April 2

Read: Hebrews 10:35-39

If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (Hebrews 12:38-39).

If Any Man Draw Back

Has the Holy Spirit convicted me of my need for entire sanctification? Have I somewhere in a holiness meeting acknowledged that need to myself and promised God that I would go home and pray it through? Was I successful in keeping that promise or am I still not sanctified? Has the devil defeated me by filling my mind with other things until the sense of urgency that I felt in the service is now gone?

We may turn away from the evangelist without spiritual loss. We may disagree with the pastor without danger to the soul. But we cannot ignore the clear truth of God’s Word without drawing back. We cannot turn down or pass by the conviction of the Holy Spirit without disobeying God. To disobey the clear call to holiness even once is to begin to backslide.

When we have thus heard God’s call to holiness and have failed to walk in the light, what must we do to avoid being among those “who draw back unto perdition”? The Bible is clear in its answer. “Cast not away therefore your confidence.” Let us hold on to every bit of grace that God has given us. But let us also begin at once to walk in every bit of the light that God has shown us. Let us ask God now to forgive us for drawing back. Let us begin now to seek for entire sanctification. Let us continue to seek privately and publicly until we receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

I will mind God, no matter what others do; I will mind God and do as He bids me to. Whether the way be rough or steep, I will mind God, I will mind God.*

— Warren Rogers

*Copyright Warren Rogers. Used by permission.