WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

1 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.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Sanctification is the process of conforming to the image of God. Sanctification is the call to put off the old self, one wrought with sin, and put on the new self, one filled by the Spirit. Sanctification is the separation of something (or someone) for a sacred purpose. It’s to be set apart for holy use. Sanctification is the process of our hearts, minds, and desires being brought into greater conformity with God's. It is a progressive holiness and growing in purity and it takes a lifetime. We must be willing to be perfected daily, because perfection takes time and patience. The moment we gave our life to Christ, we didn’t see noticeable evidence of growth right away. Right.  No! It was a process. Sometimes it takes days, weeks, months, even years to see tangible evidence of growth in our life. God knew who we were, how messy we were, and how sinful we were when He found us. He knew, yet He still pursued us to follow Him as His disciple. Why? Because He loves us and wants an intimate relationship with us. 

This sanctification is a progressive process. It is not something that occurs instantaneously at our conversions. It is a progressive work done by the Holy Spirit over the course of our entire life. The apostle Paul tells us that we have to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling. He is telling us there are things that have to be worked out – and I believe one of those things is our sanctification in the Lord – the process where God the Father begins to set us apart unto Himself and to transform us into becoming more holy instruments of righteousness for His use.

So how do we get sanctified? 

Read and write down John 17:17

It’s God’s word that sanctifies us. God’s word sanctifies us and makes us clean and white as snow. It’s God’s true and faithful word that sanctifies us. It’s a process and it takes a lifetime. Progressive sanctification is what makes us more like God. 

 

• Do you see yourself becoming more and more like God?

• Is your desire to be more like God increasing daily?

If  not, what do you think is hindering you from desiring God more daily? 
Progressive sanctification is God’s will for our lives. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification:”  And the only way sanctification will happen in our lives if we look at Jesus, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us bit by bit into the image of Christ. Sanctification happens when we submit fully to the direction of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to produce His fruit in us. Galatians 5:22-23 ‘...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” 

JOURNALING QUESTIONS: 

 

 

• In your own words, what does it mean to be sanctified?

• Is your life producing the fruits of the Spirit?

• If not, which ones are you lacking?  

• Is sanctification something that God does, or something we do? (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Colossians 3:1-10)  

Just the word sanctification can scare some believers. Because it sounds like being sanctified, we must be these “perfect” angels this side of Heaven. But we must remember that everyone falls far short of this unique, one-of-a-kind, ‘holy’ God. There is not one person on this beautiful green earth that is perfect, not one! Only God is perfect! But yet, God commands us to be holy and set apart people, because He is holy. This progressive holiness or sanctification is both distinct from salvation sanctification and grounded upon salvation sanctification. It cannot exist apart from salvation sanctification.

 

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are saved, and therefore you have been chosen to be set apart and sanctified for God by the power of the Holy Spirit, and on the basis of the work of Christ on the cross.

 

This action is called sanctification.

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