And I suppose it would be better
if we didn't pay a great deal of attention to most of them, because I'm persuaded that most
religion today is totally phonic, self-seeking, competitive, has
nothing to do with God, is not seeking the glory of God. And
when the communist leaders say that religion is the opium of
the people, I agree with them. False religion is just that.
To lull them to sleep in their false refuges lest they seek
a right relationship with the living God. And I say this, a man should
be more selective in deciding to whom he will listen. preach the Word of God, he should
be more selective in choosing his pastor than in choosing his
physician. Some of you will drive hundreds
of miles to go to a specialist, and you'll just listen to anything
that calls itself a preacher and calls itself a teacher of
the Scripture. Mutilate your souls. I think
a man should be more selective in choosing his pastor than his
banker. Not only will your body someday
be buried and your soul live on, but your possessions will
all burn up. And if we're not careful to whom
we listen in these matters of God and the soul, not only will
our possessions be destroyed, but our souls along with them. And I say that a man ought to
be more selective in who he chooses to be his pastor and his spiritual
leader than who he marries, because that marriage will be dissolved.
I know that's important, but this is more important. And the tragedy is that we just,
it disturbs me. I try to listen to some of them
on the radio and TV, I can understand why people don't
go to church. I can understand it perfectly.
I can understand why they laugh at preachers and religions. Nothing
but an empty, vain, foolish show. And it's distressing, especially
in this day. Nobody's saying anything. Oh,
to hear something from God. And I hope we can hear something
tonight. Our Lord said that He loved his church and gave himself
for it that he might sanctify it. I've been thinking about
that subject. And along this line, Charles Spurgeon said something
one time, and it would be well to repeat this over and over
again and to think about it very seriously. The Bible, the Bible,
like the works of God, that is creation, and God's marvelous
works, How wonderful are thy works, O Lord, and that my soul
knoweth right well. But the Bible, this precious,
infallible book, like the works of God, the Bible is not systematically
arranged. Did you ever notice that? It's
not systematically arranged. Not like a body of divinity or
a systematic theology. How different is the freedom
of nature from the orderly precision of a scientific museum. This
is Spurgeon speaking. If you go to a museum, you'll
find all the animals placed in separate order according to their
species. We'll stop over here and see
all the lions and tigers, and we'll go here and see the fish,
and we'll go here and see the birds, and we'll go here and
see something else. It's not like that in God's creation.
If you go out into God's world, you'll find them roaming together.
You'll see a lion and look up and see a bird. You'll see a
squirrel in the tree. And you'll see a monkey beside
him. In God's creation, they're all together. So systematic theologians,
when they read the Bible, find the truths of God's Word not
put in order for the classroom, but written for daily life. The Bible is not arranged as
a body of divinity. It's a handbook to heaven. It
is a guide to lead men to Christ. It is meant for the man at the
plow as well as the man in the classroom. It is a primer for babes. It
is a classic for scholars. The Bible has depths in which
an elephant can swim and shallow streams in which a lamb can wade. God has not given us a body of
divinity in which to lose our way. God has given us a book
of life in which we can find Christ his way. And I fear in
order to arrange the truth of God systematically, we have succeeded
in killing the truth. We have succeeded in reducing
it to dead letter, dry theology and orthodoxy. And it lives no
more. I don't want this message on
sanctification to be that at all. I want it to be like God's creation,
God's works, the beauty and glory of all that he has given us together.
A man is not sanctified who is not justified. A man is not justified
who is not sanctified. Where you find one, you find
the other. A man does not repent who has not believed, and a man
does not believe who has not repented. A man does not have
life who has not been begotten. A man who has been begotten has
life. Where you find one, you find the other. In Him we have
wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. We don't cut
this thing up in patterns. In other words, when your little
baby is born, it has everything it's ever going to have to be
an adult. Everything. It's not going to
grow any new fingers or toes or ears or eyes or nose. It's
got everything. It's small. And everything's
there in the bud, and everything there is there to a degree, but
everything's there. And when God saves, when God
begets a son or a daughter, brings one into his family, everything's
there. He hath made us meet. That's
the reason the thief on the cross went straight from repentance
and faith to glory. He was obeyed in Christ, but
he had everything he'd ever need. He made us sufficient to inherit
the saints of light and to inherit glory. We have everything. There's
growth, but we have everything. So you can't butcher God's regenerating
work of giving life to children into different stages of operation
and occurrence. It's there. If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. I'm not seeking the Holy
Spirit. Unsaved people may be seeking
the Holy Spirit, but not saved people. I'm not seeking sanctification. I'm not seeking the Lord, actually,
in the sense that seeking Him as a Redeemer. He is my Redeemer.
We seek to know Him better, but we know Him. So, I want us to
look tonight, I want you, if you will, to jot down three texts.
Really, I'm going to use three texts in looking at this prayerful,
careful look at sanctification. But the first one is found in
Jude. in regard to sanctification. Like, you find sanctification
from Genesis to Revelation, and here we, the way over here in
the book of Jude, we read in verse 1 of Jude, there's just
one chapter, it says, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother
of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father. To them that
are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ
and called by the Holy Spirit. To them who are sanctified by
God the Father. And the Holy Spirit, it doesn't
say sanctified here, but the Spirit says by God the Father.
Sanctified by God the Father. And preserved in Jesus Christ
and called by the Holy Spirit. Alright, come back to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. Now listen to sanctification
here. It says in verse 2 of 1 Corinthians 1, unto the church of God, which
is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Called to be saints. Called to
be what? Saints. Not made saints after
we die. Called to be saints. Sanctified
in Christ Jesus. They're already sanctified. Verse
10. Or one other verse, 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 2. 1 Peter 1, verse 2. Peter is writing
to the strangers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. He says, verse 2, watch this,
"...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." What we're seeing
here, now keep that scripture out there a minute, it needs
to be pointed out, what the Father does, the Son does, and the Spirit
does. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one God. I can't explain the Trinity,
but nor can I deny it. I'd be a fool to deny it. I see
it all the way here. Jude says sanctified by God the
Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, called by the Holy Spirit. And
over here Paul writing says we are sanctified in Christ Jesus
and called, chosen by God, sanctified in the Spirit and Jesus Christ
and called. And here he says in verse 2,
we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
The Father elected us and the Holy Spirit sanctified us and
the Lord Jesus cleansed us. through the sprinkling of his
blood. So what the Father does, the Son does, what the Son does,
the Holy Spirit does, our election, our justification, our redemption,
our sanctification, our perseverance, our glorification, all the effectual
work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But now when you look at the,
here we've got sanctification in really in three senses. We've got sanctified by God the
Father, sanctified in Christ the Son, and sanctified by the
Holy Spirit. all accomplishing the same thing,
just like our election and our redemption and our calling. Now,
if you want to understand, and here's something everybody, I
hear folks say, well, that's in the Old Bible, that's in the
Old Testament, that's been fulfilled and so forth. Now, if you're
serious about knowing something about the Bible, you better learn
something about the Old Testament. Now, I say this to you, if you
want to understand sanctification, you're going to have to go to
the Old Testament. The Old Testament helps us understand the New Testament
because the New Testament reveals the Old Testament. Someone said,
and this is true, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. According
to what scriptures? Well, the New Testament wasn't
even written when he died, according to the Old Testament. When our
Lord Jesus Christ was walking with the two disciples to Emmaus
and went in and talked to them and then talked to his own his
own twelve or eleven, he opened their understanding to understand
the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament.
And then he took the Old Testament and taught them, he taught them
the things written about him in the Moses and the Prophets
and the Psalms and in all of the other writings. So the scriptures,
the Old Testament scriptures, a jeweler, watch this, a jeweler
cuts a diamond with a diamond. That's the way he cuts a real
bona fide diamond. He does it with a diamond. So
if you want to understand the scripture, you understand it
with the scriptures. You don't run by your denominational
handbook and understand the scriptures. The scriptures are interpreted
in the light of the scriptures. And those who know God's word
best study the scriptures in the light of the scriptures.
No scriptures of any private interpretation. In other words,
no verse stands alone. It fits in with the rest of the
Word of God. So if we want to look at sanctification, let's
go back to the Old Testament. Let's go back and see what it's
talking about. Barnett used to talk about the
law of first mention. See the first mention of a thing
in the Bible, and it will help you understand what it means
all the way through. So Genesis chapter 2, let's turn over there
first. Genesis chapter 2, verse 3. The first meaning of sanctification
in this Bible, the first mention of it, the first meaning of it,
it means, and you can write this down, to set apart, to set apart. Now, that's exactly what the
first meaning of sanctification is. It says in chapter 2 of Genesis,
verse 3, And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made. Now don't get off on trying to
decide about the seventh day and the Sabbath and Sabbath worship
and Sabbath keeping and all that. We're not studying that. We're
studying sanctification. So often people hear a message
on a subject, and Satan is good at this. He's a master at this. He's a master in sidetracking
people's minds. And you go to read a scripture,
deal with a subject, and they'll light on something, you know,
why don't we worship on Saturday, and they get on that and they'll
miss the whole, the rest of the message. So don't, don't, don't
be guilty of that. We're not dealing with the Sabbath
now. But what we're dealing with is sanctification, and we see
here the word sanctify. Now, so sanctification here doesn't
mean eradication of an old nature, because the Sabbath day hasn't
got an old nature. It doesn't mean to make a saint
after you're dead, because the Sabbath day is not a person who
lives and dies and becomes saint. And you don't lay hands on the
seventh day to make it holy. God Almighty declared that the
seventh day was going to be different from the other days. He set it
apart from the other six. In other words, God took something
common, something ordinary, an ordinary span of time, a day
just like any other day, 24 hours, twelve light and twelve dark,
the rising of the sun, the setting of the sun, the rising of the
sun, just an ordinary day. It was no different from Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, or I mean Sunday.
That seventh day, Sunday, was just a day. And God took that
day out of the other six, out of the total seven, He said,
this is my day. He sanctified it. He made it
holy. He said, it's mine. Alright,
let's turn to another verse. Exodus 13. Exodus chapter 13. In other words, we're saying
this, that sanctification, the word sanctification there means
to set apart something which is common and ordinary, to set
it apart for God alone. For God alone, for God's purpose,
for God's glory. And when that common, ordinary
thing is set apart, it is called holy unto the Lord. It's just
like the other days, but it's His day. Alright, Exodus 13,
verse 2, let's look at this. And the Lord said unto Moses,
verse 2, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn whatsoever openeth
the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast. It's mine. Now all these thoughts
about sanctification go up in smoke now when you come to sanctify
an animal. The firstborn of the beast belong
to me, God says. Set it apart. It's mine. The
firstling of the flock is mine. The first lamb is mine. The firstborn
son is mine. Everything that first openeth
the womb is mine, God said. Set it apart. Set it apart. It may not be prettier or better
looking or anything, but it's mine, God said. Sanctify it. Set it apart. We're on that subject,
he said. So to sanctify there means God, the daddy is to say,
now this boy, he belongs to the Lord. This cow belongs to the
Lord. This sheep belongs to the Lord.
All right, one other verse now, Exodus 29. We're using the word
sanctification here now, that's what we're talking about, Exodus
29.44. The people of Israel lived in
tents, tabernacles. Their tents were made out of
animal skin. There was a tabernacle erected
in the midst of the camp called the tabernacle of the Lord. And
it was made out of badger skin and ram skin and other skin,
and it was fancier than the others, but it was still just an ordinary
building. It was still made out of material. Yet God said in
verse 44 of Exodus 29, I'll sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation
and the altar. And I will sanctify also both
Aaron. Now, Aaron wasn't a perfect man.
I don't understand some things Avon did, and you don't either.
That thing about the calf, you know, he was in on that, the
golden calf. But God sanctified him, Avon,
and his sons, to minister to me in the priest office. In other
words, God took this man Avon, just like other men, but God
said, Avon belongs to me as a priest. Touch not mine anointing. And
this tabernacle 15 feet wide and 15 and 30 is 45 feet long. This tabernacle, this building,
this covered with badger skin and rams, is mine. It's holy
unto the Lord. You don't go in it, lest you
die. Go in any of the rest of them,
well, it's just an ordinary building. That's what some folks thought.
Looked out to watch. Just an ordinary building. That's the
ordinary veil. They crawled under the veil and they drug them out
by the heels. It's holy unto the Lord. So there's
clearly no reference here whatsoever to eradication of sin, or purging
of an old nature, or the purging of sin, or anything like that,
but simply the setting apart by order of God, by decree of
God, by the purpose of God for himself. This is mine, he said.
It may be ordinary, it may be common. It may be like thousands
just like it, or seven, six more like it, or a thousand, but this
is mine. This is mine. Now that will help you understand
Jude 1. It says we are sanctified by
God the Father. And when did this take place?
Well, turn to Jeremiah 1, verse 5, and we'll just go through
the scripture and see when this sanctification took place, this
setting apart. We're ordinary men and women,
and yet common It says here, Jeremiah, God said, Jeremiah,
verse 4 of Jeremiah 1, the word of the Lord came to me and said,
Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before you came
out of your mother's womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet
to the nation. It took place before he was born.
So there's a sense in which, like Jeremiah, I sanctified before
I was born by God the Father. I was set apart I chose. The same thing is said of the
Apostle Paul in Galatians 1.15. He said before, he pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace
to reveal his Son in me. We turn to John chapter 17. Let's
go over there just a moment. John 17. Here our Lord prays
for these people who are sanctified by the Father. He said in John
chapter 17, Verse 2, thou hast given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. Verse 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Verse 9, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. Ananias said, Saul of Tarsus,
the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Because God had said to
Ananias before, Ananias said, I don't want to go see that fellow
Solitarius. I've heard about him. I know
what he's like. I know how cruel he is. And God said, he's a chosen
vessel unto me. Brethren, God had chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. God has sent his
affections upon us and his love upon us and sent us apart. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 and let
me show you that. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. begin with verse 26, and he says
in 1 Corinthians 1, 26, you see your calling brethren, not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble to
call, but God hath chosen the foolish things, the ordinary,
the common, to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things, and so forth. So this thing of sanctification,
are you with me? The first meaning in the Scripture.
is to set apart. It's for God in his divine purpose
and for reasons known only to himself who said, I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. It's not of him that runneth nor of him that
willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. I can't account for it.
Our Lord said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and thou
hast revealed them to babes. For, Father, it seemed good in
your sight. Why me? Why you? I don't know. But I
know God knows in his wisdom. And he chose us, and we're sanctified
by God the Father. By God the Father. Before Christ
came, before the foundation of the world, before the Spirit
was revealed, God the Father chose a people. And Christ said,
All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh shall in no wise cast out. And I've come not to do my will,
but the will of him that sent me, and this is the will of him
that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I'll lose nothing."
Alright, here's the second meaning now of sanctification. Let's
go to Isaiah chapter 8. Now this is interesting here.
And with each one of them we'll make personal application to
our own experience. And in Isaiah chapter 8, verse
13. And if you want to confuse some
theologians, folks that feel like they've got this thing of
sanctification all worked out, why don't you tell them, ask
them about this scripture. You know, our Lord Jesus said,
for their sakes I sanctify myself. Christ said, I sanctify myself. What did he mean by that? He
didn't need his old nature eradicated. He didn't have an old nature.
I sanctify. I set myself apart as a surety,
as a representative, as a sin offering. I set myself apart. This is my purpose, to die for
my people. You see, sanctification sometimes
in the scripture doesn't have anything to do with eradication
or putting away a purging of sin. It has to do with God's
purpose. God has sanctified us, God the
Father. Here's a second one, now here's one that's difficult
to handle, Isaiah 8, 13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts, himself. You mean God needs to be sanctified?
That's what it says. Sanctify the Lord of hosts, yourself,
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. All right,
turn to Numbers 20. You've got every one of you now
turn to this, and let's look at this a minute. Numbers 20,
verse 12. You remember the people were
thirsty one time, and God told Moses to hit a rock, to smite
a rock, and the water would come out, and he did, and the people
drank. And then on another occasion, Moses went back to God, and prayed
about this matter of drink for the people, and God told him
to go speak to the rock. Now that rock's Christ. The scripture
says that that rock which followed them was Christ. Now Christ,
that rock is a type of Christ. And that rock's not supposed
to be smitten twice, just once. Christ is smitten of God and
afflicted and wounded for our transgressions. By his stripes
we are healed, but by one offering he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified. And not twice was he smitten,
but once. And so God said, Moses, you don't strike the rock this
time, you speak to it. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Christ doesn't have to be sacrificed
again. Just call on him and be saved. So Moses went out there,
and he got in the flesh, and he lifted up his rod, and he
says to those people, he said in verse 10, look at him, Moses
and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and
he said, here now, you rebels, must we fetch water out of this
rock? Didn't say anything about God giving it. He said, me and
Aaron are going to get it, you know. Oh my, if Moses gets in
the flesh, think how much we stay in the flesh. And Moses
lifted up his hand, and with his rock he smoked that rock
twice. Well, the water came out, and
the congregation drank, and their beast also. But look at verse
12. The Lord spake to Moses in Avon, and he said, Because you
didn't believe me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children
of Israel, to sanctify me. Therefore you shall not bring
this congregation into the land which I have given them. Moses,
you will never enter that land. because you didn't sanctify me."
What in the world does this sanctification mean here? Leviticus 10, let's
try another one. Leviticus chapter 10. Well, it
certainly doesn't mean to make a saint after one dies or to
eradicate the old nature, even purge sin, because God's talking
about sanctifying himself, being sanctified by Moses and the people. Now, Leviticus 10, 1 through
3. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons
of Avon, took either of them his censure and put fire therein,
put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord,
which he commanded not. And there went out fire from
the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And
Moses said unto Avon, This is it that the Lord spake, saying,
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before
all the people I will be glorified. And Avon held his peace." Now, I'll tell you what this
sanctification is dealing with here. The first one is to set
apart. The second one is this. In all
these instances, to sanctify means this, to regard, to treat,
and declare to be holy. God is holy. God said, I will
be held in reverence. I will be held in awe. I will
be regarded as holy by all them that come thy way. Moses, when
you got mad and lost your temper and hit that rock and showed
yourself, you weren't picturing to the people a holy God, a righteous
God, a perfect God. You were presenting a flesh,
a fleshly image of God. And for that, you're going to
suffer. And when God says, I'll be sanctified by all them that
come before me, He says, I will be treated, I will be regarded.
I will be declared to be holy." You see what he's saying there?
To sanctify God. It means that he's regarded and
declared and treated as holy. Now then, this gives us some
light on 1 Corinthians 1. Now watch this, and this will
give you a blessing to your heart. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2,
it says, "...unto the church of God, which is at Corinth,
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." So if the word
sanctify means to regard and treat as holy, can you not see
how that in Christ Jesus every believer is regarded by God as
being holy? He is regarded, he is treated,
he is declared to be holy. In Christ we are holy. We are
without sin. Let me show you that Colossians
1 verse 22. Colossians 1, we'll start with verse 20 and read
through verse 22. The Heavenly Father sees us,
believers, in Christ. You see, how can we who are so
unholy in our imaginations and thoughts and so forth, be holy? Because God does not look upon
us in the flesh, He looks upon us in Christ. We are accepted
in the Beloved. We're crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, risen with Christ, enthroned with Christ,
seated with Christ, and accepted in Christ. Colossians 1, now
watch this, verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things
unto himself, to God. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were at
one time, sometimes, one time, alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death, to present you holy. and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. That's the way you are. Christ
presents you. In Christ you are. You're holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight. Not as we were in Adam's fall
when sin and ruin covered us all, but as we shall stand another
day fairer than the sun's spotless ray, for with his holy garments
on we are as holy as God's own Son. In other words, every believer
here tonight, God the Father, back in eternity past, sanctified
you, he set you apart, like he did the Sabbath day and the firstborn
and the beast, he set you apart. It's like he did the tabernacle
and the priest, just like he did the altar and the mercy seat.
Mine. Mine. From that which is common
and ordinary, mine. All right. And God has declared
us in Christ. Christ came down here in the
flesh as a man. And that's what he did 2,000
years ago. He came down here, born of woman,
made under the law, and redeemed those that were under the law.
And he worked out for us a perfect obedience to the law, a perfect
righteousness, and charged it to our account, imputed it to
us. He covered, he blotted out our sins, he covered us with
his robe of righteousness, and when the Heavenly Father sees
us and regards us whom he had set apart, he sees us as holy
in Christ. Turn to Hebrews 10, let me read
that to you. This is the thing that so many,
this is what makes folks have doubts and fears and trouble
about their salvation when they're resting in Christ and trusting
in Christ, but this is just too magnificent for them to grasp,
to lay hold on. You mean to tell me that in God's
sight I feel so ashamed, I feel so unworthy, I don't even feel
like praying. Some preacher calls on me to
pray and I don't feel like praying, I feel so unworthy. Well, I'm
sure glad you do. I hope you keep feeling that
way. I don't want you praying for me if you feel worthy of
it. I'd just rather you skip it because
God won't hear you. Anytime you feel worthy to approach
God, you can be sure you won't get there. We don't approach
God through our worthiness or righteousness. We approach God
in Christ as beggars, as sinners, as unclean creatures seeking
mercy in Christ. That's the way we come to God.
Hebrews 10 verse 10 says this, now watch it. By the witch will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Isn't that clear? I'm sanctified by Christ. My
debts are paid, my sins are gone, cast into the depths of the sea
to be remembered no more. They're gone, I don't have any
sins. In Christ, God does not see, I am holy, unblamable, unreprovable,
justified without sin in the sight of God when I'm in Christ.
Now when God looked upon Christ on the cross, he saw all my sins
and turned away. And Christ cried, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? But when Christ paid that debt
and counseled it and put it away and came out of that grave, he
came out without sin. And the Father took him right
to the right hand of the majesty on high and sent him down. And
when he sat down, I sat down right there. And in Christ, I'm
as spotless and holy as God's Son. He sees no sin in me, nor
in you. That's so. That's the riches
of his glory. Every true believer is sanctified
wholly in Christ. Every true believer is a saint
in Christ. Every true believer has no sin. In Christ there is no sin. If God ever sees sin in me, he
has to see sin in Christ, because I'm in Christ. Holy and without
blame, that's what it says. He has sanctified them once for
all. Look at verse 12. But this man,
after he offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down on the right
hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified." No, I'm not perfect. In your sight or
in mine, but I'm in God's sight. No, I'm not without sin, and
my sight are yours. I say my sins are ever before
me, but they're not before God, not unless Christ is the sinner,
because I'm in Christ. Brethren, if you want to put
yourself outside of Christ and you want God to judge you on
the basis of your merit or your deeds or your prayers or your
goodness, get out there, but I tell you, it's a bad place
to be. It's a bad place to be. And no hope out there. He that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. All right? That's sanctification in Christ.
God says, I will be regarded, I will be treated, I will be
declared, as holy. I will be looked upon by those
who come down to me as a holy God. You will approach me with
reverence and fear and awe as a holy God. I will be sanctified. But in the same way, God Almighty
has declared us to be holy. He treats us as holy. He accepts
us as holy. He receives us as holy. I'm sanctified
in Christ Jesus. All right, one more and I'll
quit. Turn to Exodus 19. Now here's another meaning of
sanctification, Exodus 19. Exodus 19, verse 10 through 12. Now listen to this. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Go unto the people, Moses, and sanctify them. Boy, that'd give you trouble,
wouldn't it? Moses, go sanctify the people. Go sanctify them. You do it, Moses. Today and tomorrow let them wash
their clothes and be ready against the third day, for the third
day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon
the mount." Oh, I see, God is in a special revelation, is going
to come down and reveal himself to the people. And God tells
them, a certain day I'm coming, now you wash your clothes and
wash your bodies. and clean up the camp, the Lord's
coming. The Lord's coming. Sanctify yourselves. Let's look at another scripture,
Joshua 3. These people, in other words, were ordered to prepare
themselves for a meeting with God. All right, Joshua 3, 5. Joshua 3, 5. I heard a preacher
last night. He was in a big way of trying
to get the people worked up, you know. He said churches are
too formal and they got things too planned and all this sort
of thing. And he said you need to relax
and be yourself and act like you do at home, you know. I'd
just rather you not do that in the presence of the Lord, you
know. I don't think he's right. I think this is a special time. That's what the Lord said to
the people there. He said, you're not asking to make yourself at
home. The Lord's coming. He said, clean your clothes and
clean your flesh and get that camp in clean order. The Lord's coming down, a special
revelation. It's a special time to meet with
God. And here in Joshua 3, verse 5, it says, And Joshua said to
the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do
wonders among you. People were to prepare themselves
to witness the power of God. So here's what we have in this
third meaning of sanctification, or third sense of the same meaning.
A man is actually putting forth, by the grace of God, every effort
to live by the principles of holiness and righteousness before
the Lord God. That's what we mean in 1 Peter.
Now look at 1 Peter 1. And this, like I said, by the
grace of God, by the Holy Spirit's work. It says here in 1 Peter,
through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience. The sanctification of the Holy
Spirit. Now this can be called, it begins in regeneration. It
begins in regeneration. Sanctification first is to set
apart, by God the Father. This is mine. Second of sanctification
is to regard, to treat, to declare to be holy in Christ Jesus we
are. You can call it holy living,
you can call it spiritual maturity, you can call it progress in godliness,
you can call it... And that is when the Holy Spirit,
one of those who set apart, for whom Christ died, the Holy Spirit
comes in time and regenerates and gives life. He sanctifies. He gives a holy nature. That
person He used to hate the gospel, now he loves it. He used to be
miserable, the pastor couldn't preach a sermon short enough
for him. He didn't love the people of God. He wasn't interested
in spiritual things. He was interested in materialism,
interested in the flesh only. But now suddenly he's interested
in the gospel. You can't teach him enough. You
can't read him enough. You can't exhort him enough. He's just got a constant delight
for the things of God and desire for the things of God. He's growing.
Interest grows. The work begins in regeneration
and the Holy Spirit By his work, he progresses that work of sanctification. Our lives become cleaner. They
become kinder. They become more considerate.
They become more compassionate. They become more joyful. They
become more faithful. They become more patient. Add
to your faith godliness, patience, and the patience godliness, and
the godliness virtue, and the virtue this, that, something
else. Turn to John 17, verse 17, I'll show you. John 17, 17.
The Holy Spirit always uses means. He doesn't come, the person here,
and just say, you're sanctified. We're just like walking out of
a dark room into a light room. There are babes in Christ, and
babes have to be taught and instructed. They have to be educated, they
have to learn, and as they learn, they make progress. They start
out sucking their thumbs, and after a while they quit. When
they were a child, they behaved like a child, but when they became
a man, they put away childish things. They started out with
these temper tantrums and lay down on the floor and kick and
scream, but most of you don't do that anymore, you know. Some
do, I hear, but most of you don't. You've grown out of that, you
know. And what does he use? John 17, verse 17. Listen to
it. It says, John 17, verse 17, "...sanctify
them through thy truth." Thy word is truth. That's what he
uses, right here. That's what he uses. This is
what the Holy Spirit uses. He says, "...tell the people
to clean up their clothes and clean up their bodies, the Lord's
coming." And what does he use? What's the water of the Word?
That's what he uses. You turn to Psalm 119. Here's another scripture, Psalm
119. Psalm 119, verse 9. You might mark this in your Bible.
It says in Psalm 119, verse 9, Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. That's the way we clean up for
God's presence. That's sanctification. Tell the
people, sanctify themselves. It's the Holy Spirit. It's just
like faith. That's the gift of God, but we believe. It's just
like repentance. That's the gift of God, but we
repent. It's just like a walk in righteousness. It's not mine,
it's His, but I walk in it. I can't explain that to you.
God'll have to reveal it to you, but I know it so.