Many who are sincerely seeking for holiness of
heart and purity of life seem perplexed and discouraged. They are constantly
looking to themselves, and lamenting their lack of faith; and because they
have no faith, they feel that they cannot claim the blessing of God. These
persons mistake feeling for faith. They look above the simplicity of true
faith, and thus bring great darkness upon their souls. They should turn
the mind from self, to dwell upon the mercy and goodness of God and to
recount His promises, and then simply believe that He will fulfill His
word. We are not to trust in our faith, but in the promises of God. When
we repent of our past transgressions of His law, and resolve to render
obedience in the future, we should believe that God for Christ's sake accepts
us, and forgives our sins.
Darkness and discouragement will sometimes come
upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm us, but we should not cast away
our confidence. We must keep the eye fixed on Jesus, feeling or no feeling.
We should seek to faithfully perform every known duty, and then calmly
rest in the promises of God.
The Life of Faith
At times a deep sense of our unworthiness will
send a thrill of terror through the soul, but this is no evidence that
God has changed toward us, or we toward God. No effort should be made to
rein the mind up to a certain intensity of emotion. We may not feel today
the peace and joy which we felt yesterday; but we should by faith grasp
the hand of Christ, and trust Him as fully in the darkness as in the light.
Satan may whisper, "You are too great a sinner
for Christ to save." While you acknowledge that you are indeed sinful and
unworthy, you may meet the tempter with the cry, "By virtue of the atonement,
I claim Christ as my Saviour. I trust not to my own merits, but to the
precious blood of Jesus, which cleanses me. This moment I hang my helpless
soul on Christ." The Christian life must be a life of constant, living
faith. An unyielding trust, a firm reliance upon Christ, will bring peace
and assurance to the soul.
Resisting Temptation
Be not discouraged because your heart seems hard.
Every obstacle, every internal foe, only increases your need of Christ.
He came to take away the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.
Look to Him for special grace to overcome your peculiar faults. When assailed
by temptation, steadfastly resist the evil promptings; say to your soul,
"How can I dishonor my Redeemer? I have given myself to Christ; I cannot
do the works of Satan." Cry to the dear Saviour for help to sacrifice every
idol and to put away every darling sin. Let the eye of faith see Jesus
standing before the Father's throne, presenting His wounded hands as He
pleads for you. Believe that strength comes to you through your precious
Saviour.
Viewing With the Eye of Faith
By faith look upon the crowns laid up for those
who shall overcome; listen to the exultant song of the redeemed, Worthy,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain and hast redeemed us to God! Endeavor
to regard these scenes as real. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, in
his terrible conflict with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness
in high places exclaimed, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). The Saviour of the
world was revealed to him as looking down from heaven upon him with the
deepest interest, and the glorious light of Christ's countenance shone
upon Stephen with such brightness that even his enemies saw his face shine
like the face of an angel.
If we would permit our minds to dwell more upon
Christ and the heavenly world, we should find a powerful stimulus and support
in fighting the battles of the Lord. Pride and love of the world will lose
their power as we contemplate the glories of that better land so soon to
be our home. Beside the loveliness of Christ, all earthly attractions will
seem of little worth.
Let none imagine that without earnest effort on
their part they can obtain the assurance of God's love. When the mind has
been long permitted to dwell only on earthly things, it is a difficult
matter to change the habits of thought. That which the eye sees and the
ear hears, too often attracts the attention and absorbs the interest. But
if we would enter the city of God, and look upon Jesus and His glory, we
must become accustomed to beholding Him with the eye of faith here. The
words and the character of Christ should be often the subject of our thoughts
and of our conversation, and each day some time should be especially devoted
to prayerful meditation upon these sacred themes.
Silencing the Spirit
Sanctification is a daily work. Let none deceive
themselves with the belief that God will pardon and bless them while they
are trampling upon one of His requirements. The willful commission of a
known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit and separates the
soul from God. Whatever may be the ecstasies of religious feeling, Jesus
cannot abide in the heart that disregards the divine law. God will honor
those only who honor Him.
"His servants ye are to whom ye obey" (Rom. 6:16).
If we indulge anger, lust, covetousness, hatred, selfishness, or any other
sin, we become servants of sin. "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24).
If we serve sin, we cannot serve Christ. The Christian will feel the promptings
of sin, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; but the Spirit striveth
against the flesh, keeping up a constant warfare. Here is where Christ's
help is needed. Human weakness becomes united to divine strength, and faith
exclaims, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57)!
Correct Religious Habits
If we would develop a character which God can
accept, we must form correct habits in our religious life. Daily prayer
is as essential to growth in grace, and even to spiritual life itself,
as is temporal food to physical well-being. We should accustom ourselves
to lift the thoughts often to God in prayer. If the mind wanders, we must
bring it back; by persevering effort, habit will finally make it easy.
We cannot for one moment separate ourselves from Christ with safety. We
may have His presence to attend us at every step, but only by observing
the conditions which He Himself has laid down.
Religion must be made the great business of life.
Everything else should be held subordinate to this. All our powers, of
soul, body, and spirit, must be engaged in the Christian warfare. We must
look to Christ for strength and grace, and we shall gain the victory as
surely as Jesus died for us.
The Value of the Soul
We must come nearer to the cross of Christ. Penitence
at the foot of the cross is the first lesson of peace we have to learn.
The love of Jesus--who can comprehend it? Infinitely more tender and self-denying
than a mother's love! If we would know the value of a human soul, we must
look in living faith upon the cross, and thus begin the study which shall
be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. The value
of our time and our talents can be estimated only by the greatness of the
ransom paid for our redemption. What ingratitude do we manifest toward
God when we rob Him of His own by withholding from Him our affections and
our service! Is it too much to give ourselves to Him who has sacrificed
all for us? Can we choose the friendship of the world before the immortal
honors which Christ proffers--"to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev. 3:21)?
A Progressive Work
Sanctification is a progressive work. The successive
steps are set before us in the words of Peter: "Giving all diligence, add
to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance;
and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things
be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8).
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (verses 10, 11).
Here is a course by which we may be assured that
we shall never fall. Those who are thus working upon the plan of addition
in obtaining the Christian graces have the assurance that God will work
upon the plan of multiplication in granting them the gifts of His Spirit.
Peter addresses those who obtained like precious faith: "Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord"
(verse 2). By divine grace, all who will may climb the shining steps from
earth to heaven, and at last, "with songs and everlasting joy" (Isa. 35:10),
enter through the gates into the city of God.
Our Saviour claims all there is of us; He asks
our first and holiest thoughts, our purest and most intense affection.
If we are indeed partakers of the divine nature, His praise will be continually
in our hearts and upon our lips. Our only safety is to surrender our all
to Him and to be constantly growing in grace and in the knowledge of the
truth.
Paul's Shout of Victory
The apostle Paul was highly honored of God, being
taken in holy vision to the third heaven, where he looked upon scenes whose
glories he was not permitted to reveal. Yet this did not lead him to boastfulness
or self-confidence. He realized the importance of constant watchfulness
and self-denial, and plainly declares, "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. 9:27).
Paul suffered for the truth's sake, and yet we
hear no complaints from his lips. As he reviews his life of toil and care
and sacrifice, he says, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us' (Rom. 8:18). The shout of victory from God's faithful servant comes
down the line to our time: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord" (Rom. 8:35-39).
Though Paul was at last confined in a Roman prison --shut away from the light and air of heaven, cut off from his active labors in the gospel, and momentarily expecting to be condemned to death--yet he did not yield to doubt or despondency. From that gloomy dungeon came his dying testimony, full of a sublime faith and courage that has inspired the hearts of saints and martyrs in all succeeding ages. His words fitly describe the results of that sanctification which we have in these pages endeavored to set forth: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
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