When God our Saviour revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

Titus 3:4-8 (NLT)

 

We are saved not by our own good works, but by the cleaning work of Christ, and through His Spirit we have a new life and a fresh beginning with God. Though we are already clean, we need the Holy Spirit to continuously cleanse our minds, renewing and removing any thoughts or imaginations that keeps us from living in the truth and fullness of who we are and have in Christ. This is what sanctification is all about.

Sanctification is the process of making us like Christ in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). It is God’s work, and something we participate in by continually walking with Him. We want to be holy because we want to be Christ in conduct and character. The Holy Spirit will produce in us a desire to be holy, because He has inscribed Christ's New Covenant law of love on our hearts.

We can love God and others and do good works because we have experienced and received God’s perfect love in Christ. We do not need to fear failure or defeat because God will be faithful to complete His good work in us (Philippians 1:6). Rather, when we rightly understand our union with Christ, it will naturally supernaturally lead to godly change and action.

The Christian life is not justification by faith and sanctification by law. Rather, it is the Spirit who sanctifies us to become mature sons and daughters of our Father. While the Old Covenant law teaches us about holiness, it is the Holy Spirit who create in us a new heart of holiness that impacts our attitudes and actions.