"Purifying their hearts by faith"
(Acts 15:9)
"That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith"
(Galatians 3:14)
Introduction
When shall we be made clean? As soon as there is that deep desire in our souls, when we truly repent and recognise how helpless we are. When we come to that place of simple heart-felt faith towards God then the blessing will be ours. In this section we are discussing the need of faith to purify the heart.
The faith we need
The Lord Jesus Christ never told the Pharisee, full of his self-righteousness and formalism, to "only believe." He never called the Sadducee, with his rationalism and so-called wisdom, to believe in Him. But the poor, needy and penitent sinner was invited to seek the Lord ... "For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13.)
John Fletcher wrote, "When I stand in unbelief, I am like a drop of muddy water dried up in the sun of temptation, but when I do believe and close in with Christ I am like that same drop of water on the boundless ocean of light, life, liberty, power and love."
We know whom we should believe in, but how and what is our difficulty.
How to believe
We must believe the entirety of God's word; all of its promises, blessings, reproofs, prophecies and warnings. Try to believe in God another way and we will fail immediately. Therefore we must rest upon the solid rock that is the written word of God.
We must take hold of some definite and explicit statement of the Lord; they abound throughout the Scriptures. God has spoken in His word, so do not believe as the Liberals do, by thinking that they are only the musings of Paul, Peter, or John. The apostles were not the authors of these exceeding great and precious promises. They are the very words of God Himself. This is the only way to believe in Him.
What to believe
We must place our faith firmly upon what the Bible teaches concerning the blood of Christ, His sacrifice on Calvary, and all that He suffered for us.
"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14.) Then why not us? "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Romans 6:6.) Then why not ours? "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24.) Then what is it that is hindering us?
There can be no sanctification if there is no faith in the blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit does not use any other method when bringing our lives into holiness. The blood of Jesus Christ is the price paid for salvation and sanctification. Why can we not just accept this in faith? Those who dare to believe this will be made whole, cleansed and purified.
Faith must rest somewhere. When the attacks of the devil and the storms of unbelief sweep over us, there is but one foundation that will take the strain. A mere head-knowledge of, or mental assent to the word of God will not suffice, instead we need unswerving faith in all that He says. Without the Scriptures we have no stronghold in the day of trouble (Psalm 9:9.)
We are crucified with Christ, therefore He lives in us. Our union with Him rests upon His sacrificial death. This is faith's solid mighty resting place.
Conclusion
When will we simply look to God and say, "Lord, I come just as I am, with all my failures, faults, and yes, sin. I am helpless without You. Lord, my only plea is Your precious blood."
He may have us wait a short time, but He will come with cleansing power. He has never denied a humble soul. The only reasons why He has not come yet are, either we have not humbled ourselves under His mighty hand, or we are not believing.