One of the strongest proofs that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, is the fact that its delineations of the soul, and every variety of character so perfectly corresponds with the inward conditions and operations of the human heart, both in sin and in holiness. The Holy Spirit always works in souls exactly according to His own pattern, which He has set forth in Scripture. There are several places in the New Testament where we have a kind of a portrait of spiritual experiences which go to makeup a full Christian character and life. One of these passages is found in the first five verses of the fifth of Romans. In the first verse we have justification, and in the second verse sanctification, and in the third, tribulation, and then through the remainder of the text the outworking by various steps of a mature life in the love of God. The subject of sanctification has been so fully and ably written upon by many in recent years, that most who read this book may be familiar with that matter. But there is a field of experience in the outworking and maturing of the life of sanctification that has been comparatively neglected by spiritual writers. Hence, in this exposition we want to allow sufficient space for the first and second verses, and take more time for the unfolding those deeper processes of grace which are subsequent to the first entrance upon the Canaan or heavenly life.

1. The subject in the first verse of the passage under consideration is that of justification by faith. In order to better understand this subject we must remember that the Scriptures teach four kinds of justification. The saintly John Fletcher wrote a very able essay upon these four kinds of justification over a hundred years ago, but his wonderful writings were unfortunately brought out in connection with the great theological controversies of his times, which have hindered them from the circulation they merited. We have space only to briefly outline this branch of our subject. Remember that justification covers a larger ground than sanctification, for it must begin previous to sanctification, and run on through all the life of faith, and extend out into all the actions of life, and it culminates when the believer is judged at the second coming of Christ, and stands forever acquitted by the rewards given by the Savior. To justify in a human court is to prove one's innocence. But to justify by grace, is to confess the guilt and be acquitted through the merit of Jesus, who was the sinners substitute on the cross. The first justification is that by which all the infants of the human race are fully acquitted of any guilt from the sin of Adam. It is true that all infants begotten of a human father are born with a fallen, sinful nature, but there is not imputed to their account any guilt or any action from Adam. This is the kind of justification Paul speaks of when he says, "That as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. 5:18. Now you notice that this kind of justification of infants is universal, it has at one time passed upon all men. And you also observe, that it is without any faith, and without any good works, but "the free gift to every child of our race," because Jesus is the second Adam, and has redeemed all men from condemnation, because of the sins of Adam. Hence, if we now sin, we bring upon us our own guilt, which necessitates another kind of justification.

Now the second justification set forth in Scripture, is by faith alone for the penitent sinner, in which good works can merit nothing. To be justified by faith, is to give up ourselves as utterly lost and undone, and to receive Jesus as our substitute, bearing our death-penalty on the cross, and then the Father remits our sins purely and only on the ground that His Son suffered in our stead. When our sins are pardoned, then the Holy Spirit can regenerate us; for in the nature of things, the new birth could not take place in us till our guilt is removed and we are in a right, a lawful relation with God. Saint Paul writes more upon justification by faith than all the rest of Scripture writers beside.

The third kind of justification is that of the believer after he is saved, and which is by faith and works conjoined. This is the kind of justification that Saint James writes about. It has puzzled a great many people that Saint James, in his epistle, should say, over and over again, that we are justified by works (Jas. 2:1425). Even the great Martin Luther said that James "wrote an epistle of straw" on the subject of justification. Remember, Luther was just emerging from Romanism, which teaches salvation by penance, and the great reformer did not understand, in his day, the difference between the justification which is by faith in Christ alone, and the subsequent justification in the ongoing daily life of the Christian, which must be proved by good works to accompany faith. Saint Paul elaborates the justification by which we become Christians, and Saint James emphasizes the justification accompanied by good works, by which we prove we are Christians' and continue to be such. Let me call your attention to a very singular thing upon this subject, in connection with Abraham. Saint Paul brings Abraham on the witness stand, to prove that 'Ve are justified by faith alone, without works" (Rom. 4:1-13), and then Saint James brings Abraham on the witness stand to prove "that we are justified by works" ( James 3:21). How can they both be true? It is plain enough if you will just consider that Paul refers to Abraham's justification at the beginning of his spiritual life, before he was circumcised; and James refers to Abraham's justification nearly forty years afterward, in connection with his obedience, by which he proved and maintained his justification. So both are true, taken at the stages in Abraham's life to which they apply. Now, do you not see how easy it is for ignorant people to think the Bible contradicts itself, when there is no contradiction?

The fourth kind of justification will be at the second coming of Jesus, when the saints are judged, and their good works will be examined, not for the purpose of saving, but for the purpose of rewarding. This is the kind which Jesus refers to in speaking of the judgment, "by thy words thou shalt be justified, or by thy words thou shalt be condemned," When we pass that last great justification at the judgment-seat of Christ, and hear our Savior- Judge say, "Well done," that will be the last, and the everlasting justification of the soul.

Now, you see the first justification of infants, is without any faith and without any works, and relates to the souls exemption from the guilt of Adam's transgression. The second justification -- 'that of the penitent -- is by faith alone, and relates to our own actions -- the pardon of our personal offences. The third justification is that of the saved believer, and is by faith and works combined, and it relates to the obedience of a child of God. The fourth justification is by works alone, for only works are mentioned in the judgment, and this justification has reference to rewards for service. Thus, justification is a larger subject than many suppose.

2. Sanctification. The apostle says that after being justified by faith, and having peace with God, there is more to follow: "By whom also (that is, in addition to pardon) we have access by faith into this grace (that is, the sanctifying grace), wherein we stand and rejoice, in hope of the glory of God." It is true, the word sanctification is not found in this verse, but that special "grace' is described as standing firm, or being rooted in Christ, and in the joy and hope of the glory of God which is to be revealed. The special feature of sanctification to be noticed in this verse is, that it is "by faith," just the same as the penitent's justification is by faith. The word "access" indicates a doorway. There is no entrance way into true sanctification except by simple faith in the all-cleansing blood of Jesus. Growth simply enlarges and unfolds a life, or a principle, but does not purify. The growth of a child does not cure it of hereditary disease. In like manner, the growth of a Christian, in and of itself, can never purge out the carnal nature. Good works cannot sanctify the heart, for in that case salvation would come through human action instead of being a divine gift. Thousands of Christians have tried in various ways to get rid of the evil in their hearts by will-power, by growth, by good works, by sufferings, by repression, by sacraments, by gradual processes, but never has one entered into the calm, sweet rest of heart purity, except by the access or doorway of faith as mentioned by Paul. When all the souls resources are exhausted, and it comes to a place of perfect, everlasting abandonment to the will of God, and faith simply takes the Word Divine as a literal fact, that "our sanctification is God's will," and that 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin," then the Holy Spirit, in a moment, brings it to pass. Justification removes our actual sins, and sanctification purges out our native heart sinfulness. Justification takes us out of Egypt, and sanctification takes the lingering principles of Egypt out of us. In justification we cross the Red Sea, but by sanctification we cross the Jordan, into Canaan. The heavenly life is the Canaan life, and hence, you see, we do not enter in a very true sense till our hearts are made pure and the Holy Spirit brings us into the fruitful region of pure or unmixed religious love.

3. Tribulation, and its outworking in the sanctified life. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." No flower ever unfolded to the light of the sun more beautifully than these various words describe the unfolding of the successive forms of experience in the sanctified life. The saints of the Lord will be astonished to find a perfect photograph depicted in the order of these various words, of the lights and shadows, the joys and sorrows, the conflicts and conquests, and all the various problems in their hidden lives. Let us take time to examine each of these words separately, and see how precisely they find an echo in our experiences.

''Tribulation," The word signifies a flail, or threshing instrument, for beating the chaff from the pure, ripened grain. Remember, chaff is not a type of inbred sin, for it is something that is essential to grain in its milk state, and when growing. In a field of growing com. Scripture compares the heart to the ground, and the growing grain to Christian life, and weeds and briars to carnal affections; but the chaff, or husk, that envelopes the grain, represents those things in us which are essential in the infant stages of grace, but are found useless, and can be threshed away when the believer has reached Christian perfection. When the soul is first sanctified it lives for a period in a sort of heavenly honeymoon, which is distinctly set forth in the old Jewish law, providing that when a man married a wife, he was to be exempt from all public and military duties and hardships for one year, that he might live in undisturbed domestic joy. But after that, he must expect to take up the toils and trials of warfare, and, as Paul says, "endure hardness as a good soldier," That old Levitical law is the exact thought of this passage, that after the marvelous joys and bounding heavenly delights that come with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that in due time the soul will be led by one way or another, under the tribulum, or flail, that its chaff, which is now no longer needed, may be threshed away. After men grow the grain, and the baptism of warm sunshine has ripened and hardened it, then the husks, the straw, the chaff, is threshed from it, that it may be exported to distant markets. In like manner, when the believer has been purified and solidified, by the warm baptism of the Holy Ghost, there are many religious or mental infirmities, which need to be threshed out of him, to prepare him for exportation to the New Jerusalem. Please notice the following things as indicating what we may put down as the chaff, which many Christians have to get cured of after their sanctification. They are not of the nature of inbred sin, but of human weakness, and ignorance: Human theology. There never was a sanctified Christian that did not have to cast off some old narrow theology for broader truth. Rash judgments. Almost invariably souls, young in sanctification, form judgments of people and things too quickly. False zeal. Every old saint, on looking back, can see how he used to let his pious zeal run ahead of his knowledge. Using slang. How many hundreds of good, sanctified people have a habit of using slang, and punning on words and names that often is like dead flies in the ointment. Vacillation. This is a weakness in the will power' and often lingers with good people after sanctification. Severity of manner. Multitudes of souls who are sanctified have a harshness in their words and manners' to the great detriment of their usefulness. Touchiness. This is that mean weakness that Mr. Wesley was constantly urging professors of holiness to avoid. Imprudence. Many sanctified people lack sense and discretion and have to learn many things by hard thumps. Business negligence. Some of the greatest lights in promoting scriptural holiness are very poor financial managers' and get in debt or neglect business details, and have to be threshed into business sense. Fun. How many have crippled their experiences by giving way to fun, wit, sarcasm, until it was whipped out of them. Precipitation, or going too fast, or indolence, going too slow, have hindered many. These and many other things of a similar nature, are to be corrected by trials and rebukings, and humiliations, and hardships. The heart is washed from sin by the blood of Jesus, but the head is chastised from its narrowness and foolishness by a rod. You must not confound the washing of the heart with the teaching of the head. You cannot find a word in all Scripture about God washing the head. The Scriptures make no mistake, and they locate sanctification for the heart, and tribulation for the head. Divine providence can always find an appropriate thing to serve as a flail. He may use loss of property, or loss of friends, or health, or sore temptations, or persecution, or ostracism, or sore disappointment, or the misunderstanding of good people, or the bitter hatred of bad people, or things in the outer life, or things in the inner life, to become a flail, that beats away, either steadily or by spells, day after day, or week after week, or month after month, and sometimes for years, till all the graces are inured to trial. Sooner or later, all the principles that were involved in our entire consecration, have to be brought out and tested in some furnace, that they may be proved for the everlasting kingdom.

Separating the elements of chaff is not a cleansing, but a threshing, and, mark you, men never thresh grain while it is in the green, milk state, but only when the grain is grown and pure, and able to bear it.

"Tribulation worketh patience." This word "patience" should be, more properly, "endurance." Tribulation, or threshing, produces in the soul a hardihood, a toughness of fibre, so that it can endure all sorts of things with ease and calmness and sweetness of spirit. When the threshing first begins, the soul, though pure, is tender, and not accustomed to hard usage; but tribulation produces a heroic toughness. There is a youthfulness, a tender childhood, in the sanctified experience, just as truly as in the early days of our conversion. Occasionally, we come across some well-meaning preacher, or evangelist, who lacks knowledge in expounding divine things, and such persons sometimes unwisely present the first entrance into sanctification as being so perfect as to make it appear that every one who is pure in heart will be strong enough never to get wounded, or to get their feelings hurt, or keenly feel the thrusts of the adversary. This, says Mr. Wesley, is too strong. It is unscriptural. The passage we are considering teaches us that it is not the cleansing of the heart that makes the soul tough, but that it is a result of tribulation. Many a purified Christian has keenly felt the mean, unkind thrusts of dear relatives, of carnal preachers, and of those from whom they had a right to expect better treatment, and while they were free from resentment or bitterness, they have bled from many a stab, and in their secret chambers have poured out their feelings of loneliness, and perplexity, and distress, to the blessed Jesus, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15, 16). There are two kinds of sensitiveness: One is that mean trait of 'Touchiness," which takes offense at every slight or rebuke, and cannot bear to be corrected; but there is another kind which is simply a sense of injustice and unkindness, which is normal in any pure nature. Now tribulation will so toughen the tender, sensitive part of the soul as to make it endure injuries, unkindness, and ill-usage of all sorts so that it is not disturbed, but kept in a holy indifference as to how it is treated. If you take a stick and begin to beat the palm of your hand, in a few moments your hand will feel sore; but if you will give it a rest, and then beat it some more, with another resting spell, and keep up the process at intervals day after day, your hand will get hard and horny, so that you would hardly feel the piercing of a needle in it. That is exactly the thought expressed in this Scripture, that tribulation worketh endurance, or the flail produces toughness.

Remember, in all this threshing, God does not mean to injure your soul, but to separate from you some weakness, or error, or indiscretion, or excess, or foolishness, or babyishness, which sticks to you like chaff to rice" and of which you are perhaps not aware. You are precious to your Redeemer, and He loves you, and the chastening rod is a necessity to knock off some tight-fitting chaff. But, thank the Lord, the flailing will stop when the end has been accomplished. Isaiah refers to this when he says, that "the grain is threshed with a threshing instrument, and the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and bread corn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing it." Isa. 28:27, 28. At last the saint gets into a place where nothing hurts him, and he can "endure all things" with a sweet and patient spirit, and, in fact, pay no attention to a thousand injuries that used to greatly distress him.

"Patience worketh experienced" That is, toughness produces a deep inward knowledge of ourselves and the things of God. The Greek word rendered "experience" signifies "to prove," to demonstrate, to put things to a test. Our English word experience is made up of three Latin words -- ex (out from), per (yourself, your personality), and science (knowledge, or wisdom); that is, "experience" means knowledge, certainty, assurance, that you have acquired out of the depths of your own heart. Thus the spirit of endurance causes each Christian soul to search itself, the Bible and God's providence, and in secret prayer, in solitary meditations, to get acquainted with God, to prove His promises, to learn His ways, and to solve the great problems of life, all alone in the school of trial, till it comes forth as from a divine university, educated more thoroughly in immortal knowledge than all the schools of earth could have taught it. The word '"experience" not only means knowledge' but compound knowledge, knowledge that has been doubled by first going down into the heart, and then being wrought out in little details under manifold testings. Saint John refers to this double, or compound knowledge, when he says, "We do know that we know him." 1 John 2:3.

"Experience worketh hope," This word "hope" refers to a bright outlook and anticipation of good things to come at the coming of the Lord. In certain localities, especially in Scotland and New England, many people use the word "hope" in an improper sense to mean the new birth. They will speak of "getting a hope" when they refer to getting religion, or being pardoned. Such is not the meaning of the word hope in the New Testament. In Scripture the word "hope" refers to something in the future that we are firmly depending upon. The apostle distinctly says, "What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" Now, out of religious experience -- that is, if it be properly accompanied with Bible knowledge, -- 'there will spring forth a beautiful and strong expectation of receiving that vast inheritance promised to the overcoming believer. Did you ever count over the numerous things that are promised in Scripture to the overcoming saints? There is "victory over death, or if Jesus comes sooner than death, the promise of "translation" and "test in Paradise,"� and a place in "the first resurrection,"� and in "the marriage supper of the Lamb,"� and then the "coming again with Jesus"� to "rule the nations"� for a thousand years" and to "inherit the earth," anc. to kings and priests," and to "sit with him in his throne," and to have "authority to judge the world," and "to judge the angels," and to have "a mansion in the city of pure gold," and "to see the face of God," and "to know as we are known," and to be everlastingly free from sorrow, or pain, or ignorance, or whatever causes tears. Everyone of these items is pledged to the overcoming saint by multiplied promises in the Word of God. This is the vast field over which hope hovers.

"And hope maketh not ashamed." A soul full of divine hope is buoyant, cheerful, brave, not discouraged by things in the past. This is the spiritual biography, sketched out by the apostle in these five verses. But the secret of the whole process is in the last clause -- "Because the love of God is shed abroad (or poured into) our hearts by the Holy Ghost." The Holy Spirit is the divine agent that pours into us the love of God. It is divine love poured into us that works out the great process. Tribulation would bruise us to death, if it was not that the love of God, like a lubricating oil, was poured into our hearts. And endurance would never work experience, if it was not pervaded and possessed with the love of God. Thus, at every step of the way, it is divine love poured into us by the Holy Spirit, that forms the true Christlike character, which will be the golden grain gathered into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord.