The Holy Spirit: Sanctifying the Believer

Spirit, sanctifying the believer. Have you ever heard one of your friends who is a Christian say something like this? I had a tremendous spiritual experience that really changed my life. And then sometime they will maybe give you a few of the details of how God worked in their life in a very special way. And then maybe you've wondered, well, why doesn't God work in my life that way? And how does all that fit into God's scheme of things that after a person saved is there such a thing as a second blessing or a third blessing or how do all of these things relate? Well, we're in a series entitled "The Power of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Believer." And we've covered many aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, but in this message, I want to talk about the Holy Spirit sanctifying the believer. And that's one of those words that maybe you've heard and wondered what in the world does that mean? Or maybe you're very familiar with it. Maybe you have heard different views and different aspects of the idea about being sanctified. No matter what you've heard, I want you to listen carefully because it is a very, very vital part of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of every single believer. And I want you to turn, if you will, to second Thessalonians, and I want us to read just one verse, and then I want us to look at the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying those of us who are His children. Second Thessalonians, chapter 2, here's what he says, "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." Now, one of the first things we want to do is to define what we mean by sanctification. Well, there are several words in the New Testament from which we come, from which we get this word, sanctification, holiness, and sanctify, all of these words, holy, sanctification, to sanctify, these words come from the same root word because they all mean approximate of the same thing. If something is holy, is set apart by God or for God, to sanctify something or someone is to set them apart to God.

And so when we talked about sanctify and holy, also there's the word saint. And the word saint also comes from the same root word so that a saint is a person who has been saved by the grace of God and by the work of the Holy Spirit set apart by God so that all of us who are believers are saints. Now oftentimes when I say that to a group of people, they'll say, "Well, what do you mean I'm a saint? You don't know how I act?" Well, I want us to understand what this whole idea of sanctification is about. And once you understand that, you won't have a problem with being called a saint anymore because usually we think of a saint as a person who is sinless or someone who has reached some high spiritual, a moral standard in life and therefore we call them a saint. And you've heard people say, "Well, you know, that's a real saint if I've ever seen one." Well, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you are a real saint. And if you have been saved by the grace of God and you want to see some others, just look around because all of us who are believers are saints from God's viewpoint. It doesn't really make any difference what anybody else thinks. When you and I stand before Him, what really matters is what's He been thinking about us all of these years. So I want us to look at this whole idea of sanctification for the Spirit and understand that there are three aspects of it. First of all, when we talk about sanctification, this is the thing that's sometimes confusing and that is that sanctification is a position in which God sees us. Now what does that mean? It means simply this that when you and I were saved by the grace of God, that is the moment you placed your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Bible says that you were sanctified, that is the Holy Spirit placed you in the position of being separated by God, that is by the Holy Spirit, you were separated unto God for God. Now let's look at several verses of Scripture here and I think you'll begin to understand what I'm referring to. Look in 1 Corinthians for a moment.

If you'll notice in the first chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 now, look in verses 1 and 2. Jesus Paul called us an apostle of Jesus Christ with the will of God and sauced the knees of our brother to the church of God, which is it current, to those who have been past tense, have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every their Lord, and ours. Now that's a rather interesting introduction. He's called them saints. He says they've been sanctified. And so how in the world would you call those Corinthians sanctified living the way they live? So why don't we look at several verses of scripture in first Corinthians. Look in the fifth chapter for a moment. Fifth chapter, first Corinthians. And notice what he says about these people that he's just called sanctified. He says about them in chapter five, verse one. It is actually reported that there is immorality among you and immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the Gentiles that as someone has his father's wife. And you've become arrogant and if not mourned instead in order that the one who has done these deeds might be removed from your midst. Now these are the folks he's just said who are sanctified. That is these are saints, he call them saints and he call them sanctified. How in the world could he do such a thing? Well look in chapter six, verse one. Does any one of you when he has a case against his neighbor dare to go to law before the unrighteous

and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world and if the world is judged by you are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? And then he says in verse six. But brother goes to law with brother and that before unbelievers and actuality then it is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wrong, why not rather be defrauded on the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defrauded and that your brethren? Look in verse nine. Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolatrous, nor adultrous, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Well, you could go all the way through the book of First Corinthians and you find Paul bringing up one problem after the other that these people have been dealing with yet he said they've been sanctified. From God's viewpoint, every single person

who has been saved by the grace of God is in the eyes of God, one who has been set apart for God's work unto God. So that all of us are to live as the servants of God who have been sanctified. That is we have been declared holy in his sight. So those people who are looking at this whole idea of sanctification saying, but let me tell you what happened to me. Well, let me just begin by saying in the very beginning, yes, every single believer is sanctified. It is not limited to a denomination. It is not limited to a group of people who've had a particular experience. Positional sanctification talks about my relationship to God now. But sanctification is more than that. Well, let's, for example, relate that to salvation. All of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior likewise have been saved. It is a finished, completed action. But on the other hand, we are continually being saved from ourselves and from the power of sin on a day-to-day basis. So it is with the idea of sanctification, the Holy Spirit at salvation, not only positionally sanctified as a child of God, but likewise, it is not only a position, it is a process that goes on in a believer's life. Now, if it's a process, that means there can be progress.

There is a sense of direction. As we've been talking about living and walking by the Spirit of God, that is a process. We took a step into salvation than the Christian life is a walk. So it is the sanctification. This setting apart is not only an act that is a given once and for all one-time act that happens in salvation. Sanctification, which is separating us from sin and setting us apart unto God, also is a process that takes place in our life. Now, I want us to look in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Here's a very practical, simple illustration of what we mean by the Holy Spirit sanctifying us in our daily life. We've said we have the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, that we ought to rely upon Him daily, moment by moment in our life. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is a good illustration of how the Holy Spirit sanctifies us as a process. That is this process of cleansing, this process of setting us apart from sin, convicting us of sin. Now, here's something that most people have to deal with at some time in the life of the other. receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk, and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. You're growing in the Lord now. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God. What's that? Your sanctification. And then he gets real specific. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality.

He says that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother or sister in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification that is God has called us the live of life that is separated from sin. And the sanctifying work and the process of sanctification is convicting us, warning us, separating us, challenging us, reminding us of who we are in Christ Jesus, and what fits and what does not fit our life. So here's a good example of how the Holy Spirit works in the life of the believe in this whole process of sanctification, that is keeping us from sin. I didn't say we'd never sin, but that is certainly to be our goal, that we live in obedience to God. And so if I'm going to do that, I need to see myself as the Lord Jesus sees me as a saint, that is every single one of us has been separated unto God for God from sin. You don't hear much about holiness, you don't hear much about holy living, but listen to what Peter said in that first chapter, look in verse 13, first Peter chapter 1. He says, "Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Listen to this, as obedient children do not be conformed to the former lust, which were yours in your ignorance, this is what they were used to live, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Now, if you and I are going to live a holy life, that means that our heart must be bent toward the Lord Jesus Christ to obey Him. We need to think holy, we need to think obedience, we need to see ourselves as sanctified, which we are, and we need to also see ourselves in the process of being sanctified set apart from sin because that, listen, God, God has willed that you and I live a holy life, an obedient life, a sanctified life. That's the will of God for every one of us. Now, we're talking about a process that requires action on our part, positional sanctification, which He performs when we are saved. We can't do anything about that. Once you're saved with the grace of God, He sets us apart. But the process of sanctification is something you and I do. Now, look, look in Colossians chapter 3 for a moment, and this is just typical of many passages of Scripture where Paul is reminding us of something that you and I are to be involved in. The process of sanctification, the work of the Holy Spirit in keeping us apart from sin, listen, if you will, in chapter 3 of Colossians.

Now, this is something we're to do. He says, therefore, on the basis of who we are in Christ, consider or reckon yourself, the members of your earthly body, He says, put them to death. That is, put them to death, to immorality, impure, to passion, evil, desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry. It's on account of these things at the wrath of God will come. In them, you also once walked when you were living in them, but now you also put them all aside. Here is the command that you and I are to do what? Put out of our life those things that do not fit who we are. That is sanctification. In the process of sanctification, you and I must cooperate with the Holy Spirit. In positional sanctification, He does that to us. In the process of sanctification, we rely upon the Holy Spirit, we yield ourselves to Him, we surrender our life to Him, and we walk in obedience to Him. So He says, in the area of immorality, we are to be sanctified from it. we are to keep ourselves clean from these things that will destroy our life. Now, when you and I are willing for the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, that is, we are willing to rely upon Him. We are willing to look to Him, obey Him, to keep us clean and pure before Him. That is a purifying process that we go through. And it isn't something that happens one time, it is something that goes on and on and on. And sometimes it is a painful process because sometimes the Holy Spirit will say, you must sever your relationship with that person. You must sever your relationship with those people, that's a pulling away, that is a setting apart. And is it not the appeal of the world that the world says, "Oh, come on, be a part, have one with us? Let's go have a good time. Let's go party." And the Spirit of God says within you, "Don't go with them. Don't participate. Have nothing to do with that." And I wonder how many times God's people have gotten in trouble, gotten into sin, gotten into all kinds of habits that have absolutely ruined their lives because they absolutely refuse

to yield to the Holy Spirit who is in the process of sanctifying them in that moment, in that given situation. That's the work of the Spirit. That's why Jesus said, "I'm not going to leave you comfortable as you'll never make it without him." He said, "I'm coming to you. He'll be in you with you and upon you because that's part of his work to keep us from sin." That's the work of the Holy Spirit. So it is a position and salvation set apart. It is a process in the Christian life continuously being set apart and continuously being separated from sin. So that every time you face a temptation, remember the Holy Spirit's there, lean upon him to enable you, to empower you, to be victorious. So first of all, sanctification is a position. Secondly, it's a process. And thirdly, there is an ultimate sanctification. That means when we say ultimate sanctification, we're talking about what our Lord's going to do in your life and mind one of these days. Turn to 1st us on in chapter 5 and look in verse 23, if you will. He says, Paul says, "Now may the God of peace, himself, sanctify you, how? Sanctify you, how? Entirely, holy, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be preserved, complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Turn to 1st John chapter 3 for a moment. Look at this verse. 1st John chapter 3. Notice what he says. He says something about something that's going to happen to us. He says,

verse 1, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him." Now look at this verse, "Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is." One of these days we're going to be like Jesus. Now how's that? That means absolutely and completely, totally, pure and sanctified ultimately. That is, there's going to come a time when not only have we been sanctified at salvation, being sanctified in the believer's walk, but the moment he calls us, the moment he calls us and we leave this old body behind with all of its propensities towards sin, in that moment we will be completely and entirely sanctified as the children of God. Look in 1st Thessalonians, if you'd like to know when it's going to happen, when it could happen, 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. This is when it's going to happen. That is, if you and I are living when Jesus comes, this is when it's going to happen right here. Look in verse 16, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout. The voice of the archangel with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first." That is, those who've gone on before us are Christians. One look at this verse 17, "Then we who are alive, we're living, and our remaining here shall be caught up together with them and the clouds, the meat, the Lord and the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." At that moment, our sanctification is eternally complete. Holy, without blemish, without spot, eternally. Now, I don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about that first phase

of sanctification. If you're a believer, that is, positionally, he's set you apart. There's nothing you and I need to worry about. About the third, the ultimate sanctification, because that again is something he's going to do when he calls us home. It's that middle ground that you and I have to deal with, the moment by moment, daily process of walking in the Spirit, cooperating with him, relying upon him as he sanctifies us, keeps us from sin, warns us about it, sharpens our discernment, and does what? Anytime you reach your point in your life where you make a choice about your relationship to Jesus Christ, that is a deeper sense of commitment than ever before, deeper understanding, that's a moment of crisis and that is a sanctifying moment in your life. And I wonder, does it need to happen right now? If you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, that's step number one. And then once you've trusted him as your Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into your life and he will enable you to live a godly life. That's his responsibility, that's his ministry. And I want to encourage you if you've never trusted him to do it right now by asking him to forgive you of your sins based on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary and his willingness to forgive you. Just ask him to forgive you of your sins, tell him you believe that he died for you, and that you will intend to accept his forgiveness, not based on your performance, but based on his unconditional love and acceptance of you. And then if the Holy Spirit has pointed out something to you in your life and he says it must go, if you say yes to him, the sanctifying process takes place. If you say no to him, you quench the Spirit and you grieve the Spirit. Listen, what does God want for you and me the very best when all the time, every time? And in order for that to happen, I must live yielded to the Holy Spirit who is our lifetime companion and helper who is always there for our good and God's glory. the Holy Spirit.