Sanctification: The Believers Transformation

There is a very simple principle, and it starts in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1. It starts in verse 1. Therefore we are joined to Christ, since we are in Christ, Christ is in us. Since we have verse 3, died to ourselves, and our life is hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is now our life, there are some responses that are required. This is one of those passages very familiar to readers of the Apostle Paul, where he lays down a doctrinal premise, and then speaks to the issue of the responsibility that issues from that premise.

Now this is familiar language, and let me remind you of a passage of Scripture that you’re familiar with. It’s Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. I’ll just quote it for you. Philippians 2, 12 and 13 says, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. That really describes the dynamics, the pathology of spiritual life and sanctification. God has done a work in you, God has done a transforming work in you, and now it’s your responsibility to let that inward work be manifest on the outside.

Work out your salvation doesn’t mean work for your salvation. It means to make manifest on the outside the salvation that God has wrought on the inside. God has done his will in you as a believer, God has done his work in you as a believer for his own good pleasure. You are regenerated, you are born again, you are transformed. Christianity is a total complete transformation. Now the responsibility that the believer has is to let the inward work be manifest on the outer work, and you do that with fear and trembling.

Why? Because it’s not easy, it’s difficult work to do. It’s hard to live a holy life, it’s hard to live a godly life, it’s hard to overcome the remaining flesh. But we have to remember that God is watching, and we do that with a sense of awe and a sense of trembling in the light of his chastening if we are disobedient. So we as believers are called upon, having been given a new nature, having become new creations. Old things passed away and everything new, to so live to make that manifest. Now obviously no one earns their salvation by works, it is a gift of grace through faith.

But we are not passive in salvation, we must believe. Nor are we passive in sanctification, we must obey. True believers are commanded to obey. And this is how we work the inward work of God to the outside and make it manifest both to God and to men. There has always been this notion that God has done this monogistic work in you, and he’s done it all in you. And now sanctification is sort of in his hands. And there’s the sort of quietest idea, let go and let God, just kick back, relax, sort of swim in grace, and don’t worry about anything.

Don’t let anybody impose law on you, imperatives, commands. Nothing could be further from the truth of scripture. The New Testament, as you well know, is loaded with commands, and they are commands for you based on the power that is now in you, and the newness of the new creation that God has wrought in you, the new man, the new self. You are to work that to the outside, so that it is manifest to all who see it. Second Corinthians for example 7-1, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

What an amazing statement. We are the ones who are called to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and thus perfecting the work of holiness. That is a responsibility for the believer. We are called to pursue holiness, godliness, virtue, and sanctification. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, we are called to walk worthy. We are to be worthy of the calling to which we are called. This is what the Christian life and sanctification is all about. In the sixth chapter of Romans and verse 19, I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

There again a command to present your members, all your faculties, as instruments of righteousness. This is the primary pursuit of your life as a believer, the primary pursuit of your life. Then again in Philippians 2.12, the verb is work out. Work out. That’s kegazomai, a very strong verb. It’s emphatic, it’s intense, and it’s reflexive. That is, it reflects back on you. You be working out your salvation so that it’s manifest on the outside that you have been changed on the inside. The verb could be translated labor, work, achieve, produce, bring about for yourself.

The revelation manifests on the outside of the transformation that God has wrought on the inside. This call to godly virtue, this call to godly behavior, is not easy because we’re fighting against the flesh. And Paul even uses this same kind of language in Romans 7 when he says, I’m trying to work it out, but the things that I want to do I’m not doing. The things I’m doing are the things I don’t want to do. There’s a wretchedness in me, there’s another principle operative in me that hinders me from this progress in sanctification.

It is a struggle, that is why we do it with fear and trembling. Now essentially, what I just showed you in Philippians 2, 12 and 13 is what Paul is talking about here. We have a new creation. We are a new creation. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. We have been transformed, regenerated, born again. From the very bottom of our being, we have been changed. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Old things have passed away, new things have come. We are new creatures, but that does not mean we live without a struggle.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, I beat my body into submission. Very strong language, I beat my body into submission. This is a tremendous lifelong challenge, and that is exactly what Paul is calling us to hear. You have been raised with Christ, which means you died with Christ. Your old life died. You have been raised in a new life. You are united with Christ, hidden with Christ in God. That leads to one imperative after another, after another, after another, that defines our spiritual responsibility. Keep seeking, set your mind, consider your body, put them all aside.

All those kinds of commands fill the section that I read. Now some of the commands are negative. Verse 5, consider the members of your earthly body as dead. Consider yourself to have died to that old life, and therefore you are dead, or should be dead, to the elements of that old life. So, these are the things that you eliminate. Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry. Down in verse 8, you put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth, and do not lie to one another. Those are the negative things, and we talked about that.

But as we come this morning to verse 9, we shift to the positive side, to the positive side. In verse 9 we read, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, there are going to be some behaviours that you need to do that are not negative, but positive. Verse 12, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, etc. Put on love, put on peace, be thankful, worship, do all to the glory of God.

So, this is just a summation of Christian sanctification. Negative things to be put off, positive things to be put on. You are a new creature, now you need to dress in new garments, put off the old garments that were connected to your flesh, that were connected to your previous fallen nature in Adam, and put on garments consistent with your new life in Christ. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of sanctification, the believer’s transformation. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world.

To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].