If our salvation is authored, and thus, its progress is based upon the “decision-making” of Jesus Christ, then each saint’s progression and perseverance will be differing based upon this “decision-making”. It is noticeable that, when comparing between saints, there is a certain difference in their “glory to glory” course; therefore, it is important to know how Jesus Christ communicates to us our present standing before Him lest we, like others, fall from grace. It is of note that, if Christ will communicate to us, we must know how and in what way. “The conscience” is the primary medium by which God communicates to man his present standing, whether it be salvation or damnation. The conscience will communicate legal accusations or legal dismissals (“excuses” -Rom. 2:14-15). Thereby the man is pressed under the weight of unforgiven sins, or he is liberated in the blessedness of justification. To be justified is to be legally declared righteous and innocent, altogether guiltless of any sin. When the conscience accuses men, being empowered thereto by the legal warrant of unforgiven sins, the lost man, in this way, is held in the contempt of Heaven’s Court, thus he feels that he doesn’t have “a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet. 3:21). Yet salvation is described as, “the answer of a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet. 3:21), because the power of the blood of Jesus Christ does “purge” the “conscience” (Heb. 9:14) from the memory of formerly unforgiven sins (Heb. 10:2, 17). Therefore, of a truth, a saved man does miraculously possess “a good conscience before God” (Acts 23:1, 24:16)! Miraculously, I say, just as Charles Wesley eloquently recited in the hymn, “Spirit of Faith, Come Down”. My reader, read this hymn and consider that, even so, we cannot savingly believe on Christ or receive the witness of the blood WITHOUT the supernatural, miraculous, Divine-intervention of God Almighty:
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“Spirit of faith, come down, reveal the things of God,
And make to us the Godhead known, and witness with the blood. ’Tis Thine the blood to apply and give us eyes to see, Who did for every sinner die hath surely died for me No man can truly say that Jesus is the Lord, Unless Thou take the veil away and breathe the living Word Then, only then, we feel our interest in His blood, And cry with joy unspeakable, “Thou art my Lord, my God!” O that the world might know the all atoning Lamb! Spirit of faith, descend and show the virtue of His Name; The grace which all may find, the saving power, impart, And testify to all mankind, and speak in every heart. Inspire the living faith (which whosoever receive, The witness in themselves they have and consciously believe), The faith that conquers all, and doth the mountain move, And saves whoever on Jesus call, and perfects them in love.” |
In other words, salvation is of the Lord! Faith in the atonement of Christ is of the Lord! The application of the blood is of the Lord! The witness of the Spirit is of the Lord! Perhaps what you don’t know about this hymn is that it was written to speak of saved men who have fallen from saving faith and repentance (Wesley placed this hymn in the category of, “For Backsliders recovered”); which means they formerly had it, and while they stand in need of its restoration, Charles Wesley understood, one cannot restore his own faith and repentance (Heb. 6:3) because it is a gift from God (Rom. 12:3). Irrelevant of his systematized “doctrine”, this was the language of Wesley’s heart! See another hymn in which he wrote on the subject of a backslider’s restoration:
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“1 JESUS, thou know'st my sinfulness,
My faults are not concealed from thee; A sinner in my last distress, To thy dear wounds I fain would flee, And never, never thence depart, Close sheltered in thy loving heart. 2 How shall I find the living way, Lost, and confused, and dark, and blind? Ah, Lord, my soul is gone astray! Ah, Shepherd, seek my soul, and find, And in thy arms of mercy take, And bring the weary wanderer back. 3 Weary and sick of sin I am I hate it, Lord, and yet I love; When wilt thou rid me of my shame? When wilt thou all my load remove? Destroy the fiend that lurks within, And speak the word of power, "Be clean!" 4 O Lord, if I at last discern That I am sin, and thou art love, If now o'er me thy bowels yearn, Give me a token from above; And conquer my rebellious will, And bid my murmuring heart be still. 5 Sin only let me not commit, (Sin never can advance thy praise) And lo! I lay me at thy feet, And wait unwearied all my days, Till my appointed time shall come, And thou shalt call thine exile home.” |
It is obvious that Charles Wesley believed that salvation is of the Lord, and not of works. Charles understood that a backslidden regenerated man does then reside in a spiritual condition of unforgiven sin; thus he legally becomes “a sinner”, and thus, feeling the guilt of his unforgiven sins God leads him back to the Savior! See another hymn of Charles’ expressing this very same heart-cry:
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“O wouldst Thou break the fatal snare
Of carnal self-security, And let them feel the wrath they bear, And let them groan their want of Thee, Robb'd of their false pernicious peace, Stripp'd of their fancied righteousness. “Long as the guilt of sin shall last, Them in its misery detain; Hold their licentious spirits fast, Bind them with their own nature's chain, Nor ever let the wanderers rest, Till lodged again in Jesus' breast.” |
What Charles prayed for, King David experienced. Yes, and on more than one occasion did King David experience it. What Charles prayed for Hosea wrote about in Hosea 5:15, when God said, “I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.” On one such occasion which is helpful to note, King David wrote about what it felt like to be in the guilt of unforgiven sin…yes, and it was a guilt unrelieved until acknowledgement and confession were made (Though this cannot be turned into some kind of concrete creed, let the heart of the matter be heard!):
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“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” - Psalm 32:1-5
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In the former hymn by Wesley he prayed for the backsliders, “Long as the guilt of sin shall last, them in its misery detain”. This is, even so, the method which God has chosen to bring backslidden saints to repentance again! Charles wrote a New Testament prayer for souls regarding this very experience which King David went through in Psalm 32:1-5. Also Psalm 51, like Psalm 32:1-5, was a time when David was in a damnable condition before God (temporarily speaking), because he was presently backslidden in the guilt of unforgiven sin even though he was, already, a regenerated man who was inhabited by the Spirit of God (Note: Though it is abundantly plain, and we can see no other witness in God’s word; nevertheless, both John Wesley and John Piper believe Old Testament saints were regenerated and born again). At this time David was in an agony over legal apprehensions which motivated him to cry out to God:
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"blot out my
transgressions” – Ps. 51:1
“wash me”…“cleanse me” – Ps. 51:2 “For I acknowledge my transgression: and my sin is ever before me” – Ps. 51:3 “truth in the inward parts”…“in the hidden part” – Ps. 51:6 “purge me”…“wash me” – Ps. 51:7 “Hide Thy face from my sins”…“blot out all mine iniquities” – Ps. 51:9 “Create in me a clean heart”…“renew a right spirit within me” – Ps. 51:10 “Caste me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” – Ps. 51:11 |
With exclamatory clarity, David felt the guilt of unforgiven sin! David believed he had unforgiven sin! David wanted cleansing and washing for his unforgiven sin! And David knew that this was “a work” that only God could operate upon the soul of a backslidden man! In Psalm 51 David sought after saving-repentance, the repentance which the New Testament calls, “godly sorrow” (2 Cor. 7:10). In reference to this same reality David said in Old Testament language, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17). This brokenness is a sorrow over damnable sins which have been committed, and by this David knew there was forgiveness. David was seeking to be one of the number who, like the Corinthians, were found by God to be “clearing themselves” (2 Cor. 7:11) from the guilt and blame of unforgiven sins. David understood that:
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1) A physical sacrifice was useless unless David – himself – was a living sacrifice before God (Ps. 51:16-19, Prov. 21:27, 15:8, Rom. 12:1-2). Or in other words, if David pursued the merits of atoning mercy available by an atoning sacrifice (as recorded in the Old Covenant agreement), his pursuit was useless and vain if he was not repenting and believing in God in a saving way - meaning that, once again, like as David was before he fell, he was bowing down to God’s universal Lordship over every cognizant area of his life (Numbers 15:27-31, Heb. 10:26-29, i.e. Present-Progressive Lordship Salvation)
2) If David prayed for forgiveness with an unrepentant heart over his damnable sins committed, God would disdain, reject, and abominate his prayer – meaning that God would not even hear his prayer (Prov. 28:9, Ps. 109:7, 66:18, Isa. 1:15, Lam. 3:1-8, 44, 56, Jer. 14:10-12, 19:21, Zech. 7:11-14, Isa. 59:1-2)! 3) True repentance moves men to impulsively confess and forsake their sins because, shockingly, men become frightfully aware of how exceedingly wicked their evil deeds are, and to such men only, there is an availability for present-continuous mercy (Prov. 28:13, Jer. 2:22-23, 3:12-13, Psalm 32:1-5), the scripture declares. 4) There is a difference between sins of the damnable and non-damnable kind. This is the difference between sin that God is marking and not-marking against men (Ps. 130:3, 19:13, 1 Jn. 5:16-17). |
In the light of these truths, David understood there is a present-continuous cleansing of the conscience because there is a present-continuous repentance from sin and faith in the gospel (1 John 1:9); and as you can see, when David was in a damnable condition before God he did not have a cleansed conscience which was free from the guilt of unforgiven sin. David also knew what hindered him from a cleansed conscience. To describe it in modern terms, David argued that he fell from the experience of present-continuous “Lordship salvation”, and so he sought after God who is the Lord, to be his personal Lord again, now and unto the end. Without this, David understood that he did not have the essence of what “salvation” is. Therefore it is not a doctrinally foul thing to say that David, at the present time of his backsliding, was not “being saved”, and therefore it could be said that, in seeking repentance, David sought a restoration of God’s saving power in his life! But oh, my Calvinistic brethren, you are arguing against this biblical and spiritual reality with the same arguments that the “Free Grace Theologians” argue against “Lordship Salvation” with, only they argue against “Lordship Salvation” in regards to initial conversion. I am arguing for the absolute necessity of “Present-Continuous Lordship Salvation”! Your common accusation is that, if a man can fall into a damnable condition wherein, presently speaking, he is in the guilt of unforgiven sins, this would be a loss of salvation based upon works. In other words, you accuse me of believing in a “works based salvation”. Now it may be startling to you, oh dear Calvinist, that regenerated men could feel, pray like, and relate to God on the basis of unforgiven sin, which means, also, they feel like they are as a lost man before God, so to speak, but even though this is the language of their heart this does not necessitate a “works based salvation”! The language of a backslider’s pursuit after God is well represented in the following hymn by Charles Wesley. My reader, in it you can see, yet again, with shocking clarity, Charles believed that GOD SAVES MEN, not works:
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“1 MY God, my God, to thee I cry,
Thee only would I know; Thy purifying blood apply, And wash me white as snow. 2 Touch me, and make the leper clean; Purge my iniquity; Unless thou wash my soul from sin, I have no part in thee. 3 But art thou not already mine? Answer, if mine thou art! Whisper within, thou Love divine, And cheer my drooping heart. 4 Tell me again my peace is made, And bid the sinner live; The debt's discharged, the ransom's paid, My Father must forgive. 5 Behold, for me the victim bleeds, His wounds are opened wide; For me the blood of sprinkling pleads, And speaks me justified. 6 O why did I my Saviour leave? So soon unfaithful prove! How could I thy good Spirit grieve, And sin against thy love? 7 I forced thee first to disappear, I turned thy face aside; Ah, Lord! if thou hadst still been here, Thy servant had not died. 8 But O, how soon thy wrath is o'er, And pardoning love takes place! Assist me, Saviour, to adore The riches of thy grace. 9 O could I lose myself in thee, Thy depth of mercy prove, Thou vast, unfathomable sea Of unexhausted love! 10 My humbled soul, when thou art near, In dust and ashes lies; How shall a sinful worm appear, Or meet thy purer eyes? 11 I loathe myself when God I see, And into nothing fall; Content if thou exalted be, And Christ be in my all.” |
Now I am no Arminian, my brethren. I don’t even believe in a “free will” except in God. I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, in predestination, in election, in irresistible grace, arresting men from the violence of TOTAL depravity. I believe these doctrines, yes, like as “The Reformed Pastor”, Richard Baxter, believed in these doctrines, and yet, like him, I also believe that not all who are regenerated will finally be justified! Did you know that Baxter believed this, dear Calvinists?
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"Consider, that the doctrine of perseverance hath
nothing in it to encourage security. The very controversies about it, may cause
you to conclude, that a certain sin is not to be built upon a controverted
doctrine. Till Augustine's time, it is hard to find any ancient writers, that
clearly asserted the certain perseverance of any at all. Augustine and Prosper
maintain the certain perseverance of all the elect, but deny the
certain perseverance of all that are regenerated, justified, or sanctified; for
they thought that more were regenerate and justified than were elect, of whom
some stood (even all the elect) and the rest fell away: so that I confess, I
never read one ancient father, or Christian writer, that ever maintained the
certainty of the perseverance of all the justified, of many hundred, if not a
thousand years after Christ." (Richard Baxter, “The Christian Directory”)
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Oh dear Calvinist, I know what “irks” you. It is the fact that the regenerated backslidden man is relating to God as “a sinner”, or a “lost man” who is “in darkness”, in need of “light”, etc. As God forms light, my reader, even so He created darkness, and because light can turn to darkness, will you now strive with your Maker? Shall “the clay say” anything to God, dishonoring Him, as a reviler to a father, “what begettest Thou? Or to the woman, what hast thou brought forth?” Many would accuse the doctrine of “losing salvation” that it is based upon a misunderstanding of grace, a reliance upon works, and a negating of faith. Oh you hypocrites! If we believe we have received salvation, not apart from but through saving faith, how then is the loss of saving faith a salvation based upon works? If faith gained was no work, then faith lost is also no work. And if faith lost results in forgiveness turning to un-forgiveness (light to darkness, cleanness to filthiness, and sight to blindness) doctrinally speaking, then none of these realties can be tagged with the sweeping and unlearned accusation – “works based salvation”. The sovereignty of God is evidenced by a man’s inability to come to Christ, because the man has an inability to believe – meaning faith “is the gift of God” (Eph. 2) “according as God hath dealt to every man” (Rom. 12:3). But what if God, in His sovereignty, does show forth those who are elect as “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” by their eventual discontinuance of faith and repentance, while formerly, before their fall, they were able to obtain salvation through faith and repentance, but conclusively and finally, He glorifies His own eternal integrity before, during, and after their fall as an exultation of judgment outside the realm of our logical comprehension and understanding!? Thus, it is a glorification of God’s sovereignty. Of this glory, it is written, “no flesh can glory in His presence”, therefore these attributes of judgment are to be wondered at from below, a looking up at the loft of infinite purity in sovereign, just pleasure.
Oh my reader, is it salvation by works for the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ to be burdened about your “works”? Is it blasphemy that Christ counted, approximately, so many thousands of regenerated men in five out of seven Churches in the province of Asia, to be endangered and threatened by everlasting damnation when judging them based upon their “works” (see Revelation 2-3)? Oh my dear Calvinists, are you still yet oblivious to this one thing – THE BURDEN of the risen Lord Jesus Christ for His Last Day’s Church? Or by your doctrine and theology are you enemies of the burden of Jesus Christ, who said to the regenerated individuals of the Churches of Asia:
Oh my reader, is it salvation by works for the risen, ascended, and glorified Christ to be burdened about your “works”? Is it blasphemy that Christ counted, approximately, so many thousands of regenerated men in five out of seven Churches in the province of Asia, to be endangered and threatened by everlasting damnation when judging them based upon their “works” (see Revelation 2-3)? Oh my dear Calvinists, are you still yet oblivious to this one thing – THE BURDEN of the risen Lord Jesus Christ for His Last Day’s Church? Or by your doctrine and theology are you enemies of the burden of Jesus Christ, who said to the regenerated individuals of the Churches of Asia:
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“I have somewhat
against thee” – Rev. 2:4
“I have a few things against thee” – Rev. 2:14 “I have a few things against thee” – Rev. 2:20 “I will give unto every one of you according to your works” – Rev. 2:23 “I have not found thy works perfect before God” – Rev. 3:2 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IF ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” – Col. 1:21-23 |
When Christ spoke these accusations (Rev. 2:4, 14, 20, 23, 3:2) to the regenerated individuals of the Churches of Asia, He was plainly speaking what it means to be, as 2 Corinthians 7:11 would state it, “without clearance” concerning those matters which God was marking against men. Have you ever read the word, “unblamable” and “unreprovable” in the NT scriptures? We are initially blameless in Christ because of the imputed righteousness therein, but present-progressive blamelessness is maintained by walking in the faith (to keep the faith), to be a man that does “continue in the faith grounded and settled”, and is “not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:21-23). Christ Jesus saves sinners “in the body of His flesh through death”. For what? “To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight” (Col. 1:21-23), yes. However, notice the IF! “If ye continue in the faith”, Paul says! The NT writers continually press upon the memory of the saints the dangers of those who “draw back” (Heb. 10:38-39) from faith in the gospel. They are pressed to keep the faith steadfastly until “He that shall come will come” (Heb. 10:37), that is, Jesus Christ the Lord. If the saint maintains saving faith presently and progressively, then they will, as “the elders” of Hebrews 11 did, “obtain a good report” (Heb. 11:2, 39)…but what is a bad report? What does it mean for a man to be found in blame before God on that final Day? This is what is meant in the verses above cited from Revelation 2 & 3. At this time, Jesus Christ has something against you, some point to blame you on, proving by it that you have fallen from saving faith in the gospel of Christ. Each of these regenerate Churches who were found blamed were charged to repent or perish.
I say again, faith is judged by indicating evidences, a man’s fruits – and if they be “in” them and “abounding” (as 2 Peter 1:5-14 teaches), there is no blame before God. Yet Caleb Corneloup ignorantly questioned, “Why would any true believer ever doubt the atonement?” Clearly, Caleb is failing to recognize the difference between mental assent and true faith in the atonement, and subsequent results. 2 Peter 1:5-14 demands that saints “abound” in fruits, and if a saint lacks abounding fruit in their life, according to 2 Peter 1:9, “this man…has forgotten that he is purged from his old sins” – or in other words, this man has lost faith in the atonement. In contradiction to Caleb and in affirmation to scripture, we affirm: if a saint falls, he must get back up again and be revived, which is to believe in the gospel again, and with the reviving of the saint’s faith he is enabled to have a blameless repentance from however he fell into a damnable spiritual condition. Of course, this blameless repentance is judged by its fruits (2 Cor. 7:10-11). When such fruits are in the heart and deeds of the formerly fallen man, this means that the fruits are unto perfection (Lk. 8:14, Rev. 3:2), thus in biblical terminology this means, the salvation experience is continued, but this is because the saint did, in this way, obtain a “clearing of [himself]” (2 Cor. 7:11) from the manner in which he was blamed by God. Synonymous words like the use of “blameless” and “blamable”, are used to express Divine-acceptance or Divine-rejection based upon if the saints are presently believing in Christ (which is discernable by fruits), and if the saints are not savingly believing in Christ, then consequentially, these terms are used to express the legal situation that the man has fallen into: terms like “perfect faith” (James 2:21-22, 1 Thess. 3:10), “perfect love” (1 John 2:5, 4:12, 17), “perfect holiness” (2 Cor. 7:1), “perfect works” (Rev. 3:2, Heb. 13:21, 2 Thess. 2:16-17), Christian perfection (Lk. 6:4, Col. 1:28-29, 4:12, Eph. 4:12, 1 Cor. 2:6, 2 Cor. 13:9, 11, Php. 3:15, 2 Tim. 3:17, Heb. 6:1, 13:21, James 3:2), “blamelessness” (with variations used: Gal. 2:11, 14, 17-18, Php. 2:15, 1 Thess. 3:13, 5:23-24, 1 Tim. 5:7, 2 Pet. 3:14), “without offence” (Php. 1:10), “without rebuke” (with variations used: Php. 2:15, 1 Tim. 6:14, Rev. 3:19, Hos. 5:9, Isa. 51:20, Psalm 80:16), “holy” & “sanctified” (Heb. 12:14, 1 Thess. 3:13, 4:3, 7, 5:23-24, 2 Tim. 2:21, 1 Pet. 1:14-17, 2 Pet. 3:11, Rev. 21:27, 22:11, 1 Tim. 2:15, 1 Pet. 3:11), “without blemish” and “spot” (Rom. 12:1-2, James 1:26-27, 3:2-6, 2 Pet. 3:14, 1 Tim. 6:14, Rom. 15:16-19, Eph. 5:25-27, 2 Pet. 2:13, Jude 1:12). A detailed explanation and overview of such words and their uses in the New Testament can be found in the following links:
I say again, faith is judged by indicating evidences, a man’s fruits – and if they be “in” them and “abounding” (as 2 Peter 1:5-14 teaches), there is no blame before God. Yet Caleb Corneloup ignorantly questioned, “Why would any true believer ever doubt the atonement?” Clearly, Caleb is failing to recognize the difference between mental assent and true faith in the atonement, and subsequent results. 2 Peter 1:5-14 demands that saints “abound” in fruits, and if a saint lacks abounding fruit in their life, according to 2 Peter 1:9, “this man…has forgotten that he is purged from his old sins” – or in other words, this man has lost faith in the atonement. In contradiction to Caleb and in affirmation to scripture, we affirm: if a saint falls, he must get back up again and be revived, which is to believe in the gospel again, and with the reviving of the saint’s faith he is enabled to have a blameless repentance from however he fell into a damnable spiritual condition. Of course, this blameless repentance is judged by its fruits (2 Cor. 7:10-11). When such fruits are in the heart and deeds of the formerly fallen man, this means that the fruits are unto perfection (Lk. 8:14, Rev. 3:2), thus in biblical terminology this means, the salvation experience is continued, but this is because the saint did, in this way, obtain a “clearing of [himself]” (2 Cor. 7:11) from the manner in which he was blamed by God. Synonymous words like the use of “blameless” and “blamable”, are used to express Divine-acceptance or Divine-rejection based upon if the saints are presently believing in Christ (which is discernable by fruits), and if the saints are not savingly believing in Christ, then consequentially, these terms are used to express the legal situation that the man has fallen into: terms like “perfect faith” (James 2:21-22, 1 Thess. 3:10), “perfect love” (1 John 2:5, 4:12, 17), “perfect holiness” (2 Cor. 7:1), “perfect works” (Rev. 3:2, Heb. 13:21, 2 Thess. 2:16-17), Christian perfection (Lk. 6:4, Col. 1:28-29, 4:12, Eph. 4:12, 1 Cor. 2:6, 2 Cor. 13:9, 11, Php. 3:15, 2 Tim. 3:17, Heb. 6:1, 13:21, James 3:2), “blamelessness” (with variations used: Gal. 2:11, 14, 17-18, Php. 2:15, 1 Thess. 3:13, 5:23-24, 1 Tim. 5:7, 2 Pet. 3:14), “without offence” (Php. 1:10), “without rebuke” (with variations used: Php. 2:15, 1 Tim. 6:14, Rev. 3:19, Hos. 5:9, Isa. 51:20, Psalm 80:16), “holy” & “sanctified” (Heb. 12:14, 1 Thess. 3:13, 4:3, 7, 5:23-24, 2 Tim. 2:21, 1 Pet. 1:14-17, 2 Pet. 3:11, Rev. 21:27, 22:11, 1 Tim. 2:15, 1 Pet. 3:11), “without blemish” and “spot” (Rom. 12:1-2, James 1:26-27, 3:2-6, 2 Pet. 3:14, 1 Tim. 6:14, Rom. 15:16-19, Eph. 5:25-27, 2 Pet. 2:13, Jude 1:12). A detailed explanation and overview of such words and their uses in the New Testament can be found in the following links:
At such a time when a saint falls into a blamable condition, or a damnable spiritual condition, he falls from the gloriousness of freedom to approach God in liberties of saving-union. Shockingly, Calvinists read their bibles hundreds of times, and yet, they never discover the meaning of the aforementioned words!
Salvation & Damnation in Relationship to the Conscience of a Saint
The conscience is seared and defiled when there is damnable-unbelief toward God (1 Cor. 8:7). When an act of damnable-servitude is done to anyone or anything but God, the conscience, which should be “void of offence toward God” at all times (Acts 24:16), comes under the guilt of sins committed, and consequentially it “is defiled” (1 Cor. 8:7). If these sins go on unforgiven, the defiling effect continues to raid the formerly “good conscience” so that it turns into “an evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22), and without recovery therefrom the brother will “perish” (1 Cor. 8:11). Sin is a destroyer of faith and a good conscience, and when a sin is of damnable-offence men are swallowed up in the sorrow of peace-destroying and faith-destroying accusations (2 Cor. 2:7) - accusations which are justified and right, therefore the man feels his condemnation (Rom. 14:20, 22). Though the man is desirous to savingly approach God so as to walk in Him, he is bombarded with a damnable degree of doubt (Rom. 14:23), feeling condemned resulting in the feeling that he is unable to approach God for forgiveness, cleansing, undeserved acceptance, and the consequential empowerment which comes from peace with God (Heb. 10:19-23), thus the man, alas, does not approach God.
However, similar to this miserable case, there is another mask of rebellion which backsliders do chameleon themselves within. It is when, like Charles wrote, a man is caught in a “fatal snare of carnal self-security”, when regenerate men are in a damnable condition and they refuse to acknowledge it, when they don’t “feel the wrath they bear” nor “groan their want of Thee”, as Charles said. This is what he called, “their false pernicious peace” or “their fancied righteousness”, and oh! How pernicious it is, if indeed, it makes damned and backslidden men feel saved, overriding their God-give conscience, robbing them of both sense and wit to feel the need to repent (Ezek. 13:10, 22)! In such a condition a backslider “decieveth his own heart” (James 1:22, 26), fooling himself that he is still savingly-approaching God, but the deeds of wickedness which accompany his wandering in damnable-unrepentance CANNOT BE HID! Charles wrote of a backslider’s confession when, having been suddenly awakened like David before Nathan, he was awakened from this temporary detainment within the fatal grasp of false peace:
However, similar to this miserable case, there is another mask of rebellion which backsliders do chameleon themselves within. It is when, like Charles wrote, a man is caught in a “fatal snare of carnal self-security”, when regenerate men are in a damnable condition and they refuse to acknowledge it, when they don’t “feel the wrath they bear” nor “groan their want of Thee”, as Charles said. This is what he called, “their false pernicious peace” or “their fancied righteousness”, and oh! How pernicious it is, if indeed, it makes damned and backslidden men feel saved, overriding their God-give conscience, robbing them of both sense and wit to feel the need to repent (Ezek. 13:10, 22)! In such a condition a backslider “decieveth his own heart” (James 1:22, 26), fooling himself that he is still savingly-approaching God, but the deeds of wickedness which accompany his wandering in damnable-unrepentance CANNOT BE HID! Charles wrote of a backslider’s confession when, having been suddenly awakened like David before Nathan, he was awakened from this temporary detainment within the fatal grasp of false peace:
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“1 SAVIOUR, I now with shame confess
My thirst for creature happiness; By base desires I wronged thy love, And forced thy mercy to remove. 2 Yet would I not regard thy stroke; But when thou didst thy grace revoke, And when thou didst thy face conceal, Thy absence I refused to feel. 3 I knew not that the Lord was gone, In my own froward will went on, And lived to the desires of men; And thou hast all my wanderings seen. 4 Yet, O the riches of thy grace! Thou, who hast seen my evil ways, Wilt freely my backslidings heal, And pardon on my conscience seal. 5 For this I at thy footstool wait, Till thou my peace again create; Fruit of thy gracious lips, restore My peace, and bid me sin no more! 6 Far off, yet at thy feet, I lie, Till thou again thy blood apply; Till thou repeat my sins forgiven, As far from God as hell from heaven. 7 But, for thy truth and mercy's sake, My comfort thou wilt give me back, And lead me on from grace to grace, In all the paths of righteousness; 8 Till, throughly saved, my new-born soul, And perfectly by faith made whole, Doth bright in thy full image rise, To share thy glory in the skies.” |
On the contrary to the backslider’s woeful and miserable condition, the right-standing regenerated man – he who is legally justified, without the guilt of unforgiven sin, who is, therefore, legally righteous in the sight of God – this man resides and stands within the grace of Christ by a steadfast and unmovable faith and repentance in the gospel. Oh my reader, this confidence wherein he stands! This security in which he resides! This safe-haven in which he is fortified! It is invincible (1 John 4:4, Ps. 18:1-2), unconquerable (Rom. 8:37-39), overcoming (John 16:33), all-powerful (John 10:27-28)! This is hiddenness within the Person of Christ (Col. 3:1-3)! Like the psalmist described it, saying, “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence” (Ps. 31:20)! Is this not what Charles meant when he wrote, “Hide me, O my Savior hide, till the storm of life is past; safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last” (Jesus, Lover of My Soul)!
Yes, my reader, HIDDENESS and GUILTLESSNESS, even from the false accusations of a misguided and enfeebled conscience (1 Thess. 5:14), or the unfounded and hurled accusations of Satan (called “The Accuser of our Brethren”-Rev.12:10)! All the world, with devils filled, could in accusation cry, but this our peace would not undo – for we are enabled to stand strong by knowing that it is written: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is GOD that JUSTIFIETH. Who is he that condemneth” (Rom. 8:33-34)? No matter the brutal torrent of arguments, so sly, or the pain of violence which hopes to force an apostate’s outcry, if “the faith” is not denied (2 Tim. 2:12), lo, the man will not be denied by Christ! Being a faith-filled saved man, he is inseparably fixed in the unconquerable love of Christ (Rom. 8:33-39)! As much as Christ cannot be stolen from him, nor can “a good conscience” be (1 Pet. 2:19, 3:16)! “All that believe are justified” (Acts 13:39) - yes it is sure! But if a man ceases to believe, alas, “unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15).
A man who ceases to savingly believe on Christ does forfeit “a good conscience before God” (Acts 23:1), yes, this you already know…but what I desire that the reader would see is that Paul spoke of a present-continuous keeping of the conscience clean, good, and pure – by keeping “the faith” (Jude 1:3-4) – for “the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Tim. 1:5). In this way Paul presently and continuously kept his conscience clear, because, apparently, there are means by which it can become unclear, meaning that, by necessity, Paul can be held in the guilt of unforgiven sin, temporarily abide in an unjustified condition, until saving faith and repentance in Christ are restored. Insinuating this, Paul said, “I have lived in all good conscience before God UNTIL THIS DAY” (Acts 23:1), meaning that, by necessity, Paul’s good conscience could cease tomorrow depending on if he forsook the faith of God. Of this, Paul forewarned his beloved disciple Timothy, saying, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophesies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Tim. 1:18-19). At such a time as this, the “pure conscience” which the blood-washing gospel provides is LOST (1 Tim. 3:9, 2 Tim. 1:3, 1 Pet. 3:21), and in turn, rather, “their conscience” is “seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2). This means that the conscience is ruined! With the conscience ruined, faith is ruined! The faculty within man, called the conscience, is the medium by which the Holy Ghost guides men into saving faith, but when it is seared, alas, men cannot be made aware of their guilt of unforgiven sins, nor can they be made aware of the alien-righteousness which is freely available by faith in Christ (John 16:8-11)! Such men can no longer draw near to God because they feel they have no means to do so!
When a man is fallen, and backslidden, he has fallen from the condition in which his conscience did initially exist at conversion: “a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet. 3:21), “a conscience void of offence toward God” (Acts 24:16). At such a time when the backslider is seeking restoration from his fallen estate, like King David, through godly sorrow over unforgiven sin, the appeal for and opportunity of reinstatement in a clear and good conscience before God is, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). These were “brethren” to whom belonged the privileges of “the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19), for they were, before backsliding, sprinkled by it (Heb. 9:19, 12:24, 1 Pet. 1:2), but notice how their reinstatement into a saved spiritual condition was called, you could say, a sprinkling again. The charge and appeal was clear: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). This is a laying hold of, a reckoning with, and an accessing of gospel powers which were already performed in the life of the believer, but because he had backslidden they needed to be revived. Oh Calvinist, are you bothered by this language? What kind of Calvinism do you have? Are you what Whitefield would call, “gospel-proof”, now that you are already converted? Read of him preaching to Methodist ministers who were recognized to be, needless to say, truly converted individuals, and yet…look how Whitfield, the Calvinist, appeals to them! Look how Whitefield himself, relates to God!
Yes, my reader, HIDDENESS and GUILTLESSNESS, even from the false accusations of a misguided and enfeebled conscience (1 Thess. 5:14), or the unfounded and hurled accusations of Satan (called “The Accuser of our Brethren”-Rev.12:10)! All the world, with devils filled, could in accusation cry, but this our peace would not undo – for we are enabled to stand strong by knowing that it is written: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is GOD that JUSTIFIETH. Who is he that condemneth” (Rom. 8:33-34)? No matter the brutal torrent of arguments, so sly, or the pain of violence which hopes to force an apostate’s outcry, if “the faith” is not denied (2 Tim. 2:12), lo, the man will not be denied by Christ! Being a faith-filled saved man, he is inseparably fixed in the unconquerable love of Christ (Rom. 8:33-39)! As much as Christ cannot be stolen from him, nor can “a good conscience” be (1 Pet. 2:19, 3:16)! “All that believe are justified” (Acts 13:39) - yes it is sure! But if a man ceases to believe, alas, “unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15).
A man who ceases to savingly believe on Christ does forfeit “a good conscience before God” (Acts 23:1), yes, this you already know…but what I desire that the reader would see is that Paul spoke of a present-continuous keeping of the conscience clean, good, and pure – by keeping “the faith” (Jude 1:3-4) – for “the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Tim. 1:5). In this way Paul presently and continuously kept his conscience clear, because, apparently, there are means by which it can become unclear, meaning that, by necessity, Paul can be held in the guilt of unforgiven sin, temporarily abide in an unjustified condition, until saving faith and repentance in Christ are restored. Insinuating this, Paul said, “I have lived in all good conscience before God UNTIL THIS DAY” (Acts 23:1), meaning that, by necessity, Paul’s good conscience could cease tomorrow depending on if he forsook the faith of God. Of this, Paul forewarned his beloved disciple Timothy, saying, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophesies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Tim. 1:18-19). At such a time as this, the “pure conscience” which the blood-washing gospel provides is LOST (1 Tim. 3:9, 2 Tim. 1:3, 1 Pet. 3:21), and in turn, rather, “their conscience” is “seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2). This means that the conscience is ruined! With the conscience ruined, faith is ruined! The faculty within man, called the conscience, is the medium by which the Holy Ghost guides men into saving faith, but when it is seared, alas, men cannot be made aware of their guilt of unforgiven sins, nor can they be made aware of the alien-righteousness which is freely available by faith in Christ (John 16:8-11)! Such men can no longer draw near to God because they feel they have no means to do so!
When a man is fallen, and backslidden, he has fallen from the condition in which his conscience did initially exist at conversion: “a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet. 3:21), “a conscience void of offence toward God” (Acts 24:16). At such a time when the backslider is seeking restoration from his fallen estate, like King David, through godly sorrow over unforgiven sin, the appeal for and opportunity of reinstatement in a clear and good conscience before God is, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). These were “brethren” to whom belonged the privileges of “the blood of Jesus” (Heb. 10:19), for they were, before backsliding, sprinkled by it (Heb. 9:19, 12:24, 1 Pet. 1:2), but notice how their reinstatement into a saved spiritual condition was called, you could say, a sprinkling again. The charge and appeal was clear: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:22). This is a laying hold of, a reckoning with, and an accessing of gospel powers which were already performed in the life of the believer, but because he had backslidden they needed to be revived. Oh Calvinist, are you bothered by this language? What kind of Calvinism do you have? Are you what Whitefield would call, “gospel-proof”, now that you are already converted? Read of him preaching to Methodist ministers who were recognized to be, needless to say, truly converted individuals, and yet…look how Whitfield, the Calvinist, appeals to them! Look how Whitefield himself, relates to God!
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"Tremble
for fear God should remove His candlestick from you. Labourers are sick. Those
who did once labour are almost worn out... There are few who like to go out
into the fields. Broken heads and dead cats are no longer the ornaments of a
Methodist. These honourable badges are now no more. Langour has gotten from the
ministers to the people; and, if you don't take care, we shall all be dead
together. The Lord Jesus rouse you! Ye Methodists of many years' standing, shew
the young ones, who have not the cross to bear as we once had what ancient
Methodism was.
Don't be angry with a poor minister for weeping over them who will not weep for themselves. If you laugh at me I know Jesus smiles. I am free from the blood of you all. If you are damned for want of conversion, remember you are not damned for want of warning. YOU ARE GOSPEL-PROOF; and, if there is one place in hell deeper than another, God will order a gospel-despising Methodist to be put there. God convert you from lying a-bed in the morning! God convert you from conformity to the world! God convert you from lukewarmness! Do not get into a cursed antinomian way of thinking, and say, "I thank God, I have the root of the matter in me! I thank God, I was converted twenty or thirty years ago; and, though I can go to the public-house, and play at cards, yet, I am converted; for once in Christ, always in Christ." Whether you were converted formerly or not, you are perverted now. Would you have Jesus catch you napping, with your lamps untrimmed? Suffer the word of exhortation. I preach feelingly. I could be glad to preach till I preached myself dead, if God would convert you. I seldom sleep after three in the morning; and I pray every morning, "Lord, convert me, and make me a new creature today!" -George Whitefield |
Arguments Circling Around Hebrews 10:26
Understanding Hebrews 10:22 - Aspects of Blood-Sprinkling, Cleansing, Purging, & Washing, in Relationship to the Conscience & Salvation, With the Threat of Defilement in View
Understanding Hebrews 10:22 - Aspects of Blood-Sprinkling, Cleansing, Purging, & Washing, in Relationship to the Conscience & Salvation, With the Threat of Defilement in View
An Evil Conscience = An EVIL heart, will, thoughts, mind, meditation, doctrine, preaching, lifestyle, words & deeds
A Clean Conscience = A CLEAN heart, will, thoughts, mind, meditation, doctrine, preaching, lifestyle, words & deeds
When seeking to argue away the clear context of Hebrews 10:26, men often speak of persecution. They speak of the context of persecution and immense suffering which the saints were going through during the time surrounding the writing of the epistles of the New Testament, Hebrews being included in that number. Caleb and Samuel Corneloup argued (alongside many others) in this very way, seeking to simplify “the sin” which the saints were committing to be something rooted in the fear of death or physical suffering, merely, and that this motivated their absence from the assemblies (Heb. 10:24-26). While this may have been a relevant factor at hand, this over-simplistic argument does not take into consideration all the content of the surrounding text in Hebrews 10 (not to mention the whole book). As detailed just prior to this section, the saints were fearfully aware of salvation as it pertains to the conscience (like as Hebrews 10:22 demonstrates). This means that, it was not the mere fear of death which hindered them from attending, but a fear of God being unapproachable. You see, my reader, these men and women in the 1st century New Testament Churches actually met with and dwelt within the manifest Presence of their Living Lord (John 14:21, Isa. 64:5)! And for this reason, if they failed to trust in the means of present-progressive cleansing of conscience (faith and repentance in the gospel), they would feel unclean and unwelcomed, like a defiling troubler of the Church (Josh. 7:25-26, Jude 1:3-4, 12); thus they would feel unable to come to the Church which stood in the immediate presence of the King (Matthew 18:18-20) – the New Testament Holy Place (Heb. 10:19-22)!
You have to remember, my reader, these people saw men who were in “secret sin” drop dead because they drew near to and were standing in the presence of the Holy Ghost! They saw cities turned upside down by sicknesses healed and demons cast out! They heard of buildings shaking and winds blowing, revivals breaking out and glories untold, and more than this, what could compare with the possibility of the sudden appearance of the Lord in His glorified body!? God was doing things that these men looked not for (Isa. 64:3, Eph. 3:20-21)! Persecution is not the main emphasis of the inspired text, no! But rather FEAR, a perception of holiness, the cleansing nature of salvation in Christ’s blood, and the present-continuous need to maintain faith and repentance in the gospel-cleansing! I believe those who were in wilful sin (as Hebrews 10:26 states) were hesitant to come to the assembly because of an awful perception of God’s terrifying presence (Heb. 12:18-29)! Therefore they had a spiritual and doctrinal perception to make sure that they were able to attend the assembly of the New Testament most holy place: which means, they made sure they were holy (2 Cor. 7:1), clean (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1), washed, and in right-standing with God (Matt. 18:15-17), lest, at present, they would be an offense to His holy Presence like as an idol in the Old Testament Temple of God (2 Cor. 6:16)! “How dreadful is this place” (Gen. 28:17)!
You see, my reader… these men were not coming to Church expecting to be entertained by big screens which display funny and motivational speakers, forerun and followed by dark settings, light shows, and rock bands, not to mention the fashion-saturated culture of everyone “well-dressed” and proud of it! God help us be separate from such things! These 1st century Christians went to Church with heart-preparations that are consistent with their experience of Christianity – an experience where God was utterly falling upon and dwelling among them in heathen-staggering powers! Therefore these saints came to Church with a mind considerate of apprehensions like:
The means by which they understood “cleanness” as a New Testament requirement stands as a needful study in the New Testament, for God was not speaking foolishly when He said, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the FEAR of God” (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1). Their present-continuous devotion to keep themselves clean, in a New Testament sense, can be understood briefly as it relates to the conscience itself remaining clean and without offense before God. Without understanding such things like this (and more), we would be fools to presume we have the correct understanding of Hebrews 10:26 in the light of Hebrews 10:19-25.
A Clean Conscience = A CLEAN heart, will, thoughts, mind, meditation, doctrine, preaching, lifestyle, words & deeds
When seeking to argue away the clear context of Hebrews 10:26, men often speak of persecution. They speak of the context of persecution and immense suffering which the saints were going through during the time surrounding the writing of the epistles of the New Testament, Hebrews being included in that number. Caleb and Samuel Corneloup argued (alongside many others) in this very way, seeking to simplify “the sin” which the saints were committing to be something rooted in the fear of death or physical suffering, merely, and that this motivated their absence from the assemblies (Heb. 10:24-26). While this may have been a relevant factor at hand, this over-simplistic argument does not take into consideration all the content of the surrounding text in Hebrews 10 (not to mention the whole book). As detailed just prior to this section, the saints were fearfully aware of salvation as it pertains to the conscience (like as Hebrews 10:22 demonstrates). This means that, it was not the mere fear of death which hindered them from attending, but a fear of God being unapproachable. You see, my reader, these men and women in the 1st century New Testament Churches actually met with and dwelt within the manifest Presence of their Living Lord (John 14:21, Isa. 64:5)! And for this reason, if they failed to trust in the means of present-progressive cleansing of conscience (faith and repentance in the gospel), they would feel unclean and unwelcomed, like a defiling troubler of the Church (Josh. 7:25-26, Jude 1:3-4, 12); thus they would feel unable to come to the Church which stood in the immediate presence of the King (Matthew 18:18-20) – the New Testament Holy Place (Heb. 10:19-22)!
You have to remember, my reader, these people saw men who were in “secret sin” drop dead because they drew near to and were standing in the presence of the Holy Ghost! They saw cities turned upside down by sicknesses healed and demons cast out! They heard of buildings shaking and winds blowing, revivals breaking out and glories untold, and more than this, what could compare with the possibility of the sudden appearance of the Lord in His glorified body!? God was doing things that these men looked not for (Isa. 64:3, Eph. 3:20-21)! Persecution is not the main emphasis of the inspired text, no! But rather FEAR, a perception of holiness, the cleansing nature of salvation in Christ’s blood, and the present-continuous need to maintain faith and repentance in the gospel-cleansing! I believe those who were in wilful sin (as Hebrews 10:26 states) were hesitant to come to the assembly because of an awful perception of God’s terrifying presence (Heb. 12:18-29)! Therefore they had a spiritual and doctrinal perception to make sure that they were able to attend the assembly of the New Testament most holy place: which means, they made sure they were holy (2 Cor. 7:1), clean (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1), washed, and in right-standing with God (Matt. 18:15-17), lest, at present, they would be an offense to His holy Presence like as an idol in the Old Testament Temple of God (2 Cor. 6:16)! “How dreadful is this place” (Gen. 28:17)!
You see, my reader… these men were not coming to Church expecting to be entertained by big screens which display funny and motivational speakers, forerun and followed by dark settings, light shows, and rock bands, not to mention the fashion-saturated culture of everyone “well-dressed” and proud of it! God help us be separate from such things! These 1st century Christians went to Church with heart-preparations that are consistent with their experience of Christianity – an experience where God was utterly falling upon and dwelling among them in heathen-staggering powers! Therefore these saints came to Church with a mind considerate of apprehensions like:
- Trembling in God’s presence, literally (Php. 2:12-13).
- Terrifying impressions of Judgment Day which drove them to prepare for it and exhort one another about its near proximity (2 Cor. 5:9-11, Heb. 10:24-25, 30-31, Lk. 21:34-36, Rom. 13:11-14, 1 Thess. 5:1-9).
- An awareness that Christ, their risen Messiah and eminent Judge, was attending the assembly to which they gathered (Rev. 1:12-13, 2:23, 1 Cor. 11:27-30, Matt. 18:18-20, Acts 5:1-5).
- An expectation that the Spirit of God would fall upon them with world-shaking powers if all were rightly relating to God (Eph. 3:19-20, 4:12-13, John 14:11-14, 2 Cor. 6:17-7:1, 1 Cor. 14:23-26).
- A fear of the Spirit of prophesy that would search for and find out secret sin (Num. 32:23, Josh. 7:1-26, 1 Cor. 14:23-26).
The means by which they understood “cleanness” as a New Testament requirement stands as a needful study in the New Testament, for God was not speaking foolishly when He said, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the FEAR of God” (2 Cor. 6:17-7:1). Their present-continuous devotion to keep themselves clean, in a New Testament sense, can be understood briefly as it relates to the conscience itself remaining clean and without offense before God. Without understanding such things like this (and more), we would be fools to presume we have the correct understanding of Hebrews 10:26 in the light of Hebrews 10:19-25.
“Let us DRAW NEAR” to God with “our hearts sprinkled” & “our bodies washed” (Hebrews 10:22), yes… but how can we “if we sin wilfully” before God (Heb. 10:26)!?
It was said once: “I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me” (Job 33:9). Cleanness is innocence, justification, righteousness, and salvation in the Old Testament. Consider the sober question, “What is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous” (Job 15:14)? It can be said of us all, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). Therefore how can a man born of a woman be clean? Search every man on earth, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one” (Job 14:4)! “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). David cries out to God, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Ps. 51:2). “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps. 51:7). Our inward spiritual state is unclean even from our birth, therefore how can God make us clean in the “inward parts?” David says of God, “Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Ps. 51:6). An inward cleansing is for an unclean heart, and only the true clean doctrine can do this: “the doctrine” that must be “obeyed from the heart” (Rom. 6:17). Therefore David cries, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). David knows that he cannot give himself a clean heart and humbly demonstrates the wisdom of Proverbs 20:9, “who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” God answered his prayers and gave him a clean and holy heart by the purging and washing power of the Holy Spirit. David knew it was a work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore when in trouble, when in need of salvation he cried out, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). This is the same thing as crying out for a “clean heart”, and, truly, “God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart” (Psalm 73:1), but those that are unclean are “corrupt” (Ps. 73:8), scripture states. If men do cry out for salvation, the act of saving is a cleansing, yes, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17), for there are many who speak with “unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5), who speak with “guile” and “uncleanness” (1 Thess. 2:3). They do not preach the clean doctrines of God but “great swelling words of vanity” (2 Peter 2:18). They continue with the Christians (2 Pet. 2:13), thus indicating they have not apostatized by mouth, but they have no fear of God (2 Peter 2:10, Jude 12). This is the way of the perishing, the way of the world that passes away like a shadow, but “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever” (Psalm 19:9). If men are “without fear” (Jude 12), be sure of this: they have no fellowship with God. Unclean men are fearless men: “the fear of the LORD is clean”, rightly so, for “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him” (Psalm 89:7)!
These men walk in “pernicious ways,” speaking speeches of “feigned words,” and they know not “the way of truth” (2 Peter 1:2-3). They do not deny the Lord by mouth, that is, by actual name and word-renouncement, but they deny the Lord in their deeds (Titus 1:16, 2 Peter 2:1, Jude 1:4), even by covetousness (2 Peter 2:3, 14-15, 18). They are, in person, an infection amidst the Church as “spots and blemishes” (2 Peter 2:13), they are, in walk, “after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (2 Peter 2:10), they are, in service, “the servants of corruption” (2 Peter 2:19), and though they “promise them liberty” and say “my doctrine is pure” (Job 11:4) they “allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that WERE CLEAN ESCAPED from them who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18) – they are making the clean unclean again! It is by the Divine nature men escape the “corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4), but these men, through the deceit of justifying wickedness (Eph. 5:6, Gal. 6:7-9, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 1 John 3:7), through evil communications, (1 Cor. 15), alas, they “corrupt good manners” to the greater condemnation: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-22).
As you can see, cleanness and uncleanness is a matter of eternal significance, and both are pertinent in regards to the conscience. Of the tongue, Christ said, cometh the proceedings of a regenerated heart, therefore “by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt. 12:37). The instrument of the mouth is the tongue, and the tongue speaks forth that which comes from the heart, and those things which proceed from the tongue do, as James said, “defile the whole body”, or as Christ said, “justify” the whole man! Is this in your New Testament vocabulary, brethren? We must study to show ourselves approved unto God, yes, and undefiled in worship (“in Spirit” and “in truth”), not in lip-service and mere doctrinal-credence! If the tongue can defile then we all must, as James commanded, “purify [our] hearts” (James 4:8). True faith changes the conscience, the heart, the legal standing, and the words and deeds of a man, therefore when faith is lost THE FALL is evident, firstly, in the conscience…and the rest of the man follows headlong. If we have doctrines of truth which are teaching ways of whole purity, then it will be a doctrine which must be “obeyed from the heart” (Rom. 6:17). This means that the doctrines give the people of God a “pure heart” (1 Tim. 1:5, 2 Tim. 2:22, Matt. 5:8, 1 Peter 1:22), a “pure mind” (2 Peter 3:1, ), a “pure conscience” (1 Tim. 3:9, 2 Tim. 1:3), “a purified soul” (1 Peter 1:22), and all this, therefore, is a “pure and undefiled religion” (James 1:27) in the sight of God! Purity is expressed in all actions of the person: “In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith”, because “our conversation is in heaven” (1 Tim. 4:12, Php. 4:20).
“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16), said Paul. Walking after the flesh is a walk in uncleanness, as an unclean, carnal, dead person (1 Cor. 3:3). Salvation is walking as Christ, in Christ, and as one that is alive from the dead (Php. 1:19, Rom. 8:29). One who is, in a damnable way, “beset” (Heb. 12:2) by the flesh, he will forfeit a “good conscience” (1 Tim. 1:5, 19, 1 Peter 3:21) for an “evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22), a “sprinkled” clean “conscience” and heart (Heb. 10:22) for a mind and conscience that “is defiled” (Titus 1:15-16), a “pure conscience” for another “rule” with them who “mind earthly things” (1 Tim. 3:9, Php. 4:16, 19), a pure mind turned into a mind which follows “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Tim. 3:8). A pure mind exists in a man that is affectionate toward things in heaven, as Colossians commands: “Set your affection on things above not on things on earth” (Col. 3:2). A mark of the present-continuous resurrection power of the gospel is a lifestyle from and in the virtue of heaven: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). We should not be as those of whom it was said, “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:3), for, truly, “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:8). “By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil”, yes, that they might obey “the commandment of the LORD” that “is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Prov. 16:6, Psalm 19:9).
In the New Testament Code of the Priesthood there is a holy washing and a holy water like as the OT type (Lev. 16:24, 26, Ex. 30:20-21, 40:12), only this washing is for the NT holy place called, the “House of God” (see Heb. 10:19-25), which is namely, “the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25, Matt. 18:20, Jn. 5:21)! So my reader, what about you? Are you “washed with pure water” so that you might “draw near” with assurance that your presence in the House of God will not defile it (Heb. 10:22, 1 Cor. 3:17)? No Hebrew Israelite would have “boldness”, or fearlessness, “to enter into the holiest” of the New Testament House of God without the ceremonial preparations which God has mercifully provided (Heb. 10:19-22). After being “washed” and “sprinkled” (Heb. 10:22, 1 Pet. 1:2), then they would have boldness to stand before God; because they were made ceremonially qualified they will not die. Therefore, my reader, there is a NT “washing”, without which no man can become a part of the Spiritually-Organic House of God, and it is called “the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5)! Yes, and also, there is a ministration of Church officers (Eph. 4:11) who are gifted and employed in a Divinely-empowered task (Eph. 4:8, 12, 1 Cor. 3:5-10), a task which they, through the Lord, “labour” to accomplish (1 Cor. 3:9, 2 Cor. 11:2, Col. 1:28-29) what Christ died to accomplish (Col. 1:22, Jude 24), so that through Holy-Ghost preaching (2 Tim. 1:14), otherwise known as the “washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26, Col. 1:28-29, John 7:38, 15:3), the Bride would be beautified into an acceptable condition when she is finally presented to Christ (Eph. 4:26-27, 2 Cor. 11:2)! Such a great Bride must be prepared and made ready (Rev. 19:7)! She must be ceremonially, spiritually, and gloriously arrayed, even so. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments” (Isa. 52:1)! God help us to see these things! God help us to reorganize our lives to obtain them! God help us to come together as saints, for we NEED each other!
These men walk in “pernicious ways,” speaking speeches of “feigned words,” and they know not “the way of truth” (2 Peter 1:2-3). They do not deny the Lord by mouth, that is, by actual name and word-renouncement, but they deny the Lord in their deeds (Titus 1:16, 2 Peter 2:1, Jude 1:4), even by covetousness (2 Peter 2:3, 14-15, 18). They are, in person, an infection amidst the Church as “spots and blemishes” (2 Peter 2:13), they are, in walk, “after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (2 Peter 2:10), they are, in service, “the servants of corruption” (2 Peter 2:19), and though they “promise them liberty” and say “my doctrine is pure” (Job 11:4) they “allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that WERE CLEAN ESCAPED from them who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18) – they are making the clean unclean again! It is by the Divine nature men escape the “corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4), but these men, through the deceit of justifying wickedness (Eph. 5:6, Gal. 6:7-9, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 1 John 3:7), through evil communications, (1 Cor. 15), alas, they “corrupt good manners” to the greater condemnation: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:20-22).
As you can see, cleanness and uncleanness is a matter of eternal significance, and both are pertinent in regards to the conscience. Of the tongue, Christ said, cometh the proceedings of a regenerated heart, therefore “by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt. 12:37). The instrument of the mouth is the tongue, and the tongue speaks forth that which comes from the heart, and those things which proceed from the tongue do, as James said, “defile the whole body”, or as Christ said, “justify” the whole man! Is this in your New Testament vocabulary, brethren? We must study to show ourselves approved unto God, yes, and undefiled in worship (“in Spirit” and “in truth”), not in lip-service and mere doctrinal-credence! If the tongue can defile then we all must, as James commanded, “purify [our] hearts” (James 4:8). True faith changes the conscience, the heart, the legal standing, and the words and deeds of a man, therefore when faith is lost THE FALL is evident, firstly, in the conscience…and the rest of the man follows headlong. If we have doctrines of truth which are teaching ways of whole purity, then it will be a doctrine which must be “obeyed from the heart” (Rom. 6:17). This means that the doctrines give the people of God a “pure heart” (1 Tim. 1:5, 2 Tim. 2:22, Matt. 5:8, 1 Peter 1:22), a “pure mind” (2 Peter 3:1, ), a “pure conscience” (1 Tim. 3:9, 2 Tim. 1:3), “a purified soul” (1 Peter 1:22), and all this, therefore, is a “pure and undefiled religion” (James 1:27) in the sight of God! Purity is expressed in all actions of the person: “In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith”, because “our conversation is in heaven” (1 Tim. 4:12, Php. 4:20).
“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16), said Paul. Walking after the flesh is a walk in uncleanness, as an unclean, carnal, dead person (1 Cor. 3:3). Salvation is walking as Christ, in Christ, and as one that is alive from the dead (Php. 1:19, Rom. 8:29). One who is, in a damnable way, “beset” (Heb. 12:2) by the flesh, he will forfeit a “good conscience” (1 Tim. 1:5, 19, 1 Peter 3:21) for an “evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22), a “sprinkled” clean “conscience” and heart (Heb. 10:22) for a mind and conscience that “is defiled” (Titus 1:15-16), a “pure conscience” for another “rule” with them who “mind earthly things” (1 Tim. 3:9, Php. 4:16, 19), a pure mind turned into a mind which follows “men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Tim. 3:8). A pure mind exists in a man that is affectionate toward things in heaven, as Colossians commands: “Set your affection on things above not on things on earth” (Col. 3:2). A mark of the present-continuous resurrection power of the gospel is a lifestyle from and in the virtue of heaven: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). We should not be as those of whom it was said, “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:3), for, truly, “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:8). “By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil”, yes, that they might obey “the commandment of the LORD” that “is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Prov. 16:6, Psalm 19:9).
In the New Testament Code of the Priesthood there is a holy washing and a holy water like as the OT type (Lev. 16:24, 26, Ex. 30:20-21, 40:12), only this washing is for the NT holy place called, the “House of God” (see Heb. 10:19-25), which is namely, “the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25, Matt. 18:20, Jn. 5:21)! So my reader, what about you? Are you “washed with pure water” so that you might “draw near” with assurance that your presence in the House of God will not defile it (Heb. 10:22, 1 Cor. 3:17)? No Hebrew Israelite would have “boldness”, or fearlessness, “to enter into the holiest” of the New Testament House of God without the ceremonial preparations which God has mercifully provided (Heb. 10:19-22). After being “washed” and “sprinkled” (Heb. 10:22, 1 Pet. 1:2), then they would have boldness to stand before God; because they were made ceremonially qualified they will not die. Therefore, my reader, there is a NT “washing”, without which no man can become a part of the Spiritually-Organic House of God, and it is called “the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5)! Yes, and also, there is a ministration of Church officers (Eph. 4:11) who are gifted and employed in a Divinely-empowered task (Eph. 4:8, 12, 1 Cor. 3:5-10), a task which they, through the Lord, “labour” to accomplish (1 Cor. 3:9, 2 Cor. 11:2, Col. 1:28-29) what Christ died to accomplish (Col. 1:22, Jude 24), so that through Holy-Ghost preaching (2 Tim. 1:14), otherwise known as the “washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26, Col. 1:28-29, John 7:38, 15:3), the Bride would be beautified into an acceptable condition when she is finally presented to Christ (Eph. 4:26-27, 2 Cor. 11:2)! Such a great Bride must be prepared and made ready (Rev. 19:7)! She must be ceremonially, spiritually, and gloriously arrayed, even so. “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments” (Isa. 52:1)! God help us to see these things! God help us to reorganize our lives to obtain them! God help us to come together as saints, for we NEED each other!