By the redemptive work of Christ, the entire Church has been set apart, consecrated unto and accepted by God. The grand truth is that the feeble and most uninstructed believer was as completely sanctified before God the first moment that he trusted in Christ, as he will be when he dwells in heaven in his glorified state. True, both his sphere and his circumstances will then be quite different from what they now are: nevertheless, his title to heaven, his meetness for the immediate presence of the thrice Holy One, will be no better than it is today. It is his relation to Christ (and that alone) which qualifies him to enter the Father’s House; and it is his relation to Christ (and that alone) which gives him the right to draw near within the veil now. True, the believer still carries around with him “this body of death” (a depraved nature), but that affects not his perfect standing, his completeness in Christ, his acceptance, his justification, and sanctification before God.
A.W. Pink, The Doctrine of Sanctification
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