Sanctification

This outline study is offered to help clarify and personalize the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. It is intended to provide an initial listing of scriptures that will help define the mysterious work of the Spirit of God at work in our life. It is not exhaustive but selective. At point of conversion, when we are born again we are placed in the body of Christ. We are seen as holy because of what Christ has done. We have trusted Him for taking care of our sin debt. The price for sin is paid and we are positionally sanctified. The Spirit seals us.

Romans 5:1 We have been justified through faith…through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30 Christ Jesus has become for us…our righteousness.
1 Corinthians 6:11 But you were washed, you were sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Anyone in Christ is a new creation.
Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ…marked in him.
Hebrews 13:12 Jesus suffered…to make the people holy.

Having been placed in Christ, we immediately begin the discovery of who Christ is and what He has accomplished for us and what we may be in Him. (1 Peter 1:16 – “Be holy, because I am holy.”) Until we come to him there is no possibility of this discovery. (1 Cor 2:14 – The man without the Spirit does not accept the things…of the Spirit.) We also recognize that within us there is no possibility of becoming like him. (Rom 7:21-24 – another law). There must be the realization that only when we abandon our will to His will is it possible to know the controlling work of the Holy Spirit manifesting the fullness of Christ’s life within. No longer being slaves to sin and self but becoming slaves of the Spirit of Christ.

Dying to self and living in Christ. Denying self and abiding in Christ. Sanctification isn’t only a legal declaration of a position, but it is to be a part of our experience as a decision and an ongoing relationship. It is both a crisis and a process, a decision and a development, a turning point and a new direction; it is a continual experience marked by an altar and a road.

It is a crisis, a willful event, a decision. It may be emotional or rational, behavioral or aesthetic; but it is a turning point, a moment of exchange, a definite and thorough surrender, an altar.

Romans 6:12-14 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death, those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires (6) The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. (12) we have an obligation to live…by the Spirit.
Romans 12: 1-2 Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.
Ephesians 5: 18 …be controlled by the Spirit

It is a process, a working out, a developmental and progressive relationship in the unfolding road of my life. The initial realization of His sufficiency and my insufficiency is an altar experience the force of which presses us towards a daily revisitation of that exchange so the ongoing relationship is one of surrender, abiding, confiding, resting, staying, depending on HIM to accomplish His will in my life.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself…sanctify you through and through.
Galatians 2:20 Christ lives in me…the life I live by faith in the Son.
Galatians 5:22-25 Live by the Spirit.
2 Peter 1:5-11 Add to your faith virtue.

This new relationship will be finally realized or completed in heaven. We will then be declared just people, made righteous or perfect in him. Perfection understood in the context of sanctification during our earthly walk is that of “becoming.” It isn’t that we have arrived but are anticipating an entrance into eternity, when seeing Him we shall be like Him because of what He has accomplished.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 May the God of peace sanctify you wholly: and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6 He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:23 The church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, the spirits of righteous men made perfect.

We counsel only those who are answering the call to “be holy” realizing that they haven’t got what it takes to be holy. When someone responds to the call to be holy and truly seeks, they shall find. The answer will come when the question is fully asked, “How can I be rescued from this mess” (Rom 7:24). The answer comes from a sovereign God who will provide when He provides. Our part is to seek Him and thank Him for the promised indwelling.

We present CHRIST as the answer. “I live by faith in the Son of God.” (Galatians 2:20)

It is faith in Christ that will be effective. Christ, only Christ, is Savior and Sanctifier.
We present the Holy Spirit (the Spirit sent by Christ) as the enabler. (John 14:16-17, 26 the comforter who guides, Acts 1:8 the power for witness)
It is the power of the Holy Spirit alone that will enable victory.
He is the third person of the Godhead who Christ sent to make a difference in the lives of believers.
He is to be invited into the believing seeker’s life as the controlling, enabling, productive power person within.
We don’t promise an emotional experience. (Though new feelings may be given.)
We don’t press them to a disciplined life. (Though new disciplines may emerge.)
We give them the expectancy of a new level of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Controlled by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)
Ministries motivated by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 12:1-8)
Ministries benefiting the church and unbelievers. (1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14)

We guide them in a prayer of…

Contrition: “Father God, I am in despair. I am at the end of ___________.”
Confession: “I know I am not controlled by Your Holy Spirit. I realize that my flesh is in control because ______________.”
Invitation: “Please come into my life and take full control. Unless You come in and take over, I am useless and without hope. I have tried to be a Christian, to be a witness, a worker, an apologist and persuader, but it doesn’t work. I need You to come and take over. Take over right now.”
Surrender: “I yield to whatever You determine the Holy Spirit is to accomplish in my life. I give my thoughts, my talents, my abilities, my motivations, my health, my possessions, my all, everything to You without reservation or protection, design or self-determination. Do with me as You will; You are the Potter; I am the clay.”
Faith expectation: “In yielding to You, seeking Your face, asking for Your person to be known in my life. I believe that You will do what You have promised to do. I accept Your promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the command to be holy as a representative of what You long to see accomplished in Your children’s lives. I now accept Your life as mine, Your strength for my weakness, Your fullness for my emptiness, Your will for my indecision, Your values for mine in spending time, energy, money and influence, Your passion in what I love to do, Your wisdom in my counsel, Your understanding in my judgements; in short…Your life in me.”
Gratitude: “Thank you for hearing and answering my cry for help. Thank you for accepting me in my weakness and emptiness. Thank you for filling up this simple vessel with the substance of Your life and strength. Thank you for taking my life from the hopeless storm to the strength of the mountain.”