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| Photo by B Smith from the Garden |
257 - COMPLETE SANTIFICATION
July 21, 1963
Henry F. Kulp
I Thessalonians 5: 19 - 28 Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. 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. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Here we have brought out our testimony before God. In Verses 16 - 23 we finished last week with “quench not the Spirit.” In other words, quenching the Spirit is saying, NO, to the Holy Spirit. We should always be saying “YES, Lord” and not “NO, Lord”
1/ And, thus, in yielding to the Lord, the Thessalonian Christians were told first of all that they should not despise prophesying. Then they were to prove all things, hold fast that which was good. This is an important passage of Scriptures because evidently folks will take from it means individuals just have the right to stand up and start prophesying, that this is some special gift. But the Greek, despise not prophesying, does not bring this fact out. Actually, this is an exhortation against despising the Word of God. The word, prophesying, means, in the original language, a discourse emanating from divine inspiration, not merely an announcement of that which was to come to pass. You have basically the same word in Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
The word, despise is a strong word. It means to set utterly at naught. What does Paul mean? When we are in the assembly, and someone stands up in the assembly to speak in God’s Name from the Word of God that has been entrusted to him, it is not wise to despise it before you hear what is said. To despise not prophesying, requires us to look for something from a preacher when he preaches from the Word of God. We are not to fidget while the Word of God is being spoken; we are not to sit there and turn over the leaves of the Bible at random, or to look at the clock. We are to listen when the Word of God is set forth, and we are to seek something from it.
2/ Verse 20, 21 Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
This shows exactly what we are talking about because Verses 20, 21 are tied together. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. In other words the word, prove, is to examine—to test in order to prove. So we are to test all things by the Word of God. For this is our authority. Then we are to hold fast, after the test has been made by the Word of God, for that is our authority. It has been approved. We are to keep on holding fast to that which has been of value to us.
3/ Then we are told in Verse 22 to abstain from all appearances of evil.
The word, abstain, is a very interesting word—it means to keep off. Did you ever see a sign when you are walking along the street, and you come to a beautiful plot of grass, and it says, keep off? That is exactly what God says here—keep off from evil, even the appearance of evil. Notice this separation. We hear so much about separation, and the other Sunday night we preached on it, and we said it was a twofold aspect—separation from and a separation unto. We are to keep away from that which is evil it is true. But God’s regulations are even more demanding than that. We are to keep off even from the appearance of evil. You may have some habit, or may be doing something by which you mean no harm, and you may say that no one has a right to judge you in regard to it. But a weaker person may think of it as evil. We are to remember that others are looking at us and taking note of how we behave. Not only from evil, from that which looks like evil, but from the very appearance of evil. Literally, from every form of evil.
4/ Now we come to the text that has troubled many people. 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 the lord Jesus Christ.
5/ Let us look at sanctification, what it is not, and what it is. First of all, what sanctification is not? Quite frankly, we hear persons speak of sanctification as a progressive work, in which our own nature is to be made gradually better. Now as far as this view is concerned, I want to say that Scripture and every day experience prove that this is wrong. The Word of God never once teaches us that the Holy Spirit will improve either gradually or otherwise, our old nature, and then, of course, every day experience proves it to be a foolish thought. You never have had the opportunity of meeting anyone who has had his old nature improved.
6/ The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 2: 14 The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.
This one is clear and conclusive as far as what we are talking about. If the natural man can neither receive nor know the things of the Spirit of God, then how can that natural man be sanctified by the Holy Ghost? Is it not plain to see that having the old nature sanctified is directly opposed to the teaching of I Corinthians 2: 14? We are told that the old nature is completely ruined—it is totally depraved.
7/ Galatians 5: 17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other.
Could the Holy Spirit, the Wonderful One be represented as carrying on a warfare with that which He has been gradually improving and sanctifying? Would not the conflict soon cease? As the process of improvement reached its climax? But of course, that is not what Galatians 5: 17 teaches.
8/ Then we said secondly, that the improvement of the old nature is contrary to the regular experience we see. The old nature of the believer is in no wise better than the old nature of an unbeliever
9/ But now we want to call your attention to a very important passage in this teaching. I Corinthians 1: 30 But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Here we learn that Christ is made unto us all these glorious things. God has given us in Christ a precious casket, and when we open that casket, with the key of faith, the first gem that we find comes into our view is wisdom and then righteousness, then sanctification, then lastly redemption. We have all this in Christ Jesus. As we get one we get all. How do we get one and all? Of course by faith. And will this be progressive? Will we get all these things in a progressive fashion? It is very clear that we do not. Let’s just take the last thing that Paul names here. Redemption. Why is it last? Because it takes in the final deliverance of the body of the believer from the power of mortality, from the power of corruption.
I Corinthians 15: 51, 52 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Here we read that he shows us a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. That is how quickly this will take place. The body is in one state, and in a moment it will be in another. In just as quick as you can bat your eye, the body will pass from corruption to incorruption, from dishonor to glory, from weakness to power. This will not be progressive, but will take place in a moment of time.
10/ And so it is with sanctification, it is not progressive. It is once for all.
11/ Acts 26: 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Here, the converted Gentiles are spoken of as receiving forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith. Here faith is the instrument by which we are said to be sanctified, because it connects us with Christ. The very moment the sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he becomes linked to Him. He is made one with Him, complete in Him, accepted in Him. This is true sanctification and justification. It is not a process—it is not a gradual work—it is not progressive. The Bible is clear. It says, them, that are sanctified by faith. It does not say, them, that shall be sanctified, or them that are being sanctified. If such were the doctrine, the Bible would state it very clearly.
12/ We have another passage that I would like to have you consider.
I Corinthians 6: 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
In the verse preceding this, the Apostle Paul draws a fearful picture of fallen humanity, and he clearly tells the people, the saints there at Corinth, that they have been just like that, for he says, such were some of you. There are no flattering words here, no keeping back the full truth. Such were some of you. Then we have one of the great “buts” of the Bible. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified. What a contrast between the two sides of the Apostle’s “but” on one side we have complete moral decay, and on the other side we have absolute perfection in the believer’s standing before God—What a marvelous contrast. And it must be remembered that the soul passes in a moment from one side to the other side, notice, for such were some of you, but ye are—washed, sanctified and justified.
13/ This position of sanctification is absolutely complete from the moment we believe, and it bears no relationship to the believer’s daily life more than it should inspire him to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.
14/ I Thessalonians 5: 23 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.
Paul contemplates the time when we are going to be perfect in the presence of God. Paul does not mean we are perfect now. Paul was not perfect. None of the other of God’s men was perfect. For he says, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly—that is in every respect. When will this take place? When will we be sanctified wholly in this respect? Here it is talking about practical sanctification. This takes place in our every day life. Not that we are perfect. This is a progressive thing here, but this is not a matter that we get rid of the old nature—the old fallen man. I should be more advanced in personal holiness than in this. I, through grace, should be advancing day by day in practical holiness. And when will this practical holiness be complete? Notice, I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is when we will be wholly sanctified, for we shall be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
15/ I Thessalonians 5: 24 Faithful is He who calleth you who also will do it.
Who is going to make us wholly and completely sanctified? This goes right along with
Philippians 1: 6 He that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
16/ And now the last four verses we have the concluding exhortation and salutation. Brethren pray for us, that is pray for us as servants of Jesus Christ, as missionaries of the cross of Jesus Christ, as teachers of the Word of God. In other words, those who stand in public places and give forth the Word of God, they need your prayers, because it is very likely that they have failed in some way. And your prayers should under gird them. They need constant prayer testimony going up to God on their behalf.
17/ Then we have a Scripture that many people have joked about and quite a few do not understand. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. In that day, the kiss was the customary way to greet one another. The emphasis or thought, it should be noted, is not upon the word, kiss, but upon the word, holy, greet one another with a holy kiss. We have something that takes the place of the kiss today and that is the handshake. The handshake should be a holy handshake. What does it mean by that? You see two men talking out on the street corner, and they are kindly talking about a third party, and all of a sudden one man will look up and see the third man coming down the street and he is coming upon them very suddenly and unexpectedly and so this man who sees the man coming that they have been talking about, quickly leaves the first man he is talking to, and he run toward the other and says, Oh my dear brother, I am so glad to see you, and very heartily he shakes his hand. That is an unholy handshake because he doesn’t mean it. We can pretend that there might be a woman, of course, women aren’t usually doing this sort of thing—but they are criticizing another woman who appears very suddenly and one of the two will run up to her and give her a good hearty kiss on the cheek and says, My dear, it is good to see you. That is an unholy kiss—it is a Judas kiss. What the Apostle Paul is stressing here is the importance of reality when we greet one another. Let your attitude toward each other be holy, and the sudden meeting of the third person will never embarrass you.
18/ And I charge you before the Lord, that this epistle be read by all the holy brethren. This epistle was meant to be read in the assembly, and this is exactly what I have been endeavoring to do here in the last year with this marvelous epistle. I pray I have whetted your appetite that you might study and study it more.
AMEN
Ref: 07/21/1963/ 257 - COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION / 05/08/2022
