Sanctification

CHAPTER 1

Sanctification: Its Necessity

BY

A. Paget Wilkes

We are going to consider together that great word found in the New Testament, SANCTIFICATION or Holiness. The Authorized Version translates the original indiscriminately by these two words.

We shall first consider its necessity, then its nature, then its way, and lastly the time of its realization.

There are two great words in the New Testament relative to the state and position of the believer—Justification and Sanctification. Speak­ing roughly we may say that Justification means “being counted righteous,” and Sanctification “made righteous.” When a man is born again, God both counts him righteous, forgiving all the past—and makes him righteous giving him a new nature. Hence Paul, when writing to the Christians of his day, though many of them were carnal, calls them saints, or sanctified ones. Sanctification, however, may be divided into two parts— “regeneration,” or sanctification begun, and “ entire sanctification “ which is the work completed, and which is the subject we are considering. In this connection it is interesting to note that John Wesley entitles his great classic on the subject “ Entire Sanctification.”

Some may enquire, Why talk so much about this second work of grace in the heart ? Why teach sanctification ? (and for convenience sake let me say, I shall speak of “ entire sanctification “ merely as sanctification, to distinguish it from regeneration)—why, says the enquirer, emphasize it so much, why not speak more about the Person and Presence of the Lord Jesus Himself ? Well, we shall see the reason as we go on. I do, however, hope that all of us believe that a second work of grace in the heart is necessary. It is blessed to get out of Egypt, but, shall I say, more blessed to get into the land of Canaan. I suppose that all Christian workers have found it’ much easier to lead people out of Egypt, than to get them into the land Promise : it was so in the days of Moses. Only Caleb and Joshua—two out of that great host—ever reached the land : it was left to the second generation to inherit it. Oh ! how hard it is to get all the Egypt, all the murmuring, and unbelief out of the hearts of God’s children, and lead them into the country that flows with the milk and honey of His word.

Let me repeat it, therefore, it is most necessary to preach the blessing before we talk about the Blesser. “But it is not the blessing we want,” says someone, “it is the Blesser.” No ! that is not true ; we need both, we need the blessing and the Blesser. Will you turn with me to Rev. 3. Here the Lord, diagnosing the state of the Laodicean church, and calling them “Wretched, miserable, poor and blind and naked,” finally adds that most blessed promise, “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me.” But I want you to notice that those two do not come together : in between the descrip­tion of the lukewarm Christian and the wonderful promise of an indwelling Christ, we have these words, “ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.” Here is the blessing ; it is not till we have received this, that he adds, “Behold I . . . will come in “ even the Blessed Lord Jesus Himself! I am going to speak, therefore, on the sevenfold necessity of being sanctified wholly.  

The first we will consider is

1. Vision of Christ

“Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Heb. 12. 14, R.V.)

Here then is the first reason for this great work to be done in our hearts. The necessity of having a second work of grace taking away the depravity of our nature, is that without it we “cannot see the Lord.” “Blessed are the pure in heart,” said Christ, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5: 8.) This may refer possibly in its primary meaning to His coming again, in order that we may be counted worthy to escape the things which are coming to pass on the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man, but it also applies to us here and now. The desire of every true Christian is to see the Lord Jesus: we long for Him to be made manifest to our souls. That, moreover, was His last great promise, that if we keep His two commandments, “believing” and “loving” (see 1 John 3: 23, 24) He would manifest Himself to us. Why is it that He is not real to us? Is it not because we fail in “believing” and “loving”? But why do we thus fail ? Surely it is because of the unbelief, the carnal mind, that depravity of heart which weakens and hinders and destroys our faith and love. When that is removed, He says we shall see Him because we are enabled to believe and love with all our hearts. Yes! we shall see Him in His word; we shall see Him in nature; see Him in His people; see Him in the Sacraments and see Him in His Providences. Do we? When the heart is pure it shall be so—we shall see the Lord. Hallelujah!

Have you ever studied in the Word of God the subject of seeing the Lord Jesus? The wise men when they saw the little Babe of Bethlehem knew it was the Lord! It led them to worship, adoration, and sacrificial giving.

The Shepherds, too, that came and saw the Babe, they knew Him. Their vision led to praise and thanksgiving and testimony.

The day that Simeon came into the Temple, no doubt there were numbers of other babies in their mothers’ arms. Mary was just an ordinary peasant woman : you and I would doubtless have passed her by, but Simeon didn’t: he saw the Lord and knew Him to be the Saviour of the World. “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,” he cries, “for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Yes, it made him both praise God, and pray for a blessing on Joseph and Mary. Later on Anna came in: she, too, saw the young child and she, too, knew it was the Christ; at once she begins to give thanks and spread it all abroad.  The Samaritan woman when she saw Him after she had received the cleansing water in her soul knew Him to be her Saviour. Her natural idea of a Messiah was of course that he would be a mighty king and national deliverer; but as soon as heart was made pure she sees and believes that the lowly Carpenter, He that spake unto her, was the One: yes! standing at her side, looking into her face, and bringing salvation to her soul. This beatific vision made her a missionary at once.  Oh! that this sanctifying baptism in His Blood and by His Spirit may be ours. So shall the interior eye of faith be opened and we shall go hence seeing the Lord—testifying to His grace, praising His name, telling the good tidings abroad, and made missionaries of the Cross indeed. I pass on now to the second reason—

2. Oneness with Christ  

“Sanctify them through thy truth .. that they may be ONE.” (John 17. 17-21.)

Here is another of the deepest reasons for our being sanctified, viz. that we may be one with Christ. In John 15. the Lord had said to His disciples, “Now ye are clean,” and then in the 17th chapter goes on to pray, “Father, sanctify them.” The two words in the Greek are quite different from each other. Had I time I could take you through several different Scriptures and show you instances of their difference. For example in 2 Timothy 2. 21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel sanctified” ; the first word is the same as in John 15., while the second is that used in John 17. Again in 2 Cor. 7. 1, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness” we find the same distinction. Yes, you are clean, if you are Christians at all : you are one with the Vine; and yet the Lord prays, “O Father, make them clean and make them one.” There is, therefore, a deeper purity and a closer union than some of us know anything about. In the epistle to the Romans we find the double union with Christ very clearly set forth. In the 6th chapter the apostle speaks of a union with Christ in death, burial and resurrection, but in the 7th he talks about a oneness with Christ in marriage, bringing forth fruit unto God. He goes on to explain that there cannot be a oneness with Christ and bringing forth fruit until the “old husband” is gone. What a picture of the carnal mind and the old man is the husband in Romans 7! There can be no divorce, no suppression, no putting him down in the cellar or up in the attic. He has to die. Without his decease there can be no re-marriage and no oneness with Christ Jesus—the heavenly Bridegroom. There is a striking parable of this in the Old Testament in the story of Abigail’s marriage with King David after the death of Nabal—” Fool “was his name and “Folly” his nature. When Abigail went home and told him how desperate it was, we read that his heart became like a stone within him, but it was the Lord who gave him his coup de grace. So shall it be with us; if in faith we say the word, take sides with our heavenly Bridegroom and speak the word of  condemnation to the Nabal within, the Lord Himself will do the rest.

What we are after, is not some wonderful blessing that is going to make us independent of the Lord Jesus, but a blessing that will make us one with Him—one in desire, one in will, one in motive, one in God’s desire for the salvation of a lost world, one with Christ. That is what we are seeking; if this is not so we shall get very little worth having. Religion does not consist in ecstasies and emotions and talking in tongues, if I understand it aright; it means that I am brought into oneness with Christ over a lost world, and if I am brought into oneness with Christ it will make a tremendous difference in my life. I can look out on the world as Christ looks on it, and feel as He feels, love as He loves, and walk as He walked. You remember Paul prayed that he might know the fellowship of His sufferings: I do not think that this refers to the past sufferings of Christ; it certainly does not mean emotional sentiment about the suffering of Christ on the Cross; he is surely thinking of His present suffer­ings, His bitter disappointment as He looks at a poor, lukewarm, languishing Church. Oh, what disappointment and sorrow and suffering the Lord Jesus has over His people! And we may know something of that too in fellowship with Him, that is the suffering I desire to enter into. May, the Lord so sanctity our hearts that we may all be one with Him— for union with Jesus demands the cleansing, sanctifying experience of which we are thinking.

Let us consider the third necessity—

3. Usefulness and Power

“If a man purge himself . . . he shall be a vessel . . . sanctified and meet for the Master’s use.” (2 Tim. 2. 21.)

It is blessed to see the Lord, blessed to be one with Him, but there is a further reason that makes sanctification a necessity : it is declared to us in the above passage. What a marvellous verse that is! Those of us who know the awful weakness, the failures, and the miserable slip-shod make-up that some of us have, can never cease to marvel that God can not only make us a vessel unto honour, or that He can sanctify us, but that He can make us fit for His using and ready for every good work. Here is the reason why we lack power and are so unusable in God’s service: we are not yet clean within: and the Lord knows that if He began to use us we would get puffed up with pride. As Brengle says, “Don’t pray, Lord use me, but, make me usable.” God is using men and women to-day to the utmost limit of their ability. He will look after the using, if we will only get detached from ourselves, so that we can praise the Lord if someone else is used as much as ourselves. Oh! what liberty that is! some of us know the bondage of jealousy and envy, that springs up in our hearts when we hear of some Christian worker being used more than we are, and some of us know the inward freedom, when we do not care who is used, if only the Lord Jesus is glorified. Oh! how we have longed for that inward purity, that absence of jealousy, pride, and every evil work! Till we are free we are not meet for His use. That is the reason why we need a clean heart. God can then take us up as He pleases: He can put us down as He pleases, for He knows that we shan’t grumble or murmur, but will still praise Him because we are occupied and satisfied with the Lord Jesus Himself, rather than without-service for Him. Yes! God has got to do a deeper, more drastic and a more real work in our hearts than we dreamed of, when we were in the land of Egypt. All we thought of then was that we were in bondage. Thank God we are out of bondage! But when we get into the wilderness we begin to find out how much there is of Egypt still in us. We begin to find out from bitter experience how much there is of this corrupting evil thing: no! we don’t want it to be there, but there it is all the same, creeping into all we do and say. It is like an unclean fountain, pouring out its evil thoughts all the time. How can the Lord Jesus take us and use us till He has made us “clean” and “free” and “whole” ?

There is yet another reason for our need of sanctification

4. The Power to Love

“Seeing ye have PURIFIED your souls in obeying the truth . . . see that ye LOVE one another with a PURE heart fervently.” (I Peter 1. 22.)

“The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart.” (I Tim. 1. 5.)

“The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 14: 17.) That is to say, it is not the meat and drink of the body, but it is the meat and drink of the soul. We may call righteous­ness, which is faith and love, the meat, while peace and joy are the drink of the soul. There are a lot of people who are spiritual drunkards: they want nothing but peace and joy, mere emotional experiences; but faith and love are not emotional, they are very practical. Love is not necessarily emotional at all: it is solid, real, and full of good works. The secret of the ability to love is a pure heart. Love to God and man, pure and unadulterated, cannot proceed out of a heart that is still defiled with bitterness and envy. Just as you cannot put the new wine of joy into old bottles, so you cannot put a patch of heavenly love on to an old garment. The garments of holiness, the raiment of love unpatched and unspotted have to be put on, that the shame of our nakedness do not appear. Oh that God may give us a yearning desire to have love out of a pure heart! “Yes !” you say, “We like the word `love’ but we don’t like the words, `a clean heart.’ “Well, David did not object to them anyhow, did he? and I am willing to be in David’s company and cry with him, “Create in me a clean heart, 0 Cod.” (Psalm 51: 10.) Oh! do be careful about despising God’s words, for Christ hath declared “Whosoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will I be ashamed.” “Love out of a pure heart !” Can anything be more beautiful? Let us seek in these days with all our mind and soul and strength! and God will purify and fill and cause us to overflow!

The Word of God presents us with still another reason why we should be entirely sanctified—

5. Preparedness for the Lord’s Coming

“The God of Peace Himself sanctify you wholly . . . unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5: 23, R.V.)

I wish you would take your Bible and look carefully into this matter. Take such passages as 1 Thess. 3:12-13 ; 1 John 3: 3; 2 Thess. 1: 10-12; Titus 2: 13-14; and many more, if not all other passages relative to this theme; and you will find that holiness of heart and His appearing are never separated. Oh how ashamed we should be, if He came and found in our heart envy and pride, and malice, uncharitableness and unbelief, the fear of man and the shame of the Cross. I do not know how much you want left in your heart, I do not want any of it left. “Ah,” you say,” We must have a little sin to keep us humble.” Do you really believe that ? Sin never makes us humble, for if it did, the devil ought to be the humblest creature on earth. No! No! Only the grace of God can make and keep men humble. This is a deeply solemn aspect of the matter—the white robes—the wedding garment—preparedness for the appearing—the fitness and not merely the right to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb—are surely the holiness of heart wrought out for us—His purchased blessing. Without it, alas, we may be left outside to pass through the days of the “great tribulation” though saved as by fire. Do not be content with the right to enter; we need the fitness. Imputed righteousness gives the former, but His imparted righteousness—Christ as our sanctification, appropriated and put on can alone make us ready for His appearing, that when He does appear we may not be ashamed before Him.

What is our sixth reason ?

6. Ability to Praise in Time of Reproach

“Wherefore Jesus also that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate: let us go forth therefore unto Him . . . bearing His reproach . . . by Him let us offer the sacrifice of Praise.” (Heb. 13. 12-15.)  In passing I want you to notice particularly the words “sanctify with His own blood.” There is a form of doctrine that is preached nowadays that makes sanctification the result of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. This, of course, is true, but not the whole truth. In Romans 5: 9, we read that we are “justified by His blood,” but here we learn that His blood sanctifies our hearts. The meaning is plain. Before the Holy Ghost can come and take possession, there has to be cleansing of indwelling sin from the heart through the efficacy of the blood of Jesus—the “body of sin” has to be destroyed by the Cross, the disease of the soul has to be healed by “His stripes.” Here is a reason why so many people who come to meetings, and pray and consecrate themselves, asking to receive the Holy Spirit, yet as far as we can see never do receive:  at best they are satisfied with mere notions: there is no reality. They fail to see that before the Spirit of God can come in and take possession we need to be sanctified by His blood. “His blood doth make me holy,” for in it is a sin-destroying power. I merely say this in passing.

The point of the passage before us is that with out His sanctifying grace and power we cannot “go unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach.” Here is a very real result of sanctifica­tion, the ability to bear the reproach of Christ, and not to be ashamed. May I ask you, when you are travelling in the train for example, are you ashamed of the Lord Jesus? How many Christians I find as I travel about are ashamed of Him. They have no power to confess Him or win others to Him. Some of us have suffered from that false shame, haven’t we? There are men who naturally have a very strong character and yet when it comes to witnessing for Christ they are utterly weak. It takes more than mere strength of natural character to eradicate that fear of man and the shame of the Cross. Oh ! isn’t it amazing that we should ever be ashamed of Christ. What an awful day that will be, perhaps the most awful moment, when we look back on all this so-called fashion of the world, and remember that we were ashamed of Him in its presence. Beloved, may we get it all out of us in these days. Do you believe it can be done? I know it can. Out of the most timid person God can take away the fear and false shame, if they will only let Him sanctify them entirely by His blood: but you won’t let Him do it unless you are convicted over it, unless you feel that your witness and worship and testimony have been miserable performances and cry out, “Oh that God would bring me into a place where I can help someone and be a blessing.” You remember the little boy who was asked why the lions could not eat Daniel and he replied, “Because he was three parts grit and all the rest solid backbone.”

He sanctifies the people by His own blood in .order that we might go without the camp, bearing His reproach.  The body of the sin offering was burned outside the camp. It was entirely con­sumed, after certain parts had been burned upon the altar. The fire speaks to us of the Holy Ghost and the word “body” reminds us of St. Paul’s striking words, “The body of sin,” “The body of death,” and “The body of the flesh“ (R.V.). Why does the Apostle use these expressions ? Surely that he may show us that he is talking about sin as a totality, an entity (not mere guilt, habit, or action) to be destroyed and consumed. The blessed result will be that we shall have power to bear His reproach, and by Him offer the sacrifice of praise in the midst of persecution, obloquy and shame. We can never get real praise and thanksgiving out of a heart that is not made clean and sanctified by His blood, at least in circumstances of suffering and reproach.

And now lastly. We close with another, and perhaps the most important result of a sanctified experience—

7. The Power to Obey

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience.” (1 Peter 1. 2.)

It is not too much to say that the heart of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to make us obedient; just as the essence of that sin which ruined the human race was disobedience. We are not only like lost sheep losing our way, ignorant of the way back, but we all have “gone our own way,” a very pleasant way, and a very. respectable way maybe, but our own way, away from God nevertheless. The purpose of redemption is to bring us back to the place of perfect obedience. The Lord Jesus Himself came to show us its reasonable­ness, righteousness and blessedness by Himself living a life of unswerving obedience to the will of God. Are we assured that such a life is impossible without first experiencing an entire sanctification of our nature—the cleansing of every bit of rebellion, self-will and self-pleasing? God the Holy Ghost can bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So, and only so, shall we gladly obey and follow in His steps. “Unto obedience.” We know perfectly well the value of these words: we ourselves do not want smart kind of people as our servants: we want men and women whom we can trust. They may not be very brilliant but if they are perfectly faithful and obedient we are satisfied. What a comfort it is to have men and women like that about us; and how disappointing it is to have the exact opposite! Is it otherwise with God? By no means. He, too, does not want brilliant men and women so much as those who will be sanctified unto obedience. Oh! may He make us such. May He take all the disobedient spirit and self-pleasing out of our hearts at this time. Some of us know so well our own slip-shod nature; we may cover up and conceal it very cleverly from our friends, but we know and God knows all about it. Thanks be to Him that He can alter it and sanctify us body, soul and spirit, so that we obey Him and be ready for Him to use us for His glory.

These then are some of the reasons why we need the great work of sanctification in our souls. Let us glance at them again as we close.

(I) We need it that we may “ see the Lord.” Till the heart is pure there can be no vision : sin and fear and unbelief blur and dim the sight of our soul. (Matt. 5:. 8 ; Heb. 12. 14.)

(2) We need it that we may be one with Christ not only in will, but in desire and affection, mind and motive, yes, in all the powers and affections of our soul. (John 17.)

(3) We need it that we may be a vessel, meet for His using-power and usefulness are dependent on the sanctification of our nature. (2 Tim. 2: 21.)

(4) We need it that we may love. This cannot be until all evil has been cleansed from our heart: we cannot love till we are sanctified within: the pure essence of love can only be poured in and out of a clean vessel. (1 Peter 1: 22.)

(5) We need it that we may be ready for Him at His appearing—that the shame of our naked­ness may not appear, and that we may be confident before Him when He comes. (1 Thess. 5: 23.)

(6) We need it that we may be enabled to bear His reproach without the camp and offer therein praise and thanksgiving — rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks. (Heb. 13: 12-15.)

(7) Finally we need it that we may be perfectly obedient to our Master. Until all self-will and self-pleasing be taken out of our hearts we cannot follow in His steps. (2 Peter 1: 2.)

May the Holy Ghost make these simple thoughts a blessing to our souls and stir up our hearts to seek and obtain all that is purchased and procured for us through the sacrifice of His dear Son.—Amen.