Sanctification (Part 3)

As I continue to read and study this topic, I am finding that there is some reference that applies to this topic in every book of the New Testament, and in some books it's on almost every page. I have had a hard time deciding which scriptures to include and which to leave out of this post. At the end of this post will be a list of scriptures that apply that have been left out, it is by no means an exhaustive list, but enough for you to do some further reading on your own if you'd like.

We've covered what sanctification is, it's importance, God's reason for doing it, and how God does it.

Before I get into this, I think I need to make sure that this comes first. As soon as we give our lives to Jesus Christ and commit to follow Him, receiving the forgiveness that He bought for us on the cross with His own blood, God sees us as being "in Christ". From heaven's point of view, we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Himself. God sees the end from the beginning and whenever there is sin in our lives, He looks to the sacrifice of His Son as the justice that has already been done on our behalf. He sees us as we will be when the Holy Spirit has completed this work of sanctification in our lives. That is the only way we could even hope to approach God to get help to deal with our sin. (scripture verses for the above will be in the list at the end of this post)

Now it's time to look at the human side of the equation. What are we responsible for in this journey?

1. Repentance
Repentance literally means "a change of mind". It happens when we decide to turn from our own ways and agree with God's Word. The sin we once thought was perfectly fine (sex outside of marriage, swearing, lying, cheating on our taxes, etc), we now agree with God that it is wrong. Someone who has truly repented will start to live their life differently than they did before.
Matthew 3:8 "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance"
Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Repentance is linked to baptism in the scripture. Now if someone on their deathbed had no chance to get baptized before they died, God is a righteous and fair Judge and I do not believe that that person would go to hell. However, we are commanded by scripture to be baptized and we need to take that step of obedience to Christ. (see Acts 2:38, Matthew 3:11, Romans 6:1-11)

2. Confession of sin
Confession is closely related to repentance, it's part of the process of repentance. Repentance and confession is not just something that happens once, it's something that continues throughout our lives as God shows us the sins in our lives that we need to get rid of.

1 John 1:6-10 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

3. Believe, have faith
John 1:12 "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."
John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

4. Love God, love people
Matthew 22:37-40 And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these tho commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
1 John 3:23 "And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us."

5. Submit our lives to God's Word
God's Word is the #1 tool He uses to separate us from sin. We must not hide from it, we should be running to it, letting His Word be the authority in our lives.
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
John 8:31-32 "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

6. Fix our attention and devotion on Jesus Christ alone
Hebrews 12:2 "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Colossians 3:1-4 "If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right had of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

Our job is to repent, change our minds about sin and agree with God, confess our sins, believe in Jesus Christ, love Him with all of our hearts and love other people (even the ones that are hard to love), submit our lives to His Word and be willing to forsake sin that God reveals to us, and to fix our eyes and our affection on Jesus Christ.

There is one thing I would like to add. Those who teach people to pray for riches in this live (God wants us to pray for our needs, I'm talking extravagant luxuries, not needs), and to seek fancy cars, big houses, airplanes, etc, and to use faith to mentally picture things that they want in this life and make them "manifest" are in disobedience to Colossians 3:2. We are to set our minds on things above (in heaven) not things that are on the earth.

In conclusion, I must add that most of what I was taught regarding sanctification has only been confirmed through this study. The only thing that I would change is that it's importance needs to be stressed far more than it currently is in the church circles I have moved in.

And here we are. We have arrived at the end of this journey. Here are some references for further study and consideration:
Matthew 5-7, 10:24-39
John 8, 10, 14:16-27, 15, 16, 17:13-26
Romans 3-15
1 Corinthians 3:11-17, 6, 8, 13
2 Corinthians 2:14-16, 3:17-18, 4:7-18, 5, 10:3-6, 13:4-5
Galatians 2:19-21, 3-6
Ephesians (whole book)
Philippians (whole book)
Colossians (whole book)
1 Thessalonians 4-5
2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:16
1 Timothy 1:5, 1:12-19, 2:1-8, 6
2 Timothy 2
Titus 2-3
James (whole book)
1-3 John (all 3 books)