2/28/21 - The Great Salvation / SANCTIFICATION

In 322, there is a stream of precious blood. There is a stream of precious blood which flowed from Jesus' veins. I had sinners washed in that blessed flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to seek that Savior in his day, and by that blood, though vile as he, my sins are washed away. Blessed Lamb of God, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power, till every ransomed saint of God be saved to sin no more. Ever since by faith I saw the stream Thy wounds supplied for me, redeeming love has been my theme and shall forever be. Amen.

Good morning. God bless you. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? Our God and our Father, once again it's our privilege, it's our joy to come to the Word of God. We thank You for this exercise, the great salvation, such a great Savior as our Lord Jesus. Help us now as we look at this aspect of salvation called sanctification. In Jesus' name, amen.

Introduction to Sanctification

So we're continuing on the great salvation. We have completed seven aspects of what we're calling the great salvation, or what the Word of God calls it in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. It's a great salvation, just as we said in prayer, because we have a great Savior.

So, we were guilty and God through Christ forgave us. We were condemned in sin and God justified us through Christ. We were slaves to sin and God redeemed us through Christ. We were enemies of God; God reconciled us through Christ. We were lost in perishing; God saved us through Christ. We had a corrupt nature and God has given us new birth through Christ. And we're spiritually dead in trespasses and sins; God has made us alive, quickened us in Christ. What a great salvation, what a great Savior!

And so today we're going to look at an aspect of salvation called sanctification. Sanctification. The word "sanctified" is the same word from which we get our word "holy" from in the Bible, or the word "saint." And so we may ask ourselves, well, how can one of us who are born in sin, how can we ever be saints? Or the word also means holy. How can we ever be that? Well, we can because of this great salvation. Hallelujah! That's the whole point. God wants us to look away from ourselves, to look to Christ and see what He did for us, what He accomplished at the cross of Calvary.

Why We Need Sanctification

So why do we need to be sanctified? Because our need is the condition that we're in: we're defiled by sin. We're dirty because of our sin. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 15, verses 1 and 2: "Then came Jesus and the scribes to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat bread."

"Do not ye understand," this is the Lord Jesus speaking, "that whatsoever entereth in the mouth go into the belly and out of the body? But those things," this is verse 18, this is Matthew 15:18, "but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man."

So the Lord said we're defiled because we have unclean hearts, and we allow this uncleanness, this sin, to come out of our lives. And by it we are defiled, by it made dirty, and we make others dirty as well as we come into a fellowship or friendship or around them and speak to them. The Bible tells us in Titus chapter 1, verse 15, speaking of defilement: "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them which are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled."

So we have a dirty, a defiled conscience and mind. We are, by our very nature, having lived in sin, we are contaminated as it were. You know, as a farmer, we have chemicals that we use, and if we spill chemicals then that area is contaminated. Well, sin has spilled into our lives. We are contaminated. We need to be sanctified. And because we're dirty, Romans 3:12 says, "They're gone out of the way, they're together become unprofitable." So sanctified means to be set apart unto God for His use. But in sin, and when before we're sanctified, we're unprofitable to God. So part of this sanctification is to set us apart to God's holy use. Praise the Lord that that is not just a possibility, it's a reality through Christ's death for us. So sanctification removes our defilement by sin and fits us for God's use.

Positional vs. Practical Sanctification

Now there's a difference in the Bible between positional sanctification and practical sanctification. Just as in every aspect of salvation, there is that which is real, that God has gifted us by grace through Christ's death, that which we possess in this very moment. We are sanctified. But then there's also the process of sanctification where God conforms us to what He has already accomplished in our lives. He's made us holy, now He is going to conform us to that holiness. Praise the Lord!

Positional Sanctification

That's why Christians in the Bible are called saints. Do you know that Christians are called saints? If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, you are a saint. It means holy, made holy, set apart to God. You're a saint. Praise the Lord!

In Romans 1:7, Paul said, he wrote to the church in Rome, "To all they be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." First Corinthians 1:2, same thing: "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints." Ephesians 1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus." First Thessalonians 5:27: "I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." Saints means holy. So all the holy brethren, that's what we are in Christ. That's our position. "Wherefore, holy brethren," that's in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1. Holy brethren. You say, "I'm not holy." Listen, my friend, it's not about what you see in yourself, because you're looking at your old sinful nature, what the Bible calls the flesh. But in Christ you are sanctified, you are holy, you are a saint if your faith is in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

So we're sanctified by faith which is in Christ. We're set apart to God for His holy use. Acts 26, verse 18. The Bible says God had sent Paul to open the eyes of the unbelieving, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, "that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me." You see, it's in believing in Christ, just simply believing in Christ. The moment you do, you're sanctified, you're set apart to God's holy use, and you yourself are holy. Hallelujah! How wonderful is that!

And so we're sanctified by Christ's death, because all of this comes through what Jesus Christ did at the cross for us. Hebrews 10:10, verse, starting verse 9: "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first," first covenant, "that he may establish the second. By the which will," by God's will, "we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." See, we're identified with Christ's death and thereby we're sanctified. We're set apart to God through what Christ did for us at the cross. And in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 12: "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his blood, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the gate." See, He died that we, you and I, might be saints through His death, through His blood. First Corinthians 1:30: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus," that's our position in Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." You see, all the blessings of God are in Christ and what He did at the cross. Lean on Him. Don't lean upon yourself and your own works. Oh, that will never bring satisfaction to God and never bring satisfaction to your soul. Just trust in Christ, lean upon, lean on Him and what He did at the cross, this great salvation that He's won for us.

Now also we're sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13, the Word of God says, "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you through salvation," I'm sorry, "chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." God says, "From the beginning I had this plan that by the Holy Spirit of God that I would sanctify you, that I would set you apart by the blood of Christ, I would make you holy in My sight and I would make you usable for Me, that you would be a saint before Me." Hallelujah!

And so in First Peter chapter 1, verse 2, talking about the Holy Spirit sanctifying us, Peter said, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit." You see, you don't have to do it. You can't. You and I can't save ourselves, nor can we sanctify ourselves. We cannot make ourselves more holy. God has done it through Christ. He's made us perfectly holy. You understand that there's no sin going to be in heaven, so you have to be perfect, you have to be holy in order to go to heaven. You say, "Well, I'm not that way." If your faith is in Christ, yes you are. Accept the testimony of the Word of God, and once you accept that, then you can become that gift of holiness, of sanctification, that God has given us in Christ. We can become more like Him.

First Corinthians 6:9-11, this is a very, very wonderful verse talking about the Corinthians: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" So if you're not a Christian, if there's unrighteousness in your life, you have to decide whether or not you've truly given your life to Christ. If you have, then these things that we're going to read about will not be in your life. "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." So if your life is characterized by those sins, don't deceive yourself. You might be going to church, but you're not sanctified, you're not set apart to God through Christ's death. Verse 11, then he says this: "And such were some of you." Praise the Lord! Isn't that wonderful? What we were is not what we are. "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." How wonderful! God has done everything for us in Christ.

Practical Sanctification

Then of course there's the practical sanctification. This is what God has done for us. He's made us to be holy. Now we're to behave in a godly and a holy way. First Thessalonians 4:3: "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." So this is one aspect of sin, fornication, and but it's the will of God that we should be sanctified. It's God's will, it's God's desire. Hallelujah!

In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14, it says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." And again, it's because by God's grace He's gifted us holiness, He's gifted us sanctification. This is First Peter 3:15: "But as he that called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." This is our responsibility. Don't fall back and say, "Well, I can't do that." Listen, no, you can't do that. Of course you can't be holy, but God has made you holy through Christ, through His death on the cross, by the Holy Spirit. That's what you are. You are a saint if Christ is your Lord and your Savior. You are a saint. So it's not trying to become something you're not, it's allowing what God has done in your life to flow out of your life. Hallelujah!

Second Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." So do we have a responsibility to cooperate with God in this process of sanctification? Absolutely. We have to condemn those things, the filthiness of the flesh that we are a part of in the past. We have to condemn them and we just say, "Listen, that's not who I am. I'm a saint. Saints don't behave in that way." Hallelujah!

And so sanctification also means that we're going to be careful as to who we fellowship with, because if you fellowship with people that say they're Christians but aren't really walking with the Lord, that will affect you and you will not be able to in the fullness of what God wants to sanctify you in a practical way. So this is what it says in Second Timothy 2, beginning in verse 20: "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." He's talking about the house of God, the church. "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet," or fit, "for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." That's exactly what sanctification is. It's to be separated from that which is unholy, separated unto God so that we can be fit for the Master's use. That's sanctification, that's to be sanctified, that's to be set apart to God. So we have to be careful who we fellowship with. Make sure that wherever you fellowship that you're spending time with those that are really seeking the Lord, that spend time in the Word of God and prayer and really love Christ.

Sanctification is God's work, it's not ours. First Thessalonians 5:23: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." God alone can do it, "both in spirit and soul and body." God wants to set apart every part of our very being unto Himself so that He can use us, that we're fit for the Master's service. Yes.

And sanctification is through the Word. In John 17, that's why it's so important to be in the Word of God. The Lord Jesus said when He prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." So sanctification is through the Word of God. We have that in Ephesians 5:25 and 27: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." So to sanctify, He has set us apart. He's given Himself in love to the church. He's given everything at the cross of Calvary in order that He might set us apart. Now we've been set apart to Him, but then there's this cleansing, this washing of water by the Word, that we might be exactly the bride that He is worthy of. Praise the Lord! This is happening in the lives of every individual believer as we're seeking the Lord, as we're spending time in the Word, in prayer and fellowship with those that are seeking the Lord as well.

Sanctification Founded on Redemption

Now sanctification, as we've said, is founded upon redemption. It's redemption, God buying us out of that servitude to sin, that making us His own, that now we are His and to obey Him and to be set apart to His use. He is our Lord. So in First Corinthians 6:19, speaking of God's claims or the Lord's claim upon our lives: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" Is that amazing? It's incredible! "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." So it's our responsibility, since we are purchased by Him, to behave ourselves in a way that's worthy of Him.

In First Peter 1:18, talking about that redemption: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;" talking to the Jews especially here, "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Redeemed, redeemed! Hallelujah! That's so wonderful, by the precious, precious, precious blood of Christ. So now God has a claim upon our lives.

And I think one of the best ways to look upon this is to go back and look in Exodus 12 and 13. In chapter 12, you know that's where the Passover lamb was offered, the blood was put over the doorpost in order to protect the firstborn of Israel, or Egypt if they obeyed the Lord and put blood over their doorpost to protect the firstborn. Now this is very important. So God has a claim upon our lives. Now Christ has died and we're bought with a price. But there is something else that's associated with that, with that Passover that they were to keep every year, with that blood over the doorpost that they were to remember that brought them out of Egypt. There was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread. After the Passover, they were to keep for seven days the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So in Exodus chapter 13, Moses said unto the people, "Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out from the house of bondage." Hallelujah! Aren't you happy that you're out of the house of bondage? "For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten." Okay, leaven in the Bible is a picture of sin. So no leavened bread were they to eat. "Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters." So there was not to be leaven. Leaven pictures sin. We have been redeemed. We are to be separate from sin. Seven days represents our whole Christian life. We're to be separate from sin. Now, do we sin? If we do, we're to confess our sins. When we do, we're to confess our sins. But God has, through Christ, sanctified us, set us apart. He's redeemed us that He should use us for His holy purposes. So there's not to be sin in our lives.

Now, leaven in the New Testament, just to look into it a little bit. In First Corinthians 5:6-8, the Bible says, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" You let a little sin in your life and it will grow, it will permeate your whole life. You may not even notice, but it will happen. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. We've got to close the door to sin. We've got to confess it and forsake it. Verse 7: "Purge out therefore the old leaven," so the old leaven is that leaven dough, you know, if you make bread you keep a little bit for starter, "so purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." As ye are unleavened, he says, "You are pure, you are holy in God's sight." Why? "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." You see, through His death on the cross He has bought us, and in buying us, His blood has washed us from all our guilt. We're forgiven and we're redeemed and reconciled in all that the great salvation speaks of. "Therefore," verse 8, "let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." That's the way we're to live as Christians, lives in sincerity and truth, not allowing even a little leaven in our lives. Be careful, "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

In Matthew 16, the Lord talked about leaven. He talked about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. You know, in the Pharisees we have ritualism, in the Sadducees we have rationalism. And then He speaks about the leaven of Herod, and that's worldliness. And so the Lord said in Matthew 16, verse 12: "The disciples then understood that he made them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." And He goes on in Luke 12 and He says, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." This is the ugliness of religion and outward form of religion without the love of God, without Christ, without sanctification. They were just about ritualism, Sadducees about rationalism. And then Herod, in Mark chapter 8, verse 15, He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." That's worldliness. We cannot allow these things to creep into our lives. We are sanctified. Hallelujah! Sanctified through the death of Christ by the Spirit of God. We're set apart for God's holy use. We are saints, the saints of God. Hallelujah!

And so in the next chapter after chapter 12 of Exodus, when he talks about the blood having purchased us and redeemed us, now we come into chapter 13 and listen to this. He's going to talk about the firstborn because the Passover and redemption and unleavened bread to live a holy life, Christian life for Him, it's connected also with the firstborn. Listen to this, Exodus 13:1-2 and verses 11 and 12: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord's." So what is this all about? This is about the fact that God has bought us, He has redeemed us, just as He did with Israel, only us with the blood of Christ. And now He has a claim upon us. But the claim is upon the firstborn. Now you remember that it was the firstborn that was protected by the blood. So God has really bought the firstborn. What does the firstborn represent? It represents each one of us. It represents our lives for Him. It represents a dedicated and consecrated life for God because we've been bought. And so we're to serve Him.

Listen to this, this is so incredible. So look what God did regarding the firstborn. Numbers 3, verses 11 and 13: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine they shall be: I am the Lord." Isn't that wonderful? That is so wonderful that God says that He claims the firstborn. He's bought the firstborn. So everything in our lives, the life that we have and everything that we have, is first His. He is the Lord. He must be first in our lives. This is all a part of sanctification. We are the firstborn. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for that! And the Levites then were taken in the place of the firstborn. So there's a whole tribe now that is dedicated and consecrated to God. And that tribe, Levi, was a recognition that all the first, all the best, was the Lord's.

Now listen to how this applies to us in First Peter chapter 2, verses 4, 5-9. Okay, the Levites were the priests. They were taken to represent the firstborn of all Israel. First Peter 2, verse 4: "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." It says we are a holy priesthood through the blood of Christ, through the sanctification that we have in His death and by the Holy Spirit. We have been made holy priests. In other words, just as God took the firstborn and they were represented in the tribe of Levi, so God has taken every believer, every believer, and He has made us a holy priesthood. Just as the Levites were priests to represent God and to go before Him, so are we to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God acceptable through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse 9: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy priesthood and a royal priesthood, to show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

Conclusion and Prayer

This is the product of sanctification. It's sainthood, it's priesthood. God has made you a saint. He's made you a priest, a holy priest to praise and to adore and to worship Him, and a royal priest to show forth in the world the praises of Him that called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You have been sanctified of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You are a saint. Praise God for that! Let us allow the Holy Spirit to continue this process of sanctification, to make us more and more holy, that we might seek that with all of our hearts, to be pure and sanctified before the Lord as we even are. Glory to Him.

In the name of Jesus, Father, we thank and praise Thee for this great salvation, in this aspect of sanctification, that we have been set apart to Thee for Thy holy use, that we have been made holy, can be called saints. This is grace that just turns our hearts back to realize how great a salvation the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us. And we want to say to Him, be the glory and to Him be the praise both now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.