Sanctification
Sanctification is becoming a rarely used work in pulpits, but an important
one to learn and follow.
The word sanctify means to be separated from the world , be holy and be for God’s purpose. Which basically means, the effective results or works as a result of our faith.
After being saved, the Holy Spirit is in our bodies and work with us to reduce the frequency and eliminate the habit of sinning. This will be evident in our lives. We will start to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and less of the sins (Gal 5:19, 23). The secret to doing this is walk with the Spirit (Gal 5:16). This means spending time to pray, read the Bible and spend time with fellow Christians. It is mainly the work of the Spirit, but we have to do our parts to work with the Spirit (Heb 12:14, James 4:7–8).
And we can see the results of our salvation with our increasing love for other people and decreasing urge to sin (1 John 3:10). We will still sin occasionally (1 John 1:10), but a truly saved Christian, will always regret it and repent . Christians will eventually not have a habitual/continuous sin (1 John 2:6). God will forgive Christians of all their sins as long as they continue to walk in the light (1 John 1:7), so we are not stressed up trying to remember and confessing every single sin.
Even the Churches mentioned in the book of Revelation has been asked to repent of their sins, otherwise Jesus will punish them (Rev 2:4–5, 2:16, 2:22).
A Christian will also obey what Jesus commanded (1 John 3:23–24). He/She will also not love the things of the world (1 John 2:15–16). All these seems like a tall order, but we can and will slowly be transformed by the Holy Spirit if we continue to walk in the Light and with the Spirit.
So in summary, repentance from sins is part of our justification and salvation by faith and repentance from sin is also part of our daily sanctified walk with God. It is not by works, but the works comes, because of our faith (James 2:18,26).
A Christian journey is well summarized in the book of Titus 2 :11–14 (ESV)
'For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. '
The word sanctify means to be separated from the world , be holy and be for God’s purpose. Which basically means, the effective results or works as a result of our faith.
After being saved, the Holy Spirit is in our bodies and work with us to reduce the frequency and eliminate the habit of sinning. This will be evident in our lives. We will start to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and less of the sins (Gal 5:19, 23). The secret to doing this is walk with the Spirit (Gal 5:16). This means spending time to pray, read the Bible and spend time with fellow Christians. It is mainly the work of the Spirit, but we have to do our parts to work with the Spirit (Heb 12:14, James 4:7–8).
And we can see the results of our salvation with our increasing love for other people and decreasing urge to sin (1 John 3:10). We will still sin occasionally (1 John 1:10), but a truly saved Christian, will always regret it and repent . Christians will eventually not have a habitual/continuous sin (1 John 2:6). God will forgive Christians of all their sins as long as they continue to walk in the light (1 John 1:7), so we are not stressed up trying to remember and confessing every single sin.
Even the Churches mentioned in the book of Revelation has been asked to repent of their sins, otherwise Jesus will punish them (Rev 2:4–5, 2:16, 2:22).
A Christian will also obey what Jesus commanded (1 John 3:23–24). He/She will also not love the things of the world (1 John 2:15–16). All these seems like a tall order, but we can and will slowly be transformed by the Holy Spirit if we continue to walk in the Light and with the Spirit.
So in summary, repentance from sins is part of our justification and salvation by faith and repentance from sin is also part of our daily sanctified walk with God. It is not by works, but the works comes, because of our faith (James 2:18,26).
A Christian journey is well summarized in the book of Titus 2 :11–14 (ESV)
'For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. '
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