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This blog post is the second in a series of posts about sanctification of the believer by the Holy Spirit.
As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who has taught thousands of people I know the importance of behavior change. As a follower of Jesus Christ I know that God wants us to change behavior and provides the help of the Holy Spirit to do so. And as nutrition counselor and author of this blog who has become free of a 5-tier 15-year addiction to food, diets, body image, exercise and the scale I share that behavior change with the help of the Holy Spirit is far more effective than behavior change that is based solely on human effort alone. This current series of blog posts on sanctification explains why that is and how to experience true change—permanent change--with God’s Help.
The previous blog post "Sanctification" explains what sanctification is. Sanctification is not only the desire of God, it is the work of God. Jehovah-M'Kaddesh: “I AM The Lord Who Sanctifies”. In the Old Testament we find God telling His people to “be holy”, and that He is the One who sanctifies them:
“Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” Leviticus 20:7-8 (NKJV)
“Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.” Leviticus 21:8 (NKJV)
“Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” Ezekiel 20:12 (NKJV)
In the Old Testament the LORD told His people that He is the One Who sanctifies. They needed Him to do so then, and we need Him to do so now. The sanctification of the Old Testament involved ceremonial observance while the sanctification of the New Testament is a result of Christ’s death and a work of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual process involving our whole being. Paul prays for God to sanctify thoroughly all parts of the human nature (including feelings, passions, desires and will), acknowledging that “God himself” is the One who sanctifies and is faithful to do so:
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)
Jesus also prayed to the Father for our sanctification, asking Him to sanctify us by His truth:
“Sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” John 17:17-19 (NKJV)
In this verse the word “sanctify” has more the meaning of separation, or being set apart. In the Old Testament God called Israel His “treasured possession”, a “kingdom of priests”, and “a holy nation”:
“'Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:5-6 (NIV)
In the Old and New Testaments God’s people are to be set apart unto Him for His purposes and to represent Him on earth:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
God’s “treasured possession” in the Old Testament, God’s “special possession” in the New Testament. If we receive Christ (if we repent for our sin, receive His sacrifice on the cross for our sin and truly surrender our life to Him) we become His possession, we receive the Holy Spirit, and the sanctification begins.
The sanctification process is by God’s Grace and is so much the evidence of the supreme love of God--the goal is described in the New Testament for the Church, “the bride of Christ”, to be presented to Him as a chaste bride. Paul describes Christ’s sanctifying, purifying love:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV)
Christ gave Himself for the Church, that He might sanctify it in this world, and glorify it in the next.
“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” Hebrews 13:12 (NKJV)
This supreme act of love purchased the Holy Spirit for us and allows us to become holy. Believers will not be without spot or wrinkle until we come to glory, but by the Grace and Power of the Holy Spirit we are on our way. It is the blood of Jesus that washes us for regeneration and justifies us because of His suffering, and it is the working of the Holy Spirit that sanctifies us. The blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit work together on our behalf:
“And that is what some of you were. But 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 (NIV)
When Jesus fulfilled the will of God, He provided for a permanent “positional” condition of holiness:
“. . . then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ . . . By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. . . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:9-14 (NKJV)
This differs from the progressive sanctification that results from daily walking by the will of God. The Holy Spirit has the power to progressively change our sinful nature:
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” 1 John 3:1-9 (NIV)
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin . . .”—yikes. Don’t let this Scripture cause guilt. John is writing about habitual, constant sinning, not the occasional sin that genuine Christians commit (and need to confess) due to a sin disposition. God knows we live in our unredeemed flesh, and that we are in the process of sanctification. Instead of “perfection”, think “direction”, and remember the Grace of God. Remember, God looks at the heart. Despite our failures believers can become more and more Christlike by being joined with His Son and empowered by His Spirit. Read the Scripture above again--notice that the verses begin with the incredible love of God towards us, not condemnation for not being perfect, and the fact that we are not yet fully Christlike. This Word is an encouragement in the process. We look forward to the resurrection and the subsequent complete Christlikeness which is the believer’s eternal glory. While on earth we will always maintain our flesh, so the truly divine life of the child of God will not be fully revealed until Jesus appears. We are, however, being transformed, being conformed to His image, if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work. The result will be ultimate conformity to Christlikeness at His return:
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29 (NKJV)
That sanctification is evidence of God’s supreme love for us is also evident in His Gentleness and the fact that it is a process. While sin or pain may be drivers of overeating He leads us through the process one step at a time instead of just uprooting sin or dealing with immense pain all at once, which would be like suddenly ripping it out with the roots leaving a big gaping hole. So be willing and thankful that it is a process unlike the “quick-fix” promises of diets. God doesn’t miss any steps so the result is complete freedom.
But with all that said (that God is the One Who sanctifies us) we also have a necessary part in the process as we choose whether to participate or not. Our part is to surrender to the process and obey as the Holy Spirit leads. More about our part in upcoming blog posts.
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