The Doctrine of Sanctification

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we looked at the doctrine of justification. We are going to look at a closely related doctrine tonight called sanctification.

In “justification,” Christ’s righteousness is imputed to believers: it is reckoned to their account, judicially speaking. In sanctification, Christ’s righteousness is imparted: by the power of the Spirit, the converted sinner becomes more like Christ. The sinner is transformed in every area of his or her life: inward and outward, heart and action, relationships and purpose.

"Sanctify," "holy," "hallow," "sacred," and "saint" are translated from the same Greek root word, hagias. Basically they mean to be set apart for service. In the Bible many things other than people are said to be sanctified.

The Tabernacle furniture was sanctified, meaning it was set apart for God's service…

Exodus 40:10–13 KJV 1900

And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy. And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

Mt. Sinai was sanctified by God's presence and set off from the surrounding territory…

Exodus 19:23 KJV 1900

And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

Sanctification is taking something that is common and ordinary and setting it apart, separating it unto God’s service alone. This is the first and primary meaning of the word as it is used in the Bible.

I-THE MEANING OF SANCTIFICATION

A-It means to be set apart for God...

Romans 12:1-2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

1-Just as Jesus Christ had to take on Himself a body in order to accomplish God’s will on earth, so we must yield our bodies to Christ that He might continue God’s work through us. We must yield the members of the body as “instruments of righteousness” (Rom. 6:13) for the Holy Spirit to use in the doing of God’s work.

B-It means to have a holy life...

Leviticus 20:7 “7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.”

1-God is holy in every moment of time and in all circumstances; He calls us to be holy in every moment of time and in all circumstances, like Him. God’s holiness means that He is different, other than, and He is unique in that He is perfectly righteous. God calls us to be different, other than, in that we live righteously. Holiness is an intrinsic attribute of God’s nature, and God expresses His holiness through what He does. He calls us to a holiness that is internal and that we express through what we do.

C-It means to have a yielded life...

Romans 6:19 “19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”

1-Before salvation, we yielded to sin…In Christ, we can yield to righteousness.

It’s extremely important here that the wording is yield. We do not work to be sanctified, it’s not something we do, as we yield to the spirit and not to the flesh, we are able to do good things through the power that God has put in us.

A lot of people down through the years have become very prideful of their “sanctification”. It turns into the work they are doing living the sanctified life is what is going to get them to heaven, but that’s not it at all; we are to let our salvation work out of us, to be that living well of water that spring of water that that well that is springing up…

II-THE MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION

A-Sanctification comes from God...

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1-“Sanctify you wholly” means that we are to reach a place of spiritual maturity…God gives us the strength and the means to grow in Him - not to continue being babes in Christ, but growing unto maturity.

B-Sanctification comes by the Word...

John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 15:3 “3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”

1-The believer is set apart - sanctified by the Word of God. The Word of God reveals to the believer, the mind of God. As we read the Word of God, we will be lead to set ourselves apart.

2-The only way a believer can really obey God is by knowing His Word and following His Word.

C-Sanctification comes by the Holy Spirit...

2 Thessalonians 2:13 “13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”

Paul was encouraging the saints at Thessalonica with this great truth. God had chosen them for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. We are God’s special possession. We belong to Him. The Spirit of God does that at salvation, the moment we repent and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become new creatures in Christ and the Spirit sets us apart from sin, from the world, from our old way of living.

1 Peter 1:2 “2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

Sanctification is the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet it is the Holy Spirit who applies this triune work, freeing and empowering believers to become like Christ.

III-THE MOMENT WHEN SANCTIFICATION OCCURS

A-Sanctification is instantaneous...

Hebrews 10:10 “10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

1-When you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you were immediately set apart for God, permanently, once-and-for-all.

2-Before we were saved, Satan was our father (John 8:44) In Christ, God is our Father, we belong to Him for we have been bought with a price.

B-Sanctification is continual...

2 Peter 3:18 “18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

1-Being sanctified by God, born again by the Holy Spirit, every believer grows in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every living thing grows. We see more, feel more, do more, know more, repent more, believe more, and love more, as we grow in grace.

2-The believer grows in his state of holiness, grows in grace, in knowledge, in love, in faith, in consecration, and in all other aspects of spiritual life.

C-Sanctification will be complete when Christ returns...

1 John 3:2 “2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

1-Someday we will be perfectly set apart unto the Lord and His service. We will be without sin and failure. Our day of total redemption will have arrived when Christ returns at the Rapture.

CONCLUSION

We have been and are forever “sanctified in Christ Jesus...” Believers are referred to as “saints,” in the Bible - that is to say, “sanctified ones” in Christ Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ, the believer is regarded by God as perfectly holy, treated as if we were perfectly holy, and declared to be perfectly holy, because in Christ, that’s what we are. Imputed righteousness is where it starts, and by that, we are justified and sanctified. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us; and we are by his righteousness both justified from all things and declared to be holy. Sanctified, in the sight of God.