Sanctification … Holiness and the Abundant Life

Sanctification … Holiness and the Abundant Life

Introduction

• Review of “What We Believe”
• “We Believe: God… the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.
• “We Believe: The Bible… Inerrant, Inspired, and Complete.
• “We Believe: Humanity…Our Nature, Need and Hope.

Today’s Message – We Believe: “Sanctification…Holiness and the Abundant Life”

Sanctification

• Sanctification means separation…

• From Sin

• Sanctification allows me to first be separated from sin and we do this by being holy.
• God calls us to live a Holy life.
  • 1 Peter 1:15-16 - “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.”
• The word holy means separate/set apart.
• Holiness means totally devoted or dedicated to God, set aside for his special use and set aside from sin and its influence.
• If something is sanctified or holy, it is separated from the world and dedicated to God.

• I Thessalonians 4:7 - ⁷For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

• A relationship is you possessing God; fellowship is God possessing you.

•  
• To God
• God wants us to be separated unto Him.

• Revelation 1:6. - “…(He) has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father…”

• Jesus provides for those whom He loves through His work on the cross and who are washed... in His own blood.
• Jesus makes us kings and priests to His God and Father. 

• John 1:29-33
• Jesus is our Savior - He takes away the sin of the world
• Jesus is our Sanctifier - He gives us his Holy Spirit for abundant living
• Here is why today’s lesson is so important …
• Many people know Jesus as their Savior, but they don’t fully experience the reality of sanctification.
• Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

• Romans 8:9 - “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
• Romans 8:5 - “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

• Our mind must be set on walking in the Spirit
• The part that separates us to God is the life we live in the Spirit.

• There are two experiences with Salvation and Sanctification we need to know about.
  • Salvation - Deliverance from the penalty of sin
    • Sanctification - Deliverance from the power of sin
  • Salvation - Freedom from death
    • Sanctification - Freedom to live
  • Salvation - Release from the guilt of the past
    • Sanctification - Equipping for the temptations of the future
  • Salvation - Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us
    • Sanctification - Christ’s righteousness is manifest in us
  • Salvation - Jesus lives in us
    • Sanctification ­- Jesus lives through us

1.   Why don’t all Christians experience the reality of sanctification?
        

• Ignorance — Acts 19:2-3 -  …“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
• These Ephesian disciples showed they didn’t know much about God’s nature as revealed in Jesus. They knew enough to be saved and to be students of Jesus (they were called disciples), but they didn’t know much about Jesus and all He did for us, especially in His promise to send the Holy Spirit when He ascended to heaven.
• Sin — Ephesians 4:30 -  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 
• Sin will allow you to grieve the Holy Spirit. A Spirit-Filled man will not grieve the Holy Spirit knowing He is sealed.

• Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

• Fear — I Thessalonians 5:19 - Do not quench the Spirit.
  • We can quench the Spirit with our doubt, our indifferences, our rejection of Him, our worship of things or by the distraction of others.
• Lack of Desire — Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

• Someone filled with the Spirit will have a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• Sanctification is more than just saying you have been saved. It is also a reflection of who Jesus is through you.

2.   What can we do to experience more of what God promises?
   How can we be delivered from the power of sin?
   How can we gain the freedom for abundant living?
   How can we be equipped for the temptations of the future?
   How can we see Christ’s righteousness manifested in us?
   How can we show others that Jesus is living through us?

You can do this if you

• Surrender. You cannot make yourself holy any more than you can make yourself saved!
  • Romans 6:11- In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
  • Romans 12:1-2 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
• Accept. Christ as your Sanctifier in the same way that He is your Savior!
  • Colossians 2:6-7 - So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
  • Galations 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Abide. Maintain a continuous relationship with Jesus through obedience to his Word.
  • John 15:5 - Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine…