The Doctrine of Sanctification - Part Four

Extract

The Doctrine of Sanctification – Part Four
A. W. Pink

8. Its Procurer

We have now reached what is to our mind the most important and certainly the most blessed aspect of our many-sided subject, yet that which is the least understood in not a few circles of Christendom. It is the objective side of sanctification that we now turn to, that perfect and unforfeitable holiness which every believer has in Christ. We are not now going to write upon sanctification as a moral quality or attribute, nor of that which is a matter of experience or attainment by us; rather shall we contemplate something entirely outside ourselves, namely, that which is a fundamental part of our standing and state in Christ. That which we are about to consider is one of those “spiritual blessings” which God has blest us with “in the heavenlies in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). It is an immediate consequence of His blood-shedding, and results from our actual union with Him as “the Holy One of God.” It is that which His perfect offering has sanctified us unto, as well as what it has sanctified us from. Among all the terrible effects and fruits which sin produces, the two chief are alienation from God and condemnation by God: sin necessarily excludes from His sanctuary, and brings the sinner before the judgment seat of His law. Contrariwise, among all the blessed fruits and effects which Christ’s sacrifice procures, the two chief ones are justification and sanctification: it cannot be otherwise. Inasmuch as Christ’s sacrifice has “put away” (Heb. 9:26), “made an end” (Dan. 9:24) of the sins of His people, they are not only freed from all condemnation, but they are also given the right and the meetness to draw nigh unto God as purged worshippers. Sin not only entails guilt, it defiles; and the blood of Christ has not only secured pardon, it cleanses. Yet simple, clear, and conclusive as is this dual fact, Christians find it much harder to apprehend the second part of it than they do the first.

When we first believed in Christ, and “the burden of our sins rolled away,” we supposed that (as one hymn expresses it) we would be “happy all the day.” Assured of God’s forgiveness, that …