"If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterward."- Charles Spurgeon
Although sanctification is more than just a dogma, it is one of the most important doctrines crucial to the Christian life. It is also easily the most ignored and never-talked-about doctrine in churches. Sanctification is never more than a passing word in most sermons.
Let us not be led astray by false teachers who preach that all God wants for us is to be blessed, prosperous, peaceful and successful. You can be assured that God is concerned about one thing more than our comfort, blessings, health, wealth and relationships: it is our sanctification. Sanctification is His divine will for each and every one of His children.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality."
Although sanctification is a wide subject, let me try to present it to you in a nutshell. Sanctification is a lifelong journey that commences at the moment of our justification and that will conclude at the moment of our glorification. It is that process of transformation whereby we become more and more like Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Sanctification involves both the divine and human agencies. In other words, both God and we play important roles in our sanctification. As seen in the verse above, the Holy Spirit is the agent of sanctification. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 also shows us how it is the Holy Spirit who performs the sanctifying work in our lives.
He actively works in us and progressively transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ. While He does so, He does not want us to be passive and sit back watch Him do all the work. He wants us to actively work as well.
Philippians 2:12 "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
It does not mean that we are working in order to be saved; for we are definitively, perfectly and fully saved by God. Our salvation is secure and sealed by the Holy Spirit. We played no part whatsoever in our salvation. It is completely a gift from God which we did not earn by our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Even the faith through which we were saved is not of ourselves. We did not conjure up enough faith from ourselves to believe the Gospel. It is a gift given by God to His elect.
However, what Paul means in Philippians 2:12 is that we need to actively work in the process of sanctification. Without our participation, the Holy Spirit will not perform His sanctifying work in us. Without our involvement, we will be stuck in one level of glory rather than going from glory to glory in our transformation to the image of our Savior.
How do we actively participate in our sanctification?
John 17:17 "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
It is God who sanctifies us. But He does so only when we read, study, reflect and practice His Word. The Word of God is the agent through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. This year, let us give ourselves more to the reading and studying of the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit will cause us to grow in sanctification.
We also actively participate in our sanctification by crucifying the passions and desires of our flesh (Romans 8:13 and Galatians 5:24). James 1:14 teaches us that we are tempted when we are lured and enticed by our own desires. Picture a tree with fruits and deep roots running beneath the ground. The tree is sin. The fruits are death. The roots are our own sinful passions and desires. Sanctification is the work of chopping the roots off and crucifying our sinful passions and desires. It is done by us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification is a gradual but radical change in our desires whereby we are no longer as tempted or as given to sin as before. Hence, Christians don’t become sinless in this life. However, we sin less and less when we grow in our sanctification.
“To be in Christ, that is redemption; but for Christ to be in you, that is sanctification!”
― Major W. Ian Thomas