“Can the Lord Sanctify You?”
Matthew 16
5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Can the Lord sanctify you? is a question we need to answer because God only works through clean vessels. The devil is busy attacking families, churches and nations but are you a sanctified person through whom the Lord can work to bring about His victory?
The disciples presumed that the Lord was referring to the fact that they had forgotten to bring along bread for the trip. Our Lord Jesus was referring to something else completely – the “leaven of the Pharisees”. Their confusion is typical of what the devil is best at – confusing people! Satan is a confuser. The disciples, had they followed their line of logic, might have ended up gossping about Jesus being unreasonable in scolding them for forgetting bread. “They discussed among themselves” may have ended up with completely the wrong conclusion. Jesus then addressed this misperception and they understood. Perhaps you don’t discuss things with others, but you “discuss” with yourself. You get just as confused.
There are so many children of God who miss out on being sanctified because they do not speak to the Lord. Instead, they are busy speaking among themselves. Many miss out on the fact that holiness is simply the presence of God. He is the sanctifier.
James 1
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be ha hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in la glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but ha doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
He is the sanctifier. When we look into His Word it is like a person looking at themselves into the mirror. His Word is the “law of liberty” and not legalism. If you refuse to let this “law of liberty” do its work you will fail to be sanctified.
The devil will do everything in his power to confuse people so that they waste their lives. An example is a certain Sarah who lost her husband and her little baby.
Sarah became heir of a vast fortune, but no amount of money would assuage her grief. She possessed no answer to the death or loneliness that overwhelmed her. Sarah sold her home in New Haven, moved west with her boundless fortune, and finally reached a spot near San Jose where she found a large house under construction on a big piece of land. She purchased the house, tossed away the plans, and started building whatever she chose. For thirty-six years her workers built and rebuilt, altered and changed and constructed and demolished one section of the house after another. Railway cars brought in supplies, and every morning Sarah met with her foreman to sketch out new rooms. Rooms were added to rooms, wings were added to wings, levels were turned into towers and peaks. Staircases led nowhere. Doors opened to nothing. Closets opened to blank walls. Hallways doubled back upon themselves. Sarah Winchester depleted her fortune by building and rebuilding, remodeling and renovating her vast, confusing, sprawling, unplanned mansion. Her only “friends” were the spirits of those that had been killed by the Winchester rifles who she met in the blue room every night after the bell tolled at midnight. But the Bible says that they are not spirits of the dead, but demons. She sought no help from others who might have helped her.
Will you allow the devil to confuse you like he did with Sarah? Or will you allow the Lord to sanctify you?