FrazzledFraggle
New Member
A PECULIAR PEOPLE SANCTIFICATION
Key Verses
2 THESSALONIANS 2:13 “…because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
TITUS 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
Objective
TO UNDERSTAND THAT SALVATION IS NOT THE FINAL DESTINATION IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, BUT THE BEGINNING OF OUR JOURNEY; AND TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE MUST SURRENDER OUR HEARTS TO DESIRE HIS SANCTIFICATION FOR OUR LIVES.
Lie #1
I GAVE MY HEART TO CHRIST SO IF GOD WANTS ME TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY; HE’LL CHANGE ME ON HIS OWN.
Truth
OUR SALVATION JUSTIFIES US, OR SUPERNATURALLY MAKES US RIGHTEOUS BY GOD.
JUSTIFICATION: JUST AS IF I HAD NEVER SINNED. GOD DECLARES YOU RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE OF YOUR FAITH IN JESUS. IT IS NOTHING YOU DID OR SHOULD HAVE DONE; NO WORKS, AT ALL, HAVE TO DO WITH JUSTIFICATION. IT IS ONLY A CHILD-LIKE FAITH THAT IS NEEDED.
LUKE 9:23 “IF ANYONE DESIRES TO COME AFTER ME, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, AND FOLLOW ME.”
ROMANS 3:24 “BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS.”
ROMANS 4:5 “BUT TO HIM WHO DOES NOT WORK BUT BELIEVES ON HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY, HIS FAITH IS ACCOUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
HOWEVER, ONCE WE ARE JUSTIFIED THROUGH SALVATION, GOD DOES NOT EXPECT US TO REMAIN STUCK IN OUR FLESH-CENTERED LIVES. INSTEAD, GOD EXPECTS US TO REFUSE TO “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” ROMANS 12:2.
WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION?
It is the ongoing process by which every believer is to daily yield her entire being to God in order to be purified and changed into the image of Christ. It is to be set apart for His purposes. It is to be peculiar. As we develop a lifestyle of saying “yes” to God and “no” to our flesh, we begin to undergo the process of sanctification by God. In short, sanctification is the road that takes us to holiness.
According to author J.C. Ryle, “Sanctification is the inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Spirit, when he calls him to be a true believer. He not only washes him from his sins in his own blood, but he also separates him from his natural love of sin and the world, puts a new principle in his heart, and makes him practically godly in life. The instrument by which the Spirit effects this work is generally the Word of God.” Sometimes He uses afflictions and other means.
1 PETER 2:5 “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
But we must remember that it is our privilege to be purified by God.
1 PETER 2:9 “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Clearly, therefore, our responsibility is to turn away from the sin He saved us from so that He can take us through this life-changing sanctification process.
ROMANS 8:12-14 “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
ROMANS 6:11-14 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you can obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Questions
• WHAT DOES TAKING UP MY CROSS MEAN FOR MY LIFE AND HOW IS THAT LIVED OUT? DO I STOP TRUSTING MY FEELINGS? DO I SEARCH GOD’S WORD FOR ANSWERS, AND AGREE WITH WHAT HE SAYS?
• WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ME TO DENY MYSELF?
• HOW DO I FORSAKE IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION?
• ARE YOU WILLING TO BE PECULIAR, DIFFERENT, SET APART FOR JESUS?
MARK 8:38 “FOR WHO EVER IS ASHAMED OF ME AND MY WORDS IN THIS ADULTEROUS AND SINFUL GENERATION, OF HIM THE SON OF MAN ALSO WILL BE ASHAMED WHEN HE COMES IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH THE HOLY ANGELS.”
• ARE YOU BEING SANCTIFIED? IT’S PROOF THAT WE ABIDE IN CHRIST.
JOHN 15:5 “HE WHO ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM, BEARS MUCH FRUIT.”
The Christian that doesn’t bear fruit is not a living branch of the vine. Review GALATIANS 5:22-26 to see what is the fruit of the Spirit.
Lie #2
I ACCEPTED JESUS AS MY SAVIOR, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT I HAVE TO HANDLE MY MARRIAGE, FINANCES, PARENTING, RELATIONSHIPS, ETC. DIFFERENTLY. DOES IT?
Truth
JESUS DID NOT DIE TO BE ONLY OUR SAVIOR, BUT ALSO OUR LORD.
LUKE 6:46 “BUT WHY DO YOU CALL ME ‘LORD, LORD’ AND DO NOT DO THE THINGS WHICH I SAY?”
PROVERBS 3:5-6 “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS.”
PHILIPPIANS 2:11 “AND THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.”
So often when we come to Christ we develop an appreciation for what His death on the cross did for us: justification. Tragically, however, we fail to appreciate our own responsibility to take up our own cross in order to be transformed into His image: sanctification. For many of us, it’s as if we make it into the line where Jesus pays for our sins on His cross, but then we get stuck there. We spend all of our time gazing up at Him and appreciating what He did, and we never move over to that next line where we are suppose to strap on our own individual cross. Not all crosses are the same.
When that disconnect takes place, we grow into shallow, powerless, unfruitful Christians. We continue to allow ourselves to be ruled by our flesh and are ineffective for God.
WHY IS SANCTIFICATION NECESSARY?
1 THESSALONIANS 4:3-4 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality: that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.”
1 JOHN 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
1 JOHN 2:28 “We don’t want to be ashamed when he returns for us.”
HEBREWS 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see God.”
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Questions
• WHAT DOES MY LIFE LOOK LIKE WHEN I REFUSE TO SUBMIT TO GOD’S SANCTIFICATION PROCESS?
• CAN I GROW IN CHRIST WITHOUT SANCTIFICATION?
• WHAT AM I WAITING FOR GOD TO CHANGE FOR ME?
Lie #3
I DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING SANCTIFIED UNTIL I GET MY NEW, PERFECT BODY IN HEAVEN!
Truth
1 PETER 1:15-16 “BUT AS HE WHO CALLED YOU IS HOLY, YOU ALSO BE HOLY IN ALL YOUR CONDUCT, BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN, ‘BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’”
EPHESIANS 1:4 “JUST AS HE CHOSE US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE.”
HOW DO I YIELD MYSELF TO GOD FOR SANCTIFICATION?
PSALMS 25:4-5 “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on you I wait all the day.”
JAMES 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
PSALMS 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
I must daily commit to walking under the direction of the Holy Spirit and make choices and sacrifices that kill my flesh and feed my spirit.
1 PETER 1:13-14 “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.”
GALATIANS 5:16 “I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
JOHN 17:17, 19 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth….and for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Questions
• WHAT CAN I DO TO FEED MY SPIRIT? FOR EXAMPLE, READ THE WORD, PRAY, PRAISE, CONFESS, AND BE STILL.
• WHAT THINGS DO I DO THAT CONFORM WITH THE WORLD’S STANDARDS, IDEAS, ACTIONS, ETC?
• WHAT IS GOD ASKING ME TO NAIL TO MY CROSS?
Last edited:
