What are the conditions? These: Complete dedication of the entire personality to God, and continual reckoning upon His working within, both to “will and to do of His good pleasure”; thus transforming from “one degree of glory to another,” until Christ shall be fully formed within the personality. (See Phil. 2:13; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19.)
This dedication marks a second definite crisis in the life of the believer, but too often the subject is ignored by Christian workers, or presented in such a manner as to cause confusion and to lead into fanaticism. The teacher who has faithfully followed this course thus far will have little difficulty in leading the class to see the absolute necessity of a definite handing over of the whole being to God for His transforming work. It is the only logical thing to do, for God cannot fill a personality with the “Life of the Lamb” against the will of the person; and if the personality continues to manifest the life of the old Adam, he will not be a son brought to glory.
We have seen that God’s Plan of Redemption was settled judicially and decisively at Calvary, but if Christians are not enabled to become conformed to the Image of Christ, it cannot be said to have been settled effectually. Christ’s vicarious suffering for the members of the human race would not cause a realization of God’s Eternal Purpose for them, unless they were thereby enabled to partake of His Life and become conformed to His Image. The members of the human race must come into such a union with Him, that His death should be their death, and His Life their Life. “When Christ is said to die for another, it is upon the presupposition that such a one, a real believer, is to come into mystical, vital union with Christ; so that as thus identified with Christ, the believer dies with Christ to the life of self and sin, and then lives again in the power of a risen life” (from The Meaning and Message of the Cross). It is to be feared that many Christians see only the substitutionary aspect of Christ’s death, and their lives express what their lips would hardly dare to say-“Christ died for me; therefore I can live as I please.”
We have spoken of the Holy Spirit’s “method” of working at each crisis of appropriation. We noted the “brooding’’ until a sense of need is awakened, then the vision of Calvary as meeting the need, [then] the quickening of faith and energizing of the will before the choice of the individual is made; and we find this to be true in the case of the Christian who is led from Regeneration to Sanctification.
It will be observed that Sanctification includes the act of dedication, which is instantaneous, and transformation, which is a process, never ending until Glorification is realized. With this in mind, let us follow the working of the Holy Spirit at this crisis.
The regenerated one has begun to see that a life of victory is impossible; old habits assert themselves much to the grief of the person; resolutions are made but prove ineffectual in the hour of temptation. The condition of the believer is well described in Romans 7:22-24. The Holy Spirit has succeeded in causing a realization of need; now He whispers, “Look again to Calvary. See, not only did Christ suffer for your sins, but He took you with Him to the Cross. Your old self was nailed there with Him; with Him it was laid in the tomb, and that was its termination; for only the Life of Christ arose. Will you let His risen, victorious Life be lived out in your personality?” There is hesitation for a time as visions of possible future suffering and loss are presented to the mind, but the yearning love of Christ conquers, and then the irrevocable, inclusive yes is said. From the depths of the being comes the
Yes, Lord,
One great Eternal yes
To all my Lord shall say;
To all I know or yet shall know
Of all the untried way.
This is a blessed moment in the life of a child of God, for now the Holy Spirit is free to enter upon the transforming work which will eventually cause complete conformation to the Image of Christ.
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