W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest

face and govern themselves accordingly. The post-millennialists tell me that we must make a millennium on the
earth and after it runs a thousand years the Lord will come and take the world; I. e., we are to make the
Millennium and give it to Him, whereas the Bible clearly reveals that He is to bring the Millennium and give it
to us. It is a significant fact that Jesus commands us all to be constantly looking for Him. This was true of the
Apostles and the primitive Church; they looked for Him constantly as long as they lived. The Post-Millennialists
are not looking for Hi m now and with this view cannot look for Him until the Millennium has come and run its
happy thousand years and is numbered with the annals before the flood.
Our Lord commands us frequently over and over to be always ready and watching for Him, and pronounces a
terrible woe on the people who are unwatchful, saying, “My Lord delayeth His coming,” Matt. 24:50. He
actually pronounces such a man a wicked servant and says that his Lord will come in a day he does not look for
Him, at an hour he does not expect Him, and will cut him off and appoint him his part with the unbelievers and
hypocrites, and “there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” I know nothing except what the
Lord tells me, therefore I would rather this moment seal my fate with my blood than to believe anything that
would put me in an attitude of disobedience. The post-millennial view of the Lord's coming is absolutely
incompatible with that constant outlook for His appearing which He has positively commanded, more frequently
than anything else. Beloved, shall we not all take God at His word and look for Jesus every moment and, by His
wonderful redeeming grace and sanctifying power, be constantly robed and ready to meet Him at His glorious
coming?
(19.) ”APOSTASY” is also another of the twenty-seven dime booklets. A subtle heresy has somewhat
pervaded the ranks of the holiness people, assuming that the forfeiture of sanctification necessarily and
invariably deprives you of your justification, bringing you under condemnation and relegating you back into the
kingdom of Satan. This view really saps the very foundation of the Movement by actually nullifying the second
work of grace, without which we certainly have no holiness people on the earth in contradistinction to the
justified. A momentary analysis will enable you to see the possibility of this statement. If simultaneous forfeiture
of justification and sanctification be true, then the Zinzendorfians are right in their hypothesis of simultaneous
reception.
As Israel had two crossings in her journey from Egypt to Canaan, and we know that apostasy means
retrogression over the ground we traverse in our escape from Satan's bondage, then there must be two crossings
in the retrogression of Israel from Canaan back to Egypt. They assume that we cannot commit a sin without
losing our sanctification, which we frankly admit. Then they go on and tell us that every known sin brings us
under condemnation and forfeits our justification. Therefore they conclude that every sin committed by
sanctified people forfeits not only sanctification, but justification, too; this we frankly admit. Their argument is
true, but they have a false premise, which in every case must produce a false conclusion, even though the
reasoning be correct. That false premise is the assumption that we lose sanctification by committing some
known sin, which is not true at all. The fact is the sanctification must be lost before you ever get your consent to
do wrong.
If your sanctification were on hand, you would die in your tracks rather than do anything which your conscience
condemns. Sanctification is not forfeited by a willing act of sin, but by the inadvertent leakage of love, and
ambition of depravity, imparted by evil spirits around you, both excarnate and incarnate. In this way, and by
unwatchfulness, the Holy Ghost is grieved away, as in the case of Samson, who knew not that the Spirit of the
Lord had departed from him till he found himself utterly incompetent to whip the Philistines. So in this way
sanctified people grieve away the Holy Spirit, lose their power to resist temptation, and the moment they
commit a known sin their justification is gone; whereas the Sanctifier had been grieved away sometime
previously and consequently Satan, too strong for you, gains the victory over you and takes you captive. This is
a great practical truth and ought to be understood by all the holiness people. For the want of special light and
Biblical instruction at this point, the Holiness people are fast dropping down the standard to the normal level of
regeneration.
(20.) ”THE BIBLE” This booklet expounds the great work which the Holy Ghost does through the medium of
His Bible. Paul says, “All Scripture is God-breathed,” I. e., it is the very breath of God, thus settling forever the
controverted question of its plenary, verbal inspiration. It is of the greatest importance that we ascertain the