Sanctification

Sanctification

The Path of Holiness

As a newborn babe is born desiring food, so a newborn child of God desires spiritual food to sustain and strengthen him for the future.

Have you ever wished you could draw closer to God? Do you desire to be more like Him in your everyday actions? Seek the path of holiness. Seek God for sanctification.

The Bible teaches that the experience of justification and the experience of sanctification are two different works of grace. They are received by faith through the power of the shed Blood of Jesus Christ.

The word sanctify means “to make holy, purify, consecrate, dedicate, cleanse, and separate.” In order to be sanctified, the born-again Christian must consecrate, dedicate, and separate himself to God and His will. Then God will do His part by purifying the heart and making it holy.

The Problem

When Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, sin entered into his heart. Every person born into this world has inherited that nature of sin. But sanctification removes that Adamic nature and cleanses the heart. The inherited inward tendency to sin is taken away by the Blood of Jesus, and the heart is made pure and holy.

Sanctification is provided through Jesus’ Blood. We are told in Hebrews 13:12, “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”

Sanctification brings holiness. God is a holy God. Heaven is a holy place, and God has always demanded holiness. His Word says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Christ wants His Church to be made up of holy, purified people. He gave Himself for the Church, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26,27).

Sanctification also brings unity, a oneness among God’s people. “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one” (Hebrews 2:11). Jesus prayed for His disciples “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22). This prayer was definitely answered, for before the Day of Pentecost they “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14).

Christ’s Prayer

The holiness and unity which are the results of sanctification should be the desire of every Christian. And the experience of sanctification is for all those who have been saved from their sins. This is also shown by Jesus’ prayer for His disciples,

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:16,17).

Jesus was not praying for sinners because He was praying for those who were in the world but not of it. However, He did include Christians of today:

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20,21).

If you want to be sanctified, fully surrender your life to the will of God. Consecrate and yield yourself completely to Him and let Him have His way in all your plans, hopes, and desires. Look to God in simple faith, praising and believing Him for sanctification. God will make your heart pure and holy by the cleansing Blood of Jesus. The sinful nature with which you were born will be destroyed.

You will know when you receive the experience of sanctification just as surely as you knew when you were saved. The divine love of God will flood your heart. A deeper peace and rest and joy will come into your soul. The Spirit of God will witness with your spirit that you are sanctified.

After a person is sanctified, it is easier to live a joyous, victorious Christian life because the inherited sin nature is no longer inside. Temptation and trials will continue to come, but the inward tendency toward sin will be gone.

Humanity versus Carnality

However, even though a sanctified person has a heart that is perfect toward God, he is not perfect in the same way that God is perfect. He still is human and makes mistakes. He can misjudge a situation and be very much in error. But his motives are right. In his heart he craves to do the will of God, and to do right toward all men.

After receiving the experience of sanctification, a person must continue applying God’s Word to his heart. Study of the Bible, daily opportunities to learn God’s will, and His corrections teach a person how to follow His ways more perfectly.

Do you want to have this experience of sanctification? Do you want to live a holy life? You can. If you are saved, and not sanctified, pray to be sanctified. The moment you make a complete surrender to God and believe His Word of promise, the Lord will sanctify you. Then you will be ready to seek for and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the enduement of power for service.