TEXT: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”. (Matthew 5:48)
Two
weeks ago, I used this text to pursue the following order.
1.
I showed what is implied in being perfect.
2.
What Christian perfection is.
3.
That Christian perfection is a duty.
4.
That Christian perfection can be attained in this life.
5.
I Answered some objections, and then gave some reasons why so many people are
not perfect.
Tonight
my purpose is to mention some additional reasons that prevent most of the
Christians today from attaining perfect sanctification. We know that the church is not sanctified,
and we should know why. If the defect
is in God, we should know it. If He has
not provided a sufficient revelation, or if the power of the Holy Spirit is not
adequate to sanctify His people in this world, we need to understand it, so we
won’t waste our time trying to accomplish what can’t be attained. And if the fault is in us, we should know
it, and the true reasons should be understood, otherwise we may charge God
foolishly, even in our thoughts, by imagining that He has required us to do
something and He has not provided an adequate means for us to obey His command.
I.
The first general reason that I will mention for people not being sanctified is
that they seek sanctification by works and not by faith.
The
religion of works takes on many forms; and it is interesting to see the ever
varying, shifting forms that works takes:
1.
One form of works happens when people try to live so that they will be able to
make their damnation unjust. It doesn’t
matter in this situation, whether they think that they are Christians or not,
if they are really trying to live so that it would be unjust for God to send
them to hell. This was the religion of
the ancient Pharisees. And there many
people today, whose religion is just like that. You will often find them outside the church, and perhaps ready to
confess that they have never been born again.
Yet they speak about their own works in a way that makes it clear that
they think that they are too good to be damned.
2.
We see another form of the religion of works where people are not trying so
much to make it unjust for God to damn them, but they are seeking, by their
works, to recommend themselves to the mercy of God. They know they deserve to be damned, and will forever deserve
damnation. But they also know that God
is merciful; and they think that if they live honest lives, and do many kind
things for the poor, it will so recommend them to the general mercy of God,
that He will not punish them, but will forgive their sins and save them. This is the religion of most modern
moralists. Living under the gospel,
they know that they aren’t saved by their works, and yet they think that if
they go to church on Sunday, help support the minister, and do this and that
and all kinds of good works, their deeds will recommend them to God’s mercy sufficiently
for salvation. As far as I understand
the system of religion held by modern Unitarians, this must be their
system. Whether they understand it that
way, or admit it to be true or not, as far as I can see, that is basically what
they do. They set aside the atonement
of Christ, and they do not expect to be saved by the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. I don’t think that they depend
on anything else but their good works.
They seem to have a kind of sentimental religion, and they plan to recommend
their religion, their morality, and their liberality, to the mercy of God. On this ground, they expect to receive
forgiveness for their sins, and be saved.
3.
Another form of the religion of works is manifested when we see people trying
to prepare themselves to receive Christ.
They
understand that salvation is only through Jesus Christ. They know that they cannot be saved either
by works, or by the general mercy of God without atonement, and they know that
the only way to be saved is by faith in Christ. But, they have heard the testimony of others who went through a
long process of distress before they submitted to Christ and found peace in
believing. Therefore, they think that a
certain preparatory process is necessary, and that they must pray an awful lot
of prayers and run here and there to attend meetings, and lie awake many
nights, and suffer a lot of distress, and perhaps fall into despair, and then
they will be in a position to receive Christ.
This is the situation of many convicted sinners. When they are awakened and they get to the
place where they find that their own works cannot save them, then they
determine to prepare themselves to receive Christ. Perhaps some of you, who are here tonight, are in this
situation. You dare not come to Christ
just as you are, when you have prayed so little, attended so few meetings, and
felt so little distress, and done so little.
And so, instead of going right to Christ for all you needs as a poor
lost sinner, throwing yourself unreservedly into His hands, you try to whip
your mind into more conviction and distress, in order to prepare to receive
Christ. Such situations are just about
as common as convicted sinners are. How
many of you here tonight, abound in such works? You seem determined not to immediately fall down at the feet of
Christ? It is not necessary to get into
an argument here, to show that you are not getting any better by all their
efforts. There is no love to God in it,
no faith, and no religion. It is all a
mere mockery of God, and hypocrisy and sin.
You may have a lot of emotions, but it does no good. In fact, it brings you no closer to Christ;
and after all that you’ve done while postponing your salvation, you still have
to do the same thing that you could have done just as well at the beginning.
Now
suppose an individual should think that this is the way to become holy. Every Christian can see that it is very
absurd, and that no matter how much he may multiply such works, he is not beginning
to approach holiness. The first act of
holiness is to believe, to take a hold of Christ by faith. And if a Christian, who is awakened to feel
the need of sanctification, decides to go through a preparatory process of
self-created distress before he trusts in Christ, it is just as absurd as it is
for an awakened sinner to do it.
4.
Another form of the religion of works occurs when individuals perform works to
produce faith and love.
The
people we previously mentioned were those individuals who were preparing to
come to Christ. Here we are talking
about those whom we believe have come to Christ, and have accepted Him, and are
real Christians; but because they have backslidden they try to perform many
works to produce faith and love, or to produce and perfect a right state of
feeling. This is one of the most common
and most subtle forms in which the religion of works manifests itself today.
Now,
this is absurd. These people are trying
to produce holiness by sinning. You
see, if the feelings are not right, the act is a sin. If the act does not proceed from faith and love, whatever they
may do is sin. How foolish it is to
think that a person, by multiplying sins, can produce holiness! Yet, it is perfectly common for people to
think they can produce holiness by a course of conduct that is purely sinful. Any act that does not spring from an already
existing love is sinful. That
individual does not act from the impulse of faith that works by love and
purifies his heart, but he acts without faith and love, with a purpose to
produce feelings of love by his own selfish deeds.
It
is true, that when faith and love exists, and are the propelling reasons to do
things, doing those things has a tendency to increase faith and love. This comes from the known laws of our mind,
by which every power and every faculty gains strength by exercising it. However, the situation we are looking at
right now is where individuals have left their first love, if they ever had a
first love, and then try, without faith or love, to bustle about and warn
sinners under the idea that this is the way for them to become holy, or to get
into the state of feeling that God requires.
It is really most un-philosophical, absurd, and disastrous to think that
we can produce faith in our soul where it does not exist, by performing outward
acts from some other motive. Anyone who
pretends to produce a holy frame of mind, by doing things from wrong motives,
is mocking God. Later on, I will show
where this deception lies, and how it happens that one even dreams that they
can become sanctified in such a way.
The fact is obvious, that pretending to serve God in such a way, instead
of having any tendency to produce a right spirit, actually grieves the Holy
Ghost and insults God.
As
far as the philosophy of performing works to produce faith and love is
concerned, their conduct is the same as the conduct of convicted sinners. But there is one difference: the sinner, in
spite of all his wickedness, may by and by learn about his own helplessness,
and actually renounce all his own works.
The sinner may feel that his continued refusal to come to Christ,
instead of being a preparation for coming, is only heaping up so many sins
against God. But it is different with
those who think that they are already Christians, as I will explain later.
Those
who carefully observe religion often say that people who appear to be the most
religious are often the most hardened and have the least spiritual
feeling. If performing religious duties
were the way to produce religious feelings, we would expect that ministers and
leaders in the church would always be the most spiritual. However, the fact is, that where faith and
love are exercised, the more physical acts they perform without that inward
life, the more they become hardened and cold, and full of iniquity. They may have been converted but have
backslidden, and as long as they are seeking sanctification by multiplying
their religious duties, running around from meeting to meeting, or warning
sinners, if they have no spiritual life they will never find it. Instead, they will actually become more
hardened and blind. On the other hand,
if they stir up religions excitement this way, their works come from a false
and superficial state of mind that has nothing holy in it.
II.
Another reason why so many people are not sanctified is this: They do not
receive Christ in all His relationships, as He is offered in the gospel.
Most
people err here, and they will never go ahead in sanctification until they
learn that there is a radical error in how they are trying to attain it. For example: Suppose we have an individual
who is convicted of sin. He sees that
God might righteously send him to hell, and that he has no way to satisfy
God. Now tell him of Christ’s
atonement, show him how Christ died to satisfy the law, so that God can be just
and yet still be the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. He sees that what Christ did is right and
sufficient, and exactly what he needs, and he throws himself on Christ in faith
for justification. He accepts Christ as
his justification, and that is as far as he understands the gospel. He believes and is justified, and feels the
pardon of his sins. Now, this is where
most convicted sinners stop. They accept
Christ in the character in which, as sinners, they feel the need of a Savior the
most, as the propitiation for their sins, to make atonement and obtain forgiveness,
and there they stop. However, after
that, it is often very difficult to get their attention to what Christ offers
beyond justification. Say what you want
to concerning Christ as the believer’s wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification,
and all His relationships as a Savior from sin; they don’t feel that they need
Christ in all these things, so they don’t throw themselves on Him for these
things. The converted person feels at
peace with God. Joy and gratitude fills
his heart. He rejoices in finding a
Savior that can stand between him and his Judge. He may have really submitted, and for a while, he follows on in
obedience to God’s commandments. But,
as time goes by, he finds the workings of sin in his members, un-subdued pride,
his old temper manifesting itself, and a multitude of enemies assaulting his
soul from within and without, and he is not prepared to meet them.
Up
until now, this person has taken up Christ and regarded Him
only as a Savior to save him from hell.
If I am not mistaken, most of the professing Christians today almost
completely loose sight of many of the most interesting relationships that
Christ maintains with believers. Now,
when the convert finds himself thus brought under the power of temptation and
drawn into sin, he needs to receive Christ in a new relationship, to know more
of the extent of God’s provision, to apply Christ freshly to himself, and give
a new impulse to his mind to resist temptation. This is not fully grasped by many Christians. They never really see Christ, under his
name, “Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins.” They need to receive Christ as King, to sit
on the throne of their hearts, and rule over them with absolute and perfect
control, bringing every faculty and every thought into subjection. The reason why the convert falls under the
power of temptation is that he has not submitted his own will to Christ as a
king in everything, as perfectly as he should, but he is still exercising his
own self-will in some areas of his life.
There
are many so-called sins of ignorance, which need not be. Christians complain that they cannot
understand the Bible, that they simply don’t understand many passages. Now, what they need is to receive Christ as
wisdom, to accept Him in His relationship as the source of light and knowledge. Which one of you here can now attach a full
and definite idea to the text that says, “We are in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?” What do you understand by it? It does not say He is a justifier, and a
teacher, and a sanctifier, and a redeemer; but that He is wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. What does that mean?
Until Christians discover by experience, and know what that scripture
means, how can the church be sanctified?
The church is now just like a branch plucked off from a vine; “Except ye
abide in me, you cannot bear fruit.”
Suppose a branch had the power to separate itself from the vine, and
then tried to bring forth fruit, what would you think? The same is true with the church. Until Christians go to the Eternal Source of
sanctification, wisdom, and redemption, it will never become holy. If they would become by faith, absolutely
united with Him in all those offices and relations in which He is offered, they
would know what sanctification is.
I
may, at some other time, use this passage as the foundation of a separate
message, and discuss these points one by one, and show what each point
means. The only thing I will say right
now is that this passage means just what it says, and there is no need to
explain it away, as too many people have often done. As soon as the church takes hold of Christ in ALL His
relationships that I just mentioned, they will know what sanctification is, and
they will see that He is the light and the life of the world. To be sanctified by Him, they must so
embrace Him that they can receive from Him those supplies of grace and
knowledge, which alone can purify the soul and give the complete victory over
sin and Satan.
I
will mention some reasons why Christians do not receive Christ in all His
relationships.
(1.)
They may not have those particular convictions that are designed to make them
feel the need for a Savior in these relationships.
If
an individual is not deeply convicted of his own depravity, and he has not
intimately learned his own sinfulness, and if he does not know by experience
that he needs help to overcome the power of sin, he will never receive Jesus
Christ into his soul as his King. When
men begin to help themselves out of sin, and feel that they can deal with their
spiritual enemies in their own strength, they never receive Christ fully, nor
rely on Him solely to save them from sin.
But when they have tried to keep themselves by their own watchfulness
and prayers, and they have bound themselves by resolutions and oaths to obey
God, and find that, after everything they do, if they are left to themselves,
there is nothing in them but depravity.
Then they feel their own helplessness, and they begin to ask what they
should do. The Bible teaches all this
clearly enough, and if people would believe the Bible, converts would know
their own helplessness, and their need for a Savior to save them from sin from
the very beginning. But, in fact, they
do not receive nor believe the Bible on this subject until they have determined
to work out a righteousness of their own, and thus have discovered by
experience that they are nothing without Christ. Therefore, they do not receive Him in this relationship until
after they have spent, perhaps years in these vain and self-righteous efforts
to do the work of sanctification themselves.
Having begun in the spirit they are trying to be made perfect by the
flesh.
(2.)
Others, when they see their own condition, do not receive Christ as a Savior
from sin because they are unwilling to abandon all sin.
They
know that if they give themselves up entirely to Christ, they must abandon all
sin; and they have some idol that they are unwilling to give up.
(3.)
Sometimes, when people are deeply convinced and they are anxious to know what
they should do to get rid of sin, they do not apply to Christ in faith because
they do not know that they have a right to expect deliverance from Him.
Many
act as if they believe they are sinners by nature. They believe there is no help for this, but they must drag along
their load of sin until their death.
They do not come out and foolishly charge God, and openly say that He
has made no provision for their situation.
But they appear to believe that Christ’s atonement is so great that it
covers all their sins, and God’s mercy is so great that if they do go on
sinning for the rest of their lives, as they expect to, God will forgive them;
and it will be just about as well in the end as if they had been really
sanctified. They do not see that the
gospel has made sufficient provision to rid us forever of the commission of all
sin. They look at the gospel as merely
a system of pardon, leaving the sinner to drag along his load of sin to the
very gate of heaven; instead of a system to break up the very power of sin in
his mind. The result is, they make very
little use of God’s promises. Oh, how
Christians make so little use of those exceedingly great and precious promises
in the Bible, which were given especially for this purpose that we might become
partakers of His divine nature! Here
God has suited His promises to all our pressing needs for this end, and all we
have to do is to draw upon Him for everything we lack, and we will have
whatever we need for our sanctification.
Hear the Savior say, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask
when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them”. (Mark 11:24)
The
fact is, Christians do not really believe much that is in the Bible. Now, suppose you were to meet God right
now. You knew God Himself is speaking
to you. He reaches out His hand with a
book in it and tells you to take that book.
The book contains exceedingly great and precious promises for everything
you need, or ever can need, to resist temptation, to overcome sin, and to make
you perfectly holy and fit you for heaven.
Then He tells you that whenever you need anything to accomplish this
goal, all you need to do is to take the appropriate promise, and present it to
Him at any time, and He will do it.
Now, if you were to receive such a book directly from the hand of God,
and you knew that God had written it for you with His own hand, would you
believe it? And would you read it more
than you now read the Bible? Wouldn’t
you be eager to know everything that was in it? Wouldn’t you be ready to apply the promises in times of
need! You would want to memorize as
much of it as you can, and often read it from cover to cover, so you might keep
your mind familiar with its contents and be always ready to apply the promises
you read! Now, the truth is, the Bible
is that book. It is written just so,
and it is filled with just such promises; so that the Christian, by getting a
hold of the right promise and pleading it, can always find all that he needs
for his spiritual benefit.
Christ
is a complete Savior. “For all the
promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through
us.” (II Cor 1:20) In other words, God has promises in the
second person of the Trinity, in the person of Jesus Christ, and made them all
certain through Him. Christians need to
understand these promises and believe them, and in every circumstance of need
apply them for sanctification. Suppose
you lack wisdom. Go to God and plead
the promise. Suppose you can’t
understand the scriptures, or your path of duty is not clear. The promise is plain enough; take that. Whatever you lack of wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, simply go to God in faith, and take hold of the
promise, and if God is not false, you will certainly receive all that you need.
(4.)
Another reason why many do not receive Christ in all His relationships is that
they are too proud to relinquish all self-dependence or reliance on their own
wisdom and their own will.
Oh,
how difficult it is for proud-hearted people to give up their own wisdom,
knowledge, will, and everything to God!
I have found this to be the greatest of all the difficulties. I’m sure you all also find this to be
true. The common plea is, “Our reason
was given to us to be used in religion, but what’s the use if we can’t rely on
it, or follow it?” But there is one
important distinction to be made, which many overlook. Our reason was given to us to use in
religion; but reason should not ask whether what God says is reasonable, but
reason should show us the infinite reasonableness of believing that everything
God says must be true, whether we, in our ignorance and blindness, can see the
reasonableness of it or not. And if we
go beyond this, we go beyond the proper province of reason. But how unwilling proud-hearted people are
to lay aside all their own vain wisdom and become like little children under
the teaching of God! The apostle Paul
says, “And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he
ought to know”. (I Cor 8:2) There is deep meaning in this. He that does not receive Christ alone as his
wisdom knows nothing in religion to any purpose. If Jesus Christ does not teach him, he cannot learn the first
lesson of Christianity. So again, “All
things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except
the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the
Son wills to reveal Him. “ (Matt
11:27) The individual who has learned
this lesson feels that he has not one iota of knowledge in religion that is of
any value, only as he is taught by Jesus Christ, for it is written, “And they shall
all be taught of God”. (John 6:45)
REMARKS.
I.
Can you see what kind of preaching the church now needs?
The
church needs to be searched thoroughly, shown their great defects, brought
under conviction, and then pointed to where their great strength lies. With their everlasting parade of dead works,
they need to be shown how poor they are.
“You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ and
do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Rev 3:17)
Until Christians are shown their poverty and the infinite emptiness and
abominable wickedness of their dead works, until they are shown just where
their help is and that it is by FAITH ALONE, they can never be sanctified and
the church will wander farther and farther from God until it only has the form
of godliness while denying His power.
II.
When you see the Christian character defective in any particular area, you can
always know that the individual needs to receive Christ more fully in the very
relationship that is designed to supply this defect.
Any
defect in the character of a believer will never be remedied until he sees the
relationship of Christ to that part of his character, so that he takes hold of
Christ by faith and brings Him in to remedy that defect. Suppose a person is naturally stingy,
selfish, and reluctant to act in an unselfish manner; he will never remedy that
defect until he receives Christ as his pattern, and the selfishness is driven
out of his heart by filling his very soul with the infinite love of his
Savior. The same is true concerning any
other defect; he will never conquer it until he sees that the infinite fullness
of Christ answers to that very need.
III.
Do you now see why ministers need to be people who have had deep religious experiences?
It
is even easy for a carnal mind to preach and bring sinners under
conviction. But until the tone of sanctification
is greatly raised among ministers, you can’t expect that the piety of the
church will be greatly elevated. Those
Christians who have experienced these things should therefore pray for ministers,
that the sons of Levi may be purified, that the leaders of Israel may take hold
of Christ for the sanctification of their own hearts, and then they will know
what to say to the church on the subject of holiness.
IV.
Many do not know that they are seeking sanctification by works.
They
think that they are seeking sanctification only by faith. They tell you they know very well that it is
foolish to seek sanctification in their own strength. But yet, the results conclusively show that they are seeking
sanctification by works, and not by faith.
It is very important that you should know whether you are seeking
sanctification by works or by faith, because seeking sanctification by works is
foolish, and will never lead to any good results. How will you know?
Take
the situation of a convicted sinner.
Sinner, how are you seeking salvation?
The sinner replies, “By faith, of course. Everybody knows that no sinner can be saved by works”.
I
respond, “No, you are seeking salvation by works”. How shall I show it to him?
“Sinner, do you believe in Christ?”
“I
do.”
“But
does He give you peace with God?” I
respond.
“Oh
no, not yet, but I am trying to get more conviction, and trying to pray more,
and be more earnest in seeking, and I hope He will give me peace if I
persevere.”
Now,
every Christian immediately sees that with all his claims to the contrary, this
sinner is seeking salvation by works.
And the way to prove it to him is very simple. It is clear he is seeking by works because he is relying on
certain preparatory steps and processes that he feels he has to go through
before he exercises saving faith. He is
not ready to receive from Christ right now.
He knows he is not ready, but he thinks he must bring himself into a
different state of mind as a preparation, and this is what he is aiming
at. That is works. No matter what the state of his mind is, the
fact is, that he is aiming at doing something to prepare to receive
Christ. If it is anything that must
precede faith, or any preparatory process to obtain faith, and he is trying
without faith to get into a proper state of mind to get faith, it is all a religion
of works.
Now,
this state of mind among those Christians who profess to be seeking
sanctification is common. You say you
must deal with sin (see Rom 6:12; Gal 2:20), but the way you go about it is by
a self-righteous preparation, seeking to recommend yourselves to Christ as
worthy to receive the blessing, instead of coming to Christ as an unworthy and
ruined beggar to receive immediately, by faith, the very blessing you
need. Nothing that you can do is going
to make you any better. Like a person stuck
in quicksand, every move you make only causes you to sink deeper into the pit. You don’t need to do anything, and
everything you try, instead of bringing you closer to Christ, only makes you
sink into the filth, farther and farther from God. It is not even the beginning of help.
The
sinner, by his preparatory seeking, gains no advantage. There he lies, dead in his trespasses and
sins, as far removed from spiritual life, or holiness, as a dead corpse is from
natural life. Until the time comes when
he ceases from his own dead works and comes to the conviction that there’s nothing
he can do for himself but to go NOW, just as he is, and submit to Christ. As long as he thinks there is something he
must do first, he never feels that now is God’s time of salvation. And as long as the Christian is seeking
sanctification through works, he never feels that now is God’s time to give him
the victory over sin.
V.
Many deceive themselves by the way in which certain old-fashioned,
denominational churches, which were dragging along like they are practically
dead, have been stirred up.
Whenever
you find such a church, that has fed on dry doctrine until they were about as
stupid as the seats they sit on, the first thing has been to stir them up to do
something, and that very fact could bring such a church under conviction, and
lead them to repentance. It is not
because there is any religion in what these professing Christians do in such a
state; but this conviction shows them their deficiencies, that they are unfit
to be members of the church, and it awakens their consciences. Sometimes, when a careless sinner has been
praying, everybody knows there is no piety in his prayers, but it calls his
attention to the subject of religion, and gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity
to bring the truth fully upon his conscience.
But if you take a person who has been in the habit of praying from his
childhood, and whose formal prayers have made him as cold as a stone, praying
will never bring that person under conviction until you show him what is the
true character of his prayers, and STOP his ungodly and heaven-daring praying.
In
many cases, where a church has sunk down in stupidity, I have found that the
most effective way to wake them is to get them to warn sinners of their danger. This will get the attention of the church to
the subject of religion, and perhaps bring many of them to repentance. Hence, many have formed a general rule that
the way for a church to wake up is to go to work and warn sinners. They do not discriminate between the habits
of different churches and the different treatment they consequently require. However, if you take what is called a
“working church,” where they have been in the habit of enjoying revivals and
holding nightly meetings, you will find there is no difficulty in stirring up
the church to act, and bustle about, and make a noise. But generally, unless there is great wisdom
and faithfulness in dealing with the church, every succeeding revival will make
their religion more superficial; and their minds will become more hardened
instead of being convicted by their efforts. Tell such a church they are
self-righteous, and that there is no Holy Ghost in their bustling, and they
will be offended and stare at you, “Why, don’t you know that the way to wake up
in religion is to go to work in religion?”
But the very fact that all this activity has become a habit with them
shows that they require a different course.
First, they need to be thoroughly probed, searched, and made aware of
their deficiencies, and brought humbly and believing to the foot of the cross
for sanctification.
When
I was an evangelist, I labored in a church that had enjoyed many revivals, and
it was the easiest thing in the world to get the church to go out and bring in
sinners to the meetings; and the impenitent would come in and hear, but there
was no deep feeling and no faith in the church. The minister saw that this way of proceeding was ruining the
church, and that each successive revival, brought about this way, made the
converts more and more superficial, and unless we stopped, and got more
sanctification in the church, we would defeat our purpose. We began to preach with that view, and the
church members writhed under it. The
preaching ran so directly across all their former notions about how to promote
religion, that some of them became quite angry. They would run around and talk, but would do nothing else. But soon after the situation became quite
terrible many of them broke down and became as humble and as teachable as
little children.
Now
there are many people in churches today, who insist that the way to be
sanctified is to go to work, and they think that, by the force of mere
friction, they can produce the warm love of God in their hearts. This is all wrong. Simply running around, doing many things, and making a lot of
noise will never produce sanctification.
And especially when people have been accustomed to doing this.
VI.
You who are in the habit of performing many religious duties and still fall
short of holiness, can you see what your problem is?
The
truth is, you have gone to work to wake up, instead of at once throwing
yourself on the Lord Jesus Christ for sanctification, and then going to work to
serve Him. You have gone to work to
gain life instead of working from a principle of life within, urging you to the
work of the Lord. You have attempted to
get holiness by a lengthened process, like that of the convicted sinner who is
preparing to come to Christ. But the
unfortunate thing is, that you don’t have half the perseverance of the
sinner. The sinner is driven by the
fear of going to hell, and he exerts himself in the way of works until his
strength is all exhausted and all his self-righteousness is worked up, and
then, feeling that he is helpless and undone, he throws himself into the arms
of Christ. But you don’t have that much
perseverance because you don’t have that much fear. You believe you are a Christian, and so, no matter how much you
may fall short of sanctification, you feel safe from hell and can go to heaven
without it. And so, you won’t persevere
and put forth your efforts for holiness by works, until you have used up all
your self-righteousness, and are driven to Christ as your only hope for
sanctification. This is the reason why
convicted Christians so generally fall short of that submission to Christ for
holiness, which the convicted sinner exercises for forgiveness.
You
say to the sinner who is seeking salvation by works, “Why don’t you yield up
all your self-righteous efforts, and come right now to Christ for
salvation? He is ready to receive you
NOW!” And why don’t you do the same
thing? When will you learn the first
lesson in religion, that you have no help in yourselves, and that all your
efforts for sanctification without Christ, are just as worthless as it is for
the wretch who is in the horrible pit and miry clay struggling to get himself
out.
VII.
The growth of works in the church is no certain sign of growth in holiness.
If
the church grows in holiness, it will grow in works. But it does not follow that growth in works always proves growth
in holiness. It often happens that
works of religion increases, while the power of religion is actually
declining. It often happens in a
church, that when a revival begins to lose its power, the church may be willing
to do even more than ever, in works, but it will not stop the decline, unless
they become broken down before God.
I
see I must address this subject again.
Oh, if I could convince the whole church that they need no other help
but Christ, and that they should come at once to Christ for all they need, and
receive Him as their wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption. How soon would all their
needs be supplied from His infinite fullness.