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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Episode Transcript

Matthew Atchley (00:11):
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 ornot, it does come from the Old
Testament.
That's what's amazing, is thatYahweh, Jehovah, Yahweh, Joshua,

(00:41):
the Lord, our sanctifier.
It comes from Ecclesiastics 3113, which says, Speak also to
the children of Israel, saying,Surely, my Sabbath you will
keep.
For it is a sign between me andyou throughout your generations

(01:01):
that you may know that I am theLord who sanctifies you.
Jehovah Meceshum.
It's a little translated alittle different right there.
Mecodeshcom, which is kind ofstrange.
It's kind of hard to say.
I don't know if I'm saying ittotally clearly right.

(01:23):
I'm not able to speak Hebrewvery well.
But also Leviticus 28, 28, andyou shall keep my statutes and
perform them.
I am the Lord who sanctifiesyou.
Jehovah Meccadeshim.
Again.
So what's amazing is that ittranslates to Lord, which is

(01:49):
translating to Jesus Christ.
It's not just translating toGod, it's translating to the
Trinity, to the Son of God, evenin the Old Testament, in the
Old Covenant.
And that's pretty amazing.
In both contexts, it is linkedto God's commandments and

(02:10):
distinct identity of his people.
And of course, originally it'sthe identity of the Israelites,
right?
It's called nation.
So the context the concept ofsanctification involves two main
ideals.
The first one is sitting apart,which is positional holiness.

(02:34):
God separates people from theworld and to himself.
Similarly, Christians are setapart in Christ.
So Christians are set apartjust like the nation of Israel

(02:58):
is set apart.
And it's amazing that the OldTestament is specifying that.
If you notice that, this isbeing specified in the Old
Testament.
Number two is called makingholy, progressive holiness.
It is an ongoing, lifelongprocess.

(03:21):
Just a second, let me, I forgotto start this, Randy.
I'm sorry.
It is a life, it is an ongoing,lifelong process where God, by
his spirit, transforms abeliever's character and conduct
to become more like Christ.
It's moving from the impurityof sin toward greater purity and

(03:46):
devotion to God.
So it's an amazing thing.
I mean, everybody in here, areyou aware of sanctification?
That's the first question onthe sheet tonight.
I mean, a lot of Christiansaren't aware of the process of
sanctification in a believer'slife.
So we look at the journey ofsanctification.

(04:12):
Sanctification is an ongoing,lifelong process by which a
believer is made holy and morelike Jesus.
So number one, God's work, theHoly Spirit, continually
transforms our hearts and minds,setting us apart from sin,
right?
Number two, our response.

(04:33):
We actively cooperate byobeying God's word, relying on
his strength, and rejecting andrejecting practices that
dishonor him.
In short, justification is thebeginning, being declared
righteous.
And sanctification is the dailypractical journey of becoming

(04:56):
righteous, growing in holinessand living a life dedicated to
God's purpose.
So again it says sanctificationis 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 setapart to God and being made holy

(05:21):
to God.
And there's three points here.
What is it is an ongoing activework of the Holy Spirit in a
believer's life, making themmore and more like Jesus Christ.
It is growth in holiness.
Number two, the goal to moveaway from sin and toward

(05:45):
righteous living and obedienceto God's will.
Number three, theparticipation.
It requires both God's power,his grace, and our effort,
choosing to obey and surrenderdaily.
Now I would turn that aroundand say surrender and obey.

(06:09):
Because truly, sanctification,just like in the name we heard
in the beginning, it starts withthe Lord.
It doesn't start with us.
Sanctification belongs to God.
He is our sanctifier.
So it's the work of God in usthat's doing the work.

(06:34):
It's not us doing the work,it's God.
So this verse is the mostdirect statement on the purpose
of sanctification.
So let's look at 1Thessalonians chapter 4, verse
3.
For this is the will of God,your sanctification, that you

(06:58):
abstain from sexual immorality.
Let's go on.
That each one of you know howto control his or her own body
and holiness and honor, not inpassion and of lust like the
Gentiles who do not know God.
So what's amazing here is thetopic of sanctification focuses

(07:25):
on sexual immorality.
And if you notice, sexualimmorality isn't just sin
against God, it's sin againstyour body as well.
And that's a big thing.
So we go to the next one,sanctification as a daily

(07:48):
partnership, the process.
Of course, someone always toldme, my brother, my older
brother, Tim Atchley, he's thepastor of Harvest Church, he
would always tell me the processis the solution.
So the process, the apostlePaul calls for an act of ongoing

(08:09):
surrender of your entire life.
So surrender is the process.
You have to surrender to God.
If we look at Romans 12, 1through 2, it says, I appeal to
you, therefore, brothers, by themercies of God, to present your

(08:29):
bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to thisworld, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, which isamazing.
I mean, that's an awesomescripture.

(08:51):
Clarification is this shows theprocess of sanctification.
We present our action, ourwhole lives to God as a living
sacrifice, our dedication.
This is followed by an inwardtransformation, the Spirit's
work that changes our thinkingso we can resist the world's

(09:16):
influence.
So you see, God is doing thework of sanctification within
you by the power of the HolySpirit.
So sanctification as Christ'sprovision, the means.
The verse focuses on the sourceof our holiness, Jesus Christ.

(09:38):
Hebrews ten fourteen.
For by a single offering he hasperfected for all time those
who are being sanctified.
Amazing.
Clarification.
This verse highlights thatbelievers are already perfected,

(10:00):
justified set apart by Christ'sfinished work.
But the process of beingsanctified, the ongoing
transformation is still takingplace.
It assures us that our growthin holiness is continued because
it rests on the perfectsacrifice of Jesus.

(10:24):
So sanctification is going togo on and on and on through your
whole Christian life and workon you reaching perfection until
the coming of Jesus Christ.
And when Jesus Christ comesback, you reach perfection and
you're given a glorified body.

(10:44):
And then you're presented.
It's amazing.
I want to encourage everyone totake time and study and
meditate on this topic becauseit's a major part of your walk
with Christ.
You can see sanctification atwork in Daniel's life through

(11:16):
the whole book.
God's work of sanctification,it is a major part of
Christianity and our walk withJesus Christ.
It is the daily work of theHoly Spirit in our lives, walk.
We need to remember that it isimportant how we run the race,

(11:37):
but it's also important how weend the race, how we finish it.
Because a lot of people run therace, but they don't finish the
race.
There are three things.

(11:59):
Every day when you wake up as aChristian that you're going to
deal with.
You're going to deal with thisevery day without a giving.
Number one, the worst one.
Pride.
You're going to deal withpride.

(12:20):
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 threemain things that we as
Christians have to deal withevery day when we get up out of

(12:44):
bed and face the day before us.
And the work of sanctificationis what gives us the strength,
the power, and the Holy Spiritto 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 walkworthy of the Lord.

(13:07):
And that's how we do it.
We pray and we seek God with anhonest heart.
And we ask God just like Isaiahdid.
God, touch the coal to my lips.
Renew in me a clean heart.
Search my heart.
Lord God, sanctify me today.

(13:29):
Deal with me.
Help me walk according to yourwill and according to your
righteousness.
Help me be worthy of who I amcalled to be.
And that's that's important.
That's the whole purpose ofsanctification in our lives.
And that's a big topic.

(13:50):
But there's also something elsein the process of
sanctification you need toremember.
Don't beat yourself up.
Don't fall under condemnation.
Don't fall under judgingyourself.
Know that you're justified.

(14:13):
Know your identity in JesusChrist.
And know that you are a childof God and you are justified to
God by the blood of Jesus.
Sanctification is just theprocess of you becoming better.

(14:34):
It's not the process of youbeing justified.
You are justified by theresurrection and crucifixion of
Jesus Christ.
And you are justified byaccepting that and believing
that and becoming a child ofGod.
So in your walk ofsanctification, you can't let

(14:57):
condemnation come in and youwalk feeling unworthy and
unholy.
Because you are worthy, becauseyou're justified, right?
So you allow you just allowsanctification to do its natural
work in your life and walk itout.

(15:17):
Run the race.
Run the way race and finish therace.
And you can we all can do it.
We've been given the HolySpirit.
God is for us, he's not againstus, and he blesses us every
day.
If we seek him and search afterhim, and we surrender to him

(15:39):
and give our all to him, he'sgoing to fulfill his promises.
And that's what I have to shareon sanctification.
You got the list of questionsthere to ask yourself, things,
and talk about it.
There's a whole lot more tocover about sanctification.
That's just a brim surfacescan.

(16:00):
But I hope you learnedsomething.
Thank you.
My what?
The what?
Oh, I used the first one was uhwell let me find my notes here.

(16:23):
The first one was well I've gotRomans twelve, one through two.
I've got Thessalonians chapterfour, three and that is actually
five, six, and seven and eighttoo.
And and I also had another onethat I didn't share.

(16:50):
It was uh John fifteen sixteen.
And the first two was Exodusthirty-one thirteen or no,
that's Exodus.
Did I say Ecclesiastes?
I'm sorry.
Exodus thirty-one thirteen andLeviticus.

(17:14):
Speak also to the children ofIsrael.
It should be Exodus thirty-onethirteen.
Uh the next one is Leviticustwenty-eight.

(17:40):
And those two scriptures areout of the old testament
concerning Jehovah, Yahweh,Yeshua, the Lord who sanctifies
us.
Really a great topic to study.
A real good Bible study.

(18:01):
Twenty-eight twenty twentyverse eight.
I'm sorry.
Can somebody read uh Johnfifteen sixteen real quick?
That's part of the process ofsanctification.

(18:26):
And as you see the questions,it asks you how you how can you
familiarize the work ofsanctification in your own
Christian walk.
And that's a good thing to do.
And I will share with you howhow I've done that in the past

(18:47):
with my life, and I learned itfrom Mark Medley.
Journaling.
If you journal, like he toldme, journal for a year and write
down the things that God hasdone in your life, and and the
blessings and everything, thehardships, everything you go

(19:09):
through in a year, and then goback and read it.
And it'll blow your mind.
The work of God in your life inthat year will flat blow your
mind at what all God has done inthe process of sanctification
and growing you and maturingyou.
It is amazing what God does inall our lives and helping us

(19:34):
mature and grow.
So that's that's a goodpractice to do, yeah.