The Subtraction Process
The baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire, the entering into the heavenly
inheritance of Canaan, and the possession of the land, and all the
blessings that follow are unmistakably a process of addition to the
already blessed experience of the justified soul. This addition is
scripturally termed "sanctification." No mortal language can ever
express how much of an addition it is; but there must necessarily
precede this marvelous grace, a definite and absolute subtraction, a
loss of all things for the excellency of Christ, a complete
self-abnegation, which has been mentioned in a previous chapter upon
consecration. Until this absolute loss of all things has been truly
experienced, there cannot be obtained the gain of this additional
experience. We cannot lay hold of the promised inheritance until we
completely let go of everything else that has been called our own.
There is, within our spiritual, moral, and physical nature, a depravity,
"our old man," which must be extracted before we can possess the purity
of heart so plainly taught in the word of God. This depravity is so
deeply embedded in, and interwoven into, our affections and nature,
that, like a closely fitting garment, it seems a part of us; and were
it not for the plain teachings of the word of God, and the power of the
all-cleansing blood of Christ which can reach the inmost center of our
nature, purging out all unnatural tendencies and unholy tempers, the
justified believer might conclude that this inborn depravity must be
permitted to exist and remain with us all through life. But thank God!
there is a remedy in this great redemption plan. The heart can be
purified and become a holy temple for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.
This depends upon the plainly specified conditions taught in the word of
God. He will prepare the temple for his abode if we but furnish him an
absolute consecration of the temple. This is our part in this
preparatory stage of the work of sanctification. In order that he may
purify our nature, we must yield up to him everything that is to be
purified. This process involves the loss of all things; for when the
heart is thus yielded, everything that it clings to is also yielded, and
then, and only then, can the blood of Christ be applied for a perfect
cleansing. This is where the subtraction work is effected, where every
vestige of depravity is removed from the heart; because it has for this
purpose yielded to Jesus. The following scripture sets forth this
experience.
* * * * *
"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."--Rom.
6:6. It cannot be improved upon nor cultivated. It is sinful in nature,
and must be dealt with according to the redemption law of crucifixion.
It is condemned and must die. It is utterly worthless to God, and
harmful to man; therefore, it must die. It clings to life with
remarkable tenacity, and it is not within the power of man alone to put
it to death. It has so entwined itself into our affections that they and
each of their objects must be absolutely yielded up to death, even the
most sacred treasures of the heart; so that the true work of purity may
be perfectly wrought within us. To simply yield up our old man for his
destruction would be but a pleasant sacrifice; for every justified
believer who has obtained the knowledge of this enemy within becomes
anxious for his destruction. It is not the yielding up of our old man,
therefore, that seems such a loss to us; but when we see that our whole
being, spirit, soul, and body, with every affection and its object, must
be yielded up and truly laid upon the altar, we realize the subtraction
process of sanctification--the loss of all things. Our old man cannot be
crucified until everything is thus first yielded up. As long as any one
object of our affection is withheld, the consecration is incomplete and
the affections can not be purified from this depravity; hence the
necessity of an absolute yielding up of everything, to obtain the
excellency of this heavenly grace. In this condition we can assuredly
experience the meaning of the words: "Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed." Thank God!
this is a present-tense experience for everyone who is willing to be
conformed to the perfect will of God. In this condition, Jesus can have
the perfect right of way within, and work in us that which is
well-pleasing in his sight.
Some one might wonder if we are never permitted in this truly
consecrated condition, to set our affections upon anything in this
world, or, if we can possess anything as our own, if all must be yielded
up and laid upon the altar. If our affections and every object of the
same are yielded to Jesus, then we certainly cannot have them placed
upon anything else. This is one of the grand provisions of his grace.
Jesus now gets between us and every object of our affections. He not
only has our affections, but he has the objects of our affections. In
the consciousness of this loss to us we also become conscious of the
loss of our old, depraved nature, and the gain of a glorious, heavenly
purity which we before did not possess. But above all things, we become
conscious of the fact that Jesus has become enthroned within our hearts,
and now has full control of our entire being. In him we possess all
things. He gives us back, with himself, everything that is good for us:
father, mother, brother, sister, and every God-given blessing that we
had yielded up to him. But they do not seem to us now like they did
before. There is something between us and them. What is it? It is Jesus!
This makes every blessing so much more precious to us now. A sacredness
exists between us and our loved ones which we never realized before.
They now get our love only as they get it through Jesus, for he is
between us and them. Praise God for this precious experience! We gave
everything, our all, for him. He purified our hearts and now gives
everything, his all, to us. Without the subtraction of our all, first,
we cannot obtain the addition, his all. Thus, after all, we lose nothing
but the depravity of our nature, which loss, of course, involves the
loss of all things for the time being, but means the gain of all things
in the fullness of Christ.
The apostle Paul expresses this crucifixion in his testimony in Gal.
2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
There was something of the apostle that was crucified. It was the same
as he speaks of in Rom. 6:6, "our old man." That depraved, carnal self,
the proud, haughty Pharisee, the great Saul of Tarsus who considered
himself of such importance among men. This was the =I= that was
crucified; but there was an =I= who still lived. This was the humble,
sanctified Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, who now considered himself
less than the least of all saints, and not worthy to be called an
apostle. What a contrast between the two =I='s. The one, the big =I=;
the other, the little =I=. They are exactly of opposite natures. The one
was Paul's "old man," the other his humble individual self. Jesus and
the big I cannot rule together in the same heart.
How many there are today who have not reached the death experience. They
have had their sins forgiven and realize that they are the children of
God; but they cannot say that they are crucified with Christ, in the
sense of the actual death of their old man. How many there are who are
conscious of this inward foe, and yet are taught that it can never
become dislodged from their nature and crucified. Praise God! he has
provided a remedy in the blood of Christ. By faith in this blood the
consecrated believer can receive the cleansing. The depraved nature is
crucified, and Christ now takes supreme control of the holy temple.
The language of the apostle in Gal. 6:14 also expresses the same
experience: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world." The blood of the cross has destroyed that inward nature
which was the point of contact with the world. As long as this exists
within, the world has a strong claim upon us, which, so long as it
exists within us, will assert its nature, and, if permitted, will
communicate with the world, and cause defeat in our Christian life, so
that we cannot conscientiously say we are dead to the world: for there
is something within us yet that is actually alive in this respect. This
is the point of inward contact with the world, which, when brought into
crucifixion, changes our inward condition and enables us to truly say
with the apostle, that the world is crucified unto us and we unto the
world, by the blood of the cross of Christ, and the life we now live in
this mortal body, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, we live by the
faith of the Son of God, who has all power to keep us in the divine law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which makes and keeps us free
from the law of sin and death.
In Matt. 15:13 we have this same doctrine of cleansing expressed in the
words of Jesus: "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted,
shall be rooted up." While it is true that Jesus was speaking of the
doctrines of the Pharisees in this instance, we can see beyond the
simple doctrines and traditions of men, which are but the outgrowth of
this root of depravity which our heavenly Father never planted in the
nature of man. The depraved heart is the fertile soil which
spontaneously grows all these evil things which Jesus mentions in this
parable. The root is there, and so long as it remains, there cannot be a
satisfactory Christian life. But the heavenly decree has been uttered by
the Redeemer himself, that this plant shall be rooted up, which rooting
up can be testified to by thousands of blood-washed saints today. Many
plain scriptures teach us that this experience of heart purity was a
recognized fact in the apostolic days. Jesus taught that it was
attainable and told of its blessings when in Matt. 5:8 he speaks of the
pure in heart. John writes: "And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Paul says that "the end of the
commandment is charity out of a pure heart" (1 Tim. 1:5), and in the
same letter he writes: "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience."--Chap. 3:9. Also in Chap. 4:12, he writes: "Let no man
despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." In Chap.
5:22, he says, "Keep thyself pure." In 2 Tim. 2:22 we are taught that
many of the saints had this experience of cleansing: "Flee also youthful
lusts; but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that
call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
The prophet Malachi saw the glorious fullness of this gospel salvation
as he beheld and spake by the Spirit: "And he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them
as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness."--Mal. 3:3.
All these plain texts set forth the doctrines of cleansing beyond
question. Then when Peter takes the witness-stand (Acts 15:9) and
testifies that he and all the one hundred twenty at Pentecost, and
afterward the household of Cornelius, received the cleansing at the time
of the outpouring upon them of the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that
God certainly is no respecter of persons, and has the same measure of
grace for his people in this evening time of the gospel day. Praise his
holy name! Let us magnify and exalt the power of the all-cleansing
blood, for it can reach beyond the inmost depths of our fallen nature
and wash us whiter than snow. "For if the blood of bulls and of goats,
and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"--
"Oh, now I see the cleansing wave,
That fountain deep and wide;
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
Points to his wounded side.
"The cleansing stream, I see, I see,
I plunge, and oh, it cleanseth me
Oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me!
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me."