Thank you. Would you open your Bible please to
Hebrews chapter 10? One man tried to do it by
having himself buried up to his neck and remaining
there for several months. When he didn't feel
he had accomplished it, he had himself dug out
and then climbed on top of a pillar that was
30 feet high and lived there for many years.
Another man tried a different approach. He decided
not to bathe or to change his clothes until he
had attained it. He said, what did these men
try to do? They tried to become holy. One of
the good gifts of God is sanctification. We often
identify that with holiness. I wonder if there
are any words or ideas that create more misunderstanding
and mystery than the word sanctification. For
some, the word immediately connotes altars and
incense, robes and barriers. I've been in buildings
of worship where the front was called an altar
and there was a fence or a railing to keep out
ordinary people. Only those who were sanctified,
so called, were able to go into that front area
of the church near the altar. For others, sanctification
connotes an unattainable piety. An illusory standard
of living that can never quite be reached. For
some, sanctification has a lot to do with ice.
Both are frozen. Sanctification is hard to get
your hands on. What does it mean when it says
in our text as it does that God has sanctified
us? One of the good gifts of God is the gift
of sanctification, and it is a wonderful truth
that applies to every child of God, and so this
morning I want us to think about what that means.
Let's first consider some basic facts about sanctification.
Notice again in our text verse 10, by this will,
that is the will of God, We have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all And then again in verse 14 by one
offering he has perfected for all time those
who are sanctified The word sanctify is really
very simple it means to set something apart from
the rest You ladies sanctify your good dishes.
You may even have a china closet in your home
where you keep your sanctified dishes. You don't
use those every day of the week but only when
you have special company. And there's nothing
wrong with that. But the fact is you are setting
those dishes aside for special use. That's the
very idea of sanctification. It involves first
of all a cleansing and a preparation and then
a preservation for the special purpose for which
something is set apart. This word is used in
the Bible in a number of different contexts.
For example, and you need not turn to these verses,
Genesis 2 -3 tells us that God sanctified the
seventh day. He ordered seven days to this period
of time that we call a week, and that final day,
the seventh day, God rested and he sanctified
the Sabbath. He set it apart from the others.
In Exodus 31 -13, we see that God sanctified
the nation of Israel. From all of the nations
of the world God set apart the Jew the children
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Among them
it says in numbers 313 that God sanctified the
firstborn The firstborn of man and beast God
says set apart for me the firstborn is mine he
says And we also see that God ordered the construction
of a tent of meeting for His people. It's usually
called the tabernacle. And it is called in the
Old Testament the sanctuary. The sanctuary. The
place that is set apart. And clothing, vessels,
and sacrifices associated with it were also set
apart and thus became consecrated. Jesus said
that we should prayerfully sanctify the very
name of God. We are to acknowledge the set -apartness
of His name. He said, when you pray, say this,
our Father who art in heaven, what? Hallowed
be thy name. Set apart. In a special sense of
reverence and awe. Hallowed be thy name. God
is to be reverenced. And Jesus says in John 17
and verse 19, I sanctify myself. What did he
mean? He said, I am setting myself apart. As
he prayed that night before his crucifixion.
I am setting myself apart for their sake, the
sake of those who were His. And he says, sanctify
them, Father, through Thy word. Thy word is truth.
And so he prayed for our being set apart as well.
You see, in every case where it's used, the essential
meaning of this word means to set apart for a
specific purpose. or mission or destiny. That's
why I am saying to you this morning that one
of the good gifts of God, the gifts we've been
studying through the summer, is the gift of sanctification.
Because what that means is that God has chosen
to set you as His child apart from all of the
rest of the world for a special purpose and mission
in the world. But God cannot set apart for His
use what is unclean or sinful. And we are that
by our birth. And so God had to do something
to cleanse and prepare us. That is why it says
in verse 10, by this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all. If you noticed when this text was
read earlier, there is the repetition of that
idea. Once for all. Once for all. The very idea
of a mass. where Jesus Christ is said to be offered
again and again and again for sins is blasphemous
and contrary to the Word of God, which tells
us that he was offered once for all. He never
needs to be offered again after that time 2 ,000
years ago in Calvary. And through that sacrifice,
We have been cleansed and prepared so that God
can set us apart It says in Ephesians chapter
5 he loved the church and Gave himself up for
her that he might sanctify her Having cleansed
her by the washing of water with the word that
he might present to himself the church in all
her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any other
such thing, that she should be holy and blameless."
God intends for the church to be both without
spot and without wrinkle. When you wash your
clothes, they get clean. You put them in the
dryer or you hang them out in the line. And what
happens when they come out of the dryer, you
take them off the line, they are wrinkled still.
Unless they're some of this more modern fabric.
And you have to get an iron hot and iron out
the wrinkles. I like to think of it this way,
that our Lord has washed us. He has cleansed
us. But now he is in the business of ironing
out the wrinkles that remain. And one day when
we are with him in glory, that day we heard sung
about earlier that's coming soon, we're going
to be holy and without blame, without spot and
without wrinkle or anything like that. God has
chosen to set apart for himself and for special
purpose. and unworthy and sinful people who first
have to be prepared and cleansed so that they
then can go on to experience their special destiny.
Common, ordinary people who have no understanding
or fear of God and who are hostile toward Him
in mind and in actions. are by the blood of Jesus
Christ, cleansed and sanctified for the Master's
good use. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter
6 where we see this being said about some people
who came out of a pretty rough background. The
apostle says, or do you not know that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not
be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the
kingdom of God and such were some of you." He
reminds them of where they had been, but then
he says, but you were washed, you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. The
means that God uses to set us apart is the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. God has purposely chosen the
unlovely, the unholy, the sinful, the wicked
for a special destiny. And in order that we might
experience that destiny, He has cleansed us.
He has prepared us. He has sanctified us. And
the result is, going back to our text in Hebrews
chapter 10, this time verse 14, He has perfected
for all time those who are being sanctified.
Now if you notice something, if you're an astute
reader, you'll notice That the first time in
verse 10 it says you have been sanctified and
Here it says you are being sanctified and which
is true The answer is they're both true Because
the Bible says that we are sanctified in three
tenses There's a past tense in which we have
been sanctified It is passive. It happens to
us. And it emphasizes the completed state we
have when we trust Jesus Christ. It is an abiding
standing with God. It is our position in Christ.
We have by God's divine action been set apart.
And that cannot change. That's one truth of sanctification.
But it's also used in a present sense. We are
being sanctified. A present tense. Here he's
talking about not our position in Christ, but
our condition in life. For God's purposes we
have been set apart, but right now in time we
are being cleansed. Or we're being ironed. Might
be a better way to say it. God is right now continuing
to prepare us. We are a people in process. We
are not a people of perfection. There is progression
in the Christian life. There is growth in the
Christian life. And by this we are increasingly
set apart for God's special purpose. God has
a work to do in us yet. There aren't any of us
who are thinking rightly and certainly biblically
who would say that we are beyond the point of
sin. Though we have been cleansed, there is still
within us a struggle with sin. And we are tempted
every day Sometimes we are victorious and other
times we succumb to it. The fact is that as we
grow and mature in Christ, we experience more
victories and fewer defeats. But never will we
in this world, in this life, get beyond the point
of temptation and sin. Have you ever had a mole
in your yard? Had one in ours several years ago.
Oh, it was a fun battle This little creature
would dig around in my grass and the flower beds
and I was out after him The only problem was
we had different hours He liked to do that in
the early morning hours And I didn't particularly
care to get up at four o 'clock in the morning
to to go looking for him So I bought some peanuts
that were special peanuts and I carefully dug
a hole down in his little tunnel and I dropped
in his snack and I covered it over very carefully.
Guess what? Didn't fool him. It wasn't his kind
of peanut. He didn't like the taste of the coating,
you see. And I found out something very interesting
about these little creatures. You can set traps
for them and there are some elaborate ones. The
way to really get rid of moles is to treat your
lawn to get rid of the grub worms. Because that's
why they're there. He's not out to destroy my
lawn as much as he does that. He is there to
eat. and he likes those little grub worms. They
don't look too appetizing to me, but he gets
fat on them. So what do I really need to do?
Forget about the mole and go after the grub worms.
So often we go after the symptoms of our lives,
and not after the root cause. We go after the
symptoms by listening to tapes to try to calm
down and relax. Or we take pills to try to stop
doing this or to start doing that. We need to
remember that there are some root things that
we should go after. God is in the business of
going after the root causes in our lives. He
is sanctifying us now. That's why He deals with
us through the Word, through our fellowship with
one another, through our worship, through the
Lord's Supper, through prayer. All of these are
what are called means of grace by which God is
working away at the root causes in our lives.
But there is another aspect, and that is a future
aspect. In 1 Thessalonians 5 .23 it says, And
may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.
And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved
complete without blame at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We are sanctified in the sense
that we have our position in Christ. It does
not change. That's past. And it's abiding. We
are being sanctified in the sense that right
now our condition in life is being worked on
by our Lord and He is ironing away at us. And
we are being sanctified, I should say we will
be sanctified in the future in the sense of our
expectation, position, condition, expectation.
And on that day when our Lord comes we will stand
before Him in His presence without any sin. And
we will finally come to the destiny for which
God set us apart when we were saved. I like what
that song says. I think I have the words right.
I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I'm going
to be. But thank God, I'm not what I was. We
are a people on the way. You see, the gift of
sanctification is the gift of destiny. Thank
God we will not share the destiny of the world,
those without Christ, a destiny of judgment and
hell. But God in his grace and goodness has called
us to be a part of his family. And as such we
have been given a new destiny. We have been sanctified
and set apart for God's purpose. And he is in
the process of making us a holy people. What
kind of an application can we draw from all of
this for our lives? I'd like just to turn to
one verse. It's in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse
15, where again we see the word sanctify. This
time it is not God doing the sanctifying, but
you and I are commanded to do the sanctifying.
He is not sanctifying us, but we are sanctifying
Him." You say, what in the world are you saying?
Well, look at it. 1 Peter 3, 15. But sanctify
Christ. What does that mean? Set apart Christ
as Lord in your hearts. What does that mean to
us? It means that we are to call Him Lord, to
set Him apart from everything else in our lives
and say, you alone are Lord. All of the demands,
all of the desires, all of the loyalties are
to be set aside and He is to be set in that special
place as Lord. Sanctify Christ alone as Lord.
That's what He's saying. And he tells us the
result of that will be, we'll always have an
answer ready to give to those who ask us for
a reason of the hope. He goes on to tell us another
result is that we will live before God with a
good conscience, sanctify Christ as Lord. How
do you do that? Well, just in closing, I'd like
to suggest that there are three thoughts. There's
a once for all. There's a day by day. And there's
a moment -by -moment aspect to this. A once -for
-all aspect. That's really what he says here.
Sanctify in one deliberate historic act in your
life. Sanctify Christ as Lord. He's talking to
Christians. There are some people who say, well,
you can't make Christ Lord, He is Lord. And there
is truth in that, of course. But Peter says here,
you set apart Christ as Lord. You make Him Lord
in your life. You Christians, you determine that
He is going to be the sovereign. Once and for
all do that. Make that the position of your life.
Drive that stake down deep. It says Jesus Christ
is the Lord. my life. It is an act of the will
and of the heart, setting him apart from and
above everything else. There's also a day -by
-day aspect to it. If it's a once -for -all consecration,
it requires a day -by -day application. So that
every day as I'm in the Word of God and as I'm
in prayer with him I renew this commitment Jesus
is Lord in my life Dr. Andrew Bonar Great Scottish
saint in the last century Wrote this in his diary
Tonight I gave myself to a time of waiting upon
the Lord I had not been much in the spirit of
prayer, but now several things have become clear
to me. I realize I have not communed enough with
the Lord, nor come to Him as often as I should.
Little forethought has been given to the requests
I have made. There has been much conversing and
outward engagement with men, but I have not been
occupied enough with God. himself. I also realize
that a closeness to him gives abundant strength
and is like sunlight shining through the clouds
on a gloomy day." See, Bonar came back to that
point in life. He says, I'm with a lot of people.
I converse. I engage in business, etc., etc.
What I have forgotten is that every day I need
to be with Christ. To sanctify Jesus Christ as
Lord not only is a once -for -all consecration,
it requires a daily application. There's a third
aspect in closing and that is that there's a
moment -by -moment realization of this wonderful
truth. A moment -by -moment realization of His
purpose in my life and of His presence in my
life. Someone penned the poem that is heart -searching
in this way as it speaks to this theme. Some
selected verses say this, Friend, I wonder if
the Savior spent a day or two with you. Would
you be content in doing the same things you always
do? Would your family conversation still keep
up its usual pace? Or would you find it hard
at meals to say a table grace? Would you sing
the songs you always sing and read the books
you read? And let him know the things on which
your mind and spirit feed? Could you take the
Savior with you everywhere you had planned to
go? Or would you maybe change your plans for
just a day or so? Would you be glad to have him
meet your very closest friends? Or would you
hope they'd stay away until his visit ends? Would
you rejoice to have him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when at last
he had gone? It might be interesting to know
the things that you would do if Jesus came in
person. Just to spend some time with you And
he has You see the poem is not merely I wonder
what would happen if Fact is he has come and
he is in you every day and that's why we in response
to the great destiny that Jesus Christ has given
us to be like Him and to reign with Him forever,
are right now, every day, to sanctify Him as
Lord in our hearts. And make that not only a
daily application, but a moment -by -moment realization.
He's with me and how I live must therefore be
different. Let's pray. With our heads bowed and
our eyes closed, just how would the Spirit of
God lead you to respond? Is Jesus Christ your
Savior? Have you confessed Him as Lord? If you
have, is that truly the way you're living? Have
you set Him apart as Lord in your life? Oh, dear
friend, understand the great gift God has given
you, this good gift of being set apart to a wonderful
purpose and destiny. And respond in love and
gratitude by sanctifying Him now as Lord in your
life. Lord Jesus, may all of us respond today
with a willing surrender. and in very practical,
meaningful ways, prove that you are the Lord
of our lives. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.