Now Is It Possible - Chambers, Oswald
And i pray god your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ. 1 thessalonians 5:23
We never can be faultless in this life, but gods book brings out that we must be blameless, that is, undeserving of censure from gods standpoint, and remember what his standpoint is. He can see into every crook and cranny of my spirit and soul and body, and he demands that i be blameless in all my relationships so that he himself can see nothing worthy of censure. The revelation is one which shows the supernatural- ness of the work of sanctification. It cannot be done by praying, by devoting myself, by believing; it can only be done by the supernatural power of a supernatural god.
1. To be blameless in my self life?
I pray god your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ.
Now where are we? Is there the tiniest element of the conviction of the spirit of god? If so, yield to him at once. We must distinguish between the working of our own suspicions and the checking of the spirit of god who works as quietly and silently as a breeze. As he brings back to our mind our bodily life in this past week in public and in private, in eating and drinking, have we been blameless in our self life? Sanctification means that god keeps my whole spirit and soul and body undeserving of censure in his sight.
Take the soul how have we been conducting our imaginations, our motives, our fancies, and all the working of our reasoning life; is there anything for the spirit of god to check and censure? We must not say because we are sanctified we are sure to be right. The seal of sanctification in the practical life is that it is blameless, undeserving of censure before god. Blamelessness is not faultlessness; faultlessness was the condition of the lord jesus christ. We never can be faultless in this life, we are in impaired human bodies; but by sanctification we can be blameless. Our disposition can be supernaturally altered until in the simplicity of life before god the whole limit is holy, and if that is to be done, it must be by the great grace of god. My peace i give unto you. The spirit of god works with an amazing zeal on christs words.
I pray god your whole spirit . . . Be preserved blameless. Are we spiritually affected before god? Are our petitions our own? Do we put our will into them? Do we borrow our sentiments, or are they really ours? Paul does not say we are to be blameless in our self life in the view of other people. We never shall be; jesus christ was not. It was said of his bodily life behold a man gluttonous, and a wine bibber, of his soul lifehe . . . Is mad, and of his spirit life he hath a devil; but before god he was blameless. Some of us are so concerned about being blameless before men that we are to be blamed before god. The apostle Paul prays that we may be sanctified and preserved blameless; then it is a matter of absolute indifference what anyone thinks of us, but it is not a matter of indifference what gods holy spirit thinks of us. If we are sanctified by the power of the god of peace, our self life is blameless before him, there is nothing to hide; and the more we bring our soul under the searchlight of god the more we realise the ineffable comfort of the supernatural work he has done. Of ourselves we can never be any of the things god says we must be. We can never be blameless by think- ing about it, or by praying about it, but only by being sanctified, and that is gods absolute sovereign work of grace. Abraham believed god, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Do i believe god can sanctify me? Christ Jesus . . . Is made unto us . . . Sanctification. Have we the quiet confidence of a child that the life of Jesus christ can be formed in us until the relationship to god of spirit, soul and body is without blame before him? It is not the perfection of attainment in thinking, or in bodily life, or in worship, but the perfection of a blameless disposition, nothing in it to censure, and that in the eyes of god who sees everything. Is it possible to be blameless in our self life? Paul says it is, and the writer to the Hebrews states that it is by sanctification we are made one with Jesus. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one (hebrews 2:11). That is the glorious work of jesus christ in our life. Has he performed his work in us or has he not? Do not ask anybody else about it, the holy spirit will show you as clearly as can be. If you are right with god, you would not thank the angel gabriel for telling you, because you know it. It will be the witness not of a word only, but nothing less than absolute agreement with gods standard when he brings you up against it.
2. To be blameless in my social life?
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of god, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation [rv ], among whom ye shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2:15)
Am i without blame in relation to my father and mother, to my wife or husband, my brothers and sisters? If the work of jesus christ has had its way in us, god almighty can see nothing to censure when he scrutinises us by his holy spirit. The spirit of god does not work as our minds do, that is, he does not work with suspicion, he works silently and gently as daylight. There will be a check here, an illumination there, a wonderful all-over realisation thank god, he has done it! There is no need to protest or to profess. We have to be blameless in all our social relationships before god, but that will not mean that our relations will think us blameless! We can always gauge where we are by the teachings of Jesus christ. Is it possible to be blameless in our social life? The apostle Paul says it is, and if we were asked whether we believed god could make us blameless, we would all say, yes. Well, has he done it? If god has not sanctified us and made us blameless, there is only one reason why he has notwe do not want him to. This is the will of god, even your sanctification. We have not to urge god to do it, it is his will; is it our will? Sanctification is the work of the supernatural power of god.
3. To be blameless in my spiritual life?
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. (ephesians 1:4) wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2 peter 3:14)
Is it possible to be blameless in our spiritual relation- ship to almighty god, to jesus christ and to the holy ghost? It is not only possible, but gods word tells us that that is what god does if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, . . . The blood of jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin (1 john 1:7). That is cleansing not from conscious sin only but from infinitely more, it is cleansing to the depths of crystalline purity so that god himself can see nothing impure. That is the work of the lord jesus christ; to make his work anything less would be blasphemous.
If god almighty cannot do that in your life and mine, we have followed cun- ningly devised fables. Unless jesus christ can re-make himself in us, what is the meaning of those thirty years in nazareth, those three years of his public life? What is the meaning of the cross of jesus christ, of his res- urrection and ascension, if he cannot cleanse us from all sin? But, bless god, he can! The point is have we let him do it? Beware of praising jesus christ whilst all the time you cunningly refuse to let the spirit of god work his salvation efficaciously in your life. Remember, the battle is in the will; whenever we say i cant, or whenever we are indifferent, it means i wont. It is better to let jesus christ uncover the obstinacy. If there is one point where we say i wont then we shall never know his salvation. From the moment that god uncovers a point of obstinacy in us and we refuse to let him deal with it, we begin to be sceptical, to sneer and watch for defects in the lives of others. But when once we yield to him entirely, he makes us blameless in our personal life, in our practical life, and in our profound life. It is not done by piety, it is wrought in us by the sovereign grace of god, and we have not the slightest desire to trust in ourselves in any degree, but in him alone.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy ( jude 24). Can god keep me from stumbling this second? Yes. Can he keep me from sin this second? Yes. Well, that is the whole of life, you cannot live more than a second at a time. If god can keep you blameless this second, he can do it the next. No wonder jesus christ said let not your heart be troubled! We do get troubled when we do not remember the amazing power of God.