Sanctification is a done deal
INTRODUCTION
The word “sanctification” comes from the verb “sanctify” which derives from the Greek word hagiazo, which means to be "separate" or to be "set apart." In the Bible, sanctification generally relates to a sovereign act of God whereby He "sets apart" a person, place, or thing in order that His purposes may be accomplished. When a person is sanctified he or she is being set apart by God for a specific divine purpose. The very moment we are saved in Christ we are also immediately sanctified and the process begins to conform us to the image of Christ. As God's children we are "set apart" from that moment to carry out His divine purposes unto eternity
• 1 Peter 1:2 [you] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.
Holiness and sanctification are inseparable; you cannot have one without the other. Putting it simply sanctification is how God makes you holy and holiness is the result of God’s work of sanctification in your life. Sanctification is a gradual process that involves both our part and God.
Stanley Grenz, a well known theologian views sanctification as a process of transformation of the one who is saved into Christ likeness which extends through out life time. It is the process whereby we are renewed according to the image of God, conformed to the image of Christ, and enabled to die to ourselves and live to God.
Wayne Grudem, another theologian defines sanctification as a work of God and man in cooperation – a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in actual life.
1. HOLINESS IS A COMPLETE REALITY
God has made you holy. Through faith in Christ and His blood shed for you on the cross, YOU HAVE BEEN SACTIFIED, SET APART UNTO GOD and MADE HOLY. At the moment you were saved it was a done deal, a complete reality. As Jesus said “It is finished” from the cross, God’s work to make you holy is finished and complete in you when you put your faith in Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 1:30 [Christ Jesus] is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom.
Jesus does not leave his work incomplete and unfinished. He has completed the work to make us holy before God at the cross. Regardless of how good or bad a sinner you may have been before you came to Christ and put your faith in Him, HIS DEATH MAKES YOU HOLY. JESUS’ DEATH PAID THE PRICE FOR ALL SINNERS TO BE MADE HOLY.
When we ponder about the scene in the garden Gethsemane, Jesus was preparing for His death. He was struggling as a mere human to face this terrible death. Luke tells us that His sweat was like blood (Luke 22:44). That was the intensity of mental and emotional suffering that Jesus had to go through prior to His crucifixion. Do you know why? Because He wants to make us holy. Through Jesus we are made holy; it is a complete reality! Jesus need do nothing more to make you holy. You have been sanctified, consecrated and set apart unto God. It is a done deal!So, what is next?
2. SANCTIFICATION IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS.
Holiness is a complete reality, but it is also a continual process of growth and maturity in our daily lives.Holiness is a completed work in that God sees us POSITIONALLY as made holy through Christ Jesus. We were dead in our sins, but when we put our faith in Christ Jesus to rescue us from our sin, then immediately GOD SEES US POSITIONALLY IN CHRIST AS HOLY.However, holiness is also PROGRESSIVE; it is a PROCESS of growth and development. We all start at the same place; we are sinners saved by God’s grace. As we turn from our sin to follow Christ we must walk with Him step by step by step. Holiness is a continual lifelong process of growth and maturity to become more like Jesus moving from where we started to the positional place where God sees us as holy.
• 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We are not to come to Jesus and then remain just as we were; WE ARE TO GROW! We should be more like Jesus today than we were yesterday. To walk in holiness should be our desire and our goal. I don’t want to live the old life of sin; I want to live for Jesus!
• Colossians 3:1-3 [1] So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. [2] Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. [3] Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life.
Paul says, “LIVE DIFFERENTLY!” Don’t focus on the things of this world; it only leads to sin and death! Instead focus on the things of Christ! Someone has rightly said,
3. HOLINESS IS A CHOICE
• 1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
We are not to live as disobedient children, but as obedient children of God. We are no longer ignorant of what God wants; God has set us free from sin and we know how He wants us to live. But we must daily choose to do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. We must choose to cooperate with God! God is at work within us, but we must make the choice to work with God.
• Philippians 2:12-13 [12] . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Notice it is a combined work. God is working in us to accomplish His will for His good pleasure, and WE WORK OUT OUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING! We must cooperate with God through the daily choices we make.God is not going to force His will and purpose on our lives. He shows us the path to walk, but we must still make the right choice!
• Romans 6:1-2 [1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Paul encourages us to not make the wrong choice. We have been made alive to Christ and have died to sin, so DON’T LIVE FOR THE DEVIL; LIVE FOR GOD!Here is the good news, God is right there to help us with every choice. We don’t have to live our lives chained to sin and death; we have been set free to live for Christ.
4. HOLINESS IS CONTROL OVER SIN
Holiness is not PERFECTION! Yes we may sin, but because we are alive in Christ, we feel the pain of sin and turn back to God for forgiveness.
• Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I particularly like the picture Paul uses here; we are no longer slaves to sin, but SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. Slaves do not live for themselves; slaves live to please their master. And when a slave disobeys the master they will experience the master’s discipline; the master won’t just ignore their disobedience, but will rebuke and correct the slave’s disobedience.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 [3] It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; [4] that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, [5] not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; [6] and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. [7] FOR GOD DID NOT CALL US TO BE IMPURE, BUT TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE. [8] Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
If you think it is impossible to live a holy life then you have missed the whole point! Yes, alone and by yourself you are doomed to failure, but Jesus has not left us to live our lives alone an in our own strength. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us to empower us to overcome sin.
CONCLUSION
The work of sanctification will ultimately be completed in every believer's life when Jesus Christ returns. However, until Christ returns we are to work our sanctification. Work here does not mean work our ways to be saved but instead work our ways to maintain and grow in the sanctification that comes upon the regeneration. They are the fruits of a regenerate heart – total obedience to God and a sense to Glorify God in the mortal body. They are not only in external conformity with the law of God, but are also done in the conscious obedience o the Will of God – as required by God.
The word “sanctification” comes from the verb “sanctify” which derives from the Greek word hagiazo, which means to be "separate" or to be "set apart." In the Bible, sanctification generally relates to a sovereign act of God whereby He "sets apart" a person, place, or thing in order that His purposes may be accomplished. When a person is sanctified he or she is being set apart by God for a specific divine purpose. The very moment we are saved in Christ we are also immediately sanctified and the process begins to conform us to the image of Christ. As God's children we are "set apart" from that moment to carry out His divine purposes unto eternity
• 1 Peter 1:2 [you] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.
Holiness and sanctification are inseparable; you cannot have one without the other. Putting it simply sanctification is how God makes you holy and holiness is the result of God’s work of sanctification in your life. Sanctification is a gradual process that involves both our part and God.
Stanley Grenz, a well known theologian views sanctification as a process of transformation of the one who is saved into Christ likeness which extends through out life time. It is the process whereby we are renewed according to the image of God, conformed to the image of Christ, and enabled to die to ourselves and live to God.
Wayne Grudem, another theologian defines sanctification as a work of God and man in cooperation – a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in actual life.
1. HOLINESS IS A COMPLETE REALITY
God has made you holy. Through faith in Christ and His blood shed for you on the cross, YOU HAVE BEEN SACTIFIED, SET APART UNTO GOD and MADE HOLY. At the moment you were saved it was a done deal, a complete reality. As Jesus said “It is finished” from the cross, God’s work to make you holy is finished and complete in you when you put your faith in Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 1:30 [Christ Jesus] is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and he gave himself to purchase our freedom.
Jesus does not leave his work incomplete and unfinished. He has completed the work to make us holy before God at the cross. Regardless of how good or bad a sinner you may have been before you came to Christ and put your faith in Him, HIS DEATH MAKES YOU HOLY. JESUS’ DEATH PAID THE PRICE FOR ALL SINNERS TO BE MADE HOLY.
When we ponder about the scene in the garden Gethsemane, Jesus was preparing for His death. He was struggling as a mere human to face this terrible death. Luke tells us that His sweat was like blood (Luke 22:44). That was the intensity of mental and emotional suffering that Jesus had to go through prior to His crucifixion. Do you know why? Because He wants to make us holy. Through Jesus we are made holy; it is a complete reality! Jesus need do nothing more to make you holy. You have been sanctified, consecrated and set apart unto God. It is a done deal!So, what is next?
2. SANCTIFICATION IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS.
Holiness is a complete reality, but it is also a continual process of growth and maturity in our daily lives.Holiness is a completed work in that God sees us POSITIONALLY as made holy through Christ Jesus. We were dead in our sins, but when we put our faith in Christ Jesus to rescue us from our sin, then immediately GOD SEES US POSITIONALLY IN CHRIST AS HOLY.However, holiness is also PROGRESSIVE; it is a PROCESS of growth and development. We all start at the same place; we are sinners saved by God’s grace. As we turn from our sin to follow Christ we must walk with Him step by step by step. Holiness is a continual lifelong process of growth and maturity to become more like Jesus moving from where we started to the positional place where God sees us as holy.
• 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We are not to come to Jesus and then remain just as we were; WE ARE TO GROW! We should be more like Jesus today than we were yesterday. To walk in holiness should be our desire and our goal. I don’t want to live the old life of sin; I want to live for Jesus!
• Colossians 3:1-3 [1] So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. [2] Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. [3] Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life.
Paul says, “LIVE DIFFERENTLY!” Don’t focus on the things of this world; it only leads to sin and death! Instead focus on the things of Christ! Someone has rightly said,
3. HOLINESS IS A CHOICE
• 1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
We are not to live as disobedient children, but as obedient children of God. We are no longer ignorant of what God wants; God has set us free from sin and we know how He wants us to live. But we must daily choose to do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. We must choose to cooperate with God! God is at work within us, but we must make the choice to work with God.
• Philippians 2:12-13 [12] . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Notice it is a combined work. God is working in us to accomplish His will for His good pleasure, and WE WORK OUT OUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING! We must cooperate with God through the daily choices we make.God is not going to force His will and purpose on our lives. He shows us the path to walk, but we must still make the right choice!
• Romans 6:1-2 [1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Paul encourages us to not make the wrong choice. We have been made alive to Christ and have died to sin, so DON’T LIVE FOR THE DEVIL; LIVE FOR GOD!Here is the good news, God is right there to help us with every choice. We don’t have to live our lives chained to sin and death; we have been set free to live for Christ.
4. HOLINESS IS CONTROL OVER SIN
Holiness is not PERFECTION! Yes we may sin, but because we are alive in Christ, we feel the pain of sin and turn back to God for forgiveness.
• Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I particularly like the picture Paul uses here; we are no longer slaves to sin, but SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. Slaves do not live for themselves; slaves live to please their master. And when a slave disobeys the master they will experience the master’s discipline; the master won’t just ignore their disobedience, but will rebuke and correct the slave’s disobedience.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 [3] It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; [4] that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, [5] not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; [6] and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. [7] FOR GOD DID NOT CALL US TO BE IMPURE, BUT TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE. [8] Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
If you think it is impossible to live a holy life then you have missed the whole point! Yes, alone and by yourself you are doomed to failure, but Jesus has not left us to live our lives alone an in our own strength. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us to empower us to overcome sin.
CONCLUSION
The work of sanctification will ultimately be completed in every believer's life when Jesus Christ returns. However, until Christ returns we are to work our sanctification. Work here does not mean work our ways to be saved but instead work our ways to maintain and grow in the sanctification that comes upon the regeneration. They are the fruits of a regenerate heart – total obedience to God and a sense to Glorify God in the mortal body. They are not only in external conformity with the law of God, but are also done in the conscious obedience o the Will of God – as required by God.
posted by Rev. Silvester L.M. David at 8:00 AM
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