The Project Gutenberg eBook ofSanctification

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofSanctificationThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: SanctificationAuthor: Edward HoareRelease date: June 8, 2016 [eBook #52274]Language: EnglishCredits: Transcribed from the 1878, (third) Hatchards edition by David Price*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SANCTIFICATION ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: SanctificationAuthor: Edward HoareRelease date: June 8, 2016 [eBook #52274]Language: EnglishCredits: Transcribed from the 1878, (third) Hatchards edition by David Price

Title: Sanctification

Author: Edward Hoare

Release date: June 8, 2016 [eBook #52274]

Language: English

Credits: Transcribed from the 1878, (third) Hatchards edition by David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SANCTIFICATION ***

Transcribed from the 1878, (third) Hatchards edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

BY THEREV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.Vicar of Trinity,Tunbridge Wells;and Hon. Canon of Canterbury.

Third Edition, Enlarged.

LONDON:HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.1878.

LONDON:Printed by John Strangeways,Castle St. Leicester Sq.

Thefollowing pages contain the substance of some Sermons preached in the course of my parochial ministry, on the subject of Sanctification, and are published at the request of several members of my congregation.

They contain nothing new, and, being parochial sermons, they are not in the form of a systematic treatise. But I hope they exhibit the doctrine of Sanctification as revealed in Scripture, as embodied in the teaching of the Church of England, and as preached by those who are generally termed the Evangelical Clergy.

They are not so much controversial as practical.My desire has not been to discuss new opinions, but to bring out old truths. I shall be truly thankful if this shall prove to have been done; and I commit them to God, with the earnest prayer that He may make them useful, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to those who long for the fulfilment of the prayer of their most blessed Saviour,—‘Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is truth.’

E. H.

Tunbridge Wells.

PAGE

SEPARATION UNTO GOD

LEGAL CLEANSING:

SANCTIFICATION THROUGH BLOOD

THE CLEANSING BLOOD

PERSONAL HOLINESS:

THE SANCTIFIED

PROGRESS

INFECTION OF NATURE

GRACE

HOLINESS THROUGH FAITH

CONSECRATION

103

PRAYER

117

GOD’S NAME SANCTIFIED

132

EXPOSITORY NOTES:

ROMANS, VII.

143

1 JOHN, III. 6

146

THE WORD ‘PERFECT’

149

TEMPTATION, HEB. IV. 15

152

DOCTRINAL NOTES

154

‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.’—1Pet. i. 2.

It is one of the encouraging features of the present day that many of the Lord’s people are aiming at a higher standard of Christian holiness than they have ever yet known, and are looking to the great grace of their most blessed Saviour to raise them by His Spirit above the various hindrances which have hitherto impeded their progress. They desire that there should be no impediment in the service of their blessed Saviour. In their worship they would draw very near to Him, and in their life they would glorify His name. But yet, when they seek to do so, and when they fairly look at God’s character,God’s claims, God’s will, and God’s glory, they find reason to be humbled to the dust; and the more they realize His infinite mercy in Christ Jesus, the more they learn of the magnitude and multitude of their own shortcomings. Thus it sometimes comes to pass that in many true believers their greatest discouragements are intimately connected with their efforts after holiness, and many of their doubts and difficulties arise from their real desire for true sanctification. The more that they aim at the holiness of God, the more they feel their sin, and the more earnestly that they strive to rise, the more keenly do they feel the pain and humiliation of the ruin of their fallen nature. It is important therefore for those who desire holiness to look carefully into the teaching of Scripture on the great subject of Sanctification; to examine what is really promised, and to learn what the Word of God teaches us to expect. Does it, or does it not, make provision for such difficulties? And if it does, what is the provision? These are some of the questions which I desire now to consider, and I hope it may please God to fulfil to both writer and reader the prayer of the Apostle: ‘The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preservedblameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Now one of the great difficulties of the subject is, that in all languages certain words are employed to express more than one idea, and that the idea connected with the word often changes as time advances. To a certain extent this applies to the word ‘sanctification’ in sacred Scripture. It has no less than four distinct meanings in the Word of God; and, if we treat them all as if they were the same, we are sure to be confused. It has its original sense, and three others that have grown out of it. The original sense is separation unto God, or dedication; and the three that have grown out of it are legal cleansing, personal holiness, and the exaltation of the holiness of God. If therefore we wish to understand the teaching of Scripture, we must clearly examine the use of the word in these four senses. May the Lord Himself help us to do so!

If we turn then to the beginning, we shall find that the original sense of the word ‘to sanctify’ is to set apart unto God.

So in the Old Testament the Hebrew is frequently rendered ‘to hallow,’ or to set apart as a holy thing.

In this sense it is used of the Sabbath (Gen.ii. 3): ‘God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.’ He separated it from the ordinary purposes of common life, and set it apart as a day peculiar to Himself. So again the first-born were set apart unto God, and therefore said to be sanctified; as we read, Exod. xiii. 2: ‘Sanctify unto Me all the first-born—both of man and of beast: it is mine.’ So of the Temple, God said (2 Chron. vii. 16), ‘I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever.’ The same is said of the priests, the vessels of the sanctuary, and the lamb taken from the flock for sacrifice: they were all separated unto God, and thus said to be sanctified. It is in this sense that our blessed Saviour made use of the word, when He said in John, xvii. 19, ‘For their sakes I sanctify myself.’ No one can suppose for one moment that He made Himself more holy, or cleansed Himself from actual sin, for He had been from all eternity holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. There was no possibility of any increase of holiness in Him. But He did, from the deep love that filled His heart, set Himself apart unto God, to be the one perfect sin-offering for man. As the lamb was sanctified when it was taken from the flock, and set apart for sacrifice, so did He sanctify Himselfwhen He separated Himself from all human fellowship, and, as one set apart unto God, bore alone the whole burden of human guilt.

Now, this is the sense in which the word is used whenever sanctification is spoken of as something past, or complete. There are passages in which it is described as the past act of God, as,e.g.Jude, 1, where God’s people are spoken of as being, or having been, ‘sanctified by God the Father;’ and 2 Thess. ii. 13, where they are described as having been ‘chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.’ The reason is, that they have already been set apart by the Holy Ghost as a peculiar people unto God. They have been like a branch of the wild olive, cut out from the old tree, and engrafted into the new. That grafting into Christ involved a separation, for it implied a cutting out as well as a grafting in; and therefore, whenever a soul has been incorporated into Christ, there has been in this sense an act of sanctification, or, in other words, of separation unto God. Such passages do not refer to personal holiness; but to the past act of God in separating His elect unto Himself. I have no doubt that this is the meaning of the text. Weall know that the work of holiness is the consequence of the gift of pardon. It is not till we are forgiven through the great blood-sprinkling that the real work of holiness begins. But in these words sanctification comes before it, and the sprinkling of the blood is described as the result of the sanctifying act. The reason is, not that this verse is at variance with the rest of Scripture,—God forbid the thought,—but that the word sanctification does not here express our growth in personal holiness, but means God’s great act of separation unto Himself by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. As the Sabbath was set apart unto God, so have we been set apart if we be in Christ Jesus: and it is both our privilege and duty to regard ourselves as chosen out of the world and now belonging, as a peculiar people, unto God. It is with reference to this act of separation that the Apostle addresses God’s people in the words, ‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.’

If we take the word in this sense the passagewill throw a flood of light on three important subjects: the origin of this separation, its result, and the power by which it is accomplished.

I. ItsOrigin. This is very clearly the electing love of God. The sanctification, or separation here described, is the application of God’s electing love to the individual. Our Lord says (John, x. 16) of us Gentiles, ‘Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring.’ In the loving purpose of God they were His when He spoke; but they were at that time either not yet born, or still living in heathenism, He said, ‘Them also I must bring.’ In other words, those who were His by the eternal covenant He must in due time separate unto Himself; and that separation, or that bringing, is the sanctification here described. It is that great act of God in which He carries into effect, or applies, His own eternal purpose.

And think what a stability this gives to the work! If it were the result of our own will it must be liable to all the failures inseparable from the weakness of our will; but as it is the carrying out of His own eternal purpose, it is unchangeable, because it is divine. Man-made conversionssoon fall to pieces; but when God calls and separates His own elect, it is for ever. He incorporates them into Christ, and they are one with Him for all eternity.

Ah, brethren, if you be in Him, you may be exposed to many, and strong temptations; you may be obliged to tread in slippery places, and find your feet very weak under their burden; but in the midst of it all you may rely, not merely on daily mercy, but also on everlasting love; and may take courage in the assurance that, as He changeth not, so you will be kept by His power through faith unto salvation.

II. The passage teaches us also theResult. This great result is conversion, as taught us in the words, ‘unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.’ I can scarcely imagine a better description of the character and blessings of conversion than that contained in these words, for they present it to us in a double aspect,—on the one hand surrender, and on the other pardon.

Surrender. This is the meaning of obedience, in the passage. It must not be confounded with the holy and loving obedience of the child ofGod walking in his Father’s footsteps, for it is rather the surrender of the once rebellious heart when it receives Christ as its Saviour and King. It is the obedience described in Acts, vi. 7, where it is said that ‘a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.’ It was the faith to which they were obedient: not the law. They received the message of life, and yielded themselves unto the Lord. It is the obedience of Saul of Tarsus, when, having hated, opposed, and persecuted, he gave up in complete surrender, and said, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ And here lies the great difficulty with a great number. If there be the true separation unto God, there must be surrender, for it is a sanctification unto obedience; and there is no denying that the heart oftentimes recoils from it. Oh, how near have some come,—how beautifully near! almost like the young man whom Jesus loved. But that young man went back after all. He went away very sorrowful; but still he went. I hope you may not do the same! But I stand in doubt of some of you, for though almost, you are not yet altogether: though near, you are not within; though earnest, not yet safe. And why? There is no submission: you cannot give up. Thereare old prejudices, old thoughts, old likes and dislikes, old confidences; and you cannot make up your mind to give all up, and to surrender your whole soul into the hands of your Lord and Saviour.

Yet think what a blessing there is connected with such surrender: nothing less than ‘the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.’ That sprinkling is the personal application of the great atonement to the individual soul. The shedding of the blood was a public act, which might or might not be effectual to individuals; but the sprinkling of it is altogether a personal matter. It is the application to the individual of the great atonement made for every man. So that those who are thus sanctified, or set apart unto God, are set apart unto the sacred privilege of having their sins blotted out for ever; and those who have been brought by the Holy Ghost to the obedience of the faith, are in their own souls sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Not only do they know that there is a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness, but they themselves are cleansed by it, and walk before God in the sacred peace of full forgiveness and perfect love.

Oh, how is it that there can be any backwardnessin thus surrendering to Christ! Do you not thirst for that sacred fellowship? Do you not long to be able to say, ‘Who hath washed me from my sins in His own blood?’ Is there any blessedness to be compared to that of having sin blotted out for ever? Why, then, do you still hold back? Why not give up, and just cast yourself, ruined and helpless, into the arms of your Saviour, that His own most precious blood may be sprinkled on your soul, and that by His great grace you may be His, and His for ever?

III. But we must hasten to our last subject: theAuthorof this most blessed change. This is distinctly said to be the Spirit. ‘The sanctification of the Spirit,’ as in 2 Thess. ii. 14.

Observe, in passing, how all the three persons of the Holy Trinity appear in the verse. There is the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sprinkling of the blood of the Son, and the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.

It is from such passages as these that the answer in the Church Catechism is derived: ‘I believe in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.’ Everybranch or department of sanctification is His work. The original call, the progressive struggle, and the final victory, are all alike by His power. It was when the Holy Ghost descended at Pentecost that ‘the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved;’ and it is just in proportion as the same Holy Ghost puts forth His power now that souls are separated unto God. There is no real sanctification of any kind whatever unless it be the sanctification of the Spirit. If it is brought about by religious machinery, or any inferior agency, it is not the real thing, and will never lead to the real result. I am most anxious to press this upon you, for I think there is great danger of Christian people losing sight of it. Some people seem to think that everything depends on certain men or certain plans: but you cannot save souls by planning. We cannot bear this in mind too strongly with reference to those missions and mission preachers which are now exciting the deep interest of multitudes. I attach a very high value to those mission efforts: I have engaged in them myself, and I believe the Holy Ghost gave His blessing. But it is not a mission week, nor a mission preacher, that can sanctify or set apart soulsunto God: it is God the Holy Ghost working in the heart, breaking down the old man, and constraining the soul to the obedience of the faith. Let no one then wait for a mission week or a revivalist preacher, in looking out for great results. The Holy Spirit is not limited, as some seem to think, to extraordinary means, or extraordinary agencies. It was when the Churches had settled down quietly in their quiet Christian life, that it was said of them that, ‘Walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they were multiplied.’ So we may look for this sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost to accompany our quiet Christian work; and I do look for it, and more than that, I thank God for having granted it in a most remarkable manner in these latter days. We will not wait then for some future great occasion. No, indeed: we will not wait even for the morrow. We will look for the mighty power of the Holy Ghost now; this day, this hour, before we part. How many are there amongst us still unsaved! How many that have not yet surrendered to their Lord! Oh, come then, Mighty Spirit: come! Come in power: come at once! Come to subdue,—come to quicken,—come to sanctify,—come to save!

‘For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’—Heb. ix. 13, 14.

Itis impossible to think too much of the most precious blood of our most blessed Lord and Saviour. It throws its sacred power over every department of our Christian life. Our pardon, our peace, our communion, and our holiness, are all dependent on that most precious blood. Lose sight of the blood of Christ, and you lose sight of the very essence of your Christianity.

Our subject to-day is Sanctification through blood. There are three passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews in which we find a reference to such a sanctification: viz., x. 29,—‘Hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he wassanctified, an unholy thing;’ xiii. 12,—‘Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate;’ and ix. 13,—‘If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’

I think we must all admit that these passages do not convey to us the idea of either separation unto God, or of imparted holiness by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. They seem rather to refer to the legal result of blood-shedding, or sacrifice. So I believe they do; and if we would know the real meaning of sanctification in the Word of God, we must not be carried away by the recurrence of a familiar word, but pause to study carefully its real use in this Epistle.

Our first duty then will be to examine what is meant in these passages by the Sanctification through blood. And after having ascertained its meaning, we may proceed to consider its wondrous power.

First, then, what is meant by it?

I am not aware that the expression is ever met with in any portion of the New Testament except the Epistle to the Hebrews, and this may at once suggest the idea that it has a Levitical signification. The great object of that Epistle is to expound the types of the book of Leviticus, and to show their fulfilment in our most blessed Saviour. Accordingly in two out of the three passages there is a direct reference to the ancient types. It is therefore only natural to expect that the phraseology employed in the Book of Leviticus, respecting the types, will reappear in the exposition of those types in the Epistle. And if we would understand the Epistle, we must learn from the Book of Leviticus what was the nature of that sanctification which was effected through blood in the law of types.

Some people seem to think that these sacrifices produced no result except in so far as they pointed typically to the Lord Jesus. But I do not think they will find that opinion borne out in Scripture. They will find there that, in addition to their typical and prophetic character, these sacrifices were, at the time of their being offered, effectual in God’s purpose for the bestowal of certain most important blessings. Thusthis passage says, ‘If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:’ the blood then of bulls and of goats did actually ‘sanctify to the purifying of the flesh.’

There was a certain act of sanctification there and then wrought through the application of that blood. It was not merely that in it through faith believers laid hold on the future atonement by the coming Saviour, but there was something done for them at the time; so that after the sacrifice they were in a position different to that in which they stood before it.

Take the two cases referred to in this verse. First, there is the sprinkling of the blood of the bullock, as on the day of atonement. On that occasion the altar was sprinkled with the blood. (Levit. xvi. 19.) Now the altar was not actually purified by the sprinkling, as if it had been washed with water. Yet you read, ‘He shall sprinkle of the blood upon it—and cleanse it, and hallow,’ or sanctify, ‘it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.’ In that case the altar was cleansed from legal guilt. In consequence of its contact with the sin of guilty man it was regarded before God as an unclean thing, and bythe sprinkling of blood it was sanctified, or legally cleansed. Before the sprinkling it was polluted, but afterwards it was clean, or, in other words, all legal impurity was removed.

The purifying of the flesh by the sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer was of exactly the same character. The clearest account of it is given in Num. xix., the passage to which the Apostle apparently refers. There you find the description of certain persons who were accounted unclean: as,e.g., those who had touched a dead body. And those persons, being unclean, were cut off from the sanctuary. But when, after seven days, they were sprinkled with the ashes of the heifer, their legal uncleanness was removed, and they were restored to the congregation as clean persons. They were not really more pure than they were before, but they were no longer accounted as defiled, and thus they were reinstated into all their privileges.

The sprinkling of blood and of the ashes, therefore, did produce a real result. It did not change the inward state of the heart, but it did alter the position. It was God’s appointed ordinance for the removal of legal guilt; and it did remove it. It was effectual for its purpose, andafter it had taken place the uncleanness was no more: it might soon accumulate again, and become possibly worse than ever; but the past defilement was gone, and the unclean man was clean.

But it did not touch the heart or conscience. It was an outward act affecting the outward person, and restoring a man to the sanctuary and congregation; but, if his heart was broken by the bitter sense of indwelling sin, it could not restore him to God: if his conscience was grieved by the bitter memory of sad sin, the ashes of the heifer could not heal that. Suppose a man had something weighing on his conscience: he might bring his kid to the altar; but unless he was able in that sacrifice to see the coming Christ, he would have the bitter pain of past transgression still festering in his heart. He might be sprinkled with the ashes of the heifer, and take his place in the sanctuary of God as if all was right; but that would not take away his burden. If that were all he would go back from the sanctuary with a heavy heart. He would be just like thousands amongst ourselves who have experienced the utter failure of any external remedy for the wounded conscience. They have been through thewhole outward routine of a correct Christianity,—prayers, Bible reading, Church services, sacraments,—and you may truly say they are sanctified according to the flesh. But there is a heartache still within the soul; there is an uncleanness there too deep to be touched by anything external,—so deep that it baffles every effort to cleanse it, and appears to rise with fresh power at the very time that they endeavour to apply their remedy. It is this that has always been the great difficulty in our endeavours to serve the living God, for till this burden is removed it is sure to keep us in a position of bondage and inability. I once saw some poor prisoners driven to their work with a long and heavy chain riveted on their ankles; and what heart or power could they have for service? And what power can he have who is toiling on in dreary discouragement with the chain of unforgiven sin riveted on his soul? It is only the free man that can walk with God and serve Him.

And now let us turn back to the text, and see how it deals with the difficulty. It draws the contrast between the purifying of the flesh and of the conscience, and it shows how the sprinkling of the ashes of the heifer could accomplish theone, but how the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ could alone affect the other; for it is that, and that alone, that could ‘purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.’ The reason is obvious. That atonement wrought out by Him, was the atonement planned in the eternal covenant of God, and, when the time came, completed on purpose to meet the case of all sin,—not merely of outward acts, but the deep inward corruption of the heart; not merely by external restoration, but by complete, internal restoration to God’s love. It concerns the depths of the soul; and so completely blots out all sin, that the soul itself, whatever it has been, is now in Him spotless before God. This is the one secret both of peace and service. Till your conscience is thus purged through the blood of Christ, you will never know what it is really to serve the living God.

And now look at the great contrast of the text, and mark well the difference between those sacrifices and ours.

The sacrifice in the type was of very little value. The poor kid was led to the altar, and no one mourned its death; the poor scapegoat was left alone in the wilderness, and no one gave it athought: a few shillings, or even pence, would replace it with another. It was picked out from the flock by what we should call mere chance, and no one missed it afterwards.

But how different is our Sacrifice! Consider for a moment the description given of it in this verse.

(1) Our Lamb was ‘Christ,’ the Messiah, the Son of God! As St. Peter said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

(2) Our Sacrifice was offered in the eternal purpose of God; or, according to the text, ‘through the eternal Spirit.’ It was not an accidental selection, but a gift predetermined in the counsel of Jehovah, so that He is described by St. Peter as ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’

(3) Our Sacrifice gave Himself as a freewill offering to God. ‘He offered Himself.’ The calf, or the goat, was chosen by its owner, and, when chosen, had no knowledge of anything that was before it: it had no voice in the whole transaction, and knew nothing of what it was to bear. But our Blessed Saviour, He foresaw the whole.He knew the whole burden; He realised the whole sorrow; and keenly felt its bitterness. In His human nature He shrank from the cup. It was so oppressive to Him that He threw himself before God ‘with strong cryings and tears, and was heard in that He feared.’ And yet, with the whole horror of the dreadful burden fully before Him, and with the full and entire knowledge of what it was to be forsaken of God, He was so resolute in carrying out the great plan of the covenant of life, that He yielded up His own will, and offered Himself as a sin-offering to God.

(4) Our Sacrifice was ‘without spot.’

It was required that the poor kid should be without blemish; partly to show that God does not accept blemished gifts, but chiefly because it was typical of the coming Christ. But the fact that there was no spot, either within or without, did not add to its real value: the spotted kid would have fetched as much as the unspotted, in the market. But when it says of our Sacrifice that He was ‘a lamb without blemish and without spot,’ what a tale it tells of His sinless holiness! His perfect sinlessness had stood the testof the whole of pre-existent eternity. We all know how first impressions of character become modified by time: imperfections, unseen at first, soon begin to crop up; there are very few of whom you can say that you have known them for twenty or thirty years, and never heard a word escape their lips that you would be sorry to speak in your dying hour. But there was a oneness for all eternity between the Father and the Son; yet eternity itself could discover no flaw, so that when the time came for the great sacrifice, He was without spot, even before God. He that was the sin-bearer was Himself sinless; and if you think what is involved in the statement that ‘He knew no sin,’ then you may form some idea of the great fact that sin, even our sin, was imputed to Him; or, in other words, that ‘God made Him to be sin for us.’

Looking then at the contrast between the sacrifices, the one, in comparison to the other, is infinitely little. The poor calf, or kid, was nothing,—far less than nothing in comparison of the Son of God. There was nothing in it that could stand comparison for a moment. If you look at the sacrifice of the Son of God, the voluntary offering through the eternal Spirit ofthe spotless and Holy One, the sacrifice of the kid vanishes. It disappears altogether; it is no more than a grain of dust on the side of a mountain.

Yet those sprinklings under the law were effectual for their purpose. There was no failure in them: they accomplished all for which they were intended; every promise made respecting them was fulfilled. The legal cleansing in all cases was complete.

Now then, I come to the point. If these sacrifices, so insignificant, so valueless, and to the eye of man so powerless, were effective for their purpose,—shall not that most marvellous wonder in the whole history of the Godhead, the sacrifice of the Son of God, be effective for His? It is true their concern was with the flesh, His with the conscience; but is there any one prepared to say, ‘They never failed: but He may’? Can any one of us admit for one moment, that the man who was sprinkled with the ashes of an heifer was invariably reinstated as a clean man in the sanctuary; and that there can be the least shadow of the possibility of a doubt that the blood of Christ is completely restored to fellowship with God?

Look at Him as the Son of God, as the anointed Messiah, as the Spotless Lamb, as offering Himself in obedience to the Father’s eternal will; and tell me, ye that cannot trust Him,—Can such a sacrifice as that fail? Shall that which is infinitely little succeed, and that which is infinitely great fail? Can you believe that the blood of a poor little kid was sufficient, but the blood of the Son of God insufficient? Think then of the ancient Jew walking home after his sacrifice, notwithstanding all that had passed, now clean and reinstated. Then think of the most precious blood of Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,—slain too for those very sins that weigh on the conscience; and consider why should not you go home this day, as that Jew did in ancient times, Free?—in the position of those described by St. Paul, when he said, ‘Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God’?

‘But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’—1John, i. 7.

Itshould be the earnest desire of our hearts, in commemorating the great facts of the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, and realise all that He endured. On this account it is well to dwell on His wounds, His sorrows, His tears, His prayers, and His bitter cry: but it is well to look also at the power of His precious blood, and at the great results accomplished in the covenant of God by that wonderful blood-shedding of the Son of Man.

I scarcely know which branch of the subject is the more important of the two, and I propose to-day[27]to consider the latter, and to draw your thoughts to the power of the blood, as taught usin these familiar and most sacred words, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ May God so teach us by His Spirit, that we may know in our own experience the cleansing power of the blood of Christ!

There are two questions which will require our careful study, in order to a right understanding of the text. To whom do the words apply? and what do they mean?

To whom do they apply?

They are often applied in a loose and haphazard way to all kinds of characters to whom they do not in the least belong, as drunkards, Sabbath-breakers, and all descriptions of unconverted men. But the most cursory glance at the text shows that it has no reference to such characters, and applies exclusively to those who are walking in the light. ‘If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ The blessing is made in this text entirely dependent on our walking in the light; and if we are not walking in the light, it does not belong to us. The man who is still living the life of the unconverted cannot claim it, for he has never known the light,and his poor soul is still darkened by sin; nor can the backslider, who once saw the light, and now has turned back into the darkness of the world; for, though he was in the light once, he is not walking in it now.

There are other passages which apply to such persons, and invite them to reconciliation through the precious blood of Christ: but this text does not. It applies to those who have been brought into the light, and now are walking in it; not seeking it, nor groping after it, but in it,—and enjoying a holy fellowship both with God’s people and with God. There cannot be a higher standard, or, to use modern terms, a higher life. It is a life in the very presence of God Himself,—a life in which every step is lightened by the sunbeam of His love. Fellowship, light, love, and joy, abound through the whole of it. The persons possessing it are happy, loving, peaceful believers, rejoicing in the sacred privilege of companionship with God; and yet of them the text declares, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’

And now, what is meant by the expression ‘Cleanseth us from all sin?’ I find that it is sometimes supposed to mean, ‘the inward cleansingof the soul,’ or the purifying of the heart by the Holy Ghost, as in Acts, xv. 9: ‘Purifying their hearts by faith.’ But I know of no other passage of Sacred Scripture in which this is the meaning of cleansing by blood; whereas there are many in which it means the removal of all legal guilt, as in Heb. ix. 13, 14, where the blood of the Jewish sacrifice is said to ‘sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,’ and the blood of Christ ‘to purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.’ The word in that passage in the Hebrews for ‘purging,’ is the same as here rendered ‘cleanseth;’ and, if there were nothing in the context to decide it, the general use of the language of Scripture would be sufficient. But the context appears to leave no doubt on the subject. The ninth verse clearly shows that the subject of the forgiveness of sin is the subject of discussion: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ And then in the opening of the next chapter you find the full explanation of the text. The first two verses are in fact little more than an expansion of it. The first verse sets before us the highest possible standard of sinless holiness:‘My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.’ After which the Apostle proceeds to show the provision which God has made for us under the sense of sin: ‘If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sin.’ This is an expansion of the short statement of the text: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ It teaches of Christ Jesus, the righteous Advocate and the perfect Propitiation; it shows that the blood is the blood of atonement, and the cleansing the blotting out of the guilt of sin through the propitiation; it points the contrite believer, deeply humbled for sin, to what is now passing at the right hand of God, where the Son of God now stands as his Advocate, having completed the sacrifice, and sprinkled the blood before the mercy-seat. That sprinkled blood is the cleansing power, and the cleansing is the blotting out of guilt so completely that the soul stands before God as free from all legal pollution as if it had never been defiled. It is perfectly true that there are other passages in which we read of inward holiness as a purification of the heart: ase.g., 1 John, iii. 3. But that is quite adifferent thing to the cleansing through blood described in our text, the real meaning of which is the removal of all guilt from the guilty sinner by the transfer of it, according to the covenant, to the great sin-bearer: ‘The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.’

Now, this being the case, it appears to me that there are two great practical conclusions which irresistibly follow:—

First, that those who are walking in the light have sin in them which needs the cleansing blood. I know very well, and thank God for the blessed assurance that ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.’ I know, too, that our blessed Saviour is the great deliverer, and that He will so surely and so effectually save His people from their sins, that every one of them, without a single exception, will finally be presented without a single spot, or stain, before His throne. But that is not the question. The question is whether in saving us it pleases Him to put an end, while we are in the flesh, to the deep corruption of our human nature, or to give us invariably such a victory that we shall never have reason to repent and deplore its power. If thisverse stood alone it would decide the point, for it shows the deep need of the cleansing blood, even for those who are walking in the light. It describes two gifts as the sacred privilege of their life in Christ Jesus: fellowship one with another, and cleansing through the power of His blood. It proves, therefore, beyond the possibility of doubt, that whatever meaning we attach to the word ‘cleanseth,’ there is sin which requires to be cleansed, even in those who are walking in the light. But it does not stand alone, for the 8th and the 10th verses explain to us the reason of the need: the one teaches that we ‘have sin,’ and the other, that we ‘have sinned;’ the one speaks of the deep corruption of our nature, the other of the action to which this corruption has given rise; and both teach the same thing,—viz., that those who are walking in the light have sin in themselves and in their conduct,—sin which requires cleansing; that if ‘they say they have no sin, they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them;’ and ‘if they say they have not sinned, they make Him a liar, and His word is not in them.’

I believe then that the compilers of our Articles were walking in the light when theywrote that, ‘The infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated;’ that the compilers of our Prayer-book were walking in the light when they taught us to confess, ‘We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us;’ and that old Hooker was writing in the light when he said, ‘If God should yield unto us, not as unto Abraham, if fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, yea, or if ten good persons could be found in a city, for their sakes this city should not be destroyed; but and if He should make us an offer thus large; search all the generations of men since the fall of our father Adam, find one man that hath done one action which hath passed from him pure, without any stain or blemish at all; and for that one man’s only action, neither man nor angel shall feel the torments which are prepared for both. Do you think that this ransom to deliver men and angels could be found to be among the sons of men? The best things which we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned.’

But there is a second lesson: viz., that while there is the deep need, there is the ample provision;for, although no ransom could be found among the sons of men, there is a perfect ransom in the most precious blood of the Son of God. The propitiation is complete, and, through the wonderful mercy which God has shown in His covenant, that precious blood cleanseth from all sin.

There are two points in this sentence to which I would draw your special attention.

(1.) It isallsin that is cleansed. Sin after baptism, as well as sin before it; sin committed in the light, as well as sin in the days of darkness; sin of omission, and sin of commission; sin of act, sin of word, sin of thought, sin of temper, sin of desire, sin of heart, sin in the acts of religion, and sin in daily life; sin that is not noticed as it ought to be, and sin that leaves an inexpressible pain on the conscience. It is all included in the one word ‘all.’ ‘The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us fromallsin.’

(2.) It is a continuous cleansing: that is, continued day by day as long as the walk lasts. It is well explained by those words, John, xiii. 10: ‘He that is,’ or hath been, ‘washed needeth notsave to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.’ The first great washing took place when you were first brought to Christ, as represented in your baptism; and now as you are walking home through a defiling world, you require the continual cleansing of the feet. And this is what is promised in the text. We are walking, and the blood is cleansing. It might be rendered, ‘If we are walking in the light, the blood is cleansing us from all sin.’ The walk is continuous, and the cleansing continuous likewise. As we are taught in the Lord’s Prayer to ask for daily forgiveness with the same regularity as we ask for daily bread; so we are taught to trust the cleansing power for every step of the daily life. Day after day, and night after night, we return to the same fountain, and there experience the same power; and so it will be to the end, when all this earthly walking shall cease, and the ransomed spirit shall appear spotless before God.

But let us not speak of the blood, and its cleansing power, without remembering well what we mean by it. We do not mean the material blood which flowed from the feet and hands, or trickled down his careworn face from beneaththe crown of thorns; nor that which after death gushed from His pierced side; for we can never be sprinkled by that. Still less do we mean what some suppose to be actual blood in the transubstantiated cup. We mean nothing material: for nothing material can cleanse the soul. We mean the sacrifice of the life of the Son of God as an efficacious offering for the life of the sinner.

In the sacred history of that mysterious death, we read His bitter cry: ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ This cry it is utterly impossible to explain on any other principle than the imputation of sin. I am not one of those that would dare to speak of impossibilities with God. But when I think of the eternal and spotless holiness of the Lord Jesus, of His perfect purity and His blameless life, I find it utterly impossible to myself to imagine on what principle He could have been forsaken at such a moment by one with whom he had been one for eternity, if it had not been that sin, not His own, was imputed to Him; or in the words of Sacred Scripture, that ‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ And then, when I turn to the dying cry, ‘It is finished,’ I see the completion of the work. What He had undertakenHe had borne: what He covenanted to do was done. The covenanted ransom was paid; the covenanted sacrifice offered; the covenanted life given; and then, the burden being gone, He yielded up His soul into the Father’s hands, and said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.’ This explains what we mean by the power of the cleansing blood. We mean the full and perfect freedom given to all those who are in Christ Jesus; because He, as their Head, has paid their penalty. We look on Him forsaken, and believe that we shall never be. We look on Him bearing the full penalty of the law, and we know that because He has borne it, the awful curse will never rest on us. We listen to Him crying, ‘It is finished,’ and we know that nothing more can be needed in sacrifice; that the whole redemption as planned in God’s eternal purpose is complete; and that therefore, as He did, so may we commend into a loving Father’s hand all we are, and all we care for, saying, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.’ We need no priest’s absolution; and we cannot endure the thought of any continuation, or repetition, or any thing approaching to propitiatorysacrifice. We believe that the whole work is finished according to the purpose of God Himself, and that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ his Son,’ without any addition of any kind whatever,—simply and alone,—‘cleanseth from all sin.’ Thus we agree, heart and soul, with the grand old words ofHooker: ‘Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever, it is our comfort, our wisdom; we care for no knowledge in the world but this,—that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the Son of Man, and that men are made the righteousness of God.’

‘Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their’s and our’s.’—1Cor. i. 2.

Ihopeit has been made clear that the original meaning of the word ‘to sanctify,’ was ‘to set apart as a holy thing unto God,’ and that the Levitical meaning of sanctification through blood was the cleansing from all legal impurity. It is obvious that both these divine acts clearly involve personal holiness.

That which is set apart by the call of God, and cleansed from all guilt, should clearly be kept holy and undefiled from the pollution both of the heart and of the world. Such persons should be like the vessels of the sanctuary: ‘sanctified and meet for the Master’s use.’

This leads us to that which is the ordinarymeaning of the term in religious books: viz. personal holiness. By personal holiness is meant the sacred work of God the Holy Ghost within the soul; the reflection of the character of our Blessed Lord; the law put into the inward part, and written on the heart by the Spirit of God. This is the meaning of such texts as 1 Thess. v. 23: ‘The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The separation is a past act, for if we are in Christ Jesus, we have been already separated unto God; but this is an abiding condition, for real holiness is a present matter of daily life. Now both these parts of sanctification are brought out in the words which I have read as our text, for it is addressed ‘to them that are,’ or have been, ‘sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.’ The first clause refers to the past act, and represents those believers as having been set apart unto God, or separated as a peculiar people unto Himself; the second describes their present condition as inseparable from their high calling; for, having been set apart, they are now called to be the saints ofGod. I need not stop to point out that the word ‘saints,’ is not limited in Sacred Scripture to those who are in heaven. Still less has it to do with the canonization of Rome, or the seclusion of a monastery. It describes the personal holiness of the Christian in common life, the habitual character of the man walking with God; as in those words of the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. i. 15): ‘Be ye holy;’ or be ye saints, ‘in all manner of conversation.’ So that our text means the same as if it had been written, ‘To them that have been set apart unto God in Christ Jesus their Saviour, and who, as the result of that sacred call, are now leading holy lives in His presence.’

My object this morning will be simply to trace the connexion between these two steps of God’s sacred work: the past separation unto Him, and the present personal holiness of character. And all I can say is, may the Lord help us in our own experience to understand both of them, and then we shall have no difficulty in perceiving how they are bound together in the work of Salvation!

We shall find them connected by a principle and a power.

I. APrinciple. It is perfectly clear, as a matter of principle, that there ought to be holiness in all that is consecrated to God. He consecrated, or set apart unto Himself, the Sabbath day, and so He says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’ The Temple, like our own churches, was consecrated to God, and therefore we read, ‘Holiness becometh Thine house for ever.’ The vessels of the Temple were dedicated, or sanctified to His service, and therefore they should not be touched by unhallowed hands, and the words of sacred Scripture are, ‘Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.’ On these principles we none like to see a neglected church, a dishonoured Bible, or a careless attitude, in the house of God. On the same principles, we should all be profoundly humbled when unhallowed thoughts,—thoughts of the world, thoughts of vanity, of jealousy, or of self,—in any shape intrude into holy things, and corrupt those sacred hours which are set apart exclusively to God. But if this applies to consecration generally, how pre-eminently does it apply to such a consecration as that described in the text, in which we are said to be ‘sanctified in Christ Jesus.’ That sanctification is the introductionof the ruined sinner into a covenant union with the Son of God. If you have been thus sanctified in Christ Jesus, you no longer stand alone, to bear your own burden, or plead your own cause. You have been separated from the ruined world, and identified with the Lord Jesus; so that He represented you in bearing your curse when He suffered, and He now represents you at the right hand of the throne of God, while He pleads on your behalf. Thus you are cleansed from all legal guilt. You are sanctified by blood, and charged with no defilement. By the eternal covenant of God He is become your Head, so that in His death you died; in His life you live; in His acceptance you are justified; and in His glory you are glorified.

But, if you are thus separated unto such a union with Him, is there any room left for one moment’s doubt as to what ought to be your character? If you are set apart by Him into this covenant union with Himself, you are set apart into a oneness of mind, of will, and of interest. He represents you in heaven, and you represent Him on earth; as God sees you in Him, so the world sees Him in you. You bear His name; you are sealed with the seal of thecovenant; you are made a peculiar people unto the Son of God: and I am sure we must all see the justice of those words of the Apostle Peter, ‘As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.’

II.Power. But here lies the difficulty. You really wish to be holy, but you are not; you have endeavoured to overcome your temper, but it is still there; you have striven against wandering thoughts in prayer, but they still interfere most mournfully with your most sacred acts of worship; you wish, and you mean to be, unselfish, but you find selfishness continually cropping up, to your sorrow and vexation of spirit. Now, the question is,—How is this to be overcome? Your resolves will not do it, for you have made hundreds, and failed in them all; and no man on earth can do it for you, for the evil lies far too deep for the reach of man. What then is to be done? We may turn back to our text, and there learn the secret, for in those words, ‘In Christ Jesus,’ we are taught the power.

We learned, in studying the first act of separation, that it was the work of God the HolyGhost: here it is said to be in Christ Jesus. Some people dwell more on the distinction than I am myself disposed to do: there is such a perfect oneness in the infinite God, that I confess I have but little heart for these refined distinctions. As the Father and the Son are one, so God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are one; and when the Lord Jesus saves the sinner, it is the Holy Ghost that applies that salvation to the soul. Without stopping, therefore, to study any such distinction, let us rather hasten to the practical lesson that sanctification, or consecration, here described, is a sanctification in Jesus Christ. You may look thus to your covenant union with Him, and trust Him by the in-breathing of His own Spirit to make you holy. You may remember that He came to save you from your sins, and not merely from their curse; and that holiness is just as much a gift of the covenant as pardon.

You remember those words, 1 Cor. i. 30: ‘But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’ They teach us that the Lord Jesus is the source of all practical wisdom and holiness, just as much as of imputedrighteousness and redemption. The passage is clearly not speaking of an imputed wisdom, and we have no right to apply it to an imputed sanctification. It refers to the practical wisdom and personal holiness of the man who by God’s grace is wise and holy; and teaches that both one and the other are found exclusively in Christ Jesus.

You may, therefore, trust the Lord Jesus Christ for your sanctification just as much as for your justification; for your personal holiness in daily life, as well as for your safety in the great day of judgment. Look carefully then unto your covenant union with Christ, and think on Him as your covenant Head: then spread out all your difficulties and temptations before Him as your Head. Acknowledge before Him how you have dishonoured His headship by your evil thoughts, your evil words, and your constant failures; and trust Him, as your Head, to form in you His image, and by His own most Holy Spirit to give you the victory. Do not stand at a distance, thinking it your duty to doubt your union, for by so doing you will never overcome. Without that union you will never know what victory means. I am assuming now that in thesecret of your own souls you have been verily engrafted into Christ. I know you were sacramentally in baptism, but I am looking deeper than that, for many who are baptized are never saved, and I am speaking now of the real saving union of your soul with Christ Himself. Now, if that is yours through His wonderful grace, accept it, act upon it, trust Him as your living Head; and you will find, as time goes on, that though you cannot overcome, He can; and that He will finally present you, ‘holy and unblameable before Him at His coming.’ But here we are brought to the old difficulty,—that you have no real evidence in your soul of the existence of such a union with Christ. You know there is your baptismal union, but still you cannot feel safe, and you greatly doubt whether you are amongst those who have been ‘Sanctified in Christ Jesus: called to be saints.’ This is the reason why many of you cannot come to the sacred feast of the Supper of the Lord, and why many others, who do come, come with a heavy heart. Would to God we might see those absent ones brought near, and those heavy hearts gladdened by the Lord! But in order to that you must grapple at once with the great questionof your own personal salvation,—your separation unto God. Till that is settled you will be powerless against yourself. Till you are in Christ, and sanctified in Christ Jesus, you will never be sanctified at all. If you really desire to be really holy, for the sake of that holiness begin at the beginning, and never rest till you are safe. Your safety must come before your holiness, or you will wait for it for ever. Begin therefore with the prayer, ‘Lord, save me: I perish.’ Throw yourself into His hand for pardon, for acceptance, for life. Never rest till you can appropriate the language of St. Paul: ‘Who hath saved me, and called me with an holy calling.’ And, when that is given, you may go on to those other words of the same Apostle, and say, ‘According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.’

‘But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.’—2Cor. iii. 18.

Thesubject of personal holiness is one of overwhelming interest to all those who really desire to walk with God; it is also one which requires our most careful study, for in it lies the chief difficulty of the daily Christian life of the greater number of true believers. They know the truth, and love it; they prize their Saviour far above all that the world can give; they are ready either to live or die in His service; but yet they are so conscious of the power of indwelling sin that sometimes they are led almost to doubt the reality of their Christianity, and begin to question whether they really love their Lord at all. For the help of such persons it seems clearly a duty to look carefully into the subject, and Ipray God that He may help us to do so this morning.

This text will supply us with so much instruction that we will not attempt to examine other passages, but will endeavour to gather from it the standard, the progress, the means, and the power of Christian holiness. May God so bless His word, as to make us holy by His Spirit!

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