From Sunday school to Bible college to seminary I have been
told that sanctification is a process. The reasoning was that justification was
complete at the moment of regeneration; glorification will be complete at the
moment of translation; sanctification is the process through which believers
must labor between the other two. No one ever challenged this reasoning until a
couple weeks ago when Ray Leight (Bethel Church, Redding, California) blasted
us with the truth: sanctification is completed when justification takes place.
This biblical truth is so plain and simple that it is a
wonder that we have believed the lie. Simply understanding what sanctification
means clearly puts it in the category of things completed at the moment of
regeneration. To be “sanctified” means to be made holy. The Greek language does
not have two different words as does English: “holy” and “sanctified” are from
exactly the same Greek word (hagios). There is another lie buried here that
says I am not already holy in God’s sight – I absolutely am. The Bible tells me
so. The righteousness of Christ was imputed to me when I came to Him. Period.
This misunderstanding of sanctification or holiness has
given rise to another pervasive lie among believers. Many Bible-believing, born
again, blood bought Christians think their works have something to do with
their salvation. Years ago, I canvassed our church neighborhood with a survey
intended to identify people who might be interested in attending our services.
The survey ended with the Evangelism
Explosion question: “If you were to face God tonight, and He asked why He
should let you into Heaven, what would you say?” Scores of people who had
identified themselves as church-going, Bible-believing Christians said, “I have
lived a good life.” This implies they believed their good works earned them a
place in Heaven. Ugh!
When challenged on this position, most immediately said that
they knew works couldn’t earn them anything, but the lie was already out of the
bag: their gut-level response was to resort to their “goodness” as if they were
doing something worthy of Heaven. This is deadly. While James does insist that
true faith produces works, both he and Paul are crystal clear that works save
no one. There are whole denominations of Christians and many quasi-Christian
groups that preach works as the means of salvation. They are dead wrong. Paul
clearly says that anyone who relies on his works is still dead in his sin.
Period.
Perhaps the most debilitating aspect of the lie that
sanctification (or salvation in total) needs our works is what it does to one’s
true identity. This was the core of what Ray Leight exposed in his teaching.
The minute we believe we are not good enough to merit God’s grace, we have
fallen prey to the lie. If you re-read the last sentence it becomes obvious:
“merit God’s grace” is a non-sequitor. One can never “merit” grace. By its very
definition, grace is a gift. God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness upon
believers so that when He looks at one of His, He sees Christ. No work is
needed. The work was done on the Cross and applied when the dead one became
alive in Christ. Period.
This does not mean that our behavior doesn’t matter. Paul
shoots down that thought in Romans 6 by reminding us that believers have
crucified the old man bound by sin and now live as slaves to righteousness. To
continue in sin, as the writer of Hebrews says, is to crucify Christ afresh.
Jesus’ death on the Cross delivered everyone who accepts His gift from every
sin everyone ever committed. All sin for all time is paid for by Jesus’ blood
once for all. Period.
This means that as a believer I am holy, righteous,
sanctified completely, and I am seated at the right hand of God with my Savior,
Jesus, right now. That is what God sees. Remember that God is not bound by time
as we are, so He already sees the completed work all the way to glorification.
I am certain to mess up repeatedly after my justification and sanctification
are completed. That is moot. God already accepted Jesus’ payment for my messes
– all of them. I am complete IN CHRIST. Therefore, my true identity is also IN
CHRIST. I am who Jesus is. That’s what God sees.
Bottom line: we need to stop believing the lie that we are
anything but totally and completely sanctified at the moment we accept Christ’s
sacrifice as our payment for our sin. We need to get out of our heads, as the
saying goes, and start getting in the spirit. Our spirits are made new at the
moment of new birth. Our heads (souls) still need to be aligned with God’s
order. That’s where the work comes. Renew the mind, Paul says in Romans 12.
Stop thinking of yourself as a “sinner saved by grace.” You are a saint (root
word: holy or sanctified) living by grace. The same grace that saved you now
enables you to live the life of Christ if you will remember to live by the
spirit instead of by the flesh.
