THE BEAUTY OF BEING SANCTIFIED

TRETS 27/7/2017

THE BEAUTY OF BEING SANCTIFIED

Leviticus 11.44-45, 2 Timothy 2.21, Psalm 15. 1-2

The doctrine of sanctification for all believers is clearly taught in the scriptures. To be sanctified means (1) to be made holy; (2), to be cleansed from moral pollution in the heart, spirit and mind; (3), to be made free from inbred and internal sin; (4), to be set apart entirely for God’s work, honour and glory. Sanctification keeps us united with other believers. Being sanctified makes us to walk in the same direction, speak the same thing, think the same way, uplift the same thing and in honour prefer another. Without it, carnality of the uncircumcised heart has the potentials of derailing the believers life and bring him back to the world. Being sanctified make us possess God’s image, walk with Him here on earth and presents us blameless before Him in eternity. It opens the floodgate of heaven to us and gives our prayers an express route to the father. It is indeed a beautiful and glorious experience that is indispensable for every born again Christian as without it, we cannot see God.

  

THE PROBLEM OF SIN

Psalm 51:1-4; Genesis 6:5; Ezekiel 36:25, 26; Job 14:7-9; Hebrews 12:15

Salvation and sanctification are two major Christian experiences that deal with the two-fold problem of sin. There is the committed act and there is an inward depravity in man that drives him to sin. Salvation deals with the committed sin and sanctification deals with the inward depravity or inbred sin, that is, passion to commit sin. To transgress is to overstep the bounds set by the Lord in His Word. It is to act contrary to “thus saith the Lord.” Salvation may make our character and personality to look good and different outwardly. But the thoughts and sinful desires that are hidden from men’s eyes will also need to be dealt with so that we will be completely all right in the sight of God. Salvation alone is not sufficient to make us pure the way the Lord wants us to be. External change of character is not enough. After we have been born again, we will need to be sanctified so that the root cause of sin can be taken out of the way “lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

THE PROMISE OF SANCTIFICATION

Deuteronomy 30:6; Numbers 23:19; 1 Kings 8:56; Ezekiel 11:19; Luke 1:72-75; Hebrews 13:12; Matthew 19:26; 2 Chronicles 25:2.

The Lord who has known our needs from the earliest times has promised to sanctify us in line with His demand and command. “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” In the New Testament parlance, the children of Israel to whom this promise was originally given could be said to be born again. Prior to the time of this statement, they had been taken out of Egypt (which, in a way, symbolized the world of sin); they had passed through the Red Sea, (a symbol of water baptism) and they fed on the daily manna, (a symbol of daily feeding on and spiritual growth through the Word of God). A change had taken place in their lives. They had been saved. But not sanctified. Sanctification was still a future experience for them. Hence Moses’s statement: “The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed.” That you are born of sanctified parents does not in any way invalidate your need for the experience. Sanctification is a personal experience for every believer. Sanctification fills us with perfect love for God and man.

When God makes a promise, He fulfills it. He watches over His Word to perform it. Sanctification is not an experience we can obtain by moral struggles against sinful inclination. The Lord knew we cannot help ourselves. That was why He gave the promise. It is the thing Himself will do, has promised to do and delights to do for people who knows the importance of the experience and who wants it done in their lives. It is Christ that sanctifies through the cleansing of His blood. The Lord who did it for men of old can do it for us. What He did before, He can do again. No matter the temptation and trials that we may face, we can serve the Lord in holiness and righteousness. “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible”. As the Lord can save the vilest of sinners so He can sanctify the most stubborn of hearts. It is not what man can do for himself and by himself; it is what God will do as we ask Him. It takes salvation to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord; it takes sanctification to do it with a perfect heart.

THE PRAYER FOR SANCTIFICATION

Ezekiel 36:37; Matthew 7:7,8; 5:6,8; 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24.

God wants everybody to be born again. He does not have pleasure in the death of the wicked and He is not willing that anybody should perish but that all should come to repentance. But, why hasn’t everybody come to repentance? Why is everybody not born again? Why is everybody not having the new life? Because they have not prayed for it. They have not asked. The sanctification experience demands no less asking from believers who desire the experience. “Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock” You must ask. You must desire. You must pant after it. You must desire it above everything else. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” The promise of sanctification is not something you can get without consecration and passionate desire for it. It is an experience you acquire by earnestly, passionately praying for it. Sanctification is what made Enoch to walk spotlessly with God for three hundred years and Samuel to live a life without reproach before the children of Israel. But without prayer, you can read about Enoch and yet not obtain his experience. You can listen to the story of Samuel and not attain his holiness.

Belonging to a church that believes and preaches about the sanctification experience is not enough. Reading about it, knowing about it, hearing about it, believing the doctrine or knowing the scriptures where references on the subject can be obtained is not sufficient. You must desire, consecrate and pray for the experience. You must ask. You must seek. You must knock. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled ... Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Whenever we leave this world to go to the great beyond, holiness and purity of heart is one thing God will be looking for. But without sanctification we cannot be allowed to enter into the presence of God. And without hungering, thirsting and praying for the experience, we cannot be sanctified.