The wonderful, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit is the sanctifying Spirit. In this message we shall firstly cover the sanctifying aspect of the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we shall proceed to see that the sanctifying takes place by the imparting of life. The all-inclusive Spirit who indwells us today is the sanctifying One, and His work of sanctifying takes place by His life-imparting. This imparting of life transforms us. Hence, there is also the transforming aspect of the Spirit. By reading the book of Romans we can see that transformation implies conformation. Transformation issues in conformation. Conformation means to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). Through conformation, we become in a practical way the many sons of God to fulfill God's eternal purpose. Therefore, we have sanctifying, life-imparting, transforming, and conforming. Romans 8:29 and 30 indicate that conformation issues in glorification. Glorification will be the ultimate consummation of the work of the wonderful Spirit. Thus, in this message we need to cover five matters: sanctifying, life-imparting, transforming, conforming, and glorifying.
We begin with the sanctifying work of the Spirit. As we saw in the foregoing message, the all-inclusive Spirit is in us with a condition, a state, of holiness. The Spirit Himself is the essence, the very substance, of holiness. When this all-inclusive Spirit enters into our spirit and remains there as the essence of holiness, there is in our spirit a condition of holiness. Consider again the illustration of making tea. When a tea bag is placed in a cup of hot water, there is immediately in the water a condition of tea. The more the water is stirred up, the more the tea spreads into the water and permeates it. Eventually, the water will be saturated, permeated, with the essence of tea. To coin a word, we may call this the process of "teafication." Teafication is an illustration of sanctification. The Spirit of holiness is like the tea that is put into our spirit, which is like the hot water. Thus, within our spirit there is a condition of the divine tea. As this divine tea moves within us, His holy essence spreads into our inward being and saturates every part, proceeding from the center of our being to the circumference. Eventually, our entire being will be permeated with this holy essence. This is sanctification.
Christians have been writing books on sanctification for centuries. We have read a number of these writings, but none of them ever fully satisfied us, because they did not correspond to our experience. As we progressed in the experience of sanctification, we began to realize that it resembles what we have called teafication. By considering the way a tea bag teafies hot water, we can understand the process of sanctification. In sanctification we are permeated with the holy divine essence. Check with your experience. Has the Spirit not been spreading the divine element within your inner being? This is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of holiness.