Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the first three generations of patriarchs were only fertile at the miracle hand of God. Sarah, a very old lady, laughed at God. "What ? me have a child - I 'm too old." Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, singled out as a model of purity gives birth to the forerunner of Christ. Jesus himself was born of a miracle of Holy conception.
..."Fill the earth and subdue it".-Multiply and manage... We are masters at control and management but quite sterile in the area of multiplying. Adam started out in the pure image of God. After his fall into depravity the law became manage and control. Impurity always leads to fruitless existence. Holiness, God's divine will, is obscured by endless labor which yields little reward. What did God say to Adam?
Genesis 3:17-19
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. [18] It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. [19] By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Impurity interferes with the godly balance between management and productivity. Sin rendered work as toilsome and painful. The joy of working would become a burden. Thus the origonal role as manager and fruit bearer was corupted. Purity produces good fruit.
John 15:1-13
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. [3] You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. [4] Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Contemplate for a moment... Wesley's great awakening was a return to New Testament purity. Believers were brought to life in the image of Christ. The church (people) became fruitful and new energy exploded into a revival unparalleled in history. It changed a nation.
We, the people, have evolved into a systematic organization committed to the principle of management and control. Is this a curse because of our willingness to tolerate sinning?
Our institutions are barren because we no longer require purity of our people. We are so afraid the institution will be destroyed that we accept any offering as holy and our mission has been polluted by unconfessed sin.
Taylor Caldwell in The Lion of God gives a fictional account of a conversation between Gamaliel and Stephen. Gamaliel tries to convince Stephen that Saul is obsessed with the responsibility of protecting the system (Judaism). Saul, who is in line to be high priest some day, will even kill to protect the priesthood and the temple. Stephen responds to Gamaliel's warning by saying " the kernel forgotten or lost, worthless is the shell".
Jesus Christ is the Seed. When purity is sacrificed for the needs of the organization we are given to the task of defending the palace after the king has moved out. Evolution to paper and control is the way of the world. We need a Damascus road encounter, an infusion of light from the Christ who transforms our earthly desire to manage into a heavenly calling to rescue the lost. What kind of power do we seek?
Old Testament references to power are often about the hand of God or majesty reflected in conquest or brute strength. In the New Testament "power" is characterized by such things as: "The power to witness", "The power to become the sons of God", "The power of God unto Salvation". It is no accident that this change occurs. It is God's intention that the holy will prevail and when Christ returns, true purity will exist. Look at:
2 Cor. 4:7-9
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. [8] We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; [9] persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Hard pressed - not crushed, Perplexed but not in despair, Struck down - not destroyed. Wow! Power is not to manage and control, it is the presence of God to persevere in a broken world.
We hold to that which cannot be seen with carnal vision. Why are we not defeated in battle? Because we will not die. Christ has overcome death and we cannot lose. We can see the eternal kingdom that is coming. We need only be faithful and spread the gospel of truth and purity. In the context of 2Corinthians we are the aroma of Christ to God. In this world filled with the smell of death we share the fragrance of life.
Dr. Lovick Pierce, in a sermon to the General Conference of the M. E. Church, South, said: "Just so far as our Church has ceased to believe in entire sanctification, and to seek after it as the only phase of religion revealed in the New Testament that saves us from all sin, just so far we are a corrupted and God-forsaken Church, and it is useless to try to sustain ourselves on what we have been."- P. L. 214.
Bishop Asbury wrote to Henry Smith: "Preach sanctification, directly and indirectly, in every sermon." He wrote to another: "Oh, purity! Oh, Christian perfection! Oh, sanctification! It is heaven below to feel all sin removed. Preach it, whether they will hear or forebear. Preach it." - P. L. 191.
John Wesley says: "Therefore, let all our preachers make it a point to preach perfection to believers constantly, strongly and explicitly. I doubt not we are not explicit enough in speaking on full sanctification, either in public or private." - Vol. 6, p. 529; P. L. 190. Dr. Adam Clarke says: "If the Methodists give up preaching entire sanctification, they will soon lose their glory. This fitness to appear before God, and thorough preparation for eternal glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and heartily recommend to all true believers under the name of Christian perfection. Let all those who retain the apostolic doctrine that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin in this life, pray every believer to go on to perfection, and expect to be saved, while here below, unto fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." - Theology, p. 201, idem.
We claim no originality, but propose to walk in the footprints of Jesus, corroborated and encouraged by the great cloud of witnesses "to this wonderful salvation, full and free."
The patriarchal Church apostatized into paganism; the Jewish into materialistic ritualism; the apostolic into idolatrous Romanism, and the Protestant, in the wake of her predecessors, is already in the vortex of lifeless formalism. Something must and will be done. If the ecclesiasticisms can't be saved, they must go down in the wreck of their predecessors.
Holiness must be preached specifically, urgently, and efficiently. The people must not only hear it, but must be led into the experience. We must save the churches if we can, but we must save the people anyhow. The prophecies will be verified: "Holiness will cover the earth."
Entire sanctification is the only Bible standard. We must bring the people to it. It is the only qualification for heaven revealed in the Bible. We must all have it. Holiness is not sectarianism. It is God's sweet, rich gift to all who will receive it. There never was a schism in the Apostolic Church till apostasy obscured the doctrine and destroyed the experience of sanctification. There is harmony now with all people enjoying the sanctified experience. Let it be preached and enjoyed in all churches and disharmony is at an end.
Thus our Savior's prayer (John xvii. 17-21) for the sanctification of his people, "that all may be done," will be answered. Verily, this doctrine and experience constitute the only feasible scriptural basis of Christian union. This is the soul, center and climax of all truth and all experience.
Bishop Foster beautifully says: "Motives to holiness? Are they not everywhere? Do they not come down from the heavens and spring from the earth? Do we not feel them within and behold them without us? Is there anything that has a voice that does not preach it? What is heaven but an eternal monument of its glory? What is hell but a terrible and endless declaration of its necessity? Turn where we will, whether to time or eternity, to the throne or the abyss, a million arguments commend it to us; a million voices urge it upon us."--Christian Purity, p. 184; P. L. 177.
To persons who call me narrow, fanatical, etc., I have no reply. To all persons who believe the book to antagonize the word of God, I wish to say: It will afford me great pleasure to meet you privately or publicly, and by speech or pen endeavor to answer your question.
(The above article is taken from Dr. Godby's book Sanctification which was written in 1884)