The School of Sanctification
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· 389 viewsIn Egypt God delivers us from sin’s penalty. In the wilderness He is delivering us from sin’s power.
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Spurgeon said of the wilderness journey that it was “the Oxford and Cambridge for God’s students”.
Spurgeon said of the wilderness journey that it was “the Oxford and Cambridge for God’s students”.
The New American Commentary: Exodus 6. Grumbling Begins: Water at Marah and Elim and God’s Promise of Healing (15:22–27)
After the first great victory came the first big test.
The wilderness was God’s (School of Sanctification).
Egypt was necessary for God’s (School of Salvation) while the wilderness was necessary for God’s (School of Sanctification).
Salvation delivers us out of Egypt and sanctification delivers Egypt out of us.
Salvation delivers us out of Egypt and sanctification delivers Egypt out of us.
In Egypt God delivers us from sin’s penalty. In the wilderness He is delivering us from sin’s power.
In Egypt God delivers us from sin’s penalty. In the wilderness He is delivering us from sin’s power.
Israel was first rescued and given their requirements.
Israel was first rescued and given their requirements.
These requirements were not the basis of their salvation. God brought them out of Egypt, and then He instructed them on how to live.
These requirements were not the basis of their salvation. God brought them out of Egypt, and then He instructed them on how to live.
The book of Exodus illustrates salvation’s tenses. ; salvation as deliverance from sin’s penalty. ; salvation as deliverance from sin’s power.
The book of Exodus illustrates salvation’s tenses. ; salvation as deliverance from sin’s penalty. ; salvation as deliverance from sin’s power.
Sanctification 101: Process.
Sanctification 101: Process.
Notice was does not happen in
Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
They do not go into the wonder of The Promise Land but into wilderness wandering.
They do not go into the wonder of The Promise Land but into wilderness wandering.
You can get people out of slavery in an instant, but you can’t get the slavery out of people except through a long process.
Though legally they were free, actually they hadn’t learned how to be and think and work out their liberation into their lives, and that’s the reason why they don’t go right to the Promised Land.
Exodus makes no sense if you don’t read Deuteronomy.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
This wandering was not aimless but calculated.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Food in the Desert
In other words, the purpose of God in the wilderness was not rapid transportation. It was education. It was counseling. It was training. That’s the reason why Moses says, “The reason why you didn’t immediately go to Canaan was, even though you can get people out of slavery in an instant, you can’t get slavery out of the people except through a long process.”
Though legally they were free, actually they hadn’t learned how to be and think and work out their liberation into their lives, and that’s the reason why they don’t go right to the Promised Land.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
This wandering was not aimless but calculated.
This wandering was not aimless but calculated.
In other words, the purpose of God in the wilderness was not rapid transportation. It was education. It was counseling. It was training.
In other words, the purpose of God in the wilderness was not rapid transportation. It was education. It was counseling. It was training.
That’s the reason why Moses says, “The reason why you didn’t immediately go to Canaan was, even though you can get people out of slavery in an instant, you can’t get slavery out of the people except through a long process.”
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
You can take the person out of slavery in a moment, but you can’t take the slavery out of the person. The liberation he knows in principle in his head is not yet worked out into his life in the way he actually feels and the way he actually reacts and the way he actually lives. That has to happen through a process.
It’s in the sufferings of our lives we actually access in our hearts what we know with our heads, where we actually work out something in principle into actuality, where we actually take hold of the things we believe and know and work them out and say, “If this is true, then I should be acting like this. I should be looking like this. I should be living like this.”
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Therefore, the simple fact is you can be zapped legally into freedom, you can be pardoned, you can be forgiven, you can be liberated in all those kinds of ways, but it’s only through the wilderness experience that the principle of liberation becomes our practice of life.
Therefore, the simple fact is you can be zapped legally into freedom, you can be pardoned, you can be forgiven, you can be liberated in all those kinds of ways, but it’s only through the wilderness experience that the principle of liberation becomes our practice of life.
the wilderness experience that the principle of liberation becomes our practice of life.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
Do you see that? You say to God, “O Lord, make me a joyful person. Make me a happy person. Make me a loving person.” How does that happen? Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “This present suffering is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.” What does that mean? I’ll bet you, if you just read it kind of quickly without thinking about it, you think he’s talking something about a future, heavenly reward, but it’s more than that.
He says, “No suffering, no glory.” Do you know what glory means literally? The Hebrew word, kabed and the Greek word, doxa … Do you know what the word literally means? It means weight. It means substance. Here’s what he means. Let me consult your personal experience. Common sense. Not even the Bible here.
Do you know people who have had what we might call a charmed life?
It’s possible to be born when everything goes right. Everything is just fine. Everything is falling into place. If you know anybody like that (of course, it’s a temporary condition) you know they’re shallow. They’re not people of substance. They’re not people of depth. They’re not people of glory. They’re not people of stability. They’re not people of weightiness.
There’s a weightlessness about them. There’s a superficiality about them. No suffering, no glory. First, they really aren’t very good in relationships because they can’t sympathize with you. They don’t understand how other people feel. If you have a problem, they’re either indifferent to it or they kind of judge you.
Secondly, in their thinking, intellectually they tend to be superficial. They don’t have much in the way of insight about how life works. Of course, if anything really goes wrong, they freak out. They don’t know what to do! Paul is saying, “Do you want to be a happy person no matter what the circumstances? Do you want to be a strong person? Do you want to be a sensitive person? Do you want to be a deep person? Do you want to be a wise person? Do you want to be a person of substance, stability, and depth? This only happens through wilderness training.”
It only happens through the hard things. It only happens through the difficult things. For most, if not all, American’s this is bad news. Do you know why? We like technique. We like technology. We like pills. We like things that do things to us. What we say is, “Lord, make me happy. Make me strong. Make me loving. Make me wise. I’ll lie down right here, then do it to me. When the treatment is done, whatever you do (injections, ray gun), you just tell me when it’s done, because I’d like to go home.”
God says, “You don’t zap anyone into liberation. You don’t zap anyone into character. You don’t zap people. I invite you into a process. A painful process, an arduous process, a long process, but a process in which you are not an object; you’re a person. You’re someone who has to cooperate. You’re someone who has to participate in a personal process.” Therefore, God becomes a God of process and His process never lacks for His provision.
Sanctification 102: Provision
Sanctification 102: Provision
The Lord’s aim was humility. It was to free them from arrogance and pride. This is to say; God was freeing them from being their own god.
God provide a substitute for their Egyptian deliverance and now He is providing them sustenance in order to deliver Egypt out of them.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
After the first great victory came the first big test. Their first test served to remind them that they had come a long way but they still had a long way to go.
and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Notice how their Egyptian residue distorts their remembrance.
Sin wants you to live by your reality and trust your feelings.
Sin wants you to live by your reality and trust your feelings.
God’s Spirit wants our faith to interpret our reality and inform our feelings.
God’s Spirit wants our faith to interpret our reality and inform our feelings.
American preacher and Episcopal bishop Phillips Brooks said these famous words to his Boston Congregation in the 19th century.
The provision of a substitute and sustenance where both types of Christ. Jesus is the Lamb of God that delivers us
Rather, Moses’ faith in being willing to do what God commanded him, without understanding why or how it would work, is what is implicitly commended here
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
and he is the Bread of Life
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men and women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
It is Jesus who delivers us from Egypt and Egypt out of us. We will only be delivered from the Egyptian residue that remains in us as we learn to turn truth into bread. Our growth in freedom comes as we feast on Christ.
It was one thing for the Jews to stand by the Red Sea and joyfully sing praises to the Lord, and quite something else to trust God in their daily wilderness walk. They were no different from God’s people today. Life is still a school, and the painful experiences of life teach us some of the most important lessons.
Often after a great victory of faith, the Lord permits a trial to come to test us. When Abraham arrived in the Promised Land, he discovered a famine (Gen. 12:10), and after the glorious occasion of His baptism, our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 3:13–4:11). Elijah won a great victory on Mount Carmel, but after that faced a trial of faith (1 Kings 18–19).
Its more than cognitive truth it’s chewable truth. You have to chew it. You have to work it into your system.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
Not only is it chewable but it is consumable.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
Even though princes sit plotting against me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
Let the insolent be put to shame,
because they have wronged me with falsehood;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
There is an old saying; “you are what you eat”. It sounds true but a truer statement is “you are what you digest”.
Often after a great victory of faith, the Lord permits a trial to come to test us. When Abraham arrived in the Promised Land, he discovered a famine (Gen. 12:10), and after the glorious occasion of His baptism, our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 3:13–4:11). Elijah won a great victory on Mount Carmel, but after that faced a trial of faith (1 Kings 18–19).
Whatever we digest become part of our constitution (composition/character).
There is an old saying; “you are what you eat”. It sounds true but a truer statement is “you are what you digest”.
Whatever you digest becomes a part of who you are.
Often after a great victory of faith, the Lord permits a trial to come to test us. When Abraham arrived in the Promised Land, he discovered a famine (), and after the glorious occasion of His baptism, our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (). Elijah won a great victory on Mount Carmel, but after that faced a trial of faith ().
Hippocrates, who is the founder of medicine, said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” What does your spiritual diet consist of? If spiritual food is to be thy medicine and medicine be thy spiritual food. How is your spiritual health?
Be Delivered 1. Expect Trials to Come (Ex. 15:22–16:3)
Expect trials to come (Ex. 15:22–16:3)
“Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle,” wrote saintly Andrew Bonar. It’s possible to win the battle and yet lose the victory, which is what the Jews did as they left the Red Sea and began to march toward Mount Sinai. They forgot that life is a pilgrimage during which we must learn new lessons and fight new battles. One great victory doesn’t settle everything; we need challenging new experiences that will help us mature and glorify God. Yes, life is a school, and the Lord knows just when to give us an examination.1
Whatever we digest become part of our constitution (composition/character).
Whatever you digest becomes a part of who you are.
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Are you falling apart? Are you despondent? Then you are not consuming.
Expect trials to come ()
Expect trials to come ()
“Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle,” wrote saintly Andrew Bonar. It’s possible to win the battle and yet lose the victory, which is what the Jews did as they left the Red Sea and began to march toward Mount Sinai. They forgot that life is a pilgrimage during which we must learn new lessons and fight new battles. One great victory doesn’t settle everything; we need challenging new experiences that will help us mature and glorify God. Yes, life is a school, and the Lord knows just when to give us an examination.
“What shall we drink?” (15:22–27) Uppermost in the minds of the Israelites wasn’t how to please God but “What shall we eat?” and “What shall we drink?” According to Jesus, these questions reveal an anxious heart, not a trusting heart (, ), and this can lead to all kinds of problems.
God was testing His people, not because He didn’t know their hearts, but because they didn’t know their own hearts. People often say, “Well, I know my own heart,” but they forget that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” ()
The Lord tests us to encourage spiritual growth and bring out the best in us, but the devil tempts us to bring out the worst in us and to encourage spiritual immaturity.
If life were nothing but tests, we would be discouraged. If life were all pleasure, we would never learn discipline and develop character. The Lord knows how to balance the experiences of life, for He brought His people to Elim where they found plenty of water and opportunity for rest. Let’s be grateful that the Lord gives us enough blessings to encourage us and enough burdens to humble us, and that He knows how much we can take.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1998). Be delivered (pp. 75–76). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.
In our pilgrim journey through life, we live on promises and not explanations.
Be Delivered 1. Expect Trials to Come (Ex. 15:22–16:3)
The Lord tests us to encourage spiritual growth and bring out the best in us, but the devil tempts us to bring out the worst in us and to encourage spiritual immaturity
Wiersbe, W. W. (1998). Be delivered (p. 79). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.
Explanations don’t heal broken hearts, but promises do, because promises depend on faith, and faith puts us in contact with the grace of God
God’s glory (vv. 6–7, 9–10). The important thing was that Israel focus on the glory of God and not on their own appetites. If they walked by faith, they would glorify the Lord and bring honor to His name. It isn’t important that we’re comfortable in life, but it is important that God is glorified.
When circumstances are difficult, we’re prone to pray, “Lord, how can I get out of this?” when we ought to be praying, “Lord, what can I get out of this?” It isn’t important that we get our way, but it is important that God accomplishes His purposes and receives all the glory (). God permits trials so that He can build godly character into His children and make us more like Jesus. Godliness isn’t the automatic result of reading books and attending meetings; it also involves bearing burdens, fighting battles, and feeling pain.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1998). Be delivered (pp. 79–80). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Pub.