Holiness: The Master's Mandate

- Holiness: The Master's Mandate

- Midpoint

HOLINESS

The Master’s Mandate

Nelson S. Perdue

www.HolinessLegacy.com | Info@HolinessLegacy.com

Copyright © 2012 Nelson S. Perdue

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, KING JAMES VERSION.

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1937602406

Holiness Legacy Ministries

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1 Christ Crucified

I Cor. 2: 1-5

When we study the life of Christ, we soon learn that His whole life was centered on the cross. In speaking of the cross He says, “for this cause came I unto this hour.” Oswald Chambers said, “the cross did not just happen to Jesus, He came on purpose for it.” In this passage the Apostle narrows the emphasis of his preaching to “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

I. The Resolution: “I determined”

Paul would not permit any other philosophical substitute of men to overshadow the crucifixion of Christ. He did not mean that there was nothing else to preach, but while some things are marginal, to Paul, Christ crucified was central. There is no atonement apart from Christ crucified and he states in 3: 11, “for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

He makes this clear in the previous chapter, as well, where he states in vs. 17-18, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel….lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect….for the preaching of the cross is the power of God.” Again in

vs. 23-25, “We preach Christ crucified….the power of God and the wisdom of God.” He further proved this truth by the effect that his message had on corrupt Corinth. We read in Acts 18: 8 “Many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized.”

It needs to be remembered that Paul came to Corinth following his encounter with the Athenians. While in Athens he was stunned to see how that great center of culture, art and education was so saturated with idolatry. He was so disturbed that he didn’t wait for Timothy and Silas to come; he started his campaign without them. He disputed in the synagogues with the Jews and debated with the philosophers in the market place.

They brought him unto Areopagus (rendered by translators Mars hill) where they “spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.” Paul found an altar with the inscription, to the unknown God, and declared Him unto them. A summary of his message given was recorded, and it contained the creation story, the true worship of God, their need of repentance, the judgment of God, and the resurrection of Christ. When he finished his presentation, I’m sure he was taken back by their response. Some mocked him, some took a pass and said “we will hear you again of this matter”, and a few believed.

I’ve often wondered in retrospect if Paul felt that he had appealed more to their intellect than to their heart. It seemed only by implication that he said anything about sin, the atonement, and the cross of Christ. Perhaps he thought that his preaching was too tepid and that his message was too nebulous. I have no way of knowing, but we never read of any future visits to Athens, no letters written to the Athenians, nor was there any church established in Athens.

While this is mere conjecture on my part, one cannot but notice that following his experience on Mar’s hill, there seemed to be a shift in his preaching emphasis. We are admonished often today to be broadminded and tolerant in our preaching so as not to disturb or offend anyone. The preaching of the cross will always be an offence to some. In Galatians 5:11 Paul asks, “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased.” Paul suffered severely for preaching the cross; to the Jews it was a stumbling block and to the intellectual Greeks it was foolishness, but he was faithful in its proclamation.

G. Campbell Morgan said, “The cross interpreted by the resurrection was the Gospel of Paul.” The preaching of the cross presents an invitation of hope to the unconverted and a challenge to the believer. When one realizes the full implication of the cross, he will echo the words of Isaac Watts:

“When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.”

In Romans 3:23, Paul levels all men in a common category of demerit when he writes, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. All men everywhere are in need of a Redeemer, and the only effective ground upon which a sinner can meet God is the ground of the cross. When one arrives at that realization, the message of “Christ and Him Crucified” is no longer an offense, but a blessed hope. Paul says that the “preaching of the cross…unto us which are being saved, it is the power of God.” (I Cor. 1:18)

It was at the cross that justice and mercy embraced one another. On the cross, Jesus gave His life a ransom for many and paid the penalty for man’s sin. Through His death and resurrection He upheld the broken law and maintained the justice of God and now offers forgiveness and freedom for all who will come unto Him.

Charles H. Spurgeon said that “it was my sin that made His death necessary.” Every son of Adam’s race can repeat those words. When we acknowledge our need and make such an admission, we will personally witness the power of the cross. It’s that power that will pardon our guilt, purify our hearts, and reconcile us with God and heal the breech brought about by our sins.

II. Revelation: “Know Christ”

The good news is that Jesus Christ is knowable. The Christian Faith is not a creed, it is a Christ; it is not a somewhat, but someone, Jesus, the Son of God. As you read Paul’s letters you are made aware of his craving to know Christ. He was not a mere abstract to the Apostle but a living reality.

Jesus did not say: Come unto my way of thinking and I will give you rest. He said,

“Come unto ME”………………

Follow my rule of life and I’ll make you fishers of men. He said,

“Follow ME”……………………

He did not ask: What say ye of my doctrine? He asked rather “Whom say ye that I the Son of God Am?”

Many had their opinions about Him. Many knew Him as “the carpenter’s son”, and that his mother’s name was Mary, and His brothers were James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas and His sisters are they not all with us?” (Matthew 13:55)

The scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, had their opinions of Him. They said that He was an imposter and that He deceived the people. They even accused Him of “casting out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.”

(Matt. 12:24) The Jewish Rabbis like Nicodemus saw Him as a great teacher, “We know thou art a teacher come from God.” (John 3:2) Many thought that he was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. The opinions as to whom men said He was, were many and varied.

Peter, the spokesman of the disciples said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus knew that was a revelation that could only come from God and said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven….upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:17-18)

While Paul was a master teacher when it came to Christian doctrine, the centrality of His preaching was not doctrine, but a Person. It was said of Paul that he had an obsession with Christ because he lived, served, suffered, and died for Him. His greatest determination and resolution of life was to know Christ. He had been a great religious zealot, educator, and persecutor of the Christian until He met Jesus, and all of that changed. He came to know Christ not only intricately, but intimately.

III. Crucifixion: “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.”

He not only knew and proclaimed His Person but also His Passion.

Paul S. Rees said, “The only way to know Christ crucified and that is to be crucified with Christ.”

Paul was preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified on the basis of personal experience. Too many know the cross only as an historical event but not through a heart experience. Paul knew that the power of its proclamation is through a personal experiential participation. Paul could testify, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.” If you ask what is required to experience the cross, one need only to look at what it demanded of Paul.

In Philippians Chapter 3, Paul gives a brief autobiography in verses 5 and 6. He was a religious terrorist of his day, persecuting the Christian church. One day while consenting to the stoning of Stephen, his 2400 years of Jewish heritage came crashing down upon him. As he watched the first Christian martyr being pummeled with stones and just before death overtook him, he saw Stephen kneel down and cry with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Life for the wicked Saul was never to be the same thereafter.

With orders in his hand to persecute the church, he had an encounter with God on the road to Damascus. He surrendered in meekness and later in the city of Damascus, Ananias was dispatched by God to lay hands on him, and he received his sight and was filled with the Holy Ghost. The wicked Saul became the witness Paul.

In Philippians Chapter 3, after recounting his former pedigree, he put all on the debit side of the ledger and counted all of his education and religious heritage nothing but refuse (dung) that he may win Christ. From that moment on, he had only one ambition in life and that was to, “know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

Thomas Cook, in his book entitled ‘New Testament Holiness’ gives his personal testimony of being crucified with Christ in the last chapter. He said that he had a clear and satisfying conversion. He thought all was settled until he felt stirrings in his heart that were not conducive to a Christian……He said that God revealed to him an Internal Opposition and it centered in one point—selfishness. He said that he had once prayed to be saved from hell, but prayer to be saved from myself now was immeasurably more fervent.

He feared not only the penalty of sin that condemned him, but the tyranny of a sinful self that mastered him. Like Paul, he discovered that Christ crucified not only revealed the fact of sin, but it was the remedy for sin. Experiencing the crucifixion of the ‘EGO’, life is no longer oriented around the centrality of self, but is oriented around the centrality of Christ.

The cross of history is a fact for the whole world to rejoice over. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is the objective side of the cross where redemption was provided for all. It was on the hill called Calvary where Jesus died FOR us.

However; the subjective side of the cross is when redemption is personalized in us, and I am crucified WITH Him. It is not only a work done FOR us, but also it is to be an experience wrought IN us. Paul says in Romans 6: 10-11, “For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The word ‘reckon’ does not mean to pretend or assume something that isn’t true. If we merely assume what isn’t really true, then the word ‘likewise’ (in the same way) would indicate that we are to assume that Jesus died and rose again. One is as real as the other. ‘Reckon’ is an accountant term, and by reckoning faith we count our inner crucifixion a fact of experience by Biblical mathematics.

As Ralph Earle explains, to reckon oneself to be dead indeed to sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord “does not stand for a whitewash that ‘imputes’ a righteousness which does not in fact exist. It stands for crediting to one’s account (by God in response to faith) a cleansing that has in actual fact taken place.”

(Word Meanings in the New Testament, p.138, 168)

Romans 6: 18 says, “we are free from sin and are servants unto righteousness.” This freedom does not consist of being released from all restraints, but it consists in a harmonious adjustment to Him who has superior rights to our allegiance, affections, and service. Man was never made for self-government; either SIN or the SAVIOR will be his master. The choice is ours to make.

Crucifixion is followed by a resurrection. If we be dead indeed unto sin, we will be alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. From that moment on, Paul said in Colossians Chapter 3 “If we be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Like Paul, we are in this world but our “treasures are being laid up in another world where moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break in and steal.”

The Apostle knew that, “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” is the only saving Gospel for a sin-stained humanity, and he was determined not to marginalize this teaching, for he made it the central focus of his preaching. “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

2 Christian Perfection

II Corinthians 6:14-7:1

The subject of perfection has been a very controversial one down through the years. However; the word perfection, in one form or another, occurs too frequently in Scriptures to be dismissed by silence. While some have misrepresented this doctrine in its presentation, others have ignored it altogether. In his Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Wesley answers the question how to avoid setting perfection too high or too low. “By keeping to the Bible, and setting it just as high as the Scripture does. It is nothing higher and nothing lower than this, the pure love of God and man; the loving God with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions.”

God, who is absolute perfection, does no imperfect work. When He created the heavens and the earth, He did it perfectly. Hebrews 11: 3 says, “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” The word ‘framed’ means perfect or perfectly joined together. One can only imagine what a chaotic world we would be living in if the natural laws were imperfect, even for a moment.

Everything about this universe is precise and perfect, from the revolving of the moon around the earth and the earth around the sun, the ebb and flow of the tides, the night following day, and each season following the other in perfect order. “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Without the perfect laws of nature, the world would be in total disarray. If God operates with such perfection and precision in the natural realm, it is only reasonable to assume that He works just as perfectly in the spiritual realm. If He didn’t, He would be violating His own nature.

There are various kinds of perfection: Absolute perfection that is attributed to God alone, Angelic perfection, Adamic perfection that was a part of creation before the fall of man, resurrection perfection which Paul disclaims in Philippians 3:12 but was pressing toward, and Christian perfection which Paul claimed and was urging others to experience as a second work of grace in Philippians 3: 15. It is Christian perfection that we are concerned about in this message.

John Wesley summed up his view of Christian perfection thusly:

1. There is such a thing as Christian perfection.

2. It is not so early as justification.

3. It is not so late as death.

4. It does not make men infallible.

5. It is perfect love.

6. It is improvable.

7. It is admissible.

8. It is instantaneous.

9. It is constantly both preceded and followed by a gradual work.

Wesley’s Works, Vol. XI pg. 441-442

One cannot rightly divide the word of truth without being persuaded that there is a present, possible perfection. Wesley further declared that there is a difference between “one that is perfect, and one that is perfected. The one is fitted for the race, and the other is ready to receive the prize.” The former is the perfection of righteousness, and the latter is resurrection perfection. For the purpose of this message I would like to consider Christian perfection as a crisis experience that is received instantly, followed by the perfecting or growth of that experience. It elsewhere has been noted as purity and maturity.

I. Christian Perfection (Purity):

God is the abounding source of all perfection. There can be no margin between what God is and that which He does. He does perfectly everything He chooses or undertakes to do. The exercise of His omnipotence is limited by His moral perfections. He is holy, and He always acts in accord with His holy nature.

C. W. Butler says, “In creation, God has placed certain limitations on His own activities by entering into relations with other free moral responsible beings. When He chose to create mankind as responsible moral beings, He imposed upon Himself certain limitations as to the exercise of His power, conditioned upon the free choices of such moral subjects.” Man, through the misuse of his God-given freedom, fell from his holy estate into sin and was alienated from his Creator. God had already provided the means of atonement for such a tragedy according to Revelation 13: 8.

Butler continues, “In the provision of grace and salvation, God exercised His own absolute freedom. However, in the bestowing of free grace to responsible free moral beings, He limits Himself in what He will do, by the freedom of the man, the receiving subject. In the provision of grace, He consults no one. In the bestowment of grace affecting the character and destiny of the recipient, He asks, “Wilt thou be made whole?” “If any man will, he shall know.” “Ye would not come unto me that ye might have life.” Therefore; let us consider that an absolute perfect God is able to do perfectly anything He undertakes to do, if He has an unhindered way. If man will respond obediently to His will to re-create him in His own image and likeness, He will make him “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:4. He can take out all that hinders, and impart all that is needful; in other words, He makes a perfect Christian. A thing can be said to be perfect when it is as it ought to be, when there is nothing wrong with it.”

It was God’s plan from the beginning for man to be holy. In Ephesians 1: 4 we read, “according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This was provided for on Calvary when Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. His death and resurrection were provisions for man’s forgiveness and cleansing. Sin is twofold in nature, and we read that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” His word also tells us that, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.” Therefore; His provisions were twofold, for the world’s forgiveness and the church’s cleansing. H. O. Wiley states that, “Christian perfection stresses the completeness of Christian character and the possession of spiritual graces.” Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This is why Wesley defined Christian perfection as love excluding sin. The aim and the end of it all are to make us Christ-like. The difference between Christian perfection and legal perfection is that legal perfection does not allow for mistakes, which are possible because of limitations of knowledge and faulty judgments that often occur through misinformation. Christian perfection allows for a margin between what a Christian is in his heart and motive and the method of his conduct. This is why, “every moment, Lord, I need the merit of thy blood.”

In Hebrews 13: 20-21 “The God of peace…..make you perfect in every good work to do His will.” This perfection is qualification for the task that He wants us to perform. It would be unfair for the Lord to say that we would be fitted for every good work if there would be some work for which we were not equipped. The purpose of this perfection is to do His will, and whatever task He assigns to us, He will furnish the equipment to accomplish it. We do not always know what God wants us to do, but this perfection will keep us fitted so we will always be ready and able to do His good will. Christian perfection is not only a possibility, but it is our responsibility. As sure as God calls the sinner to repentance, He calls His children to holiness.

II. Christian Perfection (Maturity):

Beginning in Chapter 6: 14 through the end of the chapter, Paul is acknowledging the need of the believer separating from everything worldly and unclean. He emphasizes this separation by the use of the temple as a metaphor. The Old Testament teaching of the construction, equipment, and decorations of the tabernacle/temple and the priests who served in the tabernacle/temple and anything identified with His earthly dwelling had to be holy.

Man, who now is God’s dwelling place on earth, must be a separated and a holy people. Righteousness has nothing in common with unrighteousness; there is no fellowship between light and darkness, and there is total animus between Christ and Belial. J. B. Chapman once said: “Separation, not amalgamation is the prelude to power. When the church and the world walk hand in hand, it is always the church, never the world that loses its identity.” The writer teaches us that if we separate from all that is contrary to holiness, God promises to receive us, be our God and Father, and will dwell in us and walk in us.”

Therefore; in view of these promises, Chapter 7:1 Paul admonishes: “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit”. Total consecration is the condition for one to receive entire sanctification, otherwise known as Christian perfection.

How are we able to cleanse ourselves, flesh and spirit? Is it possible and if so, how are we able to accomplish it?

Paul S. Rees answers: “Actually, we cannot cleanse ourselves, but conditionally, responsibly, and cooperatively, we can. We cannot cleanse ourselves; but on the other hand, God cannot cleanse us without ourselves. The faith by which we are made holy is a moral act, and while it is performed by the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is so truly ours that God Himself is powerless to cleanse us without it. But when it is performed, God affirms to His holy people, “YOU have purified your souls in obeying the truth in the Spirit.” I Peter 1:22. This is further illustrated in Revelation 19:7 when the church enters upon that mystic union with Christ in His coming glory and we read, “let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.” Yet her readiness was not her own achievement, it was all of grace.”

The latter part of Verse 7 speaks of maturity by the phrase, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” It is a paradoxical statement. It seems to demand the perfection of something that is already perfect. It is an ongoing action word that means to “finish” or “complete”. While the tense of the word “cleanse” calls for a crisis act, something definite and decisive, “perfecting” is “ongoing” and will culminate one day in glory.

There is a divine and human side to perfection. God always does a perfect work, but the human side of this perfecting is continuous. As long as we live in this world, man can be made perfect in love and motive and have a perfect heart, but not a perfect mind or body. In David’s exhortation to Solomon in I Chronicles 28:9 he said, “serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind.” God’s work in the heart cannot be improved upon, but man’s work must be continuous, as we are a work in progress. Because of our faulty minds and infirm bodies, we will not be able, as long as we are in this world, to enjoy perfect performance or conduct. When God destroys carnality from the heart, He does not dehumanize us. While the propensity to sin is cleansed by the blood, it does not destroy the proclivities of our native appetites and passions. These must be disciplined and guarded with the utmost care.

We do this “in the fear of God.” The Psalmist says that, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalms 111:10. In the discipline of our lives, we must be faithful in the study of the Word and prayer, and the means of grace. We need to be conscious of life’s providences and willing to accept reproof when given. We must remember that there is an after-work following the altar-work. Though we are cleansed from all sin, the aftermath of sin’s indwelling; scars and sin’s consequences and memories are carried over into the Christ-like life. He forgives and forgets, but the world and Satan are not so generous. These must be refined and rectified by growth in grace or what we call “Christian maturity.”

3 Freedom from Sin

Romans 6:1-11

Is it truly possible to be free from sin or are Christians just forgiven sinners? Must Christians continue sinning daily in deed, thought, and word? Paul answers these questions very emphatically in the first verse of this chapter. In Romans 5: 20 he writes, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”. Paul knew that there would be those who would try to misconstrue the purpose of God’s grace. Some said because God’s grace abounds much more than man’s sin, the more man sins, the more occasion God would have to display His grace. In other words, man’s sin would glorify God by causing His grace to increase. Paul’s retort to such heresy was by his rhetorical question in Romans 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” He puts to rest any teaching that there is such a thing as a ‘sinning’ Christian, any more than there is such a thing as an honest thief or a truthful liar. It is very unscriptural to say that we are holy in Christ while being unholy in ourselves. This chapter makes it clear that we need not continue in sin, and sin need not continue in us. We have both liberty and life through death.

I. Liberty through Death: (vs. 7) “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

If God cannot save from all sin, then these words mock us. God never commands what He does not require, nor require of us where there is not ability to perform. Where there is a divine call, there is a divine enabling. The abounding grace of God deals thoroughly with man’s sin problem so that man can be complete in Christ.

When Paul received his commission from Christ, it was that he would go to the Gentiles “that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”(Acts 26:18) Here in God’s commission to Paul we see two distinct works of grace and both received by faith.

Freedom from sin involves both justification and sanctification, and this is grace provided for the whole man and is sufficient for all sin. Each work of grace deals thoroughly with each specific form of sin. Justification deals with the deeds or acts of our sins, and entire sanctification deals with the disease or attitude of sin. The former requires forgiveness, and the latter requires cleansing by way of crucifixion.

When one, through repentance and faith, is born of the Spirit (regeneration), all past transgressions are forgiven and as the Psalmist said, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” This involves the removal of guilt and the lifting of condemnation. Through grace the accusing conscience is changed to an approving conscience. The joy and peace one receives from forgiveness is so welcomed that oftentimes one believes they received it ‘all at once,’ but only later to discover stirrings in their heart that were not dealt with in the first work of grace. What they experienced was initial sanctification, but one soon finds out that there is yet remaining in the heart what Paul calls ‘our old man’ in (vs. 6). This requires another work of God’s grace called entire sanctification. (I Thess. 5:23) ‘Our old man,’ also referred to as the Adamic nature has been passed on to the entire human race as a result of the fall in the garden. (Romans 5:18) It is the cause behind every transgression that man commits.

The phrase “our old man” indicates that we are very closely associated to it. Before one ever surrenders to Christ, it is the driving force of his life. One willfully submits to its mastery and like the ‘sap’ that flows from the vine to the branches, it spreads its virus throughout the entire personality running and ruining the entire life. It is the ruling influence in the life of the unregenerate.

Man is not only a sinner by choice, but is sinful by nature. When one repents and receives forgiveness for his transgressions, a new principle is introduced into his heart which predominates the soul. The ‘old man’ is arrested and ‘put down,’ but it is not yet ‘put off.’ It still remains, not by choice but by nature. While the principle, propensity, or proneness of ‘our old man’ continues to exist within man, it is more to be feared than the devil on the outside.

Between the two epochal experiences, regeneration and entire sanctification, God’s grace is sufficient to keep one from sinning. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (I John 1: 7) However, subsequent to the New Birth, there must come a time when we reckon by faith the death of ‘our old man.’ Dr. S. K. Wheatlake, in his book entitled ‘The Touch of Fire’ wrote:

“The Supreme court of heaven has not only convicted him as a high handed rebel

against God’s holy government, but has sentenced him to die. He will survive all

other methods except the one prescribed in the text, which is capital punishment,

the most excruciating type; namely, crucifixion. Just as he assisted in the death of

Jesus on the cross, so he is to die. In the same manner, all who love him and refuse

to deliver him up to God’s executioner, the Holy Ghost, are with him, under the

sentence of eternal death, as being abettors with him in crime.”

It needs to be noted that while the term ‘our old man’ is used, it is not a substance or entity like an extraction of a tooth or the uprooting of a stump. These terms are used to teach total freedom from sin, but it is impossible to define a metaphysical by using a physical illustration. Thomas Cook says, “it is more like a virus in the bloodstream of the soul.” It is a perversion or corruption of the nature that cannot exist apart from man. L. T. Corlett said, “Carnality, (‘our old man’) has no capital of its own.”

However, when one has been delivered from the pollution and power of sin, one is not so fixed and complete in character as to be beyond temptation, or beyond any possibility of sinning. It does not remove human capacity or human ability, or any legitimate desire, appetite, or passion; it deals solely with the perversion by intrusion of that which is not of God. There are those who would ask how one could ever be tempted to sin if he was free from sin? One only has to ask how Adam could be tempted or even how Jesus could be tempted. While sin can be a motivation of temptation, it is obviously not a necessary factor or Jesus could never have been tempted in the wilderness. The real ground of temptation is man’s freedom of choice with which God endowed him in creation, and he continues to have following salvation. He is as free not to yield as he is free to yield to temptation. Freedom from sin does not make one so he cannot sin, but so he need not sin. The same consecration that is required to be made free from sin must be continued in order for one to retain freedom from sin. The Christian walk is not automatic; it requires constant obedience and faith.

II. Life through Death: (vs. 11) “Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Apostle presents God’s provision for man’s deliverance from sin by the use of four verbs:

1. “Buried with Him by baptism into death” (vs. 4)

2. “Planted together in the likeness of His death.” (vs. 5)

3. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (vs. 11)

4. “Yield yourselves unto God (vs. 13)

Buried: Jesus speaking to James and John who were requesting a special place in His Kingdom said, “Ye know not what you ask: can you drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” While water baptism is a symbol and pledge of His death, burial and resurrection, here He was not speaking symbolically, but of that which was real. He was speaking of the physical suffering and pain and the ultimate death on the cross. Out of His death on the cross came a resurrection three days later. In other words, out of His death came life. “Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also (who are crucified with Him) should walk in newness of life.”

Planted: Jesus said in John 12: 24, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” In John Chapter 15 He says, “I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman…. every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Jesus taught that the service that succeeds is sacrificial in nature when He said, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12: 25) A grain put into the ground must die in order to spring forth in new life and produce an abundant harvest.

The words ‘planted together’ speaks of a harmonious union and fruitfulness. In John Chapter 17, Jesus prays, “sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth…..that they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

This ‘oneness’ is illustrated in the Old Testament, when they would go out into the field and pluck the wheat from various parts of the field and bind them together into a sheaf and wave it up to God for a wave offering. They would then crush the grains into flour and knead it together and bake it over the fire in a pan and then take the loaf and wave it to God for a wave offering. The oneness was represented by the sheaf and the loaf. When one is born again, he is separated from the world, but is united as a part of the body of which Christ is the Head. He then, like the loaf, will experience the purifying fire of the Holy Ghost. Through the birth of the Spirit and the subsequent baptism of the Spirit, one no longer is centered in himself, but centered in Christ. All residue of the self-life is purged out by the baptismal fire of the Holy Ghost, and as Paul testified in Galatians 2:20, “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” All self-aggrandizement, self-sparing, self-defending and shielding comes to an end, and God is glorified.

Reckon: All of this is appropriated by ‘reckoning’ faith. The word reckon (count) means to consider a thing done, and it is as real as the death and resurrection of Christ. Experiencing the reality of being dead to sin and being raised in newness of life brings about a complete victory over death; a victory so complete that Paul says, speaking of Jesus, “death hath no more dominion over Him.”

For the believer, being “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” is not speaking of the final resurrection of the body. It is rather victory over depravity (‘the Old Man’), which is working death in us (7:13) until we come to Christ to be crucified with Him that the body of sin and death be destroyed. The phrase ‘body of sin’ is teaching that sin is not removed piecemeal, but all at once. As long as ‘our old man’ is permitted to exist, there is resident within man the seed and potential of every evil that was ever committed. We must reckon (count) this a reality in Christian experience so we will be filled with the Spirit and not with sin.

Yield: “Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (vs. 13) This can only be done by one who has been made alive unto God. While a sinner must turn and confess, a believer is admonished to consecrate and yield.

Paul S. Rees notes two expressions: “Your members!” “Yourselves!” “Your members” is your outer life. “Yourselves” is your inner life. Christ’s demand upon life is both intensely spiritual and intensely practical. It is intensely spiritual, as shown by its emphasis upon inwardness; inward sincerity, integrity, purity. It is intensely practical, as shown by its emphasis upon outward consistency with inward faith. He knows how easy it is for us to sing sentimental songs of consecration, and then fail to translate those lovely sentiments into patterns of behavior that are consistent.”

He further states: “Yield your members, every one of them. If you withhold a single one, you mar the whole pattern of full-fledged Christian living. He knows the hurt that may come from an unyielded tongue…He knows the peril of the unyielded ear…He knows the threat to our whole structure of character and influence that stands in an unyielded eye.” There is a yielding of self once and for all, and there is a process of daily yielding our members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Once we were slaves to sin and our members were instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, now we are “dead indeed unto sin,” and being freed from sin, we yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. While it must be remembered that spiritual liberty is not license, there is moderation, control, and orderliness when He is the Master of our lives. We, being fully surrendered, can be fully blessed as we obey without hesitancy the promptings of the Holy Spirit. While consecration is complete, it must be kept constant by walking in the light as He is in the light.

“For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.” (vs. 20)

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (vs.22) L. S. Oliver outlined this verse thusly:

I. Vital Emancipation: “But now being made free from sin.”

II. Voluntary Enslavement: “Become servants to God.”

III. Visible Expression: “You have your fruit unto holiness.”

IV. Victorious End: “And the end everlasting life.”

Haldor Lillenas had it right when he wrote:

“Glorious freedom! Wonderful freedom!

No more in chains of sin I repine!

Jesus, the glorious Emancipator!

Now and forever He shall be mine.”

4 Sanctification: The Will of God

I Thessalonians 4:1-8

As one reads the Scriptures, he is gripped with the fact that holiness is God’s designated standard for His people. In the text we read that “God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness.” In II Thessalonians 2:13 the writer, speaking to the brethren in Christ, tells them that “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” These passages, along with the third verse of the text, teach us that the call, choice, and the will of God is that His children be holy.

In the New Testament alone there are sixteen commands to be holy, eighteen inspired prayers that we be made holy, fourteen passages teaching how to receive the blessing of holiness, and one hundred passages telling of the wonderful results of being made holy.

Allow me further to define my terms so that it will be easier to understand.

Sanctify is the verb that speaks of the cleansing work of God in the heart of His children. Sanctification is the noun that names the process of that cleansing. Holiness and righteousness is the state that is produced by sanctification.

The basic meaning of holiness carries with it the idea of “separation.” It is not only a separation from all that is sinful, but a separation unto God. Therefore; sanctification is begun the moment one is born again. It is the initiation of this separation and the realization of the cleansing (through forgiveness) of one’s acquired depravity. This is why Paul refers to the believers in I Corinthians 1:2 as “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” even though the third chapter reveals that they were yet “carnal…babes in Christ,” because they had not yet been entirely sanctified.

Paul is writing to those who had truly been converted and gave evidence of their conversion in the first chapter of I Thessalonians. Their Christian credentials were impeccable. Their life was a “work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God….They received the Gospel in the power of the Holy Ghost and in much assurance…They received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost…” Their faith was known and spread far and wide for they had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They were even looking for the return of Christ.

In the third chapter he speaks concerning their spiritual well-being and sends Timothy to establish and comfort them concerning their faith. He did not want them to be tempted to move from the faith and all his labor would be in vain. His burden for them was so great that, “night and day he prayed exceedingly that he might see their face and perfect that which was lacking in their faith.” The purpose of his visit is given in I Thessalonians 3: 13. “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

The verses of my text are given to the new Christian to emphasize that sanctification is begun immediately upon conversion and is necessary to live holy and righteous until and after they have been entirely sanctified, as is defined in I Thessalonians 5:23. Sanctification (initial and entire and progressive) is the will of God and it is, in itself, an equation. The will of God is our sanctification, and our sanctification is the will of God. It is equal in importance as well as in imperative command. Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:21 “not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Every enemy of His will is without the heart of those entirely sanctified. When one has been cleansed from all sin; namely inherited depravity, that which rivaled His rule and reign is destroyed. For the purpose of the furtherance of this message, I want to use the word ‘sanctification’ in its entirety, unless otherwise noted.

I. Call:

“God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” This calling is vastly more than an invitation; it is an investment of God which the believer is highly honored to receive. This call to holiness is subsequent to sonship, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God,” I John 3:1, and it precedes the call to His eternal glory, “but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,” I Peter 5: 11. The writer brings attention to the faithfulness of the God of peace who not only calls us but will accomplish to the full, our sanctification. “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.”

The calls of God demand our response and our obedience to His calls, which assures our salvation. Many calls are given universally and generally and must not be ignored. There was the call to safety when He said, “come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Genesis 7:1. The call to reason “come now let us reason together.” Isaiah 1:18. The call to rest “come unto me, all ye that labor…I will give you rest.”

Matt. 11: 28. The call to repentance “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matt 9: 13. My text issues a negative and positive note to His call. “God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” This declaration places holiness in contrast to uncleanness.

When one hears the call of God and becomes knowledgeable of the will of God, it is then the act of highest wisdom to heed His call and do His will. The importance of His call is determined by one’s concept of God who gives the call. When you study God’s word, you will begin to get a picture of the character of God. When we consider His admonitions, exhortations, prayers and promises, we realize He is holy to the exclusion of all unholiness. Peter tells us , “as He which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” The call to holiness arises out of the ‘isness’ of God, “as “He..is..so be ye!” I Peter 1: 15-16. As light cannot fellowship with darkness, so uncleanness is contrasted with holiness.

There is a warning given to those who would despise the call to holiness. To despise means to reject, refuse, undervalue this call. “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit.” Whatever estimate one places on the call to holiness is also one’s estimate of God. The act of such rejection can only occur in this world because no one rejects holiness in heaven, and there is no holiness in hell to be rejected.

God’s will is a law that holds redemption or retribution. We will either be pure or we will perish. One cannot evade the alternative that was stated by Dr. W. B. Godbey; it is holiness or hell. The only reason one is lost forever in hell is the lack of holiness, and the only reason a soul is saved to heaven is holiness. There is not a holy person in hell, and there is not a sinner in heaven.

II. Cleansing:

Since God has given the clarion call to be holy, the fact that His will is a law commanding us to be holy, made the cross a necessity. Sinful man could never rise to the level of a law requiring holiness on his own merit. Man could do nothing to restore himself to the holiness lost in the fall. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Isaiah Chapter 53 says, “all we like sheep have gone astray.” David in Psalms Chapter 51 confessed, “behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” The only sacrifice adequate to span the breech that sin has created and bridge the gap between man’s guilt and God’s glory was Christ Jesus. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself…” We are reconciled by His grace.

While sanctification means ‘setting apart’, it has a deeper meaning. There is man’s part and God’s part in sanctification. The Christian is urged to make a full surrender to God subsequent to the new birth. The admonition of Romans 12:1-2 is for the Christian to “present their body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.”

Obviously, that act of total consecration cannot be made by a sinner, but only by one who has been regenerated. He is the one who is able to offer himself a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice. God’s part is to cleanse or sanctify wholly. He will cleanse all we consecrate and purify all we present to Him.

In the Old Testament things such as vessels, temples, places, days, etc. are sanctified or set apart from common usage to holy purposes. However; these have no moral capacity, because things, places and days have no sense of good and evil, while the sanctification of a person, a moral being, does know the difference between good and evil. Therefore; sanctification must mean more than a mere “setting apart,” or dedication. It must involve the cleansing of man’s moral nature.

Consecration or “setting apart” is an act that one can do of his own volition, even without a bleeding sacrifice. If sanctification does not mean more than dedication, then a person could be sanctified and at the same time hold God at a distance and refuse Him from exercising His Sovereign will over him. It would be unthinkable that God would dedicate that person to any kind of sacred service without taking into consideration his moral condition. Such a person would be capable of exploiting the very call of God to enrich himself and violate every known law of God. That is why Paul writes, “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.” It requires the efficacy of the cross to sanctify moral beings. “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.”

III. Conduct:

In the first twelve verses of this chapter Paul speaks of the ethics that follow the experience of sanctification, both initially and entire. He states the importance of our lives in being lived to God’s pleasure. “Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” Jesus, when speaking of His Father in John 8:29 said, “I do always those things that please Him.” As we follow His example, we also should make pleasing Him our chief objective in life. No one so selfish as to want salvation merely as a means to get to heaven could possibly be fit for heaven. Their desire is for a place rather than a person, and whatever heaven is, it is because He is there. Let us abound in a pleasing walk with Him.

It will require holy discipline of our bodies so that we abstain from all evil passions such as fornication. Our body is the temple of His dwelling. He is Lord, and His supreme reign is the rule and will of our life. We have proved that His will is good, and acceptable, and perfect.

The former life is over and all things have become new. “As obedient children, we no longer fashion ourselves according to the former lusts in our ignorance….we are called to be holy in all manner of living.” We do not defraud, cheat or lie, but rather live by the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, “therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matt. 7:12. God taught us to love one another and love does no ill to its neighbor. As one labors in faith and love, he becomes a pleasure to the God he serves. He discovers that His laws are not grievous and serving Him is the joy of living.

Paul speaks of another incentive to, “live soberly, righteously, Godly in this present world,” and that is because, “we are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” Titus 2: 12-13. His reign within is not only the hope of the Gospel, but our hope of glory. At the end of each chapter of this letter the writer makes reference to our Lord’s return.

When Paul testified in Galatians 2: 20 that, “no longer I live, but Christ liveth in me,” he was speaking of the ‘high noon’ of holiness. Through His death and resurrection He gave Himself a ransom for all. Paul says in I Corinthians 6:20 that, “we are bought with a price”; that price was the precious blood of Jesus. As Lord and Savior, He owns all rights on us. When we invite Him into our hearts, He comes to reign and no one can dispute His rights to us. If He cannot rule, He will not reside. When one is sanctified wholly, carnality, the one insubordinate enemy to His law and rulership, is cleansed. This is the finished work of God’s will in the heart of His children. It is the crowning work of redemption, and Christ is “all and in all.” Paul clearly states that, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification….for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” Let us not reject His call, but receive it gladly!

5 The Cleansing Blood

I John 1: 1-10

This passage presents Jesus not only as the messenger but the message. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” As holiness is exclusive of sin, here John tells us that Jesus, “the light of the world,” is totally exclusive of darkness. Paul tells us in II Corinthians 4: 6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

At the time of creation the world was in a condition of chaotic night. “The earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Sprit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light and there was light.” God worked from evening until morning. Six times in the first chapter of Genesis we read, “the evening and the morning.” Man works from morning until evening, but God works from darkness to light, from evening until morning. The word ‘morning’ is recorded over 200 times in the Bible because the Christian is always moving toward the morning, the dawn of a new day.

Following the dreadful fall of man in the garden, conditions were not only catastrophic and chaotic, but the darkness was impenetrable. The only piercing ray of light and hope was the promise God gave when He said that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.

As the Spirit brooded over the waters of the deep in creation, He now broods over the human heart to transform chaos into perfect order. In the life of the sanctified there is always a morning star in the sky. As we are faithful to live, labor, love, and walk in the light with our face toward the sunrise, the day will come when we will finally enter into the gates of an eternal day.

He is the message of light, and the light of the world has a powerful effect on all upon which it shines. Findlay says, “The day cries its light at the windows. It has no voice, it utters no speech, but when it comes, sleepers stir and go forth to work, birds sing their songs, beasts come forth from their lairs, and creeping things of the night crawl away to hide.” His light has a similar effect.

The word ‘if’ occurs 5 times in the last four verses of this chapter. The writer is saying that our words and witness must correspond with our walk. If our conduct is not consistent with what we say, or our walk is not a compliment to our witness, then several things happen. 1. “We lie and do not the truth” vs. 6) 2. “the truth is not in us” vs. 8) or 3. “we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” vs. 10).

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” This verse contains one condition that results in two consequences. The condition is “walk in the light”, and the consequence will result in communion and cleansing from all sin.

I. Condition:

It has been stated that any one of the trilogy; walking, fellowship, and cleansing can be proven by the other two. For example: How do I know that I am walking in the light? Because I am enjoying fellowship with Him, and the blood is cleansing me from all sin. How do I know that I am being cleansed from all sin? Because I am walking in the light, and I am enjoying fellowship with Him. How do I know that I am enjoying fellowship with Him? Because I am walking in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing me from all sin.

The person referred to in verse 7, through His revealing light, has through faith received His redemptive love and become a child of God and is now enjoying intimacy with Christ. Walking in the light implies that both are going in the same direction and agreeing with one another. The one of old made it quite clear that two cannot walk together except they be agreed.

To walk in the light is to do as Paul said in Romans 8: 4 to “walk after the Spirit.” He makes it clear that “they who walk after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh… and they that are in the flesh cannot please God” because they agree with the sinful propensities of the flesh, but they that walk after the Spirit agree with and obey the teachings of the Holy Spirit.

In how much light must I walk? “As He is in the light….and in Him is no darkness at all.” He is not only the example but the extent of the light in which we are to walk. Our new life in Christ has energized and now enables us to pursue the path of righteousness rather than worldly indulgences.

II. Cleansing:

Walking in the light is prerequisite for the total cleansing of the heart. One does not walk long in agreement with His Lord until the same light that dispelled the darkness from his soul when forgiven will disclose the depths of depravity yet remaining within the heart.

Richard S. Taylor said: “An automobile may have a bent axle but it will not be detected until it begins to move down the highway. As it moves it displays a warp and wobble that will need corrected for it to be road worthy.” Prior to one’s conversion, he is not conscious of the inward drag and downward force of indwelling sin. However; once he is forgiven and begins his walk with God, he will soon recognize something within that hinders his spiritual progress and will be in conflict with the One he desires to please. It is then that he will sense the Holy Spirit calling him to make a complete consecration of himself to God. It is vital that one agrees with and obediently responds to the call of God to a total abandonment in order to maintain communion with his Savior. Any delay at this point will cause tension to surface, and one is prone to be self-defensive. If immediate and total surrender is not made, he is in danger of entering into a calloused religious nominalism.

It is at this point we acknowledge the dual nature of sin. Following the deeds of sin that have been forgiven in the first work of grace effected by the birth of the Spirit, there will, of necessity, have to be a second work of grace effected by the baptism with the Spirit which cleanses one from the disposition to sin. Let us be more specific concerning the dual nature of sin.

The act of sin is a willful thing. We intelligently and willfully consent to it and in so doing we bring guilt upon ourselves. The law of divine justice condemns us because it acts on the presumption that we could have avoided it. [It must be remembered that if we could not refuse to sin, or were unable to say no to sin, we could not be justly condemned for sinning. But man is not a machine because God created him with a free will, and he has the power to choose right or wrong, good or evil, and God made him the arbiter of his own actions.] This is why repentance is necessary for forgiveness.

However, there is a disposition or state of sin that is not dependent on his will. We can neither create it nor destroy it by our will. It is the cause behind the act of sin. It is still resident even in the nature of him who is justified. This state of sin, often called inbred sin, does not come under the operation of pardon. It is not something we have done, but something inherited from the fall. A nature cannot be forgiven; it must be cleansed and only God can do it. There is in the atonement provision made to not only reach the depth of our heart’s need, but the heights of His demand on our lives that we be holy as He is holy.

This state of sin is depicted as an outlaw by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8: 7, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” It is futile for us to make any feeble attempt to control it, especially when it will not obey the law of God. Suppression does not change the nature of sin anymore than a prison cell will change the nature of a prisoner.

Pardon and purity are not synonymous, and they require two diverse conditions. The former requires repentance and the latter requires consecration. “If we confess, He will forgive….if we walk in the light, He will cleanse.” Forgiveness resolves our wrong-doing, but cleansing resolves our wrong-being.

It is not our walking, nor the light that is the element of our cleansing, but the blood of Jesus Christ. Samuel Chadwick said that our salvation required the entire out-poured life of our Lord.

Light (Word) is what reveals my need of cleansing. Faith lays hold of the word of promise for my cleansing. The blood is the provision for my cleansing, and the Holy Spirit is the power that applies the cleansing blood.

III. Communion:

As we continue to walk in the light we will continue in fellowship and communion with Him. The sacrifice He made for man’s redemption speaks loudly of His affection for man and His desire to commune with us. When that same love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit we, like our Savior, want to do only those things that please Him.

Even while we are in this world, we are now, however, no longer of this world but our affections are on things above. We will be confronted, on every hand, by a world that is not a friend of God or grace and will challenge every step we take while walking in the light. While the inward warfare of sin is resolved, we soon discover that there must be an after-work following the altar-work.

While the sins of the past have been forgiven and the sin within has been cleansed, our problem now with sin is not a problem of guilt, but of temptation. While the inward rebellion and pride have been cleansed, we still have inherent human propensities, though not sinful in themselves can become an occasion for the sin problem to return. God, in creation, has endowed man with basic appetites, affections, and urges that demand we be watchful and vigilant in order not to suffer moral defeat. It will require that we keep constant diligence, consistent discipline, and careful discernment over our lives in order to maintain communion with Him. We have been transformed, but not yet translated.

Our physical instincts are very much alive and active, and within themselves they are unmoral (neither good nor evil), but they do constitute a basis for temptation.

Richard S. Taylor illustrated thusly, “I’m hungry and my salivary glands function at the very sight of food, even if the food isn’t mine. My glands do not know right from wrong, but I do. Therefore they must not control me, I must control them.”

“This is the will of God, even your sanctification…that everyone should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.”

This goes for one’s thought-life and every physical instinct and craving that shouts for satisfaction. It is to that extent that one still, even after total cleansing from sin, has a problem that must be kept under control. It requires constant obedience to the checking and promptings of the Holy Spirit. This cleansing is not an absolute cleansing but a conditional and continuous cleansing. The cleansing is a ‘present, continuous’ cleansing. We keep walking, and He keeps cleansing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Perdue and his wife reside at Urbana, Ohio. They have three sons and seven grandchildren. Following a short pastorate Dr. Perdue entered into the work of an itinerant evangelist. He has served in this capacity for the past 38 years. He is an author of several books and has written for a number of periodicals. While serving as the Revivalist Coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene he founded the ‘Evangelists’ Perspective’ magazine. He also serves as an associate evangelist with the Francis Asbury Society whose founder is Dr. Dennis Kinlaw. In 2002 Mount Vernon Nazarene University conferred on him an honorary Doctor of Divinity. The central emphasis of his ministry is Biblical Holiness.