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In Judging the Heart, we learned that sanctification is essential for salvation. What is sanctification and how do we obtain it? The definition of sanctification is “to set apart as holy; consecrate, to make free from sin.”i
For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication (1 Thessalonians 4:2-3).
Sanctification is having a transformation of character that enables us to keep God’s law. It is the ability to “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
This transformation of character can only be obtained by faith and acceptance of Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins:
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
We cannot obtain sanctification unless we have accepted Jesus as our Saviour and have His Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Then by faith and the surrender of our will to Him our characters are transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says we must believe the truth “because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
What is the truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He also said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).
We must have a personal relationship with Jesus and this is obtained through the study and acceptance of God’s Word, the Bible. The Holy Spirit helps understand God’s Word and convicts us that we are sinners in need of a Saviour. We are then pointed to Jesus who is our forgiveness if we confess our sins. Then we undertake the change of character that enables us to keep God’s law as we begin to grow in this new birth experience.
This is a work of a lifetime. It is not instantaneous. Jesus described this by giving us the example of how corn grows:
first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:28).
Paul also describes this transformation in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This glass is the mirror that James refers to in James 1:23-25:
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in this work of sanctification for us:
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2).
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).
God is more than willing and able to perform this work of sanctification in our lives. What is our part in all this? We must keep our eyes on Jesus and not allow Satan to distract us with the things of this world or our own past failures and difficulties. We must remain on the path where our feet can walk in safety. This is simply done by God’s word at work in our lives. The Psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). We may claim the promises of our faithful and merciful God everyday.
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. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Ahead to Probation and God's PromisesBack to Judging the Heart
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