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SELAH! Pause - reflect- just think of that!

Selah Alphabetical Index

Christ Our Sanctification

Christ Our Sanctification

The cross of Jesus Christ is a demonstration of the infinite wisdom of God.

Every philosophy of life is proven by what it ultimately produces in a person’s life.  God’s wisdom produces perfect righteousness.

God made Jesus “who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

God in His grace gives a believing sinner a right relationship with Him based on the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ.  Jesus died in the sinner’s place.  “The wages of sin is death,” and Jesus died that death for us.  Christ is our righteousness and for all who trust in Him as their Savior.

The apostle Paul tells us not only that Jesus Christ is the wisdom and the righteousness of God, but He is also our sanctification. “By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30, NASB 1995).

The Scriptures presents three tenses of our sanctification. We have a positional sanctification. Our position in Christ by faith is true regardless of the degree of our spirituality (1 Cor. 6:11; 1:2; Heb. 10:10). We have a progressive sanctification, which refers to our whole life (1 Pet. 1:6). We shall also have a future sanctification because we are not yet fully set apart. We shall see Christ and be complete in Him (1 Jn. 3:1-3; Eph. 5:26-27; Jude 24-25).

Christ imputed is not our sanctification.  Christ accredited to the believer by the work of the Holy Spirit is our sanctification.  Our sanctification is a process of development and growth.  It will not be completed until the day of our complete and perfect redemption with resurrected bodies when Christ returns.

We are to grow up in all things to Christ.  It is a matter of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Sanctification is a process of separation by which our Lord Jesus Christ is imparted by the Holy Spirit to our daily life.  It does take time to grow spiritually.  But it should be a steady and continuous process of growing in the likeness of Christ.

The bottom line of all true wisdom is, “Am I becoming more and more like Jesus Christ?”  God’s wisdom in Christ brings us into conformity with Him who was perfectly conformed to God the Father.

Christ imputed is my righteousness.  Christ imparted is my sanctification.  One day I will be perfectly conformed to God in Christ. That will be my glorification.

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3, NASB 1995).

In the matchless wisdom of God, we are to be in continual pursuit of holiness.  The standard had not changed:  “Be holy, for I am holy.”

In His wisdom God has given us the responsibility of walking in holiness.  He still says, “Pursue holiness, for without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).  It is a lifelong task.

This practical daily work of sanctification is a process, and it’s something we never completely attain in this life.  As we grow in our separation from sin and conform to the will of God in one area, the Holy Spirit reveals a need in another area.  We will always be pursuing holiness in this lifetime.

We are not alone in this spiritual struggle.  No one can attain this goal in his or her own strength. God has equipped us with the indwelling Holy Spirit and spiritual amour.

God wants us to walk in obedience to Him.  As we obey His Word, we grow in our sanctification.  God gives us the power to live the Christian life, but in His wisdom He expects us to assume our responsibility in obeying Him.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006