and of beast, it is mine." Now
that's the explanation of what sanctification is. Did you see
that? It is mine. That's such a wonderful thing
to think about. Every song we've sang has used
those words, it is mine, he's mine, I'm his, he is mine. What a beautiful thought that
is. And God is going to explain that throughout the rest of Scripture.
The people of the Lord are His. And so He says in verse 3, And
Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you came out
from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of
hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall
no leavened bread be eaten. This day came he out of the month,
in the month Abib. And it shall be, when the Lord
shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware
unto thy fathers to give thee a land flowing with milk and
honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven
days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day
shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten
seven days, and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee.
Neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
And thou shalt show thy sons in that day, saying, This is
done because of that which the Lord did to me when I came forth
out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto
thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. For with a strong
hand hath the Lord brought me out of Egypt. That's why they
ate the unleavened bread. Thou shalt therefore keep this
ordinance in his season from year to year, and it shall be
when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites,
as he sware unto thee, and to thy fathers, and shall give it
thee. Thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the
matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast, which thou
hast, the males shall be the lords. Set it apart, it's the
lords. And every firstling of an ass
thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem it,
then thou shalt break his neck. And listen to this. And all the
firstborn of man among the children thou shalt redeem. And it shall
be, when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What
is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand
the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that
the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the
firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice
to the Lord all that openeth a matrix, being males, But all
the firstborn of my children I redeem." You see those words?
And that's what the Lord has given us here. This token. That
the Lord spared the firstborn in the nation of Israel who were
in the house where the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled. And
the reason that God said that He did that is because they were
His. The firstborn of Israel were His. Look back at Exodus
chapter 4. This isn't the first time God
thought of this. He thought of it before He saved
them out of Egypt. He says this long before. In Genesis 15, He promised He
was going to do this. But it says here, in verse 21
of Exodus, chapter 4, 21, He says, "...and the Lord said to
Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do
all those wonders before Pharaoh, which
I have put in thine hand, but I will harden his heart, and
he shall not let the people go." It was God's purpose to show
His power over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and their pride, and
their stubbornness, and their rebellion against God, and their
idolatry, and so He hardened His heart. Verse 22, And thou
shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even
my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son
go, that he may serve thee, serve me. And if thou refuse to let
him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." And
that's what God did. Pharaoh refused to let him go,
let Israel go. God killed Pharaoh's firstborn.
God killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt because
Pharaoh refused to let the people go, but God spared all the firstborn
of Israel because they were His, and because of the blood of the
Lamb. And so, when we think about this, we see what sanctification
means. It means that God's people are
His, and they're set apart to Him because they're His. They're
His firstborn. God considers those who are His
firstborn His. look at Hebrews chapter 12, where
this is brought out in Hebrews chapter 12. The book of Hebrews,
if you recall, is about the difference between the Old Covenant and
the New Covenant. Our Mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who fulfilled the Old Covenant and brought in the New
Covenant, fulfilling all the conditions that we might receive
all the promises of God on the foundation of His blood. But
in Hebrews chapter 12, He says this, in contrast, He says, In verse 18. But you are not common
to the mount that might be touched. He's talking about Mount Sinai.
You're not common to the mount that might be touched. And that
burned with fire. Nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words,
which voice they that heard entreated, that the word should not be spoken
to them any more. For they could not endure that which was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned,
or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." That's what
it's like coming to God on the basis of our own obedience to
keep God's requirements. When we come to God in order
to live by what we do, to keep what God says we must do, then
we're going to find that all of our works just don't measure
up. And we have to answer for ourselves.
And these people understood that and they were there quaking.
Even Moses was quaking because God revealed himself in his justice. Not in His grace there. But in
verse 22, here's what we've come to because of the blood of Christ.
But you are come unto Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. He says,
and to a city, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable company
of angels. These angels were the ministers
of Christ to serve the people that the Lord would save. In
verse 23, "...and to the General Assembly," not just Jews, Jews
and Gentiles, the General Assembly, "...and Church of the Firstborn."
Isn't that interesting? The Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven. They were written in heaven because
God had already made them His in His book, in His book of life. And so let's go through scripture
and understand what God means by this word sanctification.
Last couple of Sundays, we talked first about election, and then
justification, and now sanctification. Just a short, really just a short
message on each of these things. Election is God's work. God's
purpose in election is to make salvation not of works, but of
His grace. And you can read about that in
the book of Romans, chapter 9, where God says, when the children
were not yet born and neither had done any good or evil, God
said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth." It's not of works, but it's of God. God
shows mercy on whom He will. And then we talked about justification
from Scripture. Justification is what God says
about His people because He has given to them the gift of Christ's
righteousness, the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
because He's justified them, He gives them faith to believe.
And that's where we're going to spend some time today, is
sanctification. If you look at sanctification,
there's really three parts to it. But keep this in view. Sanctification means they're
mine. The Lord has set them apart.
They're mine. How did God set apart his people?
How does God sanctify his people? Well, there's three ways. And
you can see it in the phases of God's salvation, in our salvation
in three phases. Look first at Jude chapter 1.
In Jude chapter 1, Jude is just before the book of Revelation. A very small book of the Bible,
Jude chapter 1 and verse 1. Jude, who was an apostle. Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that
are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ and called. sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Christ, and called. How did God the Father sanctify
His people? Well, He set them apart, He called
them His, they're Mine, and He did this by preserving them in
Christ Jesus. And how did that happen? When
did that happen? Well, it happened before time began. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says this. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
4 says this. according as He hath chosen us,"
this is God the Father, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 3, "...who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as,"
this is why He's blessed us, because before that, He hath
chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. That's the sanctification of
God the Father. He set us apart in His eternal
election, His choice, His purpose of grace, giving us to Christ
so that He considers us in Christ and considering us in Christ
He sees no sin in us and sees the righteousness, even the obedience
of Christ, as our righteousness. That's the work of God the Father.
And He did this before time began. He called us His in Christ. Now, what did God the Father
do? Why did He do this? He says in
this same verse we're just reading here, in verse 4, Ephesians 1-4,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The
reason that we are holy and without blame before God in love is because
God chose us to that in Christ. Having chosen us in Christ, considering
us only in Him, all that Christ has done is ours. And He has
made us holy in Christ. And so the next thing we see
here is our sanctification by God the Father was to this purpose
that we would be holy by the Lord Jesus Christ, by what He
would do. And so that's the second part of sanctification. Not only
are we sanctified by God the Father in eternal election, but
we're sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ by His redeeming
blood. Look at Hebrews again. Hebrews
chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 says this
in verse 12. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate." How did the Lord Jesus sanctify his people? With his
own blood. He set them apart. And what did
he do? He made them, he brought them to God by himself in 1 Peter
3.18. It says, he died the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. We were His by God's
eternal election, set apart by God the Father, preserved in
Christ Jesus, chosen to be holy and without blame before Him
in love because we were in Christ. And in order to fulfill that
purpose of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ sanctified us by His own
blood. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. In
Hebrews chapter 10, it says that God was never satisfied with
the animal sacrifices, because they could never make propitiation
for sins. And so when the Lord Jesus came
into the world in verse 7, it says, then I said, the Lord Jesus
said this, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God. Christ is the only one who did
the will of God. He saved His people from their
sins. That was God's eternal will. Only He could do it. That's
why God chose us in Him, because He stood as our head, our covenant
head, our surety, our Redeemer, and our Husband, and did all
for us according to God's covenant of grace. Verse 8, verse 8, above
when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin thou wouldest not neither has pleasure therein which are
offered by the law, then he said, the Lord Jesus said this, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God, to fulfill all that the law foreshadowed,
all that the law required for obedience and satisfaction to
God for sin. Christ fulfilled it. I come to
do that will. He taketh away the first, the
first covenant, that he may establish the second, the New Testament,
by his blood." And this is what happened because of that. Verse
10, "...by the which will, the eternal will of God, fulfilled
in Christ, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all." Just one time, one offering,
at one time, by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both
man and God, the one mediator between God and men, He set apart
His people to God. He made them holy. That's what
sanctification means, to make them holy to God. H-O-L-Y, holy
to God, by his own blood. He sanctified the people by his
own blood. And here it says, by one offering,
that one offering of himself in fulfilling the will of God,
he sanctified them. And let's read on, verse 11.
And every priest standeth He doesn't sit, he stands. Daily,
not just once, but daily. Ministering and offering, oftentimes,
not one time, oftentimes, the same sacrifices which can never
take away sins. But this man, the Lord Jesus,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. Because it was done. From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Sanctified by God the Father,
set apart in eternal election, given to Christ, so that in Christ
He would do for them what they could never do, make them holy,
without blame, before Him in love, and Christ did that by
His own blood. He sanctified the people by His
offering of Himself to God in fulfillment of God's will in
the Old Testament and in the New. And then He perfected them
forever. This is what the book of Hebrews
is about. It's perfection. Perfection. The law made nothing
perfect. But the Lord Jesus Christ did.
And He did it by His one offering of Himself to God. Perfected
forever. The Lord Jesus sanctified His
people. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? We could never be holy. We could never be holy. We were
ungodly. And the Lord Jesus Christ justified
us. He justified the ungodly by His own blood. We're justified
by His blood. That's what it says in Romans
5, 9. We're justified. We're justified by God's free
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God
set Him forth as a propitiation. Satisfaction was made. The ransom
price was paid and we were set free by the redeeming blood of
Christ, sanctified to God, made holy according to God's eternal
purpose. God's eternal purpose in Christ,
made holy. Jesus said when He hung on the
cross, it is finished, and then we were made holy. And God raised
Him from the dead and sat Him on His own throne and gave Him
power over all things in heaven and earth in order that He might
give eternal life to as many as God had given Him. Look at
Hebrews chapter 17. Hebrews chapter 17. The Lord Jesus says this there. In Hebrews chapter 17, verse
1, it says these words... I'm sorry, John. The book of
John. My wife is my... she listens
to every word and corrects me. I'm glad that she does. These words, John chapter 17,
verse 1. These words speak Jesus. "...and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father..." The hour
has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. What a prayer by our high priest,
our mediator, speaking on the ground of his having fulfilled
the will of God. He says, glorify thy son, that
thy son also may glorify thee. God the Father is glorified in
his son by his redeeming work on the cross. That is the glory
of God. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Given to him in eternity. And
in verse 17, look on, he says, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You see that? The Lord Jesus Christ had sanctified
them by their truth. Now we're talking about that
third phase of sanctification. They were God the Father's by
His eternal choice. He chose them in Christ, and
in time the Lord Jesus sanctified them by His own blood. And now
Christ speaks of that time when He would sanctify them by the
truth. He says, I'll read the next couple
verses, he says, "...as thou hast sent me into the world,
even so have I also sent them into the world, and for their
sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth." That's the third phase of it. Look at 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. The Lord Jesus Christ sanctified
us by his blood, but there's something else that must happen
for us to be set apart The fulfillment of what God did in Christ has
to be brought about in our own experience. In 2 Thessalonians,
in chapter 2, it says this, in verse 10, that, in verse 9, "...even
him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power
and signs and lying wonders." He's speaking about false gospels,
false prophets, and those who believe them. Everything that's
not Christ and Him crucified is false. Any salvation that's
not entirely accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ at the
cross, and brought to us and told to us in the gospel, and
us given faith, that gospel is a false gospel. Galatians 1 verses
6 and 7 and 8 says the gospel is God's grace. fulfilled in Christ, and anything
but that is a damning gospel. And that's what these people
believe. It says in verse 10, "...with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." That's
the evidence of faith, is we love the truth. Do you love the
truth? Do you love the truth of how
God saves sinners? How He saves even ungodly, impotent,
sinful men and women, boys and girls. He saves them by His grace.
Sinners love that because they have nothing else to look to,
nothing else to trust. He says, but these didn't receive
the love of the truth. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness." They go hand in hand. Those who
reject Christ have pleasure in what they hold in their heart,
which is unrighteousness. But God turns us to Christ, and
we have pleasure in righteousness when we're saved. The Lord, verse
13. Here's the contrast, but we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. We don't thank you, we thank
God. We're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, because
you are beloved of the Lord. The Lord's people are loved by
Him because they're His. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. You're loved of the Lord and
therefore He chose you to salvation from the beginning. And what
is this salvation? How does it come to us? Salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. This
is the third phase. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
our eternal redemption when He offered Himself to God. He perfected
forever those that God had given Him, that God had sanctified
in His eternal election. But here, Those who were given
to Him, redeemed by His blood, are sanctified by the Spirit
of God through belief of the truth. He says in verse 14, And in calling you, he gives
you faith to look to Christ, and that faith is the evidence
that the Spirit of God has sanctified you because Christ redeemed you. What's the order given in Scripture?
Why do we believe? Who believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Can a dead sinner believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ? When we were dead in our sins
and trespasses, our trespasses and sins, did we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ? No. Why? We were dead in sins. What had to happen before we
could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? So, God had to quicken
us. And who is it that gives us life? Who quickens us? It says in 2
Corinthians 3, verse 6, it's the Spirit that quickens. The
letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Spirit of God,
sent by Christ from His throne, comes to us through the preaching
of the gospel and He gives us life. Jesus said in John 6, verse
63, The flesh profits nothing. Not what we are by ourselves.
There's no profit in that. It's the spirit that quickeneth,
Jesus said in John 6.63. The spirit quickeneth. The words
that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. The
gospel that Christ speaks and preaches to our ears goes into
our heart. The spirit of God operates in
us and what does he do? He gives us life. It's the Spirit
that gives life through the preaching of the Gospel, through the Gospel
believed. So what comes before faith? Life! And why is life given to us?
What is the legal basis that life could be given to a sinner?
There's only one. Justified. We have to be made
righteous before God. Look at Galatians chapter 3.
We have to be made righteous before God, which is our justification.
Galatians 3.21 says, Is the law then against the promises of
God? Galatians 3.21, God forbid. For if there had been a law which
could have given life, Verily, righteousness should have been
by the law. What's required for life? Righteousness. Only the righteous live. Righteousness
is given. Look at Romans chapter 5, where
we were last week. Romans chapter 5, it says this
very explicitly. He says in Romans chapter 5 and
verse 17, For if by one man's offense, Adam's, Adam's one man,
one offense, when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. For if by one man's offense death reigned like
a tyrant, by one, by Adam, much more, listen, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. Why do we live? Because of righteousness.
And where does that righteousness come from? Not by our own obedience,
not by our own sorrow or tears or any of those things, but by
the obedience and sufferings of Christ for us. And it's given
to us by God's grace. Look at verse 18. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, by one, Adam, upon all men to condemnation,
Every person ever born in this world is condemned because of
the sin of Adam. That's why the justice of God
pronounced them death. They're born dead in sins. Even
so, in comparison and in contrast, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the
righteousness of one upon all men unto justification of life. Justification of life. Do all
men live before God? Do all men have spiritual life?
Clearly not, because he that has spiritual life is not condemned
or justified. Some people will stand before
Christ and He will tell them, Depart from Me, I never knew
you. And some will go away into eternal
punishment. But the righteous shall go into
life everlasting. So some live and some don't live.
Not all men are justified. Not all men live to God. And
so only those in Christ, all men in Adam died, all in Christ
shall be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15, 22. Look at
Romans chapter 8. Only the righteous live. Romans
chapter 8, verse 10. If Christ be in you, What does
it mean to say, if Christ be in you? That's the Spirit of
the Lord Jesus. If the Lord Jesus dwells in you
by His Spirit, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin. This body is dead and it's going
to be put in the grave. But listen, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. So we live because of righteousness.
And it's only because we live that we can believe. So therefore,
our righteousness in Christ had to already be established before
we were given life. It's because Christ died for
our sins. Because He redeemed us. Because
He perfected us forever. Because God looked upon us in
Him and saw the blood, like the Passover. In the Passover, He
saw the blood sprinkled on the doorpost of the house where Christ's
people are. In Christ. That's what the house
is. Being in Christ. Chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world. Given to Him by God the Father. As our surety, He stood for us
and gave full answer by Himself. answer with himself to God's
justice and set us free from the curse of the law and the
guilt of our sin. And he justified us before God
and is told to us in the gospel and by the Spirit of God we are
made to believe it. We're called. When God takes
us and convinces us of our sin, and then convinces us that our
righteousness is established in Christ because Christ is seated
on heaven's throne, having been raised from the dead. That's
the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. Look at Acts chapter
26. Jesus speaks of this when he
sent Paul to preach to the Gentiles. Acts chapter 26. The three phases
of sanctification. They're mine, God said. They're
mine. All the firstborn are mine. Therefore,
you must redeem them. You have to redeem the firstborn.
That's what the fathers in Israelite told their sons. He said, why
are you doing this, dad? When the firstborn is born, you
take a lamb and you kill the lamb for the firstborn. Because
God slew all the firstborn in Egypt when we came out. And He
passed by us because of the blood. sprinkled on the doorpost of
that house. He passed by us, and all the firstborn in our
houses were saved because of the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
I redeem the firstborn by the blood of the Lamb." As a token
to what God did. And so he says here in Acts 26,
he says, God, the Lord Jesus, speaking to Paul, he said, Paul
is asking him, he says, I said, in verse 15, And I said, Paul,
asking the Lord Jesus, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am
Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But arise, stand on thy feet,
for I have appeared to thee for this purpose, to make thee a
minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles
unto whom now I send thee. He's sending Paul to the Gentiles
for what? Verse 18, to open their eyes
and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan to God. that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me." Here we see it. When do we believe? When
we live. Why do we live? The Spirit of
God quickens us. But why can he give us life?
Because he made us righteous in Christ and the evidence of
that life is faith in Christ. The sanctifying work of the Spirit
of God. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. This is what the Lord Jesus did.
He sent His Spirit to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel.
All of the people, the Lord Jesus died to save. He gives this salvation
to them, sanctify them, they're mine. Isn't it wonderful? the
God of glory would make for himself a people. He would adopt them
as his sons, they're mine. And he would give them to Christ
and preserve them in Christ from all of the justice of his law,
from all of the The deception of Satan. He would bring them
out of darkness. He would free them from the power
of Satan. Taking off the blindness of their
heart. So they could see truth. They
could see the gospel and God's truth in him. This is the sanctifying
work of the Spirit of God. Because of the redeeming blood
of Christ. Because of God's electing grace. It's all there, isn't
it? God called His people out of Egypt. He called them and
He brought them out by the blood of the Lamb. He set them apart,
made them His own, made them holy. He did that to that nation
that He might teach us what He does to His true people, the
true Israel of God. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank
you that we are part of the Church of the Firstborn because you
wrote our names in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. Because
you put our names there, the Lord Jesus pledged his blood
to redeem us by himself and did so at the cross, perfected us
forever. all those given to Him in eternal
election, and now we're justified by His blood. And now you tell
us in the gospel that this is the truth of heaven, the truth
of eternity, your eternal purpose in Christ, to save a people.
Have them as yours. And now we say, Lord, I am His
and He is mine. My Savior purchased me. We're
bought with a price. Therefore, we pray, Lord, give
us this grace that we might glorify God in our bodies. We know this
is your work. You started it. You will finish
it. This work of sanctifying grace from eternity to the cross
and to the preaching of the gospel and to our lives now and our
believing, we know it's all your work, Lord, and you've promised
to do your work. Thank you, Lord, for your grace.
Help us to look to you and see your salvation. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.