Sanctified by The Cross

Sanctification is not understood by many Christians, but it is an essential part of our salvation. God desires not just to forgive our sins, but to make us holy so that we live holy and blameless lives. Sanctification plays a crucial role in freedom from sexual sin. (From #358 - What Role Does Sanctification Play in Freedom from Porn?)

Sanctification. It’s probably the biblical concept that is least understood among most Christians. Seldom preached any more, it is at the very heart of our salvation, and the work that God longs to do in the lives of His people.

So, let’s first define it. When the word appears in the OT, as in Exodus 13.12, it is the word QaDaSh. When it appears in the NT, as in John 17.17, it is the is word ‘agiadzo. Both of these words mean the same thing. The words mean to set apart, to regard as holy and to use for holy purposes; The word then came to mean to cleanse or purify, and to offer up and dedicate to God.

We translate the words differently and think of them differently depending on who is doing the action. When a man is sanctifying himself or something else, he is purifying or dedicating something to God. He is an imperfect man dedicating something to a perfect God and asking God to regard this offering as set apart for Him. And so offerings, temple furnishings, sacrifices and the like, and even people were sanctified to the LORD. When God does the sanctifying, He is a holy God declaring something as set apart to Him and declaring it to be holy. When God sanctifies the Christian believer, He declares him to be holy by the means of the blood of the Cross, but then engages him in the ongoing process of making him holy in his attitudes, words and behavior.

<pull-quote>When God sanctifies the Christian believer, He declares him to be holy by the means of the blood of the Cross, but then engages him in the ongoing process of making him holy in his attitudes, words and behavior.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

So there are two different sides to sanctification: there is the part that God does, that only He can do. And then there is the part that people do, that we all do, that only we can do. We’ll talk about God’s part first.

Because God alone is holy, set apart, and perfect in all His perfections, only He can declare something as holy. And only God has the power to make something holy. He has determined that He will have a people who not only are set apart for His own possession, who live as dedicated unto Him, who love Him unreservedly of their own will and seek to do His will in the earth, but who live morally blameless lives before Him in honor and obedience. God’s purpose from the beginning was to have a people who lived holy lives. This was true of Israel and today is true of the Church of Jesus Christ. This has always been His purpose.

This is made possible only through the Cross of Jesus Christ. The purpose of the Cross is our sanctification. Jesus died there so that He might bear the weight of our sins and secure our forgiveness. His blood was the covering for our sins and the purchase price of our redemption. Because of the Cross God is able to freely justify us and grant us forgiveness for all our sins.

But salvation is more than just forgiveness. God intends to make us holy in our behavior. He really intends to deliver us out of our sins and conform our behavior into the likeness of Christ. He intends and expects our obedience and for us to live a blameless life. This is all part of our sanctification, the putting off of our old flesh with its sins, and the putting on of the new natures with the fruit of the Spirit. Thus, our sanctification is not a one-time event, but a lifelong process that begins when we are born again. God begins to make us new, and He continues that sanctification process daily for the rest of our lives. As we walk in faith and obedience, seeking His will, desiring His guidance, surrendering to His Lordship, He works to transform our minds and conform our behavior to the likeness of blameless Christ.

What Role does Sanctification play in a man gaining freedom from sexual sin? It should be obvious that this is God’s will for every man. Every man must come to the Cross, repent of his sin, ask the Lord to take it from Him, seek the Lord to be rid of it, and then walk in obedience to Him as He takes this sin out of our lives. We’ll talk more about that in a few moments. Right now know that there is a work of sanctification that only God can do. He is the One who forgives, who cleanses, who declares as holy. He is the One who empowers a man with the Holy Spirit to resist temptation and to set a man free from slavery to sin. He is the One who sanctifies.

<pull-quote>It should be obvious that sanctification is God’s will for every man. Every man must come to the Cross, repent of his sin, ask the Lord to take it from Him.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

I began by talking about the work of sanctification that only God can do. But our conversation would not be complete without looking at the other side. There is the part of sanctification that is up to us to do. We have to cooperate in the work of God by being obedient.  

Many Christians are surprised anymore that someone still teaches holiness, as though it is a theme that is out of date; but God has not changed His Word or His mind on the matter. The Bible still says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and blameless in Him. Paul still tells us that God’s will for our lives is our sanctification, and specifically defines holiness as abstinence  from sexual sin. Peter still writes “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” And the writer to the Hebrews still has it that we are to “Pursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Out part is to come out from among the world and be separate; to be in the world but not of the world. Our part is to seek every day to be rid of sin by repenting and forsaking it. Our part is to pursue holiness, to run hard after it, by desiring above all things to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and by only pursuing those things that are pleasing to Him and according to the will of Christ.

This is not average, cheap grace, American Christianity that insults God and comforts the wayward and backslidden in his sin with promises of God’s forgiveness. This is real, biblical Christianity that empowers a man to resist sin and walk in obedience, so that he not only wears the righteousness of Christ by faith, but actually walks in righteousness and faithfulness before God in his daily life.

<pull-quote>Our part is to pursue holiness, to run hard after it, by desiring above all things to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and by only pursuing those things that are pleasing to Him and according to the will of Christ.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>