Rev Roderick Macleod
6. Inwardly
“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen” (2 Pet 3:18). Thus a union of the sinner to Christ is formed: “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor 6:17). Sanctification then begins in the hidden man of the heart; it cannot begin until that union with Christ takes place. It is nourished there by the constant secret communication of grace out of the fullness of grace that is in Christ, despite the unhealthy environment in which this new life struggles. There, one of the greatest wonders takes place: Christ formed in you and “Christ in you the hope of glory” becomes the heart and soul of the Happy Man’s life.
Question 69 in The Larger Catechism says, “The communion in grace which the members of the invisible Church have with Christ is their partaking of the virtue of His mediation, in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with Him”. Thus the life of sanctification takes root inwardly.
7. Sanctification Manifests Itself in a Power to Grow Upwards in Spiritual and Heavenly Mindedness
Is one’s soul desiring to “grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Eph 4:15)? If so, nothing can explain it but possession of a new heart. Christ, the source of its life, the maintenance of its strength, and the beauty of its holiness is now precious to the soul; so it stretches upwards to Him (Ps 88:9, 143:6). Having communion with Christ in the instituted means of the Word, sacraments, Christian fellowship and prayer is, more and more, the Happy Man’s chiefest joy. Drawing grace from the fullness of grace in Christ is his holy and happy activity. The Happy Man2 has his conversation in heaven (Phil 3:20). This life, begun in regeneration and carried on in sanctification, is wholly dependent on supplies from heaven.
The Happy Man reaches up: “I stretch forth my hands unto Thee: my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land” (Ps 143:6). The Happy Man is a praying man, watching daily at the door of His Beloved: “He breakfasts every morning on spiritual prayer, and sups every evening on the same”. He grows upwards. Commenting on the words, “Growing up into Him in all things”, C H Spurgeon wrote, “If we would ripen in grace, we must live near to Jesus – in His presence – ripened by the sunshine of His smiles. We must hold sweet communion with Him.”
8. Sanctification Manifests Itself in a Power to Grow Outwardly
A sweet cheerful and hearty desire for conformity to the will and ways of the Lord Jesus Christ is the standard of holiness which the Happy Man aspires to. This is the same as to say that the elusive pattern of gospel holiness which the Happy Man yearns to emulate has to do what the moral law requires – motivated by a love to God and man, as exemplified perfectly in the life of their well-beloved Saviour. David yearned to learn the way of holiness more perfectly (see, for example, Ps 119:5,12,27,33-37,68,71,80,125,135,169, 171,176). But these acts of grateful obedience are not possible without faith working by love: trembling at the threatenings, observing the commands and believing the promises.
It is the new heart that possesses a desire to keep God’s commandments. It makes the believer fruitful in good works in his life and conversation, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men” (Tts 3:8). The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that the ability to do good works is “wholly from the Spirit of Christ” working in them “to will and to do of His good pleasure”. The believer’s new obedience is the fruit and evidence “of a true and lively faith”. By their good works, “believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God”. “The persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him, not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unprovable in God’s sight; but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.” See also the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23.
9. Sanctification Manifests Itself in a Power to Grow Downward
They who are on the way of holiness grow in self-loathing – although no good man ever hated himself, every good man hates the sin that is in him. James Fisher observes in his Catechism that the branches which have grown most in Christ, become, in their own eyes, “less than the least of all saints” (Eph 3:8), even “the chief of sinners” (1 Tim 1:15); they learn that they can do nothing (2 Cor 3:5), that they deserve nothing (Gen 32:10) and that they are nothing (2 Cor 12:11).
To bring down proud self, the Lord will show them what love of sin is in their hearts. The discovery of their unkindness to the Lord, whose human soul loves the friendship of those who love Him and keep His commandments, breaks their hearts and makes them hang their heads in shame before Him. But these discoveries are often quickly followed with ravishing insights into the doctrine of free grace, for “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”, flowing from the loving and compassionate heart of the “Friend that sticketh closer than a brother”. These things, under the hand of God, make them grow downwards, while at the same time they learn to look upwards.
10. Sanctification Manifests Itself in a Willingness to Grapple with Sin
David “took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine” (1 Sam 17:40). In allusion to David slaying Goliath with one of his five smooth stones out of the brook, Ralph Erskine puts five stones in the Happy Man’s bag.
(a) The Stone of Instituted Means of Grace and Appointed Ordinances.
Is prayer a means? Is the Word a means? Yes, they are. Use these means in the strength of the Lord.
(b) The Stone of Scriptural Argument.
Take Joseph’s question, for example: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
(c) The Stone of Gospel Promises.
Such as: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean”. “Having . . . these promises . . . let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” Plead the promises and cry for the grace promised.
(d) The Stone of Christ’s All-prevailing Intercession.
For example, “I pray . . . that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (Jn 17:15).
(e) The Stone of Christ’s Death and Passion.
By His crucifixion, sin is crucified. Think often of His suffering for you and look for strength to come from it.
Lastly he exhorts us to “look to the Lord for grace and skill to cast these stones into the head of Goliath”. What must we do with them? We must daily take aim from the sling of prayer and “cast them at [our] lusts”.
Sanctification is about the journey of an elect sinner’s soul from the state of an unopposed dominion of sin in his soul (other than the cries of a troubled conscience) to a state of unopposed dominion of grace and holiness. This journey involves the person who is on it in a vexatious war. It is a conflict between the new man, whom he loves, and the old man, whom he hates; between spiritual life and spiritual death; between holiness and sin; between self-gratification and self-denial. It is the way of holiness, on which, despite the opposition of hell without and sin within, “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is 35:10).
1This is the final article in a second series based on some of the material presented to the 2018 Theological Conference. The sections on growing inwardly and outwardly, upward and downward are derived from ideas in Fisher’s Catechism; the relevant section is reproduced in the following article. Last month’s article spoke of true faith and repentance.
2For “The Happy Man” by Lachlan Mackenzie, see the December 2019 issue of this Magazine, p 304.