Consecration is another word for sanctification. Many people have a confused idea as to what sanctification really is. It must be borne in mind that we are not considering the theological term sanctification, but the use of the New Testament word "sanctify," "sanctification." No one would confound "consecration" with "cleansing," and yet many confound "sanctification" with "cleansing." To "sanctify" is to purify, to cleanse, to make holy, they tell us. But the idea of purification, of cleansing, of separating from sin, is not in the N. T. word "sanctify" at all. "The very God of peace _sanctify_ you wholly" (I Thess. v. 23). That does not mean "purify" you, separate you from sin, as a glance at two other passages, in which the same word occurs, will show. "For their sakes I _sanctify_ Myself" (John xvii. 19). "_Sanctify_ in your hearts Christ as Lord" (I Pet. iii. 15, R. V.), where it cannot mean purify, separate from sin. In these passages its true meaning is very apparent--to "set apart for a holy use," to "separate to God," to "consecrate." To "cleanse" is to separate _from_ sin, but to "sanctify" is to separate to God, to set apart for God that which has already been separated _from_ sin. We cannot set apart to a holy use (consecrate) that which is not cleansed. Hence we see why it is that "cleansing" must precede sanctification or consecration, "that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it" (Eph. v. 26, R. V.). "Sanctification" is not identical with "cleansing," but it is its complement. "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. x. 10). "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate" (Heb. xiii. 12). From these passages we gather that it is by the Blood of Jesus we are sanctified, set apart to God. This is another function of the precious Blood, in addition to the one we have already been considering, viz., cleansing from the guilt of sin. _2. Surrender._ "In conversion," says Dr. Chalmers, "God gives to me, but in consecration I give to God." Every one knows that conversion should have experimental acquaintance with consecration. "In full and glad surrender, I give myself to thee."