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III.
The Way to Christ
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Chapter
28
:
Bible Sanctification
1. WHAT inspired prayer sets the standard of
Christian experience?
"And 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." I Thess. 5:23.
2. How necessary is the experience of sanctification?
"Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification
without which no man shall see the Lord."
Heb. 12:14,
R.V.
3. What encouragement is held out as an aid in
attaining this experience?
"For this is the will of God, even your
sanctification." 1 Thess. 4:3.
NOTE.-Whatever is the will of God concerning us can be
realized in our experience if our wills are in harmony
with His will. It is therefore a matter of great
encouragement to know that our sanctification is
included in the will of God.
4. What distinct purpose did Christ have in giving
Himself for the church?
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word." Eph. 5:25,26.
5. What kind of church would He thus be able to
present to Himself?
"That He might present it to Himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Verse 27.
6. In the experience of sanctification, what attitude
must one assume toward the truth?
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
the truth." 2 Thess. 2,13.
7. What instruction shows that sanctification is a
progressive work?
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18. See
chap. 1:5-7.
8. What description of the apostle Paul's experience
is in harmony with this?
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward the mark of the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil.
3:13,14.
9. By what is this cleansing from
sin and fitting for God's service accomplished?
"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. 9:13,14. See also chap. 10:29.
10. What change is thus brought about?
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God." Rom. 12:2.
11. Can anyone boast of sinlessness?
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8.
12. What are we exhorted by the prophet to seek?
"Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have
wrought His
judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it
may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger."
Zeph. 2:3.
13. In whose name should everything be done?
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus." Col. 3:17.
14. In all we do, whose glory should we have in view?
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31.
15. What classes of persons are necessarily shut out
of the kingdom of God?
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Eph.
5:5. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor.
6:9,10.
16. What must be crucified and eliminated from our
lives if we would be holy?
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience." Col. 3:5,6.
17. When purged from these sins, in what condition is
a man, and for what is he prepared?
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for
the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work."
2 Tim. 2:21.
NOTE.-"Sanctification is the term used to describe
the work of God the Holy Ghost upon the character of
those who are justified. We are justified in order
that we may be sanctified, and we are sanctified in
order that we may be glorified. 'Whom He justified,
them He also glorified.' Rom. 8:30. The grace of God
is given to make us holy, and so to fit us for God's
presence in eternity; for 'without holiness no man
shall see the Lord.' Heb. 12:14."-"The Catholic
Religion" (Episcopal), by Rev. Vernon Staley, page
327.
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