What is sanctification? How can we be encouraged that God is working in us even when it seems like we struggle every day with sin? And how does the doctrine of sanctification impact our daily living?
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Sanctification
Sanctification is a process of conforming us to Christ and this is a doctrine that impacts our every day living. It’s a continual work of the Lord in our lives where the lusts of our hearts are being weakened and mortified each day and we replace them with holy living prescribed in Scripture.
Westminster Shorter Catechism #35 says that sanctification is the work of God’s whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.
The Gospel is so rich.
What is this purpose in opposing sin?
Sanctification is not just to say no to sin but a calling to be conformed to Christ – to holiness! And holiness can seem so stuffy and prime and not exciting until you realize the beauty and goodness that blooms in holiness. Holiness isn’t about pride of life or being better than others – it’s about conformity to Christ and walking in His commands which are love. I just read every Scripture that compares the old nature with the new nature and think – holiness is the better way!
How Does the Teaching of Sanctification Impact Our Daily Living?
Number 1: It leads to beauty in our lives and homes. A submission to Christ and conformity to His ways, little by little, will only make us and our surroundings more sweet and more fragrant because Christ in us will be all the more evident at each work of throwing off sin.
Number 2: The teaching of sanctification reminds us to be in the Word and helps us become wise and discerning Christians when it comes to what is holy living and how to walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
Number 3: It helps us is to remember that God is faithful and he will do it and what is it? Sanctification. He will help us overcome our sins. Some will fall away quite easily, and some are what is called “besetting sins” the ones we struggle with continually. It is a work of God, but a work of God in us to know what is holy and to walk in it.
Morning and Evening – Charles Spurgeon
https://spurgeonmae.com/devotional/2012-08-16-1
“Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:23
“Present possession is declared. At this present moment we have the first fruits of the Spirit. We have repentance, that gem of the first water; faith, that priceless pearl; hope, the heavenly emerald; and love, the glorious ruby. We are already made “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” by the effectual working of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the firstfruit because it comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. The firstfruits were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, he looked forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the sheaves. So, brethren, when God gives us things which are pure, lovely, and of good report, as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the coming glory. The firstfruits were always holy to the Lord, and our new nature, with all its powers, is a consecrated thing. The new life is not ours that we should ascribe its excellence to our own merit; it is Christ’s image and creation, and is ordained for his glory. But the firstfruits were not the harvest, and the works of the Spirit in us at this moment are not the consummation the perfection is yet to come. We must not boast that we have attained, and so reckon the wave-sheaf to be all the produce of the year: we must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and pant for the day of full redemption. Dear reader, this evening open your mouth wide, and God will fill it. Let the boon in present possession excite in you a sacred avarice for more grace. Groan within yourself for higher degrees of consecration, and your Lord will grant them to you, for he is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or even think.”
