Chapter 16
Full Salvation for the Young
If I could have’ the thousands of young persons before me whom I expect will read thisbook, I would like to ask the following questions: “Do you not believe it is possible for every child to cheerfully and gladly obey theirparents?”
You answer, “I am sure it is.”
“Then, if that be true of earthly parents, who make mistakes, is it not much more true of aHeavenly Father, who is knowledge’, and wisdom, and love?”
You answer to this question, “I am sure it would be the same.”
Holiness is the state in which it is not only possible, but pleasing, to do God’s will, and todo it in such a way that, “seeing ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on thenew man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that created him,” youare able to “walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, andincreasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might of Hisglory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy.”
God commands all to be holy, and declares that without holiness no man can see the Lord.He does not mean by this that it will be impossible for us to sin, or that we will not be tempted anymore; for Jesus was tempted; or that we will not grow in grace; for we will grow all the fasterwhen our hearts are cleansed from all sin.
Holiness is heart-loyalty to Jesus, and a holy life is a life overflowing with the loyalty ofcheerful obedience.
Satan tries to make people believe’ they can not be holy in this life; for he knows if they arethey will be far less likely to enter the Death-boats of Sin, in which he hope’s to drift them over theFalls of Eternal Despair.
The work of Holiness is begun in the hearts and lives of all who are true children of God;but, until the heart is cleansed from pride, envy, unbelief, sinful anger, fear, and all sin, there issomething within that is opposed to Holiness.
Jesus came from Heaven, the angels declared, for the express purpose of saving His peoplefrom their sins, and that includes the sinful state here named. He suffered outside the gate that Hemight “sanctify the people” with His blood, and thus purify unto Himself a people from all sin setfree.
“Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement offlesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” — 2 Cor. vii, 1.
That this sweet experience, in which the will of God is done in our hearts and lives “as itis done in Heaven,” is for the young as well as for the old, is as clear as the sun from Heaven, fromthe very fact that Jesus does not forbid them, but. that His commands and promises are to all whoneed their fulfillment.
God has given us the Holy Bible to teach us how to be holy; the Holy Savior, who livedand died and reigns, to make and keep us holy; the Holy Spirit, who applies the truth to our hearts,and, with Jesus, leads us into this experience.
Jesus commands it when He says:
“Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” — Matt. v, 48.
“Sanctify them in the truth: Thy Word is truth.” — John xvii, 17.
And when He taught believers to pray:
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” — Matt. vi, 10.
Then, is there any reason we should not be fully saved?
I fancy I hear some one say: “How can I, with all my weakness, and all my failings, and allmy opposition which I have to meet? How can I lead a holy life?”
Dear child, your mistake is in looking at yourself instead of at Jesus. You can not makeyourself holy. You can not overcome your surroundings and besetments in your own strength; butHe who has all power in Heaven and on earth, and who comes to us for the express purpose ofdoing this, is able to accomplish it. It is His work to make you holy, and then to keep you, and then,by and by, to present you faultless before His Father’s throne. Will you not, can you not, do younot, trust Him just now to do this?
You ask, “What am I to do?”
When you came to Jesus to forgive you, you repented of all your sins and renounced them,confessed them, and gave them up. God promised that if you would do this He would forgive you,and remember them against you no more forever, and applied to your heart the promise:
“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” — John vi, 37.
After those days of guilt and fear and burden and darkness, and almost despair, youbelieved the promise and proved the truthfulness of the Word, “He that believeth on Him hatheternal life.” You confessed Him as your Savior, and the peace of pardon came into your soul.
In a similar way you should come to Jesus for Him to fully cleanse your heart, and makeand keep you holy.
If you do not deeply feel your need of this, ask Him to send deep conviction for it, andmake you so to feel that, in view of the fact that your Heavenly Father has promised and commandsit, that Jesus has provided it, that His Blood is the purchase price, and that the Holy Spirit iswaiting to apply it, you will resolve, by God’s grace, to have it, and will not rest until the prize isyours.
Then, as God shall apply the tests to your soul, proving your earnestness and determination,bid a final farewell to everything, no matter how dear it may be, that would stand between you andHis perfect will, and present yourself, with all you have and are and ever hope to be, completelyto God, for Him to cleanse and fill with perfect love. Then, when you have the assurance deepdown in your soul that you have done this, you are ready to believe and receive, by faith, thepromise that if we thus “walk in the light, as He’ is in the light, we have fellowship one withanother, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (I John I, 7.)
You must now believe this promise and kindred ones, of which the Bible is full, just as youbelieved the promises for pardon when seeking forgiveness of sins.
If you really do this, a perfect peace, and rest, and joy, yea, even Jesus Himself, will comein and abide in your heart, and make it His home, “breaking down every idol, casting down everyfoe, and washing and keeping you whiter than snow.”
Then you must keep all abandoned to Him, and trust and obey Him in everything, and Hewill keep you fully saved.
Multitudes of the young are enjoying the sweetness and bliss and victory of theseexperiences, and through Jesus’ precious Blood are made more than conquerors.
Reader, are you among this number? If not, will you not just now determine by God’s graceto be?
May you never rest until you can say and feel:
“I rise to walk in Heaven’s own light;Above the world and sin:With heart made pure and garments white,And Christ enthroned within.”
THE FOLLOWING IS NOT A CURRENT OFFER. — DVM: [Note. — If you wish morelight upon this subject, and will write to “The Revivalist” office and let the editor know, he willsend you free a copy of a little book which God has used to make this very plain to many.]
WHITER THAN SNOW
Abbie C. Morrow, in Bible Morning Glories
Snow is a symbol of purity. There is nothing so beautiful as the newly-fallen snow whenthe sun makes it bright like gold-dust and diamonds. Yet our hearts and lives are to be more pureand white and beautiful than the clear, spotless snow-fields. A teacher asked, “How can the Lordwash our hearts so that they will be whiter than snow?” “I know,” was the quick answer of a littleboy taught of God. “When you look through a microscope at the flakes of snow there is a dark spotin the center of each flake. When God washes our hearts He does not leave any dark spots onthem.”
In a school in North Carolina the children were asked, “What is whiter than snow?” Onesaid, “Cotton,” another, “Chalk,” another, “Milk;” but one little one said, “A heart that is washed inthe Blood of the Lamb.”
A little five-year-old boy looked up at his mother one morning, and said, “Mamma, ain’t Iwhiter than snow?” The mother did not answer him, and the child’s lips quivered and his eyesfilled with tears as he cried out, “Why, mamma, didn’t I give my heart to Jesus that day in the tent,and now ain’t I whiter than snow?” Dear little fellow, of course he was. When we give’ our heartsto Jesus, and ask Him to make us whiter than snow, He just loves to do it for us.
An English nobleman, whose wife was dead, had one little daughter whom he loveddearly, but did not see often. The child’s nurse taught her about Jesus. The father used sometimes toamuse his little girl by riddles, and one time she said to him, “Papa, do you know what is whiterthan snow?” He was not a Christian, and had never read our text. “No,” he said, “I don’t.” Thenthe little one said, “A soul washed in the blood of Jesus is whiter than snow.” The father asked,”Who told you?” “My nurse,” said the child. The father privately requested the nurse not to teachhis little girl religion, for fear she would be gloomy, and forgot all about it. Some time afterwardthe Prince of Wales was visiting them, and noticed the child. She said to him, “Do you know whatis whiter than snow?” He did not, and smiled and said, “No, what is it?” And the little one said, “Asoul washed in the blood of Jesus is whiter than snow.” The father heard the words from hischild’s lips the second time, and he kept thinking about them until he became a Christian, andthrough him thousands of people were saved. Isn’t it lovely that a little child’s word can bringpeople to Jesus?
A poor little black girl, with bare head and bare feet, came into a large Sunday-schoolwhere the children, in their cool, white gowns, were singing, “Whiter than snow.” She’ sat still,with eyes and mouth wide open, pleased and satisfied. No one took any notice of her, and duringthe lesson she lay down upon one of the seats and fell fast asleep. At the close, the superintendent,who was a physician, upon going to waken her, found she was Ill with a fever. The poor child hadsuffered for days without any attention, and, attracted by the singing, had crept into the churchbecause she could go no further. She was taken to the hospital and cared for. One of the teachersvisited her. She was always pleased when she saw anything white, and in her ravings was alwayssaying “white” and “snow.” One day, when the teacher took her some flowers, with her little blackhands she picked out a white one, and laid away all the rest. At last she became quiet, and ceasedto rave, and said to the nurse, “Sing, lady.” “What shall I sing?” “Whiter than snow.” The nursebegan singing softly. The little one interrupted her, “Missus, does that mean me?” “Yes, mychild.” “Me, a nigger?” “Yes, my child.” “Den sing it some more.” The nurse sang it again, andthen told her how Jesus could wash all our sins, and, though her skin was black, her soul could bewhiter than snow. She was happy, and lay still for a long time. She grew weaker, and one day attwilight she whispered, “Once more.” “What, my child?” “Sing.” And while the nurse sang the onlysong the child had ever heard, the redeemed spirit of the little black waif, who had no home and nomother, went up to live with Jesus and be happy forever; but He had made her “Whiter than snow.”