THE first thing to be assured of, in order to understand sanctification practically, is that we are, on believing, sanctified to God: " By which will we are sanctified by the offering of Jesus once for all." "Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." If a believer died the moment after he believed, like the thief on the cross, he is -sanctified and fit for the paradise of God, because in the act of death he would have been divested of all the old thing, and nothing could go into paradise but the new, and nothing else will at any time (no matter how long a believer may live here) go into paradise but what is new-what is of God.
When a believer is quickened he is born of God, and this is sanctification of the Spirit. But when he remains here, surrounded by the flesh, he learns practical sanctification. If he had died on believing, he would have been divested of all the grave clothes, but as he remains in the body he has to learn practically what it is to be divested of the influence of the old things, and to walk in the midst of them in the grace and Spirit of Christ; and, as he does, he is practically sanctified.
Now before there can be any step in, or knowledge of, practical sanctification, there must be a knowledge of what holiness really is. If a believer does not know what holiness is, he is like one looking for a thing of which he knows nothing at all-like a blind man trying to comprehend light before he can see. I cannot know any sentiment until I have been affected by it, hence it is said there is no word in any language for an idea which has not yet been apprehended. If a thing is not apprehended, there is no want for the word or sign which would convey it.
Now the work of Christ lands the believer in " the holiest of all." He is rescued from death and judgment, brought from the deepest and darkest distance in one step, through His work, into the brightest place-the holiest of all. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That blood certifies the believer's title to be there, and his place is there forever. There only can he acquire a sense of holiness-of that separation from all defilement which suits 'God. As God's own righteousness only suits Him as to conduct, so His own holiness only suits Him as to associations.
The believer has not entered into it, has not tasted of the true effect of Christ's work for him, if he has not entered into the holiest of all. True, many quickened souls do not enjoy the holiest of all, and very often they try to be holy in order that they may reach an assured resting-place before God. The fact is, like the prodigal, their very approximation to God in the sense of His love in receiving them, only awakens in them the sense of their unfitness to be near. They would fain brush up the old clothes, instead of seeing that they, the old things, are passed away, and that in new things only can they be really at ease in the Father's house.
Thus it is as divested of an evil conscience, and by the separating power of the word cleansed from our own surroundings that we draw near: The-heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and the body washed with pure water. It is here the believer first acquires the sense of holiness. An entirely new sense to him, and one which is wholly unique, even as no art of the apothecary could compound anything like unto the holy anointing oil: Many are led away by a spurious article because they do not know the genuine one. Thus Romanism beguiles many, a one by propounding a severe self-mortification for holiness. When the believer has once tasted of holiness, what it only is, he must be aware of what is contrary to it; and when he has left his place in the holiest. I can never lose my place in-the holiest, Christ's blood has obtained it for me..
I do, alas! constantly lose my enjoyment in it.. But the place remains mine, as David's place at the king's table remained his though he did not occupy it.
Now, when my place in the holiest is assured to me and holiness is known to me, if I had no> connection with the flesh and the world, there would be no departure from it; but seeing that I am in a body of sin, and that I am constantly liable to defilement and consequent deprivation of the enjoyment of the holiest, I should be unable to recover my place were it not for the Lord's present ministry washing my feet.
This blessed ministry is to restore me to a place that I have already enjoyed. When I am defiled I cannot resume my place in the holiest until my feet are washed. If I have never enjoyed my place in the holiest, even though my conscience is distressed because of my failure, I have not the feeling that I am deprived of it, because I could not feel that I had lost anything which I had never enjoyed.
Now the washing of the feet sets forth the great principle of sanctification. It is not merely a confession of the error and thus a removal of it At conversion all our sins were forgiven, as they affected us in the eye of God: being forgiven we were sanctified; we belong to God in the holiest through Christ's work; any sin committed after conversion is a return to the flesh. But the flesh has been judicially terminated in the cross, and if not judged by the believer must be judged by the Lord: " Our God is a consuming fire."
When my feet are washed I am made sensible not only of forgiveness, but of the removal of the defilement which I had contracted. In Num. 19 the defiled one was sprinkled with the water of separation, in which were the ashes of the sin-offering. The Spirit of God brings before my soul the ashes, the token of accomplished judgment. I am made sensible that I have gone back to that for which Christ suffered at the hand of God; so that it is not merely the offense which is forgiven, but the deeper work of judging the flesh, reaching the root from which the evil springs that is before me. When it is only the offense that is before the conscience, it is more the disgrace to oneself; but when it is the defilement, it is one's loss or estrangement from God and our true place with Him.
I have said we have the true principle of all sanctification here; it is not merely the stopping of an offense, but it is the supplanting of the flesh in its root by Christ, and this is real practical sanctification. Let us examine the mode by which this practical sanctification is produced.
If I had died on conversion I should have been divested of every atom of the old, and perfectly fit, because of Christ's work; to enter into heaven. If I am fit the first moment, I am fit every moment. I do not get more fit by living in a sinful body in a corrupt world; but as I should have dropped every atom of the old man had I -died on conversion, so, if I remain here, the power of Christ's life in me is to supplant the old man which is corrupt. As I live in the Spirit I da not fulfill the lusts of the flesh-Christ liveth in me. All depends on the garden I sow in. If I sow to the flesh, of the flesh I reap corruption; but if to the Spirit, life everlasting.
In John 17:1717Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17), the Lord desires for His disciples that they should be sanctified; and the measure which is to be effected is: " Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." Now this refers to the new order of which they were as of God. The word here is the counsel of God; an entirely new order of the Father was now to come out. 1 John 3:11Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1), explains it. " The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not The sanctification resulting from this would be the manifestation here of the new order; not any improvement in the old, but a displacing of the old; as a tree when it grows displaces the soil by which it is surrounded.
I have real liberty when the flesh has no place, when Ishmael is morally cast out and kept out. There is a new growth in me. Christ liveth in me, and as He increases I am practically more sanctified; the old tastes, the weeds that grew in the old soil, are overpowered by the new thing, like the way an aged evergreen shrub by degrees ' monopolizes a plot in a garden. The soil that would ordinarily grow weeds is so completely overshadowed by the shrub that no weeds can grow; not that the soil is any better, but that there is no room for them.
Now in order to promote the growth effectually, the Lord adds: " For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified through the truth." The heart of the believer drawn away from the things here to Christ where He is, would `be practically dissociated from the hindering influence here; setting the mind on things above and not on things on the earth. The more I am of the divine order, the more I should be distanced from the men of the world; and the more my heart was drawn away out of everything after Him who had left everything here, the more detached I should be from the things on the earth and the scene of them. For practical sanctification I require both to know that I am of a new generation among the old, as a butterfly among caterpillars; and I require to be removed from the leaves on which caterpillars feed, in order that my old tastes should not be ministered to, and I should sow to the flesh. This then is the nature of sanctification.
Finally there are two ministries by which it is promoted. One is the word, Eph. 5 " That he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water through the word." The other is discipline, Heb. 12:1010For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:10): " That we should be partakers of his holiness." Now these two ministries work hand in hand, one inside, the other outside. I do not speak of the chastening here for the works of the flesh; doubtless that is to silence the root that has not been judged.
. There is then the ministry of the word by which the Lord leads our hearts into such enjoyment with His glories and interests as the Queen of Sheba had with Solomon, so that there is no spirit left in us. There is a sensible dropping off of the old things. To God I am outside myself, so that things once thought indispensable and fascinating are now superseded. The grave clothes are for the moment gone, and I breathe freely in a holy atmosphere. The wonder and beauty of His mind and thoughts quite surpass the small selfish enjoyments of my poor heart. I am drawn nearer to Him; and the nearer I am, the more distinctly do I become suited to Him. Like Rebekah, who, when she saw Isaac, lighted off the camel and threw a veil over herself, so, as I see Christ by faith, I lose sight of myself; Christ's presence makes me suited to Himself. He refuses all that is not of Himself, and gives prominence and countenance to all that is of Himself: "While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof." When I see Him I shall be like Him, and the more I behold the glory of the Lord, the more I am molded into its likeness. His word instructs me in the greatness and beauty of His things.
This ministry is within me, but discipline is from without, and concurrent: "All things work together for good to them that love God, that are called according to His purpose." There is chastening or discipline for unjudged failure: ".For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." The flesh unjudged is judged; but I refer more to the discipline, which promotes holiness. The earnest soul drinks Marah, refuses the things which minister to the flesh, looks not upon the wine when it is red, but seeks to be always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in the body.
Discipline helps in order to this: " We who live are always delivered unto death, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal bodies." It is to help those who are progressing; something like pruning to bring forth more fruit; but it is constant and unremitting, indicating that one is an unceasing object of interest. The cloud of witnesses in Heb. 11 all suffered for righteousness, but their sufferings tended to detach them from the world, and connect them more absolutely with God. As it has been said, every blow Stephen -received was loosening him from all here, liberating him from all of man, that he might the more fully enter into all that is of God. Thus suffering is not only a testimony, but a help to holiness to the sufferer.
The aim of all discipline is to free me of everything which hinders Christ in me; so that, while the ministry of the word opens out to me the beauty and glory of my portion in Christ, the discipline through circumstances detaches me from the weights which hinder me here. It is ever where a believer has most vanity or self-confidence that discipline makes its mark. If Jacob be a very active man, he becomes lame. If Moses be a muscular man, he must learn by forty years in the wilderness not to trust in himself. And Paul is crippled where he feels it most. God will stain the pride of all men.
The sanctified man is a body of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give its glow; every dark part driven out, and Christ reigning in the heart. The body, simply His vessel, or medium, for expressing His own will and pleasure.
J. B. S.