Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: Because of the cleansing of Jesus achieved at the cross, a sinful people like us are sanctified. Because of what he did, a defiled people are purified. Because of the work of Jesus at Calvary, an unholy people are made to be a holy people.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Jonathan, we may have some listening today who really struggle with that concept that they can be holy. Thinking, maybe of past sin in life, our baggage, and the ways that we've messed up, saying, "Yeah, that may be true for other people, but man, Jonathan, how could that ever be true for me?"

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, this is the mystery and the wonder of the cross, that at the cross of Calvary, Jesus shed his blood, and through the shedding of his blood, he makes clean, he sanctifies, he causes to become holy those who are unholy, who are unclean. The blood of Jesus is profoundly cleansing in the eyes of God.

And that's what he achieves for all those who would put their trust in him, all those who would receive the gift of cleansing by faith. And that's really the essence of the gospel, the heart of the offer of salvation and forgiveness in Jesus.

Steve Hiller: It's what we get to talk about all the time on this radio program, how we can be right with God. Really quick though, before we get into the message, you used a big Bible word a couple of times here, and it might be useful to understand what that means. The word sanctified. What are you talking about there?

Jonathan Griffiths: It just means to make clean, to make holy, to cleanse from all that is wrong before God, all that is defiling before God. And that's what happens through the blood of Jesus and for all who trust in him. Well, let's continue to look at this from the book of Isaiah. We're in chapter six as we continue a message called "The Holy God". Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Only looking at the perfect model of Jesus Christ, that will condemn us if that's all we do. If Jesus had only given us a model, it would only add to our despair. It simply highlights our own sin as we see his perfection. And that's why it's so vitally important that Jesus in his grace and through the gospel actually makes holiness available to us. The God who is holy, who models holiness to us in Christ, also gives us holiness in Christ, and that's our third point.

Right from the moment of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden from his holy presence, right from the beginning there in Genesis, the crisis at the heart of the human condition has been how to be restored to the presence of a holy God. The nation of Israel was called to be God's holy nation, and he came to dwell among them once more through the tabernacle and then through the temple. That was God's grace to the people, that they might have some kind of access to him despite their sin. But their access to the presence of God within the community was incredibly limited. It involved the mediation of the priesthood, and it involved regular sacrifice and offering.

It was actually as though the whole nation of Israel was a quarantine zone because of the disease of sin, and only select people in select garments could move from the community into the clinically pure presence of God, and that's what the priesthood did. So there was grace there, but the problem wasn't dealt with. And so what is the solution in ultimate terms? How can an unholy people be made holy and be made pure, fit for the presence of this holy God?

That short-term answer came through the temple sacrifices where the blood of the animal would provide cleansing for the people, but that wasn't final. That was never complete. It was never actually effective. And if we know the gospel, we know that the answer would ultimately only come through the Lord Jesus himself. The outstanding treatment of this theme in the New Testament comes in the book of Hebrews in chapter nine. And I'd actually be grateful if you would turn there with me, Hebrews chapter nine. Here the writer is looking back at the Old Testament sacrificial system, at the tabernacle and then the temple, and he's reflecting on all of that.

And looking back on it, he says this, middle of verse nine of Hebrews nine: "According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body, imposed until the time of the reformation." The old system could provide some symbolic, ceremonial cleansing of defilement, but it couldn't deal with the internal cleansing needed, the cleansing of the heart, the cleansing of the conscience.

But verse 11: "But when Christ appeared as High Priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, that is into the heavenly sanctuary. Not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

Now, the imagery here is perhaps a little bit unfamiliar to us. Some of the concepts take a little bit of work to understand, but the point is actually very simple. The basic point is this: the perfect, blemish-free sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it achieves something that no sacrifice at the temple ever could. It cleanses us within. It cleanses even our conscience. It deals with sin in a true, substantial, and real way. It pays the price of sin so that the matter is dealt with before God, so that the slate is wiped clean.

And because the sacrifice of Jesus achieves that for us, it means that you and I, if we belong to him, we can go to bed at night and we can put our head down on the pillow and we can sleep in peace. It means that we can live in freedom. It means that we can contemplate death, even the judgment to come, without fear and without trepidation. Because of the cleansing of Jesus achieved at the cross, a sinful people like us are sanctified. Because of what he did, a defiled people are purified. Because of the work of Jesus at Calvary, an unholy people are made to be a holy people.

When King David sinned so terribly by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband killed, when he did that and then felt the full force of his guilt, he cried out to the Lord in faith. In Psalm 51 and verse 7, he says, "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." It's a cry of faith, of incredible faith, but David couldn't have possibly known how that cleansing would ultimately be achieved. But in Jesus, you and I know the answer. In Jesus, we see the effective means. Through his blood, we have true cleansing, full cleansing, even the cleansing of the conscience.

Friends, there is no greater need of any person, of any of us here, than to have a conscience that is truly cleansed, truly clear, to know that before God we have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And I have no doubt that there will be some here, perhaps a number, and your greatest longing today is actually to have a clear conscience before God, a conscience that is truly cleared of all guilt. For a number here, that'll be the case. That may be the burden you came bearing this morning.

Well, if that's the case for you, the simple message of the gospel that you need to hear is this: Jesus died for your sin. He shed his own blood for your cleansing, and Jesus, in a way that no other ever could and ever will, Jesus can make you clean. That's the message of the gospel. That's the hope of the gospel for all who will receive it.

Just a couple of days ago, one of our kids managed to stain a new outfit with some really sticky paint, some kind of acrylic paint. And Jemma did some research on what kind of substance could actually get this type of paint out of clothes, and I saw her there with a whole variety of things from the kitchen cupboard—special vinegar and lemon juice—and in the end, this concoction seems to have helped at least a little to save the garment from destruction. Well, what agent, what substance can cleanse the human conscience, the human soul of sin? What can do it? Answer: nothing but the blood of Jesus.

I wonder if you've come to Jesus for cleansing. I wonder if you have trusted him for forgiveness. I wonder if you know the relief of a cleansed conscience and the peace that comes through Christ. I wonder if you've come to him. If you haven't, would you come to him? Would you come to him even today? Would you come to him in faith and confess what you've done and confess who you are as a sinner? And would you ask him to make you clean? The promise of the gospel is simply that if you will ask him, he will cleanse you. He promises to do it. He died to do it. Would you ask him even today?

There will be others here and you're a believer, but maybe you are struggling with guilt once more. Your conscience is heavy as we gather here today. Maybe you've been drifting in your lifestyle over time, drifting in your heart, or maybe you've fallen into pretty serious sin and you're conscious that you've made a real mess of things. And maybe there will be some real issues that you need to work through with the Lord, some real issues that you need to confess, some sin you need to deal with.

But as you do that, know this reassurance: if you belong to Jesus, if you have trusted in Jesus, if you have turned to Jesus, he has made you clean. And nothing in this world can undo the cleansing that Jesus achieves through his shed blood. In the great miracle of miracles, God makes a defiled people like us holy in Christ.

Steve Hiller: This is Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, a message called "The Holy God", part of our series, "Who is Like Our God?". Maybe you missed a part of today's broadcast. Well, you can always go back and listen online. Our website is encounterthetruth.org and you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free.

But whether you listen online, on the radio, or even through the Encounter the Truth app, it's made possible through your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book that we've picked out, Jonathan. It is called "Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel". And I have to ask, what does it mean to live in light of the gospel?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, the way in which we live, our behavior, our lifestyle, it doesn't save us. The gospel tells us that we couldn't save ourselves, and Jesus gave his life for our salvation that we could be forgiven and restored to relationship with God. But what we need to understand is that having been saved through the gospel, there is a way to live in light of the gospel.

The gospel will change our behavior and our lifestyle and the way in which we approach decision-making and the nature of our interactions with others. And this book is a call to live in light of the gospel, to allow the gospel to have its impact in our day-to-day lives. And I think we need that help, we need that encouragement, and I hope it'll be an encouragement to you as you read it.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of this book, "Worthy", as our way of saying thank you for supporting the ministry this month. Give online at encounterthetruth.org or over the phone when you call 833-998-7884. That's 833-99-TRUTH. Or again, the website is encounterthetruth.org.

You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Brodis, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.

Jonathan Griffiths: Finally, as we finish, God calls each one of us to holiness in Christ. Quite a number here in this room will have come as immigrants to Canada at one time or another. Maybe at some point in the process, you've actually become a Canadian citizen, and that's a wonderful thing. I guess that was a joyful moment for you when that happened. Perhaps you attended a ceremony and you took a picture to mark the occasion and mark the event.

You were given a new status in the country, even in some ways you were given a new identity. You have a new standing before the government under law. You have a new security, a new protection. For many, I guess you might say in your experience, becoming a citizen at a particular moment and then feeling truly Canadian—changing culturally in some ways, maybe your tastes will change, your patterns of social interaction, maybe your accent, maybe your clothing—it all adapts a little. Maybe you would say that that process took place over a period of time.

You see, there is often a process involved in being what you have officially become. When you and I first trust in Christ, the cleansing benefits of his death are applied to us by faith. We are cleansed. We are made holy so that now belonging to Jesus, being united to Jesus, being in Christ, as the Apostle Paul would say, the holy God, he now looks on us not as a defiled people, but as a holy people. There is an objective change that takes place at the time of our conversion. We suddenly have access to the holy God through Jesus, our High Priest. We are welcomed into his presence. We become citizens of heaven, a holy people cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

But all of us Christians will know that the process of becoming holy in increasing measure in our way of life, the process of becoming what we now are in Christ, well, that's a lifelong process. That doesn't happen overnight. There may be some immediate changes that we do see and that others around us are going to notice as well. Maybe there's actually an immediate transformation that's pretty radical, and maybe people around us, they say, "Hey, what's happened to you? What's taken place in your life? You're so different." Maybe the changes are more gradual, more subtle, and often that's the way. But in any case, wherever we are in this journey, we all still have a long way to go.

That's true for each one of us here. If we reach that moment this side of heaven when we feel like we've just made it in terms of our practical holiness, now we're the finished article, well, that is a dangerous moment for us because we're frankly deluded. And so the challenge for us is to hear and to heed and to respond to the call to holiness. And we need to take that call very seriously. I fear that sometimes we can be so comforted by the message of the love of God and the grace of God that we can convince ourselves erroneously, we can convince ourselves that his call to holiness isn't actually all that serious and isn't all that sincere.

We convince ourselves that in this era of God's dealing with us in grace and through Christ, we convince now that in these days in Christ, he's not too worried about our behavior anymore, that doesn't really matter. We're saved by grace and nothing else really matters. But if we read the New Testament with any care at all, we see that the call to holiness is not diminished by the grace of Christ, but it is actually amplified.

1 John chapter 1 and verse 5: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."

1 Peter 1 and verse 14: "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy." Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14: "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." And of course we could continue. The pursuit of holiness, the life of holiness, it is at the very heart of the message of the New Testament.

God's design for us and for our salvation in Christ, it is not to bypass the call to holiness. It's not to let us off the hook or relax his standards. No, God's design in the gospel and God's plan is to make for himself a holy people. In Jesus at the cross, he dealt with our sin that we might be reconciled to him. He did that that we might become a fitting home for his Holy Spirit, who would come to live within each one of us and enable us to do what we could never do on our own, to enable us to be what we could never be on our own, to enable us to pursue holiness and to grow in holiness. That's God's intention. That's his design. That's his call on our lives.

The great Victorian church leader, J.C. Ryle, says that holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of his word. I think that's so good. Let me read it again. Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of his word. Now, that's a great definition. That's a good description of what we are called to do each one of us.

And so let me ask you today, how is your pursuit of holiness going at the moment? How is mine, I ask myself. Where are you learning to hate what God hates, and where are you learning to love what God loves? Are you consistently measuring everything in this world by the perfect standard of God's word? I guess as we think about that, if we're honest with ourselves, if we belong to Jesus, if we're walking with Jesus, we will all say that there are some areas that are going a little bit better than others. Some aspects of our lives that are better reflecting the character of our holy God, and that's encouraging. It's good to see that and we should take heart. But we'll say also that there are some areas that frankly aren't reflecting well the character of our holy God.

See, none of us is the finished product. We will not reach perfection this side of heaven. We all have an awfully long way to go. But as I reflected upon this, it struck me that we probably fall into two very broad groups and categories essentially today. And I'm speaking now of believers. We fall into two groups when it comes to pursuing holiness, and we might belong to one group at one time and then move to the other. There are seasons in our Christian lives, I think.

There will be some here who at the present time are simply not pursuing holiness. That's the bottom line, that's the reality. You know it matters perhaps, you may be aware that you're not doing terribly well at it. Maybe if you're honest, you've kind of stopped striving for it. You stopped praying about sin in your life. You stopped turning to the Lord for the help of his Spirit to put sin to death in your life. You're frankly just not pursuing holiness very hard at the minute.

Augustine of Hippo tells in his confessions of how he lived an ungodly and unchaste life in his youth, and as he became aware of God's call to holiness in his life, he recounts how he prays to the Lord. He said, "Lord, make me chaste, but just not yet. Make me holy, I know I need to be holy, but give me some time." Not quite yet. You see, he liked his sin. He enjoyed his sin. He had come to see that he needed to let it go, but he wanted to linger there for a little while first.

Now, that was probably part of the process of conversion for Augustine, but I think it is possible for a believer to be holding on to sin—a sin that you know needs to go, something that needs to change, but you'd prefer just to enjoy it a little while longer.

Well, if that's you, and it may be a number, the urgent call today is to let go of that sin, to repent of it, to turn from it, and once more to turn to the Lord for his merciful and gracious help. He calls us to be holy. He made us holy in Christ and he requires us to live as his holy people. Now, that's one group.

The other group will be those who are actively pursuing holiness with the help of the Spirit. You're saying no to sin, you're seeking to put it to death, and you're concerned about the sin that you still see in your life. And perhaps there will be times where that remaining sin, that indwelling sin, it burdens you, it concerns you, it grieves you, it weighs you down. See, if we're being serious about holiness and pursuing holiness, there will inevitably be seasons when we feel just like that.

And as we close, if that's you, let me encourage you. I think a mark of growing in Christ is an increasing awareness of sin. If our mind is being conformed to the mind of Christ through the word of God, we will be more acutely aware of sin in our own lives, and we will grieve over sin if we share the heart of God. And so if the sin in your life grieves you, and you feel moved to address it, let me encourage you to take that as a good sign of spiritual life.

That dynamic, it is a sign of God's active work in your life by his Spirit. Sometimes I think we can feel burdened and wonder if we're still struggling with sin, if there's still sin present in our lives, are we converted at all? But if there's a struggle there and there is the prompting of the Spirit to address it and there is a grief over sin, that's a mark of the Spirit's work.

Here's a word of encouragement from A.W. Tozer. He writes this for the believer feeling burdened in the pursuit of holiness. He says, "We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by. We must take refuge from God in God. Above all, we must believe that God sees us perfect in his Son while he disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers of his holiness."