OUR GREAT SALVATION: Sanctification

Focus:      In the Fall, human nature became depraved – passions became unruly, thinking distorted, and spiritual life died.  But in Jesus Christ, we are sanctified; we are changed into His holiness.  We are separated from sin unto God for holy service.

1 Corinthians 6:11  ...But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

  In this study we have another aspect of salvation being pictured.  Sanctification is a temple scene where men are set apart, dedicated and consecrated for service and ministry in the presence of a holy God. 

   Immediately when a person asks Jesus to be his Savior and Lord, and repents of his sins, he is set aside as a special vessel to accomplish God’s will.  When a man is born again, he is a new creation in Christ Jesus!  This is regeneration, but it is also sanctification.

   Sanctification contains these two ingredients:  service and holiness.  These may also be called dedication and separation.  The meaning of sanctification expresses a separation from wrong and evil and dedication to God and His service.  The Scriptures make clear that sanctification has to do with the turning away from all that is sinful and defiling to both soul and body.  However, it means not only a separation from, but also a separation unto.  In order to be sanctified, a person must be not only separated from sin, but also separated unto holiness.  Whatever is set apart from a profane to a sacred use, whatever is devoted exclusively to the service of God, is sanctified.

   The child of God is not only responsible for coming out and being separate.  He is also responsible for maintaining that separation.  When he is filled with the Holy Ghost, he becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, holy and sanctified.

Keeping a list of Do’s & Don’ts  does not make you holy.

   Men and women become holy because God makes them holy and sanctifies them by His own presence. Apart from the presence of God, there is no way a person may become holy.  Keeping a list of Do’s & Don’ts does not make you holy.  It is through the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life that you are sanctified.  There is no sin beyond the power of Jesus to erase.  The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on Calvary, cleanses from ALL sin!

   One of the most powerful agents the Lord uses in sanctifying His people is His Word.  The Word has the ability to reveal a man’s true condition to himself, bring him under conviction, and finally to his knees in prayer and true repentance.  The source of faith is in the hearing of God’s Word (Romans 10:17).  God’s Word cleanses, purifies, and sanctifies! (John 15:3, John 17:17, Ephesians 5:26)

   A man who has been sanctified must continue to live according to God’s Word.  If sin is committed, it disturbs the relationship with a holy God and breaks the fellowship.  Sin must be forgiven through confession and repentance.  To be saved, a man must be sanctified; without holiness all men are lost.

Adapted from Word Aflame