Both
Old and New Testaments (The Holy Bible) talk about sanctification,
sanctified, sanctifies, sanctify, which theological terms simply
means “to cleanse or set apart for sacred use; to declare or make
holy”. For example, “the Tabernacle (the place of worship of the
Israelites in the wilderness during their escape from Egypt to the
promised land of Canaan) shall be sanctified
by my glory (Exodus 29:43). Then God said to Moses referring to the
things to be used in the Tabernacle, “and thou shalt sanctify
them, that they may be most holy; whatsoever toucheth them shall be
holy” (Exodus 30:29 KJV).
In
the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said, “God alone
made it possible for you to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God
made Christ to be wisdom itself. He
is the one who made us acceptable to God.
He made us pure and Holy, and he
gave himself to purchase our freedom.
As the Scriptures say, the person who wishes to boast should boast
only of what the Lord (Jesus)
has done.” (1Cor.1:30 NLT).
Theologically speaking, our spiritual union and identification with
Christ results in our having God’s wisdom (Col. 2:31), being
acceptable to God (2 Cor. 5:21), being pure (1 Thes. 4:3-7) and
having the penalty of sins paid by Jesus through the shedding of his
precious blood in the cross of Calvary (Mark 10:45). Without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission or forgiveness of sin
(Heb. 9:22).
If
the soul is to be purified and ennobled and made fit for the heavenly
courts, there are three lessons to be learned – sanctification (set
apart for sacred use), self-sacrifice as exemplified by Jesus who
for the salvation of our soul, voluntarily gave up himself to be
crucified in our instead as wages or payment for our sins, and
self-control (our human nature drives us to do or say it but by the
power of the Holy Spirit we desist from doing or saying it) which is
one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Some learn
these important lessons more easily than do others, for they are
exercised by the simple discipline the Lord gives them in gentleness
and love. Others require the slow discipline of suffering, that
the cleansing fire may purify their hearts of pride
and self-reliance,
of earthly passion
and self-love (in
one word selfishness),
that the true gold of character may appear, and that they may become
victors through the grace (underserved favor) of Jesus Christ.
The
love of God will strengthen our soul, and through the virtue of the
merits of the blood of Christ we may stand unscathed amid the fire of
temptations and trials; which abound in this valley of tears and joy,
as it is written, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and
full of trouble”
(Job 14:1). Jesus was born of a woman, so he had plenty of troubles
culminating in the cross of Calvary on our behalf. Indeed, more
serious troubles than ours. But thanks be to God, for he also said,
“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous (believer), and his
ears are open unto their cry (Psalm 34:14); The righteous cry, and
the LORD heareth, and delibereth them out of all
their troubles (vs. 17); Many
are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him
out of them all” (vs. 34:19).
Most
of our troubles, like sickness, shelter, food, clothing, and all
other comforts in life like owning cars,
TV sets, cellphones, etc., could
be solved with money.
Wise
King Solomon, in his old age after gaining vast experience in life,
said: “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but
money answereth all things”
(Eccl. 10:19 KJV). Yes, except salvation of our soul which cannot be
bought with money. It is absolutely free! Only believe in your
heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and only
Savior and accept or receive Him in your heart. In this sense, rich
and poor, man or woman, children or adult, white, yellow, brown or
black people are equal.
No
other help can avail to save us from eternal suffering in hell but
Christ and Christ alone,
our righteousness, who is made unto us wisdom and sanctification and
redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).
True
sanctification (or belonging to God) is nothing but to love God with
all the heart, to walk blameless in His commandments and ordinances.
If we don’t love God, in the first place, who
has loved us first (1 John
4:19), we will be looking for someone else other than God, because
man having been created by God with the sweetest and most wonderful
emotion of LOVE, will surely look for someone to love who also will
reciprocate. Solomon, a wise lover, said, “Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the floods drown it…” (Song of Solomon,
8:7 KJV). In Cebuano dialect mixed with Spanish, (“Mapunggan
pa nimo ang bahâ nunca ang gugma”).
But
then the Bible also tells us, “as it is written there is none
righteous, no not one: there is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they
are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no,
not one.” (Rom. 3:10-12; Psalm 14:2 KJV). That is why no one can
boast that he is truly good and deserves to be in heaven. Only
through believing with
all earnestness and sincerity and accepting
Jesus Christ, the only begotten
Son of God, as his LORD and SAVIOR in the heart can one be saved and
enter heaven. Thus, the personal
assurance of Jesus Christ is,
“I am the way, the truth and the Life; no
one cometh unto the Father but
by me.” (John 14:6 KJV). One must believe this as ABSOLUTE truth
to be saved and be with God in His kingdom. “Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there
is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 KJV). So, don’t look for
ANOTHER
way or PERSONALITY
in heaven or on earth, for that is futile. You are just wasting your
time and effort.
Sanctification
is not an emotion, but a heaven-born principle or doctrine that
brings all the passions and desires under the control of the Spirit
of God; and this work is done only
through and by Jesus Christ our Lord and only Savior.
As above stated, no one else can do this for us, and one must
believe and accept
in his heart
Jesus Christ as his only Lord and Savior.
Spurious
or fake sanctification does not glorify God, but leads those who
claim it to exalt and glorify themselves.
When
the grace of Christ is implanted in the soul by the Holy Spirit, the
possessor will become humble in spirit and will seek for the company
of those whose conversation or manner is upon heavenly things, or are
earnestly seeking God. These people, most of them by the way, are
found in churches or fellowships or gatherings of believers. Praise
God for the faithful members
of our fellowship, they are these fortunate sanctified ones. Then the
Spirit will take the things of Christ and show them unto us, and will
glorify, not the receiver, but the Giver,
our only true God (in person Jesus Christ). If, therefore, we
have the sacred peace of Christ in our heart, our lips will be filled
with praise and thanksgiving to God (Jesus in person). Always being
thankful to God, the GIVER
of all things either good or bad
for the moment, (Eph. 5:20),
remembering that “in all things God will work for our (believer’s)
own good” (Rom. 8:28). Our prayers, the discharge of our
duty, our benevolence or philantrophic attitude and utterances, our
self-denial or self-sacrifice (attending
to, or satisfying first, the needs of others before our own personal
needs), will not be the theme or
center of our thought or conversation, but we will instead magnify
Him (God, Jesus in person) who gave all things and Himself for us
when we were yet a sinner. As we praise Him in our heart and not
only in our lips, we will have a precious blessing and blessing upon
blessing in everything,
and all the praise and glory for that which is done through our
instrumentality as channels of blessing to others, without
expecting any material thing in return,
will be given back to God, the GIVER
of all things in heaven and in
earth (2 Cor. 9:8-15). The joy in our heart for being an instrument
and a channel of blessing both material or physical shall be
unspeakable - - beyond description in words. Praise be to God!
(FGBMFI
Davao City Chapter Bulleting October 13, 2012)
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