Sanctifying Grace
--I Thessalonians 5:22-24
Seth Cook Rees tells of sending his little boy to the store for five items. In a little while, he hurried in, his face aglow with expectancy, and carrying four items instead of five! Rees said he gathered him in his arms and hugged him because of his perfect obedience. He had only one purpose—to obey his father. His mind had denied him a perfect accomplishment, but his heart had held a perfect purpose [--James F. Gregory, Samuel Young, and Roy S. Nicholson, Sr., Aldersgate Doctrinal Studies ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION: STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN HOLINESS, Teacher’s Guide (Marion, Indiana: The Wesleyan Press, 1964), 28.] Good morning! My name is David Reynolds, and the title of my talk is “Sanctifying Grace.”
Please remember there is only one grace—God’s grace, but we describe the way His grace works in us at different stages in our pilgrimage with Him in different terms. Prevenient Grace is God wooing us to Himself, His grace extended to us during His courtship with us. It begins at the instant of our conception and continues until the moment we surrender to the Holy Spirit by saying, “Yes, Lord, I accept the personal, father-child relationship you offer me in Jesus Christ.”
Sanctifying Grace is “the work of the Holy Spirit moving us on toward perfection in love and truth.” This stage of grace has several other names: Christian Perfection, Perfect Love, Heart Purity, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, Christian Holiness. Holiness and sanctification come from the same root and really mean the same although technically sanctification is “the process of making someone or something holy.” Sanctifying Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit molding us into the image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ making us like Him. It is the process by which the Holy Spirit makes us “holy as God is holy.”
Sanctifying Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit in rooting out sin—moving us from imputed righteousness (what Christ did for us) to imparted
righteousness (what Christ does in us). Impute is “a heavy, theological word” that simply means “to count, credit, or reckon.” God’s word declares in Psalm 14 and Romans 3:10-11:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.”
In Justifying Grace, God “counts, credits, or reckons” us as righteous
because we have put our faith in His Righteous Son, but our hearts are not
actually made righteous. This is how it was with Abraham according to
both Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3, “What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham
believed God and it was credited (counted, reckoned) to him as
righteousness.”
In Sanctifying Grace our hearts are cleansed from the control of
sin, and we are liberated from slavery to it. The imputed righteousness of
of Justifying Grace is God delivering us from the consequences and penalty of sin; the imparted righteousness of Sanctifying Grace is God delivering us from the control and power of sin so we are enabled to live in the victory of Romans 6:14, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” The Holy Spirit in Sanctifying Grace empowers us victoriously overcome sin.
Sanctifying grace is the process by which the Holy Spirit reveals to us the original righteousness. The moral image of God that was marred in us when our first parents fell into sin is restored, and by His Spirit we are empowered to live a holy life. God created the humanity upright and holy, but we lost that original righteousness as Ecclesiastes 7:29 accurately testifies:
“This only have I found:
God made human beings upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
Thanks be to God, Sanctifying Grace reveals and restores that original righteousness, as Paul affirms in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” In Sanctifying Grace the Holy Spirit restores our original righteousness by “conforming us into the likeness of Jesus.”
Through Sanctifying Grace the Holy Spirit empowers us to love as God loves. Another term for Sanctification is Perfect Love. Our Lord gives us the two greatest commandments in Mark 12:29-31, “‘The most important one,’
answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
In Sanctifying Grace the Holy Spirit not only empowers us to love our neighbor but our enemies as well. Matthew 5 ends with Jesus’ Commandment: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus never commands something that is not possible. He is not commanding us to be perfect in all things, only to be perfect in love. The context of this commandment includes Mt. 5:44-45, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father in heaven . . . .” Sanctifying Grace empowers us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” It is impossible to pray for someone and continue to despise that person as an enemy, but only the Holy Spirit’s Sanctifying Grace can enable us to love in this same fashion that Jesus loves.
Sanctifying Grace empowers our entire ministry. Jesus says to us as He did to His original disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Sanctifying Grace empowers us all, both laity and clergy, to be effective witnesses for Jesus. Jesus always empowers everyone He calls, and He does so through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit. He bestows upon each of us at least one of the Spirit’s gifts and usually more than one. We are neither given spiritual gifts to glorify ourselves nor so that we can enjoy a spiritual high. We are given spiritual gifts for ministry in the Body of Christ which Paul makes clear in Ephesians 4:12, “to equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up . . . .”
None of us are given all the gifts of the Spirit, but Sanctifying Grace enables each of us to mature in all the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” [--Galatians 5:22-23]. As the Holy Spirit nourishes our fruit in growth and maturity, we become more like our Lord Jesus, and becoming like Jesus is the purpose of Sanctifying Grace. Jesus Himself says so in Matthew 10:24-25, “Students are not above their teacher, nor servants above their master. It is enough for the student to be like their teacher, and servants like their master.” We can only be effective in ministry as the Spirit continues to mold and fashion us into the image of Jesus.
Sanctification is not simply a once and for all experience but a continuous process. Although it begins with a personal “Baptism with the Holy spirit,” it continues second by second until Jesus calls us home. Because God is infinite, our opportunities to grow in grace are also infinite. A mature Christian never stops growing. There are different stages of Christian maturity. A person can be mature as a 7 year old, 17 year old, 37 year old, and as a 57 year old but not in the same way. The same is true in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. At each stage of that relationship the Holy Spirit brings maturity, but He is always molding and fashioning us to be more like Jesus.
These pictures are from two places where I have stood on holy ground and the Holy Spirit made Jesus real to me and began molding and fashioning me in His image. The top pictures are from Beulah Holiness Camp in Eldorado, Illinois, the remaining ones are from my Alma Mater Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. Holiness camp meetings have always proclaimed Sanctification as a Second Work of Grace subsequent to conversion. Asbury College and Asbury Seminary, also my Alma Mater, have always faithfully proclaimed the message of God’s Sanctifying Grace and Christian Holiness.
I was raised in a Christian home and first became a Christian at age nine during our Spring Revival at my home Church Aldersgate Methodist in Marion, Illinois, in March of 1957. My parents and most of our Church family would attend services on a regular basis at Beulah Holiness Camp each August. The summer prior to my eighth grade, freshman, and sophomore years in high school I also got to spend the week at the July Beulah Youth Institute along with the rest of my MYF group. It was at the 1962 Youth Institute at age 14 that God began “calling me to preach.” I fought the Holy Spirit for 2 ½ years on my calling, as I wanted to be a music teacher. I finally surrendered to His call exactly 40 years ago today when on February 27, 1965, I was almost killed in an automobile accident. At last the Holy Spirit had gotten my complete, undivided, obedient attention.
I was an only child, my only other sibling, a brother, having died at birth sixteen years and two days before I was born. As you can imagine, I was somewhat spoiled by my parents. We noted earlier that “Sanctifying Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit in rooting sin out of our lives.” Now I have never been guilty of committing “the big sins.” I’ve never stolen anything, murdered anyone, been drunk, or committed adultery.” I knew at age nine that I was a sinner who needed to be saved by Jesus if I wanted to go to heaven, but my sins were “not minding Mom and Dad” or getting in trouble at school with my teacher and/or the principal.
Above the pulpit in the Tabernacle at Beulah Camp are these words: “God calls sinners to repentance and believers into entire sanctification.” Beneath the quote are two Scripture References: Luke 5:32 and I Thessalonians 5:23-24. The later says: “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” Paul is praying for the sanctification of Thessalonian believers and reminds us that the Holy Spirit who calls us is faithful. He keeps His promises, so we can be certain He will
sanctify us.
I always struggled with the teaching of sanctification since first hearing it preached at age eleven. I knew I was saved, but I never had assurance I was sanctified in terms of a definite second work of grace. I got the wrong impression that sanctification would result in sinless perfection rather than perfect me in love for God and others. I even thought it meant I would never have an unchristlike, mean, bad, ugly thought ever again and that Satan would no longer bother me. I am here to tell you that has never been the case for me, and I seriously doubt for anyone else.
There came a time, however, when I realized that this “spoiled only child” had committed some big sins indeed. They were not so much overt acts but rather “bad attitudes of the heart.” I was a selfish, self-centered, jealous, envious person. Good grades and awards in school were my main goals; and as a musician, I wanted to do well in contests and always be first chair. If a friend received better grades than I did, got a more prestigious award, or higher marks than I did at contest, I became “green with envy,” oftentimes venting my jealousy against that person by talking behind his back with harsh words of reprimand.
This even carried over into ministry. If a friend, or even just an acquaintance, received a better appointment than I did, I became livid. Envy and jealousy were destroying me spiritually, hindering my effectiveness in ministry, and most of all devastating my relationships with my family and with Jesus. At some point in time, I don’t remember when, the Holy Spirit made an attitude change in me. Pastors whom I used to detest became dear brothers in Christ.
Sanctifying Grace worked through the Emmaus Movement to bring about much of this change, for at least two of these pastors I had wrongfully envied I grew to love and appreciate as a result of having worked with them on Emmaus Teams. Peter had a similar problem with John as we saw in the film In Remembrance on Thursday evening. Scripture tells us that he even looked with envy at John and asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” “Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me.” The Holy Spirit in Sanctifying Grace has and continues to cleanse me of envy and jealousy. I am no longer obsessed by the success of others. I can be happy if Jesus wants to succeed for Him or fail for Him, for all I have to do is “follow Him,” keeping my eyes fixed on Him and nobody else. Sanctifying Grace continues to transform me into the image of Jesus my Lord. What does the Holy Spirit want to do in your heart to make you pure? Come in the spirit of David’s prayer in Psalm 51:11,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.”
God will honor that prayer, baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and you will enter into the realm of His Sanctifying Grace.
