16. The True Riches
THE TRUE RICHES A FINAL WORD OF TESTIMONY Over thirty years ago I crossed the Jordan of faith I find my conquering heavenly Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, led me into the “Canaan land” of fullness of blessing in Christ. Since that memorable day I passed through the remainder of the first world war, then through twenty-one more years of unstable world “peace,” and now, through God’s grace, have come through the second world war. Praise God, rejoice to testify that through all those years with all their varied experiences Christ has been, and is, the All-sufficient One, mighty to save and able to keep. And what have I now to say about the truth and experience of entire sanctification by faith? Thirty ears, with experience of two world wars, should surely afford ample time either to disillusion me entirely if the doctrine is false, or to confirm me more strongly than ever if it is of God. Have I then been disappointed with “Canaan”? Do I wish to retract my testimony? Do I feel now that I have been misled by holiness teaching into expecting more than God has promised in His Word? I answer, “No; a thousand times, no.” God forbid that I should give an “evil report” of this “good land,” or that I should ever weaken the faith of the Lord’s people in a present mighty Savior who can and does now cleanse from all sin and save to the uttermost. I do not mean for one moment to suggest that in “Canaan” it is I all “easy going.” far from it; there is a “cross” to be taken and borne, involving the denying of self and doing, the Father’s blessed will. There is the fight of faith to be waged; there is the heavenly race to be run with the throne and crown in view; and there is patient service to our Lord to be rendered for the good of other souls. But in this “good land of Canaan” Christ, our heavenly Joshua, is all in all. He perfectly satisfies. He keeps the heart in deep inward peace and joy, so that, even in the midst of the sorrows and tribulations that are bound to afflict us, we can look up to Him in loving faith and say, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” These spiritual blessings are among the “unsearchable riches of Christ” and constitute the “true riches” (Luke 16:11), even “the riches of holiness.
Looking back now I can see that the day, over thirty years ago, on which I really trusted the Lord to cleanse my heart and fill me with His Spirit was a definite crisis, a turning point in my spiritual experience and relationship with God. Not an atom of merit, however, attaches to me. It was through no unaided effort of my own that I was enabled to take that venture of faith. Humbly but joyfully I acknowledge that I was under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit at the time, and it has been only through the continual aid of that same blessed Spirit that faith has been preserved.
Ever since I took that step of sanctifying faith, God has done for my soul, in spite of all my mistakes, imperfections, and utter unworthiness, exceedingly abundantly above all I asked or thought. But I believe that there are boundless riches in Christ still to be discovered and experienced and so, like Paul, “I count not myself to have apprehended,” but “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And I am persuaded that He who has begun a good work will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ, to which day I look forward with loving and eager anticipation. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever” (Revelation 1:5-6).