Eph. 1:4 declares, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (italics mine). It has always been the plan of God for men to be holy.

The limitation is not with God. It is with man. To be saved, we must confess, repent, and believe God to forgive us of our sins. To be sanctified, we must consecrate ourselves to God, and believe Him for the cleansing of our hearts. This consecration presupposes that we already have repented, for we are giving our redeemed selves to God as a living sacrifice. Briefly, two distinct things happen in these two experiences. In salvation we are forgiven of sins, and in sanctification we are cleansed from sin.

Entire sanctification and the baptism with the Holy Spirit are not different. They describe two aspects of the same experience. Jesus prayed in John 17 that the disciples be “sanctified.” This prayer was answered in Acts 2 when they were “filled with the Holy Ghost.” Acts 15:8-9 says, “And God . . . bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost . . . purifying their hearts.” Their hearts were purified (or sanctified) at the same time that the Holy Ghost came in.

1. There must be a conscious sense of the need for such an experience. This comes through reading the Word, hearing holiness preaching, listening to the testimonies of sanctified persons, reading holiness books, and becoming aware of one’s own spiritual lack.
2. There must be a confession of the need (Isa. 6:5).
3. There must be a complete consecration of the life to Christ (Rom. 12:1).
4. There must be a claiming of the promises of God’s Word (I Thess. 5:24; I John 1:7).

The evidence is not necessarily some particular gift of the Spirit (I Cor. 13:1-3). The evidence that a person is filled with the Spirit is twofold: (1) he has power to witness (Acts 1:8); and (2) he produces the fruit of the Spirit in his life: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the only scriptural tests as to whether or not a person is filled with the Spirit.

II Cor. 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” It is a glorious treasure, this precious possession of holiness, but it is still subject to the limitations of the human body that is its vessel. Paul makes a practical distinction in the eighth and ninth verses: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” The sanctified person will still be troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and at times cast down, but this is not carnality; it is normal reaction of the earthen vessel that holds our sacred treasure. The basic difference between humanity and carnality is that our humanity is ruled by physical and mental causes, whereas carnality stems from unsanctified selfishness and sin.

Yes. We are judged according to our willingness to obey God in what we know, and are not responsible for any light that we do not have. However, a word of warning is in order: We are responsible for all the light we have. It’s not the things we don’t know that matter; it’s what we do know.