Holy Spirit and Holiness: Why Sanctification Is the Will of God
- Apostle Chad Collins
- Jun 29
- 11 min read
A lot of believers spend years trying to figure out the will of God while overlooking the place where Scripture starts. If I want to know what God wants for my life, I do not have to begin with a career decision, a season, or a platform. I begin here: the will of God is my sanctification.
That truth is not optional. It is not a side doctrine for extra serious Christians. It is at the center of the new life. If I belong to Christ, then holiness is not a bonus subject. It is part of the call of God on my life.
And this is where many people get confused. They hear the call to holiness and immediately think in terms of self effort. They think God is demanding moral perfection through human strength. That is not the gospel. The gospel is not God telling me to clean myself up so I can come near. The gospel is God bringing me into Christ, and then by the Holy Spirit doing in me what I could never do on my own.
That is why I cannot talk about holiness without talking about the Holy Spirit. If I remove the Holy Spirit from the equation, holiness turns into religion. Rules remain, but power disappears. Expectations remain, but transformation does not happen. The Holy Spirit is not a decoration in Christian theology. He is essential to the life of God in me.
Table of Contents
Sanctification Is Not a Minor Theme
I truly believe one of the main subjects believers need to be taught is sanctification. The unbeliever needs salvation. The believer needs to understand what salvation leads into. Too often people know how to get converted, but they do not know how to walk out the life that comes after conversion.
Sanctification simply means being made holy, set apart, consecrated, and dedicated to God. It carries the idea of being separated from common use and devoted to the Lord. Holiness and sanctification are deeply connected. In many places the thought is practically interchangeable.
So when Scripture says God has called me to holiness, it means my whole life now belongs to him. Not just my church attendance. Not just my ministry activity. Not just my words in public. My conduct, desires, habits, motives, and body all come under the lordship of Christ.
This is why the New Testament speaks plainly about issues people often want to avoid. Sexual immorality, lust, uncleanness, taking advantage of others, and living like those who do not know God are not treated as small matters. God calls me away from uncleanness and into holiness.
And if I reject that call, I am not merely disagreeing with a preacher or a denomination. I am resisting God, the very one who gives the Holy Spirit.
The Remedy for Holiness Is the Holy Spirit
Now here is the powerful part. The same passage that commands holiness also points me to the remedy. God gives his Holy Spirit. That means the answer to the call of holiness is not willpower alone. The answer is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit, the Christian life becomes impossible at the practical level. Yes, miracles are possible with God. Yes, healing is possible with God. But I need to understand that the overcoming life is also possible with God. Freedom from the domination of sin is possible with God. Purity is possible with God. Not because my flesh became strong, but because the Spirit of God is stronger.
That is why I say holiness and the Holy Spirit belong together. If I take the Holy Spirit out, holiness becomes an impossible command. If I understand the Holy Spirit correctly, holiness becomes the fruit of divine life working in me.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Sanctification
One of the clearest ways to understand this is to look at the distinct roles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father calls me to holiness.
The Son secures holiness for me.
The Holy Spirit works holiness into me.
I like to say it this way: the Father wills sanctification, the Son purchased sanctification, and the Spirit applies sanctification.
The Father Calls Me to Be Holy
God is holy, and because he is holy, he calls his people to reflect his nature. Scripture teaches that I am to live as an obedient child, no longer shaped by the desires that marked my life before I knew God. I am called to holiness in all my conduct, not in selected areas only.
This is a calling. A call requires an answer. God does not force holiness on me against my will. He summons me. He invites me. He deals with me. He convicts me. But I must respond.
And this holy calling is not limited to ministers. God did not only call some people to preach and others to holiness. Holiness is the first calling on every believer. Before assignments, there is consecration.
The Son Positions Me as Holy
At the moment I genuinely repent and place my faith in Jesus Christ, God puts me in Christ. That is the great gift of justification. By the blood of Jesus, I am declared righteous before God. I do not earn that standing. I receive it by faith.
This is what theologians often call positional sanctification. In Christ, I am regarded as holy. God sees me in his Son. The holiness of Jesus is the basis of my standing before the Father.
This matters deeply because if I do not understand my position in Christ, I will spend my life trying to earn what Jesus already purchased. I do not become acceptable to God through my own merit. I become acceptable through Christ alone.
The blood of Jesus gives me lawful access into the kingdom of God. It is the basis of my welcome. It is my entrance. It is the reason I can come boldly to God.
The Holy Spirit Makes Me Holy in Practice
Still, my position in Christ does not eliminate the need for transformation in daily life. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in as the active agent of sanctification. He takes what Christ has accomplished and works it into my experience.
He convicts me. He washes me. He renews my mind. He breaks sinful strongholds. He teaches me to walk differently. He empowers me to live in a way that matches the new identity I have received in Christ.
So yes, I am holy in Christ. But it is also true that the Holy Spirit is making me holy in my actual conduct. Those are not contradictions. They are two sides of the same redemptive work.
Why Human Effort Alone Cannot Produce Holiness
Many of us have tried to overcome sin by making promises to God. We say we will never do it again. We draw a hard line. We increase our determination. Yet somehow the struggle returns, and sometimes it returns stronger.
Why? Because the flesh cannot sanctify the flesh.
I cannot produce holiness by self effort. I can modify behavior for a while. I can hide things. I can replace one bad habit with another. I can become religious. But I cannot become holy by works. God will often allow me to reach the end of myself so I finally admit that I need dependence on him.
This is why I strongly emphasize dependence on the Holy Spirit. In fact, I would say I must become utterly reliant on him. I should not try to leave home spiritually speaking without him. He is not an accessory to my day. He is the air of my walk with God.
Get in the Shower, Then Turn the Water On
One of the simplest ways to understand this is with the picture of a shower.
When I come to Christ, I come dirty. Everybody does. I do not clean myself up first and then present myself to Jesus. I come as I am, with repentance and faith, and God places me in Christ. That is like getting into the shower.
But getting into the shower is not the same as being washed. Once I am in Christ, the Holy Spirit is the one who washes me. He cleanses me. He sanctifies me. He applies what Jesus purchased.
So the right response is not, "I need to fix myself before I come." The right response is, "I need to come into Christ and let the Spirit of God wash me.
At the same time, it makes no sense to stand in the shower and refuse the water. That is what happens when someone wants the name of salvation without surrender to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Salvation and sanctification run together. They are not enemies. The new birth opens into a new way of life.
The Holy Spirit Is More Than Gifts and Tongues
I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I believe in miracles, signs, wonders, prophecy, and tongues. But I must say this clearly: the Holy Spirit is not only given for power encounters. He is also given for holiness.
If I celebrate the Holy Spirit in public manifestations but ignore his sanctifying work in private life, I have misunderstood him. The same Spirit who empowers ministry also purifies conduct. The same Spirit who casts out devils also deals with bitterness, lust, pride, and unforgiveness.
Holiness is not the enemy of the supernatural. True holiness is one of the clearest evidences that the Holy Spirit is at work.
Walk in the Spirit and You Will Not Fulfill the Flesh
The key is not mere flesh denial in isolation. The key is yielding to the Spirit. As I walk in the Spirit, I do not fulfill the desires of the flesh. The order matters.
If I focus only on the flesh, I become sin conscious and frustrated. If I learn to yield to the Holy Spirit, he empowers me to deny what once dominated me.
This does not mean temptation disappears forever. I still live in a body. I still need vigilance. But I am no longer a helpless slave to sin. Through Christ and by the Spirit, the chains have been broken.
Even when I fail, I am not abandoned. I have an advocate with the Father. If I confess my sin, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse. Grace does not excuse sin. Grace restores me and keeps drawing me deeper into holiness.
The Holy Spirit Is as Essential as Breath
Think about what is most essential in life. I can go without food longer than I can go without water. I can go without water longer than I can go without air. Breath is that immediate.
That is how I should understand the Holy Spirit in relation to godliness. He is not optional. He is not occasional. He is not a Sunday add on. He is the breath of spiritual life.
Jesus breathed on his disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. That image is powerful. In my walk with God, the Holy Spirit is like breath. I need him constantly.
And here is the mature goal: I become so acquainted with the Holy Spirit that dependence on him becomes as natural as breathing. Not forced. Not theatrical. Not strange. Deeply inward and continuous.
Holiness Is Not Weirdness
Let me say something plain. The Holy Spirit does not make me weird. He makes me holy.
Sometimes people react against the Holy Spirit because they have seen fleshly excess, emotional confusion, or counterfeit spirituality. But the abuse of something real does not cancel the real thing. The Spirit of God produces holiness, clarity, conviction, power, and life.
And holiness is not a burden that crushes human flourishing. Holiness is actually the place where human life works best under God. It is the healthiest disposition of the soul. When sin is not constantly weighing me down, clouding my judgment, and draining my strength, I can function more fully in what God created me to do.
That applies to every calling. If God has called me to business, holiness matters there. If he has called me to serve, lead, create, teach, or build, holiness matters there. The sanctified life is not small. It is powerful.
Drink of the Spirit
Just as what I eat and drink affects my body, what I receive spiritually affects my inner life. Scripture speaks of drinking of the Spirit. That means I am not merely acknowledging doctrinal truths from a distance. I am communing with the Holy Spirit personally.
When I wait on him, worship, pray, and yield, he strengthens me from within. He sharpens my spiritual discernment. He renews my affections. He builds resistance against sin. If I can borrow the image, he boosts my spiritual immune system.
This is why the enemy fights so hard to keep believers from true communion with the Holy Spirit. If he can keep me dry, he can keep me weak. If he can keep me from the water, he can keep me in cycles of bondage.
But when I learn to drink of the Spirit, everything begins to change. Not always in one dramatic moment, though sometimes that happens. Often it is a steady, living fellowship where the Spirit continues his sanctifying work day after day.
How I Respond in Moments of Temptation
When temptation rises, I do not have to panic. I do not have to trust my own strength. I can stop and turn toward the Holy Spirit.
I can say, in simple faith:
Holy Spirit, I need you right now.
Holy Spirit, remind me that the old man was crucified with Christ.
Holy Spirit, put this desire to death in me.
Holy Spirit, help me yield to you instead of the flesh.
That is not weakness. That is wisdom. Sanctification deepens where dependence deepens.
The Spirit also sensitizes me to things that grieve him. I cannot cling to bitterness, unforgiveness, and impurity while enjoying close fellowship with the Holy Spirit. If I stay tender to him, I will feel that inward check. He leads me away from what grieves him and into what reflects Christ.
The Victory of Jesus Is My Victory
One reason believers live beneath their inheritance is that they do not identify strongly enough with what Jesus has already done. Christ defeated sin, death, hell, and the grave. He won the victory. If I am in him, then his victory is my foundation.
Sanctification is not me trying to achieve a victory Christ never secured. It is me learning to walk in the victory he already won. That changes the whole atmosphere of the fight. I am not striving for acceptance. I am responding from acceptance. I am not trying to become someone through my own effort. I am learning to live as the new creation God says I already am in Christ.
Holiness Is Beautiful
There is something the modern church needs to recover: holiness is beautiful. Scripture speaks of worshiping God in the beauty of holiness. That is not cold, harsh, or lifeless. It is radiant. It is clean. It is weighty with the presence of God.
When the Holy Spirit is truly at work, he does not merely stir emotion. He forms Christ in me. He causes me to love what is pure, hate what is evil, and delight in the presence of God.
So if I want a real spiritual life, I must stop separating what God joined together. I cannot claim to honor the Holy Spirit while resisting holiness. And I cannot pursue holiness while neglecting the Holy Spirit.
The Father has called me to holiness. The Son has made a way for me through his blood. The Holy Spirit now lives in me as the active power of sanctification. That is the Christian life.
I do not need to hide my weakness. I need to bring it into the light. I do not need to manufacture holiness. I need to yield to the Spirit. I do not need to stay trapped in what Christ died to break. I need to receive what God has provided.
The Holy Spirit is everything in this walk. He washes, sustains, strengthens, convicts, comforts, empowers, and perfects holiness in the life of the believer. If I will trust him, acknowledge him, commune with him, and yield to him, he will do what my flesh never could.
God has not called me to uncleanness. He has called me to holiness. And thanks be to God, he has also given me his Holy Spirit.
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