Sanctification
"Sanctification" It means being set apart for God’s purpose. It means to be holy. Another way to say it is “consecrated.”
1st usage of the word is found in Exo. 13:2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
Jude 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: This is the “standing” of every one that believes on Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. (Sanctified, preserved and called)
Purpose: 1 Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,…
We are set apart for God’s glory; to be holy and (wholly) unto Him. We are set apart to do God’s will. And when you live a sanctified life you’ll know what God’s will is for your life.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Doctrinal sense (our standing):
We that are saved and born again are not of this world. We are citizens of heaven.
John 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
The offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all sanctifies us. Heb 10:10
We are sanctified (set apart) by the blood of Jesus Christ. Heb. 13:12
The Holy Ghost sanctifies us. Rom. 15:16
A born again child of God is a purchased possession of the Lord. 1 Cor. 6:20 “Ye are bought with a price”
“I belong to the King. I’m a child of his love and he never forsaketh his own. He will call me one day to His home far away and I will dwell by his Glorified throne…”
Blessing and benefits:
We have an inheritance. “…and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Acts 20:32
We can be a vessel unto honour and use. 2 Tim 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Progressive and practical sanctification:
The saints are set apart for God’s purpose. Someone aptly said, “Let the Roman Catholic Church saint the dead and let God make the living saintly.”
Saintly does not mean isolation from the world but insulation from it. You can live in this world without being worldly and loving the things of this world. Every saint has within them the means to live a life of dedication to God. My! How my flesh hates even writing that. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death.
Rom 7:25 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.
A life dedicated to God is not a deprived life it is a life that is a happy and abundant. God’s blessing makes it rich in joy and peace and love. The world doesn’t even come close. Don’t allow your flesh and the deceitful world to blind you to this truth.
You can live what God gives.
2 Pet 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
True sanctification is inward holiness. (Our sanctified affections, thoughts, will, and desires) will manifest itself in outward actions (compassion, mercies, self-control, and righteous deeds.)
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Pharisaical separation is hypocrisy. (It is outward and none inward) God hates an “holier than thou” attitude. It is where they have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. It must be Christ in you.
1 Th 5:23 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.
1 Th 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
The truth makes a person free. The truth also sets us apart. The word of God is true from the beginning.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Read, meditate, and live by the word of God it will cause you to think different than the world. It will cause you to seek the things, which are above. It will give you liberty. It will work effectively in you that believe. It will strengthen the inner man, the one that is created in righteousness and true holiness. It will provide the Holy Spirit with something to work with in our lives. We need an intake of the pure words of God.
The Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit will bring a child of God into a life of fruitfulness and blessing.
The fruit of the Spirit is produced in a sanctified life.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Let us strive after perfection and a life that is pure, clean and yielded to the Spirit of the living God. It doesn’t get any better than that.