For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:3
The apostle closed the third chapter of this Epistle with
the wondrous prayer for the Thessalonian believers that
the Lord might "establish their hearts unblameable in
holiness before God..." In chapter four he urges them to
walk well-pleasing to God. He warns them against un-
cleanness and fraud and then a little further on he pleads
with them to remember and to yield to the blessed truth
in the verse above. The great power of holiness is that
it is God's will for us.
And what is holiness? God alone is the Holy One. No one
is holy except the Lord. There is no holiness but His. Noth-
ing can be holy except as He makes it holy.
Be holy for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16
I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ex 31:13
Holiness can only be communicated by He Himself and
His own life. We are in Christ, who is made of God to us
sanctification. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Holiness.
We are God's elect "...through sanctification of the Spirit;
"chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit."
(I Peter 1:2; 2Thes 2:13)
Our part in sanctification consists of recognizing how God
makes us holy. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.
The new nature we have in Him has been created in true
holiness. Our justification and our sanctification are
equally in Christ--by union with Him--and therefore
equally of faith. It is as we believe God in working in us,
through Christ and the Spirit, that the inflow of the holy
life from above is renewed.
And what encouragement we find in the words--This is
the will of God, your sanctification? The first thought is
that of Divine obligation of holiness. God wills it. In
eternity, God predestined us to be holy, we are "elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit." God's whole pur-
pose as a holy God was to make us holy as He is holy.
All that God wills He works. But, He does not do so in
those who refuse to accept or submit to His will. They
have the power to resist it.
God works in us both to will and to do. When He has
worked the willing, He delights--if He is waited on and
yielded to,-- to work the doing. When by His grace, the
believer has accepted God's will for sanctification as
his own will, he can count upon God's working it.
The will of God is your sanctification--that is, all that
God wills has this one object, and will secure this one
result. Whether it is His will in the eternal counsel, in
mercy, in judgement, in precept, or in promise, all that
God wills concerning us is our sanctification. The com-
mands of God have unspeakable value and mark the
path of safety and of life, and guide us to all that is love-
ly and of good report. But here is their highest glory:
through them the Holy One seeks to make us partakers
of His own holiness.
Let all who want to experience this remember one thing.
It is because it is God's will and God's holiness that there
is power, life, and blessing in it. Everything depends on
our knowing God, waiting on Him, and coming under
the operation of His holy presence and power. As we
know Him as the Living God, and have fellowship with
Him as the Holy, Loving, Almighty, ever-present, and
ever-working One, His will and His holiness will become
heavenly realities to the believer. then, we will know how
blessedly, how certainly, His will is our sanctification.
Andrew Murray
Reader, I would encourage you to ponder the scriptures
above. I don't think I have ever heard sanctification
taught this way. However, it makes my heart sing for joy!
God does not call us to anything without providing the
means to accomplish it--not even sanctification. Actually,
He has already done it--at the cross.
Ask yourself, do these scriptures back up what Murray is
saying? How do I respond?
1 Thessalonians 4:3
The apostle closed the third chapter of this Epistle with
the wondrous prayer for the Thessalonian believers that
the Lord might "establish their hearts unblameable in
holiness before God..." In chapter four he urges them to
walk well-pleasing to God. He warns them against un-
cleanness and fraud and then a little further on he pleads
with them to remember and to yield to the blessed truth
in the verse above. The great power of holiness is that
it is God's will for us.
And what is holiness? God alone is the Holy One. No one
is holy except the Lord. There is no holiness but His. Noth-
ing can be holy except as He makes it holy.
Be holy for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16
I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ex 31:13
Holiness can only be communicated by He Himself and
His own life. We are in Christ, who is made of God to us
sanctification. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Holiness.
We are God's elect "...through sanctification of the Spirit;
"chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit."
(I Peter 1:2; 2Thes 2:13)
Our part in sanctification consists of recognizing how God
makes us holy. We have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.
The new nature we have in Him has been created in true
holiness. Our justification and our sanctification are
equally in Christ--by union with Him--and therefore
equally of faith. It is as we believe God in working in us,
through Christ and the Spirit, that the inflow of the holy
life from above is renewed.
And what encouragement we find in the words--This is
the will of God, your sanctification? The first thought is
that of Divine obligation of holiness. God wills it. In
eternity, God predestined us to be holy, we are "elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit." God's whole pur-
pose as a holy God was to make us holy as He is holy.
All that God wills He works. But, He does not do so in
those who refuse to accept or submit to His will. They
have the power to resist it.
God works in us both to will and to do. When He has
worked the willing, He delights--if He is waited on and
yielded to,-- to work the doing. When by His grace, the
believer has accepted God's will for sanctification as
his own will, he can count upon God's working it.
The will of God is your sanctification--that is, all that
God wills has this one object, and will secure this one
result. Whether it is His will in the eternal counsel, in
mercy, in judgement, in precept, or in promise, all that
God wills concerning us is our sanctification. The com-
mands of God have unspeakable value and mark the
path of safety and of life, and guide us to all that is love-
ly and of good report. But here is their highest glory:
through them the Holy One seeks to make us partakers
of His own holiness.
Let all who want to experience this remember one thing.
It is because it is God's will and God's holiness that there
is power, life, and blessing in it. Everything depends on
our knowing God, waiting on Him, and coming under
the operation of His holy presence and power. As we
know Him as the Living God, and have fellowship with
Him as the Holy, Loving, Almighty, ever-present, and
ever-working One, His will and His holiness will become
heavenly realities to the believer. then, we will know how
blessedly, how certainly, His will is our sanctification.
Andrew Murray
Reader, I would encourage you to ponder the scriptures
above. I don't think I have ever heard sanctification
taught this way. However, it makes my heart sing for joy!
God does not call us to anything without providing the
means to accomplish it--not even sanctification. Actually,
He has already done it--at the cross.
Ask yourself, do these scriptures back up what Murray is
saying? How do I respond?
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