by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
his is the theory of holiness by Imputation without Impartation. The unvarnished statement runs thus, “As a saint, he is now ‘not in the flesh,’ though the flesh is in him; but he is in the Spirit, and is responsible for the uprisings and sins of the old man.” 1 At a glance it is evident that this at once denies the removal of the carnal mind, which is the very question at issue. It is a bold denial of the experience of entire sanctification, and yet at the same time positive claiming of it. But this is not all of the statement. It further declares,
He is henceforth pardoned as a son, according to the value of the blood presented before God for him; the person, the individual, now becomes a Christian, the man possessed of these two natures, who should be walking “in the Spirit,” though ever and anon he is made to stumble through the power of the “flesh.” Thus the saint does not advance in sanctification, by a change being effected in the character of either nature, but in the gradual development of “the new man” by means of the in-working of the Holy Ghost, and in the daily mortification of the members which are upon the earth. The man is thus gradually sanctified and made more like Christ. Grace and Truth p. 187.
[continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
Sanctification Not Obtained by Growth
Not by works of righteousness which we have done.
Titus 3:5
eople who are not in the experience of holiness are often hindered and defeated in obtaining the blessing by seeking it in some impossible way. Satan helps them in this, for so long as he can so deceive them, he hinders them from having the experience. One of the most plausible of these deceptions is that one who is not holy may become holy by “growth.” [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.”
Exodus 14:15
“Go forward.” Death was behind Israel in the shape of the flower of the Egyptian army; or if not death, then slavery. They could not stand still.
The three disciples could not remain on the mountain of transfiguration; 1 there was need for them at the foot, where the throngs of needy men were congregated. 2
The eleven on the slopes of Olivet stood looking into the vacant heavens, where their blessed Lord had just swept through the clouds to His home at the throne. But they could not stay there, even while trying to retain the sweet memory of that wonderful vision. Jesus sent his angel to say to them, “Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” 3 Nothing wrong in the loving gaze so far as that is concerned. But neither could they stay there. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
A Word Beforehand,
The Holy Way is now available as an e-book in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats.
That the reader may “know the way of God more perfectly”; 1 have “life more abundantly”; 2 ever go forth with Jesus “conquering and to conquer”; 3 walk with Him “in white”; 4 and perfect “holiness in the fear of the Lord,” 5 have these lines been written.
If only one inquiring soul shall be helped; a bewildered one led into the light; a hungry one fed; an uncertain one established; an opposer won; or any blessed with full salvation, the author, and his words in these few chapters, will be blessed indeed.
Let the blessed Christ, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, 6 have all the glory. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
ogically, the theory which equates holiness with the repression of indwelling sin is but a variety of the method of seeking holiness by growth, and yet there is distinction of features sufficient to be treated under a separate head. The fact of sin in believers, or indwelling sin, is generally admitted. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
The Growth Method Has No Witnesses
nother reason why we say this grace of sanctification is not reached by “growth” is because it cannot be proved by witnesses. The people who have this grace and who confess it are not ones who have come into possession of the experience by the method of gradualism. To the contrary, their universal testimony is that they did not come into it gradually or by growth, but that the work was instantaneous, and by grace, through consecration and faith. But people who believe in getting there by growth are always on a belated train. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
When the gloomy shadows
Gather ’round your way,
And the clouds of sorrow
Hide the sun’s bright ray,
Keep your faith unshaken,
Tho’ all ills combine;
When the days are darkest,
That’s the time to shine. 1
oor Elijah! The hot sun lay on all the plain burning with an oven-like heat. The grass was withered and dust covered. The fig-tree had cast her fruit. Animals and men hunted the springs for a few drops of water. The children cried piteously. The little lambs lay dead on the hills. The prophet’s retreat by the Cherith brook became besieged with thirsty men and furious animals, fighting for its fast-failing waters. The prophet’s refuge was being taken away. The famine was everywhere. That morning the ravens came no more with the miraculous supply of bread for the man of God. He went for a drink and lo! the waters had ceased to flow. In despairing mood he knelt at his accustomed place of prayer and looked to the hills. The early twilight diffused the cloudless sky, and all nature seemed again to be holding a prayer meeting in which petition was voiced in one word, “Rain, Rain, Rain.” As the rim of the red sun shone first over the east Jordanic hills, the mulberry trees above his head changed their usual “going” as they murmured their petition, and a voice clearly said, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” 2 [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
How May I Enter In?
The Holy Way is now available as an e-book in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats.
Every seeker after heart purity comes to a place where he asks, “How may I enter in?” While no one can go through for another, nor step through the same line of circumstances, yet in outline the essential things to be done are the same, so that the way may be told theoretically with such definiteness that the inquirer may be directed safely and surely. We wish to point out the steps briefly, so that burdened, anxious souls may find their way, mistaken souls may be corrected, and those who are seeking light on the doctrine may find it. In the limited space we have there will not be room for much elaboration or discussion. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
f you are expecting something so great and so essential to heaven itself, you ought to have good reasons for your expectation. And what are these reasons? Did you ever see any soul get sanctification at death? Is there any provision in the economy of grace which is only available at death’s door? These are some plain questions. But let us look at the matter a little more in detail.
1. Sanctification will be possible at death
if the conditions are complied with.
But because that is so, owing to the mercy of God, is no more a valid reason for delaying the matter, than it is for a sinner to put off till the day of his death his compliance with the terms of salvation, simply because those terms may be complied with at that time. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
The Nature of Spiritual Growth
It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be:
Or standing long an oak three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of Light.
In small proportions we just beauty see:
And in short measures life may perfect be.
—B. Jonson—
God gave the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Not of the will of the flesh.
John 1:13
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:9
It is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8
While there is no growing into holiness, there is, praise the Lord, a blessed growth in it. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart;
and merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.”
Isaiah 57:1
ooking at life as we do, and clinging to it as we must while we stay, we fail to catch this cheer and comfort, that a righteous and merciful man in dying does not meet a calamity, but has a release from further continuance in the school of adversity, and from contact with the evils and all the sorrows of life. God has said, “To the merciful Thou will show Thyself merciful,” 1 and good as His word, the Lord, out of His loving and tender mercy, excuses some from further service where even after “threescore years and ten,” the strength of life is but “labor and sorrow.” 2 [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
The Holy Way
What It Is, How It Is, and How to Keep It
Practical Suggestions for Seekers, Possessors, and Opposers
Part 3
“Stature of a Perfect Man”
Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright:
for the end of that man is peace.
— Psalm 37:37 —
The Holy Way is now available as an e-book in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats.
The Word of God recognizes a “perfect man” as the standard. We are told to “mark” him. Jesus told us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Paul classed himself with those who were perfect (Philippians 3:15), though he did not claim resurrection perfection (Philippians 3:12). The word provides that the “man of God may be perfect” (2 Timothy 3:17). James 3:2 tells us, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.” So it must be that there is a kind of perfection that belongs to a man. What is it? How can it be gained? [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
Growth, Not Mere Self-Assertion
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,” saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
Which were born [begotten], not of blood, nor of the will of man,
nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.
John 1:33
The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
John 15:4
“Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
rowth in grace must not be confounded with what may be termed the doctrine of “self-assertion of the human spirit.” In certain prominent philosophical teachings of the day, there is that which would gladly “de-Christianize” society; and in much of Auguste Comte’s teachings, 1 there is that which amounts to a deification, or a worship, of the human nature. At least, to the human spirit is attributed latent forces by which, if allowed to arise and assert themselves, man can evolutionize and redeem himself, and as such needs no Redeemer and Savior. [continue reading…]
by Jim Kerwin
on October 22, 2015
“But the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew.”
Exodus 1:12
here is a certain cost to all growth. It cannot be ours except we pay the price. He who “will not plow by reason of the cold shall beg in harvest, and have nothing,” said the writer of Proverbs. 1 Pain is a very essential part of our advance. The “growing pains” of aching limbs in early school days are only prophecies of that which is to be in all later life wherever the soul keeps the upward path. In those days, my crying before mother was because of aching knees in early boyhood in the old home among the hills; 2 the crying has not ceased, though mother is here no more, the old hills are out of sight, and the pain is no longer so much physical. I cry yet as I go. I cannot get on without painful cost. There is nothing without toil. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” 3 [continue reading…]
