Pressing toward entire sanctification
1 Thessalonians 5:23 “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.”
John Wesley, at the end of his days, his exhortation to believers was to always press on toward entire sanctification. He wrote, “I always observe – wherever a work of sanctification breaks out, the whole work of God prospers.”
The meaning of sanctification
Sanctification is an instantaneous end experience, operated by the Spirit of God, also called the “Circumcision of the heart.” Many have missed it in understanding sanctification. We don’t grow into sanctification as some may have thought, but we mature in sanctification. That is, after the Spirit of God through Christ’s grace sanctifies the believer; it is a continuous process until the stream of time is swallowed up in the ocean of eternity (Philippians 3:12-14).
But some erroneously think that after they have been sanctified that’s all, it is finished. They do not see the need to press toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. They do not pray until their entire being is consumed by God’s sanctifying grace. Sanctification doesn’t stop at the purification of the heart, rather, it continues until the image of God which was lost when man fell is renewed in the soul.
Oh Blessed experience of the gracious sanctification!
Sanctification is a free gift, as much as salvation (regeneration). Therefore beloved, be not satisfied at the level of experience where you are, but rather grow in grace till you are wholly sanctified.
And those who think that they can patch up, they’ll try, they’ll manage to enter heaven, are just deceiving themselves. For there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.
Apostle Paul writes, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” He encourages us – do not stop, but press on, until your mind, your thought, your heart, your attitude, your disposition are all sanctified and made holy.
Show me a holy man, and I’ll show you a man whose daily hunger, desire, and prayer is to be holy and sanctified through and through. And when Christ shall come, he’ll not be ashamed, because as Christ is, so he is in this present world. Obeying the Spirit’s command to live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world.
Sanctification is a sure necessity for a Christian who has his heart fixed on getting to heaven. Nobody should think of going to heaven by any faith that cannot produce holiness, says John Wesley.
“Wherefore, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Also Read: The benefit and reward of paying evil with good
Reagan Azoyenime is a born again Christian and an undergraduate student of Ambrose Ali University, Nigeria. He writes edifying Christian messages centred on salvation in Christ and holiness.
E-mail: razoyenime@gmail.com
