“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4
God is Holy:
“But as He which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’”
- 1 Peter 1:15-16
Simply put, this means there is no sin and no evil in Him at all.
But until we have begun to follow Christ, we are not.
The Bible has its explanations for why this is (see the books of ‘Genesis’ & ‘Romans’ especially), but most of us don’t need a Bible to tell us that overall, most human beings are flawed and prone to things that cause us to harm or hurt ourselves and others.
Therefore, Sanctification is the process of cleansing and ‘renewal of the mind’ that happens within our souls – after Christ has spiritually cleansed us of our sins and we’ve been born again:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
– Romans 12:1-2
Like with Deliverance (casting out evil spirits), Sanctification takes place externally (with how we speak and what we say, how we dress, or how we spend our extra time), but it begins from within – with how we think and what we think about, how we relate to God privately in prayer or in worship, and how we process the attitudes and actions of others.
Jesus once told His disciples:
It’s not what enters a man that defiles him – it’s what comes out of him (Matthew 15:11).
By this He was implying that whatever is on the “inside” of a person will eventually be reflected on the “outside” of that person as well.
He also said “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” – indicating the same thing: whatever is already inside of you will always become visible – in one way or another (Matthew 12:34).
Therefore, biblical “sanctification” is really about
a transformation of life that begins in the heart.
The changing of our hearts – or the ‘renewal of our minds’ – is a supernatural process that begins when we first repent from our old lives in the world, and continues as we go on as “new creatures” in Christ:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:17
As a powerful illustration of this principle (that sanctification is a process), the Gospel of Luke records the account of a group of Ten Lepers who approached Jesus in order to be healed of their leprosy:
”And as He entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, that stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ And when He saw them, He said unto them, ‘Go show yourselves unto the priests.’ And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” – Luke 17:12-14
Notice that as soon as these men came to Jesus and cried out for mercy (acknowledging Him as “Master” – or “Lord”), Jesus immediately recognized them – and then He immediately answered them in the form of a simple instruction:
“Go show yourselves unto the priests”.
The interesting thing here is that Jesus was instructing these lepers to “go” and tell others about the miraculous healing that had happened to them – before they could see any physical sign that it had actually happened.
The story records that it’s only “as they went” – it’s only as they obeyed His first instruction – that “they were cleansed”.
***
This story of the 10 lepers also highlights two main things that confirm the statements we read about the true nature of God in verses
5-7 of the First Epistle of John:
1) “God is light”,
&
2) Only as we actually “walk” in His light are we ultimately
“cleansed from all sin”:
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth;
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Here are these two points from 1 John as they relate to the process of Sanctification overall, and to the story of Jesus & the 10 lepers in particular:
1) All ten of the lepers ultimately received their healing, or their “cleansing”, from Jesus – He didn’t turn any of them away (“God is light, and in Him is no darkness” – 1 John 1:5).
2) The 10 lepers were healed “as they went” – meaning the answer to their request for “mercy” was received progressively, and it happened as they were “walking” in the light – or walking in the “instruction” – that Jesus gave them at the point of their first encounter with Him
(“go show yourselves...”).
Actually, it was the physical walking in this “light” that eventually brought about the visible manifestation of the ‘mercy’ that had already been granted to them when Jesus first responded to them
(“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:7).
It is the Goodness of God – it is His “light” and “no darkness at all” – that gives mercy to all the moment we reach out to Him and cry out for it with the child-like faith demonstrated by all ten of the lepers in this story.
At the moment we cry out for salvation to Jesus Christ – the Light of God “made flesh” – we are instantly “cleansed from all sins” – and we will then experience the healing effects of this initial encounter in every area of our lives, if we first believe what has happened to us (even before we see any other ‘signs’ of it) and then receive the Word (the next “instructions”) from “the Light” and go on to “walk” in it, as did all ten of the lepers that came to Jesus in this story.
But the story is not over yet:
“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
And Jesus answering said,
‘Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.’
And He said unto him,
‘Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.’
– Luke 17:15-19
All 10 of the lepers were healed (“cleansed”) initially, but according to Jesus, only one was made whole.
What was it that set the one who was “made whole” apart from the other nine who were only healed?
“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God.”
– Luke 17:15
According to this verse, the difference is that this other man saw – he beheld – that he had been healed by Jesus, and so he turned back from where he’d been, and fell down on his face to worship – or to thank and “give glory” to God – for what he had already received.
In doing so, the tenth man was “made whole”.
***
The main lesson here is that salvation – and the healing and "sanctification" that always comes along with it in the Bible – comes from first ‘turning our eyes upon Jesus’.
It comes when we turn our gaze away from all the problems and all the symptoms of the darkness around us (or even within us) and decide instead to “look at God.”
Whenever we “look at God” – when look at His Word, look at His Spirit, or look at what He has already done for us or for others – we are always in a position to be cleansed and to be sanctified; to receive “our daily bread” and to be “delivered from evil (Matthew 6:9-13).”
It’s clear throughout the Bible that we can receive healing and deliverance just by turning our eyes to the Lord one time.
But something even more amazing happens when we see the Light of God and rather than turning again to the darkness that we once knew – we decide to return and keep on looking at Him instead.
Just as in the case of the one leper that returned to worship God for his healing, it’s when we “keep on” looking at God – when we “keep on” walking in the Light – that we are not just “healed” but made whole.
To “keep on” looking at God, is to daily “behold” him.
And when we behold God – by returning, day after day, to worship and to know Him – God beholds us too.
He immerses, embraces, and surrounds us with His love and His Truth – and in doing so, He transforms our hearts, renews our minds, and makes us whole: entire, complete, and lacking nothing.
Finally, it’s at the point of complete wholeness in God, that we will also experience the divine “Oneness” with the Father that Jesus prayed we would all experience as He was going to the cross:
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be One; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be One in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”
– John 17:20-21
This is the whole message of the Gospel and the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to the earth, dying for our sins, and ascending from the grave – not just that we might be healed, and not just that we might be whole but that we might actually become “One with God” – even as He is One. Oneness is at the heart of the Gospel
– and ultimately, at the heart of Sanctification.
Praise the Lord!
