Many will be surprise when eternity visits them; many will cry before YAHSHUA saying, Did not I serve You? Did not I healed in Your name, did not I speak in tongues, did not I give to the poor? The reality then sinks in when they hear the words, I never knew you; there has never been a relationship with you. There has never been fruit from your faith. Therefore, depart from Me; The meaning of the cross we must bear, is the surrender of our will to the will of God; it is giving up all that is dear to us to follow His teachings in complete submission to the Truth. The cross is ever before us to bear, as a symbol of sanctification. Once we abandon it, we have abandoned YAHSHUA’S teachings, and He –the Truth is not in us. Without the Truth in us we will not be sanctified and without sanctification we cannot see God.
The process of sanctification is painful because it is contrary to the will of our flesh. It is painful because it molds us into the holiness of God; since that cannot happen without the work of sanctification. Paul’s letter to the Romans says: and those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified, that is, He gave us a position with Himself. And those whom He justified, He also glorified (Rom. 8:30). When someone answers to the call to justification but do not follow the step to sanctification, he is like the seed sown upon stony ground; they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; they have no root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended and they stumble and fall away (Mark 4:16-17). The choice of falling away from the Truth happens when there is no spiritual roots securing and firming one’s step in the faith to the next step, which is sanctification. YAHSHUA said, You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you (John 15:3). Cleansed and pruned are two words that imply sanctification. Why do we believers suffer? It is a question many ask. When we suffer for our faith in YAHSHUA, that should be an honor; when we suffer because of sin, that should be acceptable, since the sufferings come as means of our sanctification. The righteous man may fall many times, but he will always stand up in the promise of deliverance. The Prophet Jeremiah pleaded and reasoned his case with God concerning the position of the wicked saying, why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they at ease and thriving who deal very treacherously and deceitfully? (Jer. 12:1b). We see the same thing happening today and I am sure, we wondered like Jeremiah did. One thing is sure in my heart: that judgement must start with us, the believer. It is good to suffer now in order to gain our salvation than to suffer later in hell.
Didn’t Paul say, Be thankful in everything for this is the will of God for you? The will of God is our sanctification. Our heavenly Father is very much concerned for our spiritual maturity. In His faithfulness, He will do what He must do to get us where we must be in the frame of time, for the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punished even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes (Heb. 12:6). What must be our attitude in our sufferings? We must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not train and correct and discipline? (Heb.12:7). Those words leave us with no reason to complain, but to rejoice, as Paul said, rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer (Rom. 12:12). There should be in our heart a touch of hope in our sufferings based on the hope of what our heavenly Father promised. That hope will give us strength and endurance and patient to go through the fires of temptation. That’s where we must be in the will of God while we are molded by sanctification.
In the parable of the sower, our Lord YAHSHUA explained to His disciples that the seeds fallen on the stony grounds were those who do not develop spiritual root in themselves. They have refused the work of sanctification, for their hearts are hard and stubborn. No matter how much they hear, they will not perceive to be turned away from their wicked ways. Their hearts are like a stony ground, where water cannot penetrate to wash them clean, as in with the blood of our Messiah YAHSHUA. Therefore, molding will not take place in their heart, for them to be sanctified and free from the eternal damnation. Hearing and accepting the Truth-YAHSHUA is the first step in one’s life; to be continuous cleansed with water, it speaks about the work of the Holy Spirit, Who came to make a dwelling in us. He then takes control of our life to sanctify and to make us holy. No longer do we have control of our life. As Paul said, Live not I, but Christ lives in me. Meaning, only His desires and will are to control me, and not the desires of my flesh. I am dead for the world and alive to walk with Christ. “Whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as loss for Christ’s sake” (Phil. 3:6b). Furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ YAHSHUA my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, in order that I may win Christ. [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed to His death… (Phil 3:8,10). This is the perfect expression of a life completely submissive to the will of God; a life filled with love and devotion to Him to the point of forsaking the things of the world, focusing only on Him to obtain the reality of the promised eternal salvation through sanctification.
The most important thing and the priority of all believers should be that of sanctification. His priority should be that of being continuously in relationship with God, in complete submission to His will, even when being rebuked or blessed, being empty or full, being sick or healthy, but enduring all for the sake of his sanctification. We must not consider the covenant of blood which we are under, to be common to the point of profaning it and insulting the Holy Spirit, with Whom we are sealed for the day of our redemption. If you are a Christian and have walked away from the faith because of sufferings, consider one thing: there will be no heaven for you if you reject the work of sanctification in your life. Eternity will be to you separation from Him, which is hell.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Light from the Word 