Praying for Sactification

We are in the 4th stanza of Psalm 119 and have looked at the Psalmist as he moves from his sin to the sovereignty of God. As we move from verse 25 we come to our Sanctification.

Sanctification is the process by which God makes us holy. He does not skip that process in any of His children. If you have been born again…He is sanctifying you. There is one type of Christian and only one: a person who has been justified and who is being sanctified…that’s it!

Now, you are justified by grace alone through faith alone, but sanctification is not only by God’s grace…it starts with Grace, but God doesn’t do it for you in a way that you have to put forth no effort…in other words there is no idea of “Let go and let God” in the Bible. He does it by working in your will and your desires as you work out what He is doing through the strength He gives you. In the final three verses the psalmist speaks of doing three things, but I think there is a fourth thing found in verse 27, so let me give you four things we must do to grow in our sanctification.

First, let’s look at his devotion in verse 27, “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.” You see it? God if you make me understand it, I will meditate on it. It takes grace to understand the living and active spiritually inspired Word, and it takes good ole sweat equity to meditate on it.

You’ll have to kill a million warring thoughts to stay focused, but if you are going to be holy you will have to devote yourself to meditation. There is no way around it…think about the Word when you wake up, while you go throughout the day, when you lie down…make the Word the default setting of your brain!

Second, look at his decision in verse 30, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.” You must choose today, tomorrow, and every day whom you will serve. It is the best way, He has the words of life; life here and life eternal, and His way is abundant with peace and joy, but you won’t just stumble upon that path…you must choose.

He asked God to graciously teach him in verse 29 and now he says, I have chosen the way of faithfulness. How does he do it? He sets the rules of God before him.

He comes to the Word,

and stays in the Word,

and allows the Holy Spirit to direct his path through the Word.

Listen, the Word must dictate our politics, our recreation, our relationships, our work, our home life…everything must come under the Word of God. Set it before you and live it.

Don’t be a disciple of the news anchors, don’t be a disciple of the radio talking heads, and don’t be a disciple of any political party…be a disciple of Jesus and live it by living out His Word in obedience. As followers of Jesus we are citizens of His Heavenly Kingdom…let’s live like it.

Third, look at his determination in verse 31, “I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame!” This is same word we saw in verse 25…I do like the KJV’s translation of this verse, “I have stuck unto they commandments.” He is not stuck with—it isn’t a burden…he is stuck to—it is a commitment, a determination. It is one thing for me to say, “I’m stuck with Kim,” and another thing for me to say, “I’m stuck to Kim.” You must choose, you must cling with everything you have to God’s Word!

Finally, look at his desire in verse 32, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart.”

He will meditate—that’s his devotion;

he will choose—that’s his decision;

he will cling—that’s his determination;

and he will run—that’s his desire.

Now get this, God, I will run when you enlarge my heart! It is amazing…when you run your body needs more oxygen, that’s why your breathing grows more rapid, but then your heart works harder to get the blood to your body and without the proper amount of oxygen lactic acid grows and your performance drops…what is amazing is that as you run more and more, your heart grows…it actually enlarges in a good way.

I’m not sure how much of that the psalmist knew, but he did know this—the more God enlarged his heart the more he could run and the more he ran in God’s commands the larger his heart would grow.

There are three main verbs in this stanza and all three have to do with his prayer:

give me life,

strengthen me,

and enlarge my heart…and from those three prayers we find these four resolves:

I will meditate,

I will choose,

I will cling,

and I will run.

What do you need to do today, right now at this moment, to grow in your faith? Christianity is a lot like riding a bike—you go forward, you go backward, but you really can’t just stand still. If you are saved, God has declared you to be not guilty and He has declared you to be righteous, and the moment He justifies you He begins to make you holy…He begins to conform you into the image of Jesus.

If there is no evidence of that process, something is wrong. Something is lacking. If there is no evidence of progressive sanctification in your life you really must come back to the beginning and make sure you are actually saved. What do you need to do to grow in your faith? Will you do it?

In the early 2000’s I made several trips to Mombasa, Kenya. In that port city there stands a bell, pictured above, and that bell is all that is left of Frere Town, a place for freed slaves, is a bell from an Anglican church that was built by the freed slaves. They would often ring the bells to sound warnings when Arab slave ships were seen approaching Mombasa Island.

What do we do when the Holy Spirit warns us of danger? Do we flee temptation and grow or succumb to it?