TEXT: "_This is the will of God, even your sanctification._"--1 Thess.
4:3.
It is quite significant that the Apostle Paul writes explicitly
concerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that
he could write as follows:
"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the
Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every
one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory
in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your
persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token
of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the
kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and
to you who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with ever-lasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in that day" (2 Thessalonians 1:1-10).
No higher commendation than this could be paid to any followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and yet unto such a people we find him saying, "This
is the will of God, even your sanctification."
It reminds us of that other scene in the New Testament when Nicodemus
comes to Jesus by night. He was a member of the Sanhedrim, he was in
the truest sense of the word a moral man, and yet Jesus, knowing all
this, deliberately looked into his face and said with emphasis,
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:5-7).
Both of these statements lead us to believe that God's requirements for
his people are very high. These we may not attain unto at all in our
own strength or the energy of our flesh or because of any inherited
righteousness which we may possess. There is no way to reach his
standard except by complete identity with Christ; and this is made
possible by means of faith.
To know the will of God concerning anything is a great satisfaction.
It is like food to our souls if we can say with Jesus, "My meat is to
do God's will." It is an indescribable pleasure if we can say with the
Son of God, "I delight to do thy will." It is the key to the highest
form of knowledge, for we have found it true that "he that doeth the
will of God shall know of the doctrine." It is the promise of eternal
life, for we are told in God's Word, "He that doeth the will of God
abideth forever." There is possibly no place where God's will for us
is more clearly stated than in this text. Sometimes we may know his
will by praying. How often revelations have come thus to us as if from
the very skies concerning his desires for us! We may know it sometimes
by thinking. If one would but yield his mind perfectly to God in his
providences as well as in his word he would know God's will concerning
him. We may know it sometimes by talking to others, for not
infrequently God gives a revelation to one child of his for the
guidance of another's life. But in this connection it is most
definitely stated, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification."
And the Apostle emphasizes his words,
First: By the use of the most affectionate expression, "Furthermore
then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that
as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye
would abound more and more" (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
Second: He speaks on the authority of Jesus himself. "For ye know what
commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:2).
Third: He emphasizes it by referring to the second coming of our Lord,
for he well knew that if one was looking for the appearing of the Son
of God he would turn away from fleshly lusts and abstain from that
which was unclean, thus encouraging the work of sanctification. The
Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonians after he has clearly set before
them God's will concerning their living, "But I would not have you to
be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians
4:13-14). It was not enough for them, in his judgment, to abide in the
faith; they must abound in the works of the Gospel. To talk well
without walking well is not pleasing to God, for the character of the
Christian is thus described, "He walks not after the flesh but after
the Spirit."
The presentation of this subject impresses upon us the fact that we
have lost many of the best words in the Bible because they have been
misused and their teaching misapprehended. If you speak of holiness
men look askance at you, and yet holiness is simply wholeness or
healthfulness and is to the soul what health is to the body. Who,
then, would be without it? If you speak of sanctification immediately
your hearers imagine you are talking concerning sinlessness, and yet
there is no better word in the Scriptures than sanctification, for in
one way it means separation from sin, in another way it means an
increasing likeness to Christ. There are six particular effects of
faith.
First: There is union with Christ. It is true that we were chosen in
him before the foundation of the world and that we are an elect people,
but it is also true that we are by nature the children of wrath and it
is necessary that we should make a deliberate choice of him as a
Savior. When by faith we have taken Christ as a Savior we are united
to him. Faith is counting that which seems unreal as real, as untrue
as true and that which seems not to exist as if it existed. Faith
unites us to him. Without him we are as nothing.
Second: Justification. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit" (Romans 8:1). "He that believeth on him is not condemned; but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). As
we believe in Christ we are clothed with his righteousness. Whether we
can explain it or not, this righteousness answers every demand of God's
justice. Thus it is that Romans the eighth chapter the thirty-third
and the thirty-fourth verses becomes true for us. Let it be noticed,
however, that in both of these verses the two words, "_it_," and "_is_"
are in italics, which would indicate that they were not in the
original. Concerning those who are justified, therefore, the verses
would read as follows: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect." The rest of the verse is a question, "God that justifieth?"
The thirty-fourth verse reads, "Who is he that condemneth?" and the
answer is a question, "Christ that died, yea rather that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh
intercession for us?" and Paul here simply means to say that if God can
lay nothing to our charge and Christ would not condemn us then we are
free, and justification at least to the layman carries with it this
thought:
1. The justified man stands as if he had not sinned at all. His record
is clean.
2. The debt which sin had incurred is paid and instead of being afraid
and trembling at the thought of sin we sing with rejoicing, "Jesus paid
it all, all to him I owe."
Third: Participation of his life. Paul writes to the Galatians, "I
live, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And in the fifteenth
chapter of John the first six verses we read, "I am the true vine, and
my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no
more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the
branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." So faith unites us
to him and his life becomes a very part of our being.
(a) It is like the principle of grafting. When the branch is grafted
into the tree the life of the tree throbs its way into the branch and
ultimately there is fruitfulness. If we only could sustain the right
relations to Christ we would have the cure for worldliness.
(b) Because of this participation and privilege we need not be
concerned. I have heard of a man who grafted a branch into a tree and
then went each day to take the graft out to see what progress it had
made, and the branch died.
(c) Our life need not be intermittent--that is, hot to-day and cold
to-morrow--but it may be all the time an abundant life; not because of
what we are but because of what Christ is.
Fourth: Peace. Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And peace arises
from a sense of reconciliation. If faith is strong, then peace is
abundant; if it is fitful peace partakes of the same character. That
man who has faith in Jesus Christ as a personal Savior has the
following threefold blessing--first, _Peace with God_; second, _The
Peace of God_; third, _The God of Peace_.
Fifth: Sanctification. Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me." Of this we shall speak more at
length a little later.
Sixth: Assurance. This is plainly written in God's word. Notice John
3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life." And John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life."
The entire first Epistle of John also emphasizes the same truth.
I
Sanctification is therefore entirely by faith.
First: By faith we receive the indwelling of the Spirit and he makes
Christ real to us. Because Christ is real by faith we may walk with
him; and that man who keeps step with Jesus Christ will find that he
has come day by day to turn away from those things which were formerly
his defeat. We may also talk with him. That hymn which we sometimes
sing,
"A little talk with Jesus,
How it smooths the rugged way,"
has been true in the experience of many of us. We may also be so
constantly associated with him that we may find ourselves actually like
him; and to grow like Christ by the power of the Spirit is to have the
work of Sanctification carried on.
Second: By faith exercised in God the Spirit continues his work. We
have only to remember the promises of God concerning him, the first of
which is that the Spirit is here carrying on his special work in his
particular dispensation. His second promise is that he is in us if we
be children of God, and we need only to yield to his presence day by
day to be delivered from the power of sin. His third promise is that
he will take of the things of God and show them unto us. Things which
the world's people cannot understand he makes plain unto us. "Eye hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man
to conceive the things which God hath prepared for those who love him,"
but the Spirit hath revealed them unto us. The fourth promise is that
he will not leave us. We may resist the Spirit, we may grieve the
Spirit, but we will not grieve him away. His power may be greatly
limited in our lives, the work of sanctification under the influence of
his presence be greatly hindered, but he is with us, "nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature can separate us from him."
Third: By faith we have a vision of things unseen and they become real
to us. Faith is to the soul what the eye is to the body. The things
of God become actually real, and becoming so they are powerful. Under
the influence of this vision temporal things are trifling. The
Christian who is true to his position lives in heaven, breathes its
atmosphere, is pervaded by its spirit and so becomes pure, tender,
obedient, loving. No wonder that to these people whose lives were so
attractive Paul wrote in the text, "This is the will of God, even your
sanctification."