{"id":1092,"date":"2013-05-15T18:09:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T18:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.all-creatures.org\/blog\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2013-05-16T15:16:34","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T15:16:34","slug":"christian-perfection-17-salvation-unto-perfect-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.all-creatures.org\/blog\/christian-perfection-17-salvation-unto-perfect-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Perfection – 17: Salvation Unto Perfect Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian Perfection – 17: Salvation Unto Perfect Love<\/h2>\n
\"Lamb<\/a>
Lamb of God<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: Frank L. Hoffman
\nJesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is\u00a0 perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
\n(Wesley’s writings are in bold)<\/p>\n

I have come to look at a true hymn as one in which the\u00a0 Biblical truths of God, and who He is, have been presented in a musical format\u00a0 to make it easier to remember and internalize.\u00a0 They are also quite often\u00a0 prayers set to music.<\/p>\n

This was the intent of John and Charles\u00a0 Wesley in writing and presenting so many of them.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I have\u00a0 found that a relatively small percentage of the people who sing hymns really\u00a0 read and internalize the message they present.\u00a0 In the fourteenth part of “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection”, John Wesley refers to a portion of\u00a0 a hymn without the music.\u00a0 As we read it, let us resolve in our hearts to\u00a0 internalize its meaning and message.<\/p>\n

Wesley wrote:<\/p>\n

I need not give additional proofs of this [what he\u00a0\u00a0 presented in the previous part], by multiplying quotations from the volume\u00a0\u00a0 itself.\u00a0 It may suffice, to cite part of one hymn only, the last in that volume:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord, I believe a rest remains, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nTo all Thy people known; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nA rest where pure enjoyment reigns \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nAnd Thou art loved alone,<\/strong><\/p>\n

A rest where all our soul’s desire \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nIs fix’d on things above; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nWhere doubt and pain and fear expire, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nCast out by perfect love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From every evil motion freed \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\n (The Son hath made us free). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nOn all the powers of hell we tread \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nIn glorious liberty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Safe in the way of life, above \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nDeath, earth, and hell we rise; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nWe find, when perfected in love, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nOur long sought paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

O that I now the rest might know, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nBelieve and enter in! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nNow, Saviour, now the power bestow, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nAnd let me cease from sin!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remove this hardness from my heart, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nThis unbelief remove: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nTo me the rest of faith impart, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nThe sabbath of Thy love.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Come, O my Saviour, come away! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nInto my soul descend! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nNo longer from Thy creature stay, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nMy Author and my End!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bliss Thou hast for me prepared, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nNo longer be delay’d: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nCome, my exceeding great Reward, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nFor Whom I first was made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nAnd seal me Thine abode! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nLet all I am in Thee be lost: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nLet all be lost in God!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can anything be more clear than:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) That here also is as full and high a salvation as we have ever spoken of? <\/strong><\/p>\n

(2) That this is spoken of as receivable by mere faith and as hindered only by unbelief? <\/strong><\/p>\n

(3) That this faith, and consequently the salvation which it brings, is spoken of as given in an instant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(4) That it is supposed that instant may be now?\u00a0 that we need not stay another moment?\u00a0 that “now,” the very “now is the accepted time”?\u00a0 “now is the day of” this full “salvation”? [2 Corinthians 6:2]<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, lastly, that, if any speak otherwise, he is the person that brings new doctrine among us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have read the words of this hymn, over and over again, so\u00a0 many times that I’ve lost count.\u00a0 The message contains the simple Biblical\u00a0 truth about our salvation: it is perfected in God’s perfect love, which then\u00a0 resides in us.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at this state of perfect being in terms of our\u00a0 becoming the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16); or visualize each\u00a0 saved person as becoming like a well heated single family house on a frigid\u00a0 winter day.\u00a0 The warm air in the house is symbolic of the presence of the\u00a0 Holy Spirit and God’s perfect love.\u00a0\u00a0 God continually heats the air\u00a0 (Spirit) with the furnace of His love.\u00a0 But every time we open the door to\u00a0 leave or reenter, we allow cold (unspiritual) air, with all its imperfections,\u00a0 to rush in.<\/p>\n

When we leave our “warm house” we go into the unspiritual\u00a0 realm, and are subjected to its temptations (like cold air); but when we again\u00a0 enter our house, the breath of the Holy Spirit once more warms us with His\u00a0 perfect love.<\/p>\n

Another remarkable aspect of this example is that God has\u00a0 so designed our bodies that, if properly protected, our body temperature remains\u00a0 remarkably stable, no matter how cold the weather is when we venture out into\u00a0 it.\u00a0 Consider our warm clothing as being like the protective “armor of God”\u00a0 (Ephesians 6:10-18).\u00a0 If we are careless about maintaining our\u00a0 protective clothing (armor), and remove it in order to sample the world’s\u00a0 temptations, we allow the heat of God’s perfect love to dissipate and we become\u00a0 cold.\u00a0 But, like removing our coats, we have to make a conscious decision\u00a0 to do so.<\/p>\n

Once we have experienced salvation and God’s perfect love,\u00a0 our conscience (the prompting of the Holy Spirit) lets us know when something is\u00a0 outside God’s perfect heavenly will for our lives.\u00a0 It is Christian\u00a0 perfection that always prays, “protect me from this temptation and give me\u00a0 strength.”<\/p>\n

Christian perfection doesn’t free us from this corrupt\u00a0 world.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of temptation and\u00a0 may even sample it, but Christian perfection very quickly recognizes the error\u00a0 of our ways and repents.\u00a0 It never continues to wallow in sin.\u00a0 It\u00a0 always seeks the perfect heavenly will of God and to be filled with His perfect\u00a0 love.<\/p>\n

We cannot work our way into God’s salvation, as the Bible\u00a0 and Wesley’s questions so aptly point out.\u00a0 Salvation is by the grace of\u00a0 God, alone.\u00a0\u00a0 However, in that state of God’s grace we have also been\u00a0 given an awareness of the perfect will of our Father who is in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 Unless we have rejected God’s perfect love, we are constantly aware of God’s\u00a0 desire for our lives.\u00a0 When people try to defend their living in sin, or\u00a0 lack of empathy for other living beings upon this earth, or\u00a0 try to excuse it away, it is a sign of the lack of salvation and presence of\u00a0 God’s perfect will and love.\u00a0 Christian perfection always recognizes sin\u00a0 and corruption, and seeks to remove it;\u00a0 it never tries to justify it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Christian perfection always seeks to live in God’s perfect love.<\/p>\n

Go on to: Christian Perfection \u2013 18: To Walk As He Walked<\/a><\/p>\n

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