Holiness is a gift of God through faith – not by works or striving. It is provided by promise and accomplished by Christ’s shed blood. It can only be obtained by faith. Holiness is simply Christ-likeness in the heart or divine love in the heart. It is not emotions or feeling – it is perfect love for God, for the brethren and for sinners. Stated in another way, it is deliverance from all inward and outward sin. Called by another name, it is sanctification, or full salvation or perfection. Some neglect it because of those who profess to be sanctified who do not manifest the fruit of a sanctified life. The currency of a country should not be judged by its counterfeit and so the doctrine of holiness should not be cast aside because of hypocrites or bigots. Every true seeker should recognize the difference between the phylacteries of Pharisees and the saintliness of saints. Others oppose it because of the names or title some holiness preachers call it. They question its being called the second work of grace or the second blessing or Christian perfection. Clever people sometimes ask ignorant questions. They ask, if a second blessing, why not the twenty second? If perfect, how can progress be possible? If saved the uttermost, what is there beyond? If instantaneous, what place is given to the progressive. Sanctification does not mean that the sanctified believer can never sin for Eve and Adam sinned and lost the presence and image of God, though sanctified, holy and perfect. Perfection can be thought of in three ways, just like salvation can be thought to in three ways. In the Court of God, salvation is justification; in His Temple, it is redemption, whilst in the Family, it is adoption. So, Perfection is presented and experienced from three angles. The term can mean acquittal without condemnation (in the Court), cleanness without stain (in the Temple), and it is love without reservation (in the Family) (Romans 8:1; John 1:7; 4:17). Twenty-one pence added to seventy-nine pence make a perfect Pound. That is what is meant by perfection. It is complete deliverance from everything that makes the soul unfit for the will of God; the supply of all grace and whatever else is lacking form obedience to every demand of our loving Father. “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth”. That is perfection. Some calm rather than kindle our enthusiasm by talking of the limitations of Christian perfection. They say, it is not Adamic perfection, yet it is putting on “the new man” which is “after the image of Him that created him”. Adam in his perfect state was not perfect in knowledge. The woman sinned because she was deceived – indicating a lack of intellectual perfectness. Neither was their perfection in the sense of being inaccessible to Satan for she was tempted. God’s demand is not changed. Man’s duty remains unaltered. God asked of Adam no more than that he should love Him with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and He demands nothing less of us. Love is not a substitute for obedience but it includes it since it is the fulfilling of the law. In saying “be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” was the Speaker mistaken? Was He a preacher of false doctrine? Or have we forsaken the Word of God? Shall we drop the word “perfect” and send Jesus the Lord to a seminary to be taught how to speak when He made the tongue? Will any man convict God of false doctrine when He said “Be ye holy; for I am holy”? (1 Peter 1:16). Was He ignorant of man’s limitation and frailty? Is His demand greater than the provision of grace? Or are we simply unwilling to respond to His call?
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:26:41 +0000
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