02.01. Introduction

There is no doubt about the call. It is on every page of the Scriptures, and the reason for it is in the nature and character of God. Holiness is not optional, but imperative. Because God is holy, His people must be holy. Without holiness no man can see the Lord. It is imperative. It must be possible. He who wills the end must provide the means. The will of God is our sanctification. The command of God is that we be holy. If sanctification is His will, and holiness His command, He must have made it possible; otherwise He would mock us and call us to an unequal and unfair task. Life would be doomed to disappointment and dissatisfaction, failure and condemnation. When God calls us to holiness it is frankly admitted that the demand is beyond us. We cannot attain unto holiness. God gives what we cannot gain by will or effort of our own. Sanctification is not attained; it is obtained. For it is of grace through faith and not of merit by works. It is without price, because it is priceless, and it is not of works, because it is beyond man’s possibility. He who wills our sanctification is Himself the Sanctifier.