Beginning in this message we want to study, to investigate, the Spirit's work on and in the believers.
The first work the Spirit has done with us is to sanctify us. The Spirit sanctifies the God-chosen people before they repent and believe (1 Pet. 1:2). Not many Christians realize this.
The Bible also reveals that sanctification is after justification. First, God justified us by our believing in Christ. Then God continues to work on us by sanctifying us. The book of Romans speaks of this aspect of sanctification. The first section of the book of Romans, from 1:18 through 3:20, is on God's condemnation. The second section, from 3:21 through 5:11, is on God's justification. Then the third section, from 5:12 through 8:13, is on sanctification. This is the very crucial section of the book of Romans. Romans 5 is "in Adam," Romans 6 is "in Christ," Romans 7 is "in the flesh," and Romans 8 is "in the Spirit." Romans 6:19 and 22 refer to the sanctification that takes place after our justification.
But we also need to see that God sanctifies His chosen people even before they repent and believe. First Peter 1:2 says, "Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." This is a crucial verse in the New Testament. This verse reveals that there is another step of the Spirit's sanctification before our repentance.
Peter begins with God's choosing, God's selection, in eternity. God knew us in eternity. Before we were born, before we were created, before Adam was created, and even before the universe was created, God foreknew us. According to God's foreknowledge, He chose us. He was like a person coming to a supermarket, looking around at all the items, and choosing the ones that he liked. He chose each one of us in this way. It would be good to circle the word chosen in our Bible. How wonderful it is that we have been chosen according to our Father's foreknowledge!
This verse goes on to say that we were chosen in the sanctification of the Spirit. The phrase in the sanctification of the Spirit functions as an adverb to modify the verb chosen. According to the grammar, this is one thing. If I say, "I speak with my mouth," this is one thing. With my mouth modifies the verb speak. God did not choose and sanctify us, but He chose us in the sanctification of the Spirit. This is also one thing and one action. We were chosen in eternity past, but we were sanctified in time. But 1 Peter 1:2 links eternity with time. In God, there is no time element. God chose us and He did it in the sanctification of the Spirit. God's choosing and the Spirit's sanctification are one action.
Then 1 Peter 1:2 says that God's choosing us in the sanctification of the Spirit was "unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Obedience in the New Testament implies two things. First, our obedience to God implies our repentance. Then it implies our faith. We were away from God. We were His enemies. Then the Spirit came to work on us, and this was unto something. Unto here means "resulting in." So the Spirit's sanctification results in our repentance and faith. These two things added together are our obedience. Sanctification of the Spirit is unto the obedience of repentance and believing. The real obedience to God is to repent to God and believe into the Lord Jesus.
Following our obedience, we experience "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." The sprinkling of the blood of Christ came upon us, not before our repentance but after our faith. God's choosing is first, and this was in the Spirit's sanctification. This resulted in obedience, consisting of repentance and faith. Then we are ready to receive God's redemption, and the first step of God's redemption is for Him to sprinkle us with His blood. Without the sprinkling, the washing, of the blood, there is no way for God to save us.
Obedience is on our side, but choosing in sanctification is on God's side. God chose us in eternity, but the working out of the sentence in 1 Peter 1:2 is not finished yet. We were chosen in eternity in the sanctification of the Spirit in time, and this sanctification issues in our repentance and faith, which is our obedience. He was ready from eternity to redeem us, but we were not ready. Then we received His Spirit's sanctification, and that resulted in our repentance and faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ. Now we are ready to receive God's salvation. The first thing in His salvation is to sprinkle us with the blood of the Second of the Trinity. So we get washed, forgiven, justified, and reconciled to God. Thus, we can see that before our repentance and faith there was the sanctification by the Spirit. First Peter 1:2 shows that the sprinkling of the blood follows the sanctification of the Spirit.
I hope this brief fellowship shows us the way to study the Word. Even a small preposition in the Bible needs our study. First Peter 1:2 does not say that God chose us through but in the sanctification of the Spirit. God's choosing could not be practiced without the Spirit's sanctifying. It is the sanctifying of the Spirit that carries out God's choosing.