THE TRUTH ABOUT SANCTIFICATION

The other day I had a conversation with a good friend who happens to be a pastor. We got on the topic of Sanctification. Although, my friend had a basic understanding of what sanctification is he was still wrong. What he said was that, yes, God sanctifies you BUT you still have to sanctify yourself (which can only be by works).


THE TRUTH ABOUT SANCTIFICATION
The other day I had a conversation with a good friend who happens to be a pastor. We got on the topic of Sanctification. Although, my friend had a basic understanding of what sanctification is he was still wrong. What he said was that, yes, God sanctifies you BUT you still have to sanctify yourself (which can only be by works).
The Christian Church has had no end of difficulty on this subject for two reasons. First they don’t and can’t reconcile the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Secondly, they can’t figure out that when God says it is by grace and not of works that He means just that.
Grace is God’s unmerited, devine favor. An example of that is a gift with no strings attached. If I gave you a watch the watch now belongs to you. Did you work for it? No. It was free. That is why Christiandom can’t get a graps on this, nothing in the Old Testament is free and the leadership in the Churches today look at the Old Testament (the Old Testament includes the Gospels) and then brings that Old Testament doctrine of works into the new administration of the accomplished works of Jesus Christ.
Look at the difference between the good News (the Gospel) of what Jesus Christ accomplished,
Ephesians 2: 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
and the Old Testament Law
Exodus 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.
Exodus 19: 10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exodus 19: 22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
Exodus 28: 41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Leviticus 11: 44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Who sanctified (set apart) the believers in the Old Testament? They sanctified themselves by works but who sanctifies the believers in the New Testament? It is Jesus Christ. Look at the scripture record of what Jesus Christ did for us regarding sanctification.
Romans 15: 16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
How do you get the holy ghost (holy spirit)? By being born again of God’s spirit, by confessing Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Romans 10:9&10.
I Corinthians 1: 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
I Corinthians 6: 11 And such were some of you: 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.
Hebrews 2: 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Hebrews 10: 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
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:
Hebrews 13: 9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Who does the sanctifying now? God by what Jesus Christ accomplished! Is there anything that you or I could do to make that sanctification better or more permanent? NO! Jesus Christ was the propitiation (payment) for our sins. Nothing that we can do makes it better or for that fact worse! Once you are born again you are sanctified, set apart for heaven.
Colossians 1: 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
I Thessalonians 4: 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
If you have confessed Jesus as lord and believed that God raised him from the dead then rejoice because your are living in the accomplished works of Jesus Christ AND you are heaven bound and all hell can’t stop you from going.