You may be caught up into the third heaven, and yet the abundance of this revelation will not burn up the dross that is within you, or kill the old man, the flesh which warreth against the Spirit. On the contrary, there is the danger imminent and great, as there was to the Apostle Paul, lest you be exalted above measure, and dream of victory and enjoyment while you are still on the battlefield, and called to fight the good fight of faith, to crucify every day the old man, and to have no confidence, still less complacency, in the flesh. . . . A Christian is known by his difficulties, struggles, conflicts, tears, groans, as well as by his thanksgiving and joy. We have died once in Christ, and in Christ are accepted and perfect, but our old nature is not dead, the flesh in us is not annihilated, there is still within us that which has no pleasure in the will and ways of God. . . . We sin, we fall, we carry about with us a mind resisting God’s will, criticising it, and rebelling; and we shall experience to the very last breath we draw on earth, that there is a conflict, and that we must strive and suffer in order to be faithful unto death.
Hear how at the end of his journey the apostle says of himself, not that he was, but that he is, chief of sinners. Is he a saint? He calls himself less than the least of God’s saints. Is he an apostle? He adds, I am not meet to be an apostle. So we confess daily our sin and our sins, and condemn ourselves whenever we appear before God; yet are we perfect in Christ Jesus.—ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D., quoted in the Gospel Magazine.