2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Sanctification - the pursuit of holiness - is the process whereby a child of God is set apart in moral purity and singleness of heart unto God. A sanctified life is a God-centered life in which all that would interfere with communion with Him, all that would divide a heart that is fixed wholly upon Him, all that would stain a life purified by the life and blood of Christ is entirely rejected. Sanctification is an on-going business in which the child of God is progressively separated from the World, the Flesh and the devil unto God, becoming more and more like Christ (Romans 8:29). It is by sanctification, by means of a holy life, that the Christian "sees God" more clearly (Hebrews 12:14), without hindrance, drawing near to Him and enjoying daily fellowship with Him.
Sanctification, for some, becomes an end in itself. This is called Moralism and leads inevitably to legalism and hypocrisy, as it did for the Pharisees. The Christian, however, is holy in order to know God and enjoy Him more thoroughly and deeply. God cannot commune with the person who's been "wallowing in the mire," who's been "returning to their own vomit," as the apostle Peter put it (2 Peter 2:22). "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5) and commands that we, too, should be absent of darkness that we might walk with Him without impediment. (1 Peter 1:15-16)
A holy, sanctified life in the modern, relativistic, individual-centered, western Church has become a matter largely of personal preference, of subjective feeling, rather than the pursuit of an objective, God-established standard. For example, many Christians today make their pangs of conscience (or the absence thereof) the basis upon which they see a thing as sinful or not. "I don't feel uncomfortable about it," they say, "But if you do, don't do it." By this approach to morality, they insulate themselves against any criticism, subtly making themselves the Final Arbiter of what is and isn't morally right and inviting the next believer to do the same. They think that "freedom in Christ," their Christian liberty, is a license to do as they please, rather than the ability to do as God wants them to do.
But one's moral feeling, one's conscience can be seared, blunted, calloused toward evil and, in extremes of this condition, made totally inoperative. (1 Timothy 4:2; Ephesians 4:18-19; Jeremiah 13:23; Hebrews 3:13; 1 John 2:11, etc.) Not so, God's eternal standard set out for us in His word. Regardless of what we may or may not feel, God's Moral Law, the standard to which we are to conform our sanctification, condemns the sin to which we have grown numb.
God's standard commands the believer to the following manner of holy living:
1.) Reject the World.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
James 4:4
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Colossians 2:8
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Christian, are you steeped in the World, saturated with its philosophies, its ethics, its values and priorities? Do you dress like those you see in the World, immodestly, vainly, decked out in costly clothing bought with God's money over which He has made you His steward, sporting images and messages contrary to the light, truth and purity that He is? Do you daily sit for hours under the filthy torrent of the World streaming endlessly from the t.v., watching the ungodly enact all manner of evil behavior, invest in all sorts of eternally useless, short-sighted, self-centered practices, and promote all types of preoccupations and interests that neglect God entirely? Do you listen to the godless music of the World, urging obscenity, and hyper-sexuality, and perversion, exciting the sensual, emotional, fleshly part of who you are, spiking your mind and heart with ideas and values utterly contrary to the self-sacrificing, peaceable and holy example of Christ? Do you focus all of your energies upon the false, fleeting, and corrupt things that the unholy World pursues: power, wealth, fame, happiness, self-gratification (sex, food, drugs), etc.? If you do, you have made yourself an enemy of God, you have turned your eyes away from Christ, and will be more and more conformed to the darkness upon which you have fixed your gaze.
Galatians 6:14
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
2.) Deny the Flesh.
Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh...
A sanctified life, a holy, set-apart life, is anathema to a fleshly life. Now, of course, there are things of the flesh that are necessary: eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. We are fleshly beings and must attend to our fleshly needs. As creatures of flesh, we interact with physical reality and each other by fleshly means: We hear, see, taste, and touch, we speak, we walk, and sit, and stand. Denying the flesh doesn't mean pretending these things aren't so, or feeling soiled by the unavoidable fact of one's physical existence. No, it means setting one's flesh, its impulses, under the priorities and power of the Spirit. Very often, this requires that the flesh be denied, constrained, put off in favor of spiritual pursuits; it means that the flesh is ordered by, it is conformed to, God-centered, eternal, spiritual principles and goals.
So, then, sanctification challenges things like gluttony, sexual lust, laziness, inordinate self-gratification, pride, vanity, greed, etc. A holy life is a life that has forsaken idolatry, contentiousness, anger, and sensuality.
Christian, are you addicted? Are you over-eating? Are you fractious and wrathful? Are you vain and prideful? Are you slave to the stimulation of popular entertainment, spending hour upon hour playing video games, or watching the sports channel, or swimming about in darker, more perverse but arousing things? If you are, you are neither sanctified in your living, nor walking with God; certainly, you do not enjoy Him as He made you to do.
Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 5:24
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
3.) Resist the Devil.
Ephesians 5:7-12
7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 But resist him, firm in your faith...
James 4:7
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
With alarming speed, western cultures are departing their Judeo-Christian heritage and in the resulting vacuum of an objective, authoritative, divine moral and ethical standard and worldview are embracing the demonic. Netflix has even produced a t.v. series about Satan, making him out to be a good-natured fellow, misunderstood and actually pretty likeable. Pop music is racing headlong into more and more overtly demonic stuff, too, promoting with astonishing graphicness and mainstream popularity every sort of sexual perversion and devilish, occult idea imaginable. Even the Church has folded into itself New Age mysticism and millenia-old practices of pagan demon-worship, encouraging young people in particular to "encounter God" in ecstatic convulsions, "fire corridors," spiritual stupors mimicking drunkenness and drug highs - practices that are highly sensual and demonic, blaspheming God and drawing His wrath.
Christian are you dabbling in the demonic? Are you reading horoscopes, and tea leaves, and tarot cards? Are you playing with ouija boards and watching horror movies? Are you opening yourself to demonic influence by drug use, or giving ground to the demonic in your life by reading books promoting the demonic, or entertaining yourself with video games that involve dealing with demons, witches, necromancers, mediums and so on, that are full of demonic symbolism and rituals? If so, you have opened your life to the demonic that will prevent any sort of genuine fellowship with God and which will bring your life inevitably to darkness and ruin.
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...
John 8:44
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
All children of God are called to be separated from the World, the Flesh and the devil, sanctified, holy people, righteous and pure. Without holiness, without this separation, God cannot be properly seen and He certainly can't be fully enjoyed as a loving Heavenly Father. Will you turn to God in humble surrender, in faith waiting on Him to transform you, repenting of unholy living, confessing it God, and drawing near to Him?
James 4:8-10
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
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