I said we must believe by an act of the will. And some reader may
object to this statement by asserting that faith or belief is not a
matter of volition, but a matter of evidence. But I am not asking any
one to believe without evidence. I am asking him simply to give its
rightful force to the evidence. It is not for want of evidence that any
earnest, consecrated seeker is failing to believe that Christ is able
and willing to sanctify him wholly, and to do it now. He asserts it in
many forms and repeats it again and again as His Divine will that His
people should be holy, and if He is not able to make them holy here and
now, His omnipotence is impugned, and if He is not willing to make them
holy here and now, He must desire them to continue longer in sin, which
thought would impugn His own holiness.
No, it is not for want of evidence, but because the faith-faculty has
become weakened and paralyzed by sin, and now we must determine to
believe, by putting our will on to the side of faith, and allowing it,
no longer, to remain on the side of unbelief. Many a seeking soul has
come out into the fullness of salvation by singing the hymn:
"I can, I will, I do believe
That Jesus saves me now."
The man who came to Jesus with his right hand withered, was told to
stretch it forth. He might have said where is my evidence that it will
do any good to try? But he put his will into the obedient attitude. He
willed to stretch it forth, and made the effort, and with the obedient
will the power came from Jesus, and he stretched it forth and was
restored. To every one of weak and paralyzed faith, I say, nay, Jesus
says, "Stretch forth thy hand of faith, I am here to be responsible
for the result." Believe and receive and confess and rejoice. Beloved,
we are sanctified by faith. Glory to the Lamb.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCLUSION.
I trust it has been sufficiently demonstrated that the doctrine and
experience of entire sanctification are fully and clearly taught in
Holy Scripture. All the way from the patriarchs to the apostles in the
law, in the types, in the Psalms, in the prophets, in the history, in
the gospels, in the epistles, we find that God requires His people to
be holy and to be holy now, that He makes it, therefore, their
privilege to be holy, and that He has made ample provision, in the
sacrificial offering of Christ, for them to be made holy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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