Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His blood and by faith and regeneration in Christ, you have been cleansed from all your sins and iniquities and made holy and righteous and reconciled with God. You have not been cleansed and made holy and righteous by your own works and by obeying all kinds of laws and regulations, but you have been cleansed and made holy and righteous by faith in Jesus Christ and His perfect work of redemption. When you have become a new creation and have been made holy and righteous, it’s time for the process of sanctification. What is the process of sanctification? What does the Bible say about sanctification?
What is the process of sanctification?
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister (歌羅西書 1:21-23)
通過在基督里重生, 你已經成為神的兒子 (both male and female). You have been set apart from the world and belong to God.
After your repentance and regeneration in Christ, it’s time for the process of sanctification. Because although you have become a son of God in the spiritual realm and the Holy Spirit dwells in you, most likely you shall not immediately walk as a son of God on earth, like Jesus. This is mainly because the flesh is in the way.
The flesh, including the carnal mind, still thinks and acts like the world and considers the wisdom and knowledge of the world and all the tangible things in the natural realm as the truth.
As long as the carnal mind doesn’t change, a person shall remain carnal (soulish) and sense-ruled and shall walk after the flesh.
所以, the first step in the process of sanctification is to 更新你的想法 with the words of God, which are the truth and have created all the visible things around you, including you.
The renewing of your mind
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, 神的旨意 (羅馬書 12:2)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (希伯來 書 4:12-13)
The will of God is written upon your heart by the Holy Spirit, but your mind still thinks like the world. By reading and studying the words of God, you shall get to know God and gain insight into good and evil; what is according to the will of God and what is not according to the will of God.
The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
The truth of the Word shall expose the false doctrines and all the lies of the devil.
Sanctified through the truth of God
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth (約翰 17:14-19)
The Word is the Truth and becomes alive in you when you obey and apply the words of God in your life.
As long as you only read and listen to the words of God but don’t do anything with the words of God, the words of God shall remain written words, and although they possess the life, peace, and power of God, they shall not reap anything.
Only if you read, listen to, and study the words of God and obey and apply the words of God in your life, the written words of God shall come alive in your life.
You shall constantly cleanse yourself with the truth of God. And by the revelation of the Word and the Holy Spirit and the choice you make to follow the Word and the Spirit in your life, which means that you obey and do the words of God, you shall put off the works of the flesh and shall do the works of the Spirit.
Through obedience to the Word and the Spirit, your life shall change and you shall no longer live like the world and the way you lived before your repentance.
A little white lie can’t hurt?
例如, the world says, that a lie is not so bad and that a little white lie doesn’t hurt anyone and is permissible, as long as you can substantiate the lie and/or when it’s for your own benefit. In some cultures lying is even considered normal and part of the culture. But the Word commands to lie not. God doesn’t lie and therefore those, who are born of Him and have His nature shall not lie. 聖經說, that the devil is a liar and that his children are liars and therefore shall lie (哦. Leviticus 19:11, 數位 23:19, 以弗所書 4:25, 歌羅西書 3:9, 提圖斯 1:2, 約翰 8:44 (另請閱讀: ‘每種文化都在基督裡消失了'))
Lying is not a work of the Spirit, but lying is a work of the flesh and should be put away. It is written, that liars, who love the lie, will not inherit eternal life but eternal death (哦. 啟示 22:15).
Only through the Word you will get to know the will of God and discern good and evil. The Holy Spirit shall guide you and show you when something is good and when something is evil and against the 神的旨意.
When the telephone rings and you say to a member of your family: “just say that I’m not here”, you lie. But you are not the only one who lies. You put the other person in a difficult position and make the other person complicit by asking the person to lie for you. The Holy Spirit will show you immediately, that what you have done is not good.
If this doesn’t happen and you have no problem lying, you should wonder if you have received the Holy Spirit and if the Holy Spirit abides in you. Because one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is that He reproves the world of sin.
所以, if the Holy Spirit dwells in you and He shall reprove the world of sin, He shall definitely reprove you of sin.
When the Holy Spirit confronts you and you become conscious of your sin, it’s up to you to obey Him and repent (in this case of your lie) and continue your walk.
And so there are many other areas in life that shall be dealt with during the process of sanctification. How fast the process of sanctification will go, all depends on your love for Jesus Christ.
“Be ye holy; for I am holy”
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 彼得 1:14-16)
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (以弗所書 1:4)
Every son of God will go through the process of sanctification. There is no one excluded from the process of sanctification. Since God is a holy God and He wants His sons to live holy lives. A holy life means to be set apart from the world unto God and do His will.
During the process of sanctification, the works of the flesh shall be put away. The old man shall be put off and the new man, who is created after the image of God, shall be put on (另請閱讀: 'Put off the old man' 和 'Put on the new man’).
Shall you make mistakes in the beginning? 是的! But there is a difference in the types of mistakes and whether you will make a mistake unconsciously or consciously and sin willfully. Because there are sins not unto death and sins unto death (另請閱讀: ‘What are sins not unto death and sins unto death?’).
但現在已經脫離了罪孽, 並成為神的僕人, 你們已經結出聖潔的果子, 和永生的終結. 因為罪的工價就是死亡; 但神的恩賜是透過我們的主耶穌基督而獲得永生 (羅馬書 6:22-23)
But those, who are born of God and have been made holy and righteous shall live from that righteous and holy position and from God’s nature in the will of God. Because as God is holy, those who are born of Him and belong to Him shall also be holy.
‘成為地球之鹽’
