comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.
The word "sanctification" is to be set apart. God has chosen you to be set apart from the world. To be set apart is an instrument through which the spirit of God might work. From the beginning God chose you; that thrills me. And because He chose you, then He called you by our gospel by our declaring to you the good news actually, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate, and those that He predestinated, He also called. And those He called, He also justified, and those He justified, He also glorified.Paul follows the same progression of thought in the eighth chapter of Romans. First of all chosen in Him, and because you were chosen, God called you. A spirit of God reached out and touched your heart, made it open to the things of God, made it receptive to the things of God. How thrilling that God should choose us. And then having made this receptive, then called us so we could hear the call and respond, that we might be the children of God set apart by the spirit. "Here you are my children".You know I don't appreciate it so much, until I talk to people who seem to have absolutely zilch, as far as spiritual comprehension or understanding or even interest. They are not interested. What a shame. What a tragedy. Their voice is totally closed to the gospel, or their ear is totally closed to the gospel. No interest, no concern. How was it that I'm so interested? How is it that I'm so concerned? Because God chose me and God called me, and so I rejoice in that I've been chosen.