The sanctification of the Church a gospel for the world.
I. THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CHURCH.
1. Its form. Sanctification is essentially a being set apart for God. This involves two ideas.
2. Its character. Though the pure idea of sanctification is formal rather than moral, and means essentially a setting apart for God, it is only realized in the experience of personal holiness.
3. Its cause. God sanctifies his people. They must desire and seek the sanctification, but they cannot create it. Men may separate themselves from the world in external profession and habit, living as hermits in the wilderness, immuring themselves in cloistered monasteries, repudiating conventional manners with Puritan precision; and all the while they may remain worldly at heart. They may offer themselves formally for the service of God, and take office in the Church, and yet be only self-seekers and servants of sin. As purification is essential to sanctification, sanctification must be a Divine act. This is the great work of the Holy Spirit. God separates, consecrates, and purifies his people through the action of his Spirit in them.
II. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CHURCH ON THE WORLD. The heathen shall know that God sanctifies Israel. This fact will be a witness to the pagan world of the power and character of God. It will be a great sermon in history, a preaching in events. No preaching can be more powerful. The greatest hindrance to missionary work consists in the wicked conduct of persons from Christian lands who visit heathen countries. The example of the Christian life is its best help. Christ preached by his life more than by his words. His cross on Calvary is more eloquent than his Sermon on the Mount. If we desire to give a new impulse to missionary enterprises we must begin at home. We must first of all consecrate our own hearts and lives afresh to our Master; we must seek a new baptism of the Holy Ghost for the sanctification of the Church. The Pentecost that brought a spiritual blessing to the little company in the upper room at Jerusalem started the great evangelistic triumphs of the apostolic age. While it may be well to discuss missionary methods, we much more need to seek a spiritual revival of the home Churches, that a new impulse may be given to the most fruitful form of missionizing—the living influence of a consecrated people.