Now we'll stay right there in
the book of Hebrews chapter 2. My text is found in verse 11
of this chapter, where it says in speaking of Christ, Jesus
Christ, and his people, the ones whom God the Father gave him
before the foundation of the world, The ones for whom He came
and lived and died and arose from the dead. The ones for whom
He now lives eternally, ever living, the scripture says, to
make intercession for us. Speaking of the continual eternal
power of His blood to put away our sins. And the ones to whom
he sends the Holy Spirit to make the gospel message wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed effectual to our salvation, to
our hearts in the new birth. You must be born again. And this
is the message of God's grace. He says in verse 11 of Hebrews
2, he says, for both he that sanctifies. Now in the past few
messages, and I sort of kind of went away from this last week,
but in essence I got to thinking that the message last week was
about this too, but I've been talking about the doctrine of
sanctification. And I've encouraged you to look
at the doctrine of sanctification. in this way, that we as sinners
saved by the grace of God, we who are sanctified, and you know
that's where the word saint comes from, one who is sanctified,
that we who are the saints of God, sinners saved by grace,
believers, we who have been born again, have been set apart. That's what the word means. In
fact, that's really what the word holy means. Sometimes the
original word for holy, holiness, and sanctifying, sanctification,
it's the same root word, and it means to be set apart. Most
people, when they think of holiness, they think of moral perfection.
But I think it gets you off track a little bit. We're holy. In fact, over in chapter 3, look
at Hebrews 3 across the page there. Listen to what he says
here to brethren, to believers. Wherefore holy brethren. Now
do you suppose he's saying there, wherefore morally perfect brethren? No. He's talking about holy as
being set apart. Set apart by the grace of God.
And that's what sanctification means. And it says in verse 11
of chapter 2, for both he that sanctifies, who is the one who
sets us apart? And I've spoken of this on several
occasions in these messages. The Bible teaches a three-fold
sanctification for believers, for the saved. First of all,
we're sanctified by God the Father in sovereign electing grace before
the foundation of the world. In the book of Jude, verse 1,
it says, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
to them that are sanctified, set apart by God the Father and
preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Now that setting apart,
that divine sovereign election has had nothing, absolutely nothing
to do with us as far as what we do or what we would do. You
know, people, they speak of God looking down through a telescope
of time and choosing his people and that's not what the scripture
teaches. That's a concoction of the sinful rationale of man. And so God foresaw that you would
do this or you would do that or you'd make this decision or
make that decision. That's not what the scripture
says. In fact, the scripture says it is a sanctification,
a setting apart, an election of grace. Of grace. So that's one way in which we're
set apart. And then secondly, the Bible speaks of us being
sanctified by Jesus Christ. Now verse 11 of chapter 2, speaking
of that too, for both he that sanctify. That's Jesus Christ
sanctifying his people. And how did he do that? Well,
look over at chapter 10. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse 10. He is speaking
and he is quoting from the Psalms here concerning Jesus Christ
who spoke of himself as coming in the volume of the book to
do thy will, to do God's will. God the Son came into the earth
to do the will of the Father. And it says in verse 10 of Hebrews
chapter 10, by the which will, that is by the will of God, we
are sanctified, set apart, look at it, through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once, the for all there, was not in
the original. It was added by the King James
translators. In other words, his one-time
sacrifice, as opposed to the many sacrifices of the Old Covenant,
which didn't do the job. The blood of bulls and goats
could never take away sin. But by the one sacrifice, the
one death of Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, Emmanuel, All
the people of God were set apart in redemption. He redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. He redeemed us. He bought us lock, stock, and
barrel. That's why He owns us. He said, My sheep. The Good Shepherd
gives His life for the sheep. And He says, They're My sheep.
We are not our own. He owns us. That's what the scripture
says. And He washed away our sins,
which literally means He paid our sin debt. We'll look at that
in just a moment. Our debt to God's law and justice
has been fully paid by the one time sanctifying sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. He died for me. He set me apart. And we're made righteous in Him.
We have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. Now that sets us apart from the
world. But you see, all those things
that I just mentioned, those are not things you see. I mean,
you look at me, you don't see that. I mean, when we walk down
the street, there's nothing that's, well, there's a glow about that
fella, you know, or anything like that. Well, we're not walking
three feet above the ground or anything like that. We don't
have halos. How do we know it's true? We know it by the testimony
of God. Look down at verse 14 of Hebrews 10. Here's another way of putting
it. He said, For by one offering he hath perfected. Now that means
completed. In other words, in Jesus Christ,
I'm a complete person. Now I can't say that about me
and myself. There's a lot of ways I'm incomplete.
And the older I get, the more incompleter I'm getting. How
about that? I mean, I can't run like I used
to run. I can't walk like I used to walk. I can't even think like
I used to think. I was telling somebody this morning,
I forget who I was telling, that I forgot something I was trying
to remember. So in myself, I'm incomplete. But in Jesus Christ,
I'm complete. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. And you'll
never be incomplete in Christ. You'll always be complete. And
that's what sanctification is. That sets you apart. One, just
not to leave you on a negative note there, one day you will
be complete in yourself. That's called glorification.
That's the resurrection and the glory. But look at it here in
verse 14, he says, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Those who God set apart before
the foundation of the world, Christ perfected them. That's
what that's saying. And so we have a perfection,
we have a completeness, we have righteousness in Christ. Now
back in Hebrews 2.11, for both he that sanctified, that's our
sanctification, by the offering of the body, of Jesus Christ. That's Christ the sanctifier. For both He that sanctified. Now do you know, and I think
this will prove what I'm telling you is right about this issue
of sanctify, sanctification. Do you know there is a sense
in which Christ Himself sanctified Himself? Now go back to John
17. I read a portion from John 17
earlier. Look at John 17. The reason I
say this is the Lord's Prayer, this is the Lord Jesus Christ
as the High Priest of His people, as our substitute in surety,
our intercessor, praying to His Father. In Matthew 6, our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be, that's the model prayer.
That's when He was teaching His disciples how to pray. And people
call that the Lord's Prayer. But if you want to hear the Lord
praying, or read the Lord praying, right here it is. This is what
he said, look at verse 1. And it's a beautiful prayer.
And it's all on behalf of his people. Here's the one where he says,
I don't pray for the world, I pray for my people. You see, those
for whom he died are those for whom he prays, he intercedes. But look at verse 17 of John
17. Here he's talking about his people. He says in verse 16, they're
not of the world even as I'm not of the world. That's our
sanctification. I'm not of the world. I'm in the world. I'm
in the world. And by all appearances, I may
not look different from the world, at least a part of the world.
I hope I look different from some of the world. But this is
not something you can see. But he says they're not of the
world. They've been set apart from the world. How? By the grace
of God. See, it's not talking about what
we wear or taste not, touch not, handle not thing, you know, the
self-righteous Phariseeism of religion. But Christ has set
us apart. The fact that we believe in him
as he's identified and distinguished in the scriptures. So he says
in verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Now that's the third
aspect of sanctification. Remember a threefold sanctification.
Number one, the Father set us apart before the foundation of
the world in divine electing grace. Number two, the Son set
us apart in redeeming grace. One offering, redeemed us from
our sins, paid our debt, established the righteousness that God has
justified all of his people from eternity in. And here's the third
one, sanctify them through thy truth. That's talking about sanctification
by the Holy Spirit when He sets us apart by bringing us under
the preaching of the gospel and we're born again by the power
of the Spirit. He brings us to see our sin in
light of God's holiness. Kind of like, oh, Isaiah in chapter
6, holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, and what's
the next thing he said? I'm a man of unclean lips. And
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. Kind of like the old publican.
He said, God be merciful, propitious to me the sinner. And he brings
us to see the glory of Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Brings us to submit to Christ
for all salvation. I have no hope of salvation in
myself. I have no hope of salvation in
you. I have no hope of salvation in this world. My hope of salvation
is Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. And nothing
else. Nothing added. You say, but you
had to unwrap... Somebody says, well, it's a gift,
but you've got to unwrap the gift. I wouldn't have unwrapped
the gift unless God had made me willing to do so. That's right. That's what sets
me apart. It's the grace of God. I've been
born again by the Spirit. I've been given a new heart that
I didn't have and I didn't have any part in that other than being
a recipient of it. And he says, thy word is truth.
Look at verse 18. He says, and thou hast sent me
into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Verse 19, that says witnesses. And he says, and for their sakes
I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. How did Christ sanctify himself? Well, look over at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. I'm going to work my way back
to Hebrews 2 through this passage. How did Christ sanctify himself? In other words, does that mean
he made himself morally perfect? No. He was already morally perfect.