Sanctification: Living the Life in the Day at Hand

Romans 13:12-14 “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

Expanding on yesterday post, that life-span between the salvation events of justification and glorification is that process of “becoming who and what you already are”. This term nicely captures much of what the Scriptures teach about sanctification, which is our growth in holiness and conformity to Christ. In accepting us, the Lord makes us clean. We do not have to clean up our act before God will receive us into His kingdom.

Ephesians 2:1-6 “You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

The article that I read explains that the Lord receives us as His people immediately when we repent, turn from sin and put our faith in Christ alone. At that point, our eternal inheritance is secure. Praise the Lord! He declares us righteous immediately and permanently based upon His Son’s perfection. We will do “good works”, for they inevitably flow from those who trust in Christ, but our “good works” do not earn our justification. God meets us where we are at, but He does not keep us where we are at. At the same time that God justifies us, He also definitely sets us apart as holy and equips us for His purposes. We are made saints, because believers are sanctified in Christ Jesus at conversion. The entire process of sanctification actually involves living out in practice the holiness that is already ours appositionally because the Lord has set us apart to live the life in the day at hand. Becoming who and what we will be in glory is walking in the light of the day of glorification that is dawning on the horizon, but not yet here. This is the eternal perspective that we are living out daily for the Lord.

Galatians 5:1, 16-25 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery (recreational drug use), hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The article comes to the conclusion that since the day (eternity in the kingdom of heaven) is about to dawn in all its brightness and glory, we cannot stay in the dark. Its time to get up, to start doing those things that we will do perfectly in the daytime (when go home to be with the Lord), which means living in holiness and saying no to our former way of living now. We must make no provision for the flesh, for this era of sin and death is not our true home. Our vocation, our profession consists in putting on the living Christ and in doing what pleases Him by the power of His Spirit, for we reside in the kingdom of Light that is breaking into this fallen world. As children of God, citizens of heaven and ambassadors of Christ, we are to live our lives in the same way now as we are going to live in the day, that is, in the future world of heaven. Our lives should not mirror those who have no hope and are trapped in the darkness; rather, we are to live as citizens of the kingdom to which we belong, the kingdom of Light for which the Lord is preparing us by His Holy Spirit. Right now counts forever.

John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

In Christ, Brian