Sanctification, Part 4: Victorious Christian Living

We are continuing the subject of “Victorious Christian Living,” otherwise theologically known as sanctification. Last time we spoke about the method of sanctification, and we said it is not human activism – that is, that I do all that is necessary for a victorious life. That is called activism – that everything depends on me. We also said that the method of sanctification is not passivism, which means I just let God do it for me. Now, certainly, in the work of regeneration and justification it is God who does the work and we do nothing. But in the work of sanctification, there is a God-dependent effort. Let me put it this way: God does one hundred percent of the work of sanctification, and we do one hundred percent of the work of sanctification. That is the way we must look at this process of sanctification.

Let’s look at a couple of scriptures that make this point very clear. Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed -” and that’s sanctification, “not only in my presence but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation.” Now, that’s sanctification – “with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” You see this point: God works in us and we work out. So, in a sense we can say that God does 100 percent and we do 100 percent in this process of sanctification. This is called God-dependent effort.

Let’s look at another scripture – 2 Corinthians 3:18. It is a very important passage which teaches that sanctification is a process. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect” – or behold. You can translate this as reflect or behold – “the Lord’s glory” – John says we beheld his glory in John 1:14 – “we … are being transformed.” You see, we reflect or behold. That is our activity. What do we reflect? The Lord’s glory, as seen specifically in the Holy Scriptures, because that is where you find the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ clearly revealed. So there is our activity – we behold, or we reflect the Lord’s glory – and then there is a passive verb – “we … are being transformed.” In the first part of this verse we are the subject, but in the latter part we are the object and God himself is the subject. We are “being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” So the point we are making here is that sanctification is a God-dependent effort.

Let’s look at one more scripture: Philippians 4:13. Here we read, “I can do everything …” Now, that’s sanctification, isn’t it? That’s obedience. That’s Christian living. I can do everything. That’s activity on our part. Oh, that’s a great promise, isn’t it? God says I can do everything. You as a believer can do everything. You can obey God totally and completely. You can follow his directions. Then we are told, “through him who gives me strength.” Notice, the synergism. There is the activity of man, that is, the Christian man or Christian woman, as well as the activity of God brought together. So you see that in this particular verse, and in other passages in the Holy Scriptures.

So, then, we need to keep in mind this amazing process. God is not asking us, “Now go and live a holy life in your own effort.” God is saying, “I will strengthen you. I will cause you to will and to do my good pleasure. I will work in your inside and you work it out.” Oh, sanctification then is extremely delightful. It is not hard. People say that Christian living is so hard, but it is not hard. It is hard if you are doing it yourselves. But it is not hard when we understand that it is a cooperative effort and we are working out that which God has worked into us. Jesus said, “‘I am the vine; you are the branches.’” Look at that. The fruit bearing, in one sense, is the activity of the branches but notice, all the ability for that purpose, all the energy for that purpose, is channeled to the branches through the vine. That is why sanctification is not hard at all. It is a delightful experience.

The next point we want to consider is that all this sanctification effort, all our interest in holy living, proceeds from our union with Jesus Christ. Now this truth is clearly stated in the book of Romans, chapter 6. Remember that we were united with Adam, and so we were united with him in his sin and guilt and condemnation. But thanks be to God! We have been taken away from that relationship and we have been united to another representative federal head, Jesus Christ. We are therefore now united with Jesus Christ in his death, in his burial, as well as in his resurrection. This is the key to the doctrine of sanctification, that we died to sin.

Let’s look at chapter 6 of Romans: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin.” How did we do that? We died to sin when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. We identified ourselves with him. We are no longer identified with Adam who sinned. Now we are identified with Jesus Christ, our sure Redeemer, in his death, his burial and his resurrection. So we read in Romans 6:3: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” That’s the reality. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” That’s sanctification.

In sanctification we work out the implications of our union with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. We are one with him. He is the vine; we are the branches. We are united.

We died to sin, but we are raised with Christ. For what purpose? To live a new life. Now, there are a lot of people who profess to be born again and profess to be justified and be united with Jesus Christ. That doesn’t make them Christians. Your profession doesn’t make you a Christian. Look at what Jesus Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: Many would call him, “Lord, Lord.” (Matthew 7:21-23) Your calling him, “Lord, Lord,” does not make you a Christian. There are so many people in the Christian church who are not born again, who are not justified, who are not by faith united to Jesus Christ in his death and burial and resurrection, and they find sanctification to be what? An impossible task. Because of this the church just lowered the standard and said, “It’s okay to live like the devil. It’s all right. You just receive Jesus as Savior. We know that it is not easy to receive him as Lord.” What the church should be saying is, “You must be born again.” And where there is new birth and justification, there is also the divine work of sanctification.

So sanctification is really a working out of the implications of our union with Jesus Christ. Christ was raised from the dead, and with Christ we are also raised to live a new life of resurrection power. That’s why we can say, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengtheneth me.” What we need is strength, and it is coming to me. The resurrection life is flowing into me and making me able to do what God wants me to do with all joy and delight.

Now the next point is that sanctification – victorious Christian life – is a life of choosing to obey. I don’t think when we get to heaven we will have to choose between holiness and wickedness. I believe that sin will be completely dealt with and eradicated. The conflict will be over. Isn’t that true? But now, from the moment you are born again, from the moment you are justified, you are led into an arena of battle and fighting and conflict. In your being there are now two contrary urgings.

Turn to Galatians 5:16: “So I say, live by the Spirit” – that is Holy Spirit here – “and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” You see, the issue here is that the desire of sinful nature is registering in your being, in your consciousness. But not only is the desire of the sinful nature is registering in your consciousness, but the desire of the Holy Spirit is also registering in your consciousness. This, then, is the conflict. Some people say, “Well, this means I am not a Christian.” Actually, this means you are a Christian. You didn’t have any problem before. You didn’t have any conflict before. But now you have a conflict because the divine life has entered into you. The Holy Spirit has come into you. You have been given a new nature, and the old sin did not go away. It is still in our members. So we read, “So I say, live by the Spirit” – in other words, obey the Spirit, follow the Spirit, listen to the Spirit, do what the Holy Spirit is prompting you to do – “and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is contrary to the sinful nature.” The desires of the flesh and the desires of the Holy Spirit are mutually exclusive.

So the issue here is that if I am born of God, then the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me. He is causing me to understand and do his desires, in opposition to the desires of the flesh that also register in my being at the same time. That’s why I like the expression, “Endure hardship as a good soldier.” Christian life is soldiering. You may want to sleep on. You may want to continue to sleep, but the Holy Spirit says this is the time for you to pray. So you have to make a decision. You have to choose between these two urgings. If you are a Christian indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you have the capacity to obey the Holy Spirit, thereby proving to the world that you are a child of God, that you are a Christian, that you are light and not darkness.

I praise God for this capacity and ability God has given us. We don’t have to be slaves. I know what it means to be a slave. I was a slave. But in Jesus Christ I’ve been given freedom. If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. The truth has set me free. And what is freedom? It is the freedom not to sin and it is freedom to obey God. That is what freedom is.

So if you are a Christian, you obey the Holy Spirit. And there is a guarantee. God guarantees that you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Turn to Titus 2:11-12. There we read, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…” That means to all kinds of people. It is universal. “It teaches us to say” – what teaches us? Grace teaches us. Jesus Christ teaches us. The Holy Spirit teaches us. To say what? “‘No’ to ungodliness.” We are taught to say “No” to those contrary urgings of the flesh, which are contrary to the Holy Spirit. “It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passion and to say ‘Yes’” to the desires of the Holy Spirit “and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” This is the nature of a Christian. We are redeemed from wickedness. His name is Jesus, for he will save you from your sins.

Some people think, “No, he will save you in your sins.” We are always reducing the divine standard to our ridiculous, stupid experience. We say, “Oh, that’s okay. We’ll just lower the standard.” Oh, no. God is not going to lower his standard. The preachers may do that. Churches may do that. But God will not do it. He would say on that day, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity!”

May God help us to really understand God’s holy standard and conform to it with the one hundred percent help of the Holy Spirit in our life. May God help us to understand that we are redeemed from all wickedness. May we see that it is the intention of Jesus Christ to have a bride who is spotless and glorious, without blemish, without stain, reflecting the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we are that bride. Amen.