Featured Sanctification.

That is not what Ezk 34 says.

 

The elect are sanctified before the world was.
It is a process Heb2:9-16

 

More Hermeneutical absurdity.

 

Once again, the passage says no such thing. On and on, verses are cited that provide no support. Obfuscation on display.

God chooses individuals for salvation by setting them apart in Christ (sanctification by the Spirit) based on their faith in the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Ephesians 1:4 refers to our corporate, not individual election, because we lived not as a chosen people. 1 Peter 2:9-10.

 

Lets look;
Ezekiel 34 King James Version (KJV)
34 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;

8 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;

10 Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

11 For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out.

12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.

16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

It is not an absurdity for anyone who can read, is this 11 times in 16 verses?

 

More absurdity, more deflection, more obfuscation. My sheep, flock or whatever refers to those who belong to God. Under the Old Covenant, those who had obtained approval through faith.

The issue which seems beyond the grasp of some is that "the sheep" usually reefers to fallen mankind under the New Covenant. This remains unchallenged by the deflector posts. "Of My sheep" refers to fallen mankind that are open and receptive to God's word.

Here is what I said, and what Icon claims was not what Ezekiel said:

 

We were not born in a spiritual relationship with God, had to get born again, correct?
Have to be Justified before can be sanctified by God!

 

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

AWPink.Hebrews2;
"All of one," is very abstract, and for this reason not easy to define concretely. "Observe that it is only of sanctified persons that this is said. Christ and the sanctified ones are all of one company, men together in the same position before God; but the idea goes a little further. It is not of one and the same Father; had it been Song of Solomon , it could not have been said, ‘He is not ashamed to call them brethren.' He could not then do otherwise than call them brethren. If we say ‘of the same mass' the expression may be pushed too far, as though He and others were of the same nature as children of Adam, sinners together.
In this case Jesus would have to call every man His brother; whereas it is only the children whom God hath given Him, ‘sanctified' ones, that He so calls. But He and the sanctified ones are all as men in the same nature and position together before God.

When I say ‘the same' it is not in the same state of sin, but the contrary, for they are the Sanctifier and the sanctified, but in the same proof of human position as it is before God as sanctified to Him; the same as far forth as man when Hebrews , as the sanctified One is before God" (Mr. J.N. Darby).



But what is meant by "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified"? The Sanctifier is Christ Himself, the sanctified are the many sons who are being brought to glory. "The source and power of sanctification are in the Son of God our Savior. We who were to be brought unto glory were far off from God, in a state of condemnation and death. What could be more different than our natural condition and the glory of God which we are awaiting? Condemned on account of our transgressions of the law, we lived in sin, alienated from God, and without His presence of light and love. We were dead; and by ‘dead' I do not mean that modern fancy which explains death to mean cessation of existence, but that continuous, active, self-developing state of misery and corruption into which the sinner has fallen by his disobedience. Dead in trespasses and sins, wherein we walked; dead while living in pleasing self ( Ephesians 2:1 , 2 , 1 Timothy 5:6). What can be more opposed to glory than the state in which we are by nature? and if we are to be brought into glory, it is evident we must be brought into holiness; we must be delivered and separated from guilt, pollution, and death, and brought into the presence of God, in which is favor, light, and life—that His life may descend into our souls, and that we may become partakers of the Divine nature.

"Christ is our sanctification. ‘By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified' ( Hebrews 10:14). By the offering of His body as the sacrifice for sin, He has sanctified all that put their trust in Him. To sanctify is to separate unto God; to separate for a holy use. We who were far off are brought nigh by the blood of Christ. And although our election is of God the Father (who is thus the Author of our sanctification, Jude 4), and the cleansing and purification of the heart is generally attributed to the Holy Spirit ( Titus 3:4,5), yet is it in Christ that we were chosen, and from Christ that we receive the Spirit, and as it is by the constant application of Christ's work and the constant communication of His life that we live and grow, Christ is our sanctification.

"Behold I and the children which God hath given Me." Those whom God hath given to Christ were referred to by Him, again and again, during the days of His public ministry. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me" ( John 6:37). "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me" ( John 17:6 , 9). They were given to Christ before the foundation of the world ( Ephesians 1:4). These "children" are God's elect, sovereignly singled out by Him, and from the beginning chosen unto salvation ( 2 Thessalonians 2:13). God's elect having been given to Christ "before the foundation of the world," and therefore from all eternity, throws light upon a title of the Savior's found in Isaiah 9:6: "The everlasting Father." This has puzzled many. It need not. Christ is the "everlasting Father" because from everlasting He has had "children!"

Why were these "children" given to Christ. The first answer must be, For His own glory. Christ is the Center of all God's counsels, and His glory the one object ever held in view. Christ will be eternally glorified by having around Him a family, each member of which is predestined to be "conformed to His image" ( Romans 8:29). The second answer Isaiah , That He might save them: "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" ( John 6:37).

"Behold I and the children which God hath given Me." We doubt not that the ultimate reference of these words looks forward to the time anticipated by that wonderful doxology found at the close of Jude's Epistle: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever." When the Lord Jesus shall, in a soon-coming Day, gather the company of the redeemed unto Himself and "present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" ( Ephesians 5:27) then shall He triumphantly exclaim, "Behold I and the children which God hath given Me." In the meantime let us seek to take unto our hearts something of the blessedness of these words that, even now, the "joy of the Lord" may be our strength ( Nehemiah 8:10).

 

https://media.sermonaudio.com/articles/da-1318195250-1.PDF

Christ is the believer’s positional sanctification; the believer is positionally sanctified because he is united to Christ. Take Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which he addressed to ‘the church of God that is in Corinth... those sanctified in Christ Jesus’. The apostle went on to explain: Christ Jesus... became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption... You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 1:2,30; 6:11). And what was true of the Corinthians – the Corinthians, of all people (not the most spiritual of people; see the first letter in full) – is true for every believer throughout this age. As I say, the believer’s sanctification derives explicitly from Christ. Indeed, it derives directly from Christ’s own sanctification. As he himself declared, when praying for his people: Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth (John 17:17-19).

 

We are not born united to Christ, as we are spiritual dead in Adam, correct?

 

All men are conceived spiritually dead.

What does 2 tim1 :9 suggest to you?
How can it be?
Who was the grace given to?
You are speaking only of progressive sanctification....I believe we are set apart[sanctified] in Christ before the world was.

 

I agree that God chose and knew us as his own, but from our point of view, were not really His until we were reborn again, and translated out of Kingdom of Satan into Kingdom of Jesus!

 

Do you believe in the covenant of Redemption? Can you explain it, what is your understanding of it?

 

If God puts a person "in Christ" they are set apart in Christ, the sanctification by the Spirit. The act of individual election for salvation is based on God crediting our faith in Christ as righteousness, and being transferred into Christ (redeemed).

 

What some consider as “progressive sanctification” is mislabeled. Rather, such is not sanctification, rather it is the growth and maturity of the believer, and in THAT growth in maturity, the believer comes to the knowledge that they must set aside various stumbling blocks and triggers that distract from fullness of Christ’s fellowship and leading.

Sanctification and holy are one on the same.

One is or is not Holy. There is no “dimmer switch” but a toggle switch. Holy or unholy.

I find no place in Scriptures were God finds unholy acceptable. What is found is levels of maturity. Maturity is NOT a word to replace holy.

“Set apart” is also not a very good definition for it brings with it the concept of some process of movement.

Sanctification does not involve movement, but a title and deed transfer.

For example:
1 Corinthians 6:

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.​

“....and such were some of you...” refers to the former control structure. “But now...” shows the retitle has already taken place and believers are sanctified - use of past tense “were.”

That is the way of all cases involving sanctification. No exception.

I wish folks would stop using “progressive” with the word Sanctification, but call such what it actually is, “progressive maturity.”