ly
concerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that
he could write as follows:

"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the
Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every
one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory
in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your
persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token
of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the
kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and
to you who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with ever-lasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in that day" (2 Thessalonians 1:1-10).

No higher commendation than this could be paid to any followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and yet unto such a people we find him saying, "This
is the will of God, even your sanctification."

It reminds us of that other scene in the New Testament when Nicodemus
comes to Jesus by night. He was a member of the Sanhedrim, he was in
the truest sense of the word a moral man, and yet Jesus, knowing all
this, deliberately looked into his face and said with emphasis,
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:5-7).

Both of these statements lead us to believe that God's requirements for
his people are very high. These we may not attain unto at all in our
own strength or the energy of our flesh or because of any inherited
righteousness which we may possess. There is no way to reach his
standard except by complete identity with Christ; a