to look at a passage of scripture,
Isaiah 42.16. Isaiah 42.16. These are the words
of the Holy Spirit. I want to preach this morning
for a few minutes on this subject, sanctification by the Spirit. Now listen to the words of God,
the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 42.16, And I will bring
the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them." In 2 Thessalonians 2, Verses 13 and 14. The Scriptures say, but we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, from that blessed passage
of Scripture, we conclude, and we conclude
correctly, that if we are saved by the grace of God, then we
were chosen to that salvation from the beginning. Now, there's
no way you'd get around that. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, I know that Ephesians
1.4, which we're going to read, Lord willing, in a moment, sets
forth that that choosing was before the foundation of the
world. Not that God looked to see who
would choose Him. The Scripture does not bear that
out. God chose according to His good pleasure, good will, His
purpose. Now, this glorious salvation
is said to be through or by or in sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Now, it's on this blessed subject,
truth, of sanctification, and in particular, sanctification
of the Spirit, that I'd like for us to look for just a few
minutes and to understand what is the Bible teaching concerning
sanctification of the Spirit. Now, we hear that. We hear that
truth set forth, sanctification of the Spirit. What does it mean? What does that mean? Now, sanctification, or to sanctify, that word has a different meaning
in different scriptures. different things. I was going
over my notes this morning, and I was thinking about that truth
that I'd written down. It can have different meanings. For example, if I say that I'm
going to water the plants, am I talking about physical water,
or am I talking about an action that I'm going to perform upon?
Well, you say, well, if you're going to water them, It means
you're going to do something to them. But I'm going to actually
do it with actual water. I mean, the word water can mean
two different things. It means an action or it means
the substance of it. Sanctification. It has two different
meanings. Truthful. It means either to
set apart and to dedicate for sacred service. Or it means to
purify, to cleanse and to make holy what was before unholy in
nature. Either to set apart for divine
service or to make holy. Now I want you to listen to this
verse of Scripture. And in this verse of Scripture, both of them
are used. John 17, 19. Our Lord praying
His high priestly prayer, and He said this, And for their sakes
I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the Spirit, through the truth. Now, the word sanctify, I sanctify
myself, that is to mean I set myself apart. Dedicated for sacred
service. The Lord Jesus Christ could not
be made holy. He was holy. He is holy. But to be set apart for sacred
service, He said, I sanctify myself. I set myself that they,
that is His people, Those that the Father had given him might
also be sanctified, made holy through the truth. The Lord dedicated
himself that his people might be made holy through him, through
his truth, through his word, through his doctrine. Now, properly
speaking, the Church the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are made holy by the three glorious persons of the Godhead. It's just like justification. Now, somebody says, well, what
does it mean? Tell me again what justification
means. Here's what justification means. It means that God's law,
looks at a person, at one of God's people, God's law, looks
at it. The law that is holy, just, good. Remember this, there's nothing
wrong with God's law. God's law is good. The problem is us. We're not able to keep it. That's
the problem. Weak through the flesh. But justification means
that the law examines all the evidence. All the evidence is
taken into consideration. Everything. And the law says,
no charge. There is no evidence here at
justification. Now justification is set forth
in the scripture, and there is not one way that you can eliminate
any of these. How is a man justified before
God? Well, Scripture says he's justified
freely. Freely by grace. God justified
him. Before the foundation of the
world, God justified him. Viewed him in Christ. Justified
by grace. Justified, the Scripture says,
by the blood. By the blood. Justified. by faith shown in the actions
of men, by works and by words. Now, you try to eliminate any
of those, by grace, by blood, by faith, by works, by words,
and you remove what the Scripture says concerning justification. Justification is that actual
consideration of God's law. that looks at a man and the law
says, no charge, no charge, no charge. Now, sanctification. I'm talking about being made
holy. Holy. Sanctification. Being made holy. is actually by the three glorious
persons of the Godhead. And you cannot remove any of
them. God is one God set forth in three
persons. And we sit here and debate that,
and there's no debate. The Scripture says that He's
one God set forth in three persons. When our Lord Jesus Christ was
baptized, the Father from heaven spoke. The Son was being baptized,
and God said, and I saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Him in the
form of a dove. Now, one God. One God. Three Persons. Alright, now turn
with me to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Here is
sanctification. Made holy. Made holy. Sanctified. Sanctified. To purify, to cleanse, to make
holy what was before unholy in nature. The Father. Ephesians 1. I quote part of
this scripture often. Let's read verses 3 to 6. Ephesians
1 verse 3, "...Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be..." Now before
I read any farther, after I got here this morning, I went back
and I thought, okay, I'm going to look at that word. You know,
somebody said, well, now that says that we should be holy,
that we're going to be holy, that we should be in a future
state. I looked at that word. That word
means exists. And it means are, A-R-E. Here's what it says. according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we are holy, that we exist holy and
without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the Beloved. That we should be holy and without
blame. Unblemished. Unblemished. When Christ, God, man. When Christ, God, man in one
person everlastingly stood at the call of Jehovah as the head
and husband of his chosen church, the bride. When Christ everlastingly
stood, he has not been everlastingly flesh. As I've said before, he
was made flesh, but he's always been. And you remember that. He everlastingly has been. We talk about man being created. Adam was created in the image
of God. Let us make man in our image.
God-man has always been. God loved that order. Well, there's
a subject that's so deep. Can you imagine? God loved that
order because Christ God-man has always been. One of these days, we're going
to understand. But from the call of Jehovah,
in that everlasting covenant of grace, when Christ, the God-man,
stood as the surety of God's church, Jehovah Himself, who
said that it was not good that the man, the God-man, should
be alone. God Almighty chose, elected,
selected His bride out of every people and tribe and kindred
and nation Never having yet been born. Man was never created,
humanly speaking. God had never taken the dirt,
the earth, the red, and made Adam. He never had made him yet. But everlastingly knew him. Everlastingly
had a people that he loved. And Jehovah, who chose the people
given to his Son, because God Almighty said it's not good that
the man should be alone. Almighty God declared, according
to Ephesians, as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we exist in Christ Holy and without blame
before Him in love. The Father declared in His Son, chosen in
Him, that first and eternally final view that the Father has
of the church Being found in the Son. Separate anything from
the Son, and this absolutely could never stand. But chosen
in Him. Never separated from that. From
before the foundation of the world, that we exist in Him. Holy. Without blame. So the Father is choosing us
in Christ. The blight has always been in
Christ. Sanctified. Holy. Pure. Now that's the truth. Now let
me tell you what else the Scripture says about sanctification. And here again, you can't separate
this. It's one God. One God. Our sanctification is
ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. There it is ascribed to the Father.
Now, here is what the Scripture says. That our sanctification,
our being holy, is ascribed to Him. Hebrews 10.10, By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. It was the Father's Eternal will. Purpose. That those chosen in
Christ, those chosen to be holy and without blame before Him
in love, those who in Adam would fall. And we did. In Adam we fell. But you remember
this, our fall in Adam never negated, never did away with.
Our union with Christ. Our love of the Father. It never
changed anything. God Almighty does not change. But in Adam, we fail. Almighty God permitted it. God is not the author of sin.
God rules in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the
earth. Someone could say, well, if God rules over all things,
is He the author of sin? No, sir. He says He's not, and
He's not. But Almighty God permitted what
happened to happen. He had to. Because He rules. He orders all things according
to His purpose and allowed. The Son is going to be glorified.
and honored in their redemption, sanctified, made holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The Scripture
says He laid down His life for the sheep, bore their sins in
His own body, and by their guilt being perfectly put away, they
are hereby, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
once for all, sanctified. When were they sanctified? They
were sanctified by the Father from before the foundation of
the world, chosen in Christ Holy. They exist holy and without blame
before Him in love. When were they sanctified? They
were sanctified at Calvary by one offering. Hebrews 10.14,
For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Just as by one glorious act in
eternal election, whereby the church was made perfect, holy,
by one offering also Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified.
You say, how do you reconcile those two? I believe God. You say, I believe God. I believe God at the cross. The elect of God were made holy
by the blood of Christ, being found in Him, perfected
by His blood. By the Father's choosing, they
are chosen to exist in Christ holy. By the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Christ perfected them at Calvary. And then sanctification
is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. In regeneration, 1 Peter 1-2,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Now, here's what the scripture
sets forth happens in time. In regeneration, a new nature
is actually imparted. A brand new man. Life from above. Born again. The life of Christ. A new heart. New mind. New birth. That which is born
of God that doesn't sin. That life that is new in the
Lord Jesus Christ and is holy, holy in Him. The life of Christ Himself under
no condemnation. The body I said earlier today
that's not changed, that old man's not changed. There's an
impartation of something that wasn't there before. Justified
by God's law and sanctified, made holy by the Spirit of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody say, well, now tell
me again how we're sanctified. Tell me again how we're made
holy, we're sanctified by the Father in electing grace, chosen
in Christ, that we exist, that we are holy and without blame
before Him in love. The Scripture says forth, we're
sanctified, perfected forever by the blood of Christ, The Scripture
says that we're sanctified in regeneration by the Holy Spirit,
by the impartation of the life of Christ. We're sanctified by
the Father, by the Son, by the Spirit. I said before, one of
these days, we'll understand. One of these days. Right now,
what do we do? We hear the glorious words of
Almighty God, and we say, Lord, as You say, It is. Now, I want to show you, in closing,
what the Holy Spirit has to say that He's going to do. Turn back
to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42.16. Listen to the blessed words.
Who is the Father that has everlastingly loved us and His glorious person? The Father, the electing God,
the sanctifying God. Here's the Son, the redeeming
God. Oh, the sacrifice, the Lamb Himself
who hath perfected forever by His shed blood those that are
sanctified. And then God the Holy Spirit.
God. God. One God. I think about those
cherubim, seraphim. And Isaiah said, I saw the seraphim. They cried, Holy, Holy, Holy,
Holy Father. Holy Son. Holy, Holy Spirit. What does God have to say concerning
sanctification of His people? He says in verse 16, Isaiah 42,
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. In the fall of Adam, we've all
gone out of the way. Every man has turned to his own
way. He says, I'm going to bring the
blind. We're blind to our guilt. We're
blind to our need of Christ. God's demand for righteousness,
I will bring them. Because they can't bring themselves.
Blind by a way that they knew not. And the scripture says, I will
lead them in paths that they have not known. I don't know. I don't know what it takes to
honor God. I don't have any idea what is
demanded for righteousness in word, in thought, in deed, any
infraction, any doubt in my mind. I cannot control. I can't control
my thoughts. I want to. I wish I could. I wish I could not think such
silly, disrespectful things. I wish I could not be affected
by things that are said to me. I just go off that quick. You
may never know it, but I do. I'll lead them in paths that
they've not known. I'm going to direct them I'm
going to show them. I'm going to show them. Point
them to Christ. Oh, we've done that which is
right in our own blind eyes. We've turned to every way but
His way. And if left to ourselves, there's
not but one end. If left to ourselves, and I know
that's eternal, But thanks be to God. The Spirit of God said,
I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. There are some things that I
know that Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ thanked the Father.
He said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hidden these things
from the wise and the prudent. getting ready this morning, and
I got to thinking about this. I thought, you know, if a man
is blind, he just cannot see. And I know this, if Almighty God leaves me in
spiritual darkness, if God were to leave me in spiritual darkness,
Mitch, I wouldn't know it until the day of judgment. If He left
me, I wouldn't know it. Boy, immediately with that thought,
I thought about John 6.37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. I said, Lord, Lord, I come the only way I know
how to come. Lord, I cast myself the only
way I know how to cast myself. Lord, I come to You. And Lord,
You said, You said, For he that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out." Lord, You said that. Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Don't leave me in darkness. Lord, help me. Lord, I need You. Lord, have mercy. I will make
darkness right before them. And crooked things, straight,
crooks in the road, crooks in the road, obstacles that are
obstacles to the natural man. Things that just don't add up,
they're going to be straight. They're going to be true. They're
going to be so. A believer, he may not understand,
but he believes God. And then here's the last thing.
The Spirit of God said, these things will I do unto them, and
not forsake them. Oh, the amazing love that God
has for His people. The blessed Holy Spirit that
will lead us to Christ Himself. Lord, direct me to Christ again
right now. Lord, let me see Him afresh right
now. Lord, I know that faith cometh
by hearing. Lord, I'm convinced that you've
opened my eyes to see your truth, Christ. Lord, grant me faith
again to believe. Lord, help me. Help me. Teach
me. Keep me. And though in our flesh,
I know that we resist, and we all know, those that know Him,
we know that He's wretched creatures. We're standing right here, sitting
right here. Here we are. And He says, I will not forsake
them. I will not. Salvation and all
of grace. Salvation. How do you know if
God's had mercy on you? It's through faith. I believe
God. I love the message of salvation
by grace. Lord, I don't want this in my
hands. Lord, You save me or I'm going
to perish. For Christ's sake, bless our
hearts.