Pardon, Purity, Power
Pardon, Purity, Power (Ballee Mission Hall 2792009)
Col. 2:13-15, Matt. 5:8, Acts 1:8
In the worldly order of things, there are certain things, which follow closely behind each other. Like the seed sown, growth then fruit.
With these three “Pardon, Purity, Power” it is certainly true. They belong to each other. Many times they almost merge. They cannot be changed around.
There can never be Power without Purity and certainly no Purity without Pardon!
“Pardon”
What a beautiful sound to those who have sought it and got it.
“My sin ----oh the bliss of this glorious
thought.
My sin ---- not in part but the whole.
Is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord O my soul.”
“Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth”
The Gospel is simple they say. In a certain Church, one man said to me all we want is the simple Gospel!
There is no simple Gospel! Rom 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness: Foolish to the unsaved.
The very nature of the natural birth is mysterious! and do you think that a spiritual birth is any less mysterious?
To come to an understanding (that’s when it becomes simple) demands a Divine revelation. Jesus said on one occasion Matt. 13:11. Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
I remember a R.C. schoolteacher who had stayed behind to enquire in a mission. Some time was spent trying to enlighten her but getting nowhere. I finally turned to Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by faith. and as I was expounding it, she suddenly blurted out “I see it, yes I see it”
If it hadn’t been the Holy Spirit revealing the truth to her she never would have seen it by her own mental powers.
I tell you the prerequisite for the Spiritual birth are the Holy Spirit’s workings, bringing the sharp pangs of conviction of sin.
People are frightened by deteriorating world conditions--escalating wars, collapsing economies, rising terrorism, widespread crime, rampant immorality and perversion—the future is so unsure for them. So they are living in a troubled state of mind. But this is not conviction of sin!
The reason why these things have come upon the people of the world is of course, that people are living by their own laws and not God’s. Isa. 57:20-21
And God says of them, “the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked”.
I have often sat down in my chair and with great relish, thought, “Isn’t great to know that that it is well with my soul” No matter if the world should fall in around me, I have this blessed assurance that “it is well with my soul”
Can you say the same? Is it well with you? Do you know the pardon of God and a peace that endureth and assurance that it is well with your soul?
God’s way for a person to obtain Pardon is found in His Word. “Repent” is the operative word. Without it, there is no Pardon.
Repentance is not sorrow for sin (it’s implied). Many are sorry but never repent.
It’s not the fear of Hell because many fear it, but still rush headlong into it, although again it’s implied.
It’s not chastising oneself because of sin (penance)
Repentance is a change of mind regarding God and sin. It always implies a hatred for sin, forsaking sin and restitution. Acts 17:30
God now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
He says this repentance is because of the Day of Judgement which is coming. You will one day stand before Him to be judged.
And what you do with Jesus now, will stand with you on the Judgement Day. On that day there will be no hiding place in lies, deceit, friends nor property. Take these words to heart and ask this question!
WHEN rising from the bed of death,
O'erwhelm'd with guilt and fear,
I see my Maker face to face,
O how shall I appear?
If yet while pardon may be found.
And mercy may be sought,
My heart with inward horror shrinks,
And trembles at the thought;
When thou, O Lord! shalt stand ,
disclos'd In majesty severe,
And sit in judgment on my soul,
O how shall I appear!
Ps 90:11-12
Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may applyb our hearts unto wisdom.
The word of Peter in Acts is this Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.
The Law of God says, “The soul that sinneth it shall die!” This law of God is the thing that condemns you. This is God’s warning shot across your bow
You have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.
There is a time (a period in your personal life) if you’re to be saved, that the law which condemns, has to pass through you; searching your heart, condemning your guilty spirit and shutting you into deep repentance.
I remember listening to a brother tell how “the law” passed through him. He saw himself condemned already.
Murray Mc.Shane put it like this.
When free Grace awoke me,
By light from on high.
Then legal fears shook me
I trembled to die.
No refuge, no safety,
In self could I see.
Jehovah Tsidkenu
My saviour must be.
But that’s not enough! The fears of God’s wrath could shake you, make you tremble, but that is not salvation! As G.D. Watson put it
“You must accept the day of vicarious atonement, and have the Day of Atonement pass through you, releasing you from all guilt, reconciling you to God, and making you an heir of heaven” Or as the words of the hymn.
Wash me, 0 Lamb of God,
Wash me from sin!
By Thine atoning blood,
Oh, make me clean!
Purge me from ev'ry stain,
Let me Thine image gain,
In Love and mercy reign,
O'er all within.
That moment, when the Pardon of God is given by mercy and grace and taken by you by faith, that is the time of the New Birth. The passing from darkness into light.
That person stands in a New life in a New Day and for the first time cry “Father” and know that they are born again. Rom 8:15-16
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God”
This is just the Beginning of all things new. There is much, much more for the Child of God to grow and experience.
The problem is that nothing else is ever, or seldom taught to the young Christian. So many never move on and so remain babes right through their Christian lives. Like when the C of I came out of Egypt they wandered in the wilderness 40 years. And they are content to go along singing
‘my Lord knows the way through the wilderness’ And spend all their lives living in a wilderness
Well know this, it was only God’s will for the C of I to be in the wilderness 2 years (Egypt-Kadesh-barnea), but not 40 years. But they just couldn’t believe that God had more for them. They refused to believe that God could give them the land flowing with milk and honey. Heb. tells us “They could not enter in because of unbelief” Do you believe that God has more for you?
Purity (Holiness)
This leads me to the second experience. ‘Purity’
I point you to what the Scriptures say about this.
Ps 24:3-4
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Matt 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
There are many pictures in Scripture, which speak of the experience of the ‘pure heart’, which would overwhelm us completely, if we had not the faith to believe, that all which God says, is true and is possible here and now!
Why would God speak to us of such an experience, if it were not possible for us to obtain it?
Would God mock us, laughing at our frustration, trying to obtain the unobtainable? Not at all!
So then as with entering into salvation is by faith so is entering in to this experience of Heart Purity by faith. You do not grow into it any more than you grow into salvation.
When a man or woman is truly “born again” then their whole life becomes new “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things pass away and all things become new”
Purity must follow Pardon.
If it is asked “how holy can a person be?” The answer of course is “As holy as you want to be!”
There is no want of power on God’s part to deliver a person from all sin. But there’s usually the lack of want on our part.
1Jn. 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”
So grace is there to help us live above the world and sin.
So then how does a person enter into this experience of cleanness, purity?
This should be a continuance of the New Birth experience, but some times it’s not, it would be according to the light the person had.
Sometimes it is only after as a person gives themselves to the reading of the Word and prayer that the realization of how corrupt they are and how deep sin is and how depraved they are in all walks of life. The imaginations, thoughts, anger, jealousies, bad attitudes, laziness, abusing the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, etc.
Suddenly they see that the cleansing has to go deeper than first realised.
I’m sure you have seen the picture of an iceberg !.
A huge floating mass of ice, sometimes towering 100’s of feet above the water. Tons and tons of ice.
But did you know that for as much as there is above, there is 9 times as much beneath. If there are 5,000 tones above the surface of the water there are 45,000 tons beneath the surface. So you see only a small part of the iceberg 1\9 to be exact.
What was it that Isaiah cried out? “Woe is me for I am undone” He had a glimpse of God’s great awful holiness and saw himself.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Isa. 33
This Burning Holiness of God.
What was it that Jesus said of the wise man who built the house? “he dug deep” to lay the foundations. Luke 6
The hymn writer puts it.
Search all my sense and know my heart,
Who only canst make known.
And let the deep the hidden part
To me be fully shown.
Search till Thy fiery glance has cast
Its holy light through all
And I by grace am brought at last
Before thy face to fall.
The sin is deep but the blood of Jesus can go deeper.
So there has to be a giving oneself completely to God a “Living sacrifice” You’re strength, your money, property, ambitions, knowledge, failures all has to go. Looked on as nothing. This is your part to put everything on the altar.
God’s part is accepting the offering and sanctifying you cleansing you from all sin and filling you with the Holy Spirit.
Go through with God thy vows to pay,
Thy life upon the Altar lay,
The Holy Ghost will do the rest
and give to thee God’s very best.
“Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” Eph. 19:2
Acts 2:39 “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call”.
Did Jesus not say “Ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost shall come upon you”
The usual claim of the modern day church is “that we receive the Holy Ghost when we come to Christ”. It is true that one cannot be saved without the work of the Holy Ghost. But looking at the Church’s impotence today. Surely begs the question “Where then is the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Church? This power the Church professes to have?” It is not there!
Power
Is it not strange?
1That many believe in forgiveness of sins, but don’t know that they’re saved. They would think it’s presumptuous to say or think that.
2Then others, who believe that they’re saved and that’s it, they would never in 1000 years believe that God can sanctify them.
3Then there are those who trusted Christ to save and sanctify them, but know nothing of what they have inherited in Christ!
The world believes that power lies in knowledge and money. Got plenty and you can do almost anything. Their possessions of land and money gives them power over people, and governments.
It’s power, powerrrr. This has greatly affected the Church.
I care not for degrees in learning, Drs. Of this and that. High IQs and so on. I remember hearing of a certain bishop when he was preparing to receive his bishopric, in anti room where he was being helped to robe up, said to his aids “remember they also put robes on an ass”
One young man who was going into the ministry said to me “I want to get as many degrees as possible just to show that the evangelicals have some clout”. He thought it took degrees to give him power with God and men!
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” Jer. 9:23–24
When the Church begins to glory in her learned Doctors of this and that, her riches, and her numbers. Then be assured God will take these things away until it hurts.
Just like what happened to David when He numbered the army. He didn’t feel his need for God when he had about 1.5 million. He wanted to glory and depend on its power. 1Chron. 21
A far cry from when he a slingshot and 5 stones.
If the Church of Christ only new of the richs it has. What it has inherited in Christ, the Power that is at their disposal.
You ask me, “What do you mean?”
Look at what Jesus gave us! His presence, His Name, His Peace and divers gifts for the edifying of the Church.
His Presence : For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt 18:20
Consider this! Do you understand what this means? There are many who don’t.
I am so incensed when I go into a meeting and all I hear is the hub-bub of noise, people talking about this and that. So ignoring Christ’s presence, insulting Christ. These do not know what these words mean. Don’t believe.
His Name : And again Jesus says
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it”. Jn. 14:13 4 times in two chapters. That’s what Jesus left us “His Name”
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in (1) heaven, and things in (2) earth, and things (3) under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now do you get that?
Do we not sing, “All hail the power of Jesus name” So? Is that there is all to it? A sentiment? A lovely phrase?
(Acclaim: to praise or approve a person, action, or accomplishment with enthusiasm the Power of Jesus name.)
There are many who pray for victory. Do they not know that the victory is already theirs? Do they believe what the Scriptures say?
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it Col 2:15
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1Jn. 1 3:8
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith 1Jn. 5:4
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Matt. 16:19
Are these Scriptures not believed any more?
Why then pray for victory? Why not take what God has already done for us in Christ?
Asking for such says you don’t believe what God already says and nullifies any standing you have with God!
It says you do not believe that Christ has spoiled the principalities and powers!
It says that you do not believe that Christ has destroyed the works of the devil.
It says you do not believe that victory has been won for you.
It says you do not believe what Jesus has said.
It nullifies your standing with God!
How can any Church who thinks like this, have any Power with God or man?
Today the Church professes the experience of Pentecost but lives outside the experience.
To day the Church says that God answers prayer but seldom sees it.
And the subject of the Holy Spirit is only for discussion and debate rather than guidance and the Power of God in us.
But when you have an assembly of people who have seen God in His great holiness and have sought cleansing from all sin and who have believed, that “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin” 1Jn 1:7
and so able tread the courts of God.
There you have a people of God, a people of power.
They know and receive the Gifts that God has given to them, the Church.
They know what the authority of the “Word of God” is.
They know their inheritance in Christ and stand in it.
They know the power of Jesus name.
They know victory every day.
They know that ‘rest’ for the people of God.
They know that peace that passeth all understanding in this evil world.
These are the ones who have power with God.
So there is Pardon for sin to all who trust Christ for it.
There is Purity of heart to all who trust Christ for it.
There is Power for all who by faith have entered in to their inheritance.
This power that I talk of. Where does it come from?
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you!”
This Power is so vast that there is nothing to compare it with.
Men with degrees could take you into science and show you what the creator of the universe has accomplished, things that would boggle our minds. But this Power is not for them.
I want you to see the simplicity of the power that a sanctified child of God has. Its not for the learned, the person who depends on their degrees.
How does it manifest itself? Through the faith of the individual or Church.
What can it do?
It was a normal thing for the early Church to have power. It wasn’t something they prayed for or sought after, this was the normal Christian life.
Eph 1:19-23 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Eph 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Most of us appreciate the words, ‘exceeding greatness’(V19), ‘mighty power’ (V20) and so on, but I want you to go with me a bit further. The actual Greek words which Paul used, beginning with ‘exceeding greatness’ Christ from the dead. (V20)
(hyperballon megethos). We have many English words beginning with ‘hyper: If you take your dictionary and look up the words beginning with hyper = above, in excess, abnormal. hyperactive, for example is more than a active abnormally active. So ‘hyper’ indicates an unthinkably huge amount. Such is the measure of God’s greatness toward us.
The word here for power is dynamis, from which we take the words dynamite, dynamo, dynamic, and so on.
So we have in simple words
Now God, according to this supernatural dynamite power (the same power which rose Christ from the dead), which is in us. Is able to do more than anything we can ask or imagine.
But
Let us look at that “Beam” which nullifies the Power of God.
Matt 7:2-5
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Matt 7:1-6 Matthew Henry
There are many that have beams in their own eyes, and yet do not consider it. They are under the guilt and dominion of very great sins, and yet are not aware of it, but justify themselves, as if they needed no repentance nor reformation; it is as strange that a man can be in such a sinful, miserable condition, and not be aware of it, as that a man should have a beam in his eye, and not consider it;
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
This Power is so vast that there is nothing to compare it with.
Men with degrees could take you into science and show you what the creator of the universe has accomplished, things that would boggle our minds. But this Power is not for them.
I want you to see the simplicity of the power that a sanctified child of God has. Its not for the learned, the person who depends on their degrees.
It’s for the Pardoned, the Pure in heart, the one who has died to themselves, to the simple
So I say again these are the three “Ps.” That we the church of Christ needs to get back to;
Pardon, Purity, Power