Sometimes, we think that we are not one of the ones God has chosen to receive salvation. That is not correct. This daily devotional looks at how all can learn God’s truth by becoming the elect, starting on the Sanctification Road, and by being purified.
Nuggets
- Before He even created us, God elected to design a way to restore our relationships with Him after the original sin.
- Sanctification is a road — it is a process – with a beginning and an end.
- We are to obey God and ask forgiveness for being sinners, and we are purified.
Devotions in the What Is Truth? series
We’ve talked a lot about some churchy words lately: truth, godliness, sanctification, and purity. They really are all interconnected. Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
God’s Truth is the gospel or a collection of facts regarding God. It is the doctrine that produces faithfulness that leads to godliness. Godliness is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit.
God's Truth Is According to Godliness
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Ti. 1: 1 CSB)
Some like to make God’s elect into an elitist type of thing. It is and it isn’t.
To me, it comes down to definition. Election is that God chose to accomplish the Plan of Salvation to restore His people. The elect are those who accept the plan.
Before He even created us, God elected to design a way to restore our relationships with Him after the original sin. He chose to offer that plan to all mankind.
- “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 NIV).
- “This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 3-4 CSB).
If God chose mankind to offer the Plan of Salvation to, whom didn’t He choose?
Mankind is not the only ones who disobeyed God. Satan was an angel who had a desire to defeat God and rule all that God has made.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Some of the angels jumped ship and fought with Satan. Other angels remained true to God.
God doesn’t offer the Plan of Salvation to the angels. He only offers it to mankind, even though God “… made them a little lower than the angels …” (Ps. 8: 5 NIV).
Mankind may be elected, but that does not automatically make them the elect. The elect is God’s church — those who have admitted they are separated from Him, believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord.
We have the free will to accept or reject the Plan of Salvation. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
It is our choice to be the elect or not. God would choose everyone have that distinction, but it is only given to those who truly submit to Him.
To me, it is the same thing as the made in God’s image versus being children of God. Everyone is His creation made in His image, but not everyone is a child of God.
Glossary
Taylor had a different take. He offered three ways in which people are elect.
- We are elect because of the ministry we are called to perform.
- God chooses some nations above others (like Israel).
- God chooses some for eternal salvation.
Resource
Since I have already addressed the last bullet point, I’ll focus on the first two. God doesn’t call us all to the same ministry or give us the same abilities.
Oh, yes. We are all called to witness for Him. We do that in different ways. Some are preachers, some singers, some teachers, etc.
We are all given different gifts — and different levels of gifts. “… Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Lk. 12: 48 ESV).
How does God choose who gets the more? His way.
We aren’t told how God divvies things out. I would hazard a guess that, since He knows what our choices will be, He gives the more to those who will be most faithful and will get the job done.
But that has nothing to do with salvation. That speaks to why-did-God-put-me-here-in-this-place-in-these-circumstances.
I don’t know what I really think about Taylor’s second point. We are told God choose Israel because He chose them for the Old Testament.
Since Jesus, the definition of My people has been expanded. He opened it up to the Gentiles — aka, anyone who wasn’t Jewish. That means everyone can be a My people. It is back to our choice to ABCD.
Does God favor one nation over another? I would say that is an extension of Luke 12: 48.
God's Truth is Sanctifying
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (Jn. 17: 17 CSB)
Yep, we talk about sanctification a lot. Sanctification is the purpose or internal process of transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness. Regeneration is the change in us that God brings about when we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
Well, it is important, isn’t it? We’ve described it several ways.
- Navigating the Sanctification Road
- Working out our salvation
- Growing from milk babies to steak adults
It is all the same thing. We start where we are when we ABCD and grow to be men and women after God’s own heart.
If we don’t grow closer to God, we might find ourselves in a world of hurt come judgment day. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV).
But how does this apply to Truth? The Congregational Remembrancer wrote, “It is by the Word of truth that the work of sanctification is commenced.” Whitelaw added, “Christ died for something more than the erasure of the penalty due to man from heaven’s statute book. Christ had His eye on men’s recovery to purity and truth, and their entire consecration to God.”
Resource
I know. How many times have I said that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and not finished it on out?
Sometimes, we like to think that salvation is a one-and-done deal. We A and B and think we’ve got our fire insurance.
Oh, we may C — if it doesn’t mean we have to give this up or have to do this for God.
Yeah, that is leaning into the D part, but it is all about submitting. We have trouble with that, even before we get to the D part.
The D part is hard. That is where Satan is harassing us. That is where we have to make the daily choices.
Think about it, though. Sanctification is a road — it is a process. It has a beginning and an end.
The whole point is getting to the end. But the end is purity. No, we don’t start out very pure.
So, it is about changing ourselves. “And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD” (Zech. 10: 12 KJV).
We might look at ourselves and think God has a lot of work to do on us. Don’t worry.
It will happen if we submit to God. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (I Thess. 5: 24 ESV).
God is faithful to us when we are faithful to Him. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Phil. 1: 6 NLT).
Remember, good isn’t the worldview definition of good. Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people. It is the workings in us to expand His kingdom.
Think of it this way. The good work ultimately means we are transformed so that we can serve God. We are transformed to fulfill our purpose in God’s kingdom.
Glossary
Along with the end being purity, it is also Truth. Mackennal wrote, “The perfect devotion of Christ to the truth is our warrant for expecting sanctification by it.”
Resource
- Christ was devoted to Truth.
- This is our justification for expecting sanctification.
- We are sanctified through Truth.
Is this sanctification available to everyone? It is.
Birt wrote that the doctrines of Truth “… are perfectly adapted to man, and to the whole of man — to all his circumstances, to all his obligations. They enlighten his understanding, form his judgment, and enrich his heart. Here is pardon for his guilt — righteousness for his unworthiness — purity for his depravity — strength for his weakness.” That pardon is available to everyone.
Resource
God’s Truth Is Purifying
“Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly” (I Pet. 1: 22 CSB)
We just had a whole series on purity. For disciples, we would define pure as without the stain of sin.
The first part of the verse really jumped out at me. “Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth …” (I Pet. 1: 22 CSB).
How many of us truly think we can purify ourselves? Oh, not me. I have tried to stop doing some sin, but let me tell you, it is something with which I still struggle.
We get to a point where we think only God is going to be able to take this sin away. That brings despair because we feel like we should be able to do better.
On the other hand, there are those who think God can’t save them because their sins are so bad. God will not forgive them. So, they don’t ABCD.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Look again at what the verse says. “Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth …” (I Pet. 1: 22 CSB).
Let’s break it down.
- If the Truth is the gospel
- And the gospel is the good news that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer
- And it is contingent on obedience to the Truth
- Then we are purified.
It is all about obedience. We are to obey God and ask forgiveness for being sinners, and we are purified. Sinners are all people who have not made a genuine profession of faith — who have not sincerely ABCDed.
When we ABCD, we have already purified ourselves because we are no longer spiritually dead. Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
We sometimes think the emphasis is on being obedient to God’s laws and commandments. They are not a prerequisite for salvation.
God knew we would never be able to keep them. In fact, they were instituted to show we can’t save ourselves — we need Jesus.
But as we navigate Sanctification Road, it should be easier to keep the laws and commandments. Why? Our character is growing more like God’s.
Think about this. Sanctification is a process; it isn’t an transfusion of virtue. So, it isn’t the good coming in and rooting out all the evil.
It is the evil being kicked out through the process. It is more than just cleaning up our acts. It is cleaning up our hearts.
Resource
Making the Connections
Mackennal brought up a good point. He wrote, “We need to be guarded against identifying sanctity with an exalted state of feeling, or supposing that its energy lies in our own resolves. There was no lack of elevated devotion and firm resolve in those who here were ‘ready to go with Him to prison and death,’ and we know the result. But the truth which Christ had imparted to them abode, the seed of a higher life, and the power of their recovery. Not self-contemplation nor self-culture is the way to holiness, but the contemplation of the living word of the gospel.”
Resource
I know — a long quote. Sanctification isn’t a feeling. We can’t sanctify ourselves.
We have to be ready to give our all for God’s kingdom work. Our all may be life as we know it — or it may be life itself.
Yes, we have to evaluate ourselves to see what sin is in our lives. No, we can’t just rely on the Save the Kids, Save the Animals, Save the World organizations to out us in the right road.
We have to rely on the Truth — the gospel — to us sanctify and purify us so that we are godly.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
Sanctification is a process. We will need to be disciplined in this process.
How Do We Apply This?
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. Sometimes, it seems we want to take a fast track to seeking You. We want some short devotion we can read, so we won’t have to read Your Word. We want someone else to interpret the passages, so we don’t have to spend time doing that. What we need is to be firmly rooted and grounded in You. Amen.
What do you think?
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