17. The Way into the Blessing

THE WAY INTO THE BLESSING What then is the secret of “true holiness”? How is this fullness of blessing which I have endeavored to expound in the foregoing chapters to be received? The answer is, “By faith — faith for entire sanctification.” That sounds simple, but it is not so simple in practice. Why? Because it is only under certain conditions that a believer can exercise that full sanctifying faith which brings the glorious fullness of blessing into the heart. I would like to state, in the form of an appeal, what I believe are the conditions. 1. Conviction that there is such a blessing. When Israel left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, the promised Canaan land of blessing lay in front of them to be entered and possessed. So when a soul is truly born again, there is a “Canaan” experience of fullness of spiritual blessing awaiting his appropriation by faith. My Christian reader, are you fully persuaded of this? Are you convinced that there is such a distinctive blessing as the clean heart and the fullness of the Spirit? This conviction is essential. You will never be stirred up earnestly to seek this “Canaan” experience unless you are convinced that there actually is such a blessing to be received and enjoyed. 2. Consciouness of need. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness that you may be filled? Since you were saved, has the Spirit of God ever shown you the deep depravity of your heart so that you have, in effect, cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” If not, will you ask God to reveal to you by the Spirit your need of complete heart cleansing? When the Spirit of God unveils to the believer the ugly characteristics of the “old man” of sin in the heart, it will be a painful and humiliating experience, particularly to the “religious self.” But the “self” must be denied and crucified. The Cross is its place. The painful experience of the Cross preceded the glorious blessing of Pentecost. It is the same in Christian life. Child of God though you may be, let the Spirit of God show you what is still wrong with your inner heart experience. If He wounds, it is only to impart a glorious healing. 3. Consecration. It is impossible to exercise full sanctifying faith in the wonderful promises for entire sanctification unless the believer has unwavering confidence that God will hear and answer his prayer for that blessing. But how can we have this confidence if we are knowingly displeasing Him in any matter in our lives? Disobedience paralyzes faith.

We may have a perfect mental grasp of the theory of entire sanctification and yet be utterly unable to enter into the heart experience. It is only “when we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” that “whatsoever we ask we receive of him” (1 John 3:22).

There must be a complete yielding to God on all points. But even when there is a consciousness of need and a complete yielding to God there is often one more obstacle. It is unbelief, that poison of Satan injected into the heart, that terrible disease of the soul which paralyzes faith and renders the believer impotent to benefit by the promises of God. What is the remedy? 4. Conquering faith. Come to the Lord Jesus just as you are. Confess to Him your need of complete inward heart cleansing and your need of the filling of the Spirit. It is His prerogative to “baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Confess also your unbelief and your inability of yourself to lay hold of the wonderful promises of God for entire sanctification. Now look right away from yourself, forget yourself, and look only to Him. He is the Author and Finisher of faith. Christ said to the man with the withered hand, “Stretch forth thine hand,” and we read, “he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole” in an instant. What Christ did with that man’s withered hand is a picture of what He can do in an instant to your withered hand, withered by unbelief. He can cleanse and make it whole and empower you to stretch forth the “hand” of faith and appropriate the glorious promises of God for entire sanctification. Now stretch forth the “hand” of faith and lay hold for yourself on some of the blessed promises referred to in the chapter “True Holiness. What I Believe.” God desires your entire sanctification much more than you do. You have come to desire this blessing only because He himself has worked in you. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” Now remember our Lord’s words, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). Ask now, therefore, believing that you receive. In naked faith resting on God’s own Word, believe now that God does, on His side, do a work in your heart, far beyond your comprehension. Believe that Christ does now fulfill that wonderful promise in all its glorious fullness, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Believe that the fire of the Holy Ghost consumes the dross of the heart; believe that the blood of Christ is now applied in all its wonderful power, cleansing from all sin; believe that the provision on the Cross that “the body of sin might be destroyed” is now made a reality within your heart. Thank God and praise Him for the work He has done. Now rise, go forth, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). God will make the reckoning a glorious reality. Hold on in faith. When doubts assail, stand firm and say, “I believe God,” “I believe God.” THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT God will respond to that sanctifying faith. In His own time and way, He will witness to your heart by the Spirit, that you may know that you have the things that are freely given to you of God. He may cause billows of heavenly glory to flood your soul. On the other hand He may do nothing of the sort. There may be just a deep, blessed, satisfying heart rest in Christ. In any case He will fill you with all joy and peace in believing by the infilling of the Holy Ghost. This is the entrance into “Holiness — the True.” Your experience will be beautifully expressed by the following words of Frances Ridley Havergal: Holiness by faith in Jesus, Not by efforts of thine own, Sin’s dominion crushed and broken By the power of grace alone.

God’s own holiness within thee, His own beauty on thy brow, This shall be thy pilgrim brightness, This thy blessed portion now.