SANCTIFICATION IN CONTRAST TO INIQUITY

 

  “Sanctification” has different meanings for different people. It is a dirty word for unclean people and a clean state for clean people. For Nazarenes it is a second work of grace that corresponds with the reception of the Holy Ghost. Among Calvinists, sanctification is seldom preached. Theological “regeneration” is what God does for you, and “sanctification” is more what Christians do for God.  It is a way of saying, “Thank you, Lord, for what you have done!” What has he done for you? Died for your sins so that you need not.

  Before continuing, just what is sanctification? There are three definitions, according to Strong’s Dictionary. The most applicable one must be chosen for the context. Hence, there is some ambiguity as to which applies where. The Greek word is “hagioso.” John wrote, “Sanctify them through thy Truth; thy Word is Truth.” (John 17:17). Jesus said that. He is referring to God for sanctification. His reference is to those who God would keep, so that they never are to be lost. (John 17:11-12), and the evidence of that is joy fulfilled in themselves (John 17:13).

  It seems that sanctification is by grace on God’s part. Indeed, everything effecting you is by the grace of God, from the time your soul was created, to the time that you are born, reborn, and kept until death. Then “death” itself is the ultimate “sanctification” when the Christian is set apart and glorified in secure in Paradise where Satan can never be. Sanctification, then, is perhaps the safety of the Christian until they are saved in the end. Christians speak as if they are already saved, but the words are future tense: “shall be saved.”

  Regeneration, as I have written before, is persuasion and baptism with the Holy Ghost. After the Galatians were persuaded, “The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:52). Jesus had said, “John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 11:16). Their “baptism” was not with water but the “living water” of the Spirit.

  Water baptism is for repentance, but the baptism of the Holy Ghost is for the actual remission (cleansing) of sins. Repentance is testifying that people are sinners and need washing. The reception of the Holy Ghost is the actual washing away of sins. Several places in scripture, it is obvious that the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus do not necessarily coincide.

  What should happen when sins are washed away? The person cleansed should stay clean. Jesus knew that Christians could not stay clean by themselves, so the Father sent the Comforter to do what? Comfort! And to comfort henceforth: “He (the Father) shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). The “other” Comforter is the Holy Ghost of Jesus, and not really another, but another “substance” of Jesus. The disciples had Jesus in the Flesh, and after He left, he would return in Spirit (Acts 2), and that other substance appeared in His place.

  The first appearance of the Comforter was by wind and fire (Acts 2). All other appearances seem to be by “joy.” In the first appearance, the Jews were ecstatically speaking and hearing in the language of God. All other appearances is with Comfort and joy.

  How does one know if they are born again? They have a new attitude because they are persuaded by the truth and are joyous as the truth makes sinners free (John 8:32). Think of a lifetime of imprisonment. When the judge opens the doors and the prisoners walk out, what should happen? Obviously, the released prisoners would be joyous, and why did the judge open the doors to freedom? Not because criminals are innocent, but because He has grace, and believes that the lawbreakers need another chance.

  The second chance is sanctification. Henceforth, the sinner is out on parole. Until the end, the lawbreaker must continue with good behavior. With that said, the judge (Jesus) sends the former prisoners the “parole officer” (the Holy Ghost). Thenceforth, the former prisoner is released because he or she desires to be a model of the judge. First off, the Judge sets the former prisoner apart from those who would influence them to do evil. In the case of sanctification, God sets them apart from the world. That is done by a “hedge” of safety, as God did for Job (Job 1:10).

  Like the paroled but guilty prisoner, life outside is tribulation. The world tests the perseverance and commitment of the former prisoner. The world is full of temptations and God knows how tough it is.

  Now think about Andy Griffith’s jail. When Otis Campbell, the town drunk, became inebriated, Andy was gracious enough to keep him safe in jail, and Otis was wise enough to desire safety for two reasons: (1) To please Andy, and (2) to be safe from outside influences and from his wife, Rita, to be honest.

  That is much like sanctification: God sets apart but those who want to endure the world and freely enter in. Thus, sanctification is God providing and the Christian accepting the accommodation by walking in. As Otis showed gratitude to Andy, Christians, with joy, should show gratitude to God. Remembering that your very existence is by the grace of God, you have one requirement, to walk the Way of Jesus. Walking is work and following in the footprints of Jesus is unusually difficult; so hard that he carries those who follow diligently.

  Who does the setting apart? God, to wit: “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 Thes 5:23). That is God’s part. He preserves in a safe space, not only your emotions, but wholly — in whole spirit, soul, and body.  The Spirit belongs to God and it resides in the soul within the body of the Christian. In other words, the Christian’s soul and body belong to the Holy Spirit and are His Temple.

  The obligation of the Christian is to keep the “Temple” clean that God has provided. The Holy Ghost cleansed it, and the Christian has the obligation to keep it clean.

  Paul tells the Thessalonians their duties in keeping the sanctified “Temple” holy:  ⁶ sobriety, ⁸ faith and love, ¹¹ unity, ¹² receptivity to correction, ¹³ peacefulness,  ¹⁴ assisting others with their faith, ¹⁵ do no evil but what is good for you and others, ¹⁶ rejoice, ¹⁷ pray, ¹⁸ give thanks, ¹⁹ follow the direction of God, ²⁰ welcome what God has in store for you, ²¹ test all things and do good, ²² and be blameless (1 Thes 5).

  God cleaned the place and set it apart. Then He provided a work list that you should be willing to do to keep His House clean because you live in it too; you and God together in unity. As any parent knows, the father provides the room, but the sons and daughters are expected to keep it clean. By doing so, it avoids the wrath of the father, and provides a clean safe place in which to live.

  Otis had a stronghold. He pleasured with alcohol. Just because he was a model prisoner did not remove the desire for alcohol until he had learned that things were much better without it. Every weekend, alcohol defeated him, and he turned again to Andy. Of course, Andy is not God but an allegory for God.

  Redeemed Christians also have strongholds. Because Adam and Eve covered their “shame” with fig leaves, it should be obvious what the hardest stronghold is. Impure sex dirties God’s people. I believe that original sin included sex for pleasuring rather than for creating as they were commanding to do. One of the “fruits” of the forbidden tree is lasciviousness and other sexual depravities: “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness” (Gal 5:19). Paul had warned the Galatians about their sexual proclivity, and he warned the Christians at Thessalonica in much the same manner:

³ For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: ⁴ That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; ⁵ Not in the lust of concupiscence (passion), even as the Gentiles which know not God… (1 Thes 4:3-5)

  Note that sanctification is not a commandment, but cooperation with what God desires. The stronghold is fornication. Of course, the ultimate “fornication” is adultery with foreign gods but also not to dirty God’s Temple in you as a Christian out of honor for God. Paul knew and saw the sexual rituals in pagan churches and warned Christians not to do the same. “Christians” who fornicate do so against God. Rather than Christianity, it is a polluted form of it called “Nicolaism.” God hates the sins of the Nicolaitanes (Rev 2:6,15), and here they are elaborated:

⁹ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, ¹⁰ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)

  They are all fornications against God and sexual sins, as can be seen elsewhere, are sins against oneself because they are damning. Those who do such things are the unsanctified and they chance forfeiting their safety because God is not their first love (Rev 2:4).

  Nicolatains love the doctrine of Nicolas more than the Doctrine of God. That is heresy, and to be honest, the Church is fuller of Nicolatains today than ever before! I write not only of “shacking up” as if married but dating with coitus in mind. Likewise with “paper marriages” only where Holy Matrimony is not vowed. In other words, “adultery.”

  Christians are not sanctified if they live the doctrine of Nicolas. They have walked out of the “hedge” that God provided to keep Satan out of their safe space.

  Even Otis came back, but when Christians walk out not to return, they forfeit the preservation of God. No longer will the Holy Ghost Comfort because He abandons unholy “Temples.” When God’s children steal from the will of God, His Temple is no more than a den of thieves. Christians remaining in sin, outside the protection of God, submit themselves to temptation, and sin they will do. Living as if never a Christian, and not as a sanctified believer, is as if crucifying Jesus all over again (Heb 6:6). Sinners crucified Jesus one time for all sins, and to repeat that for continually sinning is a second attempt to crucify.

  Sure, Christians can ask for forgiveness and get it for sins past (Rom 3:25), but not actively living in sin outside sanctification. People fear rebirth because that is a new attitude and means change. Sinners are uncomfortable with change, so they endeavor to live how they are comfortable — in sin — and outside sanctification.

  If Otis had been comfortable outside in the world, he would have stayed in the world and outside the protection of Andy’s cell. Any did not allow alcohol in the jail, and that made Otis uncomfortable but safe. If people are comfortable with their sins, they are outside sanctification.

  Sanctification, then, is essentially living in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost without a desire to enjoy the things of the world. The act of sanctification is the crucifixion of the flesh. It is an act of gratitude for the crucifixion of God’s Flesh on behalf of sinners.

(picture credit: KXRB FM):