Part 8

"He wills that I should holy be: That holiness I long to feel; That full Divine conformity To all my Saviour's righteous will."

2. It is necessary, for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Sometime, somehow, somewhere, sin must go out of our hearts--all sin--or we cannot go into Heaven. Sin would spoil Heaven just as it spoils earth; just as it spoils the peace of hearts and homes, of families and neighbourhoods and nations here. Why God in His wisdom allows sin in the world, I do not know, I cannot understand. But this I understand: that He has one world into which He will not let sin enter. He has notified us in advance that no sin, nothing that defiles, can enter Heaven, can mar the blessedness of that holy place. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" We must get rid of sin to get into Heaven, to enjoy the full favour of God. It is necessary.

"Choose I must, and soon must choose Holiness, or Heaven lose. If what Heaven loves I hate, Shut for me is Heaven's gate!

"Endless sin means endless woe; Into endless sin I go If my soul, from reason rent, Takes from sin its final bent.

"As the stream its channel grooves, And within that channel moves; So does habit's deepest tide Groove its bed and there abide.

"Light obeyed increaseth light; Light resisted bringeth night; Who shall give me will to choose If the love of light I lose?

"Speed, my soul, this instant yield; Let the light its sceptre wield. While thy God prolongs His grace, Haste thee to His holy face."

3. This purification from sin is promised. Nothing can be plainer than the promise of God on this point. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." When all is removed, nothing remains. When all filthiness and all idols are taken away, none are left.

"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans v. 20, 21). Grace reigns, not through sin, but "through righteousness" which has expelled sin. Grace brings in righteousness and sin goes out.

"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" (1 John i. 7). Hallelujah!

"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans vi. 18).

These are sample promises and assurances any one of which is sufficient to encourage us to believe that our Heavenly Father will save us from all sin, if we meet His conditions.

4. And that deliverance is possible. It was for this that Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, came into the world, and suffered and died, that He might "save His people from their sins" (Matthew i. 21). It was for this that He shed His precious blood: to "cleanse us from all sin." It was for this that the word of God, with its wonderful promises, was given: "That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter i. 4); by which is meant, escape from inbred sin. It was for this that ministers of the Gospel--Salvation Army Officers--are given, "for the perfecting of the saints" (Eph. iv. 12), for the saving and sanctifying of men (Acts xxvi. 18). It is primarily for this that the Holy Ghost comes as a baptism of fire: that sin might be consumed out of us, so that we might be "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light"; that so we might be ready without a moment's warning to go into the midst of the heavenly hosts in white garments, "washed in the blood of the Lamb." Glory be to God for ever and ever!

And shall all these mighty agents and this heavenly provision, and these gracious purposes of God, fail to destroy sin out of any obedient, believing heart? Is sin omnipotent? No!

If you, my brother, my sister, will look unto Jesus just now, trusting the merits of His blood, and receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, you shall be "made free from sin"; it "shall not have dominion over you." Hallelujah! Under the fiery touch of His holy presence, your iniquity shall be taken away, and your sin shall be purged. And you yourself shall burn as did the bush on the mount of God which Moses saw; yet you, like the bush, shall not be consumed; and by this holy fire, this flame of love, that consumes sin, you shall be made proof against that unquenchable fire that consumes sinners.

"Come, Holy Ghost, Thy mighty aid bestowing; Destroy the works of sin, the self, the pride; Burn, burn in me, my idols overthrowing: Prepare my heart for Him, for my Lord crucified."

"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"

VI.

POWER.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

JUST before His ascension, Jesus met His disciples for the last time, and repeated His command that they should "not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father," and reiterated His promise that they should be "baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."

Then "they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" They were still eager for an earthly kingdom. But "He said unto them, It is not for you to know the time or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power," or authority. And then He added, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

They wanted power, and He assured them that they should have it, but said nothing of its nature, or the work and activities into which it would thrust them, and for which it would equip them, beyond the fact that they should be witnesses unto Him "in Jerusalem and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." After that the Holy Ghost Himself was henceforth to be their Teacher.

And then Jesus left them. Earth lost its power to hold Him, and while they beheld Him He began to ascend; a cloud bent low from Heaven, receiving Him out of sight, and they were left alone, with His promise of power ringing in their ears, and His command to "wait for the promise of the Father" checking any impatience that might lead them to "go a-fishing," as Peter had done some days before, or cause an undue haste to begin their life-work of witnessing for Him before God's appointed time.

For ten days they waited, not listlessly, but eagerly, as a maid for her mistress, or a servant for his master, who is expected to come at any moment; they forgot their personal ambitions; they ceased to judge and criticise one another, and in the sweet unity of brotherly love, "with one accord" they rejoiced, they prayed, they waited; and then on the day of Pentecost, at their early morning prayer meeting, when they were all present, the windows of Heaven were opened, and such a blessing as they could not contain was poured out upon them. "And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."

This was the inaugural day of the Church of God: the dawn of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit; the beginning of the days of power.

In the morning of that day there were only a few Christians in the world; the New Testament was not written, and it is doubtful if they had among them all a copy of the Old Testament; they had no church buildings, no colleges, no religious books and papers; they were poor and despised, unlearned and ignorant; but before night they had enrolled three thousand converts from among those who, a few weeks before, had crucified their Lord, and they had aroused and filled all Jerusalem with questionings and amazement.

What was the secret? Power. What was the secret? God the Holy Ghost. He had come, and this work was His work, and they were His instruments.