The early leaders of the holiness movement were faithful in their teaching of the doctrine of entire sanctification. They knew that man’s greatest problem was sin, and that God’s grace of entire sanctification was the only answer to this grave problem.
We who are charged with ministering the Gospel of Christ today must be just as faithful in proclaiming the whole counsel of God as were our forefathers. We must persistently teach that Jesus gave Himself to the nails of the cross, not only in order to redeem lost man, but His sacrifice also provided for the cleansing of His Church.
Hebrews 13:12 says, “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.”
It is further stated in I John 1:7, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
We must be faithful advocates of this truth and declare that this experience does not finish the believer, but that it fixes him and conditions him to be finished. It is therefore not a substitute for growth in grace, but rather the highest and essential preparation for the best growth in grace. We must always teach that this experience is received and possessed on a probationary tenure and therefore may be forfeited. The experience alone is not our sufficiency but our sufficiency is in Christ. We are to walk in the light and rely moment by moment on the merits of His efficacious blood which alone provides our sufficiency and security.
Dr. J. B. Chapman once wrote: “The caliber of its leaders is the measure of a movement; for the caliber of men is indicated by the size of the things which challenge them, by the type and size of things which either irritate or please them, and by the reach of their shadow-their unconscious influence.”
It was Solomon who wrote, “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.” Ecclesiastes 10:16.
In context to this article he was saying, Woe unto the church when its leaders are weak.
As our early church fathers believed that scriptural, doctrinal preaching of holiness and evangelism went hand in hand, we too, must be clear in our preaching of the doctrine of entire sanctification in order to realize holiness evangelism.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
