Hating Sin; Obedience by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 10, 1913

Hating Sin; Obedience

By G. B. Thompson

The Holy Spirit — No. 13

Hating Sin; Obedience

G. B. THOMPSON

7. A FURTHER step in Spirit filling is to hate sin. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,” Heb. 1:9.

Christ’s love for righteousness and his hatred of sin are here set forth as a reason why he was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. It is not enough merely to abstain from wrong acts. We must reach a deeper Christian experience than this. We must come to the place where we shall hate the sin. The things that are questionable, over which the conscience has been perhaps long troubled, must be surrendered; even more, we must reach the point where we shall refrain from the sin, and not hanker after it, wishing it were not wrong, but hate the thing.

“There must be a relinquishment, honest and entire in its character, of all that the Word of God in conjunction with conscience condemns. Any controversy in this matter means unanswered prayer. A great difficulty with many is that they want power without purity, and happiness without holiness. When God puts his finger upon unclean and unlawful things, they shrink from the cost of renouncing them, and thus make it impossible for their prayer to be answered. There are in most lives mountains to be leveled, valleys to be exalted, crooked things to be made straight, and rough places to be made plain before the glory of the Lord can be revealed; and it is just here that so many fail. This renunciation of what is revealed as iniquity, often means a very serious matter, involving changes in many realms of life; possibly touching the sphere of the affections or the possessions, the inner habits of life or the outward details of conduct. But it is a much more serious thing to continue a controversy with God, and to thus prevent the Holy Spirit from possessing his own temple. It is an actual impossibility to receive the Holy Spirit while grasping anything that God has banned and conscience has already judged. The hand of faith must be empty in order to receive the gift.”

“There can be no bestowal of the Holy Spirit where there is an unwillingness to obey God in any matter about which he has already made his will known. There are in many lives questions of long standing about which conscience has often been troubled, but with regard to which the heart has been disobedient to the heavenly vision. These are the hindrances which make all prayer for the Spirit’s power non-effective; and until they are willingly dealt with, and the long-deferred obedience yielded, his fulness will never be received.

It often happens that when souls are eagerly seeking this blessing from pure motives, there are revealed in them hitherto hidden acts and attitudes of disobedience, sometimes trifling in themselves, and about these points the whole controversy rages.”—“The Price of Power,” pages 70, 73.

In his sermon on the mount the Saviour said, “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee,” and “if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.” Matt. 5: 29, 30. This is hardly to be understood as teaching that eyes are to be literally plucked out, or arms amputated. But it does teach, as the context shows, that anything in the life which may be as dear to us as the eye or the hand, if it endangers our being “cast into hell,” is to be cast from us.

We are further admonished to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” 1 Thess. 5: 22. This goes, if possible, still deeper. Even though a thing might not be wrong in itself, if it does not look right, is open to suspicion, may be misunderstood, and would furnish an example which might be used as a stumbling-stone to others who are weak, or furnish an opportunity for sinners to blaspheme, we are to abstain from even this.

Young people, and older ones, too, for that matter, sometimes debate in their minds concerning certain places of amusement and certain forms of entertainment. Is it right? What harm is there in it? Before perplexing the mind with these and similar questions, we can first ask, How will it look for a Christian? If it does not look right, that should settle the matter without further parley. The dove-like Spirit is often grieved by appearances, as well as by open sin.

8. We shall notice one further step in the receiving of the Holy Spirit. It is that of surrender. “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” Acts 5: 32.

Obedience means unconditional surrender. This is the one supreme condition of being filled with the Spirit of God. Full surrender is the pivot upon which the gate of his fulness swings open.

It is not a question in the life of a Christian as to whether the Spirit has entered the heart. He knocks for admission at the door of every heart; and he has entered in some measure the heart of every Christian. But the question is, Has he had full possession? or has he been only a joint tenant? Has he had all the heart, or only a corner in our affections? “Yield yourselves unto God,” is the exhortation of Paul. This does not mean in part, but wholly. The question is, Have we done this?

“It is as if the sweet, fresh air of spring-time should enter a ten-room house full of foul odors. You open up one chamber to it, but leave the rest closed and in possession of the old, fetid atmosphere. Truly the pure air has entered, but how can it fill the house until you yield that house wholly to it, throwing open every nook and cranny to its fragrant breath?”

This places the question of surrender squarely before us. The Spirit has entered the temple of our bodies. But how much room has he been permitted to occupy? Has he been obeyed, and fully yielded to? Have we turned over to him the key of every room? or have we retained the key to one room? Is there a closet somewhere in the heart in which some grinning skeleton is hidden, to which we hold the key? Have we turned over to the Spirit every key, and bidden him open every room, every closet, and take full possession of the soul? This is the pivotal point upon which is determined whether or not we shall share the fulness of the Spirit. The fulness of surrender precedes the fulness of power. Whether it takes a day or long years to reach this, the consecrated child of God knows that it is the supreme step in securing the power of the Spirit.

“There is no substitute for your act of surrender. When God states a condition of blessing, no other condition, however good elsewhere, can be substituted. This is why all your crying, and waiting, and petitioning—yea, even agonizing before God—have accomplished naught but to leave you grieved, disappointed, and dazed at lack of answer. You have been praying instead of obeying. Prayer is all right with obedience, but not instead of it. ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’ So it is better than prayer if it is the thing God is asking. We are not petitioning God; he is petitioning us. Hear him through his servant Paul: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.’ Have you done this? When we petition God to do something for us, we expect him to act. When God petitions us to make him a present of our bodies as a living sacrifice, he expects us to act. But, lo, we turn to and begin to pray, for, we say, is not prayer a good thing? Forsooth, it is, but not well spent if used to dodge obedience! How subtle the flesh is! How in our blindness we do play at cross-purposes with God! ‘Abraham,’ said God, ‘because thou hast done this thing, . . . I will bless thee’ (Gen. 22: 16, 17). What was this thing upon the doing of which the blessing of God came to him as never before?—It was the yielding of his all to God in the surrender of his son. Child of God, have you done this thing? No other thing will avail. Constant prayer, importunate entreaty, wearisome waiting, attempts at believing, reckoning it done,—all these are of no avail if you will not do this thing. This unyielded life is the very citadel of self. God will not force it. But when its key, the will, is voluntarily handed over to him, then he floods the life with his fulness of blessing. Would you know his ‘I will bless thee’? then do this thing. Absolutely, unreservedly, confidingly, yield yourself, your life, your all into his hands for time and eternity.

“It will not do, in lieu of this, to give money, to give time, to give service, only. Thousands are trying thus to silence conscience and rob God. We must needs give ourselves. How grieved would that true lover be whose betrothed would answer his petition for her heart, herself, by proffering her purse, houses, or lands! How much more must God be grieved by our poor attempts to bribe him by giving him everything else except the one thing he wants—ourselves! ‘My son, give me thine heart.’ There is a giving which is instead of ourselves; and there is a gift of ourselves.”—“Threefold Secret of the Holy Spirit,” pages 51-53.

This is true repentance, and entire change of all the desires and affections of the flesh. And to those who repent, the promise of the Spirit is safe. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2: 38. When all is surrendered and on the altar, we shall assuredly not have to wait long for the fire to descend.

“Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until my heart is pure, Until with thee I will one will. To do and to endure.”