Sanctified

HOLINESS

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

AS THIS VERSE SUGGESTS,

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT SANCTIFICATION TODAY.

Introduction:

WHEN WE FIRST GET SAVED,

OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN

AND WE RECEIVE A MEASURE OF GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT,

BUT THERE COMES A TIME IN OUR CHRISTIAN WALK WHEN WE REALIZE THAT WE’RE LACKING

IN OUR ABILITY TO LIVE THE CHRIST LIKE, LIFE.

IT’S AT THIS POINT THAT SOME PEOPLE GIVE UP AND WALK AWAY FROM GOD.

WE NEED SOMETHING MORE.

THAT SOMETHING MORE IS WHAT WE CALL

BEING SANCTIFIED TO GOD.

HERE IS THE TYPICAL

THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN

STAGE 1; SALVATION

If you are a Christian

then there was a time when you realized that you were headed to hell and your only hope was to have your sins forgiven.

So you asked God to forgive your sins

and because Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God chose to take your place on the cross and die for your sins,

because He did this,

He was able to take your sins away from you.

STAGE 2; THE HONEYMOON PERIOD

For a time after you were saved it was like heaven on earth.

God held you close

and it was like you were a million miles away from your old life.

1. It was so easy to pray.

2. When you got your bible out, you were able to open it to just the right spot and find just what you needed.

3. God was parenting you because you were a new baby Christian.

And God knows how to take care of His children.

STAGE 3; BEGINNING TO GROWING UP

But there came a day when it seemed that God had stepped back a little.

1. Just opening your bible to any old place didn’t seem to work as well.

2. It wasn’t so easy to pray as it used to be.

3. And horror of horrors you began fighting with temptation.

4. And not only fighting with temptation but sometimes losing the battle.

5. You became a Yo-Yo Christian. You were up today and down tomorrow. You weren’t able to live a consistently sinless life.

6. You wanted to live pure but something kept drawing you back into sinful behavior.

STAGE 4; THE PROBLEM

Romans 7:15-20 (NIV)
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.b For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

The problem is that even though you’ve had your sins forgiven,

the ROOT CAUSE of your sinful behavior is still present in you.

It’s the same ROOT CAUSE that caused you to sin before you were saved.

That ROOT CAUSE is your Selfish Sinful Nature.

MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

When Adam and Eve were first created in the Garden of Eden,

they were made in the Image of God.

Their Nature was created correctly.

It was (perfectly Crafted) for serving God.

With their original nature, it was an easy thing to serve and obey God.

But when Adam and Eve CHOSE to disobey God

and ate the forbidden fruit,

then their nature was twisted, it was bent,

it was changed into a nature that would easily choose to do the wrong. Doing wrong now became as easy to do, as doing right had been before.

STAGE 5; THE PASS DOWN

From Adam and Eve, this Selfish Sinful Nature has been passed down to us from generation to generation. (PAUSE)

I don’t have to prove this to you.

All you have to do is look inside yourself and you will know that it’s true.

Every one of us has this tendency to do the wrong and not the right.

Our natural bend is selfish and sinful.

And it’s true for us, even after we’ve had our sins forgiven.

STAGE 6; THE ANSWER

We just don’t have the will power to live a pure life before God in our own strength.

NO ONE can do it.

But God has provided a way.

It’s called the Highway of Holiness and

this is how Dwight Moody got on the highway.

2230 Moody’s Experience

One day in New York—what a day! I can’t describe it! I seldom refer to it! It is almost too sacred to name! I can only say God revealed Himself to me! I had such an experience of love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand! I went to preaching again. The sermons were no different. I did not present any new truth. Yet hundreds were converted. I would not go back to where I was before that blessed experience.

—Dwight L. Moody

SANCTIFICATION IS THE ANSWER

We come to God in the same humility that we had when we bowed before Him and asked for forgiveness of our sins.

Then we ask Him to remove that Selfish Sinful Nature from our heart.

When we do this in faith, believing,

He comes and pulls that ugly sinful nature out by the roots.

He reaches way down to where those roots have grown so deep

and He pulls it out, roots and all.

Then He throws that sinful nature as far as the East is from the West.

God has an amazing throwing arm!!!

Now It's gone, and there’s a gaping hole left in your soul.

But not for long;

because Gods Holy Spirit comes into you and fills that empty void

and you find yourself living on a different level.

THE EVIDENCE OF HAVING RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT IS: STAGE 7; THE SANCTIFIED LIFE

We don’t have to shout or run the aisles.

Some people say that you must speak in tongues when you get filled with the Holy Spirit. But it’s not true.

The real evidence is found in the kind of Sanctified Life you now begin to live.

As we live on this new Sanctified level we find that it's a lot easier to choose to do the right thing and a lot harder to choose to do the wrong thing.

Those areas that you struggled with before now become easier to stand up to.

The things that seemed so important before now fade into the background.

There is more power in ability to live the CHRIST LIKE LIFE.

A life that's led by the Holy Spirit is a good life indeed.

THERE ARE

TWO KINDS OF WRONG

The first kind of wrong is an honest mistake

or an error in judgment that you didn't intend to do.

Everyone makes these kinds of mistakes every day.

The second kind of wrong is an intentionally committed sinful act. You know it's wrong and you decide to go ahead and do it anyway.

It's like a child who has been told not to cross over a certain line

and the child walks up to that line and sticks his big hairy toe over the line.

He did it on purpose just because he wanted to.

PEG

I heard Elaine Pettit tell this true story about a young woman who went to the same church as Elaine did.

One day Elaine felt led to go and talk to this young woman about her spiritual condition. I'll call her Peg.

Peg's response to Elaine was I know how to do it. I've grown up in the church. I know how to get saved. But I'm having a very good time right now and I'm not ready to get right with God yet.

She was seeing a married man and didn't want it to end.

Sometime later, Elaine heard that Peg was missing. Elaine said that in her spirit she knew that Peg was dead.

A few weeks later her body was found and the story came out that she was seeing a different married man. She had threatened to go to his wife and he had killed her.

MY FRIEND, DON'T PLAY WITH THIS KIND OF SIN.

THERE ARE

TWO DEFINITIONS OF SIN

The first one is the Calvinistic definition of sin

and it is anything that falls short of the absolute perfection of God.

By this definition, it would be impossible for anyone to live a sinless life.

The second definition of sin is that sin is

a willful transgression of a known law of God.

You know it is wrong and you choose to do it anyway.

We believe that it is possible to live above this kind of sin.

We believe you can live this kind of sinless life.

STAGE 8; MATURING IN OUR CHRISTIAN WALK

In exactly the same way that God expects us to begin to grow spiritually when we are first saved,

He also expects us to grow and mature after we are Sanctified.

We will probably always make unintentional mistakes

and unintentional errors in judgment.

But we don't have to continue to be involved in the sinful behavior

that we know is wrong.

A Sanctified Believer isn’t necessarily a Mature Believer.

But his intentions can be righteous.

Sometimes God delivers us from our past sinful habits

and sometimes He expects us to work at getting rid of them.

But with the help of Gods Holy Spirit

and with the selfish sinful nature removed

we can be victorious over all intentional sin.

IS GOD CALLING

Is God speaking to you on the inside right now?

Is He pointing at something that you just can't get victory over?

We have an altar here so that you can come and connect with God.

If you come to this altar, I'll come and pray with you until you get the victory.

We're not here to live defeated sinful lives.

We're here to lives that are victorious over sin and the devil.

With a nature that is pointed toward God and

a heart filled with The Holy Spirit

we can be the victorious person that God wants us to be.

PEG

I heard Elaine Pettit tell this true story about a young woman who went to the same church as Elaine did.

Elaine felt led to go and talk to this young woman about her spiritual condition. I'll call her Peg.

Peg's response to Elaine was I know how to do it. I've grown up in the church. I know how to get saved. But I'm having a very good time now and I'm not ready to get right with God yet.

She was seeing a married man and didn't want it to end.

Sometime later, Elaine heard that Peg was missing. Elaine said that in her spirit she knew that Peg was dead.

A few weeks later her body was found and the story came out that she was seeing a different married man. She threatened to go to his wife and he had killed her.

Why be afraid to admit that you need God's help.

Everyone of us needs God's help.

If you let what other people think of you

keep you from getting the fullness of God's Holy Spirit inside you

then what will you say to God when you stand before Him on Judgment day?

Jesus said that if your righteousness doesn’t exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees then you will in no wise see the kingdom of God.

Everyone here knows what being a Yo-Yo Christian is.

There’s a life of Power available to you.

There’s a life of Victory over sin that is only one step away.

Just take that first step.

Force yourself to take that step and the rest will all follow.

You only have good things ahead of you if God is in control of your life.

He can be trusted.

He wants to help you, but He won't make you accept His help.

COME ON, the decision is yours.

Don't miss out.

Don't miss the train.

Don't be left behind when everyone else is getting God's help.

O god move among us today.

Touch us deeply today.

We are open to You.

We want to live pure before You.

We're sick of sinning.

We want to be one with you and with each other.

HAVE YOUR WAY, O GOD

HAVE YOUR WAY.

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b Or my flesh