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What Role Does Sanctification Play in Salvation?

How do I "Pursue . . . the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord"?

Unlike regeneration, there is much Spirit-filled human effort involved in sanctification. On the one hand, "it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). "On the other hand," we're commanded in 1 Tim. 4:7, "discipline yourself for the purposes of godliness." God uses means of grace to sanctify us, chief of which are the personal and corporate spiritual disciplines. In the personal realm, these include intake of God's Word, prayer, private worship, fasting, silence and solitude, etc. These are balanced by disciplines we practice with the church: public worship, hearing God's Word preached, observance of the ordinances, corporate prayer, fellowship, etc. And all along, our confidence is not in ourselves, but in God. As Paul put it, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6).

Donald S. Whitney

Christmas in Review

My fear of shots and strange doctors in austere lab coats started at an extremely young age. I believe most people would agree that if somehow they could bypass the squeamish moment experienced at the dreadful office, the life expectancy would dramatically increase. Oh the horrors that are entailed once you are left in the sterile silence for the nurse to arrive, what mysteries lay behind her sly smile. Particularly one experience comes to mind when courage crosses my mind, enduring the ghastly visit and making it out alive and unaltered.

Unfortunately one morning during the Christmas break I woke up in a cold sweat, my eyes were glazed and a moat of drool surrounded my head like a halo. I gasped for air and swallowed my fear as I opened my mouth to see what was lodged in my throat. To my surprise, I had grown the largest bacteria culture known to man in my mouth. It was white and frothy and again I gasped, this time in disgust, my tonsils had been consumed by oozing pustules. It was time to visit the doctor, for one, I could not breathe, and two, the infection was highly painful and unattractive, fearing it would consume my face.

My mother drove me in quiet solitude; I knew what would be in store, definitely a kiss of penicillin. Immediately the doctor knew what was wrong as he plugged his nose and gazed into my mouth. He then shook his head and motioned for the nurse. I was not going to go through with it. Suddenly, my mother grabbed my rear and flashed a little skin and then the torture began. It felt as if syrup was passing through a pinhole. I felt my head become heavy and my arms limp and I thought I was going to lose it, and then it was finished.

It took courage to bear all and let that nurse stick it to me hard, but I thank her.

What do Galatians, Hosea, and Isaiah have in common?

What is the common thread between these three books? Let's look at them individually.

Galatians:
"The secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by his cross and healed by his Spirit." Galatians exalts these two things: the cross of Christ as the only way a person can get right with God, and the Spirit of Christ as the only way a person can obey God. Anything that diminishes the beauty and all-sufficiency of what happened on the cross of Christ is anathema to Paul. Anything that puts our willing or running where the Holy Spirit belongs is witchery to Paul. And the reason we sense a kind of compassionate rage running beneath this letter is that someone had bewitched the Galatians to put themselves where the Spirit belonged and the works of law where faith in the cross belonged.” - P.T. Forsythe, a Scottish Minister

Galatians is a letter about God’s grace, an undeserved gift received by faith alone. Paul passionately speaks against the intertwining of the Jewish faith and the gospel of Christ. The people of Galatia have fallen from truth.

Hosea:
Hosea’s ministry was at the same time as Isaiah’s. Hosea opens up with an allegory, his wife, Gomer, a prostitute who represents the covenant people or Israel. God made him live the tragedy of Israel's unfaithfulness by marrying a harlot. What follows is shocking because the idolatry of Israel is shocking. Hosea continues to illustrate the adultery Israel has committed ant the covenant that was shattered, but it is not until God pursued her heart and brought her back. "And you shall know the Lord." Know here, is an intimate. Israel had tried to intertwine idolatry and God’s holy covenant. In chapter 7, verse 14 it says “They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.” God pursue our heart and souls, genuine worship. But he is also a God of wrath and Israel had to understand the supremacy of Christ in all things. “He wants you to come into the wilderness, to listen to him speak tenderly and to respond to him, "My husband." God wants your heart, not just your hands, because if he has your heart he has everything.”

Isaiah:
Isaiah also pointed his ministry with the covenant life, constant reoccurring theme in the Old Testament. God’s people lost their vision of God and his kingdom of righteousness, satisfied with their own special blend on religion. Also like Hosea, curses as promised in the books of law, blessings always follow. They looked to Assyria and Egypt for protection from the almost eminent defeat and downfall an the nation. This was breach in the covenant they had with God. They openly showed their distrust that God would carry them through. They even created and alter modeled after one of Assyria’s idols to please them in hopes of assistance. Finally you read the passage about Hezekiah and how it appeared that God changed his mind about destroying Judah. God never changes his mind. This would allude that he is not all-knowing or in complete control of our daily lives. We know that God is sovereign, he keeps his promises. You know that from David’s line, a redeemer will come to save God’s people, Jesus Christ. Therefore you know that to keep his promise, Judah could not have been wiped out it the prophesies were to stand. God will display his wrath but he also will show his mercy.

So what is the common thread? Have you caught it yet? Each book of the bible mentioned a covenant. Of course the Old Testament mentioned a covenant with God and the Jews, while Paul speaks of a covenant with Christ and his believers because of Christ’ blood. A beautiful Covenant we have as believers in Christ is all sufficient and sustaining. The love that God has for his children and the passion we should have for him if we really “knew” God is compelling, to “know” Christ. Not through traditions or false exhortations, God calls us to know him intimately and delight in him every day.

“Vast starry skies seen from a mountain in Utah, and four layers of moving clouds on a seemingly endless plain in Montana, and standing on the edge of a mile-deep drop in the Grand Canyon can all have a wonderfully supplementary role in enlarging the soul with beauty. But nothing can take the place of the supremacy of Christ." - John Piper

To know him deeply, to have joy and freedom in Christ . . .

Oh NO!!!

I have school tomorrow and that means no more sleeping in! I am going to be busy. Yet, one thing that excites me, I am going on a road trip with my dad this spring break so I will start counting the days. It will all start again when the first bell rings!