Entire sanctification: Sermon with Teen skit
Today, the Holy Spirit has a great lesson for us, but it will be presented in a little different fashion then what we are use to. Please give me a minute before you judge. First lets stand and read Colossians chapter 3:1-10. This is KJV, “3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”
You may be seated!
Every one of us come from different backgrounds and different places. Even if we are apart of the same family our experiences can shape who we are and how we see ourselves. We have different life experiences; which has shape our lives. We have been influenced by the world and we have different viewpoints. Sometimes, in life we believe the labels others place on us. In the youth class we discussed the names people call us. These names sometimes become of our emotional baggage.
In a minute we are going to introduce you to some terminology. For the most part each word explains the baggage that most of us carry round. Each one of us have allowed labels or who we were in our old life to dictate who we are today.
Rope One is brokenness! Some people, for various reasons, describe themselves as be broken. In my family I’ve heard people describe themselves as “the bad egg” or “the black sheep.” Generally, it means a person has been hurt really bad and can’t get over it. They might feel emotionally crippled.
The beauty of Paul’s story is God took the worst of sinners and made him a chief example of God’s grace. So it is with you. I encourage you to embrace your brokenness. It will draw you closer to God. It will allow you to help someone else and it will allow God to put you on display as a trophy of his grace. Either way if you are broken you are just the one that God is looking for.
Here is what Psalm 34:18 says – “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
If your heart is broken today and you are in a place where you recognize your need for God, you are exactly where God wants you to be. He is close to you ready to step in and help you in your situation. All you have to do is call upon him.
Rope two represents the people who who dirty. Many of us describe ourselves as being dirty and filthy. One of my favorite sayings: “is if you go to the pig pen you’re liable to get some on you.” This means that sin has stained us very deeply. The good news is that God washes us white as snow.
One the other hand we can imagine a loving mother getting her little boy ready for school. She makes sure that he has bathed and that his clothes are neat and clean. This keeps him healthy and shows others that his parents are looking after him.
2 Our Father, Jehovah, wants us to be clean and pure. (Psalm 18:26) He knows that being clean benefits us. And when we are clean, we bring honor to him.—Ezekiel 36:22; read 1 Peter 2:12.
The third rope addiction. The means that you cannot overcome being addicted to drugs, smoking, sugar, caffeine, and/or alcohol. Addiction holds us back and will take everything from us. It will even take our last breathe.
What does the Bible teach about addiction? First, the Bible clearly notes that addictions are a real problem people face in this world. For example, church leaders could not be addicted to much wine (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7). Sexual purity is also often an area of emphasis in the Bible, teaching believers to flee from sexual immorality, highlighting the addictive nature of sexual sin (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Second, the Bible is clear about finding help for addictions. This help ultimately comes from God as we replace old habits with new ones. Colossian 3:8-10 explains, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
The Fourth rope is The belief that we are rejected. Some of us feel that we are socially isolated and rejected from people. Socially isolated people can be described as weird. Unfortunately, rejection is something none of us can really avoid; it’s probably going to happen to us at some point. The Bible reminds us that it happens to everyone, including Jesus.
John 15:18
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (NIV)
Psalm 27:10
Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. (NLT)
Psalm 41:7
All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst. (NLT)
The belief that God cannot reconcile the rejected is wrong. God reconciled himself to us through his son Jesus. When we believe and repent God reconciles us into the family of God.
Before we are justified, adopted, reconciled, and regenerated by the Lord we are carrying all of this baggage around. why do we insist on carrying this baggage alone? We allow all of the baggage to become the vision of who we are. Why cant we allow God to give us rest, why do we not allow God to give us peace, joy, and comfort? This is a heavy load. Why not run the race without all of this weight?
When we are sanctified we have given up all of this and we allow God to make us a new.
Why do we not allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the next set stuff?
This is where we Put on a crown. In common language: we phrase it this way “I just got saved.”
In the articles of faith for the church of the Nazarene we are now adopted, reconciled, and regenerated. But we realize that we have a problem. We have a war that’s going on in our head. No, if we do not give up this baggage the rest of our Christian walk will be broken, because of this garbage. These words Were ordered from Satan. As long as you leave baggage the true construction of who Christ makes us is hindered. God reconciled us to himself. He Casts our sin and baggage as far as the east is from the west.
So we’re saved! God has control over our destiny and your eternity, but do you give him control over the present? Do you drag in your broken, in your addiction, or in your dirtiness?
I’ve noticed that once they we are saved we attract people that are rejected. Some, of the problem is that if we truly believe that we are rejected we act like it. We are led by our views instead of the views of God. My friend, this is a worldly problem. The problem is that we cannot produce the fruit of the kingdom when we view ourselves like this. We produce our image from the father of lies. Then, we celebrate in the fact that we are both rejected, but that is not the celebration. The celebration is that we are reconciled Jesus Christ. I get it we are all broken, rejected, and addicted, but that’s not where we’re going to set up camp. We are Christians and we are going somewhere.
When we are sanctified we begin to learn some kingdom truth. Perhaps the first kingdom truth we are given is being cleansed. As you become aware that you have been cleansed you can then begin taking off some of the baggage. Burning it with the truth that you were no longer dirty but clean. Slowly but surely you can remove one by one; which, set you apart for the kingdom work.
There are many instances of Jesus making us clean in scripture, but perhaps you recall Matthew 8:2.
Matthew 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, LORD, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And, behold. In this case the unexpected took place after Jesus came down the mountain. Jesus brought the outcast back into worship. He cleansed the leper from inside out.
Another kingdom truth that God fills us with is that we are made whole. We are no longer broke. We no longer have to live in our brokenness, but we live in the fact that we are have been regenerated and that we are one in Christ. What peace we enjoy when we receive and our filled with the Holy Ghost.
The next kingdom truth that the Holy Spirit fills our temple is the knowledge that we are accepted. We are no longer are separated and rejected. When we start acting accepted by God we are filled with love for our brothers and sisters. Love is what separates a Christian from the world, because we love the brethren.
John 13:34-35 states A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Next kingdom truth is that the Holy Ghost set me free. I am no longer bound to the slavery of sin. I’m no longer enslaved to the views that Satan. I’m repented, justified, reconciled, and sanctified. At this point I’m breaking free of old views and accepting the truth of who I really am. Once you have arrived in this knowledge there’s no looking back. We are following Christ until it’s time for us to be glorified in the kingdom of heaven.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior we are set free. Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Pastor Larry spoke to us about power a couple of Sunday’s ago. The Holy Spirit was given to us and He gives us the power to be free from sin and live the Christian life we are called too.
With our new identity in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we can Produce works of righteousness. We can heal the sick, cast out demons, and rejoice in our salvation.
We look at Sin in a totally different way. For example, when the temptation of pornography comes up we say to that “I’m sorry but I have to go heal the sick today.” When we think about returning to our addiction; “we say that is not a righteous act and I am called to go minister to the broken.” Instead of sin and unrighteousness we choose to do righteous acts.
So, we as believers are called upon, having been given a new nature, having become new creations. Old things passed away and everything new, to so live to make that manifest.
Now obviously, no one earns their salvation by works, it is a gift of grace through faith. You know, we are not passive in salvation, because we must believe and faith. In the same way we surely are not passive in sanctification, because we must obey the leading and directing of the Holy Spirit. Scripture calls the true children of God to obey. According to verse Col. 3:3, the old man died and is hidden with Christ in God. The old way of living was not converted it is dead. The Holy Spirit rushed in us and gave us new life. Now, our response is required. Second Corinthians 7:1, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” What an amazing statement. We are the ones who are called to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, and thus perfecting the work of holiness. That is a responsibility for the believer. We are called to pursue holiness, godliness, virtue, and sanctification. Then, Col. 3:5 backs this verse up by saying, “5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” Now this verse gives us some of the commands are negative. Verse 5, “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead.” Consider yourself to have died to that old life. And therefore, you are dead, or should be dead, to the elements of that old life. So, these are the things that you eliminate: “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry.” Down in verse 8, “You put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth, and do not lie to one another.” Those are the negative things, and we talked about that.
First Corinthians chapter 6, Paul makes statements here that make this truth inescapable. First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do you not know” – it should be obvious – “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” You’re not going to heaven if you’re unrighteous. You’re not going to heaven if you’re living an unrighteous life.
“Do not be deceived.” Whatever you may say about Jesus and your relation to Him, “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” Heaven is not for unrighteous people. That couldn’t be more clear.
Let me borrow the language of Romans 5. Since you have a new identity, a new condition, this is the premise of your sanctification. You are not who you used to be you have be regenerated! We are called to walk a new way and not reach into old baggage again.
