Sanctification affects the heart, and its work is to
take out evil, the sin in the nature, and make it holy and pure. Also
it means an infilling of God's Spirit, which pervades our nature after
sanctification just as sin pervaded it before. But sanctification does
not eliminate humanity from our nature.
Mistakes, therefore, are the common lot of all--sinners, believers, and
sanctified ones.
Not only are we liable to mistakes, we are inseparable from them in our
earthly existence. As one grows in experience, knowledge, and maturity
of judgment, one's mistakes may become fewer in number; but no one on
earth can ever expect to get entirely beyond making them.
Let us take a look at some illustrations: A young Christian had a father
who drank. One day another Christian saw this Christian young man go
into a saloon. He reported it around that he saw this brother go into a
saloon. Well, the young brother must have backslidden, was the instant
conclusion, and so it was reported. But the young man had gone into the
saloon to get his father to go home. A very noble act; but the story
that was told was very detrimental to the young man. It was a mistake
to tell that he was backslidden without first knowing the facts of the
case.
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