Do they not testify that the first work of grace is not deep enough?
They are glad for the first work, but they want something deeper. They
are glad that grace has found their heart, but they want a clean
heart--one that is free from those conscious uprisings of evil which, if
unrestrained, would bring them into condemnation and guilt, and perhaps
have already overcome them and produced such an effect in their lives.
They are glad for the sweet love of God that has found its way into
their hearts, but they long for perfect love. They are conscious of some
obstacles which hinder that love from being perfect, and yet they do not
understand just how those obstacles can be removed. Someone may tell
them that they have all they can get from God and to ask for more would
be presumption, and yet their souls cry out for that which is natural in
the grace of God, and how ready they are, when they hear sanctification
taught, to meet the conditions and enter into the rest for their
souls--this perfect love, this deeper work of grace, and this experience
of a clean heart, and this baptism with the Holy Ghost.
Now let us listen to their testimonies. What do we hear? Ah, we hear
them praising God for this they were so longing for. One will praise God
for a clean heart; another will say he has found the perfect love;
another will testify to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Others will thank
God for sanctification, and others will call it this sweet soul-rest,
etc., which all mean the same blessed experience of sanctification. Now
if we ask them if they believe in a second work of grace, what will they
answer us? Ah, there is no question about it. They have it in their
hearts, and they are spoiled for any argument upon the subject.
So it is with all God's people who have met the definite conditions for
sanctification and have come into this precious grace. We know it is a
second work.
Ques. How can one keep free from evil thoughts?
Ans. The pure heart and mind do not entertain an evil thought. As soon
as such thoughts are presented they are banished. In 2 Cor. 10:5 we read
how such things are dealt with. "Casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." An
evil thought thus captivated does not enter into the heart and therefore
does not become a sin to us. The apostle James says, "When lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin." The evil thought must first enter
into the heart and be conceived into a desire before it becomes sin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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