Sanctification means to set apart: sanctification means separation-HA Ironside
According to HA Ironside’s book; Holiness, The false and the true there exists the following types of sanctification:
-Absolute sanctification: it is by the one offering of Christ on the cross
-Progressive sanctification: it is by the Spirit and by the Word
-Sanctification by the Spirit: it is internal. It is an experience within the believer.
-Sanctification by the blood of Christ: it is eternal. It is not an experience; it is positional. It has to do with the new place in God’s eternal favor occupied by every believer. It is an unchanging and unchangeable position, to which defilement can never attach in God’s estimation.
I want to focus on sanctification by the Spirit and the Word.
We live in a wicked world however, the Lord ensures that it serves to be a salutary experience for His saints. Each day contains unique challenges that serve as opportunities for spiritual growth. When we align our will with the Lord’s path, the Holy Spirit empowers us to strengthen our spiritual resolve and manifest His divine nature.This arm of sanctification requires our participation.As believers, we read the Word and pray however once we interact with the world we do not seize the opportunity to walk in the Spirit. Somebody angers us and we retaliate or get offended. When stuck in traffic or in long or snaking queue , many give into impatience instead of seeing it as a golden opportunity to exercise patience. Many love those who love them and give only to those whom they will receive their money back. We jettison these opportunities by choosing the flesh. That is why we never mature in Christ. It is not about how much knowledge one has acquired but the degree to which one has transformed into His image. The call is to be sanctified here on earth for there is no sanctification process that will transpire in heaven.
Sanctification is more than the spiritual disciplines that we adhere to as believers such as fasting, prayer, serving or even giving. We can adhere to these disciplines and not to the sanctification process.
Sanctification of the Holy Spirit and the Word involves yielding to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him.
We may find certain things to still be acceptable to us but not to the Lord. As we proceed to submit to His work of sanctification we will find that certain behaviors become unacceptable. The Spirit may do His sanctifying work even as we consistently spend time seeking Him. We may notice that certain behaviors disappear without our physical effort.He causes us to “meet Him where He is” so to speak, making His standard deep seated, personal convictions. The Lord is committed to making us holy.
While all believers share in the gift of salvation, the degree of individual sanctification does vary. This distinction explains why certain behaviors evoke deep conviction in some, while others remain unperturbed by them. To illustrate, some may find secular music permissible, yet as one matures in faith, the biblical exhortation to remain untainted by the world becomes a personal mandate. Since such music originates from worldly influences, a more sanctified perspective often views it as incompatible with a life dedicated to the Lord. The money changers were permitted to sell in the synagogue, yet when the Lord came He overturned their tables in holy anger and uttered ” stop turning my Father’s house into a market place!”. The leaders of that time who claimed to believe in God saw nothing wrong with this. The Sadducees and Pharisees did not act as He did. This variation in conviction exists among believers.
The process of sanctification often creates a sense of isolation, not only from the world but occasionally within the church itself. It is a path that can be solitary; as one disciplines the flesh through the empowerment of the Spirit, they may find themselves amidst fellow believers who have not yet embraced that same measure of devotion.
When the Lord saved us, He liberated our flesh from its lord, sin, so that He could be our rightful Lord. Our nature will always be expressed through the body. The flesh possesses the power to rob us even of our true personality. The Lord made us in his own image that means He initially made us to have a nature like His. Sin however robbed us of experiencing it and oppressed us to the degree that we helplessly displayed a carnal nature. The carnal nature robbed us of all possibility of experiencing the freedom rooted in our original, true nature which is God’s nature. Not only that, it robbed us of our true personality and authenticity. When we choose our carnal nature and we find ourselves impatient, using filthy language, displaying a bad attitude, we suppress our true personality.
Sin distorts our personality
The Lord has a pleasant personality. He is not stressed, depressed, feeling defeated nor is He negative. He is always hopeful and due to these factors His personality is pleasant. Additionally, when we walk according to the Word, choosing to be patient when our flesh is irritated, gentle when tempted to be rude, overlooking offense when it is apparent, our attitude completely shifts. We will notice that it is as if we are a new person. We will notice that we are not grumpy and negative.We will experience a complete transformation. We become the unadulterated version of ourselves, free from the contamination of sin’s influence on us and it shows in the nature and personality we display!
Walking in step with the Spirit reflects the nature of God and restores our authenticity
That is why when we truly yield to the Lord and choose to walk in step with the Spirit and those who knew us prior to being saved bring up our past, we cannot even relate. Yes, we are saved and the old has passed however that version was not the real us. That version was marred by sin. There exists attitudes, wounds and behaviours in our bloodlines that get passed down, committing the same crime. They bend us out of shape and contort us, therefore robbing us of our authenticity. We may notice that the anger we see on our father’s side of the family is in us too. This then leads to an angry, impatient and proud persinality. The Lord restores our authenticity through walking according to His Word. Unforgiveness makes us bitter and critical. Unchecked desires make us secretive and destroys our innocence. But when we forgive, we are peaceful and joyful. When we are self controlled we retain our innocence and purity and we walk in integrity.