Scriptural Sanctification - Media Sabda Org

Peter's case illustrates the meaning of our Lord and the truth of his declaration. He seems to have
been the most candid and teachable, the most earnest and obedient, of his first twelve followers. He
seemed ever willing and anxious to know and do God's will, as it was revealed to him by his Master.
He promptly followed Jesus at his first call, and on all occasions seems to have been foremost in his
devotion to him and his cause. And we find, hence, that he was first to become convinced of his
divinity and Messiahship. At least, he was first to openly avow his faith. For when Jesus asked them
all, "Whom do ye say that I am?" Peter promptly replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God." The rejoinder of our Lord is significant and instructive: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." He knew this not
from the testimony of men or that of Christ's miracles merely -- for the others had these as well as
he -- but from a direct communication from God to his spiritual consciousness -- an experience of
the fact derived from the experiment of doing God's will.
Paul's case is another illustration in point. His history and declaration not only prove that he was
all along willing and anxious to know God's will, but also that he was trying to do it as he then
understood it. He undoubtedly came up to his creed, living "in all good conscience" while
persecuting the Church. For, he says, "I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things
contrary to the name of Jesus," unconsciously fulfilling the prophecy of his Lord that, "the time
cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." The language of his heart
to God before his arrest on the Damascan road was doubtless that which he then addressed to our
Lord: "What wilt thou have me to do?" As a result, Jesus appeared unto him, and, by both an
objective and subjective revelation, imparted a knowledge of his Messiahship and of Paul's duty -an
experimental as well as a theoretical knowledge of his divinity and power to save.
Cornelius, the devout and guileless; the earnest and candid Gentile, who "feared God and wrought
righteousness" up to his creed -- did God's will as he understood it -- and who wanted to know it
more perfectly, had such fuller revelation made to him by Peter and the Holy Ghost at Caesarea. And
Paul teaches, in Romans xii. 1, 2, that consecration to the work of doing God's will and the spiritual
transformation that results therefrom will enable us to "prove," or, as Dr. Clarke puts it, "have
practical proof and experimental knowledge of the will of God."
It is believed that in this way the truth of nearly or quite all the doctrines of Christianity may be
tested; that the man who earnestly and conscientiously improves the light he has, let it be much or
little, shall have that light increased until he has "abundance" for all his need. This is in harmony
with the general law relating to God's gifts, so often stated by our Lord, and as it is written in nature
and runs through the spiritual realm, namely, that improvement conditions increase -- that use insures
enlargement: "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance."
It is believed that in this way the sincere atheist may "feel after" and surely "find" our God, and
that the honest skeptic and Jew may come to believe in our Bible and the Messiah of the New
Testament. And it is confidently claimed that the troubled penitent may in this way find promised
pardon, and the renewed soul be lifted to the heights where perpetual sunshine and perennial peace
will be his heritage. In this way one can by experiment test the truth of these doctrines, from the
basal one of God's existence to the crowning one of the believer's privilege to be thoroughly saved
from sin and completely filled with the Spirit of love and power.