Humility Before God

The greatest need of all of us is the need to be humble; our greatest lack is humility.  It is our whole approach to God that is wrong, and the first great truth that we need to be taught is this truth that overrides everything else in the Word of God.  It is the truth about God’s holiness, about God’s eternal judgements, and about His absolute righteousness.  It is the truth that God is the Judge eternal.  “Ah, but,” you say, “I am a Christian and I am surely not concerned about judgement.”  The Bible does not tell you that.  The whole Epistle to the Hebrews is a warning that we must meet God as Judge, and as Judge eternal.  He is the one who shook the earth and who has now shaken the heavens.  He is the judge of all men, and we must all appear before Him.

That is a part of the truth of sanctification; it is not something that need only be preached in an evangelistic meeting.  It is of the very essence of sanctification, and is its first principle.  Our God is a consuming fire!  John puts it this way, in teaching sanctification in his epistle.  The first thing he lays down concerning sanctification is this: “God is light and, in Him, is no darkness at all” (1 John 1.5); so, I suggest to you that we have no right to go on to consider any other aspects whatsoever of the truth of sanctification until we have realized that truth.  And then John, having started with this emphasis concerning the truth about God, especially stresses, in following verses, that salvation is God’s plan.

From: The Assurance of Our Salvation: Exploring the Depth of Jesus’ Prayer for His Own: Studies in John 17 by Martyn Lloyd-Jones; 1-volume edition (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2000), p. 435.  This volume consists of 48 sermons on John 17 that were preached by Lloyd-Jones in 1952 and 1953.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was Senior Pastor of Westminster Chapel (Congregational) in London, England, from 1943 to 1968.

 

The Essence of Sanctification

For Owen, the essence of sanctification consists in the restoration of the broken image of God.  It is a work of re-creation, and it is by the image being restored that we discover what that image originally was.  The restoration “consists in the communication of the effects and likeness of the same image unto us which was essentially in Himself.”  Thus, we discover what man lost in the fall by learning what is restored to him in sanctification…

The purpose of God’s communicating the image to man was threefold: (i) to represent His holiness and righteousness to His creatures; (ii) as a means of rendering glory to His person, in that man, alone of all creatures, could apprehend and appreciate the glory of God in such a way as to offer intelligent worship, and (iii) to bring man to an eternal enjoyment of God through his knowledge of Him.

From: John Owen on the Christian Life by Sinclair B. Ferguson (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), pp. 65, 66.

 

Ryle on Wednesday – 20

…let us all awake to a sense of the perilous state of many professing Christians.  Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12.14); without sanctification, there is no salvation.  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!

…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.

From: Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J. C. Ryle; reprint (Darlington: Evangelical Press, 1979), p. 30.  Originally published in 1879.

 

Justification and Sanctification

J. C. Ryle, that latter-day Puritan of the nineteenth century, has provided one further strand of reflection on this subject.  In his book, “Holiness,” he not only sets out the differences between justification and sanctification, he highlights, also, where they are alike.  He highlights five important similarities: both justification and sanctification proceed from the free grace of God, both are rooted in the eternal covenant and, supremely, in Christ, both are found in the same persons, both begin at the same time, and both are necessary to salvation.

In the eight contrasts he draws, there are three which add to what has been summarized above already: the righteousness we have by justification is not our own, while that found in sanctification is.  In justification, our works have no place at all while, in sanctification, they are of vast importance.  And, justification is a finished and complete work, whereas sanctification is imperfect and will never be perfect till we reach heaven. 

From: “Sanctification: 4 – Alone, But Never Alone!,” by Mark G. Johnston, in The Banner of Truth, Issue 511 (April, 2006), pp. 12-13.

 

Adhering to Jesus Christ

Cling to Christ, I say, and never forget your debt to Him.  Sinners you were, when you were first called by the Holy Ghost and fled to Jesus.  Sinners you have been, even at your best, from the day of your conversion.  Sinners you will find yourselves to your dying hour, having nothing to boast of in yourselves.  Then, cling to Christ.

Cling to Christ, I say, and make use of His atoning blood every day.  Go to Him every morning as your morning sacrifice and confess your need of His salvation.  Go to Him every night, after the bustle of the day, and plead for fresh absolution.  Wash in the great fountain every evening after all the defilement of contact with the world.  “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet” (John 13:10).

Cling to Christ, I say, and show the world how you love Him.  Show it by obedience to His commandments.  Show it by conformity to His image.  Show it by following His example.  Make your Master’s cause lovely and beautiful before men by your holiness of temper and conversation.  Let all the world see that he who is much forgiven is the man who loves much, and that he who loves most is the man who does most for Christ (Luke 7:47).

From: Old Paths: Being Plain Statements on Some of the Weightier Matters of Christianity from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman by J. C. Ryle (London: William Hunt and Company, 1877), p. 177.

 

On Loving God

Take further notice that the law, which is your mark, is exceeding broad (Psalm 119:96) and, yet, not the more easy to be hit because you must aim to hit it, in every duty of it, with a performance of equal breadth, or else you cannot hit it at all (James 2:10).  The Lord is not at all loved with that love that is due to Him as Lord of all if He be not loved with all our heart, spirit, and might.  We are to love everything in Him – His justice, holiness, sovereign authority, all-seeing eye, and all His decrees, commands, judgments, and all His doings.  We are to love Him not only better than other things, but singly, as only good, the fountain of all goodness, and to reject all fleshly and worldly enjoyments, even our own lives, as if we hated them, when they stand in competition with our enjoyment of Him or our duty towards Him.  We must love Him as to yield ourselves wholly up to His constant service in all things, and to His disposal of us as our absolute Lord, whether it be for prosperity or adversity, life or death.  And, for His sake, we are to love our neighbor, even all men, whether they be friends or foes to us, and so do to them – in all things that concern their honor, life, chastity, worldly wealth, credit, and content – whatever we would that men should do to us in the like condition (Matthew 7:12).  This spiritual universal obedience is the great end, to the attainment whereof I am directing you. – Walter Marshall (1628-1680), from The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (1692)