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Genuine Sanctification Involves Obedience, February 28
For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your
behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
Romans 16:19
, NKJV.
Adam and Eve dared to transgress the Lord’s requirements, and the terrible result
of their sin should be a warning to us not to follow their example of disobedience.
Christ prayed for His disciples in these words: “Sanctify them through thy truth:
thy word is truth” (
John 17:17
). There is no genuine sanctification except through
obedience to the truth. Those who love God with all the heart will love all His
commandments also. The sanctified heart is in harmony with the precepts of God’s
law; for they are holy, just, and good.
God’s character has not changed. He is the same jealous God today as when He
gave His law upon Sinai and wrote it with His own finger on the tables of stone.
Those who trample upon God’s holy law may say, “I am sanctified”; but to be
indeed sanctified, and to claim sanctification, are two different things.
The New Testament has not changed the law of God. The sacredness of the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment is as firmly established as the throne of
Jehovah. John writes: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for
sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away
our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever
sinneth [transgresseth the law] hath not seen him, neither known him” (
1 John
3:4-6
).
We are authorized to hold in the same estimation as did the beloved disciple
those who claim to abide in Christ, to be sanctified, while living in transgression
of God’s law. He met with just such a class as we have to meet. He said, “Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as
he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from
the beginning” (
Verses 7, 8
). Here the apostle speaks in plain terms, as he deemed
the subject demanded.
The epistles of John breathe a spirit of love. But when he comes in contact with
that class who break the law of God and yet claim that they are living without sin,
he does not hesitate to warn them of their fearful deception. [First
John 1:6-10
quoted.]—
The Sanctified Life, 67-69
.
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