The Gospel of Grace and Sanctification
Book of Romans Chapter 6
What is sanctification and what does it really mean?
Sanctification means to be set apart for God's use.
Sanctification is the act of being made holy.
The Almighty Living God is separate from His creation because He is the Creator!
God has always existed, but this world we see around us is only a few thousand years old.
Probably at least six thousand years and no more than ten thousand years old.
Do not fear what the evolutionists say. When they say millions and billions of years, they try to trick us into believing that if enough time passes anything can happen and this is just not the truth!
All miracles come by the hand of Jehovah!
Since God is separate from His creation, then to sanctified is to separate ourselves for the purpose of serving Him.
Sanctification is a lifelong process, at least from the time the Holy Spirit moves into our heart until our death.
Since Jehovah exist in holiness, then all that love Him must come into this same holiness!
Being Christian is being like the Lord Jesus Christ the true Messiah (God With Us)!
This is the act of sanctification being more like Christ every day.
We should be growing in the Lord Jesus Christ every day of our lives, until we are finally sanctified and have reached perfection becoming glorified when we meet Jesus.
We do not need a group to vote to see if we are Saints. We become Saints when the Holy Spirit moves into our heart.
We always ask what is the will of God for our lives? It is the will of God that we be sanctified!
1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can only begin our sanctification by receiving the Holy Spirit!
1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
If we continue in sin after our salvation, we can never be sanctified, and we should question our salvation. Was it real?
We must consider ourselves dead to sin!
We must consider ourselves alive to Jesus Christ, who had no sin!
*****Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
What is the truth of the Christian?
We know we are still sinners only saved by the "Grace" of God!
We are alive today and forever through the Lord Jesus Christ!
We do not allow sin to rule our lives anymore! The Holy Spirit gives us this power!
We do not allow any part of our body from our head to our toes to be used as instrument to commit sin!
We allow the will of God to be our will!
We allow the ways of God to be our ways.
We can do these things because we have the Holy Spirit living within us and all other strength comes by the Lord Jesus Christ.
We wear the seal of God!
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
We are dead to sin, but alive to our Heavenly Father!
We no longer serve the Devil; we are servants to our Holy God!
Sin offends God and in reality, is as a disease that if left untreated, will lead to our eternal death.
Being saved does not destroy this sin nature, but gives us the power to not allow it to rule in our life.
Our bodies are not the source of our sin, but are the instruments used by the Devil to promote his sin.
We cannot allow sin to rule us!
We had no power to do that until the Holy Spirit came to live within us!
We must be constantly on guard against allowing any part of our body to be used for sin, this includes our mind.
What comes from the heart will enter into the mind so we must keep our hearts pure.
Because of God's "Grace" sin cannot rule us!
If we were under the Law, then we would spend our lifetime struggling to keep that Law which is impossible.
The Law only brings disappointment and discouragement, it can never bring salvation!
When we fail the Law, it brings us shame and we feel unacceptable to God!
We feel unworthy, but remember, we will never be worthy of God's "Grace".
Our Heavenly Father is not this great Judge waiting to pounce all over us when we fail.
Our Heavenly Father is this Merciful God who offers His "Grace" because we have identified ourselves with His Son Jesus!
Our Heavenly Father loves His Son so much, that He accepts all those who love His Son, who is our substitute for the keeping of the Law.
Our Heavenly Father has claimed each and every believer as His own child!
God is a gracious and loving Father who cares for and suffers with His children and provides forgiveness, when His children come to Him and willing to forgive His children when they fail Him.
1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Since all this is true, the question is often asked; is the child of God allowed to continue in sin?
God is really quick to answer this question.
*****Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
As a true child of God, we will never feel comfortable if we deliberately try to hurt or disappoint our Heavenly Father.
So, we must strive to avoid sin!
We should question the salvation of those who remain in sin, but still claim to be a child of God.
Tit_1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
If sin dominates your life and you feel you have no power over that sin, then get back on your knees and ask our Heavenly Father to forgive you by Jesus Christ.
Any power we have is multiplied by the strength of our Lord Jesus!
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
In fact the Lord Jesus says we can do nothing without Him and I believe Him!
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Our Heavenly Father is a loving Father, willing to teach us all these things and will discipline us when we need it.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
God shows His love when He disciplines not His hatred, "He has already judged us and justified us" and this is eternal!
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Our Heavenly Father can easily see if we have become His servants!
*****Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
When we yield to sin, we are on the road to death just as God explained to Adam before Adam became the first human with a sin nature.
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Not the death of this flesh which comes to everyone, but a complete separation from a Holy God throughout eternity.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
It is that "judgment" we had better concentrate on while we are still living!
Our Lord Jesus has made us free from the penalties of sin!
If we yield to the truth of God, He will become a part of us now and remain with us throughout eternity.
Eternity is that place where my Heavenly Father lives and He has allowed me to live with Him!
We had better understand for whom we serve determines our eternal destiny!
1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
One man wrote: "We must walk as an open confession to the Lord our God"!
God is a forgiving God if we pray to Him with a sincere heart!
*****Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
We should always keep in mind that we have made a choice when we chose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
We chose righteousness!
We had no righteousness until we chose Jesus!
I was once a servant of sin!
Now that I have chosen the Lord Jesus Christ, I am still a sinner though I try not to be and ask for forgiveness constantly and I walk in His righteousness because I have none myself.
Now I try to obey the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the "Gospel" of "justification" and the method of sanctification.
I have been justified in the eyes of our Holy God!
I obey God's commandments!
I believe upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
I am now freed from that sin debt I owed and freed from the consequences of that sin!
I can never be charged with that sin ever again!
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I now give myself to my Heavenly Father through His Son to do with me as He pleases according to His Word!
*****Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Where will righteousness lead us? Righteousness will lead us to holiness.
My members are all the parts of my body that I once gave to sin.
My eyes, my ears, my mouth, my hands, my feet, my heart, my thoughts, and any other thing that I gave to sin including, lust, fornication, adultery and anything else.
I became a slave to sin, and sin has no ending! Sin multiplies until it has destroyed me!
If I gave so much to sin, then I need to be just as giving to righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ!
I once served uncleanness willingly, let me now serve righteousness just as willingly.
The power of sin cannot be overcome, but by the Lord Jesus Christ!
God knew all these things and sent His Son Jesus to solve the sin problem for every human being, but it takes "faith" in the work of Christ Jesus to break the power of sin!
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
When we allow "faith" to replace the power of sin and righteousness to work to our sanctification, we will see sanctification work till our holiness.
My goal and our goal must be to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
We must become slaves to righteousness as we were once slaves to sin.
This is what true repentance is all about!
A complete change of direction and a complete change of mind, toward the things of God!
Sin has only one goal and it is the destruction of our soul!
*****Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Once we realize the power that sin held over us, then we will become ashamed that we left our Creator to become a part of that sin!
What gain can we have from sin? There is only one gain from sin, and it is death, so there is no gain from sin!
The fruit of sin is death of the soul!
There can be nothing good come from sin!
It is only by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be made free from the penalty of sin!
Sin corrupts.
Sin destroys.
Sin dooms all those who seek its fruits because no good thing comes from sin!
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Notice that word make.
We must be made free and not set free, there is a significant difference
Many a person have been set free from prison only to find their way back into prison.
We are "Born Again" into the family of God and "made" free from sin and the penalty of sin!
These are the precious promises of a Holy God!
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
It is from these promises where we have our hope!
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
The gifts of God bring eternal life!
*****Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin deserves death because sin is rebellion against the ways of God who is life.
Life and death are two extreme opposites!
Sin goes against the nature of our Holy God!
God is pure and morally pure in all His ways!
God is holy and full of glory!
God is a God of justice and righteousness!
And most important God is full of love and grace from which comes His mercy!
This death is:
To be cast far away from God.
To have no part of God.
To be banished from God's sight.
To be separated from God's presence forever.
To be condemned and punished for rejecting God's plan of salvation.
Sin will receive these wages of this death, a complete separation from our Holy God!
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Sin demands the wages of sin.
Righteousness receives the free gifts of God!
Not such a hard choice, but a choice we all must make.
To not choose at all, is still this death!
Amen
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