Praying Pint

 

 

I will extend peace to her like a river.
Isaiah 66:12

Frances Ridley Havergal was a popular singer, devotional writer, and British hymnist. One of her most well-known songs says: “Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace, over all victorious in its bright increase.” Her imagery and inspiration came from the book of Isaiah.

Writing about the Millennial reign of Christ, Isaiah said, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream” (Isaiah 66:12). Christ will establish global peace for the world just as He gives us His inner peace now. Havergal knew another verse from Isaiah too—Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.” Her chorus says: “Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest, finding, as he promised, perfect peace and rest.”

War has been with us since the days of Cain and Abel, but it isn’t eternal. One day God’s peace will flow through the world like a river. But even now, it can flow through our hearts when our minds are stayed on Him. Claim His perfect peace in your situation today.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, never foe can follow, never traitor stand.

 

Happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
Psalm 89:15, CSB

A. W. Tozer said, “The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world! People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight.” Charles Spurgeon felt the same way, writing, “God made human beings as He made His other creatures, to be happy…. They are in their right element when they are happy.”

One day the world will be filled with joy when Christ returns. Isaac Watts wrote, “Joy to the World,” which is actually based on the Millennial passage of Psalm 98 about the Second Coming. But we don’t have to wait for the return of Christ to be happy. He lives in, among, and through us right now by His Spirit. Choose happiness today!

Francis of Assisi said, “Let us leave sadness to the devil and his angels. As for us, what can we be but rejoicing and glad!” And Jonathan Edwards added, “He has created man for this very end, to make him happy in the enjoyment of himself, the Almighty, who was happy from the days of eternity in himself.”

Man is more joyful and with reason to be full of joy…when Jesus is the fundamental thing in him.

 

 

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:7

With the advent of DNA technology came the use of that technology in solving crimes. The Innocence Project, founded in 1992, has used DNA testing to overturn the convictions of more than two hundred wrongly convicted persons. Even in our modern criminal justice systems, it is still possible for justice not to be reached. In a fallen world, when justice is administered by fallible human beings, the outcomes can lead to injustice.

There will be no such injustice when Jesus Christ rules with perfect justice during the Millennium. As Isaiah prophesied, “And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:3-4). The justice will be perfect because the Judge will be perfect.

If you have ever been judged unfairly without recourse, put your faith in the just Judge who will balance the scales “even forever.”

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

 

 

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

–Luke 19:10

Some atheists have a better understanding of Christianity than most Christians. Celebrity magician and atheist Penn Jillette once made a surprising comment about Christians who don’t share their faith (or, as he called it, “proselytizing”). He said, “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, or whatever, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was going to hit you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

Isn’t that an astounding comment from an atheist? Jillette was echoing the theme of the passage we’re going to study this week. Paul said, in essence, “If Jesus Christ is really central in your life, then you’re going to devote your life to attracting people to the gospel.”

In Colossians 4, Paul said one test of your Christlikeness is your relationship with God. Jesus devoted His life on earth to fulfilling God’s agenda. As Jesus Himself said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). If you’re becoming like Christ, then you will have the same devotion to God’s agenda of seeking and saving the lost.

That certainly was Paul’s priority. In Colossians 4:3–4, he wrote, “[Pray] at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”

When Paul wrote these words, he was under house arrest, awaiting trial. Notice that Paul did not write, “Pray that God will open the doors of justice so that I can be free.” More important to Paul than being free was being faithful. Paul knew his purpose was to share Jesus Christ with as many people as possible, so his priority was opening the door for ministry. And if Jesus Christ is central in your life, then sharing the gospel will be your priority as well.

 

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long-suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenience, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassionate, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

Genuine sanctification will show itself in an habitual desire to live up to the standard which St. Paul sets before the churches in his writings. That standard is to be found in the closing chapters of nearly all his Epistles. The common idea of many persons that St. Paul’s writings are full of nothing but doctrinal statements and controversial subjects— justification, election, predestination, prophecy and the like—is an entire delusion and a melancholy proof of the ignorance of Scripture which prevails in these latter days. I defy anyone to read St. Paul’s writings carefully, without finding in them a large quantity of plain practical directions about the Christian’s duty in every relation of life, and about our daily habits, temper and behavior to one another. These directions were written down by inspiration of God for the perpetual guidance of professing Christians. He who does not attend to them may possibly pass muster as a member of a church or a chapel, but he certainly is not what the Bible calls a “sanctified” man.

Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual attention to the active graces which our Lord so beautifully exemplified, and especially to the grace of charity. A sanctified man will try to do good in the world and to lessen the sorrow and increase the happiness of all around him. He will aim to be like his Master, full of kindness and love to everyone—and this not in word only, by calling people “dear,” but by deeds and actions and self–denying work, according as he has opportunity. Christ will never be found the Savior of those who know nothing of following His example. Saving faith and real converting grace will always produce some conformity to the image of Jesus.

Genuine sanctification, in the last place, will show itself in habitual attention to the passive graces of Christianity. When I speak of passive graces, I mean those graces which are especially shown in submission to the will of God and in bearing and forbearing towards one another. This is the special point which St. Peter dwells upon in commending our Lord Jesus Christ’s example to our notice: “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously” This is the point which occupies one third of the list of the fruits of the Spirit supplied by St. Paul. Nine are named and three of these, patience, gentleness and meekness, are unquestionably passive graces (Gal. 5:22, 23). I must plainly say that I do not think this subject is sufficiently considered by Christians.  The passive graces are no doubt harder to attain than the active ones, but they are precisely the graces which have the greatest influence on the world. Of one thing I feel very sure: it is nonsense to pretend to sanctification unless we follow after the meekness, gentleness, patience and forgivingness of which the Bible makes so much. 

 

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long-suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenience, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassionate, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

True sanctification does not consist in outward formalism and external devoutness. This is an enormous delusion, but unhappily a very common one.I am afraid that in many cases this external religiousness is made a substitute for inward holiness; and I am quite certain that it falls utterly short of sanctification of heart.

Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place in life and the renunciation of our social duties. In every age it has been a snare with many to take up this line in the pursuit of holiness. Hundreds of hermits have buried themselves in some wilderness, and thousands of men and women have shut themselves up within the walls of monasteries and convents, under the vain idea that by so doing they would escape sin and become eminently holy. They have forgotten that no bolts and bars can keep out the devil and that, wherever we go, we carry that root of all evil, our own hearts. Christ would have His people show that His grace is not a mere hot–house plant, which can only thrive under shelter, but a strong, hardy thing which can flourish in every relation of life. It is doing our duty in that state to which God has called us, like salt in the midst of corruption and light in the midst of darkness, which is a primary element in sanctification. It is not the man who hides himself in a cave, but the man who glorifies God as master or servant, parent or child, in the family and in the street, in business and in trade, who is the scriptural type of a sanctified man.

Sanctification is not merely the occasional performance of right actions. Rather, it is the continual work of a new heavenly principle within, which runs through one’s daily conduct in everything he does, big or small. It is not like a pump, which only sends forth water when worked upon from without, but like a perpetual fountain, from which a stream is ever flowing spontaneously and naturally.

Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual respect to God’s Word and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as the rule of life. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that a Christian has nothing to do with God’s Word because he cannot be justified by keeping them. The same Holy Spirit who convinces the believer of sin by His Word and leads him to Christ for justification will always lead him to a spiritual use of His Word, as a friendly guide, in the pursuit of sanctification.

Genuine sanctification will show itself in an habitual endeavor to do Christ’s will and to live by His practical precepts. These precepts are to be found scattered everywhere throughout the four Gospels, and especially in the sermon on the mount. To hear some men talk and read some men’s writings, one might imagine that our blessed Lord, when He was on earth, never taught anything but doctrine and left practical duties to be taught by others! What His disciples ought to be and to do is continually brought forward in our Lord’s teaching. A truly sanctified man will never forget this. He serves a Master who said, “You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you” 

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long-suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenience, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassionate, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

What are the visible marks of a sanctified man? What may we expect to see in him? This is a very wide and difficult department of our subject. It is wide because it necessitates the mention of many details which cannot be handled fully in the limits of a message like this. It is difficult because it cannot possibly be treated without giving offense. But truth should be spoken despite risk, and truth of this great magnitude should especially be spoken in our present day.

True sanctification then does not consist in mere talk about religion. This is a point which ought never to be forgotten. The vast increase of education and preaching in these latter days makes it absolutely necessary to raise a warning voice. The tongue is not the only member that Christ bids us give to His service. God does not want His people to be mere empty tubs, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. We must be sanctified, not only “in word and in tongue, but in deed and truth”

True sanctification does not consist in temporary religious feelings. This again is a point about which a warning is greatly needed. Mission services and revival meetings are attracting great attention in every part of the land and producing a great sensation. Many, it may be feared, appear moved and touched and roused under the preaching of the gospel, while in reality their hearts are not changed at all. A kind of animal excitement from the contagion of seeing others weeping, rejoicing or affected. Their wounds are only skin deep, and the peace they profess to feel is skin deep also. Reaction, after false religious excitement, is a most deadly disease of soul. When the devil is only temporarily cast out of a man in the heat of a revival, and by and by returns to his house, the last state becomes worse than the first. Better a thousand times begin more slowly, and then “continue in the Word” steadfastly, than begin in a hurry, without counting the cost, and by and by look back, with Lot’s wife, and return to the world. I declare I know no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Spirit because we have picked up a few religious feelings.

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long-suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenience, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassionate, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

Sanctification depends greatly on a diligent use of scriptural means. The “means of grace” are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping God in Church, wherein one hears the Word taught and participates in the Lord’s Supper. I lay it down as a simple matter of fact that no one who is careless about such things must ever expect to make much progress in sanctification.

Sanctification is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer (Gal. 5:17). A deep sense of that struggle, and a vast amount of mental discomfort from it, are no proof that a man is not sanctified. No, rather, I believe, they are healthy symptoms of our condition and prove that we are not dead, but alive. A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. I shall never hesitate to tell people that inward conflict is no proof that a man is not holy, and that they must not think they are not sanctified because they do not feel entirely free from inward struggle. Such freedom we shall doubtless have in heaven, but we shall never enjoy it in this world. The heart of the best Christian, even at his best, is a field occupied by two rival camps, and the “company of two armies”.

Sanctification is a thing which cannot justify a man, and yet it pleases God. The holiest actions of the holiest saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections. They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance and in themselves are nothing better than “splendid sins,” deserving God’s wrath and condemnation. To suppose that such actions can stand the severity of God’s judgment, atone for sin and merit heaven is simply absurd. The Bible distinctly teaches that the holy actions of a sanctified man, although imperfect, are pleasing in the sight of God. He looks at the motive, principle and intention of their actions and not merely at their quantity and quality. 

Sanctification is a thing which will be found absolutely necessary as a witness to our character in the great Day of Judgment. It will be utterly useless to plead that we believed in Christ unless our faith has had some sanctifying effect and been seen in our lives. Evidence, evidence, evidence will be the one thing wanted when the great white throne is set, when the books are opened, when the graves give up their tenants, when the dead are arraigned before the bar of God. Without some evidence that our faith in Christ was real and genuine, we shall only rise again to be condemned.

Sanctification, in the last place, is absolutely necessary in order to train and prepare us for heaven. Most men hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there. Heaven is essentially a holy place; its inhabitants are all holy; its occupations are all holy. To be really happy in heaven, it is clear and plain that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on earth. We need the work of the Holy Spirit as well as the work of Christ; we need renewal of the heart as well as the atoning blood; we need to be sanctified as well as to be justified.

 

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenient, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassion, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

Sanctification is a reality that will always be seen. Like the great Head of the church, from whom it springs, it “cannot be hid.” “Every tree is known by his own fruit” (Luke 6:44). A truly sanctified person may be so clothed with humility that he can see in himself nothing but infirmity and defects. The very idea of a man being “sanctified” while no holiness can be seen in his life is flat nonsense and a misuse of words. Light may be very dim; but if there is only a spark in a dark room, it will be seen. Life may be very feeble; but if the pulse only beats a little, it will be felt. It is just the same with a sanctified man: his sanctification will be something felt and seen, though he himself may not understand it.

Sanctification is a reality for which every believer is responsible. In saying this I would not be mistaken. I hold as strongly as anyone that every man on earth is accountable to God and that all the lost will be speechless and without excuse at the last day. Every man has power to “lose his own soul” (Matt. 26:26). But, while I hold this, I maintain that believers are eminently and peculiarly responsible and under a special obligation to live holy lives. They are not as others, dead and blind and unrenewed; they are alive unto God and have light and knowledge and a new principle within them. Whose fault is it, if they are not holy, but their own? On whom can they throw the blame, if they are not sanctified, but themselves? God, who has given them grace and a new heart and a new nature, has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live for Him. The Word of God always addresses its precepts to believers as accountable and responsible beings. If the Savior of sinners gives us renewing grace and calls us by His Spirit, we may be sure that He expects us to use our grace and not to go to sleep.

Sanctification is a thing which admits of growth and degrees. A man may climb from one step to another in holiness and be far more sanctified at one period of his life than another. More pardoned and more justified than he is when he first believes he cannot be, though he may feel it more. More sanctified he certainly may be, because every grace in his new character may be strengthened, enlarged and deepened. If there is any point on which God’s holiest saints agree, it is this: that they see more and know more and feel more and do more and repent more and believe more as they get on in spiritual life, and in proportion to the closeness of their walk with God. In short, they “grow in grace.”

 

 

Jhn 17:19  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Tit 2:14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

1Pe 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Col 1:22-23  he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast

Heb 2:11  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jhn 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

Love (tenderness, attachment, devotion, passion, appreciation, compassion, warmth, unselfishness, benevolence, zeal, caring, kindness, treasure, deep affection), 

Joy (rejoicing, happiness, delight, radiant, satisfaction),

Peace (calm, quietness, still, composure, at rest, contentment, security, joy, harmony, untroubled, at ease), 

Long-suffering (patient, tolerant, uncomplaining, accommodating, forgiving, meek), 

Gentleness (tenderness, lenience, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, compassion, love, mild, peaceable, considerate),     

Goodness (respectable, purity, just, fair, benevolent, decency, compassionate, tender, kind, helpful, thoughtful, polite, nice),

Faith (trust, belief, conviction, reliance, dependence, hope, persuasion, confidence),    

Meekness (humility, humbleness, obedience, softness), 

Temperance (self-restraint, restraint, moderation, self-control, self-discipline, self-denial)

Sanctification is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ which true faith gives to a Christian. The branch which bears no fruit is no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ which produces no effect on heart and life is a mere formal union, which is worthless before God. True faith works by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much for Him that died for him. Being much forgiven, he loves much

Sanctification is the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He who is born again and made a new creature receives a new nature and a new principle and always lives a new life. A regeneration, which a man can have and yet live carelessly in sin or worldliness, is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians, but never mentioned in Scripture.

Sanctification is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is essential to salvation. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit never lies dormant and idle within the soul: He always makes His presence known by the fruit He causes to be borne in heart, character and life. The Spirit is compared to the wind; and, like the wind, He cannot be seen by our bodily eyes. But, just as we know there is a wind by the effect it produces on waves and trees and smoke, so we may know the Spirit is in a man by the effects He produces in the man’s conduct. It is nonsense to suppose that we have the Spirit if we do not also “walk in the Spirit”

Sanctification is the only sure mark of God’s election. The names and number of the elect are a secret thing, no doubt, which God has wisely kept in His own power and not revealed to man. It is not given to us in this world to study the pages of the book of life and see if our names are there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election, it is this—that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives. Of course, it is hard to know what people really are; and many who make a fair show outwardly in religion may turn out at last to be rotten–hearted hypocrites. But where there is not, at least, some appearance of sanctification, we may be quite certain there is no election.