Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-05-19

IEl4s8s33S& the lSdCuluSS VI
~ his word. 1t robs
the Christian of a
great deal of present comfort, too, for
every true believer on Jesus Christ
is a saint, and becomes such the mo-
ment he so believes. Saint" is the
substantive of the verb ito sanctify,"
| a word of two meanings.
What sanctify Means.
To "sanctify" means, first, to set
apart thing or person for "a holy
use. If l 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 if it were a person 1t might be
called a saint
Again "sanctify" means to make a
| thing intrinsically clean. The dollar
set aside is much soiled, and after
setting it aside l send it to a bank.
note company, which puts it through
a process of cleansing by means of
which it comes back to me almost as
/ fresh and crisp as when it was first
put into circulation. 1t is now sane.
titled in a second sense. This two
fold transaction represents saintship
For example, the moment a man
takes Jesus Christ by faith to be his
| Savior he is set apart by God and for
God, and becomes a saint. But in
that same moment he enters upon a
process, or rather process enters
30
of cleansing. The operator is the
Holy. Spirit, who takes up his abode
! in him, and the means he uses is the
Word of God Nov are we Clean"
said Jesus, through the word have
spoken unto you"
Sanctifcation in the first case pretty
nearly agrees with justification, which
is instantaneous, but in the second
case it is continuous and progressive
as the Christian yields himself to the
Holy Spirit, and admits the Word of
God into his heart and life.
We now reach the consideration of
what l 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
just referred to.
Notice the proposition Gin" What
a small word it is, and yet when it
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 /?
The answer is, just as member of
my body can be said to be in me.
Christ is represented as the head of
the body, the church, and believers on
him are members of that body. The
relationship thus is not merely gov
ernmental, but vital.
"FaithfuI in Christ Jesus"
This suggests what it means to be
faithful in Christ Jesus" My eye, or
ear, or tongue, or hand, or foot, is
faithful in me as it 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 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?
! LJoro iC 1occor for orr homo IiFo
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 Christi
to live"
The chapter now goes on to speak
of the spiritual blessings the Christian
has in Christ as a member of his
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
! ana 10 them by giving them his Holy
Spirit to dwell within them as the
seal Of his ownership until the 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, l mean, not some ideal Christ
such as many are talking about in
| these days