The Power of Sanctification (Part 3)
The Benefits of Sanctification
The benefits of sanctification are innumerable:
- Sanctification makes it easy to strive towards perfection
You will get more and more perfect, so that day by day you approach the perfection of Christ Jesus. Heb.10:14 “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
- Sanctification prepares you for service
2 Tim 2:21” a vessel unto honour sanctified, and meet for the Masters use, and prepared unto every good work”. Sanctification is the preparation for every good work. You now become a vessel unto honour fit for the master’s use. The Apostles were not fully qualified for their life’s work until after they received the purification of their hearts together with the baptism with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.[pullquote]Sanctification is the preparation for every good work. You now become a vessel unto honour fit for the master’s use.[/pullquote]
- You become a fruit-bearing christian
Rom 6:22 “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life”. As soon as you become a vessel unto honour, you will start to bear fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).
- Preservation
1Th 5:23-24 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it”. Jesus would first sanctify and cleanse us from all sin, and then preserve us blameless.
- You have a guarantee of an inheritance beyond the grave
Acts 26:18 ” To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me”. All the glories of heaven are reserved for only the sanctified since the unsanctified will never get to heaven. For heaven is holy and no unclean thing will be allowed in to defile its beauty. Only the Sanctified are ordained for Glorification.
Hinderances to Sanctification
- Sin :- When you sin, your new nature kicks in and revolts. Guilt sets in. Sin is pleasurable but for a moment: Sin is very sweet but the consequences are forever. The truth is bitter but it makes us better. Sin is deceptive. We know about how the devil, through the serpent, deceived eve to eat of the forbidden fruit of sin and temptation.
- Bitterness:-“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Heb.12:15). When resentment, unresolved anger, take root in our lives, we can become bitter people.
- Immorality:-All forms of immoral and sexual thoughts or acts. This includes premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, and abnormal sex. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience” (Col. 3:5-6).
– C. H. Spurgeon
Conclusion
The believer lives in the world, but he is not of the world. Believers are not to be possessed by the world, enslaved by its pleasures. Rather, he is to be set apart unto God, live for God, and serve God in the world. God has saved us to be a holy people, a different people. No one will ever see the Lord unless he is holy. Trying to achieve the state of sanctification that God The Father would like to bring us up into is completely impossible if we try to do it through our own flesh and through our own efforts. God never forces His will on any man. It is those who voluntarily yield unto him with their stony hearts that will obtain hearts of flesh in exchange.
Author: Oloruntoyin Bakare
Oloruntoyin Bakare is a beloved mother, mentor, Spirit-led preacher and teacher of God’s word. With a doctorate degree in Church Ministry, a member of Association of Christian Theologians. She has a God-ordained mandate to teach the truth of the gospel to the body of Christ with special emphasis on relationships, building and repairing lives.
