BIBLE READINGS ON THE SECOND BLESSING
CHAPTER 01 -- ORIGINAL SIN
We will take the subject of Original Sin for our lesson
today.
Original sin is always spoken of as a unit -- in the
singular number. You will find our first reference in Psalms 51:1-2: "Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness: according unto the
multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." In the first verse He
says, "Blot out my transgressions." "Transgressions" is in
the plural; they are many and innumerable, this is the prayer of the penitent.
But in the second verse He says, "Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity," not iniquities, and not sins, but sin as a unit, iniquity in
the singular number. And to find the meaning of those terms you may read the
5th verse: "Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me." You see that he recognizes the fact of innate sin: that
something spoken of by theologians as depravity, inbred sin, or original sin.
This cannot be pardoned, but may be washed and cleansed away. A failure to note
this distinction between sin and sins accounts for much of the confusion and
controversy in regard to what is known as the second blessing. Theoretically, I
presume every evangelical denomination recognizes this two-fold nature of sin.
Original sin does not have reference to an act of sin at
all, but a heart condition. "A corruption of the nature;" and this is
the condition of all men who have not been cleansed. This principle or nature
of sin is born in us; it may be seen in the infant. The baby is scarcely three
weeks old until it gives unmistakable evidence of this unholy principle. Why is
it that we cannot teach the child and restrain the child so that it will never
commit a sin? Why is it that all who come to the years of accountability will
just as naturally commit sin as sparks ascend heavenward, Is it not because of
this sinward bias, this that Charles Wesley terms the "bent to
sinning?" It is not the result of any volition or act on our part. It was
born in us, and is the result of Adam's transgression. God can forgive the sins
I have committed, but this sin of nature is never forgiven, but must of
necessity be cleansed away. But says one, "That was cleansed out of my
heart simultaneously with pardon." But that argument is contrary to
scripture.
If you will now turn to Isaiah the 6th chapter and read the
experience of this prophet in connection with a holiness meeting you will
discover that he obtained this cleansing as a second experience. According to
the chronological table, Isaiah had been in the prophetical office at least two
years and probably eighteen years or more and had been a most radical and
practical preacher, but as he heard them speaking of holiness and had a vision
of God's holiness, he exclaims, "Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am
a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for
mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." You see there is no
sense of guilt or condemnation, but a consciousness of inward cleanness -- the
lips being the index of the heart. "Then flew one of the seraphim unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar:”
(Isaiah 6:6, 7.) "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath
touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."
The fire in the Scriptures never signified pardon, but always purification or
the work of refining and cleansing. You will note he does not say, "Thine
iniquities are taken away and thy sins purged," but iniquity in the
singular, sin, as a unit, is dealt with. While we may not be able to see when
Isaiah obtained the remission of his sins, it is evident that he had been a
Christian years prior to this. God did not call men to the prophetical office
who were sinners. You see that Isaiah received this purging from the iniquity
of his nature as a second experience, and after this he became a second
blessing preacher. Read Isaiah 35:8-10.
Jeremiah 33:8: "And I will cleanse them from all their
iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their
iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed
against me." He does not say, "I will cleanse them from all their
iniquities," but the cleansing deals with iniquity and "I will pardon
all their iniquities." Pardon deals with iniquities in the plural. You see
there are these two promises, both the pardon of iniquities and the cleansing
from iniquity, whereby or through which they had sinned against God. Turn now
to Zechariah 13:1: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness." I want you to notice he does not say "the fountain
shall be opened in the house of David" as this passage is usually quoted,
but "to the house of David." It is not for sins in the plural, but
"sin and uncleanness." The house of David had reference to the
church, or God's own chosen and elect people. It does not say this. Fountain is
open for sinners, but rather for the very elect, who constitute the house of
David, It is a promise to the church, the promise of cleansing and not of
pardon.
You may now turn to St. John 1:29: "The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world." What would properly be termed "the sin of
the world?" It certainly cannot have reference to any particular act of
sin, for what might be termed the sin of one part of the world, would not be
the sin of another part of the world. Not only so, but John had been preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and they who had received
his baptism had experienced the remission of sins, but he points them to
another experience. The sin of the world has reference to this original sin,
which is the same in all nationalities and among all people. It matters not if
a man is civilized or uncivilized, Jew or Gentile, educated or illiterate, all
have this same inward difficulty, It is the sin of the world. John did not say
that the Lamb of God would pardon these sins of the world, but take it away;
not repress it or regulate it; but take it away.
In the epistle to the Romans, this same sin principle is spoken
of as "the carnal mind,” the law of sin," "sin that dwelleth in
me," "the body of this death," "the body of sin,"
"our old man," etc. The 6th chapter of Romans is especially a
treatise upon this subject, and reveals the divine method for inbred sin, telling
us in verse 6: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin." Crucifixion and destruction do not mean repression, suppression,
oppression or compression but means death and utter destruction to this
principle. He then tells us in verse 22: "But now being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life."
Thank God there is a complete deliverance from all sin.
In the epistle to the Hebrews, this same difficulty is
spoken of as "a root of bitterness" and "the sin which doth do
easily beset."
We will now take I John 1:7-10. We have not time to dwell at
length upon these verses. I
simply desire to invert the order of these passages and read
from the 10th verse to the 7th: "If we say that we have not sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us, If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin."
You will see there are two propositions. First, we have sins mentioned in the
tenth verse and we also have sin mentioned in the eighth verse. Then we have
two "ifs" or two requirements, the first is, "If we
confess" (v. 9), and the second, "If we walk in the light" (v.
8). Then we have two promises. First, the forgiveness of our sins (v. 9), and
second, the cleansing from the sin (v. 7). There are two propositions, two
requirements and two experiences. The eighth verse is often referred to by such
as deny the possibility of being delivered from all sin, and certainly if we
should take this passage and separate it from its context, it would sustain
that argument, but I would have you note that this verse is so sandwiched in
here that you cannot back out through the seventh verse (the first verse above
it) without being cleansed from all sin, or go through the first verse below it
(v 9) without being cleansed from all unrighteousness, In this eighth verse he
simply indicates the difficulty or the disease and then points out the remedy.
We insist that if Jesus can save us from any sin, he can save us from all sin.
There is pardon for the sinner, there is cleansing for the believer. He
promises to cleanse us from this sin as a unit on condition that we "walk
in the light as he is in the light." This sin in the heart is the most
prolific source of back-sliding. It is this that occasions the inward conflict
and warfare of the Christian.
Some have supposed that in preaching the second experience,
we meant to teach that but half of their sins had been forgiven, and now we
desire them to come and have the other half forgiven and are quick to tell us
that they do not believe in any half-way work; that when God forgave their
sins, He forgave all of them. Certainly if God forgave any of your sins, He
forgave all of your sins. We do not teach that justification is a half-way
work. We would rather say that justification comprehends at least eight perfect
works. First, there is conviction; second, repentance; third, a faith that perfectly
trusts God; fourth, the pardon of every sin; fifth, the washing of
regeneration; sixth, the quickening of the soul into newness of life; seventh,
adoption; eighth, the witness of the spirit. Although all these are
comprehended in what we commonly term conversion or justification and occur
simultaneously, they are nevertheless distinct and each one a perfect work
within itself. So that you see we have no disposition or occasion to underrate
or minify the experience of justification: but all these have to do with sin as
an act. This work of cleansing or the experience of entire sanctification has
to do with sin inherited, sin as a tendency. That something known as inbred sin
or original sin. We cannot repent of something that we have not done and neither
can God forgive us of something that we have not done, hence, He promises to
wash and cleanse it away, which is the second and subsequent experiment. Thank
God.
