1 Thess 5:24, Me? Holy? Completely?

Tuesday May 16, 2023

Main passage:

1Th 5:23-24

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Theme: It is possible to be entirely sanctified because God is faithful, able, and calls you.

1. Is it possible that any believer in Christ can be entirely sanctified?
   1. Positional sanctification – eternal salvation through regeneration by faith in Christ.
      1. Positional sanctification is true and unchangeable for all believers.
   2. Practical sanctification is the behavior, thinking, and lifestyle of the believer.
      1. God’s will is that every part of our life is sanctified.
      2. This is not true of all believers, but can be and should be.
2. Paul anticipates the reaction of the Thessalonian believers, and therefore us, to his wish prayer, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely…”
   1. “entirely” – completion of all parts of life to maturity.
   2. “complete” – whole person.
      1. Spirit – immaterial inner person
      2. Soul – person, life.
      3. Body – material person.
   3. Similar wish prayer: 1Th 3:13.
      1. 1Th 3:12-13, “may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”
      2. Continue to mature until the coming of the Lord.
      3. “holiness” is the same root word as “sanctify.”
   4. Jam 1:4, And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
      1. Same use of “complete” meaning sanctification of the whole person to maturity (lacking nothing).
3. There is a calling of God every day to practical sanctification (1The 5:24) and a call of God to salvation which is positional and forever. The following compares them.
   1. Called to eternal salvation in the use of the perfect participle (called in the past with existing results).
      1. Heb 9:15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance
      2. Rev 19:9 “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
   2. “Faithful is He who calls you,” (present participle – continuous calling, or every day calling).
      1. God calls us every day to be sanctified in all parts of ourselves and our lives.
      2. 1Th 4:2 “excel still more” – grow every day in sanctification in all parts until the coming of the Lord.
4. Application: God is faithful – God will equip and purify the person in accord with what He has called him to be.
   1. Example: Exodus as an example to us, 1Co 10:13.
   2. Whatever happens in our lives is under the Sovereign will of God.
   3. Faithful God has called us to endure it.
   4. There is nothing that you face or comes into your life that you cannot handle, and do so with entire grace, wisdom, power, and purity.
   5. The interpretation of 1Co 10:13 is that everything in your life can be handled through God’s faithfulness and strength.

God calls (present participle) the believer every day (1Th 5:24). This is related to God’s call to salvation, which is eternal and forever (positional).

Rev 19:9

bWrite, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

NASU