A New Element Enters

Howard Gray had just finished supper and was standing in the doorway when a neighbor drove up. He was a young man of about the same age as Howard. They were used to being much in each other’s company. He drew up by the gate and called, “Hello, Howard. Say, there are two new preachers holding meeting over at the Ridge. I was over there last night. They are making a great stir. Come and go with me tonight, will you?”

“Why, yes,” replied Howard, “I shall not mind going. But who are the fellows?”

“Well, I hardly know who they are, but they are preaching things I never heard before. I will stop for you on my way over.”

“All right,” said Howard, “I will be ready.”

His curiosity was aroused. Still, he had only a mild interest in what they might be preaching. More than two months had passed since the events of the past chapter. He had tried to satisfy his conscience with the argument that he was just as good as the other church members, and they were all right. Did not the preacher, when one of the congregation died, assure his hearers that this member was safe in heaven? Then, too, when he was doing the best that he could, could God require anything more of him?

Nevertheless, there were times when his conscience was not at rest. He rather resented this, for he did not like to be disturbed. Like everyone else, he wanted peace of mind, and when anything arose to disturb this peace he shrank away from it and tried to forget it. But he could not get away from that something that kept telling him there was something amiss somewhere, something lacking, even though he might not be able to tell what it was. He would go to the meetings this night and hear some of those new things. He did not fear that he would be disturbed by what he would hear, for he was not used to being disturbed by what he heard preachers say. The disturbance seemed to arise in his own heart. He could find an answer to what the preacher said, or forget it, but there was something that would not let him forget for more than a short time the stirrings of dissatisfaction within his own bosom.

Arriving at the place of meeting, which was a few miles from his home, Howard and his neighbor found that a large crowd had gathered. The commodious church was well filled. Two strange ministers were sitting at the pulpit. They looked like intelligent, forceful men. Soon the service began. The opening exercises did not differ particularly from what he was used to until the time for prayer. Then Howard listened to a prayer that filled him with mingled feelings of awe and wonder. He could hardly tell why, but there was something in this prayer that seemed to talk right to his conscience. There were two things in the prayer that especially attracted his attention: the first was its simplicity and earnestness; the second, that the speaker addressed God as though he were well acquainted with Him. He talked to Him as a man talking to his friend.

Presently, one of the ministers arose to preach. “For my text this evening,” said he, “I shall read the first clause of Psalm 11:4: ‘The LORD is in his holy temple.’ ” Then followed a brief description of the ancient temple of Israel and the tabernacle that had preceded it. Attention was called to its dedication, how that it had been set apart as a dwelling-place of the Lord among His people. As the minister proceeded, he showed how God had revealed His glory there and how that temple had been kept sacred; how everything in it had been holy. He showed that when those evil-minded persons had defiled God’s temple by offering strange fire there, the judgments of God fell upon them. He showed how God manifested Himself in the tabernacle and in the temple only when those structures were undefiled.

After impressing upon his audience the great importance of the holiness of the Old Testament temple, the preacher said, “But that temple is no more. It was utterly destroyed. God has now no temple of wood and stone that is the center of the Old Testament worship. Now we have a New Testament and a new worship. But instead of one temple we have many temples. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 we read, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’ Turning to 1 Corinthians 6:19, we read, ‘Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?’ While this first text speaks of God’s people in a collective sense, the latter speaks of each one of them in the individual sense. And it is this individual sense in which we are to be temples of God of which I wish to speak.”

He then proceeded to bring out the thought that the word temple used of an individual Christian was meant to carry the mind back to the old temple with all its sacredness and holiness. He showed how the individual life must be dedicated to God, how the life must be a holy life, and how everything must be kept out of it that would defile it. He showed how sin defiles God’s temple, and that therefore God requires true Christians to abstain from sin. To establish his point he read other texts of Scripture, such as the following:

“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.”* (1 Peter 1:15-16)

“He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”* (Ephesians 1:4)

“To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.”* (Colossians 1:22)

“What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”* (2 Peter 3:11)

He then showed how the people of God were called a holy people: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,”* (Colossians 3:12) etc. In Hebrews 3:1, the Christians are addressed as “holy brethren.” 1 Peter 3:5 speaks of “holy women… who trusted in God.”

“This holiness,” said he, “is not a mere imaginary thing. It is not merely a ceremonial holiness. It is an actual holiness. It consists of two things: first, a holiness or purity of character; second, a holy life. There is but one thing that creates unholiness; that thing is sin. It defiles the whole course of nature, shuts us out from communion and fellowship with God, and stirs up every turbulent element of the nature. It poisons the whole spiritual being, is hateful to God, and He cannot excuse it. It ruins our lives and our happiness for time and eternity.

“But is there any remedy for sin in this life, or must we be sinful throughout life? Paul said that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’* (1 Timothy 1:15) John said, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’* (1 John 1:7) Speaking of Christ, he says, ‘Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.’* (Revelation 1:5) The blood of Christ cleanses away all the defilement of our past sins. It washes away all the crimson stains. It has power to make us whiter than snow. Do you remember the old song we have sung from childhood, one line of which is, ‘Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow’*? This is the teaching of the Scriptures. Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.’* (Matthew 5:8) I repeat 1 Corinthians 3:17: ‘The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’ Holiness is a thing of character. Therefore, we must be holy in our characters in order to be Christians. We must be washed from our sins in the precious blood of Christ. As the prophet said, ‘Wash you, make you clean.’* (Isaiah 1:16) And Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Ye are clean.’* (John 13:10). The voice of God speaking to Peter about those who had been saved from among the Gentiles said, ‘What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.’* (Acts 10:15) The lesson Peter got out of this was, ‘God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.’* (Acts 10:28) From this we are to understand that those whom God has cleansed are different from others and different from what they were before.

The idea that is prevalent that a Christian will be sinful in his character all his days is contrary to the Scriptures. We must be holy, for God has commanded it. To be unholy is to be unacceptable with Him. He has taught us to ‘love one another with a pure heart fervently,’* (1 Peter 1:22) and we cannot love one another in that way unless we have pure hearts. In the first part of the verse he says, ‘Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth.’* (1 Peter 1:22) It is possible, therefore, for the human soul to be purified from its sin. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’* (1 John 1:7)

“Holiness is not only a thing of character, it is a characteristic of the Christian life. Christ is our example. Peter tells us, ‘Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.’* (1 Peter 2:21-22) To follow His steps is to do as He did, to act as He acted, to be holy as He is holy. ‘Like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living.’* (1 Peter 1:15)ASV Again it is written, ‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.’* (Titus 2:11-12) Again I read, ‘That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.’* (Luke 1:74-75)

But some tell us that this is an impracticable standard; that it is quite out of reach of man. They say that God only means us to aim at the mark and that we are sure to miss it. This challenges the wisdom of God. He knows what we can do; He knows what we can be; He knows what His grace will accomplish for us. To say that He raises up an impossible standard for us is almost, if not quite, to be guilty of blasphemy. The temple of God is holy. The Bible asserts it. The Bible is true. Men must be holy in their characters and they must be holy in their lives or they shall be under the condemnation of God. It is the lack of holiness that makes so many unhappy lives as there are. It is this that makes so many professing Christians live in continuous uncertainty. They want to please God, they want to do what is right in His sight, but they are constantly coming short. They are frequently overcome by sin. They are humiliated over and over by their conscious lack of conformity to the will of God. My friends, there is a better life than that. Christianity is something higher than that. The grace of God will lift us above sin. As it is written, ‘We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.’* (1 John 5:18) ‘Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.’* (1 John 3:6)

“And now we shall note some texts on the negative side of the question. ‘He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’* (1 John 2:4) Again we read, ‘Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,’* (1 John 3:9) and in the next verse, ‘Whosoever doest not righteousness is not of God.’* (1 John 3:10) And again, ‘He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.’* (1 John 2:6)

“These, my friends, are only a few of the multitude of Scriptures that might be read showing that a Christian is a man who acts from pure motives and lives a holy life, free from sin. The question that confronts you and me tonight, friends, is: Do we live holy? Do we live righteously before God? Let me read you one more text of Scripture, ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil.’* (1 John 3:8) In view of all these texts that I have read in your hearing, all should give most serious attention to the text which I read which says, ‘The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’* (1 Corinthians 3:17) There is power in the blood to cleanse from all sin. There is power in the grace of God to keep us from sin. But a sinful Christian life is not a Christian life. A sinner is not a Christian. And now I leave this with you, quoting again that text from Peter which says, ‘As he which hath called you is holy; so be ye holy.’* (1 Peter 1:15)”

After the meeting had been dismissed, the people stood in groups in the churchyard discussing what they had heard. Some approved the preacher’s message; some disapproved it. Howard and his companion took no part in this discussion except as listeners. On their way home they were for the most part silent, though they discussed the sermon and came to the conclusion that the minister must have been mistaken in his application of the text he read. In the quiet of his own room Howard thought over what he had heard. He was more disturbed over the sermon than he had been aware, and the more he thought of it, the more disturbed he became. If he should accept what the preacher taught, it would place him in a very embarrassing situation. If he rejected it, what would he do with the Scriptures that had been read? Presently he began to grow indignant. “The idea,” he said to himself, “of anyone teaching that we can be holy in this life; that we can live without sin here, surrounded as we are by sin on every side, and with temptation prevailing continually. It is unreasonable. That man does not know what he is talking about. I know very well I have tried, and have tried sincerely to live right, and still I find myself coming short frequently. I know I do not live without sin and yet I believe I try as hard as I can to do so. I do not believe God would be just to require more of me than I can do.” So he resolved that he would go to hear that preacher no more. He kept his resolve throughout the meeting. Nevertheless, he could not rid himself of the influence of the sermon he had heard.

A few days later Howard met old Mr. Benton, who had been a member of the church for “forty odd years.” Mr. Benton had not attended the meetings, but he had heard of them, and when Howard mentioned having been to the meeting, Mr. Benton asked him to give him a summary of what he had heard preached there. Howard did so. The ire of Mr. Benton was immediately aroused. “Yes, I heard that they have been preaching holiness there and that people can live without sin, but anyone who has had as much experience as I have in serving the Lord knows very well that such a thing is impossible in this world. When we cross over into the glorious promised land, then we shall be free from sin. But as long as we live in this world we shall be sinners. For, Howard, the Bible says, ‘If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ ”

“Yes,” said Howard, “I know it does. I have read it.”

“Yes,” said Mr. Benton, “and it also says, ‘For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.’ That you will find in Ecclesiastes 7:20.”

Howard noted down the text and Mr. Benton proceeded: “And in Proverbs 20:9 it says, ‘Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?’ And did not Jesus Himself say, ‘Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.’* (Matthew 19:17) There are other texts, too, that teach the same thing, but I cannot just remember what they are now. I will look them up and let you know where they are.”

“All right,” said Howard, “I wish you would. And if I see that preacher again I shall tell him something.”

These Scriptures were quite comforting to Howard, but still there were times when he was disturbed in his spirit. It exasperated him that it should be so. But every time he thought of Miss Burns or Mr. Peters, a feeling came over him that was very unpleasant. He went on thus for several weeks. One night he attended a party to which he had received an invitation a few days before, but the weather was rather inclement, so there were but few present. One of these was a young man a few years older than himself who had formerly been a schoolmate. The ministers who had held the meeting before referred to had stayed at this young man’s home during the meeting, being entertained there by his parents. He and Howard got into a conversation concerning the meeting, and Howard voiced his objections to what had been preached. The young man drew a New Testament from his pocket and said, “I heard both of those preachers preach when they were holding that meeting. I had many talks with them in our home. I believe what they preached is Scriptural and right.”

Howard was surprised to hear his friend express himself thus, and he quoted to him some of the texts that had been the support of his position during the past weeks. “Now, John,” said he, “you surely cannot say that those preachers were right in view of what these texts say.”

“Let us go over here where we may talk this over undisturbed,” said John. “I am not a Christian, and do not profess to be one, but I have been reading the Bible a great deal lately, and I have found that what those preachers preach is true. I know the Bible says what you say it does, and I asked those preachers about those texts, and they gave me an explanation of them which entirely satisfies my mind. Now let us consider some of these texts. Take 1 John 1:8, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ Perhaps you have noticed what it says in the preceding verse. I quote it: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’* (1 John 1:7) Now if one is cleansed from all sin, how much sin remains? John is talking here of one who has not been cleansed by the blood of Christ, but who declares that he has no need of being cleansed because he has no sin from which to be cleansed. This, of course, is contrary to the Scriptures, for everyone who has not been cleansed is defiled by sin, for the Bible says, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’* () Then, you will notice that the ninth verse tells us how to get rid of sin: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’* (1 John 1:9) Now, if ‘the blood of Jesus Christ… cleanseth us from all sin,’ as verse seven says, and ‘from all unrighteousness,’ as verse nine says, cannot we then say that we have no sin? It must be true of one so cleansed, or else these texts are not true.”

“Yes,” said Howard, “but the Bible says, ‘There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.’* (Ecclesiasts 7:20)”

“Well,” answered John, “let us put up by the side of this 1 John 3:9: ‘Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.’ What are you going to do with that text?”

Howard was perplexed. The two texts seemed to contradict each other very strongly.

“Well,” Howard said at length, “I do not know that I can explain that last verse, but I know the first one is true.”

“Yes,” said John, “the first one is true and so is the last one. What is needful is to get a correct understanding of the two and their relation to each other. You will have to take into consideration that this statement and some others like it were made in Old Testament times, before Jesus had come and offered Himself for our redemption. In that time people did not have the experience of divine grace that people have since Jesus came. But now ‘the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,’ and the statement is true that ‘Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.’ ”

“Yes,” said Howard sarcastically, “I heard those fellows were teaching they couldn’t sin. When anybody gets that good, he is getting too good for this world. The Bible says, ‘There is none that doeth good, no, not one.’* (Romans 3:12)”

“Yes,” said John, “the Bible says that in the third chapter of Romans. But of whom is Paul talking there? Is he speaking of Christian people? In the tenth verse he says, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’* (Romans 3:10); and in the twelfth verse he says, ‘There is none that doeth good, no, not one’; and in the ninth verse he said, ‘We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.’* (Romans 3:9) But what does he mean? Let us read a little further, beginning with verse 13, ‘Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.’* (Romans 3:13) Does this sound like Christian people? Are they such characters as are represented here? By no means. Christians do have the fear of God before their eyes. They have known and do know the way of peace. Their feet are not swift to shed blood. Their mouths are not full of cursing and bitterness. Paul is talking of the world without Christ. Jesus said, ‘Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.’* (Matthew 12:33,35) So you see, Jesus understood that there were good men who lived good lives and had good things, not evil things in their hearts.”

So they went on considering text after text, but Howard saw that the argument was going against him no matter what text he brought up, for his friend had a ready answer for all his objections to a sinless life. Finally his friend turned upon him and said, “Now you are a church member, and I am not. I know I commit sin. I admit that I do. You say that you commit sin. Now in what respect are you better than I? We both do the same thing. We both live the same kind of a life; you sin and I sin. Wherein are you better than I? If God should send me to hell for my sins, will He not send you there for yours? But that isn’t all; just let me read you something. Let me read John 8:34, ‘Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.’ And again he says in Matthew 6:24, ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and mammon.’ Now you say you commit sin and that first text says that you are ‘the servant of sin.’ The second says that ‘no man can serve two masters.’ Therefore, you cannot serve sin and serve Christ at the same time.”

Howard was silent. He had no answer. These Scriptures were touching a sore spot in his conscience, so he started to turn away. But John said, “Hold on a minute. I am not done with you yet. I want you to go home and read this Scripture in your own Bible and face it like a man. It is 1 John 3:8, ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil.’ Now you say you commit sin; I should like to know how you can prove by the Scriptures that you are a Christian at all, especially in view of the fact that the next verse says, ‘Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.’* (1 John 3:9) One more point, however, I want to call to your attention. You said that those preachers said they were so good they couldn’t sin. Now they said nothing of the kind. They said anyone could sin who wanted to, and that we could never get to the place we could not sin if we wished, but that by the grace of God we could refrain from doing that which is evil in the sight of God. They taught that God would give to us grace to keep His commandments, and they showed plainly that sin is doing what we knew to be wrong, not some accident or mistake or something we cannot help. If we cannot help doing a thing, it is not sinful. But we can keep from sinning, by the grace of God. It would be unjust for God to require something of us that we cannot do. God is not unjust: so people can live when they get the Bible experience just like the Bible says for them to live.”

Howard went home from the party silent and thoughtful. The text, “Whosoever committeth sin is of the devil,” seemed to haunt him. Day by day it repeated itself in his mind. He grew resentful because he could not get rid of it. He was a Christian no matter what John said. He was trying to do right. “I know what I will do,” he said to himself. “I will read the New Testament through and mark everything it says on the subject of sin and righteousness, and then I shall know for myself. I will prove to John and to everybody else who says anything about it that I am really a Christian, and that Christians cannot expect to live without sin.”

So he began reading the New Testament, and with a colored pencil he marked everything that he thought related to the subject. The further he went the more disturbed he was. Finally he finished reading it. Then he turned back and read all the places that he had marked. He had nothing further to say about a Christian living a sinful life for he saw that the Scriptures were entirely against it. He saw that he was coming short more than he had ever dreamed, and for the next two months he passed through a severe spiritual struggle. He felt he was not truly a Christian. He was thoroughly dissatisfied with himself, and yet he was not humble enough to acknowledge to others that he was not a Christian. So he went on from day to day thoroughly miserable, but still having a desire in his heart to be right and to do right.