Until Christ Be Formed in You (2)

After leaving, some came in called the Judaizers, who were telling the churches they needed more than grace to be saved, they must also be circumcised and keep the Law.

Quick side note: Be careful of those who come in and tell you that you need more.

There are always those who will tell a new convert, “It’s great that you have been saved, now you need to speak in tongues—you need more.

Paul’s answer to this doctrine of “needing more” is what the book of Galatians is about.

Paul here is telling the church the only thing “more” you need is for Christ to be formed in you.

In other words, you do not need anything but more of Jesus living in you.

There are three phases in the Christian life:

Justification – this takes place at the moment a person cries out, “Christ be merciful to me a sinner, forgive me of my sins, and save my soul.”

Justification is “a term that describes the event whereby persons are set or declared to be in right relation to God.”

Justification is not something that one achieves or earns; justification is an act of God whereby He imputes righteousness upon the penitent sinner.

In the times of Jesus, the religious leaders who scrupulously adhere to the Mosaic covenant, taught the only way a person could be righteous was to keep the law to its nth degree.

But Jesus taught no amount of good works would be enough to allow a person to gain access into the kingdom of heaven. That is why he said of the scribes and Pharisees, “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)

Matthew 5:20 (KJV 1900)

20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The apostle Paul who once described himself as a Pharisee of the Pharisees after coming to know Jesus on the Damascus Road realized that all of his righteous works that he had piled up as a Pharisee were nothing but dung before Christ.

Galatians 2:15–16 (KJV 1900)

15We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

16Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

It should be understood that this justification that is placed upon us does not make us righteous; rather we are declared to be righteous by God.

I think the best way of understanding justification is still that little rhyme I learned as a freshman in Bible College:

Just as if I had never sinned;

Just as if I never would;

Just as if I never could.

That is what salvation does for the sinner; it justifies the sinner in the sight of God.

The second phase is sanctification – we’ll discuss that in greater detail in a moment.

The third phase is glorification

Glorification: In the Scripture the idea of glorification deals with the ultimate perfection of believers. It will not take place until Jesus calls us home or Christ returns

Romans 5:2 (KJV 1900)

2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Colossians 1:27 (KJV 1900)

27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

In glorification the believer is given a glorified body which is:

According to Romans 2:7, immortal.

According to 1 Corinthians 15:43-44, imperishable, powerful, and spiritual.

In our glorified body:

According to 1 Thessalonians 2:12, we will participate in the Kingdom of God.

According to 2 Timothy 2:10-12, we will even participate in reigning with Christ.

That is the beginning—justification through salvation—and the triumphant final end: Glorification

Let me make this perfectly clear, no matter how much of the second phase you have, the phase we are going to spend the bulk of our time on today, no matter how much sanctification you have, you will never experience glorification without justification.

Works will never justify you in the sight of God.

Only salvation through Jesus Christ can do that.

I can remember a time when sanctification was a major preaching topic.

In the 60’s and 70’s a fatal switch was made; the verbiage changed from “sanctification” to “separation.”

The idea became that if you do not do certain actions, if you cut your hair a certain way, if you dressed to a certain standard, etc., if you did all those things it would produce sanctification.

Nothing is farther from the truth.

I remember hearing my Father preaching once and he said—this is my paraphrase, because it has been too long ago to remember it verbatim—he said, “People are always telling me how holy they are because they do not “do” certain things; I want to say, ‘Neither does a gate post, but that does not make the gate post holy.’”

Chris is not looking for people who will simply abstain from certain things; Christ is looking for people who want Him to be formed in them.

He is desiring “sanctified” people.

What is sanctification?

A good working definition of “sanctification”: Being made holy as a direct result of a daily walk with Christ.

A comprehensive definition of sanctification by the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833 states:

“We believe that Sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means—especially the Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer” (Article X).

Said another way, sanctification is loving Jesus so much that we want to be like Him.

Sanctification is Christ being formed in us.

Sanctification is being Christ-like.

Sanctification is not being sinless but is does exhibit a life that is willing to turn away from sin and turn to the life that Christ would desire for us.

Separation only turns us away from certain actions.

Sanctification turns us to an attitude that would sing:

To Be Like Jesus,

To Be Like Jesus

All I Ask Is To Be Like Him.

All Thru Life’s Journey From Earth To Glory.

All I Ask Is To Be Like Him.

Sanctification is an act of love, whereby we are so thankful for this wonderful salvation that has brought us justification and the promise of glorification, we want to emulate the one who brought it to us.

Sanctification goes beyond simply wearing a lapel button that says, “I love Jesus;” sanctification exhibits a life that shows “I love Jesus.”

However, let me caution you: The preaching of the doctrine of sanctification will not grow a church.

Why do I say that?

Because the church of today is more interested in appealing to the world than rejecting the world.

John MacArthur: “The doctrine of sanctification would literally evacuate many so called churches. Any real interest in godliness and holiness would send people out the back door who came in the front door on false pretenses, that is, to be entertained or feel good about themselves or gain something for themselves from God.”

The meaning of sanctification

It means to be set apart for God.

Illustration: I truly enjoy cooking. On any typical, morning I am the one who cooks breakfast.

At the Wallace house, a typical breakfast fare is that my wife will eat an omelet and I will have fried eggs. Sometime back I was experiencing the problem of eggs sticking in my frying pan. I learned a long time ago if you have a problem find an expert and ask them how to solve it. So, I called up a friend of mine who is a professional chef, explained my dilemma and asked him the best way to solve it.

His answer was to go buy the best non-stick pan I could afford, and then set that pan aside to cook nothing but eggs in it. It worked. Nothing but eggs are cooked in that pan.

In other words, sanctify that pan for eggs.

In the Christian life, to be sanctified means to be “set-aside” for the service of Jesus Christ.

No one else has our allegiance.

Nothing else has or affection.

Paul’s cry to the church in Rome was to be sanctified for God:

Romans 12:1–2 (KJV 1900)

1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Too many Christians today are set-apart for everything but Christ.

I can remember years ago, that anytime the Cowboys had an early kickoff, there was a certain man in the church who would come into my Father’s office and ask him if he knew what time the Cowboys kicked off?

I am not sure why he did it. My dad was not a sports fan, and I think sometimes he sat down and wrote another point just so that he would make time to go past kickoff time.

You see, that man was sanctified for the Cowboys, not Christ.

But we still have the same problem today.

Some people are set apart for their job.

Some people are set apart for their children.

From time to time I will have, usually, a mother who has visited the church, ask me, “What do you have for the children.”

I have one stock answer: “Hard core Bible teaching.”

Now, I know that is not what they are asking, but that is the truth of the matter.

You see, I was a Youth Pastor before I was a Sr. Pastor. In fact, to be honest, I had the second largest youth group in Hurst. When people were visiting the church, never once was I asked what I was teaching on Sunday morning or any other service. But I was often asked what activities we provided for the young people.

Of that large youth group, only about twenty-five percent are still active in church today.

The problem? We built them on a good foundation of activities but on a lousy foundation of sanctification.

I had another mother tell me that her son had been invited to play on a soccer select team; the problem was they played most of their games on Sunday morning. Then she had the nerve to ask me what I though she should do.

My answer was the Bible tells us to bring a child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; not in the nurture and admonition of soccer skills.

She went on pleading her case, I guess hopping I would reconsider if she appealed to higher education. She explained that it was at these games so many college scouts would come out to watch budding young stars to award them scholarships to good schools.

My answer was the same, “Train you child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and let God worry about college.”

Bottom line is she enrolled him in the league, he got a scholarship, by the end of his freshman year he had renounced his belief in God and was living such a wild party life he lost his scholarship.

What was the problem? Mom sanctified him to the soccer ball not to Christ.

In 1 Samuel when Hanna prayed for a son, it was not so that he could get a scholarship, or have a great career, or get married and give her grand-children; it was so that she might sanctify him unto the Lord.

Some people are set aside for pleasure.

I am always amazed at the person who wants to have a prominent position in the music program of the church; but—you gott’a watch for those buts—they are going to miss every-other Sunday because they have events they are going to need to attend.

That person is sanctified to their pleasure rather than to Christ.

Then there is that person who chooses a church based upon what they enjoy—I call them cafeteria Christians.

Sanctification is being set aside for Christ so that Christ is formed in us.

Sanctification is not piety; sanctification is being like Jesus

Piety said to the woman taken in adultery, “I’m going to stone you”; Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”

Piety would have shunned a morality unfit woman who was drawing water at a well; Jesus said, “I’ll give you water and you will never thirst again.”

Piety would have turned its pious nose up at a tax collector who was in a Sycamore tree; Jesus said, “Zacchaeus come down, I’m having lunch at your house today.”

Sanctification is loving Jesus so much, that we want to be like Him.

The necessity of sanctification

Sanctification is necessary to experience Jesus

Hebrews 12:14 (KJV 1900)

14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

I talk to people every day who say, “Why don’t I feel Christ guiding me in my life.”

Personally, I think the answer is simple, I want to say, “Christ doesn’t want to go where you are going.”

Christ doesn’t want to visit the websites you are visiting.

Christ doesn’t want to read the literature you are reading.

Christ doesn’t was to hear the jokes you are telling.

Most of you have probably heard the old saying: Birds of a feather flock together.

Well, look at the birds you are flocking with.

Revelation 3:20 reveals that Christ is standing at the door of our lives knocking…he wants to come in and have fellowship with us.

But, we must let Christ in…all the way in if you want to have total fellowship with Him.

Sanctification is necessary if we are to grow in the Lord.

1 Peter 2:2 (KJV 1900)

2As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Here is a principal you must understand: You cannot spiritually grow beyond your sanctification.

Said another way: You can not think like Jesus while you are acting like the world.

Sanctification is necessary if we are going to please God.

When God spoke to Moses after He had delivered the Children of Israel out of Egypt, one of the first things He told Moses to tell the Children of Israel was, “I am different from all those gods with whom you have become acquainted in Egypt; and, because I am different from all other gods, I want you to be different from all other people of the earth.

Leviticus 11:44 (KJV 1900)

44For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

William Barclay: To be holy is to be “different.”

God was a different God from any of the so called “gods” of Egypt

God wants His people to be different from any other society on the earth.

Jesus wants His Bride, the church to be diffent from ever other orgization on the face of the earth.

Ephesians 5:27 (KJV 1900)

27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

You see, the Christian should love Jesus so much, that they live with one single goal: To please God.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV 1900)

1Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.