Sanctification. Selected Scriptures. – Bible study

SANCTIFICATION.

Selected Scriptures

September 23, 2001

PURPOSE OF THIS MESSAGE: To Biblically Show What is the Purpose of Salvation by Studying the Doctrine of Sanctification.

I. WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION?

A. Sanctification is the process of God’s Grace by which a believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God’s righteousness.
1. The Greek word for sanctification is “hagiasmos” meaning “separation or setting apart.”

2. The Hebrew word “qadash” kaw-dash’; means to (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally). The key to understanding this word in the Bible is that it means that something is pronounced as clean. We all know that we sinners and therefore we are unclean in God’s eyes. Therefore it refers to the act of God pronouncing us clean in His sight.

B. The verb refers to that which is sacred and thus distinct from that which is common place or profane.

1. The Holy of Holies in the Temple was sacred and therefore totally separated from the world being altogether in use to God’s service. It is further seen in that when something was sanctified it was dedicated completely to the Lord’s work and became defiled if used for any other purpose.

2. If something which had been ceremonially set apart to the Lord was defiled, until it was purified it could not be used for the service to the Lord.

C. Unger’s dictionary says, “the dominant idea of sanctification, therefore, is separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose. As the holiness of God means His separation from all evil, so sanctification, in the various Scripture applications of the term has a kindred lofty significance.”

II. SANCTIFICATION IS THE WORK OF THE WORD OF GOD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.

A. The Bible teaches that sanctification is accomplished within the believers life though the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.

B. Jesus prayed in John 17:15-17, 19, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. . . .And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

1. It is though the instruction of the Bible, God’s very word, that a believer can know how to be sanctified or live a pure godly life.

2. Further it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to enable us to act upon God’s instruction. God tells us, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

C. We are told in Ephesians 1:4, that God has chosen the believer and reconciled him to Himself in Christ for the purpose of sanctification. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

III. THE THREE ASPECTS OF SANCTIFICATION.

A. FIRST: The Believer is Sanctified When He Receives Christ.
1. The first aspect of sanctification is that God sanctifies abeliever when he is saved.

2. Note in Acts 26:18 that the verse says a believer is sanctified by faith in Christ. “To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

3. Paul clearly states the fact that believers were sanctified when they were saved. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

4. The writer of Hebrews says referring to the will of God says, “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:10)

5. Jude in the opening of his Epistle states believers are sanctified when they are saved. “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ” (Jude 1)

6. Understanding that to be sanctified means to be set apart or consecrated unto the Lord, we concluded that every believer is at the time of his salvation is a soul dedicated to the Lord.

a. It is not a partial dedication, but a complete consecration of the believer to the Lord’s service. It is God who in saving the believer sets him apart to live his life specially at the will and desire of God.

b. The believer is thus saved to be seeking and carrying out God’s will for his life. He is to turn control of his life over absolutely to the Lord.

B. SECOND: Sanctification Is A Process That Continues During The Believer’s Life.

1. The second aspect of sanctification has to do with the effect of being saved and set apart in the daily life of the believer.
a. God has willed that a Christian live his life always serving the Lord. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14) In looking at the first aspect of sanctification the Bible says we are sanctified by God when we are saved. This verse reveals a further aspect of sanctification and says that we are in the process of “being” sanctified.

b. Another verse which reveals this truth is Hebrews 2:11, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

2. Many verses in the New Testament such as Romans 12:1-2 address the truth that the believer has an important part in the on going process of his sanctification. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

a. Paul is saying to the child of God that he should present himself unto the Lord a living sacrifice. This clearly shows the action of the believer.

b. He must make the effort to present himself available for the Lord’s use. This is an action of the believer’s will. He must want to used of the Lord. He must pursue the Lord’s will. He should take positive action to set his course in life to be that which God would want. He places his own will into submission to God’s will.

3. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Paul prayed, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

a. The believer must understand that although he must actively seek to do God’s will, he can only accomplish this through God’s power in his life. In truth even the will and desire to obey the Lord and to live a godly life comes from the Lord. That desire comes when one is saved. But the old carnal will of man is still active and it does not desire to serve the Lord.

b. Here then is the arena. The new desire the believers receives when he was saved wants to do the will of God. The old nature opposes turning one’s life over to the Lord. Thus the course of the contest between the two wills of the believer is set. Paul reveals the conflict he experienced.

c. READ: Romans 7:18-29.

4. Paul in Romans 6:1-2 addresses desire to sin that is in every believers life. He says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

a. Through the remainder of Chapter 6, Paul addresses the very issue. He states that Christians should not allow sin to remain in their lives. In verse 4, he states that the believer is to walk a new life.

b. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

c. In verse 19 he presents it even stronger, “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

d. We are to see ourselves a slaves of righteousness “for” holiness. A slave is by the nature of his enslavement to be in absolute submission to his master. Thus we are instructed that we are to obey the Lord completely.

5. All these commands to live godly lives imply effort on our part. We must believe in Jesus, since we are “sanctified by faith in Him.” (Acts 26:18) Through the Holy Spirit we must also “put to death the evil deeds of the body.” (Romans 8:13) Paul itemized the many “works of the flesh,” from which we must separate ourselves.

6. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

7. To the Colossians Paul also related these truths:

a. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you lived in them.”

b. This list of sins involves the more gross sins of the flesh. The believer then seen to regard these types of sin as beyond those he would outwardly commit. However, Paul continues with a second list of sins which are more subtle. This next list is identified as those that can burden the believer.

c. “But now you must also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. . . .Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:5-10)

8. The sinful and uncommitted life style of many professing Christians is absolutely foreign to the Scriptures. The believer is to “walk in the Spirit” which simply means walk letting God lead us. We are to set aside our goals and desires for the lofty and pure purposes of God which is the best life we can possibly live. We are God’s creation. We are not our own. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:20) As God’s child He wants the best for us.

C. Sanctification Will Be Complete In The Future When We Meet the Lord.

1. Sanctification as stated earlier is the process of God’s Grace by which the believer is separated from sin and become dedicated to God’s righteousness. The final act of sanctification comes in the future when the believer dies. At death the Christian is freed from his body of sin.

2. God dedicated us to live godly lives totally dedicated to Him. That was the purpose for which He saved us. After one is saved he is to exercise his will and discipline himself to fulfilling God’s purpose in saving him. He must fight temptation and actively seek to put his old sinful nature to death. It is a struggle! It is a real battle. Yet, through the power of God that is given the believer, he can overcome the flesh. He can live for the Lord.

3. Sanctification is the process of God in which the destructive course of sin is abated in our lives. As sanctification works in our lives, we yield ourselves to obey the Lord’s instructions. We then live cleaner, healthier, happier and more productive lives! That’s what God wants. That’s salvation is all about. Overcoming sins ruining effect making us what God our Creator intended that we be.

4. The Bible tells us we will never in this life fully conquer our carnal nature.

a. In this life, although we strive to be like Christ, we never will be perfect as He is perfect.

> b. The child of God will sin as 1 John 1:7-8 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

5. Some may falsely conclude that because the Bible says we will sin we have no choice. However, when the temptation comes we do not have to sin.

a. Romans 6:6 makes this clear. When Christ died for our sins He conquered sin and a believer does not have to sin. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)

b. James says temptation comes from the lust of our flesh, but that does not mean we can not resist it. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (James 1:14)

6. Paul quickly dispelled this false assumption that the believer has no choice but to submit to sin.

a. In addressing the Corinthians he told them, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

b. God wants us sanctified and thus separated from sin. He did not command us to do something without giving us the ability to do it. He always provides the means to escape the desires of the flesh which tempt us to sin. With every temptation comes the means of escape for the believer! Thank God for His provision!

IV. CONCLUSION.

A. In conclusion we can look at what James wrote to the church at Jerusalem.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:19-22)

B. That is the greatest instruction of the New Testament to believers. Be doers of the Word! God has dedicated us to live pure lives separated from sin. We then also because we are saved commit ourselves to that single purpose.

1. The believer has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the power of God to resist temptation and accomplish God’s will. It is a life long struggle fighting our bent to sin, but in the end, at death, the victory will be complete.

2. We will lose our sinful nature and never sin again! “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54) How we all should long for that day!

3. In that day we become perfect, because we no longer have the old nature. Christ has accomplished His plan, we will be perfect as He willed us to be.

C. But until that day we should dedicate ourselves to living for the Lord. We must admit that we have this nature to sin and thus confront it when it raises it ugly head.

1. We must live in the spirit of repentance as 1 John 1:9, states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) If we allow ourselves to be defiled by sin, we should on our knees confess our sin and in godly repentance turn from it.

2. The Apostle John said, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4)

To this I must conclude: AMEN! So be it!!

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