is nothing unclean of itself." The food did not affect the spirit or the the character for good or evil. If the food had been offered to idols, it could still sustain the body. However, he cautioned the people not to go against their conscience. If it went against your conscience to eat the food, then you should not eat the meat.
Another issue in the church at Rome was the question of observing certain days as sacred. The Jewish nation had observed certain festivals such as Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, new moons, jubilee, etc. Some did not believe the festivals were obligatory because they had found fulfillment in Christ. Should the Jewish festivals be observed as part of the Christian faith? Paul's answer was, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Paul was saying let every man act according to his own convictions, and allow latitude for others to do the same. What a wonderful response on the non essentials of our faith!
The second section is "Christ Is Our Judge." vv. 7-13 As a Christian, we should always aim to do the will of God. He is our judge. While we will form opinions about people and events, we should not impute wrong motives to others. Here are the issues Paul was dealing with:
1. The Christian Jews judging the Gentile Christians because the latter did not think they were bound by the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law.
2. The Gentile Christians judging the Christian Jews because the latter does not believe that the gospel has set him free from the rites and ceremonies of the law.
Paul tells both groups that each one is responsible to God, not to his neighbor. However, that does not mean we are to condone wrong in others. We are to remember that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. We are to avoid putting a stumbling block in the way of others. We should be promoting each other's spiritual interest, and not be a means of hindering the cause of Christ. We advance the purity of the church when we lift each other up. That is the meaning of this second section.
The third section is "Follow After Peace." vv. 17-19 Paul tells us "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink."It does not consist of outward and indifferent matters. Righteousness, peace, and joy are the hallmarks of true Christianity. The purpose of the gospel is to give a person a holy heart, not merely to follow a list of external rules. Someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit will manifest these qualities. We are to lay aside contentions over trifles, and live in harmony. The law of love will put the highest things first and seek to do good for others. When we follow peace, we will manifest the fruits of the Spirit.
The Golden Text is: "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." (1 Corinthians 10:33) "Our conduct must often be limited, not only by what we think, but by what those around us think, to be right. Else we may lead them to do what their conscience condemns, and thus inflict upon them serious injury." (J. Agar Beet)
My summary points:
1. Avoid the appearance of evil.
2. We should try to lift our brothers and sisters up and not tear them down.
3. We are to follow peace and uplift others..
Next week's lesson "Paul's Plans." (Romans 15:13-26)
Don't forget to read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Deeper Things Part 3
A BOUQUET OF CHRISTIAN GRACES
(Col. 3:1-13.)
In the third chapter of Colossians the Apostle gives us a bouquet of Christian graces which should adorn every believer's life. It is not enough to be saved from sin or merely to be sanctified. There are degrees far deeper than a clean heart. God wishes to beautify and polish and so refine the saints that they will be attractive.
"If ye then be risen with Christ." One of the best renderings of these words, literally and according to the exact idiom, we are told, is, "If ye were then resurrected with Christ." The difference between natural human religion and true Christianity is that in the former man tries to rise to a higher plane within his own strength, only to fall back in his weakness and heart corruption. Men all through the ages have tried to live and rise higher than their own hearts, and have failed. But the religion of Jesus Christ imparts a supernatural life. Instead of trying to rise to a higher human plane, we are resurrected with Him, and are to live according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a religion that is as fresh, cheerful and spontaneous as the spring morning. Most Christians live on the dark, gloomy side of Christianity. But there is a sunny side, a summer land of love, where the birds sing, the flowers bloom and the fountains flow, and the hot sunshine of God's love fills the believer's heart, and the graces mature and ripen for eternity.
"For ye are dead." This has reference to the "old man," the "body of sin." There is a teaching set afloat in the current Holiness Movement, that we are only cleansed up to the light we have, and as we get more light, we may expect to discover hidden depths of depravity. Such erroneous teaching would never let any one get sanctified in this life. They would have us going through a constant process of dying; but the Scriptures say nothing of the kind. There is a world of difference between being saved from all sin, and being illuminated from all ignorance. Nowhere does the Bible teach that we are to be purified only up to the light we have, or as far as we can see, but as far as the infinite, all-searching eye of God can see.
"Put off the old man with his deeds." There are several Scriptural names given to original sin, such as "the carnal mind," "an evil heart," "body of sin," "the sin which does so easily beset us," and the "old man," which means the essence and image of old Adam. It makes people act like Adam. Under a searching sermon they try, like Adam, to hide behind a profession, then, when cornered, lay the blame and their lack of deep spirituality onto others. Notice, the Apostle says we are to put off this old man like we do a corpse, which we make no more provision for. The soul is not to be a cemetery for the old man," but he is to be put off. This is not a mere fancy or playing dead, but a reality, where we die indeed to sin. Many an altar service is well-nigh ruined by shallow workers, where seekers for Holiness are hurried through with whoops -- a lot of human noise -- and the work all has to be done over in a short time. But when one gets through by the energy of the Holy Ghost, he will generally stick. Now, while the "old man" is referred to in the Scripture in the singular, the unit principle of hereditary sin, his deeds are spoken of in the plural, referring to a variety of sinful tempers. In other words, if you feel deep down in your heart the stirring and uprising of anger, resentment, retaliation, a jealous disposition, a secret spirit of envy, lustful stirrings, a touchy, sensitive spirit, they are the sproutings from the deep, latent, inbred sin of the soul. One may not feel all these in the heart, yet if we have one of these traits, they are all there. One of the first manifestations of carnality in the newly converted soul is anger. While one does not have to give way to it, nevertheless that gunpowder-like nature is there. Now we are not to put off the traits of the "old man" by piecemeal; but when the body of sin is destroyed, all his traits and manifestations go with him.
"And put on the new man." This means that the very image of Christ, which takes the place of the old man. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy." The Apostle is here describing the Christian experience under the figure of spiritual robes. God clothes everything He makes. He clothes the trees with leaves, the animals with a garment of their own kind, and the saints with the graces and virtues of the Spirit. The phrase "put on" means to put on as the grapevine puts on leaves from the inward sap until the whole vine is covered. 'So the Holy Ghost clothes the saints.
Let us notice some of the garments that are to be put on. "Bowels of mercy" -- which means softness and tenderness of heart. The Holy Ghost can not live in a hard, crusty heart. As flowers and plants grow more rapidly in tender, mellow soil, so the graces and fruits of the Spirit flourish in a tender heart. All great soul winners and missionaries have been men and women of great compassion, with yearning hearts for the fallen.
There are some things that are non-conductors of electricity, such as glass, and dry wood, and cotton string. So there are a great many lives that are non-conductors of the Holy Ghost. They are narrow, little, selfish and harsh. The Lord may get such to Heaven, but they will never be used very much of the Spirit here unless they have a breaking down, a smashing-up time in their souls.
Katherine Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was tender-hearted from childhood. When she was a little girl of only twelve years, she saw, one day, a policeman beating a man who was drunk. She rushed to the scene, and, burst mg into tears, said to the drunkard, "Mister, I love you." It sobered him. No wonder the Lord used her in rescuing tens of thousands of souls. We need to pray much over keeping our hearts tender.
"Put on kindness." Divine kindness is a plant that does not belong to this world, but is introduced into the heart in the new birth. Under the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost it becomes natural and easy to be kind. It will unlock more old rusty hearts' doors than any one thing in the world. Kindness is a slight change of the word kin-ness. It means to have the mutual feeling for each other that we have for our own family or kin. Especially should this be true when we hear of one of God's children being abused or slandered or mistreated. There should be a tender feeling for our brother's reputation and good name.
"Humbleness of mind." This means to be so little in our own eyes that we can be contradicted, corrected and reproved without feeling sore or touchy. The reason some are so easily provoked and offended is that they have such a great opinion of themselves. They must be looked up to, flattered and praised in order to be gotten along with "An humble saint," says Benjamin Pomeroy "can sit on a low seat and grow tall." He can be overlooked, set aside, and not feel hurt. The vision of the man of Calvary, with His thorn-crowned brow, has been so burned into his soul that he has no craving for red tape or ecclesiastical power. Such a soul is easy to warm up to and live with.
"Meekness." This is the attitude of the soul toward God. All the self-life has been burned out. "It is perfect love with a bowed head."
"Long suffering." This means that one bears all that men or devils may put on him with a sweet, Christlike spirit, without complaining or grumbling. The beauty of perfect love is that it can suffer long and still be kind. Some can suffer, but after awhile their patience gives out. The very same trials, sorrows, crosses and losses that make a heart in which Satan reigns turn in open rebellion and bitterness, will make a believer more Christlike, tender and sweet.
"Forbearing one another" means to put up with each other's faults and peculiarities. Just so long as we live in a fallen world, we might as well make up our minds that we are going to have to bear some things, if we grow in grace and keep an even, sweet temper. We will meet religious people who are cranky; these will be a trial to us unless we keep tender and melted in Divine love.
"Forgiving one another" means to carry a heart full of forgiveness for every one that may have injured us. People often wonder why their prayers are not answered, their sicknesses healed and their lives filled with joy and peace. If they will dig down a little, perhaps they will find malice or an unforgiving spirit. Maybe an unkind word has been flung at some child of God in an angry voice, hurting his influence, and has never been straightened up. Remember, no prayer reaches God so long as we harbor an unforgiving spirit. A spiritual heart would rather forgive than not to forgive.
These are the seven beautiful graces or garments we are to put on by the power of the Holy Ghost. These garments are very popular in Heaven. If we want to be in style with the heavenly world, let us see to it that our souls are clothed with these graces. Above all these things, put on charity, which is Divine love. This is the outer garment that is to cover all the others. In the Eastern countries, the outer garment is a long, pure white mantle. So Divine love is that pure, white mantle which is to be put on over all the other graces, which is our full dress that prepares us to meet the heavenly Bridegroom.
(Col. 3:1-13.)
In the third chapter of Colossians the Apostle gives us a bouquet of Christian graces which should adorn every believer's life. It is not enough to be saved from sin or merely to be sanctified. There are degrees far deeper than a clean heart. God wishes to beautify and polish and so refine the saints that they will be attractive.
"If ye then be risen with Christ." One of the best renderings of these words, literally and according to the exact idiom, we are told, is, "If ye were then resurrected with Christ." The difference between natural human religion and true Christianity is that in the former man tries to rise to a higher plane within his own strength, only to fall back in his weakness and heart corruption. Men all through the ages have tried to live and rise higher than their own hearts, and have failed. But the religion of Jesus Christ imparts a supernatural life. Instead of trying to rise to a higher human plane, we are resurrected with Him, and are to live according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a religion that is as fresh, cheerful and spontaneous as the spring morning. Most Christians live on the dark, gloomy side of Christianity. But there is a sunny side, a summer land of love, where the birds sing, the flowers bloom and the fountains flow, and the hot sunshine of God's love fills the believer's heart, and the graces mature and ripen for eternity.
"For ye are dead." This has reference to the "old man," the "body of sin." There is a teaching set afloat in the current Holiness Movement, that we are only cleansed up to the light we have, and as we get more light, we may expect to discover hidden depths of depravity. Such erroneous teaching would never let any one get sanctified in this life. They would have us going through a constant process of dying; but the Scriptures say nothing of the kind. There is a world of difference between being saved from all sin, and being illuminated from all ignorance. Nowhere does the Bible teach that we are to be purified only up to the light we have, or as far as we can see, but as far as the infinite, all-searching eye of God can see.
"Put off the old man with his deeds." There are several Scriptural names given to original sin, such as "the carnal mind," "an evil heart," "body of sin," "the sin which does so easily beset us," and the "old man," which means the essence and image of old Adam. It makes people act like Adam. Under a searching sermon they try, like Adam, to hide behind a profession, then, when cornered, lay the blame and their lack of deep spirituality onto others. Notice, the Apostle says we are to put off this old man like we do a corpse, which we make no more provision for. The soul is not to be a cemetery for the old man," but he is to be put off. This is not a mere fancy or playing dead, but a reality, where we die indeed to sin. Many an altar service is well-nigh ruined by shallow workers, where seekers for Holiness are hurried through with whoops -- a lot of human noise -- and the work all has to be done over in a short time. But when one gets through by the energy of the Holy Ghost, he will generally stick. Now, while the "old man" is referred to in the Scripture in the singular, the unit principle of hereditary sin, his deeds are spoken of in the plural, referring to a variety of sinful tempers. In other words, if you feel deep down in your heart the stirring and uprising of anger, resentment, retaliation, a jealous disposition, a secret spirit of envy, lustful stirrings, a touchy, sensitive spirit, they are the sproutings from the deep, latent, inbred sin of the soul. One may not feel all these in the heart, yet if we have one of these traits, they are all there. One of the first manifestations of carnality in the newly converted soul is anger. While one does not have to give way to it, nevertheless that gunpowder-like nature is there. Now we are not to put off the traits of the "old man" by piecemeal; but when the body of sin is destroyed, all his traits and manifestations go with him.
"And put on the new man." This means that the very image of Christ, which takes the place of the old man. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy." The Apostle is here describing the Christian experience under the figure of spiritual robes. God clothes everything He makes. He clothes the trees with leaves, the animals with a garment of their own kind, and the saints with the graces and virtues of the Spirit. The phrase "put on" means to put on as the grapevine puts on leaves from the inward sap until the whole vine is covered. 'So the Holy Ghost clothes the saints.
Let us notice some of the garments that are to be put on. "Bowels of mercy" -- which means softness and tenderness of heart. The Holy Ghost can not live in a hard, crusty heart. As flowers and plants grow more rapidly in tender, mellow soil, so the graces and fruits of the Spirit flourish in a tender heart. All great soul winners and missionaries have been men and women of great compassion, with yearning hearts for the fallen.
There are some things that are non-conductors of electricity, such as glass, and dry wood, and cotton string. So there are a great many lives that are non-conductors of the Holy Ghost. They are narrow, little, selfish and harsh. The Lord may get such to Heaven, but they will never be used very much of the Spirit here unless they have a breaking down, a smashing-up time in their souls.
Katherine Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was tender-hearted from childhood. When she was a little girl of only twelve years, she saw, one day, a policeman beating a man who was drunk. She rushed to the scene, and, burst mg into tears, said to the drunkard, "Mister, I love you." It sobered him. No wonder the Lord used her in rescuing tens of thousands of souls. We need to pray much over keeping our hearts tender.
"Put on kindness." Divine kindness is a plant that does not belong to this world, but is introduced into the heart in the new birth. Under the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost it becomes natural and easy to be kind. It will unlock more old rusty hearts' doors than any one thing in the world. Kindness is a slight change of the word kin-ness. It means to have the mutual feeling for each other that we have for our own family or kin. Especially should this be true when we hear of one of God's children being abused or slandered or mistreated. There should be a tender feeling for our brother's reputation and good name.
"Humbleness of mind." This means to be so little in our own eyes that we can be contradicted, corrected and reproved without feeling sore or touchy. The reason some are so easily provoked and offended is that they have such a great opinion of themselves. They must be looked up to, flattered and praised in order to be gotten along with "An humble saint," says Benjamin Pomeroy "can sit on a low seat and grow tall." He can be overlooked, set aside, and not feel hurt. The vision of the man of Calvary, with His thorn-crowned brow, has been so burned into his soul that he has no craving for red tape or ecclesiastical power. Such a soul is easy to warm up to and live with.
"Meekness." This is the attitude of the soul toward God. All the self-life has been burned out. "It is perfect love with a bowed head."
"Long suffering." This means that one bears all that men or devils may put on him with a sweet, Christlike spirit, without complaining or grumbling. The beauty of perfect love is that it can suffer long and still be kind. Some can suffer, but after awhile their patience gives out. The very same trials, sorrows, crosses and losses that make a heart in which Satan reigns turn in open rebellion and bitterness, will make a believer more Christlike, tender and sweet.
"Forbearing one another" means to put up with each other's faults and peculiarities. Just so long as we live in a fallen world, we might as well make up our minds that we are going to have to bear some things, if we grow in grace and keep an even, sweet temper. We will meet religious people who are cranky; these will be a trial to us unless we keep tender and melted in Divine love.
"Forgiving one another" means to carry a heart full of forgiveness for every one that may have injured us. People often wonder why their prayers are not answered, their sicknesses healed and their lives filled with joy and peace. If they will dig down a little, perhaps they will find malice or an unforgiving spirit. Maybe an unkind word has been flung at some child of God in an angry voice, hurting his influence, and has never been straightened up. Remember, no prayer reaches God so long as we harbor an unforgiving spirit. A spiritual heart would rather forgive than not to forgive.
These are the seven beautiful graces or garments we are to put on by the power of the Holy Ghost. These garments are very popular in Heaven. If we want to be in style with the heavenly world, let us see to it that our souls are clothed with these graces. Above all these things, put on charity, which is Divine love. This is the outer garment that is to cover all the others. In the Eastern countries, the outer garment is a long, pure white mantle. So Divine love is that pure, white mantle which is to be put on over all the other graces, which is our full dress that prepares us to meet the heavenly Bridegroom.
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