PRACTICAL SANCTIFICATION
It is this that the apostle has in mind as, by the Spirit, he writes that God—
“…hath chosen us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him,
“In love1 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children…” (Eph. 1:4,5).
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification…” (I Thes. 4:3).
But here a word of caution is needed, lest in seeking to be wholly sanctified to God, we leave ourselves open to discouragement and disillusionment.
Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to sanctify the “flesh” to God. The Scriptures teach that the “flesh,” the old Adamic nature, is totally bad and experience bears witness that this is so. The “flesh” cannot be improved, or reformed, or converted, and “they that are in the flesh2 cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). It is for this reason that God sent His own Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh” to “condemn sin in the flesh” at Calvary (See Rom. 8:3).
We are not, then, to seek to improve the old nature or dedicate it to God, but to recognize it as condemned by God and crucified with Christ.
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him…” (Rom. 6:6).
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).
But while the believer’s “flesh” cannot be sanctified to God, his body can and should be. The Apostle Paul has much to say about this:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor. 6:19,20).
Thus the apostle writes to the Thessalonians:
“That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor” (I Thes. 4:4).
“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (I Thes. 4:7).
And thus he concludes:
“And 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” (I Thes. 5:23).
In his very last epistle he declares that while “
the Lord knoweth them that are His,” all who name the name of Christ should “depart from iniquity,” and goes on to explain that—
“…in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (II Tim. 2:20,21).
The Church is indeed “a great house,” and in it there are all sorts of vessels. Most of these, it is to be feared, are dishonoring to the Lord and unfit for the Master’s use. God grant that we may not belong to this number, but may rather be vessels which will bring honor to God,
“sanctified, and meet [fit] for the Master’s use.”
THE “HOW” OF PRACTICAL SANCTIFICATION
As we consider how to be sanctified to God in walk and experience we must again place the emphasis where God has placed it:
upon His blessed Word.
No one will deny that prayer is an important element in practical sanctification, yet the Word places the supreme emphasis upon itself in this matter. Our Lord prayed for His disciples:
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth” (John 17:17).
The Apostle Paul declares that our Lord
“loved the Church, and gave Himself for it,
“That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word” (Eph. 5:25,26).
Many dear Christians have said to the writer: “If only I could remember these Bible truths better, but I have a mind like a sieve.”
But pour water through a sieve and it will at least have a cleansing effect. And so does the blessed Word of God have a cleansing effect upon those who prayerfully read it and meditate upon it.
It is the Word which its Author, the Holy Spirit, uses to cleanse and sanctify us more and more to God, and those who are not deeply and sincerely interested in the study of the Word will never enjoy true, practical sanctification no matter how much they pray.
(The following is the sixth in a series of excerpts from Pastor Stam's classic work on True Spirituality. Since this book never appeared as a series in the Searchlight, many of even our long-time readers may not be familiar with these selections.) A PRECIOUS TRUTH TOO LITTLE APPRECIATED It is regr
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Brother--you read "water, water, everywhere" but fail to realize the cleansing effect of the word watering our thirsty souls, in the sphere of the Holy Spirit.
God bless, very late here in South Africa.
Johann.