The Oberlin Evangelist
August 2, 1843
HOLINESS OF CHRISTIANS IN THE PRESENT LIFE:--No. 12.
UNBELIEF.
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
“So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19)
In this message I will discuss,
I. What is not unbelief?
II. What is unbelief?
III. What are some examples and some evidence of
unbelief?
IV. What is the tendency of unbelief?
V. What is the guilt of unbelief?
I. What is not unbelief?
1. Unbelief is not simply a negative state of
mind. The Bible represents unbelief as
sin. Therefore, unbelief cannot simply
be a lack of something, like a lack of faith.
2. Nor is unbelief ignorance. Unbelief may cause ignorance by turning our
attention away from the objects of faith.
But ignorance all by itself is not unbelief. Nor is unbelief the absence of conviction. The absence of conviction is often a result
of unbelief.
II. What is unbelief.
1. The Bible represents unbelief as sin. Therefore, unbelief must be a voluntary
state of mind. Unbelief cannot belong
to either our mind or our emotions because the action of both our mind and our
emotions is involuntary.
2. Unbelief is the opposite of faith. The Bible also represents faith as
voluntary. Therefore, unbelief cannot
simply be conviction, because conviction belongs to our intelligence. Conviction is a function of our mind. Faith is trust or confidence in God. Faith is committing our soul to Him; as
Peter says, “Commit the keeping of your soul to Him”. (See 1 Peter 4:19)
3. Generically, faith, as distinguished from
everything else, is confidence in God; but specifically, faith is confidence in
Christ, or in any fact, doctrine, promise, or any threat in the Bible. And, I might add, that faith is a willful
confidence in any truth whatever, whether it is historical, philosophical, or
mathematical. You can even have faith,
or confidence in an error. If faith
concerns the promises of God, it is a confident assurance that God will fulfill
His promises. If it concerns facts, faith
is confidence in the truthfulness of those facts. Unbelief is the opposite of this. Unbelief is withholding confidence from what God says. Unbelief is distrust. It is refusing to commit or give up our mind
to the influence of a truth or a promise.
True unbelief is rejecting evidence.
For example, take any of the facts recorded in the
Bible. Unbelief is refusing to admit
that those facts are true. Unbelief is
refusing to allow those facts to have the influence that they deserve. For example, look at the way the Jews
treated the miracles of Christ. Christ
claimed that He was the Messiah, and to support His claim, He performed many
wonderful works. Here was evidence that
He really was who He claimed to be. If
He had not furnished such evidence, it would not have been unbelief to reject
His claim. Without any evidence, Christ
might have lived and died among them, without them incurring any guilt by rejecting
Him. But the works that He performed,
were such that those works should have secured the confidence of everyone who
saw those miracles performed. Christ’s
miracles should have established His claim in every mind. However, instead of yielding to the evidence
that Christ presented to them, they steadfastly resisted Him, and said that His
miracles were really the works of the devil.
It appears, that their desire to reject Him was so strong, that no
amount of evidence that He could place before them, could overcome their
unbelief. Now this was unbelief! We can apply this same principle to other
things. For example, let’s look at the
doctrine of Phrenology. Phrenology is the study of the shape and protuberances of the
skull, based on the now discredited belief that they reveal character and
mental capacity. If an individual really lacks evidence that
this so-called science is true, it is not unbelief to reject it. On the other hand, to receive this science
without sufficient evidence would be a desire to believe too quickly. But, the more evidence of its truth that he
receives, the more unbelief is required to refuse to treat it accordingly. The same is true with the doctrine of the
second coming of Christ. If an
individual does not have enough evidence of its truth to answer the demands of
his intelligence, it is not unbelief to reject this doctrine. But if he has plenty of evidence, then to
reject it is unbelief. We could apply
this same principle to the doctrine of Sanctification, or any other doctrine whatever,
whether that doctrine is true or false.
4. However, it is especially unbelief, anytime
individuals confess they are convinced but they do not act like they are
convinced. If an individual confesses
that he is convinced of the truth of the doctrine of the second coming of
Christ, if he does not commit his mind to the full influence of that doctrine,
it is unbelief. If he admits the truth
of the doctrine of Entire Sanctification, if he does not commit himself to it,
and he does not expect to realize it in his own life, he is guilty of unbelief. It is also unbelief, whether he admits it or
not, if he has reasonable evidence of its truth, and yet he does not yield his
whole being up to its influence.
III. What are some examples and evidences of
unbelief?
1. A heathen who never heard the gospel is not an
unbeliever as it concerns Christ, in any proper sense of the word. He knows nothing about the gospel, and as a
result, he does not withhold any confidence from the gospel; but a man who
lives under the gospel, and is not controlled by it, is an unbeliever.
2. A lack of assurance of salvation through Christ
is unbelief. This must be true, if
Christ’s death on an old rugged cross was for all men, and if faith consists in
believing what God says concerning it.
John says, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son.” (1
John 5:11) Now if it is true that God
has given eternal life to all, then to not have the assurance of your own
salvation through Christ is unbelief.
3. We refuse to believe if we are not willing to
allow any truth that grabs a hold of our attention to properly influence us, no
matter what that truth is. Faith opens
up our soul so that the truth can influence us. Faith commits our mind to the influence of truth, according to
how important we feel that that truth is.
4. The absence of a firm confidence and a solid
expectation, that we will realize the truth of every promise that God gives to
us, is unbelief. For example, God
promises to parents, that He will bless their children; then, to not have the
most confident assurance that He will bless our children is unbelief. And the same is true concerning every
promise that deals with either justification or sanctification.
5. God has promised the salvation of all who
believe. Now, to doubt whether we will
be saved, is both evidence and an example of unbelief. Please remember that the salvation promised
is salvation from both sin and hell. To
this, some object saying that the promise of salvation is conditional. The person who makes this objection will say
something like this. “I have no right
to believe that I shall be saved, until sometime after I have believed in
Christ; for faith is the condition of the promise, and to require me to believe
that I will be saved before I believe in Christ, is to require me to believe a
fact before it is true.” My answer to
this is:
(1.) What I am supposed to believe about
Christ? Clearly, I am to believe in Him
as the Savior. That is, that Christ
tasted death for everyone, and that He has given us eternal life. Therefore, I must believe two things; first,
that Christ died for everyone, and of course, that Christ died for me; and
second, that He will save me. Suppose
an angel should believe that Christ died for the whole world, would that be
faith in Christ? That would certainly
not be faith in the same sense that the Bible requires us to believe in
Him. There is no way you can say that I
believe, unless I believe He died for me.
I must not only believe that He died for everyone, but that He died for
me. I must not only believe that justification
is offered to everyone, but it is offered to me; and true faith is accepting
eternal salvation at His hand. Now, do
you remember what the objection is? The
objection is that I first realize that the promise of salvation is conditioned
on faith, and that the condition must be fulfilled before I can even begin to
believe that I will realize the promise of salvation, and I then will be
saved. This is nothing more than a
confusing trick. They create an
arbitrary condition and believe that the promise of salvation is given on a
condition that actually nullifies the promise.
They believe that faith simply makes it possible for the promise of
salvation to be fulfilled. Let me explain. Suppose a rich father gives his son a
promise in writing, and says, under oath, that he will supply all his son’s
needs. Then, the father sends the son
overseas with the condition that the son must exercise complete faith in the
promise. He must believe that his
father will supply his needs. His faith
will secure for him enough money from any of the banks in Europe to meet his
needs, according to his father’s written oath.
Now, I want to know, is the condition, that the son should exercise
complete faith in the promise, a condition that will nullify the promise if he
doesn’t meet that condition. Definitely
not, since the condition is not arbitrary.
The condition is naturally essential to its fulfillment. If he does not confide in the promise and
expect its fulfillment, it is naturally impossible that the promise will be
fulfilled. If he doesn’t confide in the
promise and expect its fulfillment, he won’t go to the bank to withdraw the
money that was promised to him. On the
other hand, how simple it is, that faith in the promise naturally secures its
fulfillment.
God has given the promise of eternal salvation to
all who believe. The condition of faith
is not arbitrary, but natural, so that the fulfillment of the promise to each
individual depends on his faith in that promise. Now is it faith to stand way back, and say, “Christ died for everybody
else, and will save everybody else, if they will believe”, and yet, you do not
believe yourself? What a strange
objection! The truth is, if this
objection is a valid objection, it nullifies every promise in the Bible. God has promised to convert the world, but
the fulfillment of this promise is conditioned on the faith of Christians. Now does this condition hinder faith? Is it a sly and clever way to evade fulfilling
the promise that the promisor uses to prevent the need for him to fulfill his
promise? No, but the condition is
natural, and it simply involves expecting the thing promised. So God has promised to bless the children of
believers, if they will believe; that is, if they will give themselves up to
this truth. Now to believe is to
fulfill the condition, and if people decide to take the ground of this
objection, they will stumble. This
objection says that to believe simply makes it possible for the condition to be
fulfilled. How can this objection be
any good? It can’t be!
(2.) In every situation, faith expects that God will
fulfill the promise, and we do not base this expectation on the promise itself,
but on the general character of the one who makes the promise. When God gives any promise, if an individual
says that he believes in that promise even though he does not believe in the
general character of God, he cannot truly believe in that promise at all. Without confidence in the unselfish love and
the character of God, it is impossible to rely on His promises. However, confidence in God’s love and His
character, naturally secures reliance in His promises.
(3.) God has promised to justify and sanctify every
believer, or everyone who will believe and expect God to justify and sanctify
him. The condition is natural, and it
is silly to say, that we can’t expect to be justified and sanctified until
after we have believed; for to believe the promise, is to expect the
promise. Not to expect God to justify
and sanctify you, is unbelief; for to expect God to justify and sanctify you in
this situation, is implied in faith. A
lot has been said about the doctrine of appropriating faith, and I have been
amazed by the fact that those who believe that Christ only died for the elect,
or who believe in the doctrine of a limited Atonement, have a lot to say about
appropriating faith. But, the doctrine
of a limited Atonement and the doctrine of appropriating faith can’t go
together. If a limited Atonement is
true, then Christ died for some, but not for all. Then, did Christ die for you?
According to their doctrine, you don’t know, because if Christ only died
for some, then who are those He died for.
Therefore, appropriating faith is impossible without a new
revelation. Because, if Christ only
died for some people, and since He has not revealed who these people are, I
would like to ask you, how can anyone appropriate Christ to himself, without a
direct revelation that he is one of the elect?
However, opposing this group of people are those who believe in a
general Atonement. They believe in the
doctrine of appropriating faith; for to appropriate is simply to accept Christ
as He is presented in the gospel. If
Christ died for everyone, then each person can appropriate Him, and this is
faith. Whoever does not accept Christ,
just as He is presented to us, rejects Him.
He is an unbeliever.
(4.) Finally, if the objection, that we can’t expect
to be justified and sanctified until sometime after we believe is true, than
salvation is impossible. Why? If I can never expect Christ to save me
until sometime after I believe, I can never really expect Christ to save me at
all. Don’t forget that I told you that
true faith, and expecting salvation by Christ, is identical.
IV. What is the tendency of unbelief?
1. Unbelief defeats all of God’s efforts to save
those who exercise unbelief. As I have
already said, faith is the natural condition of salvation, and faith is a
voluntary exercise. Therefore, you
cannot force faith; and therefore, if an individual will not believe, he must
be damned.
2. Unbelief defeats all of God’s efforts to sanctify
us. Sanctification is nothing more than
delivering us up to the truth and the promises of God. To think, then, that God can save us while
we reject the promises is to overlook the very nature of sanctification.
3. Unbelief makes true heart obedience impossible,
for “without faith, it is impossible to please God’. (Heb 11:6)
4. Unbelief prevents the possibility of true
peace. The unbeliever does not know
what true peace is. His condition is
somewhat is like a sleeping person who is having terrible dreams. This person is vividly dreaming that he is
surrounded with danger. Threats of a
flood are everywhere, and when he turns and looks, there is a wall of water
heading right towards him. Perhaps he
is trapped in the middle of a large fire.
Perhaps he is trapped on board a ship that break apart in rolling seas,
and he is just at the point of being swallowed up in the waves. Perhaps, he wanders as a miserable outcast
from society, troubled on every side, and finding no place to rest. His agony is indescribable, but suddenly, he
wakes up and behold, he is in a warm bed in his own secure house. He thanks God that it was only a dream. What a tremendous difference between his
present state and the state that his dreams placed him in. In the same way, the convicted unbeliever is
tossed with agitation. He looks this
way and that way, but he finds no rest.
“He is like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt”. (Isaiah 57:20) “There is no peace,'' says the Lord, "for the wicked”. (Isaiah 48:22) Now listen; as soon as he believes, a tremendous change comes
over him. It is like the sun breaking
through an ocean of storms. He sees
God’s promises all around him, like the mountains round about Jerusalem. He sees provisions for all his needs. Why should he be troubled any more? “Bless the Lord, O my soul”, he cries. “What is this? Why here, instead of bondage, misery, and death, is endless life
and peace; and the broad river of love begins to flow through my soul. Oh, it is as pure as the waters of life that
flows from under the throne of God.”
5. Unbelief makes it impossible for Christ to keep
us from sinning. The Bible, no matter
how full of promises it is, may rot before the sinner, and he may go down to
hell in spite of all those promises.
Unbelief nullifies every single one of those promises, and it leaves him
with nothing to help him.
6. Unbelief delivers the person’s soul over into the
hands of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
No power in the universe can protect him against their influence without
his own consent, because he is a being who possesses free will. Because he withholds faith from God, and he
delivers himself up to the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil, he
becomes the sport and victim of every temptation that attacks him.
V. What is the guilt of unbelief?
1. The guilt of unbelief comes from willfully
rejecting the highest evidence God can give.
Suppose you had an enemy who always suspected that you wanted to harm
him, and although there were many times when you tried to remove his
suspicions, he still clung to his opinion.
Suppose he falls into hard times, and you decide to sacrifice your time
and effort to help him out. You supply
his family’s needs, and you provide food and clothing for his children, but
still, he suspects that you have some sinister motive in all your kindness,
which he believes will be revealed someday.
Wouldn’t you think that he was being very unreasonable and very wrong in
maintaining such prejudices?
Now suppose that one day, his house catches on fire,
and he and his family are trapped on the top floor, while the fire was raging
throughout the house below. No one can
help; there are no ladders and no means of escape. The floor beneath him begins to give way, and the roof is about
to fall in; his family stands at the windows and they cry for help. Suddenly someone rushes through the flames,
up the stairs from below, with his hair and clothes on fire. He finally reaches the trapped and terrified
family. He quickly grabs the father
with one arm, and his children with the other, and carries them to safely below. While he is doing this, the father of the
family faints from exhaustion. As soon
as he opens his eyes, he finds himself in the arms of his deliverer, who, with
the utmost peace and tenderness, is fanning him, and is doing everything he
could possibly do to help him. The
first thing his rescuer says is, “your children are all safe”. He soon discovers that his deliverer is no
other than the person he has always been suspicious of. Now suppose he was still not convinced. Suppose he still refused to love this
stranger who has helped him so many times in the past, and has now saved his
own life, as well as the lives of his children. Wouldn’t this be horribly wicked and unreasonable. Everyone would denounce him as wicked
because he willfully and unreasonably rejected the highest evidence anyone
could give of their love for him.
Now, let’s suppose that he were condemned to death,
and you voluntarily stepped forward and died for him. How unbelievable his prejudice would have to be, how obstinate
and hard his heart would have to be, if he still entertained suspicions of the
sincerity of your love. Now let me ask,
what further evidence could God give of His love for the entire human race than
the love He has already given? Besides
crowning our life with as many blessings as our circumstances make it possible
to God to bestow on us, God adds the gift of His own Son who willingly died for
us. Thus, God has given us the highest
possible evidence He could possibly give us, of His good will and His love
towards us. Our unbelief must bring
with it such horrible damning guilt!
Suppose the king of an extensive empire, desires to
promote the highest possible good of his subjects, by administering the best
laws he can possibly administer. But,
one province of his empire decides to rebel.
Now, the king has the power to quickly crush the opposition. But, suppose that, instead of sending an
army to crush and destroy them by force, he takes off his royal robes, and he
humbly and modestly goes to them, and attempts to teach them the nature of his
own character and laws, and the importance of conforming to his will, in order
to promote their own best interests.
But suppose that they will not believe him. Suppose they suspect that he has some
sinister motive, how awful that would be!
Now suppose, in order, to convince them of his love, he even lays down
his life for them. Wouldn’t you expect
that this total demonstration of his love would subdue the rebellion? Now, look at the blessed God administering
the law of unselfish love impartially throughout His entire universe. Our world rebels. He comes in the person of His Son, in the humble guise of humanity. He travels among the people revealing to
them the true character and will of God, and trying to secure their
confidence. And when they reject His
instructions and they refuse to believe Him, rather than give up and turn His
back on the entire human race, He dies for them on the cross. What higher evidence could God give of His
love for all humanity than this? And
how horrible is the unbelief, which willfully rejects all that God and Christ
has done for us? What more could Christ
do? Can you think of anything
more? Is there something He forgot to
do, that He needed to add in order to add to what He has already done? How damning, then, must be the guilt of
unbelief!
2. Unbelief is treating God in the worst possible
way. We could never do our friends any
more harm, than when we don’t trust them without a good reason for not trusting
them. Should a husband become jealous
and distrustful of his wife without one good reason, what greater harm could he
do to her? It would pierce her heart
like a dagger. Should a wife manifest
unreasonable suspicions concerning her husband, what more could she do to make
him wretched? He would say, “why are
you so suspicious of me”. Let me ask
you husbands who are aware of your integrity, and have tender feelings. Let me ask you wives, who are virtuous, and
you value the confidence of your husband, as you should, how would you
feel? How could you possibly reason
earnestly with that person under these circumstances? What could be more directly designed to bring the blight of death
on the peace of any family, than such unreasonable distrust, on the part of a
husband or a wife?
Now let’s look at God’s great family. What family ever had as much reason for
confidence in the head of their family, as God’s family has in their heavenly
Father? And what father ever had so
many reasons to complain about the members of his family? What husband did a wife ever so distrust, as
much as the Church, which Christ has bought with His own blood, has distrusted
their blessed heavenly Father? See that
husband; he is unjustly complaining to everybody around him about his wife, and
filling the air with his dissatisfaction and resentment. Now, Let me ask again, isn’t this lack of confidence
the worst possible kind of treatment?
Men naturally feel insulted, whenever someone calls their honesty and
integrity into question. And does God
have no feelings? Doesn’t it grieve Him
to be treated as a liar by the whole world?
3. Unbelief is just about the worst
way you could dishonor God in other people’s presence. Suppose a father sends his son to a
University, and he gives him a book of checks.
He assures his son, that these checks are more than enough to supply all
his needs. But, suppose the son
demonstrates that he has no confidence in the father’s promise by scrounging
around trying to earn some money to meet his expenses, and to buy his
books. Wouldn’t this be a clear
demonstration to everyone around him that he has absolutely no faith and trust
in his father? What then does unbelief
tell those around us about God? Look at
that professing Christian. He carries a
Bible under his arm, a Bible full of promises.
Yet, he goes around complaining and mourning over his spiritual poverty
in spite of the fact that God has promised that, “He will give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him!” (Luke
11:13) The Bible also tells us, “His
grace shall be sufficient for us”. (2
Cor 12:9) What is this professing Christian
doing? Why, he cannot misrepresent God
any more than he is doing in his everyday life. His actions not only accuse God of being guilty of lying, but his
actions also accuse God of lying under
oath. “Thus God, determining to show
more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed
it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God
to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold
of the hope set before us. (Heb
6:17-18)
REMARKS.
1. We now know what we should think about those
people who say they can’t imagine that God will fulfill His promises. Imagine!
They can’t imagine that God will fulfill His promises! Listen!
Suppose your child should say, “Dad, you promised to give me a Christmas
present, but I can’t believe that you will give me anything. You would tell your child, “Are you calling
me a liar? Haven’t I given you my word,
that I would give you a present?” What
higher evidence can the human race have than the solemn word and oath of
God? What could possibly make God’s
promise more certain? Who will underwrite
for Him? If what God has said doesn’t
satisfy you, He can’t give you any additional promises. Can’t imagine that God will fulfill His
promises? Horrible!
2. We now know what to think of those people who say
they believe, but their faith does not influence them. They claim to believe in the need for
salvation and in the eternity of the torments of hell; but they don’t act as if
these things are important at all. The fact
is, they act like they really don’t believe at all.
3. Can you now see that no one believes any doctrine
any more than it influences his or her conduct? What is faith? I have
recently shown you that faith is simply yielding our mind up to the influence
of the truth that you know for sure.
Therefore, it follows that you can have no faith where your conduct
remains uninfluenced.
4. Hypocritical conduct proves hypocritical
faith. The truth is, all hypocrisy
belongs to the heart; and no matter how holy a man’s creed may be, if his
conduct is wrong, he is a hypocrite in his heart.
5. You can now see the wickedness of anyone who
admits that the gospel offers entire sanctification in this life, and yet they
do not expect to receive it during their lifetime. God, with outstretched hands, offers them entire sanctification
and yes, they refuse to accept it. You
know that there are people who admit that the gospel offers entire sanctification
on condition of faith. They admit that
God’s provisions are ample, and yet they don’t expect to possess it in this
life. What is that, but unbelief?
6. You can also see the wickedness of saying that it
is wrong to expect sanctification in this life. They say, “to believe that we will actually attain sanctification
in this life is a great and dangerous error.”
What is this but unbelief in its worst form?
7. Also, can you see the guilt of those who teach
other people that it is wrong to expect sanctification in this life, and raise
the cry of heresy against those who do teach others to expect it? If God promises sanctification, doubting
God’s promise must be dreadfully guilty of sheer unbelief.
8. Many good men, who lived in past times and
rejected this doctrine, never saw or admitted the fullness of God’s provisions. President Edwards, for example, never
admitted that sanctification is possible in this life; and it is clear, from
the account that he gives of his wife’s wonderful experiences, as well as from
his general writings, that he never had the idea that sanctification is
possible in his mind.
9. What shall we say about those who admit that the
doctrine of sanctification is true, and yet they do not expect the
blessing? They don’t seem to understand
that simply believing in their head that sanctification is true, but not
expecting in their heart, is unbelief.
They say they trust in God, but they don’t trust themselves. This is a serious error. If faith is complete confidence in God’s
promises, and if these promises cover every provision for sanctification, then
there is no room left for self-distrust and self-doubt. In their situation, self-distrust is really
distrust in God. Their self-doubt
really doubts God. Take, for example,
this promise. “Now may the God of peace
Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be
preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will
do it.” (1 Thess 5:23-24) Here is a promise that completely covers all
the needs of our human nature. Now, I
want to know, what state of mind does not expect this promise to be real in
their lives? Whether it is
self-distrust, or distrust in God, it is still downright unbelief. It is virtually saying, “Lord, You have
promised to sanctify me wholly in body, soul, and spirit, but I don't believe
it. I don't believe You can. I have no faith in myself.”
10. You are totally inconsistent when you admit that
God’s full provisions are true, and then you turn around and refuse to expect
to be sanctified by those same glorious provisions.
11. How can anyone reject the expectation of being
sanctified in this life in view of I Thess. 5:23-24? Suppose I stand up to preach, and read this passage: “Now may the
God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul,
and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will
do it.” Then, I turn around and say; “now
brethren, I warn you against believing that God will sanctify you”. But, the promise comes thundering back “He
who calls you is faithful, who also will do it”. I rally again, and say that Edwards, Payson, and Brainerd were
not sanctified, so why should you expect to be sanctified? Now, how would this differ from what is
preached from pulpits across the country today my most of our ministers? But, here comes that old objection
again. Do you remember that objection
that says that, although God has made provisions, they are conditioned on
faith, and I have no right to expect sanctification until after I believe? My response is that faith and expectation
are identical! If you do not expect
sanctification, you do not believe God, and you are calling Him a liar.
12. To tell someone that he should not expect to be
completely sanctified in this life, and be preserved blameless, is to tell them
that he shouldn’t believe God.
13. Can you see why you do not enter into the peace
and rest of the gospel? It is because
you have no faith. You have not cast
your anchor into the depths of His promises.
You are like a vessel, drifting along the majestic Niagara, towards the
falls. You are already approaching
destruction; but you will not let down you anchor, although you know the rocks
are within your reach, on which your anchor would fasten and be safe. Or, perhaps you are like a man who is in a
dungeon, when someone far above him lowers a golden chain to him. The voice from high above urges him to grab
a hold of the chain so the person above can pull him to freedom, but he refuses
to grab a hold of the chain.
14. It is wrong, it is wicked to expect to sin our
whole lives. God says, “Sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace”. (Romans 6:14) Therefore, how sad, how horrible, how abominable, how wicked you
are to expect to live the rest of your life carrying your load of sin until the
day you die.
15. The Church will never be holy, as long as it is encouraged to remain in its unbelief, instead of encouraged and strengthened in faith. It is a horrible thing, that so much of today’s teaching is nothing more than disguised ways of teaching men not to believe God. And, out of fear that they might expect sanctification in this life, they are pointed back to those good men in the past who say they fell short of sanctification. They are pointed to the false perfectionism that comes from the false teaching that God has done away with the law, and so we are sanctified, whether we sin or not. They point to everything that may bring the doctrine of sanctification into dispute, and they warn their congregations against it, as if sanctification were some kind of pestilence. Oh, my soul, what is this? Is this the way the Church is to be sanctified? My brethren if you desire to be kept from sin, from false doctrines of every kind, and from every other delusion, grab a hold of these promises, and believe. Expect God to fulfill His promises, and they will be fulfilled. But, if you doubt, you will walk in blindness. For, Isaiah says, “If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established”.