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.
I Corinthians 6:11 (ESV)
Sanctification is the final word in the Churchy Word series. This devotion looks at that word and determines how it tries to several words we have been discussion lately.
Nuggets
- God alone can sanctify us through His grace.
- Disciples are sanctified through faith.
- God calls us and sanctified us so that we may be used to expand His kingdom.
- Sanctification is a process.
To read devotions in the Churchy Words series, click the appropriate button below.
We’ve been discussing churchy words for the last couple of devotions. Another churchy word is sanctification. That means God is setting us apart so that we can be used for our intended purpose.
Sanctified by God’s Grace
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5: 23 ESV).
God alone can sanctify us through His grace. He sets us apart. When we ask God into our hearts and lives, He restores us to being sanctified.
God fills us with His peace. This peace does make us different from the rest of the world. When things are falling apart around us, we know we are okay because God not only lives within us, but He also has us in the palm of His hand (Jn. 10: 29).
Since we are sanctified, our “… whole spirit and soul and body [should] be kept blameless …” (I Thess. 5: 23 ESV). Yes, I know that is a struggle because we are still in these earthly bodies. There is no switch thrown when we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior to make us only do what He wants us to do.
There is a way we can keep being sanctified as we live our lives and help us withstand the struggles. John 17: 17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (ESV).
God uses His Word to reveal Himself to us. If we keep reading and studying His Word, He will use that to set us apart. He uses the Holy Spirit to guide us closer to Him.
We are sanctified by Jesus’ blood. “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Heb. 13: 11 ESV). If He suffered, we should expect to suffer, also.
Sanctification by Faith
“to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Ac. 26: 18 NASB).
Disciples are sanctified through faith. This got me to thinking.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2: 8 NIV). Bottom line, nothing happens except by God’s grace. No redemption, no forgiveness, no justification, no propitiation, no sanctification.
What did we say before? Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the plan of salvation that made Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins. Our acceptance of that plan provided us with justification and sanctification.
To read devotions in the Forgiveness of Sins through Grace by Redemption series,
click the appropriate button below.
Yes, all of that was set up “… before the foundation of the world …” (Eph. 1: 4 RSV). Jesus was the only One Who could accomplish it.
But just because Jesus completed the plan, it doesn’t mean we are automatically sanctified. We have to come to God in faith and repentance in order for Him to restore our sanctification. If we don’t go to Him in contrition, we don’t receive sanctification.
Sanctified for Use
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (II Tim. 2: 21 ESV).
God calls us and sanctified us so that we may be used to expand His kingdom. He has a job for each of us to do. Each of us has someone with whom we are to share His love.
No, it isn’t just to be a show-them-how-I-live witness. It is an actual relationship, tell-them-what-I-believe witness. We have to tell them why we believe what we believe and how their believing too can change them for the better.
We just have to be willing to be used by God in the ways He feels are best. We will be used according to the gifts He has given us.
God usually uses the broken and the common to witness for Him. Mary and Joseph were just a poor, common couple, asked to raise the Savior of the world.
Sanctification by a Process
"But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth" (II Thess. 2: 13 NIV).
Sanctification is another three-part process. We were sanctified when we asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior and sanctify us through His blood.
We are in the process of being sanctified. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (II Cor. 3: 18 ESV). This transformation doesn’t happen overnight.
We won’t be totally sanctified until we receive our new bodies when we are through with this one.
Look at it this way. “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb 2: 10-11 ESV).
Being made perfect means the same thing as being sanctified. Jesus was sanctified through sufferings. Shouldn’t we expect the same thing?
Making the Connections
Do you see the connections forming here? We’ve ended up looking at a lot of interconnected words in the last several devotions.
Redemption is where something is used in exchange for something else to gain or regain something. Through Jesus’ blood, we have redemption of our sins. Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments. Redemption allows us to receive forgiveness for our sins.
Forgiveness is when God pardons us because we have broken His laws and commandments. We accept the pardon by letting go of the guilt and remorse that we feel because we have done something wrong. It is a conscious decision to accept His forgiveness.
Grace is a free and unmerited gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers. Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the plan of salvation that made Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins.
When Jesus redeems us after we have asked for forgiveness of our sins, we are called saints. Saint means we have been set apart. God does not want us to follow the patterns of this world. He wants us to be set apart.
Jesus justifies us when we put our lives in His hand, Justification means the act of making something righteous before God.
Jesus substitutes Himself — became the propitiation — for us so He could do the hard stuff, the stuff we would never be able to do. Jesus knew God’s wrath had to be appeased so He shed His blood to pay the price for our sins.
Sanctification means to make holy. Holy mean to be set apart, perfect, and pure. Saints are set apart.
Okay, stop a second. My brain is spinning.
Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the plan of salvation that made Jesus, through propitiation, our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins. Becoming saints when we accept the gift of salvation, we are set apart to be holy through being justified. Justification is the act of sanctification.
How Do We Apply This?
After taking aspirin — we need to work on being holy. We have to work on it each and every day. We strive to be holy to glorify Hod.
Since sanctification is a process, and we know our salvation is a process, we need to seek God through the process. This includes hearing His Word, reading it, studying it, meditating on it, and memorizing it. All through that, we need to be in prayer, asking God to provide the meaning.
- Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17 NLT).
- Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3 ESV).
- Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16 ESV).
- Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11 NLT).
- Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
- Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11 NLT).
The Bible tells us that we should proactive in sanctifying ourselves -% and sanctifying God. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (I Pet. 3: 15 NKJV).
Sanctifying God is where we acknowledge Him as Sovereign God and follow His laws and commandments. We follow only Him.
We depend on God to protect us. “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps. 91: 1 NIV). We cast all of our cares on Him (I Pet. 5: 7). That talks not only of an active trust, but also a complete obedience.
Disciples need to be set apart. We can’t be of the world. We have to be different. We have to reflect God’s higher ways (Isa. 55: 8-9). We have to live for Him.
Father. We thank You for sending Your Son as a substitute so that You could justify and sanctify us. We pray that You will strengthen us to live the lives to which You are calling us — service to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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