Five Operations of the Holy Spirit Part 23
The experience of sanctification is progressive, being worked out over a period of time.
We do not obtain victory in a moment. We must be patient with God as He works through the dark recesses of our nature. Our heart is desperately wicked. Only the Holy Spirit can know the depths of the deceit of our personality.
He brings the blood of the cross ever deeper into our heart, exposing chains of darkness unknown to us but constantly manifesting themselves in our actions, words, motives, and imaginations.
The darkness is there in each of us. It is the will of God that His saints be purified until they are as refined gold. Absolute purity is required by the Lord God of Heaven and He is producing such purity in each member of the Body of Christ. Our task is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He exposes the sins and gives us wisdom and strength in dealing with them.
There are times when we are required to make restitution. Our selfishness and sinfulness may cause us to hurt others, to steal from them, to withhold forgiveness from them, or to otherwise add to their troubles. In such cases the Holy Spirit may lead us to go to them, seeking their forgiveness. When He does impress us to make restitution we must obey. If we do not we fall back into darkness.
Whenever we disobey the Holy Spirit we bring judgment on ourselves. If we want the blood of Jesus to keep on cleansing us we must continue to walk in the light of obedience to God. Our state of being forgiven and being cleansed is dependent on our continuing to obey the Lord.
We never are allowed to retain unforgiveness in our heart toward another person. No matter what someone may have done to us, we are not permitted to hold a grudge against him or to seek his harm. Many Christians fail in pursuit of the life of victory in Christ because they are filled with unforgiveness and bitterness.
Each of us from time to time becomes offended. We receive a wound, either in the world or in the church. Although it sometimes appears impossible, there is enough Divine virtue in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to enable us to forgive everyone—to overcome all evil with the good of the body and blood of Christ.
If we allow ourselves to slip down into the bottomless pit of bitterness, unforgiveness, and hatred, we are approaching the fires of Hell.
We must forgive everyone. If we do not, we walk out from under the protection of the blood of Christ. If we do not forgive people their transgressions against us our heavenly Father will not forgive our transgressions against Himself. If someone offends us we are to go to the individual and tell him or her that they have hurt us. If they refuse to make peace with us we are to take with us the elders of the church. If the person who offended us will not reason properly with the elders, the offending person is to be treated as an unbeliever.
We are to keep away from those who have lied to us and stolen from us. We are not to make it possible for them to harm us a second time. If they come to us and ask our forgiveness, we are to forgive them. If they do not ask forgiveness but continue in defiance, then we are to keep away from them. We also must not permit hatred in any form to take possession of us. We leave the offending person in the hands of the Lord. The Lord will avenge us if we refuse to avenge ourselves.
There arise occasions when we are bound so tightly in a certain area of sin that we are unable to confess to God or to cease our sinning. Sometimes we must confess to our husband or wife. This can be difficult to do because it is humbling. When we are in spiritual bondage we may need the assistance of the members of the Body of Christ.
We must be careful, however, if we are guilty of a sin toward another person, such as our husband or wife, that we do not tell them something that will relieve our own burden of guilt but will give them a terrible weight to carry. Sometimes it is best to just confess our sin to God and turn away from it.
We can go to an older Christian of our same sex and confess to him or her our need for help. The older Christian then can pray for discernment and strength to enable us to open up and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the source of the trouble. We and our helper can confess the sin together and the Lord will give release. It is good for us to confess our sins one to another. In so doing there is power available for our healing, both physical and spiritual (James 5:16).
There is no sin we commit that the Lord Jesus cannot overcome through the provisions He has made for our redemption. He will touch us now no matter what our problem may be if we will confess our need. Otherwise we will remain huddled in our dark prison even though God is willing to open the door so we can walk out into the glorious light of His Presence and fellowship.
We Christians are as Lazarus. We have been raised from the dead but we still are bound with the grave clothes of sin. Our salvation is not complete until the grave clothes have been removed.
Jesus did not walk away from Lazarus after He had raised him from the dead, stating that Lazarus had to remain bound as long as he was in the world. Rather, He commanded those standing by to release Lazarus from the bindings.
Neither does Jesus abandon us after we have been saved, saying He is powerless to help us further. He has commanded that we be loosed. If we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will begin to remove the grave clothes of sin from us, often using other people to stir up Satan in us or to pray for us for deliverance.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (I John 2:6)
The above verse means we are to behave as Jesus behaved and to do what He taught, as described in the four Gospel accounts. We Christians have come to realize the impossibility of imitating and obeying Christ in our own strength. But by the grace of God and the working of His Spirit the program of redemption is leading us step by step into keeping the Word of Christ.