TEXT: I Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NASB)

23 
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.
23 
Nawa ang Diyos ng kapayapaan ang siyang magpabanal sa lahat sa
inyo. Nawa'y manatiling walang kapintasan ang buo ninyong katauhan, ang
inyong espiritu, kaluluwa, at katawan, hanggang sa pagdating ng ating
Panginoong Jesu-Cristo. 24 Tapat ang tumatawag sa inyo, at gagawin niya
ang mga ito. (FSV)

Intro:
In the past 2 Sundays, we discussed the general and personal duties of
Christians in vv. 14-22. Now, our theme comes from v. 23 - Now may the
God of peace Himself sanctify you… Notice the word “may” it refers to wish
or prayer. That’s why our theme is…

THEME: A PRAYER FOR PURITY (HOLY LIVING)

QUESTION: WHY SHOULD WE NEED TO PRAY FOR PURITY?

Heb. 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which
no one will see the Lord. 

 positional sanctification – when you repented truly of your sins, believed

in Christ, surrendered and committed your life to him. God made you
righteous. Therefore, you are declared holy in the sight of God. You are
holy as to your position.
 experiential sanctification - Although we have a positional status of
sanctified that does not change, Scripture also speaks of an experiential
sanctification that the believer is commanded to work at

I. BECAUSE IT IS GOD’S PROVISION THAT WE LIVE A HOLY LIFE –

V. 23a
23 
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you…

A. God is the originator of holiness

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Job 34:10 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it

from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.

Hab. 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look
on wickedness with favor.

B. God is the sanctifier of all his children

 sanctify means to separate, to set apart from sin to holiness, you are
moving in progression away from sin to holiness. There may be a
decreasing attachment to sin—increasing attachment to holiness;
decreasing incident of sin—increasing incident of holiness;
decreasing frequency of sin—increasing frequency of holiness.
 A sanctified person bears not only God’s name, but His image (Thomas
Watson)
 Himself – God does not delegate the sanctifying process

Do we not have part in sanctification?

I Pet. 1:15-16 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves
also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I
AM HOLY.”

I Thess. 4:3,4,7 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that
you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess
his own vessel in sanctification and honor,  7 For God has not called us
for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

Phil. 2:12-13 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as

in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you,
both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 Meditating the Word of God (Jn. 17:17

 Prayer (Mk. 14:38)
 Fellowship (Heb. 10:24)
 Serving (Philemon 6)

II. BECAUSE IT IS GOD’S PURPOSE THAT WE LIVE A HOLY LIFE TO

THE MAXIMUM LEVEL – V. 23b,c
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23 
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.

A. Sanctified entirely and completely

1. spirit, soul, and body
B. Preserved without blame
1. at the coming of Christ

 Entirely (holoteles) – holos, holistic or total or complete, teles, end =

whole to the end, all the way through
 Complete (holokleros) – intact, undamaged, complete, total
 entire and complete – the extent of sanctification is the whole, through
and through, undamaged complete sanctification. No part of your life is
to be left unholy.
 spirit, soul and body – both the material part (body) and immaterial part
(soul and spirit) are to be included
 It’s important for Paul to use the body which is his emphasis. To the
Greek, the body is evil and the spirit or soul is good. Therefore, don’t
mind the body, it’s nothing and useless.
 Paul used spirit and soul to show the depth of the penetration that God
wants to make in the sanctifying process
 Preserve – means kept, persevered. God, keep them from moving on
the path of holiness until finally Jesus comes and they receive their
ultimate sanctification

Rom. 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to
God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

I Cor. 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your
own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God
in your body.

Rom. 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your

flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your
members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
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III. BECAUSE IT IS GOD’S PROMISE THAT WE WILL SURELY BE

ABLE TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE – V. 24
24 
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

A. God is faithful to his promise

Deut. 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the

faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a
thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His
commandments…

I Cor. 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common

to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond
what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of
escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

II Thess. 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect

you from the evil one. 

B. God always fulfills his promise

Phil. 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a
good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 

CONCLUSION

Although it’s hard to understand that the Holy and Sinless God had
condescended to the level of sinful and wicked men like us, yet His
bountiful grace and mercy produced in us a faith that enabled us to believe
in Christ, repent of all intentional and unintentional sins and surrender and
commit our lives to Him. Consequently, those sins and trespasses were
forgiven and we were declared righteous in the sight of God. What strikes
us the most is, God faithfully makes us holy in our day to day dealings with
life until we attain perfection at the coming of Christ. Therefore, let us also
be faithful to Him by living a holy life, purging out every impurity that
entangles us, and never allow ourselves to be slave to sin again. God bless
us all!
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