The Progressive West Virginian. [volume] (Williamson, W. Va.) 1911-1913, 1912-06-20

/ IMia223 <&f9lA the teachings OF
| * 3 his word. 1t robs
the Christian of
great deal of present comfort, too, for
every true believer on Jesus Christ
Is saint, and becomes such the mo-
ment he so believes. Saint" Is the
substantive of the verb ito sanctify."
word Of two meanings.
What Sanctify Means.
To "sanctify" means, first, to set
apart thing or person for holy
use. II 1.-THE my income. and set
aside one dollar out OF every ten for
Gods service, that dollar is sanctified
in the instant Of its being set aside,
and II 1t were a person 1t might be
called saint.
Again 'sanctify" means to make a
thing intrinsically clean. The dollar
set aside Is much soiled. and after
setting it aside / send 1t to a bank
note company, which puts it through
process OF cleansing by means OF
which 1t comes back to me almost as
/ fresh and crisp as when it was first
| put into circulation. 1t Is now sane
titled in second sense. This two
| fold transaction represents saintship.
For example, the moment man
takes Jesus Christ by faith to be his
Savior he is set apart by God and for
God, and becomes saint. But in
that same moment he enters upon a
| process, or rather a process enters
upon or within him. 1t Is a process
of cleansing. The operator Is the
/ Holy Spirit, who takes Up his abode
in him, and the means he uses Is the
Word of Cod. Now are We clean"
said Jesus, through the word have
| spoken unto you
/ Sanctiflcation in the first case pretty
nearly agrees with justification, which
is instantaneous, but In the second
| case 1t is continuous and progressive
as the Christian yields himself to the
Holy Spirit, and admits the Word Of
4 God into his heart and life.
We now reach the consideration Of
what | think is the deepest truth re-
vealed in the Bible, for the apostle is
addressing not only the saints which
are at Ephesus, but also the faithful
in Christ Jesus" In other words,
| there are saints and there are faith
full saints, the latter being those who
are in the experience of the process
I Just referred to.
Notice the proposition in" What
small word it is, and yet when 1t
is used as here, to indicate the rela-
ton between Christ and the believer
on Christ, it becomes one OF the most
important words In the Bible. How
can one be said to be in Jesus Christ?
4 The answer is, just as member Of
1 my body can be said to be in me.
Christ Is represented as the head of
i the body, the church, and believers on
him are members OF that body The
relationship thus Is not merely gov
arnmental, but vital.
Faithful In Christ Jesus"
i, This suggests what 1t means to be
faithful in Christ Jesus" My eye, or
ear, or tongue, or hand, or foot, is
faithful In me as 1t surrenders itself
to my will, and obeys my behests. This
Is what Paul teaches when in Romans
he exhorts Christians to present their
bodies unto God as a living sacrifice.
My members should be faithful in me
because / live and express myself
through them, and for this same rea-
son Christians need to be faithful in
Christ. else how shall he be known
and maintained in the earth?
Here Is a lesson for our home life,
our social life and our business life
as we'll Everyone who knows
Christ should be able to say with the
apostle. For me to live is for Christ
to live" y
The chapter now goes on to speak
OF the spiritual blessings the Christian
body. All the blessings of the head
belong to the members. In Christ
they are chosen. redeemed, inherited
and sealed.
The teaching Is not only that they
have an inheritance In God through
Jesus Christ, but that God has an in
heritance in them. And this inheri-
lance he has made sure to himself
and to them by giving them his Holy
Spirit to dwell within them as the
seal OF his ownership until ts~ re-
demption of the purchased possession
II. e., the resurrection and glorifica-
ton of their bodies.
He who trusts in Christ need not
fear for his ultimate salvation. and
need not doubt the promise of glory.
But the question arises, Have you yet
trusted in Christ? The Christ OF the
Bible, ! mean, not some ideal Christ
such az many are talking about In
these days. The Christ of the Bible
is the only -begotten Son Of God, who.
as God, took our flesh on him and suf-
fered for our sins on the cross. To
trust in him is not negative thing
merely, but a positive thing. 1t is a
definite act Of our will by which we
receive him as our Savior and commit
ourselves entirely to him to be saved.
and cleansed and kept. Why not do II
now il you have never done 1t bither-
TO! AS your eye passes over these
lives let your heart go up to God and
say, Il now take thy Son as my Saw
Tor. and by grace will henceforth
confess him as my Lord