religious books: viz. personal holiness. By personal holiness is meant
the sacred work of God the Holy Ghost within the soul; the reflection of
the character of our Blessed Lord; the law put into the inward part, and
written on the heart by the Spirit of God. This is the meaning of such
texts as 1 Thess. v. 23: ‘The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The separation is a past act,
for if we are in Christ Jesus, we have been already separated unto God;
but this is an abiding condition, for real holiness is a present matter
of daily life. Now both these parts of sanctification are brought out in
the words which I have read as our text, for it is addressed ‘to them
that are,’ or have been, ‘sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints.’ The first clause refers to the past act, and represents those
believers as having been set apart unto God, or separated as a peculiar
people unto Himself; the second describes their present condition as
inseparable from their high calling; for, having been set apart, they are
now called to be the saints of God. I need not stop to point out that
the word ‘saints,’ is not limited in Sacred Scripture to those who are in
heaven. Still less has it to do with the canonization of Rome, or the
seclusion of a monastery. It describes the personal holiness of the
Christian in common life, the habitual character of the man walking with
God; as in those words of the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. i. 15): ‘Be ye holy;’
or be ye saints, ‘in all manner of conversation.’ So that our text means
the same as if it had been written, ‘To them that have been set apart
unto God in Christ Jesus their Saviour, and who, as the result of that
sacred call, are now leading holy lives in His presence.’
My object this morning will be simply to trace the connexion between
these two steps of God’s sacred work: the past separation unto Him, and
the present personal holiness of character. And all I can say is, may
the Lord help us in our own experience to understand both of them, and
then we shall have no difficulty in perceiving how they are bound
together in the work of Salvation!
We shall find them connected by a principle and a power.
I. A PRINCIPLE. It is perfectly clear, as a matter of principle, that
there ought to be holiness in all that is consecrated to God. He
consecrated, or set apart unto Himself, the Sabbath day, and so He says,
‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’ The Temple, like our own
churches, was consecrated to God, and therefore we read, ‘Holiness
becometh Thine house for ever.’ The vessels of the Temple were
dedicated, or sanctified to His service, and therefore they should not be
touched by unhallowed hands, and the words of sacred Scripture are, ‘Be
ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.’ On these principles we
none like to see a neglected church, a dishonoured Bible, or a careless
attitude, in the house of God. On the same principles, we should all be
profoundly humbled when unhallowed thoughts,—thoughts of the world,
thoughts of vanity, of jealousy, or of self,—in any shape intrude into
holy things, and corrupt those sacred hours which are set apart
exclusively to God. But if this applies to consecration generally, how
pre-eminently does it apply to such a consecration as that described in
the text, in which we are said to be ‘sanctified in Christ Jesus.’ That
sanctification is the introduction of the ruined sinner into a covenant
union with the Son of God. If you have been thus sanctified in Christ
Jesus, you no longer stand alone, to bear your own burden, or plead your
own cause. You have been separated from the ruined world, and identified
with the Lord Jesus; so that He represented you in bearing your curse
when He suffered, and He now represents you at the right hand of the
throne of God, while He pleads on your behalf. Thus you are cleansed
from all legal guilt. You are sanctified by blood, and charged with no
defilement. By the eternal covenant of God He is become your Head, so
that in His death you died; in His life you live; in His acceptance you
are justified; and in His glory you are glorified.
But, if you are thus separated unto such a union with Him, is there any
room left for one moment’s doubt as to what ought to be your character?
If you are set apart by Him into this covenant union with Himself, you
are set apart into a oneness of mind, of will, and of interest. He
represents you in heaven, and you represent Him on earth; as God sees you
in Him, so the world sees Him in you. You bear His name; you are sealed
with the seal of the covenant; you are made a peculiar people unto the
Son of God: and I am sure we must all see the justice of those words of
the Apostle Peter, ‘As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in
all manner of conversation.’
II. POWER. But here lies the difficulty. You really wish to be holy,
but you are not; you have endeavoured to overcome your temper, but it is
still there; you have striven against wandering thoughts in prayer, but
they still interfere most mournfully with your most sacred acts of
worship; you wish, and you mean to be, unselfish, but you find
selfishness continually cropping up, to your sorrow and vexation of
spirit. Now, the question is,—How is this to be overcome? Your resolves
will not do it, for you have made hundreds, and failed in them all; and
no man on earth can do it for you, for the evil lies far too deep for the
reach of man. What then is to be done? We may turn back to our text,
and there learn the secret, for in those words, ‘In Christ Jesus,’ we are
taught the power.
We learned, in studying the first act of separation, that it was the work
of God the Holy Ghost: here it is said to be in Christ Jesus. Some
people dwell more on the distinction than I am myself disposed to do:
there is such a perfect oneness in the infinite God, that I confess I
have but little heart for these refined distinctions. As the Father and
the Son are one, so God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are one; and when
the Lord Jesus saves the sinner, it is the Holy Ghost that applies that
salvation to the soul. Without stopping, therefore, to study any such
distinction, let us rather hasten to the practical lesson that
sanctification, or consecration, here described, is a sanctification in
Jesus Christ. You may look thus to your covenant union with Him, and
trust Him by the in-breathing of His own Spirit to make you holy. You
may remember that He came to save you from your sins, and not merely from
their curse; and that holiness is just as much a gift of the covenant as
pardon.
You remember those words, 1 Cor. i. 30: ‘But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption.’ They teach us that the Lord Jesus is
the source of all practical wisdom and holiness, just as much as of
imputed righteousness and redemption. The passage is clearly not
speaking of an imputed wisdom, and we have no right to apply it to an
imputed sanctification. It refers to the practical wisdom and personal
holiness of the man who by God’s grace is wise and holy; and teaches that
both one and the other are found exclusively in Christ Jesus.
You may, therefore, trust the Lord Jesus Christ for your sanctification
just as much as for your justification; for your personal holiness in
daily life, as well as for your safety in the great day of judgment.
Look carefully then unto your covenant union with Christ, and think on
Him as your covenant Head: then spread out all your difficulties and
temptations before Him as your Head. Acknowledge before Him how you have
dishonoured His headship by your evil thoughts, your evil words, and your
constant failures; and trust Him, as your Head, to form in you His image,
and by His own most Holy Spirit to give you the victory. Do not stand at
a distance, thinking it your duty to doubt your union, for by so doing
you will never overcome. Without that union you will never know what
victory means. I am assuming now that in the secret of your own souls
you have been verily engrafted into Christ. I know you were
sacramentally in baptism, but I am looking deeper than that, for many who
are baptized are never saved, and I am speaking now of the real saving
union of your soul with Christ Himself. Now, if that is yours through
His wonderful grace, accept it, act upon it, trust Him as your living
Head; and you will find, as time goes on, that though you cannot
overcome, He can; and that He will finally present you, ‘holy and
unblameable before Him at His coming.’ But here we are brought to the
old difficulty,—that you have no real evidence in your soul of the
existence of such a union with Christ. You know there is your baptismal
union, but still you cannot feel safe, and you greatly doubt whether you
are amongst those who have been ‘Sanctified in Christ Jesus: called to be
saints.’ This is the reason why many of you cannot come to the sacred
feast of the Supper of the Lord, and why many others, who do come, come
with a heavy heart. Would to God we might see those absent ones brought
near, and those heavy hearts gladdened by the Lord! But in order to that
you must grapple at once with the great question of your own personal
salvation,—your separation unto God. Till that is settled you will be
powerless against yourself. Till you are in Christ, and sanctified in
Christ Jesus, you will never be sanctified at all. If you really desire
to be really holy, for the sake of that holiness begin at the beginning,
and never rest till you are safe. Your safety must come before your
holiness, or you will wait for it for ever. Begin therefore with the
prayer, ‘Lord, save me: I perish.’ Throw yourself into His hand for
pardon, for acceptance, for life. Never rest till you can appropriate
the language of St. Paul: ‘Who hath saved me, and called me with an holy
calling.’ And, when that is given, you may go on to those other words of
the same Apostle, and say, ‘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.’
PROGRESS.
‘But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord.’—2 COR. iii. 18.
THE subject of personal holiness is one of overwhelming interest to all
those who really desire to walk with God; it is also one which requires
our most careful study, for in it lies the chief difficulty of the daily
Christian life of the greater number of true believers. They know the
truth, and love it; they prize their Saviour far above all that the world
can give; they are ready either to live or die in His service; but yet
they are so conscious of the power of indwelling sin that sometimes they
are led almost to doubt the reality of their Christianity, and begin to
question whether they really love their Lord at all. For the help of
such persons it seems clearly a duty to look carefully into the subject,
and I pray God that He may help us to do so this morning.
This text will supply us with so much instruction that we will not
attempt to examine other passages, but will endeavour to gather from it
the standard, the progress, the means, and the power of Christian
holiness. May God so bless His word, as to make us holy by His Spirit!
* * * * *
I. THE STANDARD. How many a noble ship has been lost through some
inaccuracy in the compass! If the compass points too much to the east or
to the west, the most careful commander may wreck his vessel. And if the
compass of the soul is in a wrong direction you will find it very hard to
walk in a right path. Now, in this text the one standard is the image of
the Lord Jesus. We are said to behold the glory of the Lord, and to be
changed into His image. There cannot be a doubt that this refers to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that by His glory is meant His grace. If there
were, it would be settled by these words in John, i. 14: ‘The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ The great
manifestation of the glory of God is in the grace and truth of the
incarnate Word. If, then, we would be holy, as God is holy, we must be
changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are like Him we
shall be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; but not
before. So you will find that, when persons speak about their
sinlessness, it may generally be traced to their adopting a low standard
of holiness. Sometimes people will set up their own experience as a
standard, and really seem to think that we are to receive their accounts
of their own experience as if it were another Bible. Sometimes we read
of a perfection, not absolute, but ‘up to the measure of to-day’s
consciousness.’ Accordingly I have read of one described as an eminent
Christian, who ‘said that a few days more would make twenty-one years
that his obedience had been kept at the extreme verge of his light.’ I
am not sure that I know what the writer means, and I may possibly
misunderstand his words; but, if they mean what they seem to mean, I can
scarcely imagine anything more delusive. We know very well how the eyes
may be blinded, the heart deadened, and the conscience seared by sin; we
know that the deeper a man is sunk in sin the less he feels it, and the
lower his fall the more profound his want of feeling; and only imagine
what must be the result if a deadened, thickened, darkened conscience
were to be accepted as the measure of a sinless life. The idea reminds
one of these words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. x. 12: ‘They measuring themselves
by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.’
Nay: they go further, and point to the tremendous danger pointed out by
our Lord Himself: ‘If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is
that darkness.’ (Matt. vi. 23.) No: we must have a standard rising high
above either consciousness, conscience, or our own light; a standard that
never varies; a standard that does not go up and down with our changes of
feeling or opinion; a standard as unchanging as the perfect character of
God Himself! This is the standard which we find in the Lord Jesus
Christ,—in God manifest in the flesh: and what is more, thanks be to God,
this is the standard which we shall one day reach! For, though there are
many things still hidden, there is one thing we most assuredly know, and
that is, that ‘when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is.’
II. THE PROGRESS. As I have just said, when we see the Lord as He is we
shall be like Him; and when that comes to pass we shall see the
perfection of the promise, He ‘shall save His people from their sins.’
He will so completely save them that whereas He finds them corrupt,
ruined, and enemies to God by wicked works, He will finally present them
holy and unblameable, without spot and without blemish before the throne.
It is impossible to imagine anything more blessed, more wonderful, more
divine, than such a change. Now it becomes a question of the deepest
interest whether this mighty change is accomplished by one instantaneous
act, or gradually. Is it, like justification, a completed thing? or is
it a progressive work, commenced at the new birth, but not complete till
we see Him as He is? There cannot be a more important practical inquiry.
And now you may see the importance of the distinction drawn between the
different senses of the word ‘sanctification;’ or, as it might be better
expressed, the different parts of that blessed work. If you speak of
sanctification as the original act of God in separating us unto Himself,
then it is a completed thing, for we are described as ‘having been
sanctified in Christ Jesus.’ If, again, you speak of it as a legal
cleansing from all past guilt, it is complete, for being washed in the
precious blood we are already clean. But if you regard it as the
personal holiness of daily life, the purifying the heart through faith by
the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, then I am prepared to maintain
from the whole testimony of the whole Word of God from one end to the
other, that so long as we are in this world of conflict the sacred work
is not complete, but progressive. How people can speak of sanctification
in this sense as an immediate work, I am at a loss to understand.
Hundreds of passages might be quoted to prove its progressive character,
and to show the reason of its present incompleteness: viz., the abiding
power of indwelling sin. I have only time to refer to two. In the first
place, this verse describes us as changed, or being changed, from glory
to glory. We are described as in the process of transformation, or
metamorphosis; by His grace passing from glory to glory, or from one
degree of grace to another. The work is in progress, thanks be to God!
and we have the bright hope of the completed likeness of the Lord. But
that bright hope is not yet realized, nor will it be till we see Him as
He is. I will take only one other passage, and select it because it
corresponds very closely to the text. It is a passage addressed to the
believers in Rome,—to persons who are described as being ‘beloved of God
called to be saints.’ (Rom. i. 7.) There can be no doubt then that the
work of personal holiness was begun in them: yet what does St. Paul say
to them? (Rom. xii. 2.) ‘Be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed (or metamorphosized) by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.’
Is it not clear then that those persons who were beloved of God, and
called to be saints, were still to be reaching forth after higher
attainments? There was so much evil in them that they still required to
be warned against conformity to the world, and so far were they from
their high standard, that they required nothing less than a
transformation or metamorphosis (it is the same word as in the text), in
order to bring them into a personal experience ‘of the good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God.’ Be sure then there is no
resting-place in Christian holiness for the saints of God. The Lord may
have done great things for us, whereof we are glad. He may have given us
such an insight into His grace that we now love that which we once cared
nothing for, and hate that which we once loved: He may have led us to say
from the bottom of our hearts, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O my God.’ But
our motto must still be, ‘Forgetting those things that are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press towards the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ The more
we love Christ, the more must we be deeply humbled that we love Him so
little; and the more we look at the blessed prospect of a real and
perfect sinlessness, the more must we be ready to say, as St. Paul did,
‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus.’
III. But some of you will be ready to say that that is just where your
difficulty lies. You do really desire to be going forward, and to be
making progress, but it seems as if you could not. You are like a person
in a nightmare, who wishes to run, but cannot. Let us then consider what
is God’s great instrument, whereby He imparts progress to the soul. On
this subject this text is quite decisive, for it shows that God’s great
instrument is the view of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith. In the
passage to which I have already referred in 1 John, iii. 2, we find that
the perfect view of the Lord Jesus will lead to perfect likeness, so in
these words the partial view leads to progressive likeness. When the
view is perfect the likeness will be perfect too; now that the view is
imperfect, only as through a glass, the likeness is imperfect likewise.
But still it is growing more and more; for ‘we all,’—not merely special
Christians, who have attained what they call ‘the higher
life,’—‘beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory.’ Now I believe it is impossible to
press this too strongly on all those who desire holiness, for there is a
perpetual tendency in every one of us to turn the eye inward on
ourselves, instead of keeping it fixed on Him. Some are occupied with
what they feel, or do not feel, or wish to feel, or wish they did not
feel; and some by what they do, or mean to do, or think they ought to
do,—till the whole mind becomes bewildered, and the whole soul entangled.
Remember that you may be entangled by your religious efforts, as well as
by your sins: nothing indeed entangles people more than confused and
mistaken religion. So that if you really want to be like Him, you must
sweep away all your entanglements like so many cobwebs, and, just as you
are, look straight at Him. For example, you say you do not feel sin, and
you do not feel anything like the sorrow for it that you know you ought
to do. I have no doubt you are perfectly right, and it is very
sorrowful, very sinful, and very sad. But how is it to be overcome? I
know of only one way, and that is a very simple one, too simple for many
of you,—and that is a look: you must behold Christ. Remember the case of
the Jews. Nothing yet has melted their hearts: their great national
afflictions have utterly failed: but in God’s time there will be a
change. We shall see those people mourning,—so mourning that they will
be led with broken hearts to the Fountain open for sin and for
uncleanness. And what will be God’s instrument for producing such a
change? By what means will He effect it? By a look: a simple look! You
find it described in Zech. xii. 10: ‘They shall look on Me whom they have
pierced, and shall mourn for him.’ That one look will accomplish more
than 1800 years of bitter, and most afflictive, discipline. And it is
just the same with ourselves. One look at our loving and living Saviour
will do more towards softening the heart than hours spent in the scrutiny
of feeling, or whole books of self-examination. If you want to grow in
grace, in tenderness of conscience, in holy abhorrence of sin, in purity
of heart, in lowliness of spirit, and in thankful love for your blessed
Saviour,—then look on Him, keep your eyes on Him. Think on His Cross,
how He died for you; on His life, how He lived for you; on His advocacy,
how He pleads for you; on His perfect character, His love, His holiness,
His purity, His power, His grace, His truth: for by such a look, and such
a look alone, can you ever hope to be changed into His image.
But remember one expression in the text: viz. those three words, ‘With
open face.’ The look that transforms is a look with an open face: there
must be nothing between. There must not be a veil over it, as there is
over the Jews, as you read in verse 15. Every barrier must be removed.
The great barrier of the curse is gone, through the blood of atonement;
and we must not now set up fresh barriers of our own creation. We must
remember the hymn:—
‘Just as I am: Thy love alone
Has broken every barrier down;’
and just as we are,—humbled, unworthy, cold, and unfeeling, but yet
admitted into the very presence of the Lord,—we must look with open face
at the Son of God Himself; and I hope we may be able to say, as David
did, ‘They looked to Him, and were lightened, and their faces were not
ashamed.’
IV. But the look is not enough; for besides all means there must be a
power. We cannot will ourselves into the likeness of our Saviour, any
more than an animal can will itself into a man: the great transformation
must be by the power of a life-creating agent. So, when I turn again to
this text, I find that it is not the look alone which effects the change,
but that it is God the Holy Ghost making use of the look, and by divine
omnipotence transforming the soul into the image of the Lord Jesus. In
the last words of the text it is all ascribed to Him, as in the words,
‘Even as by the Spirit of the Lord,’ or, as the margin has it, ‘Even as
by the Lord the Spirit.’ I have no time to dwell on this subject as I
should like to do; but I cannot conclude without begging the careful
attention of all those who are almost tempted to think that there is
something in their constitution which blocks the way against their
progress. They see others going forward while they stand still; they
hear of others filled with peace in believing, while they are still
hampered by doubt, so that they begin to think they shall never rise, and
are never intended to rise, above their present condition. I quite admit
that it may be perfectly true, that there is something peculiar in your
case; something peculiar, it may be, in your habits, in your disposition,
in your temper, in your temptation. Let us admit it, for most people
have their peculiar difficulties. But, admitting it, I pray you to
consider whether there is not a Divine power in the Lord the Spirit,
which is quite sufficient to overcome that peculiarity. Is any thing too
hard for the Lord? Think then on God the Holy Ghost: think of Him as
working out the great salvation purchased for us through the precious
blood of the Son of God, and then reflect whether it is possible that
your difficulties are beyond His power. They are beyond your own: you
have learned that. But are they beyond His? If you have failed, is that
any reason why He should? Trust Him then, and behold Christ Jesus.
Remember you are dealing with One mighty to save, and that, while you are
looking to Jesus, He, working within, may heal your soul. Trust Him then
to do it. You know He can; trust Him that He will: and never again admit
the thought, that, notwithstanding all you have discovered in your soul,
there is any thing there too hard for the Son of God,—anything which may
not be overcome by the indwelling power of God the Holy Ghost.
INFECTION OF NATURE.
‘I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.’—ROM.
vii. 25. {64}