Sanctification…what does it mean? It means to be set apart; the Greek word is Hagios, a saint, holy and set apart. Where can it be found or verified in scripture? Read Hebrews 10:10 and then 10:14. Here is what a portion of this scripture declares in verse 10…we are (present tense) sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. Not twice, three times or more but once through something outside yourself that is secure in Jesus Christ.
Now, let’s look at verse 14: for by one offering HE (that’s God himself) HE has done something… what is that important something? If God is doing the doing or the something that is mentioned here it must command our attention.
The something that God has done is that HE, not you or the most admirable person on earth but…HE HAS DONE IT! Not HE has started it and your job is to finish it. What has HE done? HE HAS perfected forever…. how long has he perfected? Forever! How long and how enduring is that? Is it until you sin? I submit, dogmatically, that you will sin and it will be soon, either overtly or covertly. Yes, this is a reference to what is on the inside….it is what you think. And to our shame, we are not made perfect by our behavior or thought patterns.
Therefore, we must go outside ourselves to be perfected. We must look out and not in to ourselves because by looking in to ourselves we consistently find no good thing! We find a heart that is desperately wicked, vile and corrupt. We must look to something that is greater than ourselves, to someone who is perfect (and no one is) and outside ourselves.
Ok, let’s see what happens when we look outside ourselves to someone who is all sufficient and is just waiting to do something that will make us perfect and acceptable in his sight. This is personal, because it is God himself who comes to our rescue and does something we cannot do and that is to perfect those who believe solely on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just what is THE SOMETHING that HE does? When a person does nothing more than believe on the person of Jesus Christ, that person is declared to be a child of the most high and Sovereign God and IS PERFECTED forever! How long? FOREVER! HE perfects forever (a special class) them that are sanctified… not those who are trying their best to be sanctified because on your best day you will fall short and you know it! But, thank God, HE perfects forever. Remember this word forever …. It does not stop when you sin, it’s truly forever! The good news is this forever from God is a long time! Moreover, it is beyond anything, any event, or any sin that is committed or accomplished on earth.
This forever starts on earth, then separates from earth, and is perpetuated throughout eternity and that’s a long, long time. Thank God, it’s beyond anything that occurs on earth during your lifetime…it is truly forever. All that God does is taken out of your frail hands because your doing is not good enough! It’s forever because this sanctification is accomplished by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ… by God and not by you.
You simply boarded, by faith in The Lord Jesus Christ, a powerful rocket, as it were, that took you from earth, all the way to heaven! Only God can do something like this, you can’t do it, you haven’t done it and you never will, but the good news is, HE has already done it! Read vs 10, yes, we are not trying to be sanctified, we are sanctified, at a point in time, by a marvelous gift from God himself. It is not because of we, us, they or you or anything we, us, they or you can do or have done! It is accomplished by HIS marvelous grace and this grace is centered exclusively in the personal merit and total righteousness of THE LORD Jesus Christ.
When you believe on THE LORD JESUS CHRIST you instantly have his righteousness imputed to your eternal soul. No merit from you will cause you to have his eternal life and perfect righteousness.
His righteousness is gratuitous, you can’t earn it or deserve it and you can’t work for it! You can ONLY receive what he has done on your behalf and to receive this eternal life offer you don’t need to ask for it… why? Because he offers it freely and you need only to reach out by the weak faith that resides within you and take what he has already worked for and merits.
JN 6:28, This is the work of GOD that YOU believe on him whom he has sent and further in JN 6:47, from the lips of Jesus himself, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Do you want to be Justified? Then, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and set apart for his Glory. Do you want to be Sanctified? Then, understand you are already perfected forever because you have been sanctified by his work and perfection and not yours.
