NO STRENGTH WITHOUT HOLINESS
NO STRENGTH WITHOUT HOLINESS
The nearer one is to God in spirit, the more fully is he made conscious of what is unsuitable to Him, and that if he would walk in the mind of God, or receive from Him, he must keep clear of that which interferes and [p. 220] hinders. It is plain that if all my power and satisfaction proceed from God, then the more I am apart, the more shall I enjoy that which strengthens and satisfies me. It is impossible to maintain that God is the known source and supply of power to me, if I am walking where He cannot come. My duty or advantage is to walk so apart that I may have His favour in every circumstance; but this I cannot have if I mix with that which is against Him. In a general way this will be admitted, but there is a great difference of opinion as to the things which one might hold to and not forfeit the favour of God. Now a great deal of the misconception and consequent loss on this subject arises from being occupied with the things one wishes to retain, and not with Christ; then one would be formed as to the things approved of God. The better I know God, now fully manifested in Him who was made flesh and dwelt among us, the more clearly can I distinguish what is not of Him. It is light which discovers darkness. Darkness could not discover itself, and it is really according to the simplicity of one’s eye in the light that one can determine what is darkness. It is great gain to be convinced of the truth that there is no true strength but in holiness, and that every departure from it must entail moral weakness. My sense of holiness as to things outside of me is in proportion to that within me, in myself personally. It is from the inner to the outward, and hence if there be imperfection outwardly it is only the betrayal of some inward deficiency. It is surely a simple and incontrovertible principle that in order to act in the strength of God in an evil world and a sinful nature, I must be as distinct as He is from either, or if I am not, I fail. I cannot side with a thing and act against it; and hence the more separate I am, the more defined and assured is my power to act against it. Whatever be the course of divine action at any given time, and whatever be the nature of the opposition to that course, it is evident that the man true to God,
[p. 221] observing the divine course, is strengthened therein to act faithfully as he keeps separate from that which would mar or interfere; and as he would be in the Lord’s mind and strength, so does he avoid even a touch of that which opposes. The only simple question is, Is there a positive distinction, the severest, between what is of God, and what is against Him? Is it defined with such distinctness that if of one I am not of the other, for then it could not be possible to be of God, and in any measure to sanction the other? There can be nothing neutral if all properly belongs to God; and hence any departure or opposition is against Him. Every one not with Him is against Him.
At first all was very good. God saw everything, that it was very good. Sin then entered, and God drove out the man from the garden of Eden, and the flaming sword turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Where was power or ability to act for God then, except as God’s side was adhered to and the other separated from? Hence Enoch, the seventh from Adam, is described as one who pleased God, walked with Him, was simply and entirely on His side, and was translated that he should not see death. Then at the flood Noah walked with God, and moved with fear he prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world; he was separated from all the ruin and judgment, for God had shut him in.
Then to Abram, when man had turned to demons, God said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee”. Then more definitely and explicitly, when the law was given, the word to God’s redeemed people is, as quoted in 1 Peter 1, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”, which practically enjoined that extreme separation insisted on in 2 Corinthians 6: “Come out ... and be ye separate ... and touch not the unclean thing” And in keeping with this is the appeal of Moses after the sin of the molten calf: “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? ... And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour”. I refer to this in order to show the strictness which the Lord’s side entails.
The Nazarite by vow adopted that severe life in his separation to God which illustrated what holiness to the Lord demands and imposes; and hence, when Israel was in almost hopeless captivity, Samson, whom God raised up to deliver them, was a Nazarite, and his strength was entirely dependent on the preservation of his separation. When it was maintained no one could overcome him, but as soon as he yielded to the tempter he betrayed himself; he was worsted and overcome. Hence when man, after repeated and varied trials, was proved utterly powerless and lost, then the Son of God comes into the world as the “Holy One”, and in Him and by Him we must now measure what is holy. There is no longer any room for inquiry or examination how much this thing or that is to be accepted or refused. He is of God, and everything and every one not in allegiance and adhesion to Him is rejected.
Up to this there had been faithful men, walking according to the light they had, and separating according to the law from everything forbidden by God; but now the Holy One of God is here, as even Satan owns, and from henceforth everything must be determined by its relation to Him, If it be not for Him, it is against Him. There is no longer any room for uncertainty or mere legal restriction. It is now the life on earth of the Son of God, and marking in His walk the moral qualities which become a man of God in the midst of surrounding wickedness, and hence the same is He who baptiseth with the Holy Spirit — “Holy”, the characteristic of the [p. 223] Spirit of God in connection with us in the midst of evil. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. Now everything of God is declared by Him, and everything for God is measured and tested by Him. Anything not of Him is of the world, is not of the Father, because the only One here really of God is Christ; and hence as connected with this world the great moral activity is sanctification. He has separated Himself from it that we might in heart and spirit be separated after the same measure.
The power for all walk and service is the Holy Spirit. He manifests Christ to us if we are keeping His word, walking in separation; and He, while reproving the world, is glorifying Christ to us. Thus strength and holiness go together. The moment our flesh gets a place the holiness of God is lost, and this was the case at Corinth. When trouble or evil sprang up there was a lack of power, but on the reassumption of holiness there is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to purge out the evil-doer. Through carnal ways they had lost he sense of the holiness of God, and with it the consciousness of the power of the Holy Spirit. This is very striking. Now all through Scripture we see that every restoration is marked by increased holiness, and as there is holiness there is power. The Corinthians had been corrupted by evil association, and it is ever in this way that one slides away from the strict and defined separation imposed by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God must separate the soul where He rules from the society of the carnal and unspiritual; and the first mark of a spiritual person is his associates. The companion one seeks is the one that attracts one; and often when we may fail to find out our ruling tastes, the company we choose will be the exponent of them. The apostle dates their straitening in 2 Corinthians to their being unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
[p. 224] Their association had cramped every energy. They come behind in no gift, and yet they were straitened in their bowels, and the only remedy was distinct and absolute separation. “Come out ... and be ye separate, ... and touch not the unclean thing”. The touch of the unclean imparted weakness, connected them with that which was at variance with the Holy Spirit; for Christ and Belial there could not be any common ground or interest. As Achan’s taking of the gold of Jericho deprived the army of Israel of the power of Jehovah, so does touching the unclean thing deprive the saint now of the present power of the Spirit of God, and the manifestation of that power on our behalf. And hence, when the church becomes like a great house, there is no place of power or usefulness for the servant of God but as he is separate from the vessels to dishonour; otherwise he would not be “a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use”. The Master would not use him in His house; there would be no exemplification of the grace of Christ in him but as he was holy, nor could he lead others where he was not himself; according to his separation in moral power, so could he lead into it; and in every case of service we always find that the power is in proportion to the holiness. Where God is there is holiness, and there is power. Be it a Daniel in Babylon, or a Phinehas in the midst of defilement, the only channel of God’s succour and favour is that of the strictest holiness. The work of Christ now, ministerially, is to sanctify the church which He so loved that He gave Himself for it; and He will not support us in power or in the knowledge of His mind but in proportion as there is separation the same as His own. And the worse the days, as we see in Jude, the more distinctly must there be maintained a separate and holy path which has been lost sight of by those who are “sensual, having not the Spirit”.
May we practically keep our eye on Him, the refuge in the darkest hour, rallying us around Himself according to that word, “He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth”.