Teaching Notes are Bible studies we taught before GraceLife Ministries began publishing articles online in 1995. Some were presented as sermons, others as group studies.
Our hope is that these older studies will be a blessing to you in your life and ministry. Please use them in any way God leads you.
These teaching notes are from a series of studies from 1 Peter.
[These notes are from more than 45 years ago.]
IV. What must one seek to be truly holy?
- That our hearts may be truly filled by the Holy Spirit.
- That the infilling Holy Spirit will renew our whole moral being from sinward desire and inclination.
- That the Holy Spirit will bear unmistakeable witness in our deepest consciousness to His sanctifying work within us.
How holy can I be?
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
- The first epistle of Paul to the church of Thessalonica was written to encourage and establish this young church in the basic truths of the Gospel, to inspire it to progress in the power of holy living, and to instruct it in the matter of the coming of the Lord for His own, and the relation of that event to the events of the day of the Lord.
- In chapter 3, Paul prays that God would establish their hearts unblaneable in holiness.
- In chapter 4, Paul presents God’s call to holiness. Look at verses 1-7
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
a. Notice some key phrases —
- “this is the will of God, even your sanctification”
- “every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.”
- “God hath .. called us .. unto holiness”
b. What is sanctification
- The word “sanctify” means to set apart. The noun, sanctification, in 1 Thessalonians 4 is “the course of life befitting those who are so separated.” It speaks here of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. Sanctification is God’s will for us and His purpose in calling us by the Gospel.
- The Agent in sanctification is the Holy Spirit. In this work, He has a two-fold ministry — one to the lost, and another to the saved.
- a) The first is called positional sanctification. Turn to 1 Peter 1:2 – “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
- The first step in the salvation of a sinner is his or her election by God the Father.
- The second step in salvation is the sanctification or “setting apart” of the sinner by the Holy Spirit. This “setting apart” work of the Spirit is “unto obedience.”
- The third step is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This is a spiritual application of Christ’s shed blood in respect of the sinner’s committal of sins, which on that ground receives forgiveness.
Another way of putting this would be to say that God the Father elects the sinner to salvation — God the Spirit brings him or her to the act of faith — and God the Son cleanses the sinner from sin.
- In the Spirit’s ministry with the saint, we have what is known as “practical or experiential” sanctification.
- On the human side this is a progressive and continuous yieldedness and obedience to God.
- On God’s side it is an entire possession and use of the yielded vessel; an unobstructed infilling of the believer; a penetrative renewing of the moral nature which decisively breaks the tyranny of inherent depravity, and lifts the mind into an experience of dominant holiness in all its spontaneous impulses, desires, motives, and inclinations.
Again, let me restate the question before us: How holy can I be? Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 5:23 again – “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The word “wholly” is literally “whole or complete.”
Paul’s desire is that the sanctification of the believer may extend to every part of his or her being. The word is similar to holokleros, which means “complete, entire, sound in every part.” Then, Paul goes on to say that his prayer is that God will preserve our whole spirit and soul and body without blame until Christ comes again. I believe that a Christian can be set apart to God. I don’t mean “sinless perfection” or complete eradication of sin. I mean the fullest present abiding in Christ, accompanied by the fullest spiritual abounding in Christ, and resulting in truest character-likeness to Christ.
One theologian has said that “entire sanctification is perfect love filling the heart and overflowing through the life.” Another teacher has said —
- “regeneration is newness of life”
- “sanctification is fulness of life”
- “conversion does away with the legal guilt of sin”
- “entire sanctification deals with the inward bent to sin”
He went on to express that “sanctification could not be achieved, but must be received” … “sanctification is not a state we attain by self-effort; it is an inwrought renovation which we obtain through Christ by the Holy Spirit.”
Let me reiterate that the supreme purpose of the Holy Spirit’s deeper work in our lives is to transfigure our character. What do I mean by that? Turn to Matthew 17:2 – “And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” The word “transfigured” is metamorphoo, which means “to change into another form.” For a brief time, Jesus Christ became on the outside what He was on the inside.
Now turn to Romans 12:2 – “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, will of God.” The word “transformed” is also the Greek word metamorphoo, the same word used for Christ’s transfiguration. Paul is telling us to be outwardly what we have become inwardly!
My prayer is that we would be a people “holy and without blame” .. a people wholly set apart for Christ .. a people entirely committed to His glory .. a people in the likeness of God!
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29
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[Thank you for reading these teaching notes from more than 45 years ago. My prayer is they will be a blessing to you and your life and ministry.]
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