TEMPTATION AND HOLINESS

     We desire now to notice how a holy person can be tempted. If there is nothing of carnality within that can be appealed to, how can he be tempted? Again, how far can one go without losing his experience?

     1. God permits temptations, either to remind one afresh what grace has accomplished in his case or to reveal some defect. He tempteth no man, though His fiery trial detects and exposes the dross.

     It is quite easy to see how one could be tempted while carnal principles remained within, because as long as a carnal tendency remains, it can be appealed to. But now we come to one who has not only been saved from sinful desires, but from the very germ that would hatch out a desire. There is nothing but love filling such a heart.

     If this be true, how can such an individual be tempted? We answer, just the same as Adam and Eve (who were holy) could be tempted. Just the same as Jesus, who was not only human but divine, could be tempted.

     "Power to commit sin is essential to temptation. Man is a moral being; he is therefore capable of moral action. A moral action is the voluntary act of an intelligent agent; and the volition or action must be right or wrong according to some moral standard in the universe. If power to do the contrary does not exist in the agent at the time the violation is put forth, there is no moral merit in the act; therefore, power to sin is requisite to all moral merit. Power to sin is not a vice nor even an imperfection; but a virtue of a very high quality. If God gave me the power to do wrong that I might have the power to do right (which He surely did), then I am to recognize that power as a divine gift and act accordingly."

     We must discriminate between a possibility to sin and a tendency or bent toward sinning. Jesus could have sinned, but that is no proof that sinful propensities existed in Him. The same can be said of all who are pure in heart.

     The possibility of sin must be presupposed in any individual before we can conceive of his being tempted. But because he is subject to temptation, that does not necessarily imply the existence of any sinful tendency. God is the only being who is absolutely perfect. It is impossible for Him to sin. "He can not be tempted." It is contrary to His nature. If it had been impossible for Jesus to sin, then He would not have been human. The possibility in Jesus to sin never became an actual fact. Thank God! Through grace, the same may be said of redeemed man.

     But if there remains no tendency to sin why are even the pure in heart directed to "Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation"? Even Paul felt the need of saying, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

     We are on probation. All human needs and desires, though in themselves lawful and innocent, become sources of danger unless steadily guarded.

     2. How far can a person go without losing his experience?

     Holiness is not such an ethereal thing as to slip away under every test and unpleasant circumstance. One may do or leave undone things that call forth a reproof of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps on a "lawful" point, he rashly says or does something. Afterward he looks back and feels that he did not do the best thing. His conscience is very tender and he feels badly about it. The Spirit (and sometimes the devil) magnifies it and makes it look still more serious. The erring one is very sorry for it, and solemnly promises God that it shall never be repeated. God takes him at his word and passes the thing by as a fault. As time goes by, perhaps the same thing is repeated. Again the Spirit reproves him, but after a time of fasting, weeping, and praying, confidence regains her former strength and God excuses the thing as before.

     Clean souls suffer more remorse from wounding their consciences once, than backslidden souls do in yielding time and again. We are not prepared to say how often a sanctified soul can call forth a reproof of the Spirit on the same point and not lose his experience. We would not like to say more than twice. It largely depends upon the amount of light the person has. One person might lose his experience much more easily than another. However, no conscientious soul is anxious to experiment. He wants to keep as far away from the precipice as possible.

     Some people are continuously harassed and tormented for fear they might lose their experiences. Their time is largely occupied in praying over their old weaknesses, or examining some of the devil's scarecrows. This is dishonoring to God, and often opens an inlet to unbelief -- the first carnal principle to enter a holy heart. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth, is not made perfect in love." Has God not said, "If in anything ye be otherwise minded," He will "reveal even this unto you"? Let God's responsibility alone.

     It is His business to let light shine, and your business to walk in it. It is His business to make duty very plain, and your business to quickly obey. It is His business to convict you on any line that is for your good, and it is your business to keep yourself open and glad to receive such conviction. It is His business to upset your plans, and reprove you when you are about to do, or already have done something that would injure your experience; and it is your business to move so softly and conscientiously that He can easily carry out His own blessed designs. Such souls never need lose their experiences.

     This is rest of faith. This is letting God fight His own battles. This is being "hid with Christ in God." Few have ever dug deep enough to find this place; and fewer have lived holy long enough to retain such an inheritance; but, thank God, it is a glorious possibility. Grace is enabling the writer to prove it. Hallelujah!