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‘Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.’
Joh_17:17
I. What is this sanctification?—It is to be carefully distinguished from justification. Justification is in one sense external; sanctification is only internal. There are three aspects of sanctification which may be mentioned.
(a) Separation. Separation is the first great thought in sanctification, and needs to be pressed upon the consciences of believers to-day, for the world fraternises with the Church, and every effort is made by Satan to obliterate the line of demarcation between them. The world has crept into the Church, and the Church makes friends with the world, until it is well-nigh impossible to distinguish the one from the other, and the endless confusion which results no one can adequately estimate.
(b) Purification. It follows that if you set apart a person or a thing to the service of an absolutely holy God, anything that defiles that person or thing renders it unfit for God’s use, and hence though the first meaning of the word is separation, it speedily ‘acquires,’ as Archbishop Trench in his work on the New Testament synonyms points out, ‘a moral significance’; thus the thought of purification is added to the fundamental idea of separation.
(c) Transformation. There should be an immediate purification, but it is to be followed by a gradual transformation into the image and likeness of Christ. The restoration to health may be speedy, the subsequent growth must be gradual.
II. Why is this sanctification necessary?—The answer is manifold. How can it be otherwise than necessary if we have to do with a holy God?
(a) It is necessary for our happiness. Happiness and holiness go together, just as sin and sorrow can never be separated. They are two names for the same thing. ‘What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.’
(b) It is necessary for our usefulness. How often has the lack of consistency in ourselves prevented our speaking a word to a friend for Christ.
(c) Again our meetness for heaven depends upon it. Our title to heaven is one thing, our character or meetness is another. I know that the ground of our peace is the work of Christ for us, and not the work of the Spirit in us; but I also know that to enjoy heaven when you get there you want the work of the Spirit in you. ‘Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.’
III. How is this sanctification to be secured?—Sanctification in the Scripture is ascribed to different causes and different instrumentalities. Here the instrumentality spoken of is the Word of God. The Word of God is a mighty instrument in our sanctification. Let us notice, briefly, how it is that it is so adapted to this end.
(a) First of all, the Word of God sanctifies, because it has a discovering and enlightening power. It is a mirror in which you may see reflected your failures and your sins; it is a searchlight discerning the very thoughts and intents of the heart. The willingness to come to the light is the way to blessing.
(b) The Word of God has also a cleansing and purifying power. ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth.’ The truth of God’s Word will have a cleansing, sanctifiying, purifying effect upon the soul. Do you know you are very much influenced by what you read?
(c) Again, the Word of God has a nourishing and strengthening power (1Pe_2:2, and Act_20:32).
(d) Then the Word of God has an overcoming and conquering power. ‘I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one’ (1Jn_2:14). The secret of their victory over the wicked one was that the Word of God abode in them.
(e) The Word of God has a Christ-revealing and Christ-communicating power. There is a vital link between the Written Word and the Living Word, and when the Word of God dwells in us Christ will come and dwell in us too. ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom’ (Col_3:16), and that Word of God includes the thought of the Personal Word, the indwelling Christ.
The secret is an indwelling Saviour.
—
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustrations(1) ‘We are informed that the wretched man who took the life of President Carnot some years ago lived an apparently harmless, decent life for a good many years, until he came into contact with anarchist publications, which so saturated his mind with evil thoughts, schemes, and ideas that at length he was capable of the awful crime he committed. He was defiled, ruined, and destroyed by the word of falsehood which he read. It has again and again been shown in courts of justice that thieves and robbers have had the thoughts of such a life put into their heads by the tales of highwaymen and the like which are sown broadcast in print. The same principle holds true conversely, and it holds good with regard to the Word of God.’
(2) ‘There is a story told of an old woman who was speaking in the course of the week of the blessing she had derived from the previous Sunday’s sermon. Asked by her friend what was the text, she said, “My memory is not what it was, I cannot remember the text.” “Well, what was the line of truth pursued—can you give me any quotation?” “I cannot remember a word the preacher said,” she replied. “Well,” said her friend, “if you cannot remember the text and cannot remember the sermon, how is it that it has done you any good?” Then the old lady, taking up a jug of water, poured it through a pipe, saying, “Do you see this pipe? The water has gone through it, there is none left in it, but the pipe is all the cleaner for the stream that has passed through it.” Even so, though the word spoken was forgotten, she was conscious that it had had a cleansing and purifying power upon her heart. The Word of God cleanses us.’