Praise the Lord for regeneration. Through it we have received a new life, a new heart, and a new spirit. The Spirit of God is now dwelling within us. Our spirit, which had been deadened by man’s fall, has now been made alive by the life-giving Spirit. We have now begun to subjectively experience God’s full salvation. Praise Him for this wonderful new beginning!
But is this all there is to God’s salvation? Certainly not. Several more things must take place for God’s full salvation to be completed. In this lesson we will talk about sanctification. Sanctification is the swallowing up of our sinful nature by the working of God’s holy nature into us.
In order for God’s holy nature to be worked into us, sanctification is needed. Sanctification means the process by which something is made holy. Some people think that if you try not to sin, then you are holy. Some think that if you stay away from evil things, then you are holy. But, how can we, the unholy people full of the satanic nature, become holy just by doing or not doing certain things? It is impossible!
In the whole universe, God is the only holy One. His life and nature are holy. If you don’t have God, you cannot be holy. If you have a little God, you have a little holiness. If you have more God, you have more holiness. If you are full of God, you are full of holiness. Holiness is just God Himself.
You have been regenerated by believing in Jesus Christ. Are you holy? If you say yes, then how much? Regeneration is a new birth. Peter tells us that young Christians are newborn babes (l Pet. 2:2). At regeneration, we were born of God and received a portion of God’s holy life and nature into us. Therefore, we are a little holy. When we grow in the divine life and nature, we become more holy. The growing of life is the adding of God’s holy nature into us. This growth process is called sanctification.
Romans 5:10 says, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life.” This verse clearly tells us that the saving in life is “much more” than reconciliation. Reconciliation only took care of our outward problem with God. But being saved in His life saves us from our sinful nature into the divine and holy nature of God. This is sanctification. The Apostle Paul used the words “much more” to show the importance of sanctification in life.
The way to be sanctified is to touch the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4). The Lord has come into our spirit through regeneration. When we turn to the Lord and pray, we touch the Spirit of holiness. At that moment, the holy nature spreads into our soul to sanctify us. John 17:17 also tells us that we are sanctified in the truth of the Word. So, we also need to touch the Lord through the Word.
In this lesson, we can see that we should not be satisfied with being forgiven or cleansed by God or even with being regenerated. These things are wonderful but we must go on. We must go on until we reach full maturity in the divine life. When we reach this goal, we will be fully sanctified; that is, we will be saturated with the holy life and nature of God, and able to express and represent Him fully.