Sanctification is defined as “to set apart” for special use or purpose. Additionally, it can also be defined as a state of total separation from all types of ungodliness unto God. Most importantly, sanctification is an ongoing process that every believer in Christ must go through by the power of the Holy Spirit shortly after being saved. This process starts from salvation to eternity.
The marvelous doctrine of sanctification is laid upon separation from anything contrary to the Word of God, or anything that can hold us back from God’s purpose for our lives. To put it clearly, separation from anything sinful that we had been indulging in prior to being saved.
Practically speaking, through sanctification we have the sole responsibility to completely separate ourselves from sin as well as the world by submitting ourselves fully to God. The truth is God has taken us out of this wicked world system ruled by Satan and his fallen angels.
He saved us, cleansed us, justified us based on the death of His Son Jesus Christ, and sanctified us in order for us to be able to live for Him alone. Remember we can only live our lives for the One who came and died and rose for us, so that we could be set free from sin.
Christ is willing to live within us through the person of the Holy Spirit. In order for that to occur, we must die to ourselves daily (1 Corinthians 15:31, Galatians 2:20). Our whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when we were circumcised by Christ (Colossians 3:11). It means that we’ve been given an internal restraint against our flesh, so that a brand new life may come forth in our lives. That internal restraint applied to us by the Spirit of God must dominate our lives.
Furthermore, we’ve been given a new heart and a new disposition that enable us to commit ourselves to the Lord by ceasing to follow the desires of the flesh. Living for Christ means dying to self, so that the right environment can be created in our lives for Him to dwell in us. On the other hand, living for self is tantamount to putting Christ back to all the sufferings and humiliation He went through. And God doesn’t take that lightly as a consequence.
We’ve Received Christ’s Righteousness.
One of the things that really stands out the most about the great doctrine of justification is that God has imputed our sins on Christ Jesus and His righteousness unto us. Therefore, we have become holy and acceptable into God’s eyes only because of that not because of what we’d done. Through Christ, we have a perfect standing before God. In that regard, our holiness and righteousness are completely dependent on our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
Having said that, the purpose of the sanctification process is to preserve the holiness and righteousness that we’ve received during our salvation, so that we can always be in a state of godliness that’s both pleasing and acceptable to God. The righteousness that we receive from Christ is like a seed that God has sowed into our lives. As a result, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to create the type of environment mentioned above into our lives in order for that seed to grow because that’s precisely what will enable us to bear good fruits in our walk with the Lord. Let’s take look at this scripture below:
And such were some of you. 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 (1 Corinthians 6:11).
That’s exactly what happens when someone accepts Christ as his/her personal Savior and Lord. Keep in mind, our life doesn’t just end after that incomparable event. Instead it’s just a transition that has taken place into our lives. It simply means that we must be willing to live the rest of our lives in such a way that’s compatible with what the Lord’s death was intended to fulfill in our lives by turning away from how we used to live.
Therefore, our willingness to live a sanctified and holy life is what will truly authenticate the power of the Lord’s death on our lives. It’s what will display in a tangible fashion that Christ is living through us. Furthermore, living a holy life through sanctification is the very thing that’s going to serve as clear evidence to the Lord that His death means a lot to us as well as His death was not in vain.
It’s true that holy living is totally depended on God’s ability to work through us since that can’t be done within our human power and will alone, but that doesn’t take away our personal responsibilities with respect to that. It’s a choice that we must make in order to allow God to bring that forth into our lives.
God has already provided us everything that we would have ever needed through Christ to live the kind of life that we’re required to live. All He really wants in return from us is our faith, submission, obedience, gratitude, and honor on the basis of what was accomplished on our behalf. To sum it up, our response to God on the ground of what Christ has done for us is very significant.
Jesus Paid The Price in Full.
Jesus has bought us for a price by shedding His precious blood on the cross on our behalf. Just as Apostle Peter said in (1 Peter 1:18-19), “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Since He paid the price in full for our sins, He is now our Lord and Savior; in other words, He is our new Master. Thus, we have the duty and responsibility to glorify Him in how we live our lives by obeying and keeping His commandments. We have to ensure that we don’t step out of the perimeter of His lordship on our lives.
It’s amazing that Jesus measures our love for Him through the means of our obedience to Him by saying in (John 14:15) “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” In that case, when we obey the Lord in everything, we bring both honor and glory to Him. Through our obedience we are telling Him that we truly appreciate what He has done for us, we care about His Word, and we give Him the right to occupy first place in our lives.
It is God will for us to be sanctified; we are commanded to be sanctified, so that He can use us whenever He wants to. On the other hand, when we find ourselves living a sinful life, we literally lose our self-control. As a result, when we find ourselves in such horrendous state, we become useless to God. And His plan and purpose can’t be fulfilled in our lives.
We’re Being Sanctified Through the Word by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Shortly before Jesus was arrested, He made that monumental statement in the Garden of Gethsemane while praying to God the Father by saying in (John 17:17) “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” That same Word is also known as the sword of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). Therefore, we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit who carries out His mighty works through that same Word Jesus was referring to.
To put that another way, the Word of God is the only means through which the Holy Spirit brings about sanctification into our lives. He uses the same Word which Christ is the very embodiment of in order to change us from the inside out, so that we can become more and more like Christ.
Through this page, we have a number of well-written articles that deal with that issue on various angles. You can spend some time reading them, so that you can discover much more about sanctification and why it is so important to us as Christian. Sanctification is the same thing as holiness without which none will be able to see the Lord according to (Hebrews 12:14). Have a blessed day in Christ’s name.
- Are You A Wicked Messenger Or A Faithful Ambassador?
- Jesus Wants To Transform You To Be Like Him
- Holiness Is Not A Suggestion
- Both The Outward And Inward Are Important
- How To Successfully Live A Spirit Filled Life
- Christ Has Made Us Become Righteous Before God
- A Critical Call By God To Holy Living
- What Does It Truly Mean To Be Born Again
- Christ Has Promised His Disciples Another Advocate