Bible Study Held in Oslo

Malachi 3:3. What is of interest to us who are saved is that He will sit and purify. Salvation is the same as outer purification. What is left is an inner purification (refinement). He will sit. This tells us that it is prolonged; that is to say, as long as we live. Rev. 22:11. He who is just continues to be just and he who is holy continues to be sanctified. That is to say, without ceasing! There is no end to sanctification. He has sat down, and there He sits, purifying and refining and purifying. Refining means that He works the impurities out from within; He takes the evil by the root. The fruit of sanctification is righteousness. The fruit of cleansing is works of righteousness. It is not possible to grow in God without purification. It is not possible to get an ounce of divine nature in without getting an ounce of sin out. If we want to be more righteous, we must get rid of more unrighteousness from within. If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. We have a limited amount of space. If we want to get something in, then we must get rid of something that is already there. Our self-love is just as wide, broad, and deep as God’s love is wide, broad, and deep.

Life is made up of contradictions. We go from left to right, from right to left, and from left to right. We soon go over the mark on the one side, and when we go to correct things, we go too far over on the other side. It is the same when you steer a boat. If you lean too much to the left, you adjust the rudder and end up going too far to the right. It is especially this way in the beginning. The wake looks like an “S.” The trick is to steer in such a way so the wake becomes a straight line. Even then, when the eye sees it as a straight line, it will still look like an S when we look at it with a magnifying glass. That is the way it is in life. Even though we are ever so holy and victorious, we can still become more sanctified. For example: the common thing in the beginning is to keep quiet. Then you come upon the word that you should not be quiet, but speak. Then you begin to testify and pray in season and out of season. Heb. 10:38. We go too far over to the other side. Later on we read what is written in James 1:19, and we turn the rudder in the other direction. It was with a pure motive that we began to testify and pray, but as we did the good, our self-life manifested itself: vanity, the lust to preach, the desire for honor, etc. Sin manifests itself against the God-fearing person’s will. Sin is aroused by the commandment and forces its way to the surface where it must be judged as a deed of the body. It is not only the good that manifests itself but also the evil, which we hate. Then we possibly receive a word that goes in the other direction. For example, Job 32:16-22 and 33:1-2 and 32:7-10. A little bit of the evil is killed each time, and so it goes, inch by inch. The power that drives us over the line diminishes with time. There is none of us who does not cross the line when God shines His light on our path. If anyone exalts himself, claiming that he never goes over the line on either side, he has gone astray and has completely lost hold of the helm. To be forward and to hold back is the right thing to do when it is pleasing and according to the will of God. To be bold is right but to be discouraged and timid is not. God uses many means, and everything is for our education.

Romans 6:22. When I desire to serve someone it is necessary for that person to be open because then I can be of greater help to him. It is not to be understood like this that if only the person came to me, the situation would improve. Not at all! However, things can become good if the person opens up and con-fesses his sin; for then God is faithful and righteous. It is an opportunity to learn to walk on the way, to get guidance and comfort, to be broken and be built up endlessly. If we end up on the left side of the road, there is a certain sin we must dispatch, and if we are on the other side, there is a certain other sin. Jas. 3:2. We all stumble in many things. If the body of sin was taken away, we would never go off course and our wake would never look like an S.

No man can bridle the whole body. All of us must immediately correct what is wrong. We must consciously take up the battle against sin. We are not to be defeated in anything. We must throw ourselves into the fight against sin; the sooner the better. The surest way to fall away is by being sluggish. One is proud. Growth in God is the surest way to be preserved. 2 Pet. 1:5-10. It is not possible to grow and fall away at the same time. Growth in God not only keeps us from falling away but also from falling. Being double-minded and divided robs us of our power. He who is upright and wholehearted says, “As surely as God lives, He will help me.”

Be quick to correct your mistakes when God enlightens you about them. This is what it means to walk in the light, and then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. This is the way of sanctification.