CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Forgiveness and Cleansing
The plan of salvation must of necessity
include not only forgiveness of sin but complete restoration. Salvation from
sin is more than forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness presupposes sin
and is conditioned upon breaking with it; sanctification is separation
from sin and indicates deliverance from its power and victory over it.
The first is a means to neutralize the effect of sin; the second is a
restoration of power for complete victory.
Sin, like some diseases, leaves man in
a deplorable condition—weak, despondent, disheartened. He has little
control of his mind, his will fails him, and with the best of intentions
he is unable to do what he knows to be right. He feels that there is no
hope. He knows that he has himself to blame, and remorse fills his soul.
To his bodily ailments is added the torture of conscience. He knows that
he has sinned and is to blame. Will no one take pity on him?
Then comes the gospel. The good news is
preached to him. Though his sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. All is
forgiven. He is "saved." What a wonderful deliverance it is!
His mind is at rest. No longer does his conscience torment him. He has
been forgiven. His sins are cast into the depths of the sea. His heart
wells with praise to God for His mercy and goodness to him.
As a disabled ship towed to port is
safe but not sound, so the man is "saved" but not sound.
Repairs need to be made on the ship before it is pronounced seaworthy,
and the man needs reconstruction before he is fully restored. This
process of restoration is called sanctification, and includes in its
finished product body, soul, and spirit. When the work is finished, the
man is "holy," completely sanctified, and restored to the
image of God. It is for this demonstration of what the gospel can do for
a man that the world is looking.
In the Bible both the process and the
finished work are spoken of as sanctification. For this reason the
"brethren" are spoken of as holy and sanctified, though they
have not attained to perfection. (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1: 1; Heb. 3: 1.) A
glance through the Epistles to the Corinthians will soon convince one
that the saints there mentioned had their faults. Despite this, they are
said to be "sanctified" and "called to be saints."
The reason is that complete sanctification is not the work of a day or
of a year but of a lifetime. It begins the moment a person is converted,
and continues through life. Every victory hastens the process. There are
few Christians who have not gained the mastery over some sin that
formerly greatly annoyed them and overcame them. Many a man who has been
a slave to the tobacco habit has gained the victory over the habit and
rejoices in his victory. Tobacco has ceased to be a temptation. It
attracts him no more. He has the victory. On that point he is
sanctified. As he has been victorious over one besetment, so he is to
become victorious over every sin. When the work is completed, when he
has gained the victory over pride, ambition, love of the world—over
all evil—he is ready for translation. He has been tried in all points.
The evil one has come to him and found nothing. Satan has no more
temptations for him. He has over-come them all. He stands without fault
before the throne of God. Christ places His seal upon him. He is safe,
and he is sound. God has finished His work in him. The demonstration of
what God can do with humanity is complete.
Thus it shall be with the last
generation of men living on the earth. Through them God’s final
demonstration of what He can do with humanity will be given. He will
take the weakest of the weak, those bearing the sins of their
forefathers, and in them show the power of God. They will be subjected
to every temptation, but they will not yield. They will demonstrate that
it is possible to live without sin-the very demonstration for which the
world has been looking and for which God has been preparing. It will
become evident to all that the gospel really can save to the uttermost.
God is found true in His sayings.
The last year of the conflict brings
the final test; but this only proves to angels and to the world that
nothing that the evil one can do will shake God’s chosen ones. The
plagues fall, destruction is on every hand, death stares them in the
face, but like Job they hold fast their integrity. Nothing can make them
sin. They "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus." Rev. 14: 12.
Throughout the history of the world God
has had His faithful ones. They have endured affliction and great
tribulation. Rut even in the midst of Satan’s buffetings they have, as
the apostle Paul says, through faith "wrought righteousness."
"They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain
with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:)
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
earth." Heb. 11:37, 38.
And in addition to this galaxy of
faithful witnesses, many of whom were martyrs for their faith, God will
have in the last days a remnant, a "little flock," in and
through whom He will give to the universe a demonstration of His love,
His power, His justice, which, if we exempt Christ’s godly life on
earth and His supreme sacrifice on Calvary, will be the most sweeping
and conclusive demonstration of all the ages of what God can do in men.
It is in the last generation of men
living on the earth that God’s power unto sanctification will stand
fully revealed. The demonstration of that power is God’s vindication.
It clears Him of any and all charges which Satan has placed against Him.
In the last generation God is vindicated and Satan defeated. This may
need some further amplification.
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