Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to Exodus Chapter 22? Let's begin reading in verse
20 and read down to the end of the chapter. Exodus chapter 22, beginning
in verse 20, He that sacrificeth unto any God saven to the Lord
only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger,
nor oppress him. For you are strangers in the
land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless
child, if thou afflict them in any wise. And they cry it all
unto me, I will surely hear their cry. And my wrath shall wax hot,
and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be
widows, and your children fatherless, if thou lend money to any of
my people that is poor by thee. Thou shalt not be to him as an
usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all
take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it
unto him, by that the sun goeth down. For that is his covering,
only it is his raiment for his skin wherein shall he sleep.
And it shall come to pass when he crieth unto me, that I'll
hear, for I am gracious." Thou shalt not revile the gods,
nor curse the ruler of thy people. Thou shalt not delay to offer
the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors. The firstborn
of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with
thine oxen and with thy sheep. Seven days it shall be with his
dam. On the eighth day thou shalt give it to me. And you shall
be holy men unto me. Neither shall ye eat any flesh
that is torn of beasts in the field. Ye shall cast it to the
dogs." I've entitled this message, Sanctification. You shall be holy people unto
me. Now this is a promise from God. Not you will be if you do something
to make yourself that way, but you shall be holy people unto
me. Can that be? a holy person unto the Lord? Can that be? Yes. He said in this same passage
of Scripture, and I'm sure you caught it when I was reading,
I am gracious. Isn't that wonderful? And because
I am gracious, you shall be a holy people unto me. believer shall be holy unto the
Lord. Now, what is the one word in
the Bible that most comprehensively describes and defines God's salvation? What word would you select? I
believe it would be the word sanctification. Sanctification
is the word that most completely describes God's salvation. Now, what does the word mean?
Well, it means to set apart. It means other. It means separate. It means to take something common
and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. The first
time the word is used is in Genesis chapter 2, verse 3, and God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it. He set it apart for a holy,
special purpose. Now, in and of itself, it was
no more special than the other six days, but God set it apart
and sanctified it. Now, if something is holy, it
is set apart to God, dedicated to God and all that is encompassed
by that. Now, notice how the Lord says
in our text, you shall be holy people unto me. And this word
carries with it the idea of being clean. Being pure. Being sacred. being set apart
to God, being sanctified. Usually when people use the word
sanctification, they use it with respect to the internal work
of grace done in the heart of a sinner when God saves them.
That's generally what people think about when they think about
sanctification, what God does on the inside. And that certainly
is included, but it's not all that's intended by this word. Sanctification encompasses every
aspect of salvation. That's why I say that this is
the word that most Completely, comprehensively describes God's
salvation. It's a biblical word. Sanctification
is the word that's generally described or translated holy. Now, what is the word that the
Bible uses most to describe the people God saved? Believers,
well, I think that's in there a couple of times. Christians,
that's in there a couple of times. But what is the word that is
most often used to describe believers? Saints. Saints. The word means sanctified
ones. Holy ones. You are looking at Saint Todd. I like the way that sounds, and
I'm not ashamed of taking that name to myself. Every believer
is a saint of God. I was watching a guy on TV just
last night and he was talking about how somebody compared him
with the Apostle Paul and he said, I wouldn't be compared
with the Apostle Paul because he's a saint. Well, if you're
not a saint, you're not saved. Every one of God's people are
saints, sanctified ones. Now, what does sanctification
mean? Well, I've already given this
definition. It's to take something common and ordinary and set it
apart for holy purposes. It means to regard something
as holy. You know, in 1 Peter 3, verse
15, we're told to sanctify the Lord God of hosts in our heart.
Now, I can't set him apart to be holy. He already is holy.
I can't make him holy. He already is holy, but I can
regard him to be holy. I sanctify him in my heart. I
regard him to be holy in my heart. Our brother just prayed, our
father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy and reverend is thy name. So to be sanctified is to be
set apart for holy purposes. It's to be regarded as holy. It's to actually make one holy. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit in a man that gives him a holy nature, clean and pure. Holiness is the opposite of sin. That's a good definition of holiness,
isn't it? It's the opposite of sin. As
a matter of fact, in holiness, there is an absence Of sin, a
holy nature does not sin. It's not a mixture of good and
bad, no, a holy nature does not sin. Remember that passage of
Scripture in 1 John chapter 3 verse 9 when it talks about he that's
born of God doth not commit sin. That which is born of God does
not commit sin because his seed remaineth in him. It's an actual
holy nature. It's saying from your heart. not my will, but thine be done."
That's what you actually want and desire. Now, we're sanctified
by God the Father. As a matter of fact, we read
in Jude 1 of them that are sanctified by God the Father. He set us apart to be holy. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1 for
a moment. This is that great verse of Scripture
regarding God's election. Verse 4, According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. We were set apart in eternal
election to be holy. And if God set me apart to be
holy, holy I must be. We're sanctified by the Lord
Jesus Christ in his redeeming work. We read in First Corinthians,
chapter one, verse two, of them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus and called to be saints, sanctified ones. And we read
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30 that He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is made unto us. And I love the language there.
He's made unto us sanctification. He's made unto us holiness. He is made to every believer
holiness. Can you have some confidence
in that? He is my holiness before God. And we're also said to be sanctified
by the Spirit of God, made holy by the Spirit of God. Listen
to this scripture from 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. But we're bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. and belief of
the truth. There's something called the
sanctification of the Spirit. Now, this is the work of God
in regeneration where He actually makes His people holy. We're given a holy nature, one
that was not there before. You weren't born with a holy
nature, were you? But when God saves He gives you a holy nature. It's called in the Bible, a new
heart. It's called in the Bible, the
holy seed. It's called in the Bible, the
new man. It's called in the Bible by Job,
the root of the matter is in me. It's called in the Bible,
spirit. It's called in the Bible, truth
in the inward part. It's called in the Bible the
engrafted word. It's called in the Bible the
hidden man of the heart. It's what's placed in a man when
he's born of the Spirit. That which is born of the Spirit,
our Lord said, is spirit. It's life before God. Because
of sanctification, the work of the triune God, every believer
can say this with David. Now, would you turn with me to
Psalm 86? Psalm 86, and this is a verse
of scripture that I used to have a hard time with. Now, why would
I have a hard time with a verse of scripture? That's because
I obviously didn't understand what it meant. But this is a
verse of scripture that used to trouble me when I'd read it.
Look at Psalm 86, verse 2, David says, preserve my soul, for I
am holy. I'm not going to read any more
than that. David asked the Lord, preserve
my soul, for I am holy. And do you know every believer
can say that? Without self-righteousness, without
presumption, and without arrogance, every believer can say, I am
holy. We're stating a fact. Now, does
somebody say, I just can't see that? I mean, I know David said
that, and I know I ought to be able to say that. But when I
look within my heart, I do not see holiness. I just don't see
it. I might even in some senses see
it in somebody else. I see it in other people, but
when I look within my heart, I just don't know that I can
really see holiness. I understand somebody saying
that. I understand it very clearly. You see, while we have two natures,
every believer has two natures, a holy nature and a sinful nature. That's what the Scripture teaches
there in Romans chapter 7. I mean, you can't read Romans
chapter 7 and deny that. We have two separate natures,
one that was given us in the new birth, and we still have
the old man. But those two separate natures are funneled into one
man, aren't they? And you just can't get away from
that. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. I'm feeling, breathing on my
neck so that everything I do, every holy desire I have, every
holy act I have or would have, sin's always there. So when,
as far as my experience goes, when I look at it, I can't say,
well, that was holy. That was holy. No, if my flesh is involved
in it, there's going to be sin involved in it. My prayers, would
you want your prayers to be heard by God apart from Christ? Would
you want anything that has anything to do with you to be heard and
viewed by God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ? No, not at
all. So I understand somebody saying,
I just have a hard time saying I am holy. Well. The Scripture
says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 10, that we are partakers. Of
his holiness. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? We are partakers. Every believer, we are partakers
of His holiness. And in 2 Peter 1, 4, we read
that we're partakers of the divine nature. Now, while we don't see
a holy nature, and somebody says, well, I see holiness in me, I've
got a real hard time with you. You're a dishonest person. I
just, you've lost all credibility with me when you say, well, I
see holy acts and acts that have no sin. John said, if we say
we have no sin, what's he say? We deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. While
we don't see, if we're honest, while we don't see a holy nature,
we are aware of its influence. Now, what do I mean by that?
There was a time when I didn't believe. I do now. Why is that? That's that new nature he's given
me. That holy nature. That's not the product of the
flesh. Faith is the gift of God. It's the product of Christ. He
said that he is the author and finisher of our faith. It comes
from him. I tell you what. I can say this honestly. I hate
sin. I hate my sin. Don't you hate your sin? Don't
you hate yourself for what you are? You hate your sin. You hate your unbelief. You hate
your lack of love. You hate your selfishness. You
hate your self-centeredness. You hate your self-righteousness.
You hate yourself. I hate myself. I hate myself for loving myself
so much. I hate myself. I mean, you know what I'm saying
when I'm saying that. We hate our sin. And I would,
as God is my witness, and I say this so carefully. I'm not saying this flippantly.
As God is my witness, I would be without sin. I would never
sin again. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
To be without sin. Now, I'm aware of the influence
of a holy nature because the things that I've said, I'm telling
you, that's real with me. I would never sin again. And
as a matter of fact, it's my intention right now. It's my intention right now to
never sin again. I don't want to sin anymore.
That's called a holy nature. Now, there's no salvation without
this holy nature. I desire to be like the Lord
Jesus Christ, don't you? I want to be exactly like I want
to be perfectly conformed to his image. That's my desire.
I hate the world. I hate anything that is in conflict
with Him. I hate anything that's contrary
to Him. I hate the ways of this world. I do. I hate the ways
of this world. I hate the ways of false religion
and self-righteousness. I hate the ways of debauchery
and open, profligate living. I hate that. I want to be perfectly
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
be just like Him. And if you're a believer, that's your desire.
You want to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to love
what He loves. You want to hate what He hates.
You want to be like Him. That is the new nature of the
believer. And there's no salvation without
this holy nature. This is the scripture I began
this service with. Follow peace. Pursue peace with
all men and holiness without which No man shall see the Lord. There's no salvation without
this holiness the scripture speaks of. The same holiness David spoke
of when he said, I am holy, preserve my soul. There's no worship of
God without this holiness. David said in Psalm 29 too, worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And indeed, holiness, sanctification,
is beautiful. God said, Be ye holy for I am
holy. God is the Holy Father. Christ is called that holy thing
by the angels. The Spirit of God is the Holy
Spirit and all of His children are saints. Holy ones. Sanctified ones. And understand
this. Holiness. Now listen to me real
carefully. This is so important. Holiness is a state of being. There's no such thing as becoming
more holy or less holy. You either are holy or you're
not. It's a state of being. You don't do things to become
holy. There's things you do because
you are holy. You have a holy nature. As a
matter of fact, you know the only time the word holier is
used. Most people, when they think of holiness and sanctification,
they think, well, you can get progressively more holy, more
holy, more holy, or less holy, depending on how you do. If you
sin, you become less holy. If you do right, you become more
holy. Well, let me show you a passage
of Scripture in Isaiah 65. Here's the only time the word
holier is ever used in the Scripture. Verse 3, a people that provoketh
me to anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth in gardens,
and burneth incense among altars of brick, which remain among
graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and
the broth of abominable things is in their vessels, which say,
Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. You ever heard that phrase, holier
than thou? That's where it comes from. These are, this is God
speaking, He says, these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that
burneth all the day. Holiness. A state of being. The writer of the Hebrews said,
wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. And
this is true of every believer. I'm one of these holy brethren. If you're a child of God, you're
one of these holy brethren. Now, how? I don't feel real holy. How is
it that I am a holy brethren, or brother? Well, the Bible tells
us why and how we're saints, or sanctified ones. I want to
show you six ways, all of which are one way and you can't have
one without having all six. The Bible declares us as being
sanctified or holy by these six things. Now first turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 11. For both he that sanctifyeth,
he that makes holy, and they who are sanctified, those who
are made holy, are all of one. For the which cause he is not
ashamed to call them brethren." We're sanctified by union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm one with Him. Is He holy? How holy is Jesus Christ? Now
how holy is he? That's how holy every believer
is. 1 John chapter 4 verse 17 says,
As he is, so are we in this world. How holy is Jesus Christ? That's
how holy I am because I'm united to him. I am one With him now,
this is the mystery of godliness union with the Lord Jesus Christ
now. I hesitate to say this is how
it works. But this gives me such confidence
and this gives me such assurance. Just as truly as Jesus Christ,
the Lord was made sin. That's what the Bible says about
him. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, For he, God the Father, hath
made him to be sin. What all's included in that,
nobody understands. I can't understand how he who
never sinned, who's perfectly holy, was made to be sinned.
But the scripture says he was made to be sinned. That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, just as truly
as he was made to be sinned, he wasn't figured, God killed
him. God killed him. God didn't view him as, well,
I know you're innocent, but I'm going to go ahead and punish
you because Todd's sins were imputed to you. No, he was guilty. He was guilty. The sins of the
elect became his. He said, mine iniquities have
gone over my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for
me. He was made sin, and that's why he died on the cross. And
just as truly as he was made sin, I'm made the very righteousness
of God. And he has some confidence in
that. He is my holiness before God. Turn to Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 10. By the witch will. Witch will. We'll look back in verse 9. Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Now, by that will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Now, I'm sanctified by the will
of God. If God wills me to be sanctified,
you know what? I am sanctified. By the witch
will, by God's will. You see, God can't will something
that has not come to pass. If He says, if He wills my sanctification,
I'm sanctified. By the witch will, we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's in the perfect, a perfectly
completed act, once for all, perfectly completed, never to
be repeated. I am sanctified by the will of
God the Father. Look in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without
the gate We're sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me quote Hebrews 10 to you again. By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And let me tell you what the
blood of Christ actually did. It sanctified me. You see, the blood of Christ
removed my sin. I stand before God holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. I'm holy before God. When David
said, I'm holy, I can say it too, I'm holy. The blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ has removed my sin and I'm holy before God. Now, this is the confidence we
have in Him. His blood has put away our sins. Look in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25,
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church
and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the Word. That's what He did
by His blood. He sanctified and cleansed the
church and then were sanctified by the Spirit of God. Turn to
first Corinthians, chapter six. Verse 11. And such were some
of you. What? He says in verse 9, Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be
not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminates, nor abusers in themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you,
but you are washed. But you are sanctified, but you
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. That's the sanctification of
the Spirit. God given me a holy nature, a
nature that was not there before. Now, this is what takes place
in the new birth, the sanctification of the Spirit. Now, turn to John
chapter 17. Verse 17, the Lord is praying
for His people, and He says, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. 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. Sanctification always comes through
the truth and never apart from the truth. Now, let me quote
a scripture to you again. Listen real carefully. But 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. There's something that can never
be separated. The sanctification of the Spirit
and the belief of the truth. What is the evidence of being
sanctified by the Spirit? The belief of the truth. That's why you do it. There's
never true sanctification apart from the truth. The truth of
who God is. The true character of God. The
true gospel. The truth concerning who I am.
The truth concerning salvation being in Christ only. There's
no sanctification apart from the truth. God never uses error.
He doesn't need to use error. Why should he? He's a God of
truth and he does not use error. Sanctification only comes through
the truth and it never comes any other way. Our Lord said,
sanctify them through thy truth, thy word. You know, he said,
I came to bear witness to the truth. Pilate said, truth? What's truth? What did he mean
by that? Did he mean, is there such a
thing as truth? No, he knew better than that. Did he mean, well,
can we even know the truth? He knew you could know the truth.
He's saying, truth, is it worth this? Is it worth going to the
cross for? Is it worth dying for? There
is no salvation apart from the truth. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. You know, belief in the truth
has a sanctifying influence. That I think I've already put
that passage of Scripture that he might sanctify it and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. You know, it's the
Word of God that washes our feet. You know, people practice foot
washing. The washing of our feet, the washing of our walk is the
Word of God. It's the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the truth. Now turn to Acts
chapter 26. Verse 15, and I said, Who art
thou, Lord? This is Paul telling us of his
conversion experience. And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest, but rise and stand upon thy feet. For I have
appeared unto 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 which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from
the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to
open their eyes. and to turn them from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might
receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith." That is in me. Sanctification by faith. That is in me. There is no sanctification apart
from faith in Christ. How many times do we read throughout
the Gospels, thy faith hath saved thee? It's through faith in Christ
that the fiery darts of the wicked are doused, and that's the only
way. Nothing has a more sanctifying
effect than faith in Christ. Read Hebrews chapter 11 of the
mighty acts that were done by faith. By faith. Sanctification by faith. Now, in conclusion. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4 verse 7, For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. This is the will of God, even
your sanctification. Now you listen to this scripture.
As a matter of fact, let's just read this together. Turn to Romans
chapter 12. You know, New Year's resolutions
are ridiculous, but here is something that we ought to resolve every
single minute. Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies That's everything about you. Your bodies. You present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Holy. Acceptable under God. Which is your reasonable service. Anything short of this is unreasonable. You present your bodies. That's
all you are. All you have. Lord, here am I. I present myself to you by your
grace, a living sacrifice. I'm not my own. Holy, acceptable
unto God, which is only your reasonable service. Anything
less than absolute commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ in everything
is unacceptable. We bow to His Lordship. He's
my Lord. He's my God. I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good. And that perfect and that acceptable will of God. Now, let's let's one last scripture. Turn to first Peter, chapter
one. Listen to me, I want to be holy.
I do, I want to be holy and I am holy. And I want to be holy. Look in first Peter, chapter
one, beginning in verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lust in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, no matter what
it is. in all manner of conversation,
because it's written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now, you've been chosen to be
holy. You've been set apart to be holy. You are regarded as
holy. You are holy. So, be holy. That is God's call to every single
believer. And everything he requires, he
performs. Thank God for His grace. Let's
pray.