Based upon the blood-shedding redemption of Christ, right after the sanctification of the Spirit, the sprinkling of Christ's redeeming blood, as the precious blood of the Lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. 1:2c, 19) is applied to us. The sprinkling of Christ's blood indicates redemption. Some may think that the sanctification of the Holy Spirit should not be before the redemption of Christ.
In Luke 15 the Lord Jesus spoke three parables that correspond to the Divine Trinity in God's saving of sinners. The first parable concerns a man seeking a lost sheep (vv. 3-7), the second concerns a woman seeking her lost coin (vv. 8-10), and the third concerns a father receiving his prodigal son (vv. 11-32). In these three parables the father signifies the divine Father in the Trinity, the man signifies Christ the Savior, and the woman signifies the Holy Spirit. The woman's work in seeking the lost coin was the Spirit's sanctification, which transpired before our repentance and led us to believe in Christ that we might participate in the sprinkling of Christ's blood.
Without the sanctification of the Spirit, the prodigal son in Luke 15 could never have been awakened to realize his pitiful condition and make a decision to rise up and return to his father's house (vv. 16-21). Before he returned home, the Spirit as the seeking "woman" had done the seeking work already.
After the prodigal son returned home, the father told the servants to put the best robe on the son. That was a sign of justification, implying redemption. Hence, at that time the son was redeemed, approved, and accepted. According to Luke 15, that occurred after the Spirit as the seeking woman found the prodigal as the lost coin. Therefore, before redemption was applied to the returned prodigal, the Holy Spirit first did something to sanctify, to separate, the sinner and cause him to repent.
The Holy Spirit's sanctification is not once for all. According to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit's sanctification occurs in three steps (2 Thes. 2:13 and note 133). The first step takes place before the sinner's repentance in order to stir up the sinner's repentance, to separate and sanctify the sinner and bring him to Christ. This is the sanctification referred to in 1 Peter 1:2 and Luke 15. Then, after the sinner repents and receives Christ, at that moment the sinner receives Christ's redemption. At the same time the sinner is regenerated and experiences the second step of the Holy Spirit's sanctification, which is mainly a positional sanctification (Heb. 13:12; 1 Cor. 6:11). Later, in the course of his Christian life, such a saved sinner will be sanctified dispositionally (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is the third step of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
As presented in Peter's writings, the first item as the base of the believers' growth in the divine life is the Spirit's sanctification. Since the Holy Spirit has sanctified us, we all have this base, and we can all grow in life upon it. Because we all have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we are willing to forsake the pleasures of this world and enjoy Christ in the church life so that we can gain more of Christ.
The sanctification of the Spirit ushered us to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, which refers to redemption and issues in life (Rom. 5:10, 17-18). Such a redemption through the shed blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7) has been applied to us for our enjoyment. We all need to realize and be fully assured that we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Because we have been sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ, we have been redeemed. We are the blood-sprinkled people. How good this is! First, we were sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and then we were sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. Therefore, God can justify us, receive us, and accept us because we have been redeemed and sprinkled with the blood. Now there is no problem between us and God. All the problems are covered under the blood. This is a strong base for us to grow in the divine life.