Chapter 41: Conclusion of the Doctrine of Sanctification, with Directions on How to Come to Christ f
Sixth Encouragement:
Honouring Christ's Death, Resurrection, and Life It brings honour to Christ's death, resurrection, and life to help you against your corruptions and to strengthen you in grace. Christ considers His resurrection and life honoured when He sees the power and virtue of it at work in the hearts of believers. Therefore, let this encourage you to go to Christ for help. It honours His sacrifice when you seek His grace to overcome your sins.
Remember this when you come to your duties—whether you are praying, hearing the Word, or taking the sacrament. Carry this rule with you: when you pray against your sins, also act in faith. When you hear the Word, do so with faith in Christ as your Mediator, seeking His help against your corruptions. When you come to the sacrament, come to have communion with Christ, to receive His help in your battle against sin. Act your faith in the promises of the Gospel, through the blessed covenant, and you will find abundant strength to overcome your corruption and find rest for your soul.
Chapter 41 Conclusion of the Doctrine of Sanctification, with Directions on How to Come to Christ for Holiness I. Be aware of your need for it.
II. Do not be satisfied with the ordinances unless you meet Christ in them.
III. Come not primarily for comfort and peace, but for holiness.
IV. Be mindful of new supplies of grace.
V. Engage with Christ in the Gospel.
I shall now add a few concluding thoughts on this matter before moving on to the next rest that is promised.
Come to Christ for the rest of sanctification, for holiness, because, in truth, there is no real holiness apart from what we gain by coming to Christ. The Scripture speaks of true holiness. While there may be abstinence from many sins and the performance of many duties, there is no saving holiness except that which is received from God through Christ as Mediator. There is no true holiness until the soul becomes acquainted with Christ and receives holiness in that way— through exercising faith in Christ as the Head of the Covenant. This is the mystery of godliness, the true godliness that the world does not understand. It is a powerful holiness that comes through Christ.
This is why the strength of grace in the hearts of the saints is so great —it comes from Christ, from the Spirit of Jesus Christ who is in them. Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and His Spirit is one of might. The common gifts of morality do not have the same strength as the holiness that comes from Christ. The holiness that comes from Christ is the only supernatural holiness—it is of a divine nature. In contrast, the abstaining from sin and performing of duties by civil people, which arises from common gifts, is not of the divine nature.
What they have is based on natural reason and argument. But the holiness that comes from the exercise of faith in Christ is supernatural, of a divine nature, and abundant. Abundant indeed is the holiness that the soul acquires by drawing grace from Christ. The heart grows in holiness through the exercise of faith in Christ. In a short time, the heart grows more in holiness by drawing on Christ
than it did in a long time before, even though the person may have been truly godly and a member of Christ before. It is the lack of a proper understanding of how all grace comes from God through Christ that prevents many from thriving in godliness.
The text in Ephesians 3:17-19 is most remarkable in this regard. The Apostle prays, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."
Here is the fruit of knowing Christ: that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. It is an astounding statement! Had it not been in Scripture, who would dare express such a thought? By coming to know God in Christ, you may come to be filled with the fullness of God in Christ. First, it is something to say that by knowing God in Christ, you may have God. But second, that you may be filled with God is even more. Third, that you may be filled with the fullness of God is yet greater. But fourth, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God is greater still! What a profound progression this is, showing the tremendous value of knowing God in Christ.
Now, those who are merely taught in childhood to serve God, who are restrained from certain sins and who perform duties like praying and attending church, but who are not acquainted with the mystery of the Gospel or the practice of drawing holiness from God through Christ, fall far short of experiencing this text's fulfillment in their hearts—they are far from being filled with all the fullness of God.
However, when believers come to understand the mystery of godliness in Christ, they begin to enjoy deeper communion with God than ever before. Where once they were strangers to God, they now
experience communion with Him. They feel God's fullness entering their hearts more fully, and, by degrees, they come closer to what is described in this text—being filled with all the fullness of God.
The reason for all the emptiness, lack, and barrenness in your heart is due to a lack of understanding of how God has filled Christ with all fullness, from whom we are to receive grace for grace. By drawing grace from Christ, we acquire permanent and lasting holiness. This is why the grace of the saints endures forever and can never fail, whereas the grace of Adam did fail. Adam's grace did not come from God through a mediator as the saints' grace does, and therefore, it was not permanent.
I spoke of this earlier, but I bring it up again as a further motivation to seek holiness in Jesus Christ—this rest of sanctification.
Here are some brief rules I propose by way of direction to help in seeking grace and sanctification in Christ:
1. Be Aware of Your Need for Holiness and Christ Labour to get a deep sense of your lack of holiness and your need for Christ to provide it. Recognising your spiritual poverty and insufficiency is the first step toward seeking holiness in Christ.
2. Do Not Be Satisfied with the Ordinances Without Christ When engaging in the ordinances—whether it be prayer, hearing the Word, or attending church—do not be satisfied with the mere
outward performance of these duties. Ask yourself, "What have I received of Christ here?" As we discussed earlier, Christ is the sanctification of the heart, and the blessing of all ordinances comes when Christ is present in them. If you leave the ordinances without having encountered Christ, you leave empty. Seek Christ in them above all else.
3. Seek Holiness Over Comfort and Peace When you come to Christ, do not seek Him primarily for comfort, peace, or emotional enlargement. Rather, come to Him for holiness.
Seek peace not as an end in itself, but as a means to holiness. Many Christians seek Christ because they want peace and comfort, and they make holiness subservient to these. They reason, "If I am not holy, I will not have peace; therefore, I will seek holiness so that I may have peace." But a truly gracious heart says, "The more holiness
I have, the more peace I will have; therefore, I will seek peace so that I may become more holy."
One person labours for holiness to gain peace, while the other labours for peace to grow in holiness. Those who seek peace to increase holiness will thrive more than those who seek holiness only to gain peace. It is certainly a good motivation to seek holiness because it brings peace, but it is a stronger motive to seek peace in order to gain holiness. Therefore, when we come to Christ, we should seek Him for holiness and sanctification, more than for peace or comfort.
You may wonder, "Why haven't I found sanctification from Christ in a way that increases my holiness?" The reason may be that you have exercised your faith in Christ mainly to gain peace and comfort, rather than holiness. If you had focused your faith on receiving
holiness from Christ, you might have found more peace as well.
Christ says, "Be it unto you according to your faith." If you exercise your faith primarily for peace and comfort, you may receive some peace, but not as much holiness. But if you exercise your faith chiefly for holiness, you will receive more holiness. A true Christian values holiness more than peace. In fact, this is a clear mark of true grace: the hypocrite seeks holiness for the sake of peace, but the true believer seeks peace in order to grow in holiness.
4. Continue to Seek New Supplies of Grace Though Christ gives grace and increases sanctification and holiness, do not rely on what He has already given you. Keep your heart aware of its constant need for fresh supplies of grace. Many Christians, after having engaged in some duty—having exercised faith in Christ and received some enlargement or quickening of spirit—feel content and think they can now live off this spiritual stock for a long time.
But we are called to pray for our daily bread and to depend on Christ for new supplies of grace and holiness every day, even every moment.
For each task or work set before us, we must go to Christ for new supplies of grace, as if we had received nothing before. Christ will be pleased with this attitude. Even if we have been given much grace, we should still go to Him to renew our faith, approaching Him with the same eagerness and dependence as if we had none at all. I do not mean we should think we have no grace at all, but that we should exercise faith in Christ for new supplies of holiness just as eagerly as we would if we had none at all. Indeed, those who seem to have little or no grace often exercise their faith in Christ most earnestly.
Thirdly, For Conclusion Take this as a rule: those Christians who most frequently converse with Jesus Christ through the blessed way of the Gospel will increase the most in grace, and this increase comes through sanctification. I will give you one Scripture to illustrate this, by way of allusion, from Acts 4:13: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."
Peter and John displayed remarkable boldness and strength of grace, even in the face of great opposition. How did they gain this boldness?
They were unlearned, ignorant men, poor and weak in terms of natural ability, yet they had acquired an abundance of grace, enabling them to boldly profess Christ despite the rage of their powerful adversaries. The people marvelled at their strength, and the text tells us the reason: "they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." It was their time spent with Christ that raised their spirits, quickened them, and filled their hearts with grace.
Now, in a spiritual sense, just as Peter and John grew in strength and grace through bodily interaction with Christ, so too may Christians grow in the strength and fullness of grace through frequent spiritual interaction with Christ. Converse with Christ by faith, and your heart will be greatly enlarged in grace.
In truth, when you see a Christian whose natural abilities may be weak, yet who grows mightily in grace, with a heart full of love for God, much spirit in prayer, and a life that is holy and convincing, you can be certain that this person has been with Jesus Christ—that they have frequently conversed with Him.