Statements of Faith - Sanctified and Set Apart

 

Ephesians 5:25-27

Husband, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of The Word,That 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.

SANCTIFIED

    When Jesus prayed for you and I in the garden on the night of His arrest (John 17:17), He prayed for God to sanctify us with His Truth, with His Word. It is only with God's Word that we can be saved, sanctified and set apart for Himself. 

    To ignore or disregard The Word of God is to bring condemnation on one's self. To remove any part of The written Word from The Scriptures or to add anything to The written Word is to bring judgment and destruction upon one's self (Revelation 22:19).

    God's Word is powerful:  Hebrews 4:12. It burns:  Jeremiah 23:29; Psalm 97:5 & Nahum 1:5; Malachi 3:1-3; 4:1. God's Word increases and spreads: Acts 12:24. The Word of God is Alive and lives in every believer: 1 John 2:14. 

    The Word of God sanctifies ( purifies, makes holy) the hearts of every believer who has The Word living in him or her. The Word is holy and demands a holy dwellingplace. He cannot live where sin dwells: only in a righteous man or righteous woman or righteous child. The Word of God cannot reside in anyone who declares themselves to be other than what God has made them to be. Be warned: God will not be mocked. 

    You who think you can live any lifestyle you want to and still make it to heaven are only fooling yourselves. The day will come when they who live in sin will be judged by God for their self-centered lifestyles. Everything that is not of God will be burned up by His holy fire. Now is the day of repentance. Now is the time to answer God's call on your lives to turn from sin and turn to God. 

    Today is the day of salvation for someone reading this. Today is the day of reckoning and getting our hearts right with The Word of God. Tomorrow is not promised. We can pray anywhere, so whenever you make your way to the cross where Christ died for our sins, that is the right time to confess our sins and receive forgiveness from God. No man or woman can forgive us. absolve us,  for the sins we have committed against The Word: only God can forgive those who sin against Him. 

SET APART

    Every believer of The Word of God is not only sanctified by The Word but we are set apart by The Word. We are different from the world (John 17:14). We are strange and peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9). We are called by God to listen to Him and to Love like him: (1 John 4:6) and (John 13:34). 

    In this Love of God expresses through God's Word we are able to love like God. We show compassion and mercy and lovingkindness to everyone we meet, even if they don't love us back. We love anyway. We are bold in The Spirit for The Spirit of God is with us. We are fearless for our God is always with us. We are Christians, faithful followers of Christ Jesus, and we serve a risen Savior and coming King. 

    While we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, come, we also pray for the salvation of souls who need Jesus. We pray for the salvation of Israel (Romans 9:33 - 10:1) and the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). We are praying people because we have a God Who hears us and answers our prayers. Especially the prayer that brings us into His kingdom. 

    So we beg you, Come to Jesus. Come today. 

    ANCIENT WORDS

IN CHRIST ALONE

ALL TO JESUS I SURRENDER . 

Arming The Spiritual Warrior -- Sanctification & Wisdom

 1 Thessalonians 5:23

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 37

Sanctify:  to make holy, consecrate, sanctify; I make holy, treat as holy, set apart as holy, sanctify, hallow, purify

To be sanctified is to separate one's self from that which is unholy and cling to that which is holy. This begins to happen when we first believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is both a spiritual thing and a physical. 

     The physical separation from wickedness happens when we choose not to do the things we did before we got saved. The spiritual separation from a wicked lifestyle happens when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us and on us, leading us to a consecrated, set apart lifestyle. The Holy Bible helps us do just that. 

     Every study of God's Word should be bringing us closer to God, not farther. We must submit what we want to learn from it to what God wants to teach us from it. He is the Author after all. 

     I was an alcoholic drunk. I had blackouts. There are nights I don't remember how I got home. There came a time when I didn't want to drink any more. But I couldn't stop completely on my own. I got married, had kids, and went back to church. The kids got saved and I got saved again. And this time I heard about and saw the Holy Spirit in action. 

     But the enemy of our souls attacked me when I wasn't ready for it. Separation of the family, divorce and moving to another city. I started drinking again even though I didn't want to, until a new friend reprimanded me for drinking, questioning the why of it. My physical separation from sin had been temporary. I knew I needed more. Then the new church I was attending had a week-long revival. That's what I needed. I was working now and the job kept me from the revival until the very last night. 

     That's the night I got baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to sing in tongues. It was a totally new experience for me, and a wonderful one, at that. It was as if I had exploded in song. That began my spiritual sanctification process. I no longer had the desire to drink. When I was around it, I got nauseous. I am no longer an alcoholic. I am delivered. 

I neither drink nor do drugs because the Holy Spirit of God has breathed on me and set me on fire to serve God with my body, my talents and my gifts. My choice. It is not that I can't live a life of wickedness now, it is that I choose not to. I have turned my back on sin and my face on God. For I have chosen to live a sanctified life: a life that is set apart for God. A life that chooses to honor God and be a good and faithful servant in His kingdom. 

     If you think my testimony sounds awful, you need to acquaint yourselves with *other Christians who have been delivered from the sin in their lives. Examine yourselves. For example, John Bunyan was an illiterate tinker, having dropped out of  school to learn his trade (he learned to read after he got married). He was a 'ringleader of vice and ungodliness' (in his own words) during his youth, before he got saved and became the author of Pilgrim's Progress, a book second only to the Bible in its publishing and distribution. 

GOD OF PEACE

1 Corinthians 14:33

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

Romans 16:20

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

GOD SUSTAINS US THROUGH IT ALL 

1 Corinthians 1:8

He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Malachi 3:2

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap.

1 Corinthians 3:12-14

If anyone builds on this foundation (Jesus Christ) using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward.

CHRIST OUR WISDOM FROM GOD

1 Corinthians 1:30

It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

WISDOM OF GOD FROM GOD

     The Book of Proverbs in the Holy Bible is called The Book of Wisdom. It is filled with pearls of great truth and nuggets of riches which can only help a man or woman grow into the person God wants us to be. These, too, help sanctify us. We read that Wisdom has a voice and calls out to us to listen to what Wisdom has to say. Wisdom informs us of right living results and wrong living results, sometimes in the same verse. 

Proverbs is written by King Solomon son of King David of Israel way back in ancient times, yet the very wisdom imparted is still crucial today. Wisdom from God, is after all, what King Solomon asked God for when God asked him what he wanted after Solomon became King. 

1 Kings 3:1-15 tells us of Solomon's dream, in which God asks him what he wants and Solomon replies, "Discernment, an understanding heart that would know how to judge and rule over God's people." 

James 1:5

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

BEING HOLY IS A WAY OF LIFE

Holiness is a command from God to us. 1 Peter 1:15. 16 reiterates Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, 20:7, 26; Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2. 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.”

Our conduct in this life should be impeccable. 1 Peter 1:17  "Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners."

     Sanctification requires a submissive heart which surrenders its rights to God's desires,  God's will. Wisdom directs our hearts to seek out God and inquire of His will for our lives. We cannot be fully functioning Spiritual Warriors unless we do both. Without a set apart lifestyle, we are hypocrites. Without godly wisdom we are ignorant wretches. 

     This is what we have been studying every day since the beginning of this year. I had thought the new study Being Born Again Is A Lifestyle would be January's study. Little did I know that I would still be studying such a message even now and perhaps into the end of this year or into the next. I am merely the pen, the conduit, which the Holy Spirit flows through, which God wields when He writes with me. 

     And subdivided from the main study have come separate studies within the mainframe study. Such as Arming The Spiritual Warrior, this month's study. I'm having fun both learning the Word and applying the Word to my life. Aren't you? 

Take My Life

*Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians by James Gilchrist Lawson (1911) 

JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH CEM

JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH CEM

THE LORD IS MY SANCTIFIER

Exodus 31:13 
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.

1 Corinthians 1:30 
But of Him (God) are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

Sanctification is both immediate and on-going. We receive sanctification from God when we are at the foot of the cross, believing and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our souls. It is also an on-going process that can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. The first part is through our relationship with Christ, the second part is through the gift of, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

F.R.O.G.

Remember this? F.R.O.G.
Fully
Rely
On
God

Starting now. For everything. God is my Provider. His Name is Jehovah-Jireh. God is my Healer. His Name is Jehovah-Ramah. God is my Righteousness. His Name is Jehovah-Tsidkenu. God is my Sanctifier. Jehovah-M'gaddisheem. God s my Glory. Jehovah-Kabodhi.

It is God who makes us holy via The Holy Spirit in a process known as sanctification. Jehovah-M'gaddisheem, The Lord my Sanctifier. "It is because of God that you are in union with the Messiah Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30 (ISV Bible)

Who shall I be afraid of? Why should I complain? No one and no reason. I have God as my God through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ The Messiah. I live in Jesus and He lives in me. There is none that I fear, none that I should be discouraged of. Life is hard. But it's harder without a relationship not just with Christ, but in Christ Jesus.

God does not meet me halfway, but all the way: He gave His Son to the whole world as a sin offering, that sin and its consequences would be for ever overcome/conquered by His death and resurrection. The consequences, the wages, of sin is death. Jesus conquered death.

And God requires us to meet Him all the way. God calls. Jesus saves. The Holy Spirit sanctifies. We are called to salvation. We answer that call when we repent of our sins and ask Jesus into our hearts. God forgives us and replaces our sinful heart with a new heart, a new desire to love Him and make Him happy. But how do we do that? How do we make God happy?

We ask The Holy Spirit of God to make us holy, because we have learned that without holiness no one may see God. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8 (KJV Bible) "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 (KJV Bible)

No one else can save us. No one else can make us holy. We need God.  We need Jesus. We need The Holy Spirit. We need to be forgiven, saved and purified. And we need it now.

(Don't you just love this painting?)

Soon Jesus will be extending His hand to His Bride and the Church will leave, along with The Holy Spirit, who has been preparing the Bride to meet her Bridegroom. This preparing stuff? Being made holy.