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J. C. Ryle wrote well over two hundred evangelical tracts, of which more than two million were circulated, and many were translated into foreign languages. Throughout his ministry he remained one of the strongest defenders of the evangelical reformed faith within the Church of England. His faithful witness to the Gospel of Christ needs to be heard more than ever today. The following tract is a classic of Gospel Truth that readers came to expect from all his writings. All his tracts are pure gold. Some of them, not published since the 19th century, have come into my possession, and I offer you these inspiring works exactly word for word as they were published by Drummonds Tract Depot, Stirling, Scotland. |
ARE WE SANCTIFIED?
“Sanctify
them through Thy truth.”—John
xvii. 17. “This
is the will of God, even your sanctification.”—1
Thessalonians iv. 3.
The question which heads this page is one which many, I fear, will dislike exceedingly. Some perhaps may even turn from it with scorn and disdain. The very last thing they would like is to be a “saint,” or a “sanctified” man. Yet the question does not deserve to be treated in this way. It is not an enemy, but a friend. It is a question of
the utmost importance to our souls. If the Bible be true, it is certain that
unless we are “sanctified,” we shall not be saved. There are three things
which, according to the Bible, are absolutely necessary to the salvation of
every man and woman in Christendom. These three are, justification,
regeneration, and sanctification. He that lacks any one of these three
things, will never find himself in heaven when he dies. Where, then, is the
harm of asking, “Are we sanctified?” Where is the wisdom of disliking and
rejecting the inquiry? It is a question
which is peculiarly seasonable in the present day. Strange doctrines have
risen up of late upon the whole subject of sanctification. Some appear to
confound it with justification. Others fritter it away to nothing, under the
pretence of zeal for free grace. Others set up a wrong standard of
sanctification before their eyes, and failing to attain it, waste their
lives in repeated secessions from church to church, chapel to chapel, and
sect to sect, in the vain hope that they will find what they want. In a day
like this, a calm examination of the inquiry which forms the title of this
tract, may be of great use to our souls.
I. Let us consider, firstly,
the true nature of sanctification.
II. Let us consider, secondly,
the visible marks of sanctification.
III. Let us consider, lastly,
wherein justification and sanctification agree
and are like one another, and wherein they differ and are unlike. Reader, I invite your
best attention while I try to unfold the subject now before us. If unhappily
you are one of those who care for nothing but this world, I cannot expect
you to take much interest in what I am writing. You will probably think it
an affair of words, and names, and nice questions, about which it matters
nothing what you hold and believe. But if you are a thoughtful, reasonable,
sensible Christian, I venture to say that you will find it worthwhile to
have some clear ideas about sanctification. I. In the first
place, we have to consider the nature of sanctification. What does the Bible
mean when it speaks of a “sanctified” man?
Sanctification is that inward spiritual work which
the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to
be a true believer, separates him from his natural love of sin and the
world, puts a new principle in his heart, and makes him practically godly in
life. The instrument by which. His Spirit effects this work is generally the
Word of ‘God, though He sometimes uses afflictions and providential
visitations’ “without the Word.” The subject of this work of Christ by His
Spirit, is called in Scripture a “sanctified” man.[1] He
who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again in order
to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for His people, has yet
much to learn. Whether he knows it or not, he is dishonouring our blessed
Lord, and making Him only a half Saviour. The Lord Jesus has undertaken
everything that His people’s souls require; not only to deliver them from
the guilt of their Sins by His atoning death, but from the dominion of their
sins, by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them,
but also to sanctify them. He is, thus, not only their “righteousness,” but
their “sanctification.” (1 Cor. i. 30.) Hear what the Bible says: “For their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.”—“Christ loved
the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse
it.”—“Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”—“Christ
bore our sins in His own, body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
shou1d live unto righteousness.”—“Christ hath reconciled (you) in the body
of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in His sight.” (John xvii. 19; Ephes. v. 25; Titus ii. 14; 1
Peter ii. 24; Coloss. i. 22.) Let the meaning of these five texts be
carefully considered. If words mean anything, they teach that Christ
undertakes the sanctification, no less than the justification, of His
believing people. Both are alike provided for in that “everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure,” of which the Mediator is Christ. In fact,
Christ in one place is called “He that sanctifieth,” and His people, “they
who are sanctified.” (Heb. ii. 11.) The subject before us
is of such deep and vast importance, that it requires fencing, guarding,
clearing up, and marking out on every side. A doctrine which is needful to
salvation can never be too sharply developed, or brought too fully into
light. To clear away the confusion between doctrines and doctrines, which is
so unhappily common among Christians, and to map out the precise relation
between truths and truths in religion, is one way to attain accuracy in our
theology. I shall therefore not hesitate to lay before my readers a series
of connected propositions or statements, drawn from Scripture, which I think
will be found useful in defining the exact nature of sanctification. (1) Sanctification,
then, is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ which true
faith gives to a Christian.—“He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit.” (John xv. 5.) The branch which bears no fruit is
no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ which produces no effect
on heart and life is a mere formal union, which is worthless before God. The
faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better
than the faith of devils. It is a “dead faith, because it is alone.” It is
not the gift of God, the faith of God’s elect. In short, where there is no
sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ. True faith worketh
by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of
gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much
for Him that died for him. Being much forgiven he loves much. He whom the
blood cleanses walks in the light. He who has real lively hope in Christ,
purifieth himself even as He is pure. (James ii. 17-20; Titus i. 1; Gal. v.
6; 1 John i. 7; iii. 3.) (2) Sanctification,
again, is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that
is born again and made a new creature, receives a new nature and a new
principle, and always lives a new life. A regeneration which a man can have,
and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration never
mentioned in Scripture. On the contrary, St. John expressly says that He
that is born of God doth not commit sin,—doeth righteousness,—loveth the
brethren,—keepeth himself—and overcometh the world. (1 John ii. 29; iii.
9-14; v. 4-18.) In a word, where there is no sanctification there is no
regeneration, and where there is no holy life there is no new birth. This
is, no doubt, a hard saying to many minds: but, hard or not, it is simple
Bible truth. It is written plainly, that he who is born of God is one whose
“seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.” (1
John iii. 9.) (3) Sanctification,
again, is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit
which is essential to salvation. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ
he is none of His.” (Rom. viii. 9.) The Spirit never lies dormant and idle
within the soul: He always makes His presence known by the fruit He causes
to be borne in heart, character, and life. “The fruit of the Spirit,” says
St. Paul, “is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance,” and such like. (Gal. v. 22.) Where these things are
to be found, there is the Spirit: where these things are wanting, men are
dead before God. The Spirit is compared to the wind, and, like the wind, He
cannot be seen by our bodily eyes. But just as we know there is a wind by
the effect it produces on waves, and trees, and smoke, so we may know the
Spirit is in a man by the effects He produces in the man’s conduct. It is
nonsense to suppose that we have the Spirit, if we do not also “walk in the
Spirit.” (Gal. v. 25.) We may depend on it as a positive certainty, that
where there is no holy living there is no Holy Ghost. The seal that the
Spirit stamps on Christ’s people is sanctification. As many as are actually
“led by the Spirit of God, they,” and they only, “are the sons of God.”
(Rom. viii. 14.)
(4) Sanctification, again, is the only sure mark
of God’s election. The names and number of the elect are a secret thing, no
doubt, which God has wisely kept in His own power, and not revealed to man.
It is not given to us in this world to study the pages of the book of life,
and see if we are there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid
down about election, it is this,—that elect men and women may be known and
distinguished by holy lives. It is expressly written that they are “elect
through sanctification,—chosen unto salvation through
sanctification,—predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son,—and
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be
holy.”—Hence when St. Paul saw the working “faith” and labouring “love” and
patient “hope” of the Thessalonian believers, he says, “I know your election
of God.” (1 Peter i. 2; 2 Thess. ii.13; Rom. viii. 29; Eph. i. 4; 1 Thess.
i. 3, 4.) He that boasts of being one of God’s elect, while he is wilfully
and habitually living in sin, is only deceiving himself, and talking wicked
blasphemy. Of course it is hard to know what people
really are, and
many who make a fair show outwardly in religion, may turn out at last to be
rotten-hearted hypocrites. But where there is not, at least, some appearance
of sanctification, we may be quite certain there is no election. The Church
Catechism truly teaches, that the Holy Ghost “sanctifieth all the elect
people of God.” (5) Sanctification,
again, is a thing that will always be seen. Like the Great Head of the
Church, from whom it springs, it “cannot be hid.” “Every tree is known by
his own fruit.” (Luke vi. 44.) A truly sanctified person may be so clothed
with humility, that he can see in himself nothing but infirmity and defects.
Like Moses, when he came down from the mount, he may not be conscious that
his face shines. Like the righteous, in the mighty parable of the sheep and
the goats, he may not see that he has done anything worthy of his Master’s
notice and commendation:—“When saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? ”
(Matt. xxv. 37.) But whether he sees it himself or not, others will always
see in him a tone, and taste, and character, and habit of life unlike that
of other men. The very idea of a man being “sanctified,” while no holiness
can be seen in his life, is flat nonsense and a misuse of words. Light may
be very dim; but, if there is only a spark in a dark room, it will be seen.
Life may be very feeble; bat, if the pulse only beats a little, it will be
felt. It is just the same with a sanctified man: his sanctification will be
something felt and seen, though he himself may not understand it. A “saint”
in whom nothing can be seen but worldliness or sin, is a kind of monster not
recognised in the Bible. (6)
Sanctification, again, is a thing for which every believer is responsible.
In saying this I would not be mistaken. I hold as strongly as any one that
every man on earth is accountable to God, and that all the lost will be
speechless and without excuse at the last day. Every man has power to “lose
his own soul.” (Matt. xvi. 26.) But while I hold this, I maintain that
believers are eminently and peculiarly responsible, and under a special
obligation to live holy lives. They are not as others, dead, and blind, and
unrenewed: they are alive unto God, and have light and knowledge, and a new
principle within them. Whose fault is it if they are not holy, but their
own? On whom can they throw the blame if they are not sanctified, but
themselves? God, who has given them grace and a new heart and a new nature,
has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live for His praise. This is
a point which is far too much forgotten. A man who professes to be a true
Christian, while he sits still, content with a very low degree of
sanctification (if indeed he has any at all), and coolly tells you he “can
do nothing,” is a very pitiable sight, and a very ignorant man. Against this
delusion let us watch and be on our guard. If the Saviour of sinners gives
us renewing grace, and calls us by His Spirit, we may be sure that He
expects us to use our grace, and not to go to sleep. It is forgetfulness of
this which causes many believers to “grieve the Holy Spirit,” and makes them
very useless and uncomfortable Christians. (7) Sanctification,
again, is a thing which admits of growth and degrees. A man may climb from
one step to another in holiness, and be far more sanctified at one period of
his life than another. More pardoned and more justified than he is when he
first believes, he cannot be, though he may feel it more. More sanctified he
certainly may be; because every grace in his new character maybe
strengthened, enlarged, and deepened. This is the evident meaning of our
Lord’s last prayer for His disciples, when He used the words, “Sanctify
them;” and of St. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians,—“the very God of
peace sanctify you.” (John xvii. 17; 1 Thess. iv. 3.) In both cases the
expression plainly implies the possibility of increased
sanctification;—while such an expression as “justify them,” is never once in
Scripture applied to a believer, because he cannot be more justified than he
is. I can find no warrant in Scripture for the doctrine of “imputed
sanctification.” It is a doctrine which seems to me to confuse things that
differ, and to lead to very evil consequences. Not least, it is a doctrine
which is flatly contradicted by the experience of all the most eminent
Christians. If there is any point on which God’s holiest saints agree, it is
this: that they see more, and know more, and feel more, and do more, and
repent more, and believe more, as they get on in spiritual life, and in
proportion to the closeness of their walk with God. In short, they “grow in
grace,” as St. Peter exhorts believers to do; and “abound more and more,”
according to the words of St. Paul. (2 Pet. iii. 18; 1 Thess. iv. 1.) (8) Sanctification,
again, is a thing which depends greatly on a diligent use of Scriptural
means. When I speak of “means,” I have in view Bible-reading, private
player, regular attendance on public worship, regular hearing of God’s Word,
and regular reception of the Lord’s Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter
of fact, that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to
make much progress in sanctification. I can find no record of any eminent
saint who ever neglected them. They are appointed channels through which the
Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace to the soul, and strengthens the
work which He has begun in the inward man. Let men call this legal doe.
trine if they please; but I will never shrink from ‘declaring my belief,
that there are no “spiritual gains without pains.” I should as soon expect a
farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields
and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much
holiness who was not diligent about his Bible-reading, his prayers, and the
use of his Sundays. Our God is a God who works by means, and He will never
bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high and spiritual that he
can get on without them.
(9) Sanctification, again, is a thing which does
not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By
conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the
new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every
believer. (Gal. v. 17.) A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of
mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay:
rather, I believe, they are healthy symptoms of our condition, and prove
that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only
peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well
as by his peace. In saying all this, I do not forget that I am contradicting
the views of some well-meaning Christians, who hold the doctrine called
“sinless perfection.” I cannot help that. I believe that what I say is
confirmed by the language of St. Paul in the seventh chapter of Romans. That
chapter I commend to the careful study of all my readers. I am quite
satisfied that it does not describe the experience of an unconverted man, or
of a young and unestablished Christian; but of an old experienced saint in
close communion with God—I believe, furthermore, that what I say is proved
by the experience of all the most eminent servants of Christ that have ever
lived., The full proof is to be seen in their journals, their
autobiographies, arid their lives—Believing all this, I shall never hesitate
to tell people that inward conflict is no proof that a man is not holy, and
that they must not think they are not sanctified because they do not feel
entirely free from inward struggle. Such freedom we shall doubtless have in
heaven; but we shall never enjoy it in this world. The heart of the best
Christian, even at his best, is a field occupied by two rival camps, and the
“company of two armies.” (Cant. vi.13.) Let the words of the thirteenth and
fifteenth Articles be well considered by all Church men: “The infection of
nature doth remain in them that are regenerated.” “Although baptized and
born again in Christ, we offend in many things; and if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”[2] (10) Sanctification,
again, is a thing which cannot justify a man, and yet it pleases God. This
may seem wonderful, and yet it is true. The holiest actions of the holiest
saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and
imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or deficient in their
performance, and in themselves are nothing better than “splendid sins,”
deserving God’s wrath and condemnation. To suppose that such actions can
stand the severity of God’s judgment, atone for sin, and merit heaven, is
simply absurd. “By deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.”—“We
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
(Rom. iii. 20-28.) The only righteousness in which we can appear before God
is the righteousness of another,—even the perfect righteousness of our
Substitute and Representative Jesus Christ the Lord. His work, and not our
work is our only title to heaven. This is a truth which we should be ready
to die to maintain.—For all this, however, the Bible distinctly teaches that
the holy actions of a sanctified man, although imperfect, are pleasing in
the sight of God. “With such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb. xiii.
16.) “Obey your parents, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” (Col. iii.
20.) “We do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John iii. 22.)
Let this never be forgotten, for it is a very comfortable doctrine. Just as
a parent is pleased with the efforts of his little child to please him,
though it be only by picking a daisy or walking across a room, so is our
Father in heaven pleased with the poor performance of His believing
children. He looks at the motive, principle, and intention of their actions,
and not merely at their quantity and quality. He regards them as members of
His own dear Son, and for His sake, wherever there is a single eye, He is
well-pleased. Those Churchmen who dispute this would do well to study the
Twelfth Article of the Church of England. (11) Sanctification,
again, is a thing which will be found absolutely necessary as a witness to
our character in the great day of judgment. It will be utterly useless to
plead that we believed in Christ, unless our faith has had some sanctifying
effect, and been seen in our lives. Evidence, evidence, evidence, will be
the one thing wanted when the great white throne is set, when the books are
opened, when the graves give up their tenants, when the dead are arraigned
before the bar of God. Without some evidence that our faith in Christ was
real and genuine, we shall only rise again to be condemned. I can find no
evidence that will be admitted in that day, except sanctification. The
question will not be how we talked, and what we professed; but how we lived,
and what we did. Let no man deceive himself on this point. If anything is
certain about the future, it is certain that there will be a judgment; and
if anything is certain about judgment, it is certain that men’s “works” and
“doings” will be considered and examined in it. (John v. 29; 2 Cor. v. 10;
Rev. xx. 13.) He that supposes works are of no importance, because they
cannot justify us, is a very ignorant Christian. Unless he opens his eyes,
he will find to his cost that if he comes to the bar of God without some
evidence of grace, he had better never have been born.
(12) Sanctification, in the last place, is
absolutely necessary, in order to train and prepare us for heaven. Most men
hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the
trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there.
Heaven is essentially a holy place; its inhabitants are all holy; its
occupations are all holy. To be really happy in heaven, it is clear and
plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we
are on earth. The notion of a purgatory after death, which shall turn
sinners into saints, is a lying invention of man, and is nowhere taught in
the Bible. We must be saints before we die, if we are to be saints
afterwards in glory. The favourite idea of many, that dying men need nothing
except absolution and forgiveness of sins to fit them for their great
change, is a profound delusion. We need the work of the Holy Spirit as well
as the work of Christ; we need renewal of heart as well as the atoning
blood; we need to be sanctified as well as to be justified. It is common to
hear people saying on their death beds, “I only want the Lord to forgive me
my sins, and take me to rest.” But those who say such things forget that the
rest of heaven would be utterly useless if we had no heart to enjoy it What
could an unsanctified man do in heaven, if by any chance he got there? Let
that question be fairly looked in the face, and fairly answered. No man can
possibly be happy in a place where he is not in his element, and where all
around him is not congenial to his tastes, habits, and character. When an
eagle is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in the water, when an
owl is happy in the blaze of noonday sun, when a fish is happy on the dry
land,—then, and not till then, will I admit that the unsanctified man could
be happy in heaven.[3]
Reader, I place these twelve propositions about sanctification before your
mind, and I ask you to ponder them well. Each of them would admit of being
expanded and handled more fully, and all of them deserve private thought and
consideration. Some of them may be disputed and contradicted ; but I doubt
whether any of them can be overthrown or proved untrue. I only ask you to
give them a fair and impartial hearing. I believe in my conscience that they
are likely to assist you in attaining clear views of sanctification.
II.
I now proceed to take up the second point
which I proposed to consider. That point is the
visible evidences of sanctification.
In a word, what are the visible marks of a
sanctified man? What may we expect to see in him? This is a very wide
and difficult department of our subject. It is wide, because it necessitates
the mention of many details which cannot be handled fully in the limits of a
tract. It is difficult, because it cannot possibly be treated without giving
offence. But at any risk truth ought to be spoken; and there is some kind of
truth which especially requires to be spoken in the present day.
(1) True sanctification then does not consist in
talk about religion.
This is a point which ought never to be forgotten.
The vast increase of education and preaching in these latter days makes it
absolutely necessary to raise a warning voice. People hear so much of Gospel
truth that they contract an unholy familiarity with its words and phrases,
and sometimes talk so fluently about its doctrines that you might think them
true Christians. In fact it is sickening and disgusting to hear the cool and
flippant language which many pour out about “conversion,—the Saviour,—the
Gospel,—finding peace,¾free
grace,” and the like, while they are notoriously serving sin or living for
the world. Can we doubt that such talk is abominable in God’s sight, and is
little better than cursing, swearing, and taking God’s name in vain? The
tongue is not the only member that Christ bids us give to His service. God
does not want His people to be mere empty tubs, sounding brass, and tinkling
cymbals. We must be sanctified, not only “in word and in tongue, but in deed
and truth.” (1 John iii. 18.)
(2) True sanctification does not consist in
temporary religious feelings.
This again is a point about which a warning is
greatly needed. Mission services and revival meetings are attracting great
attention in every part of the land, and producing a great sensation. The
Church of England seems to have taken a new lease of life, and exhibits a
new activity; and we ought to thank God for it. But these things have their
attendant dangers as well as their advantages. Wherever wheat is sown the
devil is sure to sow tares. Many, it may be feared, appear moved and touched
and roused under the preaching of the Gospel, while in reality their hearts
are not changed at all. A kind of animal excitement, and the contagion of
seeing others weeping, rejoicing, or affected, are the true account of their
case. Their wounds are only skin-deep, and the peace they profess to feel is
skin-deep also. Like the stony-ground hearers, they “receive the word with
joy” (Matt. xiii. 20); but after a little they fall away, go back to the
world, and are harder and worse than before. Like Jonah’s gourd, they come
up suddenly in a night and perish in a night. Let these things not be
forgotten. Let us beware in this day of healing wounds slightly, and crying,
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Let us urge on every one who exhibits
new interest in religion to be content with nothing short of the deep,
solid, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, Reaction, after false
religious excitement, is a most deadly disease of soul. When the devil is
only temporarily cast out of a man in the heat of a revival, and by and by
returns to his house, the last state becomes worse than the first. Better a
thousand times begin more slowly, and then continue in the word faith fully,
than begin in a hurry, without counting the cost, and by and by look back,
with Lot’s wife, and return to the world. I declare I know no state of soul
more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy
Ghost, because we have picked up a few religious feelings.
(3) True sanctification does not consist in
outward formalism
and external devoutness. This is an enormous
delusion, but unhappily a very common one. Thousands appear to imagine that
true holiness is to be seen in an excessive quantity of bodily religion,—in
constant attendance on Church services, reception of the Lord’s Supper, and
observance of fasts and saints’ days,—in multiplied bowings and turnings and
gestures and postures during public worship,—in self-imposed austerities and
petty self-denials,—in wearing peculiar dresses, and the use of pictures and
crosses. I freely admit that some people take up these things from
conscientious motives, and actually believe that they help their souls. But
I am afraid that in many cases this external religiousness is made a
substitute for inward holiness; and I am quite certain that it falls utterly
short of sanctification of heart. Above all, when I see that many followers
of this outward, sensuous, and bodily style of Christianity are absorbed in
worldliness, and plunge headlong into its pomps and vanities without shame,
I feel that there is need of very plain speaking on the subject. There may
be an immense amount of “bodily service,” while there is not a jot of real
sanctification.
(4) Sanctification does not consist
in retirement from our place in life,
and the enunciation of our social duties. In every
age it has been a snare with many to take up this line in the pursuit of
holiness. Hundreds of hermits have buried themselves in some wilderness, and
thousands of men and women have shut themselves up within the walls of
monasteries and convents, under the vain idea that by so doing they would
escape sin and become eminently holy. They have forgotten that no bolts and
bars can keep out the devil, and that wherever we go we carry that root of
all evil, our own hearts. To become a monk, or a nun, or to join a House of
mercy, is not the high road to sanctification. True holiness does not make a
Christian evade difficulties, but face and overcome them. Christ would have
His people show that His grace is not a mere hot-house plant, which can only
thrive under shelter, but a strong hardy thing which can flourish in every
relation of life. It is doing our duty in that state to which God has called
us,—like salt in the midst of corruption, and light in the midst of
darkness,—which is a primary element in sanctification. It is not the man
who hides himself in a cave, but the man who glorifies God as master or
servant, parent or child, in the family and in the street, in business and
in trade, who is the Scriptural type of a sanctified man. Our Master Himself
said in His last prayer, “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of
the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (John xvii.
15.)
(5) Sanctification does not consist in the
occasional performance of right actions
it is the habitual working of a new heavenly
principle within, which runs through all a man’s daily conduct, both in
great things and in small. Its seat is in the heart, and like the heart in
the body, it has a regular influence on every part of the character. It is
not like a pump, which only sends forth water when worked upon from without,
but a perpetual fountain, from which a stream is ever flowing spontaneously
and naturally. Even Herod, when he heard John the Baptist, “did many
things,” while his heart was utterly wrong in the sight of God. (Mark vi.
20.) Just so there are scores of people in the present day who seem to have
spasmodical fits of “goodness,” as it is called, and do many right things
under the influence of sickness, affliction, death in the family, public
calamities, or a sudden qualm of conscience. Yet all the time any
intelligent observer can see plainly that they are not converted, and that
they know nothing of “sanctification.” A true saint, like Hezekiah, will be
whole hearted. He will “count
God’s commandments concerning all things to be right, and hate every false
way.” (2 Chron. xxxi. 21; Psa. cxix. 104.)
(6) Genuine sanctification will show itself in
habitual respect to God’s law,
and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as
the rule of life. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a
Christian has nothing to do with the Law and the ten Commandments, because
he cannot be justified by keeping them. The same Holy Ghost who convinces
the believer of sin by the law, and leads him to Christ for justification,
will always lead him to a spiritual use of the law, as a friendly guide, in
the pursuit of sanctification. Our Lord Jesus Christ never made light of the
Ten Commandments: on the contrary, in His first public discourse, the Sermon
on the Mount He expounded them, and showed the searching nature of their
requirements. St. Paul never made light of the law: on the contrary, he
says, “The law is good, a man use it lawfully.”—“I delight in the law of God
after the inward man.” (1 Tim. i. 8; Rom. vii. 22.) He that pretends to be a
saint, while he sneers at the Ten Commandments, and thinks nothing of lying,
hypocrisy, swindling, ill-temper, slander, drunkenness, and breach of the
seventh commandment, is under a fearful delusion. He will find it hard to
prove that he is a “saint” in the last day!
(7) Genuine sanctification will show itself in an
habitual endeavour to do Christ’s will,
and to live by His practical precepts.
These precepts are to be found scattered everywhere throughout the four
Gospels, and especially in the Sermon on the Mount. He that supposes they
were spoken without the intention of promoting holiness, and that a
Christian need not attend to them in his daily life, is really little better
than a lunatic, and at any rate is a grossly ignorant person. To hear some
men talk, and read some men’s writings, one might imagine that our blessed
Lord, when He was on earth, never taught anything but
doctrine, and
left practical duties to be taught by others! The slightest knowledge of the
four Gospels ought to tell us that this is a complete mistake. What His
disciples ought to be and to do, is continually brought forward in our
Lord’s teaching. A truly sanctified man will never forget this. He serves a
Master who said, “Ye are my friends if ye do whatever I command you.” (John
xv. 14.)
(8) Genuine sanctification will show itself in an
habitual desire to live up to the standard
which St. Paul sets before the Churches in
his writings. That standard is to be found in the closing chapters of nearly
all his Epistles. The common idea of many persons that St. Paul’s writings
are full of nothing but doctrinal statements and controversial
subjects,—justification, election, predestination, prophecy, and the
like,—is an entire delusion, and a melancholy proof of the ignorance which
prevails about religion. I defy anyone to read
St. Paul’s writings carefully, without finding in them a large amount of
plain practical directions about the Christian’s duty in every relation of
life, and about our daily habits, temper, and behaviour to one another.
These directions were written down by inspiration of God for the perpetual
guidance of professing Christians. He who does not attend to them may
possibly pass muster as a member of a church or a chapel, but he certainly
is not what the Bible calls a “sanctified “man.
(9) Genuine sanctification will show itself in
habitual attention to the active graces
which our Lord so beautifully exemplified,
and especially to the grace of charity. “A new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another.” (John xiii. 34, 35.) A sanctified man will try to do
good in the world, and to lessen the sorrow and increase the happiness of
all around him. He will aim to be like his Master, full of kindness and love
to every one; and this not in word only, by calling people “dear,” but by
deeds and actions and self-denying work, according as he has opportunity.
The selfish Christian professor, who wraps himself up in his own conceit of
superior knowledge, and seems to care nothing whether others sink or swim,
go to heaven or hell, so long as he walks to church or chapel in his Sunday
best, and is called a “sound member,”—such a man knows nothing of
sanctification. He may think himself a saint on earth, but he will not be a
saint in heaven. Christ will never be found the Saviour of those who know
nothing of following His example. Saving faith and real converting grace
will always produce some conformity to the image of Jesus.[4]
(Coloss. iii. 10.)
(10)
Genuine sanctification, in the last place, will show itself in
habitual attention to the passive graces
of Christianity. When I speak of passive graces, I
mean those graces which are especially shown in submission to the will of
God, and in bearing and forbearing towards one another. Few people perhaps,
unless they have examined the point, have an idea how much is said about
these graces in the New Testament, and how important a place they seem to
fill. This is the special point which St. Peter dwells upon in commending
our Lord Jesus Christ’s example to our notice: “Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps: Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not
again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him
that judgeth righteously.” (1 Pet. ii. 21-23.)—This is the one piece of
profession which the Lord’s prayer requires us to make: “Forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us;” and the one point
that is commented upon at the end of the prayer.—This is the point which
occupies one third of the list of the fruits of the Spirit, supplied by St.
Paul. Nine are named, and of these “longsuffering, gentleness, and
meekness,” are unquestionably passive graces. (Gal. v. 22, 23.) I must
plainly say that I do not think the subject is sufficiently considered by
Christians. The passive graces are no doubt harder to attain than the active
ones, but they are precisely the graces which have the greatest influence on
the world. Of one thing I feel very sure,—it is nonsense to pretend to
sanctification unless we follow after the meekness, gentleness,
longsuffering, and forgivingness of which the Bible makes so much. People
who are habitually giving way to peevish and cross tempers in daily life,
and are constantly sharp with their tongue, and disagreeable to all around
them, spiteful people, vindictive people, revengeful people, malicious
people,—of whom, alas, the world is only too full—all such know little, as
they should know, about sanctification. Such are the visible
marks of a sanctified man. I do not say that they are all to be seen equally
in all God’s people. I freely admit that in the best they are not fully and
perfectly exhibited. But I do say confidently, that the things of which I
have been speaking are the Scriptural marks of sanctification, and that they
who know nothing of them may well doubt whether they have any grace at all.
Whatever others may please to say, I will never shrink from saying that
genuine sanctification is a thing that can be seen, and that the marks I
have endeavoured to sketch out are more or less the marks of a sanctified
man.
III.
I now propose to consider, in the last
place, the distinction between
justification and sanctification. Wherein
do they agree, and wherein do they differ? This branch of our
subject is one of great importance, though I fear it will not seem so to all
my readers. I shall handle it briefly, but I dare not pass it over
altogether. Too many are apt to look at nothing but the surface of things in
religion, and regard nice distinctions in theology as questions of words and
names, which are of little real value. But I warn all who are in earnest
about their souls, that the discomfort which arises from not “distinguishing
things that differ” in Christian doctrine is very great indeed; and I
especially advise them, if they love peace, to seek clear views about the
matter before us. Justification and sanctification are two distinct things,
we must always remember. Yet there are points in which they agree, and
points in which they differ. Let us try to find out what they are. In what, then, are
justification and sanctification alike?
(a)
Both proceed originally from the free grace of God. It is of His gift alone
that any are justified or sanctified at all.
(b)
Both are part of that great work of salvation which Christ, in the eternal
covenant, has undertaken on behalf of His people. Christ is the fountain of
life, from which pardon and holiness both flow. The root of each is Christ.
(c)
Both are to be found in the same persons. Those who are justified are always
sanctified, and those who are sanctified are always justified. God has
joined them together, and they cannot be put asunder.
(d)
Both begin at the same time. The moment a person begins to be a justified
person, he also begins to be a sanctified person. He may not feel it, but it
is a fact.
(e)
Both are alike necessary to salvation. No one ever reached heaven without a
renewed heart as well as a forgiveness, without the Spirit’s grace as well
as the blood of Christ, without a meetness for eternal glory as well as a
title. The one is just as necessary as the other. Such are the points
on which justification and sanctification agree. Let us now reverse the
picture, and see wherein they differ.
(a)
Justification is the
reckoning and
counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ
the Lord. Sanctification is the actual
making a man righteous, though it may be in
a very feeble degree.
(b)
The righteousness we have by our justification is
not our own,
but the everlasting perfect righteousness of our
great Mediator Christ, imputed to us, and made our own by faith. The
righteousness we have by sanctification is
our own
righteousness, imparted, inherent, and wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, but
mingled with much infirmity and imperfection.
(c)
In justification our own works have no place at all, and simple faith in
Christ is the one thing needful. In sanctification our own works are of vast
importance, and God bids us fight, and watch, and pray, and strive, and take
pains, and labour.
(d)
Justification is a finished and complete work, and a man is perfectly
justified the moment he believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work,
comparatively, and will never be perfected until we reach heaven.
(e)
Justification admits of no growth or increase: a man is as much justified
the hour he first comes to Christ by faith as he will be to all eternity.
Sanctification is eminently a progressive work, and admits of continual
growth and enlargement so long as a man lives.
(f)
Justification has special reference to our
persons, our
standing in God’s sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has
special reference to our natures,
and the moral renewal of our hearts,
(g)
Justification gives us our title to heaven, and boldness to enter in.
Sanctification gives us our meekness for heaven, and prepares us to enjoy it
when we dwell there.
(h)
Justification is the act of God about us, and is not easily discerned by
others. Sanctification is the work of God within us, and cannot be hid in
its outward manifestation from the eyes of men. Reader, I commend
these distinctions to your attention, and I ask you to ponder them well. I
am persuaded that one great cause of the darkness and uncomfortable feelings
of many well-meaning people in the matter of religion, is their habit of
confounding justification and sanctification. It can never be too strongly
impressed on our minds that they are two separate things. No doubt they
cannot be divided, and every one that is a partaker of either is a partaker
of both. But never, never ought they to be confounded, and never ought the
distinction between them to be forgotten. It only remains for
me now to bring this tract to a conclusion by a few plain words of
application. The nature and visible marks of sanctification have been
brought before us. What practical reflections ought the whole subject to
raise in our minds?
(1) For one thing, let us all awake to a sense of
the perilous state of many professing
Christians. “Without holiness no man shall
see the Lord” without sanctification there is no salvation. (Heb. xii. 14.)
Then what an enormous amount of so-called religion there is which is
perfectly useless! What an immense proportion of church-goers and
chapel-goers are in the broad road that leadeth to destruction! The thought
is awful, crushing, and overwhelming. Oh, that preachers and teachers would
open their eyes and realize the condition of souls around them! Oh, that men
could be persuaded to “flee from the wrath to come!” If unsanctified souls
can be saved and go to heaven, the Bible is not true. Yet the Bible is true
and cannot lie! What must the end be!
(2) For another thing, let us
make sure work of our own condition,
and never rest till we feel and know that we are
“sanctified” ourselves. What are our tastes, and choices, and likings, and
inclinations? This is the great testing question. It matters little what we
wish, and what we hope, and what we desire to be before we die. What are we
now? What are we doing? Are we sanctified or not? If not, the fault is all
our own.
(3) For another thing, if we would be sanctified,
our course is clear and plain,—we must
begin with Christ. We must go to Him as
sinners, with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on Him by
faith, for peace and reconciliation with God. We must place ourselves in His
hands, as in the hands of a good physician, and cry to Him for mercy and
grace. We must wait for nothing to bring with us as a recommendation. The
very first step towards sanctification, no less than justification, is to
come with faith to Christ. We must first live, and then work.
(4) For another thing, if we would grow in
holiness and become more sanctified, we must
continually go on as we began,
and be ever making fresh applications to Christ.
He is the Head from which every member must be supplied. (Ephes. iv. 16.) To
live the life of daily faith in the Son of God, and to be daily drawing out
of His fulness the promised grace and strength which He has laid up for His
people,—this is the grand secret of progressive sanctification. Believers
who seem at a standstill are generally neglecting close communion with
Jesus, and so grieving the Spirit. He that prayed, “Sanctify them,” the last
night before His crucifixion, is infinitely willing to help everyone who by
faith applies to Him for help, and desires to be made more holy.
(5) For another thing,
let us not expect too much
from our own hearts here below. At our best we
shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that we
are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. The more light we have, the
more we shall see our own imperfection. Sinners we were when we began,
sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on; renewed, pardoned,
justified,—let sinners to the very last. Our absolute perfection is yet to
come, and the expectation of it is one reason why we should long for heaven.
(6) Finally, let us never be ashamed of
making much of sanctification,
and contending for a high standard of holiness.
While some are satisfied with a miserably low degree of attainment, and
others are not ashamed to live on without any holiness at all,—content with
a mere round of church-going and chapel-going, but never getting on, like a
horse in a mill,—let us stand fast in the old paths, follow after eminent
holiness ourselves, and recommend it boldly to others. This is the only way
to be really happy. Let us feel
satisfied, whatever others may say, that holiness is happiness, and that the
man who gets through life most comfortably is the sanctified man. No doubt
there are some true Christians who from ill-health, or family trials, or
other secret causes, enjoy little sensible comfort, and go mourning all
their days on the way to heaven. But these are exceptional cases. As a
general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found true, that
“sanctified” people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid
comforts which the world can neither give nor take away. “The ways of wisdom
are ways of pleasantness.” —Great peace have they that love Thy law.”—It was
said by One who cannot lie, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—But
it is also written, “There is no peace to the wicked.” (Prov. iii. 17; Ps.
cxix. 165; Matt. xi. 30; Isa. xlviii. 22.) P.S. I am quite aware that
Owen’s writings are not fashionable in the present day, and that many think
fit to neglect and sneer at him as a benighted Puritan. Yet the great divine
who in Commonwealth times was Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, does not
deserve to be treated in this way. He had more learning and sound knowledge
of Scripture in his little finger, than many who depreciate him have in
their whole bodies. It is my firm impression, that many who abuse and scoff
at him have never read a page of his writings, and know not what they are
talking about! I assert unhesitatingly that the man who wants to study
experimental theology, will find no books equal to those of Owen and some of
his contemporaries, for complete, Scriptural, and exhaustive treatment of
the subjects they handle. As for those who read A’Kempis, Scupoli, Avrillon,
Castaniza, Jeremy Taylor, and Sutton, while they neglect such works as “Owen
on the Holy Spirit,” “Owen on Indwelling Sin,” and “Owen on the
Mortification of Sin in Believers,” I can only wonder at them, and mourn
over their taste. [1] “There is mention in the Scripture of a twofold sanctification, and consequently of a twofold Holiness. The first is common unto persons and things, consisting in the peculiar dedication, consecration, or separation of them unto the service of God, by His own appointment, whereby they become holy. Thus the priests and Levites of old, the ark, the altar, the tabernacle, and the temple, were sanctified and made holy; and, indeed, in all holiness whatever, there is a peculiar dedication and separation unto God. But in the sense mentioned, this was solitary and alone. No more belonged unto it but this sacred separation, nor was there any other effect of this , sanctification. But, secondly, there is another kind of sanctification and holiness, wherein this separation to God is not the first thing done or intended, but a consequent and effect thereof. This is real and internal by the communicating of a principle of holiness unto our natures, attended, with its exercise in acts and duties of holy obedience unto God. This is that which we inquire after.” (John Owen on, “the Holy Spirit,” vol. iii., p. 370, Works, Goold’s edition.)
[2]
“The devil’s war is better than the devil’s peace. Suspect dumb
holiness. When the dog is kept out of doors he howls to be let in
again.”—“Contraries meeting, such as fire and water, conflict one
with another. When Satan findeth a sanctified heart, he tempteth
with much importunity. Where there is much of God and of Christ,
there are strong injections and firebrands cast in at the windows,
so that some of much faith have been tempted to doubt.”
(Rutherford’s “Trial of Faith,” p. 403.)
[3] “There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish, none so pernicious, as this,—that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy in their life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them.—Holiness indeed is perfected in heaven: but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world.” (Owen on “Holy Spirit,” p. 575.)
[4]
“Christ in the Gospel is proposed to us as our pattern and example
of holiness; and as it is a cursed imagination that this was the
whole end of His life and death,—namely, to exemplify and confirm
the doctrine of holiness which He taught,—so to neglect His being
our example, in considering Him by faith to that end, and labouring
after conformity to Him, is evil and pernicious. Wherefore let us be
much in the contemplation of what He was, and what He did, and how
in all duties and trials He carried Himself, until an image or idea
of His perfect holiness is implanted in our minds, and we are made
like unto Him thereby.” (Owen on the Holy Spirit, p. 513. Goold’s
edition.)
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