Sanctification By Faith

Sanctification by faith By J.C. Metcalfe; summarised and adapted by Esther The mistake we so often make is to try to live a Christian life self-consciously, by employing the activity of our fallen human nature to put into practice things we read, hear, or are taught from the Scriptures. How many of us have got utterly weary with the frustration trying to do this! It is the very opposite of the activity of trust in Him, which co-works with Him. I saw a cartoon somewhere or other a little time back, that seemed to me a very good picture on our efforts to improve ourselves and others. A small child was seated in a high chair with a plate of food before it, which it obviously did not like. It was a picture of obstinate rebellion. The father was walking round the room lecturing the child. He was saying: “Think! Assimilate! Evaluate! Grow!” I hope you can see the utter absurdity of such a procedure? Am I unfair in suggesting that we are often guilty of much the same sort of absurdity in our dealing with spiritual problems not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others as well? God does not treat us like this. He has through the new birth brought us out into newness of life; and a healthy Christian life can only be lived by a humble, quiet, natural reliance on our Living Saviour as the active principle, by His indwelling Spirit, of living to God.

To reckon ourselves

In Philippians 3:13 Paul declares: “Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended”. He does not regard himself as having ‘arrived’, and the natural result of his inference is: “But this one thing I do…I press toward the mark”. His conclusion that he hadn’t arrived yet where he should be made him decide to press toward to mark. “Finally brethren, he writes to the Phillipians, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, …. if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things”. He does not mean that we have to sit and try to draw beautiful pictures in our imagination. He means that we have to take these things into consideration in framing our behaviour; and so he continues: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you”. (verse 9) There are many other places in scripture that talk about this aspect of our sanctification. These are to remind ourselves, that we can, and we are expected to, live daily in the light of the command to reckon (to count, to calculate) ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Christ Jesus, our Lord”. We are, in short, to live as those, who share the power of His resurrection; and to meet our many problems through the supply of grace to be found in Him.

Yield! Yield not! The man, justified through the Lord’s death, should not make the mistake to think that Christ will take over from there. He needs to use his divine possessions, with a real energy of will. It’s his job, in a most practical sense, to make sure his spiritual wealth is put to use, that his wonderful freedom is realised in act and habit. “Cancelled’ does not mean ‘annihilated’. The body exists, sin exists, desires exist. And it is your task, o man in Christ, to say to the defeated, yet present enemy, “You shall not reign; I veto you in the Name of my King”. Does not the teaching of Phillipians 2 fit right in there? In verse five we see what needs to be our necessary attitude, namely, a positive approach to the Christian life. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”. Then follows the picture of the path He trod for us as He journeyed through this world back to the Father’s throne by way of the Cross. The result of this attitude is then opened up: “So then, my dearest friends, as you have always followed my advice- and that not only when I was present to give it- so tht now that I am far away be keener than ever to work out the salvation God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose”. (Phill.2:12-13 – J.B. Phillips translation) Do you notice here the blending of faith and activity? We set our purpose on the will of God as revealed to us in Scripture, placing our confidence, not in ourselves, but in His provision and power to make it a reality. The man with the withered hand was told to stretch out his hand, a thing he had not done for years. As he placed his trust in the word of the Lord Jesus he was strengthened to obey, and he was instantly made whole. So it is with you and me, when we honestly face our powerlessness and failure, and seek deliverance in His Name, we too prove the triumph of Christ, and learn the way of sanctification by faith. James 1;14 says “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust (or desire) and enticed”. There is nothing passive or mechanical in our response to temptation. As one writer puts it: “In the present day, what James says here strikes at the root of all our attempts to shift the blame and responsibility of wrong-doing from ourselves to outward circumstances, or the working of natural laws, or the bias of inherited tendencies”. Our will is active in our sinning, and

must be equally active in giving up our faculties into the Saviour’s hands in willing obedience. J. Agar Beet writes “The realisation of our purpose to use our powers for God, includes deliverance from sin.” (And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil). So, Paul, encouraging us to make this purpose, assures us that the yoke of sin will be broken. And unless we believe this, our purpose will lack the faith which is absolutely essential for its realisation. This ‘yielding’ of our whole being to the will of God is the practical, day by day, carrying out of what we call ‘consecration’. It is something that is beyond man’s unaided efforts, and is only carried through because we learn to trust in our Advocates – the Saviour upon the throne, and the Spirit dwelling within. As the hymn writer puts it in his verses about the work of the Holy Spirit: Christ is our Advocate on high; You are our Advocate within. O plead the truth, and make reply to every argument of sin. The whole provision of heaven is ours; it is only our rebellious wills that can possibly keep us from entering into the enjoyment of it. Yield! (to Christ) Yield not! (to sin) is the lesson set before us.

Serve! This bring us to serving. A better translation from the Greek, both for the verb and the noun in this passage of the bible is ‘to be a slave’, with all the implications of that term. The thought here is not that of you serving Him in a Christian Ministry, but that of the Saviour’s ownership to you personally. It means we have no rights of our own, but live only to fulfil our Master’s will. The apostle speaks straight to the will. You are with infinite rightfulness, the bondmen (slaves) of your God. You see your official document of purchase; it is the other side of your warrant of emancipation to Christ. Take it, and write your own unworthy names with joy upon it, consenting and assenting to your Owner’s perfect rights. And then live out your life, keeping the autograph of your own surrender before your eyes. Live, suffer, conquer, labour, serve, as men who have themselves walked to their Master’s door, and presented their ear to be pinned to the doorway of His home, each in turn saying, “I will not go out free” (See Exodus 21:5-6 and Deuteronomy 15:16-17). It is simple enough to follow some self-chosen path of Christian service to Christ. We are careful to choose an atmosphere which does not plunge us into spiritual conflict, nor make demands that cannot be met from our very limited human capabilities. This is the way of fruitlessness.

It is quite another thing to wait on and wait for God; to be unable to move until He makes His will known; to serve as do the heavenly hosts upon His bidding. On my desk I have these words in a place where they can always be seen – “Others may – you cannot”. The slave must learn to rejoice over the blessing his Owner delights to give to others of His slaves; and to be deeply grateful for any task given to him, or any recognition granted to him. This bond-slavery of love means that our first aim is to be what He would have us be; and then that we should be available for His service in any way in which He cares to let us serve Him. We are so inclined to put the chart before the horse; and to imagine that our service (slujirea) is of more importance to him than our inner lives. This is the reason why our service is often of such poor quality. He delights in, and uses that inner disposition that has as its main ambition conformity to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) Do you remember what the book of Hebrews says about Enoch? Enoch was a prophet says Jude verse 24. But Hebrews 11:5 says: “before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God”. Genesis puts it even simpler: “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him” (Gen 5:24) Even though he was a prophet, his title among the great men of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 did not rest upon his service to God as a prophet, but upon the quiet beauty of his inner life with God. In the same way the Father’s testimony to His Son is just: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. Then is added the command: “Hear Him”. (Matt. 17:5)

Conclusion Pray to Him to make you perfect in every good work to do His will, and then present yourself unto Him a living sacrifice.” The apostle prayed for the Colossian Christians: “That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness…” (Col. 1:10) This is sanctification! We have to make this our priority in life; and can only know its sweet, gracious power by faith in Him, “Who loved us, and gave Himself for us”.

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