The human organism is the handiwork of God. The organs employed in all the different functions of the body were made by Him. The Lord gives us food and drink that the wants of the human body may be supplied. He had given the earth different properties adapted to the growth of food fit for His children. He gives the sunshine and the showers, the early and the latter rain. He forms the clouds and sends the dew. All are His gifts. He has bestowed His blessings upon us liberally, but all these blessings will not restore the blessings of God unless man cooperates with God making painstaking effort to know himself, to understand how to care for the delicate human machinery. He must diligently help to keep himself in harmony with nature’s laws. He who consecrates all his powers to God, seeking intelligently to obey the laws of nature, stands in his God-given manhood, and is recorded in the books of heaven as a man—Letter 139, 1898, p. 16. (To Elder A. T. Jones, December 16, 1898.)
The gospel fits all periods and all relations of life. No man can separate fellowship with God from a life of holiness. Sanctification takes in the whole being. Many in this our day claim fellowship with God while by their lives they deny their claim. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” To walk in the light is to know and obey the truth. To have fellowship with one another is to treat one another as children of God.—Letter 21, 1901, pp. 13, 14. (To Elder E. E. Franke, October 5, 1900.)
By our faith and works we are to declare that God is our wisdom, our sanctification, our righteousness. He has given us the strongest encouragement to draw nigh to Him, and the nearer we come to Him, the nearer we come to the law of harmony and unity and holiness.
The practical lesson we are all to learn in genuine Bible religion is that we are to be of one mind and one judgment, that the law of God is a law of love to God and to man. Even disappointment and suffering is made unto us a means of sanctification. It elevates and purifies the soul, helping us to work out the will of God.—Letter 54, 1901, p. 2. (To “My Dear Son Edson White,” June, 1901.)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ has given a definition of true sanctification. He lived a life of holiness. He was an object-lesson of what His followers are to be. We are to be crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and then quickened by His Spirit. Then we are filled with His life.
Our sanctification is God’s object in all His dealing with us. He has chosen us from eternity that we may be holy. Christ gave Himself for our redemption, that through our faith in His power to save from sin, we might be made complete in Him. In giving us His Word, He has given us bread from heaven. He declares that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we shall receive eternal life. Why do we not dwell more upon this? Why do we not strive to make it easily understood, when it means so much? Why do not Christians open their eyes to see the work God requires them to do? Sanctification is the progressive work of a lifetime. The Lord declares, ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ Is it your will that your desires and inclinations shall be brought into conformity to the divine will?
As Christians, we have pledged ourselves to realize and fulfill our responsibilities, and to show to the world that we have a close connection with God. Thus, through the godly words and works of His disciples, Christ is to be represented.
God demands of us perfect obedience to His law—the expression of His character. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” This law is the echo of God’s voice, saying to us, “Holier, yes, holier still.” Desire the fullness of the grace of Christ; yea, long—hunger and thirst—after righteousness. The promise is, “Ye shall be filled.” Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for this righteousness, the work of which God’s Word declares is peace, and its effect, quietness and assurance forever.
It is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. God has plainly stated that He requires us to be perfect; and because He requires this, He has made provision that we may be partakers of the divine nature. Only thus can we gain success in our striving for eternal life. The power is given by Christ. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.”
God requires of us conformity to His image. Holiness is the reflection from His people of the bright rays of His glory. But in order to reflect this glory, man must work with God. The heart and mind must be emptied of all that leads to wrong. The Word of God must be read and studied with an earnest desire to gain from it spiritual power. The bread of heaven must become a part of the life. Thus we gain eternal life. Then is answered the prayer of the Saviour, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.”—Letter 153, 1902, pp. 6–9. (To Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell, September 27, 1902.)
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To be justified means to be pardoned. To those whom God justifies He imputes Christ’s righteousness; for the Saviour has taken away our sins. We stand before the throne of God justified and sanctified. We are emptied of self, and through the sanctification of the truth Christ abides in our hearts.—Letter 202, 1902, pp. 1, 2. (General letter to “My Dear Brethren and Sisters,” December 15, 1902.)
All over the fields there is not among the laborers that humiliation of soul, that sanctification of the Spirit of God that there should be. Of what use is it for us to say that we have the grace of Christ, unless this grace is revealed in the daily life, in the thoughts, the words, and the actions?…—Ms 11, 1903, p. 1. (“Words of Counsel”, March 26, 1903.)
If sanctified through the truth, those who carry the last message of warning and mercy to a guilty world will act in accordance with the principles of truth. Knowing and obeying the truth, they cannot be otherwise than in fellowship one with another. Through confession and reformation they will remove everything that divides hearts. And He who forgives our sins cleanses us from all the rubbish that has been accumulating around us through human devising—rubbish that encouraged alienation and strife, and that perpetuated difficulties because of our refusal to submit to Christ’s yoke.
The soul needs cleansing. The love of the truth sanctifies the soul. Sanctification is not the work of a moment; it is the result of a yielding of the heart to Christ, an acceptance of the conditions of salvation—a process that God will carry forward day by day, steadily, progressively, never ending, but ever blending heart with heart, soul with soul, a refining process going on day by day, in God’s own way, in doing His will until all true believers are complete in Him. This is the work that is to be done by every believer.—Letter 192, 1903, pp. 6, 7. (To A. T. Jones, August 28, 1903.)…
When the sacredness of Christ’s character is brought into the daily life, God is glorified.…Sancti-fication means purification. The wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable.…The word of God, obeyed, is the divine revelation that works in heart and mind, and sanctifies the soul. The words of truth are to be cherished. Not one charge given by God is to be disregarded. If obeyed, the Word will restrain every evil thought, word, and act.…
True holiness is the fruit of Christ’s death. It was by this infinite sacrifice that the Holy Spirit was purchased for the human family. Christ gave Himself for His church, that through obedience to the sacred words of truth the members might receive His sanctification.—Letter 336, 1906, pp. 5–7. (To “Brethren in Responsible Positions in Australia,” October 25, 1906.)
It is the gospel, and the gospel alone, that will sanctify the soul. And this makes possible to the receiver that life “that measures with the life of God.” This is the record that God has given us, even eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He who is a partaker of the divine nature will escape the corruptions that are in the world through lust. His faith in Christ as the Life-giver, gives him life. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
This life of sanctification and joy in believing is for every soul who in faith will claim the promises of the Word of God, and draw upon divine strength for the work of overcoming.—Letter 393, 1907, p. 3. (To Mabel Workman, November, 1907.)
If we keep our minds stayed upon Christ, He will come unto us as the rain, as the former and latter rain upon the earth. As the Sun of righteousness, He will arise with healing in His wings. We may grow as the lily, revive as the corn, and grow as the vine. By constantly looking to and patterning after Christ, as our personal Saviour, we shall grow up into Him in all things. Our faith will grow, our conscience will be sanctified. We will more and more become like Christ in all our works and words. Thank God, we shall believe His Word. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”—Letter 106, 1908, p. 5. (To Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell, April 2, 1908.)
Faith says, Move forward. Christ says, “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Go on, step by step, departing not from that spirit of sanctification through the truth which the presence of the Spirit of God and obedience to the truth will give. Let none who have accepted this blessed faith and hope be found lacking in the spirit of self-sacrifice as they engage in the sacred work of presenting to the people, the truth in its simplicity.—Letter 142, 1909, p. 8. (To A. G. Daniells, October 27, 1909.)
As a people, and individually, we need to receive fresh supplies of grace day by day. We need the endowment of the Holy Spirit, which is able to sanctify the soul. Many of us do not realize the sacredness of our profession of faith; therefore there is much talking and little real faith, little convincing evidence that the Holy Spirit is imbuing our hearts, illuminating our minds, and strengthening us to perform the will of Him who day by day is calling us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.—Ms 55, 1912, p. 1. (To sanitarium workers: “A Call to Awake,” typed August 3, 1912.)
Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 349–357.