One of God's deepest desires for humanity is for man to be sanctified.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SANCTIFY AND HOW TO DO IT?

The word SANCTIFICATION comes from the Hebrew "Kadosh" and the Greek "Agios" and means SEPARATED or SEPARATION.

Contrary to what many think, being holy does not mean a state of perfection or purity, but it means a state of separation or being set apart for God.

And for there to be a true separation from God, man needs to eliminate from his life the things that go against the Word of God and that separate him from God, that is, THE SIN.

Being in sanctification or being set apart for God also means constantly seeking God with prayers, praises, worship, fasts and obedience, turning your life into a throne of praise, worship and witness to our God.

The justification God used to direct the people to sanctify themselves was extremely simple and blunt: 1 Peter 1:16 ...Be holy, because I am holy.

So our justification for sanctification must simply be: BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY.

God is our Father and we as children must be like Him. We must imitate him, after all we were created in his image and in his likeness.

Romans 1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...

We must seek our spiritual perfection, meditating on the Word of God and acting according to the character of God, that is, without sinning and acting with justice and mercy.

Understanding the Word of God leads us to sanctification: John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

The more we know the Word of God, the more conviction we will have of the need to sanctify ourselves and to be more and more filled with the Holy Spirit.

When God spoke in Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord, He is clearly saying that without separation, man will NOT SEE HIM, and this is very strong and many people will not realize it yet.

Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The narrow gate It means that you don't just enter the kingdom of heaven.

The narrow gate also means that we must have a life that is turned toward God and not toward the world or worldly desires.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

God must always be first in our lives, THAT'S SANCTIFICATION.

God's desire for people to sanctify themselves is so strong that when He defined the priestly garments, He determined that a plate of pure gold be placed on the foreheads of the priests with the inscription: HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

Exodus 28:36 And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and grave on it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 37 And you shall put it on a blue lace, that it may be on the turban; on the forefront of the turban it shall be. 38 And it shall be on Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

SANCTIFY YOURSELF SO THAT GOD MAY DO WONDERFUL AROUND YOU.

Joshua 3:5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Pastor Val Martins