Sanctification

IN further consideration of the offices of the Holy Spirit we give the following from John 16:7-11, and Rom. 5:5:—

(d) To convince of sin. "And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin." Verse 8. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. And the Holy Spirit can convict no man of sin before God, except by the law of God, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:20. And without conviction there can be no conversion. So the matter stands just thus: There can be no conversion without conviction; and there can be no conviction without the law; therefore, where the law of God is despised there can be no conversion; hence neither sanctification nor salvation, call it what they will.

(e) To convince of righteousness. "He shall convince the world of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." "All unrighteousness is sin." 1 John 5:17. "Sin is the transgression of the law." Righteousness is the opposite of unrighteousness. And as unrighteousness is transgression of the law, righteousness is obedience to the law. Therefore, in convincing of righteousness, the Holy Spirit convinces of obedience to the law of God.

(f) To convince of judgment. "He shall convince the world of judgment." "As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Rom. 2:12,16. "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James 2:12. As, therefore, in the Judgment men's acts are to be compared with the law of God, the office of the Holy Spirit in convincing of judgment is to enable us to see the law of God as it is, that we may have our transgressions washed away by the blood of Christ, and that we may obey the law as we ought; thus to convince us of judgment now while there is hope, that when we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, our lives may be found in perfect harmony with the holy law of God, and that so we may stand in the Judgment.

(g) To shed abroad the love of God. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. 5:5. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3.

By all these evidences we see that the office of the Holy Spirit, in every instance in the life of the Christian, is to spread the law and word of God before him, and to impress upon him the duty and knowledge of obedience. Now we bring direct proof that this is exactly what sanctification of the Spirit is, and nothing else. "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the . . . elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience." 1 Pet. 1:1, 2. There we have it. Our proof is positive that the Holy Spirit is given to us to teach us to obey the written word of God, and that true sanctification of the Spirit is unto obedience to that written word. And any sanctification that is not "unto obedience" to the law of God, is spurious sanctification; it is a deception and a snare. Now, and this by, we are brought fairly to

3. "Sanctify them through thy truth." The last text was proof that sanctification of the Spirit is "unto obedience." Here we have another text from Peter on the same subject: "Seeing ye have purified (sanctified] your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." 1 Pet. 1:22. Here we have then the truth that men are elect through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, but they are not sanctified until they have obeyed the truth, the word of God, through the Spirit. The truth of God cannot be obeyed except through the Holy Spirit. The law of God is spiritual (Rom. 7:14), the word of Christ is spirit (John 6:63), but man is carnal. Therefore "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:7-9. The Holy Spirit is given to take away the carnal mind, and make us spiritually minded, that so we may discern the things of God (1 Cor. 2:9-16), and thus he takes the things of God and shows them unto us. Thus by the Spirit of God, we can see our duty in the truth of God, and then we can obey that truth through the Spirit, and so we are sanctified through the truth.

True sanctification is through the truth. The other two steps are only preparatory to this final one. The sanctification of faith is unto receiving the Holy Spirit; sanctification of the Spirit is unto obedience to the truth; and having obeyed the truth through the Spirit, we are sanctified. He who rests upon faith, and claims to be sanctified, is deceived. He who rests upon the Spirit and claims to be sanctified, is deceived. Likewise he who rests upon both faith and the Spirit, and claims to be sanctified, is deceived. He who rests upon nothing short of faith, and the Holy Spirit, and obedience to the truth, he alone is truly sanctified. It is by obedience to the truth that we are to be sanctified. The man who is living in obedience to the whole truth is wholly sanctified. But if there be any part of the truth of God that a man is not obeying, he is not wholly sanctified. He may yell "Halleluiah," "Bless God," "Fully saved," "Wholly sanctified," etc., etc., to the end of the brassy catalogue, but as long as there is a single point of the law and truth of God which he is not obeying, we know by the word of God that he is not sanctified, and that he is deceived.

We know that as long as we are in this world we must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. In order to a growth in grace, there must be new faults discerned in ourselves, and additional victories gained. In order to a growth in knowledge, there must be additional truths learned from the word of God, and as they are learned they must be obeyed, if we would be sanctified. So, in the very nature of the case, true sanctification is a work, and a work, too, the period of which is measured only by the length of our stay in this world. However, when the Lord comes in glory, he will find a company of sanctified ones waiting and looking for him; they will have been sanctified through the truth, for it is written of them, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:9-12. And again: "In their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God." Rev. 14:5. We thank God for the grace of true sanctification, but we pray to be forever delivered from every kind of sanctification that is not through obedience to the truth of God through the Spirit.