Revivals brought deep heart searching and humility. They were characterized by solemn, earnest appeals to the sinner, by yearning compassion for the purchase of the blood of Christ. Men and women prayed and wrestled with God for the salvation of souls. The fruits of such revivals were seen in souls who shrank not at self-denial and sacrifice, but rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer reproach and trial for the sake of Christ. Men beheld a transformation in the lives of those who had professed the name of Jesus. The community was benefited by their influence. . . .
This is the result of the work of the Spirit of God. There
is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reformation. If he
restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, confess his sins, and
love God and his fellow men, the sinner may be sure that he has found peace
with God. Such were the effects that in former years followed seasons of
religious awakening. Judged by their fruits, they were known to be blessed
of God in the salvation of men and the uplifting of humanity.
Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the imagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love for what is new and startling. Converts thus gained have little desire to listen to Bible truth, little interest in the testimony of prophets and apostles. Unless a religious service has something of a sensational character, it has no attractions for them. A message which appeals to unimpassioned reason awakens no response. The plain warnings of God's word, relating directly to their eternal interests, are unheeded.
With every truly converted soul the relation to God and to eternal things will be the great topic of life. . . . Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His Word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming.
The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before
the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it
by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under
his deceptive power he will make it appear that God's special blessing
is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious
interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them,
when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan
will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world.
In the truths of His word, God has given to men a revelation
of Himself; and to all who accept them they are a shield against the deceptions
of Satan. It is a neglect of these truths that has opened the door to the
evils which are now becoming so widespread in the religious world. The
nature and the importance of the law of God have been, to a great extent,
lost sight of. A wrong conception of the character, the perpetuity, and
the obligation of the divine law has led to errors in relation to conversion
and sanctification, and has resulted in lowering the standard of piety
in the church. Here is to be found the secret of the lack of the Spirit
and power of God in the revivals of our time. . . .
But not so did prophets and apostles
regard the holy law of God. Said David: "I will walk at liberty: for I
seek Thy precepts" (Ps. 119:45). The apostle James, who wrote after the
death of Christ, refers to the Decalogue as "the royal law" and "the perfect
law of liberty" (James 2:8; 1:25). And the revelator, half a century after
the crucifixion, pronounces a blessing upon them "that do His commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through
the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14). The claim that Christ by His death
abolished His Father's law is without foundation. Had it been possible
for the law to be changed or set aside, then Christ need not have died
to save man from the penalty of sin. . . .
The first step in reconciliation to God is the conviction of sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (1 John 3:4; Rom. 3:20). In order to see his guilt, the sinner must test his character by God's great standard of righteousness. It is a mirror which shows the perfection of a righteous character and enables him to discern the defects in his own.
The law reveals to man his sins, but it provides no remedy. While it promises life to the obedient, it declares that death is the portion of the transgressor. The gospel of Christ alone can free him from the condemnation or the defilement of sin. He must exercise repentance toward God, whose law has been transgressed; and faith in Christ, his atoning sacrifice. Thus he obtains "remission of sins that are past" and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. . . .
Is he now free to transgress God's law? Says Paul: "Do
we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish
the law." "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
And John declares: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments:
and His commandments are not grievous" (Rom. 3:31; 6:2; John 12:5:3). In
the new birth the heart is brought into harmony with God, as it is brought
into accord with His law. When this mighty change has taken place in the
sinner, he has passed from death unto life, from sin unto holiness, from
transgression and rebellion to obedience and loyalty. . . .
True sanctification is a Bible doctrine. The apostle Paul,
in his letter to the Thessalonian church, declares: "This is the will of
God, even your sanctification." And he prays: "The very God of peace sanctify
you wholly" (1 Thess. 4:3; 5:23). The Bible clearly teaches what sanctification
is and how it is to be attained. The Saviour prayed for His disciples:
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth" (John 17:17, 19).
And Paul teaches that believers are to be "sanctified by the Holy Ghost"
(Rom. 15:16). What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told His disciples:
"When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth"
(John 16:13). And the psalmist says: "Thy law is the truth." By the word
and the Spirit of God are opened to men the great principles of righteousness
embodied in His law. And since the law of God is "holy, and just, and good,"
a transcript of the divine perfection, it follows that a character formed
by obedience to that law will be holy. Christ is a perfect example of such
a character. He says: "I have kept My Father's commandments." "I do always
those things that please Him"
(John 13:15:10; 8:29). The followers of Christ are to
become like Him--by the grace of God to form characters in harmony with
the principles of His holy law. This is Bible sanctification.
This work can be accomplished only through faith in Christ, by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul admonishes believers: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12, 13). The Christian will feel the promptings of sin, but he will maintain a constant warfare against it. Here is where Christ's help is needed. Human weakness becomes united to divine strength, and faith exclaims: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57).
The Scriptures plainly show that the work of sanctification
is progressive. When in conversion the sinner finds peace with God through
the blood of the atonement, the Christian life has but just begun. Now
he is to "go on unto perfection;" to grow up "unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ." . . . [Phil. 3:13, 14 and 2 Peter 1:5-10 quoted.]
The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. His long life was filled up with noble service for his Master. He was a man "greatly beloved" (Dan. 10:11) of Heaven. Yet instead of claiming to be pure and holy, this honored prophet identified himself with the really sinful of Israel as he pleaded before God in behalf of his people: "We do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies." "We have sinned, we have done wickedly." He declares: "I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people. . . ." (Dan. 9:18, 15, 20). {NL 14.4}
When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind, he exclaimed: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). It was when Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, and heard the cherubim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," that he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone" (Isa. 6:3, 5). Paul, after he was caught up into the third heaven and heard things which it was not possible for a man to utter, speaks of himself as "less than the least of all saints" (2 Cor. 12:2-4, margin; Eph. 3:8). It was the beloved John, who leaned on Jesus' breast and beheld His glory, that fell as one dead before the feet of the angel (Rev. 1:17).
There can be no self-exaltation, no boastful claim to
freedom from sin, on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary's
cross. They feel that it was their sin which caused the agony that broke
the heart of the Son of God, and this thought will lead them to self-abasement.
Those who live nearest to Jesus discern most clearly the frailty and sinfulness
of humanity, and their only hope is in the merit of a crucified and risen
Saviour.
The desire for an easy religion that requires no striving, no self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world, has made the doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doctrine; but what saith the word of God? Says the apostle James: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? . . . Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? . . . Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:14-24).
The testimony of the word of God is against this ensnaring doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions upon which mercy is to be granted, it is presumption; for genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures.
Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can become holy while willfully violating one of God's requirements. The commission of a known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit and separates the soul from God. . . . Though John in his epistles dwells so fully upon love, yet he does not hesitate to reveal the true character of that class who claim to be sanctified while living in transgression of the law of God. "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" (1 John 2:4, 5). Here is the test of every man's profession. We cannot accord holiness to any man without bringing him to the measurement of God's only standard of holiness in heaven and in earth. . . .
The claim to be without sin is, in itself, evidence that
he who makes this claim is far from holy. It is because he has no true
conception of the infinite purity and holiness of God or of what they must
become who shall be in harmony with His character; because he has no true
conception of the purity and exalted loveliness of Jesus, and the malignity
and evil of sin, that man can regard himself as holy. The greater the distance
between himself and Christ, and the more inadequate his conceptions of
the divine character and requirements, the more righteous he appears in
his own eyes.
The desire for an easy religion that requires no striving, no self-denial, no divorce from the follies of the world, has made the doctrine of faith, and faith only, a popular doctrine; but what saith the word of God? Says the apostle James: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? . . . Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? . . . Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:14-24).
The testimony of the word of God is against this ensnaring doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions upon which mercy is to be granted, it is presumption; for genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures.
Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can become holy while willfully violating one of God's requirements. The commission of a known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit and separates the soul from God. . . . Though John in his epistles dwells so fully upon love, yet he does not hesitate to reveal the true character of that class who claim to be sanctified while living in transgression of the law of God. "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" (1 John 2:4, 5). Here is the test of every man's profession. We cannot accord holiness to any man without bringing him to the measurement of God's only standard of holiness in heaven and in earth. . . .
The claim to be without sin is, in itself, evidence that
he who makes this claim is far from holy. It is because he has no true
conception of the infinite purity and holiness of God or of what they must
become who shall be in harmony with His character; because he has no true
conception of the purity and exalted loveliness of Jesus, and the malignity
and evil of sin, that man can regard himself as holy. The greater the distance
between himself and Christ, and the more inadequate his conceptions of
the divine character and requirements, the more righteous he appears in
his own eyes.
To those who comply with the conditions, "Come out from
among them, and be ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean," God's
promise is, "I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:17,18).
It is the privilege and the duty of every Christian to have a rich and
abundant experience in the things of God. . . . The bright beams of the
Sun of Righteousness shine upon the servants of God, and they are to reflect
His rays. As the stars tell us that there is a great light in heaven with
whose glory they are made bright, so Christians are to make it manifest
that there is a God on the throne of the universe whose character is worthy
of praise and imitation. The graces of His Spirit, the purity and holiness
of His character, will be manifest in His witnesses. . . .
Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become "sons of God." "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb. 2:11). The Christian's life should be one of faith, of victory, and joy in God. "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). Truly spoke God's servant Nehemiah: "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10). And Paul says: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice." "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (Phil. 4:4; 1 Thess. 5:16-18). {NL 19.2}
Such are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctification. [THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, PP. 461-478. (CHAPTER TITLED "MODERN REVIVALS.")]