I want to share with you the good news of the gospel and how God wants to deliver us from sin and make us holy and blameless and full of His perfect love. In this article I want to share with you what sanctification is, how God brings it to pass and how we can define it as “entire sanctification”. Although this is a somewhat lengthy article, I hope you will prayerfully and diligently read all the way to the end and then ask the Lord to reveal what He desires to do for and in and through you by His sanctifying power and Holy Spirit!
Let us begin first with what the Scriptures say about sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us that God’s will is that we would be sanctified. God wants and desires for us to be made holy. Let us be reminded that God’s desires are always perfect, holy and right. What God wants He works for with all that He has and all that He is. He is working tirelessly that you and I would be holy as He is holy. Not only does God desire that we be sanctified but He also assures us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that He Himself will sanctify us entirely. What an amazing promise! Now we know according to Hebrews 10:10 that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” which indicates to us that all who have been born again have already been set apart, forgiven, cleansed and have received His Holy Spirit at salvation which is the point of initial sanctification. But there is an “entire” sanctification that is available when there is an entire surrender from us. In fact it is both God’s desire and His command to us in Hebrews 12:15 that we diligently pursue holiness and the sanctification that He offers, and that without such a sanctification we will not in fact see the Lord. Finally we see in Hebrews 13:12 that Jesus came and died to sanctify His people and as such we understand that Jesus’ sacrifice already makes possible the entire sanctification of His children because His is a finished, perfect, holy and entirely sufficient work. What a beautiful starting place: God wants us to be sanctified, He will do the work, He has paid the price, without sanctification we could not be with Him forever but the work of Jesus has secured it for all who will believe and receive!
Let us turn now to defining sanctification. Sanctification in its most basic understanding is being set apart, filled full, cleansed, delivered, empowered, and imparted with righteousness and holy love. This we know begins the moment a person is born again. The very moment a person is justified (forgiven, regenerated and adopted) that person is also initially sanctified and whatever we give to God He sets apart, fills, cleanses, delivers, empowers and imparts righteousness and holy love into. The dilemma of course is whatever we hold back from God and simply don’t allow Him access to. Some of this comes by ignorance (not realizing we are holding it back) but other things are held back because of selfishness. I am so glad that the moment we are born again we are also initially sanctified and set apart but I also don’t want to stop there when I know God has so much more for you and me!
Since we know the basics of sanctification let us begin considering how a person can be entirely sanctified even here on earth. Recognize that God sets apart entirely that which has been completely given to Him. He sets us apart from sin and unto Himself and sets us apart for His perfect and holy purposes. If we give it to Him, He sets it apart. God also fills entirely that which is given to Him and emptied. But, He only fills what is given to Him and He only fills what is emptied of sin and pride and ready to be filled. God cleanses entirely that which is confessed and surrendered. He cleanses of all sin – but He only cleanses what He has been given. He cleanses of all guilt – He doesn’t cover up sin, but rather forgives and cleanses and purifies of all unrighteousness. Often when guilt remains in the heart of believers it is because we have not given full control so He can get rid of the root of selfishness and pride. He also cleanses us of all shame – He removes the condemnation and shame of defeat and bondage but when shame remains it is because we have not given Him full control to break every chain.
And so at this point we are learning that God entirely sets apart, fills and cleanses that which is entirely given to Him. It’s not like if we give it to Him that He says “nah, I don’t think I will make that part holy; no, I don’t think I will cleanse that part of you; no, I don’t think I will fill that part of you; good luck”. That would not be holiness at all, and we know our God is completely holy!
Let us look at 3 more things that God wants to entirely do in us. God will entirely deliver us from false ideologies, old masters and destructive enemies. He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He dethrones and crucifies the sinful nature (the selfish inner man) and by the fullness of the Spirit within He pushes back the powers of darkness. God also empowers entirely that which is fully availed in weakness. By the fullness of the Spirit within us, holy, true and loving words, actions, attitudes, behaviors flow forth from our lives. Finally, God entirely makes holy that which is fully filled with and united with Himself. He gives us a new heart, mind, and spirit at justification/initial sanctification. The heart, mind and spirit He gives us are good and perfect gifts. The only things that are righteous and good and perfect are from God and filled with/united with God. Therefore even the new heart, mind and spirit have to be entirely given daily to Him (along with everything else in our lives) in order for Him to release the fullness of His power into all of a believer’s life. Somehow by His divine and sovereign power when He entirely sanctifies us (in a moment, by grace through faith, after we entirely surrender to Him) He changes our spiritual DNA so we have and operate by His fullness and He literally makes us righteous by our union with Him. And so yet again I remind us that if we entirely surrender to Him, God does not say: “nah, I don’t think I will deliver you from that sin, you’re gonna have to stay under that sin; or no, I’m not going to empower and help you, keep trying on your own; or, no, I’m not going to give my holiness unto you, I died to forgive you but your holiness is up to you”. That is nonsensical, and yet sadly what we sometimes believe.
So Does God only partially sanctify us? Only inasmuch as He will only save, sanctify, heal, redeem, and use that which is given to Him. Many times we are only partially sanctified because God has sanctified the parts that He was given but will not and cannot sanctify that which has been held back. So if we give Him ourselves entirely, then He will entirely sanctify us.
Therefore God entirely sanctifies that which is entirely consecrated to Him. God does not sanctify things unconsecrated. Anything therefore that is reclaimed by us from God to serve self, world or darkness is not sanctified any more. But furthermore, anything that remains fully consecrated, God will continually entirely sanctify and keep in a state of righteousness and holiness.
Let us consider briefly what entire sanctification does not mean. It does not mean that we are perfect. Only God is perfect in all things (wisdom, strength, love, etc) and although He makes us into His image and likeness with ever increasing glory, He does not make us God. We will still make mistakes and be weak and in need of His guidance and provision. Being entirely sanctified does not mean that it is impossible to sin. Everyone has a choice. We choose Christ’s Lordship, give ourselves fully over to Him and ask and allow Him to entirely sanctify us. We then have to remain continually consecrated in order to allow Him to continually entirely fill us and unite with us. Entire sanctification does not mean that we will not have temptation. Jesus was tempted and yet we know He was completely holy and never sinned. Let us never convolute temptation with sin and thereby accuse Jesus of not being perfectly holy or sanctified or accusing Him of sinning. Lastly, being entirely sanctified does not mean the immediate and complete annihilation of the enemy of pride/sin nature/selfishness/depravity from existence in the universe. This needs to be addressed further:
God has chosen to allow some of His enemies to remain (in His infinite wisdom) awaiting the day when they will be completely subject to Him, placed under His feet, thrown into the lake of fire and utterly destroyed forevermore. When we are entirely sanctified, pride/sinful nature/selfishness continues to exist but is dethroned, crucified, no longer our master, and stripped of power in our lives. At entire sanctification pride/sinful nature/selfishness is placed outside the soul/spirit of man. Even after entire sanctification this pride will be urged on by forces of darkness and try to break back into the life of the entirely sanctified. Of course we know that one day pride/sinful nature/selfishness will be completely annihilated and destroyed and cease to exist at all in this universe when all God’s enemies are fully placed under Jesus’ feet, but this does not occur at the moment of entire sanctification. However since our sin nature was given to Jesus at entire consecration and since he has entirely defeated it, entirely crucified it, entirely dethroned it, entirely tossed it out of our lives, the only way for our sin nature to get back into our lives, gain a stronghold or have any lasting influence in our lives is that we would personally empower it by giving heed to the words of darkness. If we only walk in the light, then the dead things will remain dead in our lives and we will remain entirely alive in the Spirit. OB Wilson Jr once said “The carnal nature is not destroyed out of the world, but only out of those hearts that are yielded to God.”
So what does entire sanctification mean and look like in a person’s life? It means that we are entirely able to live by complete faith, in complete surrender, with a complete motive of holy, perfect love (by and with His heart in us). It means we are entirely able to say no to temptation, sin and pride. Entire sanctification means that we are entirely able to operate in His power to push back darkness, tear down strongholds, declare His gospel, actively live out righteousness and holiness.
I want to close with the obstacles and hurdles to entire sanctification, which of course is primarily the sin nature (which might also be called pride or selfishness). There are many things believed about the sin nature, but I want to simply leave us with a consideration of what the Bible says about this, so that we can see that when God entirely sanctifies His children the sin nature is defeated and Jesus is indeed Lord of all.
Galatians 5:24 declares that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desire” which tells us that to be entirely sanctified the sin nature must be crucified. Furthermore, we know from 1 John 2:16 all sin nature is not from the Father but from the world and from Romans 7:18a that there is nothing good in the sin nature. As a matter of fact Paul explains even further in Romans 7:25 that the sin nature serves sin and in Romans 8:5-6 that the sin nature thinks about the activities of sin which lead unto death. But here is the good news: God removes the sinful nature by His supernatural work of cleansing, purifying, and sanctifying (See Colossians 2:11). And so God fully intends that any child of His would entirely belong to the Spirit of God and be entirely divorced from the sinful nature (Romans 8:9). So let us realize that if we “are living according to the flesh, [we] must die; but if by the Spirit [we] are putting to death the deeds of the body, [we] will live” (Romans 8:13). And so we recognize that even a child of God has the continuing choice to either listen to the voices of the enemy, the world and the sin nature or heed the call of God and live according by and unto God’s Holy Spirit. A believer remains and walks entirely sanctified only inasmuch as they put to death the deeds of the body and walk according to the Spirit. (see also Galatians 5). But finally, with entire consecration and the victory Christ gives of His entire sanctification we are empowered to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts”( Romans 13:14). So when we put on Jesus – abiding in Him and Him in us – we let the sinful nature die and stay dead and we let the perfect, holy, entirely sanctified life of Christ become our life!
Pastor Michael Johnson 