Christian's Handbook 3

Handbook 3 shares a Christian's personal experiences while being led out of the "organized visible church" by the Holy Spirit.

Sanctification: An Obsolete Word?

Handbook 3: Article 23 - Spiritual Facts or Fiction

Pursue, "sanctification without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Selah! Pause, and think of that!

Sanctify: to purify, cleanse, make holy, consecrate (set apart as holy)

Sanctification does not descend on us from heaven, nor overtake us, nor come upon us while we're sleeping. Sanctification is regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

"But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we had done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Titus 2:11-15

"...you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of God."

1 Corinthians 6:11

Remember, quoting it doesn't make it so!

"Cleansing is subtracting. It is Christ dealing with every part of the 'Body' which is not out of Him. The natural life and all that is not out of Christ must be purged away. Sanctification can only come after cleansing, and the basis of cleansing is the Lord's word. If we do not know the Lord's voice and hear Him speaking to us personally and specifically through Scripture, there is no way for us to be cleansed and sanctified; for we do not know in which aspect we need to be cleansed. And if we consider that we do not need cleansing, we are deceiving ourselves." (Handbook 1, Article 84)

Watchman Nee

Sanctification and Salvation

"...God has chosen you in the beginning for salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through the gospel to the gaining of the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

1 Thessalonians 2:13, 14

"For the grace of God appeared to all men, bringing salvation, disciplining us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession."

Titus 2:11-15

Sanctification and Obedience

"Peter to... those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you might obey Jesus and be sprinkled with His blood."

1 Peter 1:3

Sanctification and Our Inheritance

"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

Acts 20:30

Sanctification and Our Calling

"But we should always give thanks to God for you... because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14

Sanctification and Our Work

Sanctification prepares us for the work God planned for us in the beginning.

"Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore if a man cleanses himself from these things he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work."

2 Timothy 2:19, 20

Jesus and Sanctification

Jesus prayed for the sanctification of this generation.

"As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves may also be sanctified in truth. I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word..."

John 17:18-20

"For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call they brethren, saying... Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."

Hebrews 2:11, 13

"...He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Thy will...' By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all."

Hebrews 10:9, 10

* * * * *

"Pursue... sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."

Hebrews 12:14


« LastNext »

  1. The Martha Syndrome!
  2. Family God's Number One Good?
  3. Does My Heart Have a Spiritual Problem?
  4. Nobody's Perfect?
  5. Sanctification: An Obsolete Word?
  6. Faith Without Works Is Dead?
  7. Are We Being Stalked by an Adversary?
  8. Called Out? To What? Where? An Invitation
  9. A Measurement, a Plumb Line

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