Spots, Wrinkles

&

Every

Such Thing

whatever happened to the doctrine of sanctification & god’s answer to the real lord’s prayer?

 

-5-

 

As we conclude, I’d like you to reflect on what The Scriptures have to say. Sanctification is an essential doctrine of The Church, but how often have you heard this truth taught? It’s casually mentioned by some & wholly ignored by others. However, as we have seen, without it we will miss a richness & a fullness to our lives as believers. God is not trying to spoil our experience. He seeks to enhance it. This process begins when we are saved, but we must embrace it. At a time when The Church at large seems more interested in the goods that they are in God, we have to return to a biblical vantage point. There is so much talk of revival, prosperity, faith, power, revelation & dominion. But there is little or no talk of the closeness & intimacy The Lord wants to have with us through a sanctified life. Moreover, The Lord Jesus prayed along these lines for His disciples & for us by extension. God wants to answer that prayer. John says, ‘That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.’. (1^st John 1:3). Before you read any further, take a breath. You may not agree with every sentiment in every sentence I write, but do one thing. Commit yourself to a closer walk with The Lord. He will take you on. He wants to do it. He waits to do it. He wills to do it. Faithful is He who has called you. Now let’s look further into the prayer that The Lord Jesus prayed for us.

¹³ And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴ I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:13-16). 

Sanctification enables us to have the joy of our full & free salvation. How then is the joy of Christ fulfilled in us? By us knowing what pleases Him & endeavouring to do those things. This is not works. This is obedience. The Lord left us an example of how He always pleased The Father, from His baptism through to His crucifixion. ‘And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’. (Matthew 3:16-17).

⁵ While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him (Matthew 17:5). 

Peter recounts this event, while reminding us that we have something more sure than experience. His Word. He says, ‘For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.’. (2^nd Peter 1:17-19).

 ²⁹ And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. ³⁰ As he spake these words, many believed on him. ³¹ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’. (John 8:29-32).

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2).

Shouldn’t we want to do the same? John says, ‘He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.’. (1^st John 2:6). Paul says, ‘For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.’. (Galatians 1:10).

¹⁷ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world (1^st John 4:17).

Brethren, The Lord can accomplish these things in us. He wants to. He waits to. He wills to. Jesus continues, praying that we be kept from the evil. He instructed us to pray thus (Matthew 6:13). Remember the words of Paul; ‘But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.’.(2^nd Thessalonians 3:3).

⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: ¹⁰ Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us (2^nd Corinthians 1:9-10).

¹⁷ Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. ¹⁸ And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (2^nd Tomothy 4:17-18). 

Brethren, are you getting the picture? Do you see the richness of fellowship that Jesus Christ is calling us into? Shouldn’t we want to receive the answer to The Lord’s prayer? If sanctification has never been a consideration in your life, I implore you to commit yourself to the heavenly process. Allow God to answer The Lord’s prayer in your life. I want Him to answer it in mine.

¹⁷ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. ¹⁸ As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. ²⁰ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; ²¹ That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. ²² And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: ²³ I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me (John 17:17-23). 

In my reading of The Lord’s prayer, this is the crux of the matter. The sanctifying, transformative power of the truth of The Word. Some have confused the issue of unity by being willing to compromise orthodoxy & heterodoxy. Three little words clear this up for us. Jesus uses them here & further back in John 17:11. Those words are, as we are. We cannot have any true unity unless it around the truth of The Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is God’s Word & God’s truth (John 1:1-2 & 14:6). He was sanctified & sent into the world (John 10:36) & seeks to do the same in, through & for us. will we yield?

¹³ And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God (Revelation 19:13).

In the world, truth is relative. We are ardently encouraged to live our truth, even if it’s subjective. In The Church at large, little or nothing is said concerning God’s objective truth. We have sermonettes to christianettes, which you could easily take or leave, because there is no threat where there is no truth.

The enemy lies very well & The Church tells the truth very badly. Not so with The Lord.

Paul says, ‘These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’. (1^st Timothy 3:14-15). The sanctifying nature of the truth of The Word separates us from error & to Christ. John says, ‘I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.’. (1^st John 2:21). This is important & most especially as parts of The Church are drifting blindly towards ecumenicalism with their arms wide open & their eyes wide shut.

¹⁴ Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ¹⁸ And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty (2^nd Corinthians 6:14-18). 

I will not apologise for resisting the broadening of the appeal of The Church, when The Lord Jesus Christ clearly said that narrow is the way & there are few that find it (Matthew 7:14).

There is no way under God’s blue heaven or on God’s green earth, that The Lord Jesus meant that we are to join hands with agnostics, atheists, anti-semitic sympathisers, heretics or idol worshippers, in His name. These swill around within The Church at large, like cancerous cells seeking attachment to healthy tissue.

Unite? With them? Never! Untie! I can already hear the angry clicking sound as many an email is stabbed out on keyboards around the world. The unity around the truth of The Word is what Jesus spoke of & the apostles defended that in order to maintain doctrinal purity. Let The Lord sanctify us with His truth, His Word is truth. Then our fellowship is sweeeeeet.

²⁴ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. ²⁶ And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:24-26). 

The culmination of The Lord’s plan is for us to be with Him (1^st Thessalonians 4:17). He takes us from justification, through sanctification, to glorification. John says, ‘Behold, 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^st John 3:1) & ‘Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.’. (1^st John 5:1). This series has not been an exhaustive attempt to cover this subject. We haven’t delved into the typology of sanctification used in the Old Testament. We haven’t spoken about the sacrifices. Salt. Wheat. Ritual cleanliness. But I trust that what we have spoken about is sufficient to stir our hearts to go to The Lord & simply ask Him to work in our hearts & lives.

¹⁷ Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness (2^nd Peter 3:17).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

copyright © by David Samuel Parkins mmxxv all rights reserved.

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser