The Death Side. In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get sepulchral.

There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins.

"If any man come to Me and hate not . . his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death.

Am I willing to be "myself," and nothing more - no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest - simply ready for death? That is the condition of sanctification.

No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint.

We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so stern," we say; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is stern; and He does wish us to do that.

Am I willing to reduce myself simply to "me," determinedly to strip myself of all my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God?

Immediately I am, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with everything but God.

When I pray - "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me," He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself in me. (1 Cor. 1:30.)

Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it.

We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit. That is why whenever Our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF - you do not need to unless you like.

If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself, let him give up his right to himself to Me.

Our Lord is not talking of eternal positions, but of being of value to Himself in this order of things, that is why He sounds so stern (cf. Luke 14:26). Never interpret these words apart from the One Who uttered them.

The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation.

If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, viz., myself.

Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfil my spiritual destiny.

My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean; but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed.

When once God's Redemption comes to the point of obedience in a human soul, it always creates.

If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.

Lord , my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him: and he will shew them his covenant.—There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets.—Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him?

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.—If ye love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth.

Christ . . . hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.—Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.—God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.—In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

If ye love me, keep my commandments.—The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.—The house was filled with the odour of the ointment.—They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.—Emmanuel . . . God with us.—His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.—The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.—Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.—If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.—Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.—Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.—I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.—Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.