Now let none be led to think that there be three Gods: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These be three Persons in Trinity, but one God. "The eternal Power and Godhead is a Trinity ... 'The true Christian faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity ... neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate ... The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal ... The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord; and yet not three Lords, but one Lord ... In this Trinity none is afore, or after other, none is greater or less than another; but the whole three Persons are coeternal together, and coequal; so that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped'" (Seiss, in Apocalypse, pp. 415-417).
While the great blessing of heart purity is not obtained by works, there is nevertheless a part that we must perform. In Leviticus 20:7, 8 we read, "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you." This makes clear that there is a human side as well as a divine side to sanctification. Webster defines sanctify, first: "To consecrate, to dedicate, to separate"; secondly, "To cleanse from inbred sin; to make holy." Thus in the above scripture God says, "Consecrate, dedicate, separate yourselves, and I will cleanse you from inbred sin and make you holy." This is a work performed in and for the regenerate, for a sinner cannot consecrate, dedicate, and separate himself in the sense of this scripture. A sinner surrenders, but does not consecrate.
"As you very well know, there are two parties concerned in the sanctification of a man, God and the man. As soon as God and the man enter into a heart co-operation, the man is on his way to the blessing" (John Paul).
In Acts 26:18 we have: "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Here we have faith mentioned. Faith is the link that ties us onto God. Faith appropriates the promise and makes it our own. Without faith it is impossible to obtain any spiritual blessing in the sense of a "work of grace." Only as we exercise faith do we obtain.
"Faith the instrument, God the efficient cause" (Poole).
"The same all sufficient sacrifice can cleanse them all, if applied by faith" (Alford).
'The purifying, sanctifying principle is properly the Spirit, but this is received in connection with faith" (Olshausen).
"It is true that in subduing our depravities, one act of faith is worth a whole lifetime of attempted faithfulness" (Fuller).
"To this faith, shall the promise of entire sanctification be given. which in the nature of the case supposes instantaneous work immediately following upon entire and unwavering faith" (Watson's Institutes).
"Exactly as we are justified by faith, so are we sanctified by faith" (Wesley).
"Certainly you may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token you may surely know whether you seek it by faith, or by works. If by works, you want something to be done first, before you are sanctified" (Wesley).
"You must believe that there is such a thing as sanctification obtainable today, for the whole church, and therefore for you. If you hesitate at this point, you cannot get any farther. You had as well quit seeking holiness for the present, and begin asking God to have mercy upon your poor skeptical soul" (John Paul).
To have any doubt that there is such an experience means sure failure and defeat. Unbelief will obstruct the channel every time. No soul can, or need ever hope to, obtain an answer to any prayer so long as there is doubt as to the possibility of having that prayer answered. God has so fixed the laws of His universe that faith constitutes the channel over which He operates. "And he [Jesus] did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:58). "We see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Heb. 3:19). "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Heb. 4:11).
After being fully persuaded that there is such a blessing, the next step is to be fully assured of your acceptance with God now. If one is not clear as to his justification, and does not know for a certainty that he is fully justified, and that all his sins are forgiven, having the witness of the Holy Spirit that at the present moment all of his sins are under the Blood, then we would advise to have this point cleared up first. The sinner is not eligible for the blessing of entire sanctification. Neither is the backslider eligible. It is absolutely necessary that one is first clearly and definitely justified. If there are any doubts at this point, it will surely cause trouble later on. The enemy is very shrewd. When he sees that one is persuaded that holiness is obtainable, if that soul is not clear in his justification, the devil will cause him to seek the blessing of holiness before the matter is cleared up, and, if possible, he will get that one to profess the experience, only to lead him into confusion and darkness later on.
The scriptures that relate to holiness or sanctification, both the exhortations and promises, are many more than the scriptures that relate to justification. Yet every one of the numerous scriptures regarding holiness is addressed to believers, or converted people. God's Word warns, exhorts, and implores the sinner to repent that his sins might be blotted out, but constantly calls the believer, or Christian, unto holiness.
If the past is all settled and you know that you are justified, stick to it, and present yourself "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," for no other purpose than to let the Lord sanctify you. Consecrate not to a calling or to some line of service, but to the Lord, and let Him designate the calling. Simply sign a quitclaim deed to yourself and all that you are or ever will be, all that you have or ever will have, the past, the present, the future. Sign your name, as it were, to the bottom of a large, clean, blank sheet of paper; then turn it over to the Lord to fill in the page with anything that He may desire to place thereon. Then if He should later designate thereon some special calling, or service, or some task that seems hard, you can say "Amen" to it from the depth of your soul because your name is already signed to it. Nothing short of that could be classed as real consecration. A lying or deceitful consecration will avail nothing. It will only lead to trouble, as it did in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted to join the holiness church, so they came and feigned that they were giving all; but God could not be deceived. It culminated in their eternal sorrow and eternal doom.
If one would keep some field, though small, in his heart on which to cultivate his own interests, and to perpetuate his own desires, or a place to shelve some of his preferences, he need not expect to be sanctified.
Consecration is not sanctification, but it is the necessary antecedent; and when one has fully consecrated, the step of faith is the natural and logical step that follows. Faith is the link that couples the human act of consecration onto the divine act of sanctification. Do not wait for feeling in order to believe. That would crowd faith out. Believe that He does accept the sacrifice that you bring, and sanctifies you now. If you are fully consecrated you have a full right to believe, and it will not be so difficult. But with a faulty consecration faith will be an impossible thing. Many have sought the experience of entire sanctification for some time and failed to obtain it because they had never come to the end of themselves, and had never said an eternal "Yes" to the whole will of God. When one abandons himself wholly into the will and plan of God, faith naturally begins to rise. When faith touches the throne of God, divine power is released, and the believer is the happy recipient. Then naturally follows a confession, or testimony, of what has taken place. One has said, "Faith drives the nail, and testimony clinches it on the other side, so the enemy cannot draw it out."
Some have lost this blessed experience of full salvation because they failed or refused to testify to it.
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