Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Years ago, a young Brother Earl was testifying to his grandmother of the wonderful life he had found in Christ, the sanctifying baptism of the holy Ghost and the glorious truths that the Spirit teaches. Being a devout Baptist (as Brother Earl had been before he learned the truth), she dismissed his testimony, much to the young man's sorrow. She believed that everyone had to sin every day and that she would be able to live without sin only after the resurrection. Earl tried, to no avail, to persuade his beloved grandmother to consider the light he had been given by God and to be a partaker of the power of God's holy Spirit.
"Well, Granny", Earl sincerely asked, "When do you think you will be sanctified?"
"After death", came the response.
What could Earl do? She was set in her ways and was determined to wait for death to come set her free from sin.
Many are like Brother Earl's misguided grandmother. They have been taught by Christian ministers that they have no choice but to sin every day and that they must wait for death to sanctify them so that they can live without sin. It is evil to teach such doctrines, but that fact had never stopped foolish men from proclaiming such blasphemy; nor has it ever prevented multitudes from approving of and supporting them in their foolishness (2Pet 2:1-2).
When a saddened Brother Earl took the report of this tragic conversation to Preacher Clark, the wise elder comforted Earl, and then added a pearl of wisdom to the young man's treasures. He reminded him that according to the Bible, death is an "enemy" (1Cor. 15:26). "I wouldn't wait for an enemy to sanctify me, Earl", he said. "I'd trust Jesus to do that."
It was an important point, well made. Did Jesus suffer and die to leave us in the hands of an enemy? Does Jesus' sacrifice avail us nothing in this life so that, regardless of what he accomplished, we must still plod along in bondage to the power of darkness? Hardly. He came that we "might have life, and have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). The life Jesus suffered for us to possess is sinless life; it is holy, and it is eternal. Jesus is our friend. You can trust him to make you holy now, in this life. And when he does that, you will find yourself living the kind of life that Brother Earl's grandmother was told to expect only after death had come and claimed her.
Is there anyone of you who really thinks that death, when it came for her, made that poor stubborn woman holy? My dear reader, don't be a fool. If you refuse Jesus' power in this life, you need not expect death to bring to you what you have refused from the Lord while you lived. Listen to the wisdom of this old camp-meeting song from days long past:
Someone
told me that the Glory Land was far beyond the sky,
and I could never hope
to enter
'til my time should come to die,
But since I came to Jesus
and he took my sins away,
I am finding glory all along
the straight
and narrow way.
Chorus:
I am finding glory all along the way.
I
am finding glory all along the way.
Ever since my savior came,
O!
Glory to his name!
I am finding glory all along the way.
2
Oh,
you need not wait for death to set your spirit free.
You can have
his joy and glory;
Jesus died to purchase thee!
Just come today repenting
of your sins and then obey.
Trust the voice of God and you will find
there's
glory all the way.
3
Now, if you never get this joy
within your heart down here,
You will never join that chorus
when
the Savior shall appear.
Get oil within your vessel! Jesus said to watch
and pray,
and you'll find there's glory all along
the straight and narrow
way.