Salvation can be divided into three phases - past, present, and future. We have discussed the future of the Christian, which includes eternal life on a renewed planet from which sin and its effects shall have been forever eradicated.
These three phases may be described as:
1) the human condition. Why is man in the condition he is in? The Bible says because of sin.
2) God's position. God offers a remedy. He sent Jesus who overcame sin and offers us His helping hand.
3) salvation has come. If we accept God's offer to redeem us from sin, we can be saved.
Now we come to a subject that must be understood and practiced by those seeking this future experience. The Bible labels it "sanctification," and it deals with a man's present experience. The dictionary describes it as an act or process of growth in God's grace where men are set free from the bondage of sin.
People will be lost because of personal choices, not because of being born with disordered natures.
A correct definition of sin is the continental divide, 1.John 3:4. If the rivulet flows down one side of the mountain, it enters the gospel river; if the other, it becomes part of a totally different river, a false gospel. The same with prophecy. In the Bible your prophetic heritage turns on how you interprete Daniel and Revelation. When it comes to your view of the gospel, everything hinges on how you answer the question: `What is sin?' Choice or nature? Is it what we think or do, or is it what we are?
Are we really lost? Is in us a condition of brokeness, a relentless badness, a toxic moral slime? Our `lost condition' is the result of our misusing of granted freedoms given to us by God. We are not hard wired like misquitoes. We can make choices. [Larry Kirkpatrick, Cleanse and Close, Highland, Ca, 2006, p. 22.]
A Panel Discussion
The time is yours, Paul. Would you repeat the prayer offered for some church members which indicated how much territory in a man's life sanctification covers?
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1.Thess. 5:23.
You certainly left nothing out. You have covered every possible function and action of a man's experience.
Master, I think you should settle the question whether this sanctification or holiness is gradual or instantaneous action.
"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, taken by a woman and put into three measures of flower until the whole lot had risen." "The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." Matth. 13:33 (Phillips); Mark 4:28 (RSV).
Those are the tremendous illustrations from everyday life! You have made it clear that sanctification takes time - a lifetime, in fact! Justification or acquittal is instantaneous, but sanctification is a process of continuous growth. Yeast in dough does not cause an explosion.
Moses, you were the first one to mention the word "sanctified" in the Bible. Share with us how you used it.
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:3.
Most interesting! Even a day can be made holy by God - not only people. It seems that God wants a sanctified people to keep a sanctified day.
We learn that forgiveness and justification are operations of God's power in man's life. Is this action of sanctification accomplished by God or man? In other words, who gets the credit for man's leading a sanctified life - God or man?
Paul, can you explain this for us?
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 1.Cor. 6:11 RSV.
You are saying that God gets all the glory for any victories in a man's experience. Is that right?
"He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption." 1.Cor. 1:30 RSV.
One thing is certain, God does not share with us the credit for sanctification any more than He shares the credit for justification.
What is the reason for this, Paul?
"Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord." 1.Cor. 1:31 RSV.
In a letter to Titus, did you not emphasize that truth in a different manner?
"Not by virtue of any moral achievements of ours, but by the cleansing power of a new birth and the moral renewal of the Holy Spirit." Titus 3:5 Phillips.
This answer has cleared up another point. God sanctifies or consecrates a man through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, Paul, if a man surrenders to the control of the Holy Spirit, what will happen as far as his actions are concerned?
"The Spirit ... produces in human life fruits such as these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control." "Live your whole life in the Spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of your lower nature." Gal. 5:22-23, 16.
What are you talking about, Paul, when you refer to these desires of our lower nature?
"The activities of the lower nature are obvious. Here is a list: sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factions, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. I solemnly assure you, as I did before, that those who indulge in such things will never inherit God's kingdom." Gal. 5:19-21 Phillips.
Lord, how my heart cries out for this sanctification! I must have it, else I have lived in vain. Paul, can you further amplify how I may obtain it?
"So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood." Hebr. 13:12 RSV.
But, Master, how can this be applied to me personally?
"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." John 6:56 RSV.
That sounds mysterious. What do you mean by that?
"The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." John 6:63 RSV.
How did you express this thought in Your prayer for Your disciples?
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17.
David, is this the reason it is so important to have the words of Scripture in our minds?
"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Psalm 119:11.
Peter, do you concur with David on this point?
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2.Peter 1:4.
I am beginning to see that justification delivers us from the penalty of sin, while sanctification delivers us from the power of sin. Justification pays our debt, and sanctification keeps us out of debt!
Justification is our title to heaven, and sanctification is our fitness for heaven. Justification is an act of grace, and sanctification is growth in grace.
Paul, can you contrast for us the rewards of obedience and disobedience to God's commands?
"What return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed?
The end of those things is death.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God,
the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life." Romans 6:21-22 RSV.
Sanctification and eternal life with Jesus surely make God's way of life worth living!
"Through the plan of salvation a larger purpose is to be wrought out even than the salvation of man and the redemption of the earth. Through the revelation of the character of God in Christ the beneficence of the divine government would be manifested before the universe, the charge of Satan refuted, the nature and results of sin made plain, and the perpetuity of the law fully demonstrated." `Signs of the Times', December 22, 1914.
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