We see what it is to be a Christian by looking at Colossians 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12): “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” The moment you have faith in God’s Son, you are fit to be with Him. The work of Christ alone makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. A saint is one who has been set apart to God by the work of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit. But, you will say, there must be sanctification. What does being sanctified mean? Separated to God. There is nothing so simple as sanctification as it is given us in Scripture. If you call practical holiness sanctification, it follows justification. But there is a sanctification which comes before it: “Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
God takes good care that the soul who believes His word never shall be lost. “God hath chosen . . . you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). The two things, sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, are inseparable; where one is, the other must be.
Our fitness for glory is the work that Christ has done for us and which fits us for the presence of God. Hence it is written in Hebrews 2:1111For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, (Hebrews 2:11), “Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” But there are the two sides of sanctification. There is the positional side, but there is also the progressive or the practical side. When a soul has received the Lord Jesus Christ, there ought to be progress practically, but first of all I get my position, and I must regulate my behavior by the relationship in which I stand. For instance, I don’t behave to you as your child would. Why? Simply because I am not your child. I must know that I am a child of God before I can walk as a child of God.
Notice these five points as to Christian position, as given to us in this chapter. First, we are made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” — for the light in which God dwells. Second, we are delivered from the power of darkness. Third, we are in the kingdom of the Son of His love. Fourth, we are redeemed through His blood. Fifth, we have the forgiveness of sins. Sixth, then, we have peace with God, and seventh, we are reconciled. “You, that were some time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight” (vss. 2122). That is how it all comes — through the death of Jesus clearing away my sins, and, I may say, myself too, and He is going to present us holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. W. T. P. Wolston, adapted
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: