You are standing at the waters edge of a wave-tossed sea. Sin and death, that which has long oppressed and enslaved you, has you pressed against the water, threatening to devour you. There is a temptation to give in and go back to that which is familiar as it seems there is no other way. But you have heard the gospel call and looking across the sea you see the One that the words of the gospel point to. There he stands on the other side, having gone before you. Upon seeing him, you recall his words, “I will neither leave you nor abandon you (Deut. 31:8), I will give you rest” (Ex. 33:14). He has gone through the waters, himself. In a moment that seems to have forever stood still, you stand in awe because you witnessed the sea swallow him and you heard the enemy mocking in seeming victory. Your King, you thought, had willingly led himself to his death. And, yet there he stands on the other side. His command, his call, is that you trust him and put your faith in him; that you follow him through the sea. Deciding to do so without looking back at what is both tempting, enslaving, and bearing down on you, you take one step into the water. At the exact moment your foot only causes a ripple in touching the water, to your amazement, the waters open, dividing in two. You walk between the waters on dry ground to your savior standing on the other side as the sea returns to its norm behind you, crashing down and swallowing up sin and death. Your King, your savior, has gone before you; you are united, joined with him.
Last week, part one of The Mystery began to answer the question asking, how do we make the seemingly impossible leap from unholiness, perfection even, to holiness? How do we go from understanding and seeing the other side to actually being there, a part of it? The answer was found in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you.” On the basis of faith (Phil. 3:9), we have been sanctified, made holy, in Christ (Acts 26:18). It is to this that we will explore further. There are four points we will hopefully see and understand from part two to help clarify this mystery: 1. Jesus sanctified himself. 2. Through faith, we have been joined to Christ. 3. The Christian has been washed, sanctified by the word. And 4. We are being sanctified. It is to this last point that spiritual growth and maturity in Christ aligns with, but not without the other three.
Joined
If we work backwards with the illustration above, being joined to Jesus Christ is the first thing we see. Having seen him from the other side, we have now, through faith, been united with him. You are now in Christ and he is now in you. It is his holiness, righteousness, love, perfection, and everything else that is his and has been given to you. Not only has he taken away your sins and saved you from the Father’s wrath on such but has also given you everything he has. You have been joined to him.
Ephesians 5:22-32 is a wonderful passage to study to see more clearly this joining with Christ. In this passage, Paul uses marriage to show not its exactness but its likeness to Christ and His church. Just as God says in Genesis 2:24 that the man will be, “Joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh,” the church and the individuals of it will be joined to Christ and be his body. Again, using the comparison to marriage, Paul says in Romans 7:4, “You also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead.” Notice, the means to dying to the Law of sin and death is the body of Christ. Through faith, you are then joined to him, who was raised from the dead. The same is done again in 1 Cor. 6:17 after referencing Gen. 2:24, “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
Keeping in mind the earlier illustration, we see this unity with Jesus pictured in John 17:21-26 and its inclusion with the Father as well. Jesus says in verse 24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” This glory that Jesus talks about is the fullness of his being, authority, and inheritance. Just prior, he prays to the Father, “The glory which You have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (vv.22-23). In being joined to Christ through the Holy Spirit, we have our access to the Father. We have our access because we have been joined to Jesus’ holiness; we have been sanctified and share in his glory.
Washed
Again, going backwards in the illustration, we are now brought to the passing through water. To be united with Jesus on the other side, there was the call to follow in faith through the sea. If we look back at Ephesians 5:22-32, we see in verse 26 that Christ gave himself up for the church, “So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” Christ has sanctified us, made us holy, washed us, with the word. We have passed through the waters, thereby being washed with the word.
At this point, you might be asking, what is this washing and the waters continually referenced? It should draw our minds towards baptism. Symbolically, baptism represents being buried with Christ in his death (passing through the waters – washing) and rising, coming out of the water in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom. 6:5), perfected and sanctified in Christ in all his glory with the Father. The body of sin and death has been buried to give rise to something new. Therefore, we have had all this done as Jesus says, “With the word.” What is the word?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). This Word is none other than Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:6; Rev. 19:13; 1 John 1:1-3). “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus became flesh (Heb. 2:14; Gal. 4:4) and his glory mentioned in John 1:14 is the same mentioned earlier from John 17:24. With that, do not let the last bit of John 1:14 go unnoticed whereas Jesus, the word, is said to be full of grace and truth. He is full of truth and the word is truth. The word of the gospel is about Jesus and Jesus is the word of the gospel.
Going back to Ephesians 5:26, having been sanctified and cleansed, “By the washing of water with the word,” we, hopefully, are starting to realize some of the picture. We have been sanctified, how? By being cleansed. How have we been cleansed? By the washing of water (baptism representing), being buried into death. With what? The word, Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:2-7). Yet, there is still a major point we have not discussed.
Jesus’ Sanctification
Jesus’ words to God the Father in John 17:19, are, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” That is an interesting statement, that Jesus sanctifies himself. What could that mean? Does it mean that Jesus needed to become holy? No, it does not mean that because God always has been, always is, and always will be holy. Instead, what he meant is that – and this is consistent with the word definition – he has consecrated, has set himself apart to God. Jesus was fully committed to the Father’s will and his purpose, the mission given to him. Not only that, but he fulfilled it. He fulfilled it so that we, “Also may be sanctified in truth.”
Jesus asked two verses prior, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). In both verses, 17 and 19, Jesus’ prayer is that we would be sanctified in truth, God’s word. The important thing to see here is that Jesus is talking about himself. Jesus wants us to be sanctified in him. As shown earlier, Jesus is the word, the truth, and the essence of the gospel message. To hear the word of the gospel is to hear of Jesus Christ. To be saved by the gospel is to be saved by Jesus Christ. To be sanctified by the word and truth is to be sanctified in Jesus Christ.
Again, while in the flesh, Jesus certainly sanctified himself by obeying the Father’s will, perfectly. He fulfilled the law of God, the law of love. Not only that, but he sanctified himself by passing through the waters of judgement in our place. He fulfilled God’s purpose. If you go back to the beginning illustration, Jesus, our King, has gone before us through the sea. By going to the cross, Jesus took our sins and condemnation of death and nailed them there. After having done so, God raised him from the dead to glory. He is positioned in heaven, the kingdom of God, having defeated death for us, having gone before us, leading us and calling us to follow in faith. He has sanctified himself, making the way that we would be sanctified also in and through him to God the Father.
Sanctified with Him
With this, the hope is that you understand better what, “Christ in you,” means so that as we progress through this series, looking at the attributes of Jesus Christ, you feel every motivation and desire to put on Christ. Let me remind you, succinctly, what we have covered. To be in God’s presence, saved and in his kingdom for eternal life, holiness and perfection are required. The standard is Jesus Christ, God himself. Perfect love is that standard. God’s mystery is that we meet the standard with the standard, “Christ in you.” This has been done through the body of Christ. In the flesh like ours, Jesus has fulfilled the standard, perfectly fulfilling the Father’s will. Having set the standard in the flesh and defeating sin and death, he also took our place in judgement. Jesus, God, sinless, died on the cross as an offering for sin (Rom. 8:3). So, then, “Though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10). Christ was raised from the dead a spiritual body and returned to glory, having fulfilled his purpose.
Once more to remind us of the earlier illustration, Jesus has made the way. He has reconciled us to the Father in holiness, sanctification, and righteousness. He has crossed the sea to the other side and has called us to follow him in faith. When we respond, the promise from God is that we receive, “Christ in you,” the promised Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are a new creation in Christ. Just as baptism represents, you have been buried with Christ in the waters of judgement but have come out alive with him. You are washed, clean, holy, and blameless in and through Christ. You are joined with him and with the Father.
“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:29).
“Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Colossians 1:22).
“But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
-Pastor Ben