Is there a quick way to achieve sanctification? Should all Christians be sanctified? What is sanctification? Let s take the last question first

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1 SANCTIFICATION (II Thess. 2:13-17) I grew up in circles that taught a doctrine known as entire sanctification. Basically, it is considered to be a second work of grace that brought you into a condition of sinlessness here on earth. Men such as John Wesley and Charles Finney were leading exponents of this doctrine. It is also inextricably linked with the saved and lost doctrine of Arminianism. In Wesley s Forty-Four Sermons it is known as perfect love. Sometimes it is also referred to as sinless perfection, or just simply perfectionism. It teaches that the heart of the born-again Christian can reach a state of holiness in this life where they are free from original sin, and they are sinlessly perfect. The means by which any believer can claim this entire sanctification is the same as how you prayed and invited Jesus Christ into your heart. Becoming a Christian was the first work of grace, and entire sanctification was the second work of grace. It is also referred to as the second blessing, and it is a doctrine upon which the Holiness movement was founded. It contributed to the re-introduction of modern Pentecostalism, especially in the 1906 Azuza Street Revival. As you can see, it relied upon a particular understanding of the term sanctification. Unfortunately, it was presented, - being part of the Arminian system, - as something that is totally within human ability to achieve and it also depended upon human ability to maintain. It is a spurious unbiblical doctrine, with its roots in the early church heresy of Pelagianism (i.e. the belief that original sin did not taint human nature irreparably, and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without the aid of the Holy Spirit). Is there a quick way to achieve sanctification? Should all Christians be sanctified? What is sanctification? Let s take the last question first WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION? Martin Luther described it very simply, We in Christ equals justification; Christ in us equals sanctification. The first time the word sanctify is mentioned in the Bible is as early as the second chapter of Genesis. Therefore, it is a foundational doctrine of Scripture, - that is how important it is, 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. He set it apart from the other six days, and declared it to be different. On the other six days He was working, but on the seventh day He rested.

2 2 As a consequence, He dedicated and separated that day out of all the rest to be a special day. That is the emphasis behind the word sanctify [qadash], - to be set apart and to be special. Another foundational aspect of sanctification is the reason for which something is sanctified and set apart. Continuing with the example of the seventh day The seventh day is set apart for rest in order to keep it holy (Ex. 20:8), - its primary fulfilment is gained from concentrating the Sabbath upon the holiness of God. The term sanctify is also applied to the implements and the people associated with the tabernacle. They were used for the single purpose of the worship of God. They were set apart unto Him as holy and sanctified, Ex. 29:44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office [kahan, to mediate]. 45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God. In order for God s presence to remain among them, the tabernacle had to be set apart and sanctified unto God. The tabernacle was His, and His alone. It was for no other purpose, apart from His glory. And so, the sons of Aaron, - the Levites, the priests, - were sanctified set apart by the command and will of God, Ex. 40:13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister [kahan, to mediate] unto me in the priest's office. 14 And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats: 15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office [kahan, to mediate]: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. In Deut. 7:6, the Lord spoke through Moses to the nation, - whom He also set apart, i.e. made holy and separate, - For thou art an holy [qadash] people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people [cegullah, a peculiar and valued treasure] unto himself, above all people that art upon the face of the earth. How did they become a holy, - sanctified, - people? Did they gain that privilege by virtue of their own merits? Did they do something that particularly pleased God, and therefore, won the right to be holy? No, but God made it perfectly clear why He set them apart and separated them as holy [qadash], v.7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.

3 3 So, sanctification in the life of the believer is a setting apart unto God by God, through grace, love, and mercy. Did we contribute to that work? Absolutely not, because sanctification, - like salvation, - is a work of God! The glory is His for achieving it. It has its source in the will and plan of God for His people. In the same way that God found you and saved you, He, - according to His own will, - He set you apart for Himself, Is. 43:1 I have redeemed thee, I have called [thee] by thy name; thou [art] mine. When God looks into Kirkcaldy, or Glenrothes, or Lochgelly, out of all the people He sees, - and He sees them all, - He particularly notices you because you belong to Him You are His! You are set apart! Before you were saved, He saw you and He decided, thou art mine. He claimed you as His in eternity, and He took you along the path where you would come to the knowledge that when His Son was hanging on the cross of Calvary, He was hanging there for you. And the reason He saved you? The reason He saved you was because He set you apart, - He sanctified you unto His glory, Rom. 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Even when you were not looking in His direction, He had already put into operation His plan to save you and in order to save you, He set you apart [qadash] in His will. And when He set you apart, He made a different creation out of you, for it is His will that you live in obedience to Him, Is. 43:21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. So, what is sanctification? Sanctification is God setting you apart for His glory, and it is the visible side of your salvation It shows that God is working in you. And that leads us into another aspect SHOULD ALL CHRISTIANS HAVE IT? Is sanctification, - being set apart unto God, - something all believers in Christ ought to have? Well, surely, yes it is! A.W. Pink wrote, The highway of holiness is the only path which leads to Heaven. Sanctification is the proof of your salvation. It is what demonstrates a changed life! How can you be saved and not sanctified not set apart? When you are saved you are given new spiritual garments, - so you look different; you have a new destination, - so you are travelling in a different direction; you have a new vocabulary, - you lose a whole lot of the old words, but you gain better ones; you have new friends, you have new interests, you have a new perspective on life Life changes from being all about you to about being how you can live for Christ.

4 4 Does it mean you are perfect, and you never sin? Well, of course not! Abram made mistakes, and Jacob, and David, as do all God s people. Even Paul confessed, Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The battle raged inside such a saint of God as Paul, therefore, we needn t consider ourselves exempt from Satan trying to pull us down, but look at how Paul confronted it, 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. I know how much I must battle with my sin and the devil is never slow at reminding me how weak I am, and that is when I must trust on my salvation in the Lord and His promise to keep me as a member of His family, for He says to all those who are His, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (II Cor. 12:8). My sanctification is as the consequence of my salvation in Christ, and my strength as a Christian is being maintained because I have Christ perfecting me, even in my weakness! On the flipside if there is no proof of God at work in my life, then He is not in my life! It is as straightforward as that! B.B. Warfield wrote, We can never know that we are elected of God to eternal life except by manifesting in our lives the fruits of election You cannot be saved, - and you cannot be sure you are saved, - without the process of sanctification showing the evidence you are being changed from the inside out for an unholy and an unchanged Christian is a contradiction of everything the Bible teaches! Another consideration worthy of emphasis is the fact we are not all the same Each of us are different, for we have different personalities, - that is the way God has made us. We are not robots. I have aspects of my personality that gradually are being changed, and similarly, so do you. Granted, some of the changes happened immediately while some other changes are ongoing Phil. 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus I m getting there, and the Lord will make sure I do get there! And because the Lord is taking me there, I cannot boast that I m getting there under my own steam! Here is how He does it it s through the process of sanctification, Eph. 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

5 5 Robert Murray McCheyne explained, If Christ justifies you He will sanctify you! He will not save you and leave you in your sins. It is not a second work of grace it is an ongoing work of grace! Here is another example from the Old Testament, Jer. 18:6 Behold, as the clay is in the potter s hand, so are ye in mine hand. Based on this analogy, the hymn writer wrote, Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mould me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still. Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me. Should all Christians have that desire? Yes, they should and if they don t, their alleged faith in Christ is suspect because when we profess to be saved, II Cor. 5:17 old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new and where there is conversion, there must be change! This new life in Christ is the consequence of being born-again You belong to the family of God, Rom. 8:15 ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. You have new life in Christ, and that new life enters into every part of you and you live as children of the holy God! Now, there are disappointments and the devil is never slow to point them out to us. However, it is better to be aware of them because if we are not, we will not know they need to be dealt with And often, it is the Lord Who points them out to us and sometimes, - depending upon whether we accept or otherwise what He is saying to us if we are not being obedient, - if we are being stubborn, - He will chastise us in order to correct us. That is what His Word tells us... in the Old Testament, Prov. 3:12 whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth and it is repeated again in the New, Heb. 12:6 whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Throughout this life, and from the moment He saved you, He is preparing you for Heaven He is carrying out the work of conforming you to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), - that is sanctification. The word for conform (su,mmorfoj) means having the same form as another. He is taking away from you those things that would be out of place in Heaven, and He is giving you those qualities that are characteristic of His holy and sanctified people. John writes, I Jn. 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we

6 6 shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. In the eyes of God, you are already pure not through anything you have managed to accomplish through your own efforts, but through Christ s death on the cross. If you are saved, you are sanctified, - set apart to be holy, - already. All the sin that stopped you from being pure and perfect as far as God was concerned has been taken and placed upon the Saviour. He bore your iniquity and all that God found abhorrent about you, and He saved you. And since He saved you, He has been working on you to prepare you for Heaven, - that is the process of sanctification. If you like, every citizen of God s Kingdom is a sanctified, saved sinner!... That is what God is doing in your life, - He is working on you, and He s working on me! Make me like a precious stone, Crystal clear and finely honed. I mentioned at the beginning of our study the doctrine of entire sanctification, whose exponents believe they can reach the state of sinless perfection in this life. Is there a quick way to sanctification? No, there s not. It is not like salvation. With salvation there is a definite time when you were born-again I know some folk can t always give you the date, but God knows it, - He knows the exact moment. Sanctification, though, is a process that continues in the believer until the Lord takes us into His presence, where there it will be complete. Indeed, sanctification is an ongoing work of God the Holy Spirit. At the same time, though, we have our part to play as Thomas Brooks wrote, The way of holiness that leads to happiness is a narrow way; there is but just room enough for a holy God and a holy soul to walk together. You need to seek after it, but the proof of you being a child of God is that you will seek after it. Every day we are engaged in a personal battle with the attempts of the world to influence and bring us down. And yes, sometimes, sadly, it temporarily achieves its purpose but one of the proofs you belong to Christ is that you don t stay down He lifts you up and out of the mire (Ps. 40) because you are His. You might feel like a failure, like the prodigal son feeding the pigs out in the field, but, - if you truly belong to the Saviour, - you are not happy until you get back to where you once were. No child of the King is happy in the gutters!

7 7 Sometimes obstacles arise to hinder the work of God in our lives, but that is when the process of sanctification gives us the resolve to keep persevering onwards. If you weren t saved, - if you were only pretending, - He would not pick you up, He would let you go your own way. That is how you know you are precious to Him, because He has promised to never leave you and He won t not even when you have been the one who has strayed! When you are truly His, - truly born again of the Holy Spirit, - He will never let you go, and He will keep preparing you for Heaven because you belong to His sanctified and called out people. Yes, sanctification is an ongoing process that is the work of God in the believer. Thomas Manton, the Puritan, said, A holy life and a bounteous heart are ornaments to the Gospel and ornaments are something you look after. You polish them and keep them clean. You set them in a place where others see them and admire them, Mal. 3:17 they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. That s God s purpose on this earth for His people. We are witnesses to His glory to what He has done for us. We are going to Heaven because of what He has done for us and what He is doing in us. It is His grace that has saved us, and it is His grace that is keeping us and preparing us for Glory through the work of sanctification. Should all Christians have it, then? Oh yes, you cannot do without it for sanctification is the proof of your salvation! Just one last question do you see the work of sanctification in your life? I m not asking if you reckon you are perfect (because you re not, not yet), but are you aware of how the Lord is working in your life, and changing you to be more like Him? Are you closer to Him today than you have been before? I trust you are and the answer ought to be Yes, I am closer. If that is not the answer, take a look at yourself, and pay really particular attention to what Peter wrote, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall (2 Peter 1:10). If you are not so certain, you need to make sure you have come by the way of the cross, and that Jesus Christ is in your heart as your Saviour and that He is also your Lord. This subject of sanctification is a mighty subject, but we have been looking at it simply this evening. It is a deep theological theme that is as vast as the doctrine of salvation but here is to where it all comes down Heb. 12:1 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. May He find us doing that, for His Name and for His glory s sake! Amen.