PRESERVED BLAMELESS
by A.B. Simpson
“I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved
blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Faithful is he that calleth you who also will
do it” (I Thess. 5:23, 24)
It is one thing for the ship to weigh her anchor and spread
her spotless canvas to the breeze, and sail away with pennons
flying and hearts and hopes beating high with expectation;
it is another thing to meet the howling tempest and the angry
sea and to enter the distant port. The first experience many—perhaps
most of us—have begun, but what shall the issues be?
And what promises have we for the voyage and the haven? How
will all this seem tomorrow, and tomorrow, and six months
hence, when the practical tests of life shall have proved
our theories and measured the real living power of our principles
of life and action? We have been sanctified wholly: how shall
we be preserved blameless? Thank God, there is the same provision
for both, and to both the closing promise applies: “Faithful
is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Let us look at
God’s provision for His consecrated people and the conditions
on which these promises depend.
I. THE PROMISE OF OUR PRESERVATION.
We find it in the Old Testament benediction: “The Lord bless
thee and keep thee”; we find it again and again in the psalms
and prophets: “The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord shall preserve
thy soul, he shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth and even for evermore.” Even to poor,
vacillating Jacob He swears, “I am with thee and will keep
thee in all places whithersoever thou goest, for I will not
leave thee until I have done unto thee all that I have spoken
to thee of.” Of His vineyard He declares: “I, the Lord, do
keep it. I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it I
will keep it night and day.” “He will keep the feet of his
saints,” Hannah sings in her song of triumph. And even in
our halting, David declares that “the righteous, though he
fall, shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand.” For those who abide in closer fellowship,
Isaiah declares, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.” This
was also the Saviour’ s prayer before He left the disciples:
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
And so Peter declares that we are “kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation.” Paul tells us of the “peace
of God that passeth all understanding that will keep our hearts
and minds (as with a garrison) through Jesus Christ.” And
Jude dedicates his epistle to those “who are sanctified by
God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus,” and closes
with a doxology to Him who is “able to keep us from stumbling
and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy.” The great Apostle opens his last epistle
with the triumphant confession, “I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him against that day,” and closes with the yet
bolder declaration, “The Lord shall deliver me from every
evil work and shall preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.”
Such, then, are some of the promises of God’s preserving grace.
II. THE PROVISION MADE FOR OUR PRESERVATION.
- It is made in the atonement of Christ, “for by one offering,”
we are told, “he has perfected forever all them that are
sanctified.” The death of Christ has purchased our complete
and final salvation if we are wholly yielded to Him and
do not wilfully take ourselves out of His hands and renounce
His grace and faithfulness.
- The intercession of Christ. “Wherefore,” it is said,
“he is able to save to the uttermost” or, as it is in the
margin, “for evermore all them that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” It
is because He ever liveth to make intercession that they
are kept; because He lives we shall live also. This is the
Apostle’s meaning when he declares that “if, when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by his death, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” And so,
in the 8th of Romans, he declares: “It is Christ who died,
yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God who also maketh intercession for us.” And then
comes the shout, “Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?“
- The blood of Christ secures our preservation. For John
declares, “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with the other and the blood of Jesus
Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” The old ordinance
of the red heifer, in the 19th of Numbers, is a beautiful
type of Christ’s cleansing power. The ashes were preserved
and mixed with water, and used as a water of separation,
sprinkled upon the unclean, and separating from defilement
which had been contracted after the cleansing. It did not
refer to the original cleansing, but to the taint which
came from the touch of the dead. And so we, though wholly
separated from evil, and dedicated to God, are constantly
coming into contact with evil, and incurring defilement
from the elements which surround us on every hand, and need
constantly, like the washing of the disciples’ feet, or
the bathing every morning of the flower-cup in the crystal
dewdrop, a fresh application of His blood. If you ask what
this blood means, the answer, perhaps, is a double one.
First, it is the fresh application of His atoning sacrifice
by faith. But more, it is an appropriation of His life to
our being, for “the blood is the life.” So the blood of
Jesus is His risen and divine life imparted to us by the
inbreathing of the Holy Spirit and the absorbing power of
a living faith. His pure life filling us expels all evil,
and continually renews and refreshes our entire being, keeping
us ever clean and pure, even as the fresh oil in the lamp
maintains the flame, or as the running stream washes and
keeps the pebble pure which lies at the sandy bottom.
- The abiding presence of Christ and the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit are God’s chief sources of preservation
for His trusting people. It is He who keeps and He keeps
from within. “I will put my Spirit within you, and will
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my statutes
and do them.” “He that abideth in me and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit.” “He that abideth in him sinneth
not.” “The Lord is thy keeper; he shall preserve thee from
all evil.” There is a fine translation of the familiar passage
in the 3rd chapter of I John: “He that is born of God sinneth
not, for he that was begotten of God keepeth him, and that
wicked one toucheth him not.” The presence of Jesus comes
between us and every temptation, and meets the adversary
with vigilant discernment, rejection and victory.
III. CONDITIONS ON WHICH GOD’S KEEPING DEPENDS.
There are conditions. All God’s promises are linked with
certain attitudes on our part. It is the willing mind and
the surrendered heart that are assured of God’s protection
and grace. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble.” “He that abideth in him sinneth not.” That which
is “committed” to Him He is able to keep. The principle of
spiritual perseverance has never been better stated than in
Samuel’s language to Saul three thousand years ago: “If you
will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice, and not
rebel against the commandment of the Lord; then shall both
ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following
the Lord your God.”
More particularly if we would be preserved blameless,
- Let us expect to be preserved. If we go out anticipating
failure we shall have it; or, at least, we shall never know
certainly but that the next temptation we meet is the one
in which we are to fall; and as the chain is never stronger
than its weakest link, we shall be sure to fall. It is the
prestige of an army that secures its victory; it is the
quickening assurance that it has never been defeated that
carries it irresistibly against the foe.
- Let us also expect to be tempted. Most persons, after
a step of faith, are looking for sunny skies and unruffled
seas, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled
with astonishment and perplexity. But this is just what
we must expect to meet if we have received anything of the
Lord. The best token of His presence is the adversary’s
defiance, and the more real our blessing, the more certainly
will it be challenged. It is a good thing to go out looking
for the worst, and if it comes we are not surprised; while
if our path be smooth and our way be unopposed, it is all
the more delightful, because it comes as a glad surprise.
But let us quite understand what we mean by temptation.
You, especially, who have stepped out with the assurance
that you have died to self and sin, may be greatly amazed
to find yourself assailed with a tempest of thoughts and
feelings that seem to come wholly from within, and you will
be impelled to say, “Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem
to be alive.” This, beloved, is the time to remember that
temptation has power to penetrate our inmost being with
thoughts and feelings that seem to be our own, but are really
the instigations of the evil one. “We wrestle with principalities
and powers”; that is to say, they twine themselves around
us as wrestlers do about the limbs of their opponents, until
they seem to be a part of ourselves. This is the essence
of temptation, and we are almost constrained to conclude
that the evil is within ourselves, and that we are not cleansed
and sanctified as we had believed. Do not wonder if you
are assailed with temptation that comes to you in the most
subtle forms, the most insinuating feelings, the most plausible
insinuations, and apparently through your inmost being and
nature.
- Remember that temptation is not sin unless it be accompanied
with the consent of your will. There may seem to be even
the inclination, and yet the real choice of your spirit
is fixed immovably against it; and God regards it simply
as a solicitation, and credits you with an obedience all
the more pleasing to Him, because the temptation was so
strong. We little know how evil can find access to a pure
nature, and seem to incorporate itself with our thoughts
and feelings, while at the same time we resist and overcome
it, and remain as pure as the sea-fowl that emerges from
the water without a single drop remaining upon its burnished
wing, or as the harp string, which may be struck by a rude
and clumsy hand and gives forth a discordant sound, not
from any defect of the harp, but because of the hand that
touches it. Let but the master’s hand play upon it and it
is a fountain of melody and a chord of exquisite delight.
Now, the truth is that these inner thoughts and suggestions
of evil do not spring from our own spirit at all if truly
sanctified, but are the voices of the tempter, and we must
learn to discriminate between his suggestions and our choices,
and declare: “I do not accept; I do not consent; I am not
responsible; I will not sin; I reckon myself still dead
indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ.”
There is a most beautiful incident related in the annals
of the early Church, by Mrs. Jamieson, of a holy and exceedingly
beautiful maiden in Antioch who became the object of the
sinful passion of a heathen nobleman. Unable to win her
affection, he employed a magician to throw over her a fatal
spell and win her in the toils of his snare. The magician
himself became enamored of the fair girl, and sold himself
to the devil on condition that he should be given power
to captivate her with unholy passion. And so he began to
apply all his arts, and throw over her mind the fascinating
spell of his own imaginations. Suddenly the poor girl found
herself, like a charmed bird, possessed by feelings and
apparently by passions to which she had always been a stranger.
Her pure heart was horrified by constant visions from which
her whole being recoiled, and yet it seemed to her that
she must herself be polluted and degraded; and she began
to lose all hope and to stand on the verge of a despair
which was impelling her to throw herself away in hopeless
abandonment to the power which possessed her. In this condition
of mind she went to see her bishop, and it is recorded that
the good man, with quick discernment, immediately pointed
out to her that these influences and feelings were not from
her own heart at all, but spells from the will of another,
and that their only power consisted in her fears and her
recognition of them as her own; and if she would stand firm
in her will, refusing in the name of the Lord to acknowledge
them as her thoughts, and disdaining either to fear them
or for a moment to consent to them, their power would be
wholly broken. Unutterably comforted by this wise counsel,
she returned to her home and set her face, in the strength
of Christ, against these allurements of evil, and immediately
she found them broken; and soon after the magician himself
became conscious that his power was ended, came to her in
deep contrition, confessing his sin, and asking her forgiveness
and her prayers, and, it is said, afterwards yielded himself
to the Lord, convicted by the triumph of the grace of Christ
through a pure and trusting will. This little incident tells
the whole story. Let us never reckon any temptation to be
our own sin, but stand steadfast in our purpose, and God
will give us the victory.
- Let us therefore continually reckon ourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, detach our spirit from every evil thing
that touches it, tell the devil that these are his children,
not ours, that he lays at our doors, refuse to acknowledge
any relationship with them, keep the hatches down when the
billows sweep the deck, and sail on not fearing the worst
as long as they do not get into the hold of our little vessel;
and as we reckon, Christ will reckon, and make the reckoning
true for us.
- But above all our reckonings respecting ourselves let
us reckon Christ to be in us and recognize Him as the indwelling
Life and Keeper of our spirit, soul and body. It is a great
principle that where we recognize God, there God will meet
us. Recognize Him in the heavens, He will meet us in the
heavens; recognize Him by our side and He will speak to
us from beside us; recognize Him in our inmost heart and
He will meet us there. Let us meet Him as an abiding presence,
trust Him as a faithful Keeper. Let us set the Lord always
before us, and say with the Psalmist: “Because he is at
my right hand, therefore I shall not be moved.”
- If we would be preserved blameless let us abide in the
love of Christ. Let us persuade ourselves that He loves
us infinitely and perfectly, and that He delights in us
continually, and is wholly committed to us to carry us through
and fulfil in us all the good pleasure of His will. Let
us not think that we must wring from Him, by hard constraint
and persuasion, the blessings which our faith compels, but
that He has set His heart on our highest good, and that
He is working out for us, in His loving purpose, all that
we can receive of blessing. Lying like John, in His bosom,
let us each reckon ourselves to be the disciple whom Jesus
loved, and, like Enoch, let us claim by faith the testimony
that we please God, and looking up with confidence we shall
find His responsive smile and benediction. The true secret
of pleasing God is to trust Him, to believe in His love
to us, to be artless children, and to count ourselves beloved
of God.
- If we would be preserved blameless, let us remember that
God’s will for us is not a hard and impossible task but
a reasonable; practicable and gentle standard, and that
He is not continually frowning upon us because we cannot
reach some astonishing height, or imitate some prodigy of
martyrdom and service, but He expects of us a simple, faithful
life in the quiet sphere which He has assigned to us; and
that we are truly blameless in His sight when we are following,
moment by moment, His perfect will in life’s duties as they
meet us. He adapts the standard of duty according to our
circumstances and ability. The parent expects less of the
lisping child than the teacher does of the older student
or the employer does of the full-grown man. God knows our
strength and capacity, and His will is adapted to our growth,
and His “yoke is easy and his burden light.” Therefore,
let us not reprove ourselves because we have not yet reached
some ideal that, by and by, we shall have attained to. Are
we meeting His will today and saying “yes” to His claims
as the moments pass? Then, indeed, we are blameless in His
sight. At the same time, let us not allow this comfort to
allure us to a false extreme. If, on the other hand, God
is pressing us forward by His Spirit to higher reaches,
let us not be content with less, for we shall not be blameless
unless we press forward, that we may apprehend all for which
we are apprehended of Christ Jesus. With many of us, God
is not finding fault for actual disobedience, perhaps, but
for shortcoming and a too easy content with past attainments.
The great question is, Are we obedient to the voice of His
Spirit as He calls us onward, step by step?
- Implicit obedience to every voice of God and every conviction
of duty is essential to a blameless life. One moment’s hesitation
to obey, one act of wilful disobedience, will plunge us
into darkness, and withdraw His conscious presence from
the heart, and leave the soul disarmed and exposed to temptation
and sin. They that have become wholly sanctified have given
up the right of self-will and disobedience forever, and
it is not to be thought of even for a moment that we should
hesitate to say “yes” to His every voice. True, we may not
know His voice at all times, but in such cases He will always
give us time. But when we are convicted of His will and
convinced of His way for us, there is no alternative but
obedience or a fearful fall and a complete loss of the divine
communion.
- If we would be preserved blameless we must preserve ceaseless
communion with God, and abide in the spirit of prayer and
fellowship through the Holy Spirit, for thus alone shall
we be led out into all the steppings of His will and kept
blameless and fully obedient. The interruption of our communion
for an hour might lose a step, and that lost step might
lead us from the pathway of His perfect will and the fellowship
of His presence for days to come, or, at least, leave us
a step behind, and therefore not blameless.
- Further, if we would be kept, we must maintain a quiet
spirit, free from the turmoil and agitation of anxious care
and inward strife, and still enough to always hear His voice.
“The peace of God shall garrison your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.” This is the soul’s defense if we would be
preserved blameless; therefore let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, and regard with apprehension and alarm even
a moment’s interruption of your quietness and inward rest.
- If we would be kept we must jealously guard our hearts
and thoughts, and not feel ourselves at liberty to drift
into the current of all the imaginations that are ever ready
to sweep through the brain, and the idle words in which
even Christian people are always ready to involve us. If
you are walking closely with God, and watching for His voice
you will be quickly conscious of a constraint, a weight
upon your mind, a repression upon your heart, a deep tender
sense of God’s anxiety for His child—the mother calling
her little birdlings to her soft wing from the place of
peril. Truly “He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his soul.”
These outward gates are places of danger, and the path of
safety is a hidden one.
- If we would be preserved blameless we must not live by
long intervals, but by the breath and by the moment. Each
instant must be dedicated and presented to God, a ceaseless
sacrifice, and each breath be poured into His bosom and
received back from His being.
- If we would be preserved blameless we must learn to recover
instantly from failure by frank confession and prompt faith
and recommittal. It is possible to catch ourselves before
we have really fallen, and God does not count it a fall
if we do not yield to it. Unseen hands are ever near to
bear us up, even when we dash our foot against a stone;
the remedy is found even before the danger has become effectual.
There is provision for every failure in the blessed promise,
“If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
There is something higher and better than this, viz., the
grace that is able to keep us from stumbling, and check
us even before the fall is accomplished. So He is willing
to keep us even as the apple of the eye, reminded of the
danger before it has become fatal, and instinctively closing
the eyelids against its intrusion.
- Finally, let us remember that the whole spirit, soul
and body must be trained to abide in Christ. The life He
gives us is not a self-contained endowment but a link of
dependence, and every part of our being must continually
draw its replenishment and nurture from our living Head,
and thus be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our LORD
JESUS CHRIST.