Revealed - Session 6 - Matthew Atchley

Holiness isn’t a self-help project; it’s a relationship sustained by God’s own power. In this session, we explore what it means for the Lord to be our Sanctifier, tracing the theme from Exodus and Leviticus all the way to the clarity of 1 Thessalonians 4, Romans 12, and Hebrews 10. Throughout Scripture, sanctification carries a twofold reality: God sets us apart in Christ once for all, and then He continually makes us holy by the Spirit’s ongoing work—reshaping our desires, our habits, and the hopes that steer our lives.

Matthew leads us into honest territory where sanctification becomes deeply practical—sexual integrity, pride, lust, dishonesty, and the way our bodies themselves are treated as places of worship rather than shame. We explore how surrender becomes the doorway to real transformation, how renewing the mind rewires our reflexes over time, and how Christ’s finished work secures our identity even while we continue growing. The biblical paradox that we are “perfected” while “being sanctified” frees us from condemnation and fuels a steady, hopeful pursuit of obedience.

We also look at tangible ways to cooperate with God’s grace: presenting every part of life to Him as an offering, beginning each day clothed in the armor of God, and using tools like journaling to trace the quiet, faithful progress the Spirit produces in us—progress we might otherwise overlook. Sanctification becomes less about pressure and more about partnership with the God who delights to finish what He starts.

This session invites you to run your race with courage, to finish well, and to rest in the faithfulness of the One who began the good work in you and has promised to bring it to completion. Come discover the freedom, hope, and steady maturity that flow from knowing the Lord as the God who sanctifies His people.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Names Of God And Sanctification
• 2:05 Old Testament Roots And Identity
• 4:20 What Sanctification Means
• 7:10 God’s Work And Our Response
• 9:25 God’s Will: Sexual Purity
• 12:15 Surrender And Renewed Mind
• 15:00 Christ’s Finished Work And Ongoing Growth
• 17:30 Running The Race: Pride, Lust, Dishonesty

Transcript

Matthew Atchley: 0:11

Which is from God's name Yahweh. And also, believe it or not, Yeshua, which is translated the Lord. And it does come, believe it or not, it does come from the Old Testament. That's what's amazing, is that Yahweh, Jehovah, Yahweh, Joshua, the Lord, our sanctifier. It comes from Ecclesiastics 31 13, which says, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Surely, my Sabbath you will keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Jehovah Meceshum. It's a little translated a little different right there. Mecodeshcom, which is kind of strange. It's kind of hard to say. I don't know if I'm saying it totally clearly right. I'm not able to speak Hebrew very well. But also Leviticus 28, 28, and you shall keep my statutes and perform them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Jehovah Meccadeshim. Again. So what's amazing is that it translates to Lord, which is translating to Jesus Christ. It's not just translating to God, it's translating to the Trinity, to the Son of God, even in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant. And that's pretty amazing. In both contexts, it is linked to God's commandments and distinct identity of his people. And of course, originally it's the identity of the Israelites, right? It's called nation. So the context the concept of sanctification involves two main ideals. The first one is sitting apart, which is positional holiness. God separates people from the world and to himself. Similarly, Christians are set apart in Christ. So Christians are set apart just like the nation of Israel is set apart. And it's amazing that the Old Testament is specifying that. If you notice that, this is being specified in the Old Testament. Number two is called making holy, progressive holiness. It is an ongoing, lifelong process. Just a second, let me, I forgot to start this, Randy. I'm sorry. It is a life, it is an ongoing, lifelong process where God, by his spirit, transforms a believer's character and conduct to become more like Christ. It's moving from the impurity of sin toward greater purity and devotion to God. So it's an amazing thing. I mean, everybody in here, are you aware of sanctification? That's the first question on the sheet tonight. I mean, a lot of Christians aren't aware of the process of sanctification in a believer's life. So we look at the journey of sanctification. Sanctification is an ongoing, lifelong process by which a believer is made holy and more like Jesus. So number one, God's work, the Holy Spirit, continually transforms our hearts and minds, setting us apart from sin, right? Number two, our response. We actively cooperate by obeying God's word, relying on his strength, and rejecting and rejecting practices that dishonor him. In short, justification is the beginning, being declared righteous. And sanctification is the daily practical journey of becoming righteous, growing in holiness and living a life dedicated to God's purpose. So again it says sanctification is the process of being set apart and made holy. It repeats this over and over. That's what sanctification is. It's the process of being set apart to God and being made holy to God. And there's three points here. What is it is an ongoing active work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life, making them more and more like Jesus Christ. It is growth in holiness. Number two, the goal to move away from sin and toward righteous living and obedience to God's will. Number three, the participation. It requires both God's power, his grace, and our effort, choosing to obey and surrender daily. Now I would turn that around and say surrender and obey. Because truly, sanctification, just like in the name we heard in the beginning, it starts with the Lord. It doesn't start with us. Sanctification belongs to God. He is our sanctifier. So it's the work of God in us that's doing the work. It's not us doing the work, it's God. So this verse is the most direct statement on the purpose of sanctification. So let's look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. Let's go on. That each one of you know how to control his or her own body and holiness and honor, not in passion and of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. So what's amazing here is the topic of sanctification focuses on sexual immorality. And if you notice, sexual immorality isn't just sin against God, it's sin against your body as well. And that's a big thing. So we go to the next one, sanctification as a daily partnership, the process. Of course, someone always told me, my brother, my older brother, Tim Atchley, he's the pastor of Harvest Church, he would always tell me the process is the solution. So the process, the apostle Paul calls for an act of ongoing surrender of your entire life. So surrender is the process. You have to surrender to God. If we look at Romans 12, 1 through 2, it says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, which is amazing. I mean, that's an awesome scripture. Clarification is this shows the process of sanctification. We present our action, our whole lives to God as a living sacrifice, our dedication. This is followed by an inward transformation, the Spirit's work that changes our thinking so we can resist the world's influence. So you see, God is doing the work of sanctification within you by the power of the Holy Spirit. So sanctification as Christ's provision, the means. The verse focuses on the source of our holiness, Jesus Christ. Hebrews ten fourteen. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Amazing. Clarification. This verse highlights that believers are already perfected, justified set apart by Christ's finished work. But the process of being sanctified, the ongoing transformation is still taking place. It assures us that our growth in holiness is continued because it rests on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. So sanctification is going to go on and on and on through your whole Christian life and work on you reaching perfection until the coming of Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ comes back, you reach perfection and you're given a glorified body. And then you're presented. It's amazing. I want to encourage everyone to take time and study and meditate on this topic because it's a major part of your walk with Christ. You can see sanctification at work in Daniel's life through the whole book. God's work of sanctification, it is a major part of Christianity and our walk with Jesus Christ. It is the daily work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, walk. We need to remember that it is important how we run the race, but it's also important how we end the race, how we finish it. Because a lot of people run the race, but they don't finish the race. There are three things. Every day when you wake up as a Christian that you're going to deal with. You're going to deal with this every day without a giving. Number one, the worst one. Pride. You're going to deal with pride. Number two, lust. You're going to deal with lust. Number three, dishonesty. Dishonesty is a big one too. Those are going to be the three main things that we as Christians have to deal with every day when we get up out of bed and face the day before us. And the work of sanctification is what gives us the strength, the power, and the Holy Spirit to overcome those things at work in us. We just like Ephesians 6 says, we have to dress ourselves in the full armor of God and walk worthy of the Lord. And that's how we do it. We pray and we seek God with an honest heart. And we ask God just like Isaiah did. God, touch the coal to my lips. Renew in me a clean heart. Search my heart. Lord God, sanctify me today. Deal with me. Help me walk according to your will and according to your righteousness. Help me be worthy of who I am called to be. And that's that's important. That's the whole purpose of sanctification in our lives. And that's a big topic. But there's also something else in the process of sanctification you need to remember. Don't beat yourself up. Don't fall under condemnation. Don't fall under judging yourself. Know that you're justified. Know your identity in Jesus Christ. And know that you are a child of God and you are justified to God by the blood of Jesus. Sanctification is just the process of you becoming better. It's not the process of you being justified. You are justified by the resurrection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And you are justified by accepting that and believing that and becoming a child of God. So in your walk of sanctification, you can't let condemnation come in and you walk feeling unworthy and unholy. Because you are worthy, because you're justified, right? So you allow you just allow sanctification to do its natural work in your life and walk it out. Run the race. Run the way race and finish the race. And you can we all can do it. We've been given the Holy Spirit. God is for us, he's not against us, and he blesses us every day. If we seek him and search after him, and we surrender to him and give our all to him, he's going to fulfill his promises. And that's what I have to share on sanctification. You got the list of questions there to ask yourself, things, and talk about it. There's a whole lot more to cover about sanctification. That's just a brim surface scan. But I hope you learned something. Thank you. My what? The what? Oh, I used the first one was uh well let me find my notes here. The first one was well I've got Romans twelve, one through two. I've got Thessalonians chapter four, three and that is actually five, six, and seven and eight too. And and I also had another one that I didn't share. It was uh John fifteen sixteen. And the first two was Exodus thirty-one thirteen or no, that's Exodus. Did I say Ecclesiastes? I'm sorry. Exodus thirty-one thirteen and Leviticus. Speak also to the children of Israel. It should be Exodus thirty-one thirteen. Uh the next one is Leviticus twenty-eight. And those two scriptures are out of the old testament concerning Jehovah, Yahweh, Yeshua, the Lord who sanctifies us. Really a great topic to study. A real good Bible study. Twenty-eight twenty twenty verse eight. I'm sorry. Can somebody read uh John fifteen sixteen real quick? That's part of the process of sanctification. And as you see the questions, it asks you how you how can you familiarize the work of sanctification in your own Christian walk. And that's a good thing to do. And I will share with you how how I've done that in the past with my life, and I learned it from Mark Medley. Journaling. If you journal, like he told me, journal for a year and write down the things that God has done in your life, and and the blessings and everything, the hardships, everything you go through in a year, and then go back and read it. And it'll blow your mind. The work of God in your life in that year will flat blow your mind at what all God has done in the process of sanctification and growing you and maturing you. It is amazing what God does in all our lives and helping us mature and grow. So that's that's a good practice to do, yeah.