Holiness Attainable Part 1

HOLINESS ATTAINABLE

51. Will you present some evidences that holiness is attainable?

The Bible plainly teaches, --

1. That God commands us to be holy. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all by soul and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself." (Luke x. 27.) "Be ye holy, for I am holy." (1 Pet. i. 16.) "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. v. 48.)

These commands are just as authoritative as any in the Bible; and if holiness is not attainable, God commands what is impossible. If this requirement is too great to be observed, it is too great to be commanded. No man ever strives to accomplish what he knows to be impossible.

2. We are expressly exhorted to be holy. "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of' God." (2 Cor. vii. 1.)

"Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." (Heb. vi. 1.) God requires no impossibilities. All his requirements are based on our gracious ability. He exhorts no man to do an impracticable thing.

3. It is expressly promised in the Scriptures. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you." (Ezek. xxxvi. 25.) " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness [Holiness]; for they shall be filled." (Matt v. 6.) We have just as strong evidence that holiness is promised to Christians as that it is required of them. We may just as consistently and hopefully insist upon and urge Christians to lay hold on Christ for sanctifying grace, as to urge sinners to lay hold on Christ for pardon and regeneration.

4. That entire sanctification is attainable is evident from the fact that the commands and the promises stand correlated to each other. What God commands, He promises to aid us in doing. If he commands us to love him with all our heart, he promises, -- "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul." (Deut. xxx. 6.) If he commands us to "be holy," he promises, -- "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you." (Ezek. xxxvi. 25.) If he commands, "Be ye therefore perfect," he promises, "My grace is sufficient for thee;" and, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." This we understand to be a universal law of the Gospel economy. The Bible enjoins duty, but never without the promise of needful grace to perform it.

5. The possibility of attaining this state is seen in the declarations of Scripture. "Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. (1 Cor. i. 30.) "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Eph. iv. 24.) " To the end that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God." (1 Thess. iii. 13.) "For God hath not called us into uncleanness, but unto holiness." (1 Thess. iv. 7.) If these, with kindred declarations, are true, holiness is attainable. If they are not true, the Bible is not true.

6. Christ and the apostles prayed for it. "Sanctify them through thy truth." (John xvii. 17.) "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven; deliver us from evil." (Matt. vi. 10.) "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Ps. li. 10.) "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. v. 23.) Inspired men made holiness the subject of definite, fervent, and earnest prayer. If they did not believe holiness attainable, they would not have prayed for it, or, they were guilty of solemn mockery.