April 9: THE POWER TO SANCTIFY
“Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” John 8:43
Jesus has a direct way of putting His finger on the root cause of a problem. In today’s verse, He addresses spiritual leaders for their refusal to listen to Him. Their unbelief is disabling. In His pure and perfect love, Jesus points out error. Yet we have become experts at dodging His commands.
If someone asks why this or that instruction of the Lord is ignored, a litany of “reasons” is recited. But if I find myself in a position of needing to explain a habit or practice of mine that is out of harmony with Scripture, then I am already guilty of unbelief. God’s truth stands on its own merit. The only safe thing to do is pause and humbly acknowledge the precarious path I have been traveling. My reasoning will inevitably be seen for what it is: human ideas, conceived apart from God, that have been elevated above His word.
The devil’s influence on the mindset of the Pharisees is the very same influence he pushes onto you and me, rendering us not able to listen. Jesus warned thrice, “you will die in your sins” (vv.21,24). His Holy Spirit can enable us to listen that we might truly hear what He is saying and thus be saved. But each of us must choose to allow it. Up until now, we have allowed another spirit, not of God, to influence our thinking.
Most of the Christian world singles out the longest commandment of the decalogue as the least important. It is the fourth commandment. All of the commandments are interconnected, like links of a chain. James reminds us: For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all (James 3:10). Every one is vitally important as part of the collective whole. Therefore, we are not to classify any one of them as “least”. Jesus said, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least…” (Matthew 5:19)
A thoughtful look at the fourth commandment (see Exodus 20:8-11) reveals the Lord’s unique identity as Creator, for only He can supply the divine and sacred spark that creates life. Likewise, He alone provides the divine and sacred spark that re-creates. We must know Who it is that we worship! Only the Creator has the power to re-create! King David prayed: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
Jesus calls us to come to Him just as we are, in abject spiritual poverty (Matthew 5:3). Oh, how He loves us! But He does not leave us there. In a love relationship with Him, we will find that He faithfully guides us onto the paths of righteousness. This is sanctification! And the One with the power to transform me into His likeness knows that my sanctification is not just about me, for His name’s sake—His character and reputation—is at stake in the eyes of others (Psalm 23:3).
Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20:12 (see also Genesis 2:1-3; Isaiah 56:6; 58:12-14; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 23:56; Acts 13:42-44; 17:2)