Sanctification, understood as being set apart, is not a second work of grace, the eradication of the old nature, or an emotional experience. Positively, it means to be set apart for a purpose, applicable to inanimate objects like Mount Sinai or food, and to persons, including believers and even the wicked in certain contexts. The agents of sanctification are the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son, and the truth of God's Word. There are various forms: pre-conversional, where the Spirit begins to deal with individuals; positional, where believers are instantly set apart by Christ's work; experiential, a daily cleansing and growth through the Word; and final, the ultimate presentation of the church and individuals to Christ.
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Now for a study in sanctification. First of all, the definition. One negatively stated, A, it is not a quote, second work of grace. Now that expression comes from Second Corinthians where the Apostle Paul said, I'm going to come to you that you might have a second benefit. It had nothing whatever to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit, because in I Corinthians six and nineteen, he had stated that the Corinthians already had the Holy Spirit.
The second benefit was going to be by his coming back to visit them again. And in this sense, we ought to have a lot of benefits and a lot of blessings. Somebody asked a friend of mine if he'd ever had the second blessing, and he said, second one. He said, I'm on my second million. And of course this is true. But the Holy Spirit and the coming of the Holy Spirit and sanctification, which are often confused, neither one can be called the second work of grace. It is not the eradication of the old nature. First Corinthians one and two. says that this epistle is addressed to them who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.
And yet in this epistle, he rebuked all kinds of evil things. You read through First Corinthians and you'd wonder if these people knew the Lord at all or not. And yet they were definitely said to be sanctified. So it can't mean the eradication of the old nature. which is never taught in the scripture, incidentally. And third, it is not an emotional experience. First Corinthians six, nine to eleven puts these things together. You're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified. Now there's no idea there that sanctification means an emotional kind of thing when it's set in between washing, and justification.
Washing means, of course, the cleansing by the precious blood of Christ. Justification means being given a right standing. Why would he put something in between those two that means some kind of a hysterical experience? It isn't that at all. Sanctification does not mean that. Now, positively stated, A, the meaning of the word uniformly is to set apart, to set apart. Any passage where the word sanctification is used, you can substitute that phrase, set apart, and you'll find that it fits.
Now, other words will not work out. For instance, a minister told a friend of mine, a lady who was much more intelligent than he was, she said, he said to her, I wish you were sanctified. She said, would you mind telling me what it means? Well, he said, just to make it simple for you, he said, sanctify means to clean out the dirt. Well, now she said, that's a little strange. Are you going to sit there and tell me that my blessed Lord had to have some dirt cleaned out when he said, for this cause I sanctify myself? and he picked up his hat and said, well, I think I'll be gone, which was the only sensible thing he'd said that day.
It never means to clean out the dirt. It never means to be, to have the old nature eradicated. It never means to get some kind of a hysterical feeling. It means to set apart. Be the related words, saints, holy, and so on, and the general usage, give it a good sense. though this is not always so. We'll point this out in a little bit. Generally speaking, then, sanctification has a good sense, set apart for a right purpose, though it may mean set apart for a wrong purpose. Now, see, it may be true of inanimate objects.
Exodus nineteen and twenty-three, for instance, says, set bounds about the mount, that's Mount Sinai, and sanctify it. Now, sanctify meant to get the old nature out. How in the world would you do that with a mountain? But to set it apart for God makes sense, and that's what it was for. Moses went up on top of that mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. And D, it is true of all true believers. Acts twenty-six, fifteen to eighteen says, to give them, the Gentiles, an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
That is to bring the Gentiles in among the Jews, to give them the same blessing that he gave to them by grace. The Gospel went to the Jew first and then it went out to the Gentile. And he applies this as being true of all believers. Now our second section, we're going to study a little bit about the agents of sanctification one the Holy Spirit and I've given you three passages of scripture which you ought to give some attention to in Romans fifteen and sixteen he says the that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit is the agent of sanctification. Second Thessalonians two-thirteen and also in First Peter one and two we read through sanctification of the Spirit. Then second the Father. I've given you three passages to show that the Father, first of all, in John ten and verse thirty-six, he says he sanctified the Son and sent him into the world.
So the Father is there, said to be the agent of sanctification. In first Thessalonians five and verse twenty-three he says, the God of peace sanctify you wholly, W-H-O-L-L-Y, completely. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body. So there the Father is said to be the agent of sanctification. Also in Jude one, where we're said to be sanctified by God the Father. And then third, the Son is said to do the sanctifying. In fact, in First Corinthians one-thirty, he is said to be made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
So he not only is the agent, he is actually that himself to us. In Ephesians five and verse twenty-six, the Lord Jesus is washing and sanctifying the church that he might present it to himself. And in Hebrews ten and ten, we're said to be sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. Now the fourth agent of sanctification is the truth of God, the word of God. The scriptures themselves. In John seventeen and seventeen, the Lord Jesus said in praying to the Father, sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is true. So the Word of God is used to sanctify or set apart believers. In Ephesians five, twenty-six already referred to, he says that he might cleanse and sanctify it by the washing of water by the Word. So the action of the Word of God in our lives sets us apart to God. In First Timothy four and five, and this is an interesting verse, if you run onto somebody who tells you that sanctification makes a person holy, ask him to explain First Timothy four, five, because there it says that every creature of God is good for food and nothing to be refused if it be received at Thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
So you may have had sanctified potatoes for dinner today. If you gave thanks for them, and accepted them, thankfully, from the Lord, they were set apart for your use. It's quite obvious that this doesn't change the nature of the thing which is sanctified. It's very obvious, because even things like this may be sanctified. Yet they are sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Now the third section, sanctification may be true of persons and of objects. One, various persons.
A, it's said to be true of God himself. First Peter three, fifteen. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be thankful. Now, how in the world could a human being sanctify God? That's very simple. he gives him a special place he sets him apart to be the ruler in his own heart and by doing so he sanctifies the Lord God in his own heart and be it said to be true of the Lord Jesus in John seventeen and nine where he says for this cause I sanctify myself the Lord Jesus set himself apart to go to Calvary for our sake See, it said to be true believers.
Second Timothy two, nineteen to twenty two, he says, If a man shall purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, or fit for the master's use. So we have the privilege of setting ourselves apart to be useful to God. In Hebrews two and eleven, you have the same thought He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. That is, they are joined together. The Lord Jesus and all of his people are set apart jointly together.
This is said to be true in this passage. Now this may surprise you. D, this is even true of the wicked. Isaiah sixty-six and seventeen is case in point where the idolaters were said to sanctify themselves for their idolatrous practices. And in First Corinthians seven and verse fourteen we're told that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by a believing wife and an unbelieving wife is sanctified by a believing husband. Now that certainly doesn't mean that because the husband believes that that makes his wife a Christian, it simply means that because there is one believer in that family, that family can be set apart for God.
And therefore, it's possible even for an unsaved and a wicked person to be called sanctified. And I have appendage a note here that this word was used of the idol temple prostitutes. They were called the sanctified priestesses. They were set apart for that particular purpose, for that particular idol. And they lived there in that temple, although their object was immoral. They were sanctified people. Now, you see, you can't possibly give a meaning to the word sanctified there that would have anything to do with changing the person making them good or making them sinless or anything of that kind, because they were sanctified in order to be sinners.
And the word set apart applies. Now second, it may be true of inanimate objects. In Leviticus eight and ten, it was said to be true of a tabernacle. That was the tenth that he carried around through the wilderness. It says that Moses anointed the tabernacle and all the furniture that was there in and sanctified them. Then in Second Chronicles twenty nine seventeen it was said to be true of the temple after Solomon built it. He said sanctify the house of the Lord in eight days. And this is what he did.
It's also said to be true of the sheep gate. in Nehemiah three and verse one, when Nehemiah led the people after they were carried into captivity, led them back up into Jerusalem, and he rebuilt the city, rebuilt the walls, and it says that he built the sheep gate and they sanctified it. And then I mentioned a little bit ago in First Timothy four or five, it is said to be true even of our food. the food which we eat is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. It's very plain that you could not imply sinlessness nor even any change in objects of the very fact that they were sanctified.
I think that while we don't want to spend too much time on wrong ideas, I think that in teaching the truth from scripture we've got to take account of the untruths of the wrong things that have been taught and unfortunately about a hundred years ago there was a strong movement toward what was called by them and the various names such as second work of grace total dedication, higher life.
It's known by different names and it branched off into different groups. The Pentecostal movement came out of this. Out of this came the Keswick Conferences, the Higher Life Movement. A number of books were written. And if you're not careful, you're going to get swump by some of these false teachings because one of their favorite words is sanctification and they make sanctification to be a special thing which is only for a select few they make out that this is something which you attain to and they use such expressions as he is only justified and they're trying to lead him on to sanctification as though sanctification were an advancement upon mere justification.
This seems too bad in the light of the study that we've already had on justification. God has given justification such a high place in His plan. It is such a marvelous thing for all of us who are believers to be given this right standing, to be made righteous in God's sight. What a shame to... lower it by saying too bad he is only justified and try to lead him now into a new experience. This again is a very misleading thing, experience. Justification may or may not be an experience, as we shall see when we go into its various forms.
I mean, sanctification may or may not be an experience. Sanctification may take place without your realizing that it has taken place at all. You may not be in the good of it. You may not be appreciating it. You may not be living up to it. It can be a definite work, which is finished. And it can be a progressive thing. We'll see as we consider the different forms. But I must say a little bit about these false teachings about sanctification otherwise you're going to be you're liable to be misled by some of these things that are being taught today now let's move on into the fourth section its various forms we really are getting down now to the study of just our sanctification itself now number one There is the pre-conversional form, which is through sovereign grace.
A, it is by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Now this is something that no one needs to ask for. This is something that the unsaved are not even conscious of. This is something that takes place through no choice of our own at all. Now we have to be careful in teaching a topic like this, lest someone should get the idea that some people are born to be saved and some are born to be damned. The Bible doesn't teach that at all. That's ultra-Calvinism and is not true. But the Bible does teach that God does some things on his own.
that there is such a thing as the sovereign elective grace of God. It does teach that God begins to deal with people before they themselves are conscious of God. He does this with all people. Every human being God deals with in some way or another. They may respond, and if they do, they may be led to Christ, or they may turn their back upon Him and do what is called in one place despite unto the Spirit of grace. It's possible to turn away from what the Spirit of God is wanting to do. Now there are two passages concerning this, Second Thessalonians two-thirteen and First Peter one and two.
And for this subdivision B we're going to say it leads to salvation. These are very marvelous passages. I hope that you'll give some time to going into them in detail and studying them. In Second Thessalonians chapter two and verse thirteen, he tells us that we are sanctified by the Spirit, that we pass through the sanctification of the Spirit unto the belief of the truth, that the Spirit of God begins to deal with us before We believe.
Now, if you look back over your life, if you're a believer, and you look back over your life, you will be able, I think, to think of a time when the Spirit of God was dealing with you, bringing to your attention spiritual matters. If you were not yet concerned, you were not really wanting to be a Christian. Maybe you belonged to church. Maybe you were satisfied with yourself, with your good works. You really were not interested in Christ, but the Spirit of God was working with you. He was leading you to think about spiritual things. I think you can look back to see such a time.
This is referred to again in first Peter one and verse two. And there he mentions the sprinkling of the blood of Christ and the belief of the truth. preceding this was the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. I have known of people who were living lives of libertines, immoral lives, and the Spirit of God began to deal with them. Such a person was John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan was an ungodly man. His mouth was so vile that people asked that he'd be excluded from their villages.
He went around from village to village, mending pots and pans, and he was called a tinker. He did whatever little odd jobs could be done, and some of the people wanted the authorities to bar him from coming from their village. And he became convicted over this, and he changed his ways. He quit swearing. He quit using bad language. He quit getting drunk. He wasn't saved yet. But something, no, some weren't. The Spirit of God was dealing with him and convicting him. And this is the sanctification of the Spirit. Now later, John Bunyan heard the gospel and received Christ as his Savior.
And you find this in your own life. This is pre-conversional sanctification, the setting apart of a person by the Spirit of God. And if that person responds, then he will be led to Christ. Now, second, there is positional sanctification. Positional means that God places every true believer in this position. First Corinthians one and thirty tells us that Christ was sent for this purpose. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Every believer has Christ as his sanctification.
Positionally, he is set apart to God by the simple fact that he has accepted Christ. And B, it was procured for all believers at Calvary, Hebrews ten and ten. It says, By the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, this sanctification took place by the very fact that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself. And then, in Hebrews thirteen and twelve, it was said to be at the cost of his blood, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. And in Acts twenty-six and eighteen, we're told that we receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified.
The redeemed of the Lord are all sanctified positionally. That is, God has given us a set-apart place. And this took place instantly upon your conversion. Now, most of us are more concerned with the third aspect of this or the third form of it, which is experiential. Experiential sanctification, A, takes place through the Word of God. John, seventeen, seventeen, to which you've already referred, in Ephesians five, twenty-six. The labor back in the Old Testament, in both the tabernacle and the temple, depict this.
And in the Thirteenth of John, the Lord Jesus washing the disciples' feet is also a picture of this, the daily cleansing of the Word of God. Now, this is your responsibility. As a believer, you are to go into the Word of God and allow the Scriptures to cleanse your life. The feet stand for the walk, you see, the ways. And as you read the word of God and God points something out to you which is not right, by taking heed to that word you become experientially set apart to God. The word of God has that effect on your life. First John two and one refers to this. I write unto you little children that you sin not.
So it means a turning away from sin. The word of God is to help us to turn away from sin. second Corinthians three eighteen tells us that it it implies occupation with Christ beholding him he says we are changed into the same image from glory to glory and the only place you can behold the Lord Jesus is in the Word of God not a holy picture but the scriptures themselves and as you read the Bible you will find yourself transformed into his image and second Peter Three-eighteen tells us that this results in daily growth.
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the way the Word of God works. By yielding ourselves to God, Romans six tells us this. That whole passage has to do with it. Romans twelve and one, you remember, it says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. So all of this takes place experientially as we read the Word of God. Now then there is the final form of sanctification. In Ephesians five and twenty-seven, we're told as to the church, we are going to be finally presented to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
That's the final sanctification or setting apart to the Lord. when at the marriage supper of the lamb the entire body of believers that is the true church will be presented to Christ and individually in first Thessalonians five and twenty three we're told I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be set apart to God now when does he say that will take place at the coming of the Lord Jesus so at the return of Christ individually we shall be finally set apart to himself. There'll never be anything again to take us away from him.
And as a church, we shall be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, finally, joined to himself, set apart for the Lord.