He Will Do It
The believer rests in Christ. Paul wrote, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Rom 4:5).” Christians leave the world of religion when grace visits them with the gift of faith.
Confusion sets in for many Christians after they do nothing and receive salvation. Yes, they now believe in Jesus because God transferred them from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col 1:13). Legalists greet them with new rules, as the Judaisers troubled the early church. New Christians are easy prey for these wolves in sheep’s clothing. Christ was sufficient for your justification, but according to these false teachers, Christ is not sufficient for sanctification. There are works, of their design, for you to do.
It is God’s will for His children to be sanctified (1 Thess 4:3). Paul blessed the church at Thessalonica, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely (1 Thess 5:23a).” From this, we learn that it is not just God’s will for us to be sanctified, but it is God’s work to sanctify us.
God reckons us holy (legal status), and He makes us holy (moral purity). The words of Hebrews 13:20–21 are very similar to those considered above (1 Thess 5:23–24), “Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen!”
God is working His will (sanctification) from within us, to sanctify our entire spirit and body and soul (1 Thess 5:23). He is doing this, in order that we might be without blame, in fact, unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints (1 Thess 3:13). In other words, sanctification finds its only end in glory.
Being preserved complete is meritorious of Christ alone, and the application of this merit is by the Spirit, alone. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit who began a good work in you, and He will finish His good work until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6). He will do it.
We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb 10:10). This is full, complete, and perfect sanctification. In other words, at the moment faith is active, we are fit for heaven. We are kept for Jesus Christ (Jude 1), who prayed that His people would be kept (Jn 17:11). Thus, it is Jesus asking the Father to preserve us until His glorious and terrible day of consummation. It is the Spirit’s work to keep us, with Himself being our blessed assurance (2 Thess 2:13). He will do it.
Sanctification by the Spirit, who employs the Word of God, is an inner renewal day by day (Jn 17:17; 2 Cor 4:16). So when the apostle Paul called upon the Corinthians to holiness, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1),” he knew who was already at work to do it (2 Thess 2:13). Here is the believer’s rest…He will do it.
Completed sanctification is a future reality, too, being good as done, “…and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Rom 8:30).” Those believers who have gone before us, that is, the spirits of righteous men made perfect, are saints in glory (Heb 12:23). These, like saints still in the flesh, wait for Christ’s glorious appearing, His second coming to earth in the flesh. This second time, with glorified body (beautiful, glorious, indestructible, immortal, imperishable, etc.), He will appear to His own, who will be resurrected in His glorious likeness (Jn 5:28–29; 1 Jn 3:2). He will appear to those who died in sin, for the purpose of resurrection to eternal punishment (Mt 25:41, 46; Jn 5:28–29; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). The bodies of His saints, in union with their own souls, will be fashioned by Him to be like Him (Phil 3:21). He will do it.
In conclusion, God’s redeemed people are already sanctified because we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:2). God the Father has done this sanctification. Still, we are in the lifelong process of being sanctified (Phil 3:12). God the Spirit is doing this sanctification. The assurance of God’s completed work in us, rests in the reality of Christ Himself, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2), “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Rev 3:21).”
Christian, believer, overcomer, who has sanctified you in eternity? Who has sanctified you at the cross? Who is sanctifying you, today? Who will bring this work to its glorious end? He will do it. Rest and rejoice!
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 4, 2021
