Hagiasmos

1 Cor 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us … sanctification.

I read some statistics the other day on Hal Lindsey.com that was something I was aware of but not to the extent it has changed over the years. If you want to read the article, use this link … God’s Answer to Our Problem. The article got me thinking once again about the message the Lord has called me to preach and teach over the past 40 years: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us … sanctification.”

The mystery of sanctification (hagiasmos; the state of purity) is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly, which as Jesus’ bride we have been given in the form of His Holy Spirit; every thing that Jesus is we have been given and our life’s challenge:

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. The article underlines the falling away of even believers from the call that Jesus’ bride has been given … be conformed to the image of His Son.

This calling is our response to what we have been given; all of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is a free gift we receive as we stand in faith receiving Jesus as our Lord and Saviour; we can never lose it. But what follows our salvation does come with a cost; Sanctification, a living in a state of purity. The cost of being conformed is our daily obedient commitment to the teaching of the Holy Spirit as He guides us through this “walk” from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity; the conformation process that continues for a lifetime until the moment we Him as He is:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Far too many believers today are still stuck at the cross because they have not made the commitment to the daily process of being “conformed.” They are sanctified but are still standing at the foot of an empty cross, ignoring the call to move on to spiritual maturity, which is evidenced in the righteous life of Jesus they have been given being seen by the world around them.

Here is a short piece from Oswald Chambers that summarizes the holy life we are to be living as we await the moment of meeting Jesus, when He asks us The Question …  “What did you do with what you were given?”

“The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you.” It is His wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification and imparted by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in His Word? 

Sanctification means the impartation of the holy qualities of Jesus Christ. It is His patience, His love, His Holiness, His faith, His purity, and His godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation; imitation is on a different line. In Jesus Christ is the perfection of everything, and the mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are at my disposal, and slowly and surely, I begin to live a life of ineffable order, and sanity, and holiness: “Kept by the power of God.” 

Heb 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.