WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SANCTIFIED?

Romans 6:21-23

“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sanctify means to set apart someone or something for a holy purpose. It means to separate from the old sinful self and actions and to give one’s self completely to God.

IF JESUS IS TO BE LORD OF OUR LIVES, WE MUST LOSE OUR LIVES TO JESUS. Luke 18:18-25

“A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

“‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.”’

“‘All these I have kept since I was a boy,’ he said.

“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’

“When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.

“Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’”

1. Jesus must rule as Lord alone.

2. Christ sanctifies the person who completely surrenders to His lordship.

3. The Bible calls for “radical obedience” to Christ.

4. Sanctification is a big word that simply means “belonging to God” .

5. Sanctification also means “to make holy” .

IF JESUS IS TO BE LORD OF OUR LIVES, WE MUST BE SANCTIFIED. Luke 9:24-25

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

1. Disciples who allow the Lord to reign completely in their lives are sanctified completely.

2. Sanctification includes being crucified with Christ.

3. Sanctification includes living obediently .

4. Sanctification includes living in a new reality.

5. Sanctification means living in resurrection power.

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:5-10).

Questions to Ponder: