In today’s episode, the guys focus on sanctification.  Sanctification occurs in two parts: initial sanctification occurs instantaneously when a person is saved and is all God’s work.  This initial change involves being set apart for God and delivered from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ.  After conversion, we spend the rest of our earthly lives going through progressive sanctification, which is grounded in God’s work of conforming us more and more to the image of Christ as we are involved and responsive. We play a passive role through dependence on God, and an active role through obeying and yielding to God.  God will ultimately complete the work He has begun of making us each holy as He is holy, but He uses our involvement as a means by which He completes this work.  Since we were made positionally holy at the time of initial sanctification, progressive sanctification is actually the process by which we become who we already are in Christ.  We are new creations, and as the flesh and Spirit continue to war within us, we can know that the completion of our sanctification is sure!

There are several different views of sanctification, and the guys highlight the Wesleyan view with its practice of waiting for God to simply sanctify people out of certain sins.  Contrary to this view, the testimony of Scripture is that we must not sit on our hands, but rather get up and get moving!  The sign of a true Christian, the guys explain, isn’t that someone has arrived.  Rather, it is that someone is sensitive to sin, continually responding to it by repenting and turning to Christ.  As the conversation winds down, the guys talk about the need for patience and accountability in relationships among Christians, as well as the importance of being in the Word every day.  We need to hear from God if we are to be changed; this requires the self-control of a daily commitment, and at times may require developing a taste for the different flavors of Scripture through increasing in knowledge of God Himself.  Ultimately, all the effort required of us is well worth it, as we can see the sweet reality of God renewing us after the image of His Son!