God Centered Sanctification
Jude 1
Those who teach that sanctification is a
progressive work which is dependent upon and determined by man, who teach that
the believer becomes more and more holy until he is at last ripe for
heaven,need to seriously consider one question: Is sanctification essential to
one's everlasting salvation? Without question, it is. That being so, no one who
believes the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace can consistently embrace
a man centered doctrine of sanctification which would make this vital aspect of
salvation something that man does. Sanctification as it is revealed in the
Bible is God centered. It is God who sanctifies his elect. We do not sanctify
ourselves. In the Old Testament,it was God who sanctified the seventh day,the
firstborn of Israel, and the sacrifices for sin which typified and pointed to
the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is "THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Gen. 2:3; Num. 8:17-18; Jer. 23:6). In the New Testament,
wherever the doctrine of sanctification is taught, we are told that the
Sanctifier is God and that the work of sanctification is God's work (John
10:36; 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; Rom. 15:16; I Cor. 1:2, 30; 6:11; Eph. 5:26; I
Thess. 5:23; II Thess. 2:13; Heb. 2:11; 10:10, 14; 13:12; I Pet. 1:2; Jude 1).
These passages of Scripture are heavy, heavy reading for those who teach that
sanctification is a work that we do by the enabling of the Spirit.
God's elect were SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE
FATHER in his eternal purpose of grace when he chose and separated them to
himself, saying, "I will be their God and they shall by my people"
(Jude 1). All the chosen were SANCTIFIED BY GOD THE SON when he put away their
sins and made them perfect in God's sight by the sacrifice of himself (Heb.
Don Fortner