Its Source
With regards to the means of sanctification we are referring to its source. Understanding where and from whom it originates will go a long way in helping us ascertain the true nature of Biblical Sanctification in the life of a believer. Let us first state without hesitation that the source of holiness does not originate within any one of us. As sons of Adam we are incapable of producing anything that relates in any way to the holiness that God demands. Therefore there is nothing in the human nature that will give us the power to be sanctified. F. B. Meyer made this plain when he said, “ A room or public building may be full of delicious sunlight. But that sunlight is not the property of the room. It does not belong to it. You cannot congratulate it upon its possession. For when the shadows of evening gather, and curtain the face of the sun, the chamber is as dark as possible. So the human spirit has no holiness apart from God. Holiness is not a perquisite, or property, an attribute to which any of us can claim. It is the indwelling of God’s light and glory in us.”

This wise observation brings us to our Scripture text found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “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. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” God Himself is the source of sanctification and it is He that supplies the means of making it effective in our lives. It is God the Father that ordained that those who come to Christ by faith would be sanctified through Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ was never meant to be a weak, enfeebled, and ugly thing. It was meant to be strong, courageous, and beautiful in Christ. As His bride, the Church was purchased at great expense. “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26). It is then the Holy Spirit’s ministry to bring each member of the bride of Christ into a deeper, fuller relationship with both the Father and the Son, “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). As we see the Trinity as the source of the physical creation in the book of Genesis, so too do we recognise that the Godhead is active in the work of sanctification of the believer. If God is the source of all life, then we must agree that He is the source of our sanctification.

We must now answer the question, “What are the means whereby God sanctifies His people?” In other words “How are we sanctified?” We have already indicated above something of the means of this, but now we delve a little deeper into how God actually implements and achieves holiness in our lives.

By the Word of God
Before Biblical Sanctification can be applied there must be evidence of faith in the persons life. Without this foundation it would be entirely vain to cleanse a man. This faith must begin with an acceptance that the word of God is true and faithful. It is then from this position the believer can be set apart or sanctified by the Lord. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ was referring to when He said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17) also, “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26). Sanctification cannot be accomplished if there is unbelief of God’s word, and nor can it be maintained in the lives of those who lay aside the truth. On the basis of divine truth all the rest of our Christian experience is built. We would not know we were unholy except it were by the word of God. It is through the study and practice of the Scriptures that a believer is set apart unto God. As a daily manual of godly living it holds all the instructions needed to walk in holiness. The crucial point here is that the Christian must come daily to God’s word so that he can be set apart for that day. It is then through the truth that God points us to the place where we can be cleansed. Long ago, in the prophets, God promised that such a cleansing would be offered to mankind, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses” (Ezekiel 36:25-29). Commenting on these verses David Wilkerson writes, “God is making us an ironclad promise: ‘You will be clean, I swear it - free from all filthiness, guilt and shame. You no longer have to live under a black cloud of dread and despair. You no longer have to fear exposure and loss.’” It is the Scripture that points out our sin, motivates us to confess our sin, and reveals the only source of reconciliation. In this sense sanctification puts us firmly on the right path.

Through the Blood of Christ
The word of God points us to Christ as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). It further teaches us that through the blood shed on Calvary we have both forgiveness and sanctification. “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:12). Without Christ we stand condemned by God and are under His wrath. Because of this there is no escaping the judgement that must follow as a result of sin. A penalty had to be paid - but we could not afford to pay. The Lord Jesus Christ, as our Substitute, paid the penalty for us by dying in our place as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Because of this His blood both saves and sanctifies, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Of course it is abundantly true that Jesus died to bring us salvation, but shall be miss out on sanctification and consider it unimportant in our lives? The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross both to save and to sanctify His people. This is what the Atonement is all about, yet far too often this aspect is given very little consideration. It is the sanctifying power of the blood of Christ that still avails for us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). This verse speaks of the continual cleansing still available to the child of God that allows us to have personal and intimate fellowship with God. Such cleansing through the blood is necessary in order to walk in holiness, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The blood of animals was symbolic of the precious blood of Christ. The shedding of innocent blood in sacrifice brought the worshippers into a covenant relationship with God, or was restored and maintained through the same. The blood of Christ is the “blood of the New Covenant” (Matthew 26:28) which includes sanctification, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22). Only those who are unwilling to believe that they are in need of sanctification are beyond the power of the atonement, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). It is the power of the cross first and foremost whereby true cleansing is received. Just as a Christless religion cannot save, so too a crossless Christianity cannot sanctify. Along these lines Dave Hunt writes, “The Cross lays bare for all eternity the awful truth that beneath the polite façade of culture and education the heart of man is ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked’ (Jeremiah 17:9) capable of evil beyond comprehension even against the God who created and loves him and patiently provides for him. Does any man doubt the wickedness of his heart? Let him look at the Cross and recoil in revulsion from that self within.”

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:9-11). Jesus Christ was set apart unto the Father for the salvation of the world. His perfection is shared with those who accept Him. This perfection includes His holiness. For this reason we declare that we have no holiness of our own but desperately need His! “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

By yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit
Those who have a strong inclination towards sanctification desire to yield themselves entirely to God, “For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Romans 6:19). These have no confidence in the flesh, and certainly do not consider any fleshly means of securing sanctification. Man-made methods of holiness or trying to gain purity through good works are doomed to failure right at the start. Man cannot choose his own religion or even a particular time in life to come to God. Instead he must respond to the influence of the Holy Spirit. God does not give the slightest acknowledgement to those who use ascetic methods to be cleansed. With his usual wit Vance Havner said, “The old mystics tried to make themselves holier by hiding from society, but living in a hole does not make you holier!”

The person that does respond to God’s call to holiness will find that the Holy Spirit will move upon him. He will apply the power of the blood of Christ and thus cleanse and purify. Speaking to those who have been saved the apostle Paul writes, “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” (1 Corinthians 6:11). We will look at the timing of sanctification in the next chapter, but it is worth considering the sequence that the Holy Spirit follows, i.e. Washed - Sanctified - Justified. It is for this reason He is called “the Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4). It is for the same reason Peter calls believers, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2). The person must decide immediately that he or she is going to live a life totally different to that which they have been living up until that point. Obedience is a vital part of Biblical Sanctification.

By Co-operating with God
A part of the means of Biblical Sanctification involves our will. God does not force us to be holy, but expects us to co-operate with Him as He lays the desire upon our hearts. To quote from 2 Corinthians 7:1 again, we read, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”. It therefore becomes our responsibility to perfect holiness in the fear of God. There are two points that need to be made here. Notice that Paul says that we must “cleanse ourselves”, thereby acknowledging our part in the process of sanctification. What the advocates of the Sovereignty of God fail to understand, is that, by His sovereign will God has chosen to give man a free will to choose either to serve Him or reject Him. This in no way undermines His authority. The second point is regarding the fear of God. If believers feared the Lord more then there would be a better spiritual condition found within our churches. The Paul exclaims, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). Who today even considers it “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:13)? David Wilkerson expressed it this way, “When the fear of God has fully laid hold of you, you’ll dread the danger and consequences of sin. You’ll have the power of godly fear at work in you. And you’ll walk every day in this holy fear.” What is it going to take on our part? We are going to have to seek out sin in our lives, the sins that so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1) are usually very visible and on the surface. The Lord wants to deal with them and those that are hidden in the dark corners of our lives. Then we must judge those sins the way God does. A spade is a spade even if someone else calls it a shovel. Forget the fanciful modern terminology, God calls it sin. It is an abomination to Him and should be to us. Therefore we are going to have to cast it away from us. None of this will bring the sanctifying power of God into our lives until we go to Him in prayer, asking for cleansing and strength to live a holy life. With David we would cry, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). This may take much effort on our part, for it requires putting to death that which has been a part of our nature for so long, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13). In a sense that is the easiest part, the problems occur when we have to go on to living in the Spirit. Jesus said to His disciples, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41), but still we must compel ourselves forward in obedience to God’s command which says, “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:19-25).

By chastisement and discipline
There are times when the word of God is simply not getting through to the child of God. In this situation God has no other choice but to chastise, discipline and correct that person. Sometimes we continue headlong in our sinful ways. The sin and flaws in our hearts get bigger and bigger until there is a possibility that we will turn completely away from God. God does not ignore this situation even if we do. He allows personal suffering to bring us to our senses. He corrects us so that we can know something of His divine nature, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). He wants His purity, holiness and glory to shine through us. Correction is meant as a wake-up call before it becomes too late. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11). Those who are in son and receive no correction are in great danger, “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8). Therefore we see that God chastises those that belong to Him. He disciplines them so that they might realise how far they have fallen, and then call out to God for cleansing. “The instrument by which the Spirit effects this work is generally the Word of God, though He sometimes uses afflictions and providential visitations without the Word” remarked J. C. Ryle.

Consequences of remaining unsanctified
In this chapter we have seen the tools which God uses to bring His children to sanctification. He as the source of our sanctification has chosen to use these methods since He does not want even one of His own to fall away. As a final thought regarding the issues raised in this section, it would be appropriate to ask, “What happens to those who continue to resist God’s call to sanctification especially taking into account all He has done to draw them to Himself?” In such a situation God is left with no alternative but to give them up until they come to their senses (if they ever do). Paul answers this question very precisely in Hebrews 6:1-6, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ...… and this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame”.

CONTENTS      HOME