LESSON ON FAITH ( PART 6 ) | JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION ( PART 2 )

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3200

LESSON ON FAITH ( PART 6 )

JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION ( PART 2 )

Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless. 

The definition means that we are to be set apart for God's holy use. It also means to be made holy or to be purified. This is exactly the goal of every believer in Christ. Like the Old Testament Temple vessels used by the priests, we are "vessels of honour" to be used exclusively for God's holy purposes - set apart as pure for the purpose of glorifying God.

Today, Christians need to be taught that they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that their bodies are the temple of God in which dwells the Holy Spirit, that their bodies are vessels to be used for the holy or pure purpose of bringing the glory of God.

To recap,  Justification is “found in Christ’s work alone”. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us and is a progressive work.

Sanctification is thus impossible to achieve by human effort. Paul says that “…the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want" (Gal 5:17).

ABBA FATHER, Your will for our lives is that we are sanctified and grow in holiness. Your Word says, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). Paul knew this as he wrote, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality" 

( I Thessalonians 4:3). This is exactly why “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love" (Ephesians 1:4). Paul added:

"you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).

The keywords of that are “by the Spirit of our God." It is not something we do by superhuman effort but by the power of the Holy Spirit and we were justified and “have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10).

However, Sanctification takes a lifetime. We will never be completely perfected until that day of His return. But we must resist temptation, flee from sin, press on, take hold, have a goal, strain toward, and read the Word of God. These allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, with us, and through us by cooperating and being proactive to avoid sinning against God. We are told to be a living sacrifice which is Paul's fitting conclusion: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2).