“As the stream its channel grooves,
And within that channel moves;
So does habit’s deepest tide
Groove its bed and there abide.
“Light obeyed increaseth light;
Light resisted bringeth night;
Who shall give me will to choose
If the love of light I lose?
“Speed, my soul, this instant yield;
Let the light its sceptre wield.
While thy God prolongs His grace,
Haste thee to His holy face.”
3. This purification from sin is promised. Nothing can be plainer than the promise of God on this point. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.” When all is removed, nothing remains. When all filthiness and all idols are taken away, none are left.
“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans v. 20, 21). Grace reigns, not through sin, but “through righteousness” which has expelled sin. Grace brings in righteousness and sin goes out.
“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” (1 John i. 7). Hallelujah!
“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans vi. 18).
These are sample promises and assurances any one of which is sufficient to encourage us to believe that our Heavenly Father will save us from all sin, if we meet His conditions.
4. And that deliverance is possible. It was for this that Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, came into the world, and suffered and died, that He might “save His people from their sins” (Matthew i. 21). It was for this that He shed His precious blood: to “cleanse us from all sin.” It was for this that the word of God, with its wonderful promises, was given: “That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter i. 4); by which is meant, escape from inbred sin. It was for this that ministers of the Gospel—Salvation Army Officers—are given, “for the perfecting of the saints” (Eph. iv. 12), for the saving and sanctifying of men (Acts xxvi. 18). It is primarily for this that the Holy Ghost comes as a baptism of fire: that sin might be consumed out of us, so that we might be “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light”; that so we might be ready without a moment’s warning to go into the midst of the heavenly hosts in white garments, “washed in the blood of the Lamb.” Glory be to God for ever and ever!
And shall all these mighty agents and this heavenly provision, and these gracious purposes of God, fail to destroy sin out of any obedient, believing heart? Is sin omnipotent? No!