| Chapter 10:
Sanctification, A Result of God’s Grace
Sanctification is a lifelong process
of maturation in Christ and though it may be pursued diligently, it
is never fully attained, in this life. Let me share with you one area
of your life in which "sanctification" is able to lift you, immediately
from a powerful sin. Adultery, sexual immorality and pornography are huge
problems in our world. Temptation abounds, as perhaps never before. But
it is not only the act of adultery or sexual sin that convicts you; it
is the "contemplation" of adultery or sexual sin that convicts you, as
well. Listen.
Matthew 5:27-28
27 "You have heard
that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
28 "But I say to you
that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. (NKJ)
Our aim is to be sanctified by the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We seek to have the mind of Messiah
in us, to behave in a saintly fashion towards others, and to be able
to say, "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me."
From the moment that you accept Jesus
Christ as your personal Savior, you are saved from eternal suffering
and eternal death. There is no other way to "join." You can not
by "membership, family affiliations, good works, merit badges, plaques
honoring your contributions and services" achieve your salvation. These
"works" and "affirmations by man," are as nothing in the eyes of
God.
If salvation could be achieved,
Jesus Christ went to the cross for nothing. Those words must be
indelibly impressed upon our hearts for one very big reason. Pride is
the "not so silent" killer. Pride in "serving," pride in "being
used," pride in "leading people to Jesus," is just as insidious
a sin as any other sin, perhaps even more so. Pride is at the very seat
of sin. Our need for "control" and "affirmation from others" drives
us to a self-centeredness, which distances us from seeking to serve
the will of God. It is our will, not His that we often seek to fulfill.
Salvation is a gift from God, given
by grace, not something we could ever merit. It is a gift, freely given,
because He loves you and He loves me. He wants us, through faith in
the fact of the cross, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to enter
into His eternal peace, starting now. God wants your heart, your servant’s
heart toward Him, now. Yes "works" are of consequence, but only as evidence
of our love, not as a means to gain personal merit. Our strength is
in Him, not ourselves. It is His Heart in you that makes your works,
His works.
As you pursue a personal relationship
with the Messiah, the Lord, you will come to find, if you haven’t already,
that it is exactly that; a pursuit. You do not, this side of eternity,
realize complete victory. You are living in a pigpen, so to speak, in
which Satan is referred to as the "ruler." The contamination is
all around you. Listen to Solomon.
Ecclesiastes 9:10-12
10 Whatever your hand
finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or
knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
11 I returned and saw
under the sun that-- the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to
the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding,
nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
12 For man also does
not know his time: like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught
in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when
it falls suddenly upon them. (NKJ)
We are snared in an evil time. Would
you not agree that is true? You can surround yourself with the power
of the Holy Spirit in the midst of this chaos and know the peace and
power of the Holy Spirit, but you are greatly mistaken if you believe
this earth is capable of perfection, peace and eternal safety. There
is only one haven and that is heaven. We seek to be there, yet we run
the race set before us. Listen to the way Paul puts it.
Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let
us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. (NKJ)
Jesus did for us what
no other person could have done. He came from the presence of the Father,
to fulfill the will of the Father. Absent the resolve of the Father
to rescue His children from the sin which engulfs them, sin would remain
an unresolved circumstance and would prevent our being in His Holy Presence.
The race, as it were, had to be run. Jesus did not look forward to the
punishment but He did look forward to the end result. Listen again to
Paul.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know
that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run
in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who
competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to
obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run
thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline
my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to
others, I myself should become disqualified.(NKJ)
Sanctification is a
process, a lifelong process. Run the race that God set before you, fortified
in your heart, with the knowledge that you are seeking to fulfill His
will for your life, not your will. Do not despair if your relationship
with Him is more "quiet" than "showy." We are all called to serve
and we each have been equipped differently. You are one of God's resources.
Listen to the Apostle Paul's message to you.
Romans 12:1-21
1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3 For I say, through
the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as
God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
4 For as we have many
members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, being many,
are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
6 Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:
if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
7 or ministry, let
us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
8 he who exhorts, in
exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence;
he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without
hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
10 Be kindly affectionate
to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one
another;
11 not lagging in diligence,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope,
patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;
13 distributing to
the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who
persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those
who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
16 Be of the same mind
toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate
with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil
for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
18 If it is possible,
as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Beloved, do not
avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written,
"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
20 Therefore "If your
enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in
so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."
21 Do not be overcome
by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NKJ)
Ask God what He wants
you to do with the intellectual, economic and physical resources He
has given you. Seek to "bear fruit." In the process of seeking
Him lies total uncertainty, in terms of how God may use you, but total
certainty that He has expectations of you that far more exciting and
of eternal value than any role in life in which He is absent.
You may be thinking,
"Of what use can I be? I am not a writer or a preacher or even able
physically to serve God in some special way." Each of us needs
to learn the lesson of what Jesus taught in these next verses.
Luke 21:1-4
1 And He looked up
and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury,
2 and He saw also a
certain poor widow putting in two mites.
3 So He said, "Truly
I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;
4 "for all these out
of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her
poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
(NKJ)
This lesson does not
just pertain to economic wealth, although it is clear that giving more
than others matters not. What matters is answered by the question, "What
did you do with the resources I gave you?" If you feel you have
meager resources, of any kind, do not get comfortable with the idea
that God expects meager effort. What each of us must do is appeal to
God for His will to be fulfilled in our lives. Sanctification is the
lifelong process of seeking His presence and seeking to serve Him and
to glorify Him. What are you doing with the resources He has given you?
This is a question you must answer because surely it is going to be
asked. Listen to the wisdom of the Word:
2 Corinthians 8:12
12 For if there is
first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and
not according to what he does not have.(NKJ)
That verse, as well
as the entire Bible, is typical of the wisdom that God wants you to
seek. You must resolve to be taught His Word, through the Word, now!
I have quoted this verse before, but if sanctification is your hope, the Word is your only reliable resource.
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of
God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(NKJ)
Sanctification involves
obedience to God’s laws and precepts. One could hardly move toward sanctification
as you move away from obedience. If you are making a decision to obey
God in all things, it will require you to rethink some of your habits.
The world’s disdain, for example, of keeping the Sabbath holy, has moved
us in a direction God never intended and in a direction for which I
suspect we shall all be judged. Listen to what the Lord said to Moses.
Exodus 31:12-17
12 And the LORD spoke
to Moses, saying,
13 "Speak also to the
children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for
it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you
may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
14 'You shall keep
the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes
it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that
person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 'Work shall be done
for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD.
Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to
death.
16 'Therefore the children
of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout
their generations as a perpetual covenant.
17 'It is a sign between
Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made
the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was
refreshed.' " (NKJ)
I realize that this
teaching has become very unpopular, especially among the Gentiles. It
is often classified as "legalism" and discarded as a "works" based righteousness.
The result has been that the Sabbath has become no different than any
other day of the week for many people. I am not suggesting that the
"Blue Laws" are the law of the land, but you do not need a law of
men to honor the Law of God.
The Sabbath should
be a day in which we honor the Lord. It should be a day of "righteousness
and thanksgiving," a day for families to join together in worship.
I believe that Satan rejoices at the mockery that the world has made
of the Sabbath just as he rejoices when the Lord’s name in taken in
vain, repeatedly.
Sanctification is a
personal matter. You decide whether or not you should honor the Lord’s
day differently than you do now (which day of the week you choose to
rest in Him matters not, in my opinion). But this is the heart of the
matter, isn’t it? You, communing with His Holy Word, you listening to
God, you asking for His guidance, you seeking His wisdom, you seeking
His powers of discernment in you. Sanctification is about your personal
growth as you get to know God. It will take time but don’t make childish
excuses for clinging to sin if you sense that it is indeed, sin.
Listen.
James 4:17
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do
good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (NKJ)
Is there something
more important to you than developing a close personal relationship
with the Lord? Whatever it is, it is classified as an "idol" because
you look more to "it" than to God. I pray that you will place communion
with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit above all other endeavors. You
are going to be judged based on the Light in you. Let that Light become
a beacon that you move toward without wavering. Sanctification awaits
those who seek to be saints, not in and of their own power, but by the
will of God.
I will not be able
to quote this next point accurately because I lack the reference at
hand, but the author knows I honor his efforts as I support the point.
You can have one of two kinds of relationship to God’s Light, His powers
of discernment, and His guidance. Compare the first kind of "relationship"
to a banquet table of wonderful food, perfectly prepared and bountifully
available.
Compare the second
to a table full of food that has been eaten by others, spit out and
also readily available for consumption. When you read what I and other
men and women have to say, you are feasting on "waste" as it were, compared
to the perfect diet. God’s Holy Word is where you need to go for
guidance. It is perfectly and abundantly served by One who has revealed
Himself, willingly, to those who would look to Him.
I have made this point
in other topics but it bears repeating. The day will come when
the Word that you may have largely ignored will no longer be available.
Listen.
Amos 8:11-13
11 "Behold, the days
are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the LORD.
12 They shall wander
from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro,
seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it.
13 "In that day the
fair virgins and strong young men shall faint from thirst.
(NKJ)
The thirst, from which you will someday
faint, is a thirst for hearing the words of the Lord. I don’t know if
you grasp this truth, but as you stand in a place where opportunity
to listen to God abounds and you fail to partake, you will someday be
very sorry. When you step into His presence, you may very well hear
the words, "Depart from me for I never knew you."
How do you get to know our Lord? What
steps are you taking? You could not be the "enemy" or you would not
be reading this! If you seek sanctification, join with David who said:
Psalms 19:7-14
7 The law of the LORD
is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the
LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is
pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The fear of the LORD
is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous
altogether.
10 More to be desired
are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey
and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them
Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand
his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant
also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then
I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength
and my Redeemer. (NKJ) |
