Abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against the soul," is the language
of the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:11). Many regard this text as a warning
against licentiousness only, but it has a broader meaning. It forbids every
injurious gratification of appetite or passion. Let none who profess godliness
regard with indifference the health of the body, and flatter themselves
that intemperance is no sin, and will not affect their spirituality. A
close sympathy exists between the physical and the moral nature. Any habit
which does not promote health degrades the higher and nobler faculties.
Wrong habits of eating and drinking lead to errors in thought and action.
Indulgence of appetite strengthens the animal propensities, giving them
the ascendancy over the mental and spiritual powers.
It is impossible for any to enjoy the blessing of sanctification while
they are selfish and gluttonous. Many groan under a burden of infirmities
because of wrong habits of eating and drinking, which do violence to the
laws of life and health. They are enfeebling their digestive organs by
indulging perverted appetite. The power of the human constitution to resist
the abuses put upon it is wonderful, but persistent wrong habits in excessive
eating and drinking will enfeeble every function of the body. In the gratification
of perverted appetite and passion even professed Christians cripple nature
in her work and lessen physical, mental, and moral power. Let these feeble
ones consider what they might have been had thy lived temperately and promoted
health instead of abusing it.
NOT AN IMPOSSIBLE STANDARD
When Paul wrote, "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (1 Thess.
5:23), he did not exhort his brethren to aim at a standard which it was
impossible for them to reach; he did not pray that they might have blessings
which it was not the will of God to give. He knew that all who would be
fitted to meet Christ in peace must possess a pure and holy character.
"Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore
so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1
Cor. 9:25-27). "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For
ye are brought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in
your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).
AN UNBLEMISHED OFFERING
Again, the apostle writes to the believers, "I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:
1). Specific directions were given to ancient Israel that no defective
or diseased animal should be presented as an offering to God. Only the
most perfect were to be selected for this purpose. The Lord, though the
prophet Malachi, most severely reproved His people for departing from these
instructions.
"A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be
a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?
saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And
ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon
mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say,
The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice,
is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer
it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person?
saith the Lord of hosts. . . . Ye brought that which was torn, and the
lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of
your hand? saith the Lord" (Mal. 1:6-13).
Though addressed to ancient Israel, these words contain a lesson for
the people of God today. When the apostle appeals to his brethren to present
their bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," he sets forth
the principles of true sanctification. It is not merely a theory, an emotion,
or a form of words, but a living, active principle, entering into the everyday
life. It requires that our habits of eating, drinking, and dressing be
such as to secure the preservation of physical, mental, and moral health,
that we may present to the Lord our bodies, not an offering corrupted by
wrong habits, but "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God."
STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS
Peter's admonition to abstain from fleshly lusts is a most direct and
forcible warning against the use of all such stimulants and narcotics as
tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and morphine. These indulgences may well
be classed among the lusts that exert a pernicious influence upon moral
character. The earlier these hurtful habits are formed, the more firmly
will they hold their victim in slavery to lust, and the more certainly
will they lower the standard of spirituality.
Bible teaching will make but a feeble impression upon those whose faculties
are benumbed by self-gratification. Thousands will sacrifice not only health
and life but their hope of heaven before they will wage war against their
own perverted appetites. One lady who for many years claimed to be sanctified,
made the statement that if she must give up her pipe or heaven she would
say, "Farewell, heaven; I cannot overcome my love for my pipe." This idol
had been enshrined in the soul, leaving to Jesus a subordinate place. Yet
this woman claimed to be wholly the Lord's!
LUSTS THAT WAR AGAINST THE SOUL
Wherever they may be, those who are truly sanctified will elevate the
moral standard by preserving correct physical habits, and, like Daniel,
presenting to others an example of temperance and self-denial. Every depraved
appetite becomes a warring lust. Everything that conflicts with natural
law creates a diseased condition of the soul. The indulgence of appetite
produces a dyspeptic stomach, a torpid liver, a clouded brain, and thus
perverts the temper and spirit of the man. And these enfeebled powers are
offered to God, who refused to accept the victims for sacrifice unless
they were without a blemish! It is our duty to bring our appetites and
our habits of life into conformity to natural law. If the bodies offered
upon Christ's altar were examined with the close scrutiny to which the
Jewish sacrifices were subjected, who would be accepted?
With what care should Christians regulate their habits, that they may
preserve the full vigor of every faculty to give to the service of Christ.
If we would be sanctified, in soul, body, and spirit, we must live in conformity
to the divine law. The heart cannot preserve consecration to God while
the appetites and passions are indulged at the expense of health and life.
Those who violate the laws upon which health depends, must suffer the penalty.
They have so limited their abilities in every sense that they cannot properly
discharge their duties to their fellow men, and they utterly fail to answer
the claims of God.
When Lord Palmerston, premier of England, was petitioned by the Scotch
clergy to appoint a day of fasting and prayer to avert the cholera, he
replied, in effect, "Cleanse and disinfect your streets and houses, promote
cleanliness and health among the poor, and see that they are plentifully
supplied with good food and raiment, and employ right sanitary measures
generally, and you will have no occasion to fast and pray. Nor will the
Lord hear your prayers while these, His preventives, remain unheeded."
Says Paul, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). He presents
for our encouragement the freedom enjoyed by the truly sanctified: "There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). He charges
the Galatians, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). He names some of the forms of fleshly lust --"idolatry,
. . . drunkenness, . . . and such like" (verses 20, 21). And after mentioning
the fruits of the Spirit, among which is temperance, he adds, "And they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts"
(verse 24).
TOBACCO
James says that the wisdom which is from above is "first pure" (James
3:17). If he had seen his brethren using tobacco, would he not have denounced
the practice as "earthly, sensual, devilish" (verse 15)? In this age of
Christian light, how often the lips that take the precious name of Christ
are defiled by tobacco spittle and the breath is polluted with the stench.
Surely, the soul that can enjoy such uncleanness must also be defiled.
As I have seen men who claimed to enjoy the blessing of entire sanctification,
while they were slaves to tobacco, polluting everything around them, I
have thought, How would heaven appear with tobacco users in it? God's word
has plainly declared that "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth" (Rev. 21:27). How, then, can those who indulge this filthy
habit hope to find admittance there?
Men professing godliness offer their bodies upon Satan's altar and burn
the incense of tobacco to his satanic majesty. Does this statement seem
severe? Certainly, the offering is presented to some deity. As God is pure
and holy, and will accept nothing defiling in its character, He must refuse
this expensive, filthy, and unholy sacrifice; therefore we conclude that
Satan is the one who claims the honor.
Jesus died to rescue man from the grasp of Satan. He came to set us
free by the blood of His atoning sacrifice. The man who has become the
property of Jesus Christ, and whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
will not be enslaved by the pernicious habit of tobacco using. His powers
belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of blood. His property
is the Lord's. How, then, can he be guiltless in expending every day the
Lord's entrusted capital to gratify an appetite which has no foundation
in nature?
An enormous sum is yearly squandered for this indulgence, while souls
are perishing for the word of life. Professed Christians rob God in tithes
and offerings, while they offer on the altar of destroying lust, in the
use of tobacco, more than they give to relieve the poor or to supply the
wants of God's cause. Those who are truly sanctified will overcome every
hurtful lust. Then all these channels of needless expense will be turned
to the Lord's treasury, and Christians will take the lead in self-denial,
in self-sacrifice, and in temperance. Then they will be the light of the
world.
TEA AND COFFEE
Tea and coffee, as well as tobacco, have an injurious effect upon the
system. Tea is intoxicating. Though
less in degree, its effect is the same
in character as that of spirituous liquors. Coffee has a greater tendency
to becloud the intellect and benumb the energies. It is not so powerful
as tobacco, but is similar in its effect. The arguments brought against
tobacco may also be urged against the use of tea and coffee.
When those who are in the habit of using tea, coffee, tobacco, opium,
or spirituous liquors are deprived of the accustomed indulgence, they find
it impossible to engage with interest and zeal in the worship of God. Divine
grace seems powerless to enliven or spiritualize their prayers or their
testimonies. These professed Christians should consider the source of their
enjoyment. Is it from above, or from beneath?
To a user of stimulants, everything seems insipid without the darling
indulgence. This deadens the natural sensibilities of both body and mind
and renders him less susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit. In
the absence of the usual stimulant he has a hungering of body and soul,
not for righteousness, not for holiness, not for God's presence, but for
his cherished idol. In the indulgence of hurtful lusts, professed Christians
are daily enfeebling their powers, making it impossible to glorify God.
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