Faith Free Will Baptist Church

Posts Tagged ‘sanctification’

*AT WITS END*

(PS 107:27,28 )

What have you given to the Lord?

1)      Your Life

2)      Your  family

3)      Your worries and cares

4)      Your failures

Whatever we are troubled with again and again is evidence that we need to commit those things to the Lord.

(vs 27) “at wits end”

The meaning carries an understanding that there is a situation we are trying to deal with but are unsuccessful.  It means:

1)      Nothing I can do

2)      I cannot work it out

3)      It is bigger than me but not bigger than God (Ps 108:12)

We need to be reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in (Rom 8:28 )

1)      There is no greatness without trouble  (Act 14)

2)      There is no growing without trouble (Act 12)

3)      There is no developing the Christ-like life in us without troubles (Act 28 )

(1)    The Lord we know

(vs 1)

Notice two things:

1)      God is good

The worst thing that could happen to us is listening to the devil and thinking God is not

as good toward us as He is toward others.

(John 8:44)

(Rom 2:4)

2)      God is merciful

In (Ps 136) All the verses contain “His mercy endureth forever.

(Ps 23:6)

(2)    The life we live

Notice four groups of people:

1)      People needing direction

(107:3-8 )

2)      People in need

(107:9-12)

3)      People who are healed

(107:17-21)

4)      People in trouble

(107:23-27)

These people are not brought low by sin but trouble in life.

(Job 14:1)

Are you at wits end, are you ready to say “Lord, I can’t handle this, I need help”.

*BUT SATAN HINDERED US*

(I Thess 2:18)

America has faced many enemies in our short history: Germany in WWI, Japan in WWII, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, the heartless terrorist of this generation.  But there is an enemy craftier, more hateful, and more destructive than any this world has ever faced.  He is the enemy called Satan, the devil whose ultimate goal is to bring God and any associated with Him down.

*In spite of the persecution and affliction the church at Thessalonica was doing quite well.  But in the text, we read how Satan successfully hindered the men of God at they attempted to reach more people for Christ.

Today I want us to notice how Satan hinders the unbelievers from coming to Christ.

(1)    He hinders by afflicting Christians

(Vs 14,15  Read)

*There is no doubt in my mind that Satan is behind the persecution and afflictions of the Church.  Both physically and spiritually.

*We also need to realize the Lord allows a certain amount of liberty in this.

*The best example of this is in the life of Job.

*Probably no one suffered more in such a short period of time than Job.

(Job 1:13-19)  Reveals two losses to Job:

1)      Property and servants: Job lost 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-donkeys plus servants.  In one day Job was completely bankrupt.

2)      Sons and daughters

(Job 2:7  Read)

*We cannot begin to understand the agony he must have been in.  Surely there was one who could offer a world of comfort, one he had know for many years, one who had seen him live for the Lord and encourage him to trust God.  But look at the word of his compassionate wife  (Job 2:9)

*The wealth and health preachers today say if you are sick you have no faith, but let them say that to:

Paul who said to Timothy “Take a little wine for his stomach sake”  (I Tim 5:23  & II Tim 4:20)

Paul who left Trophimus sick in Miletus

Paul who said Epaphrodutus fell ill and almost died  (Phil 2:25-30)

(2)    Satan hinders us from doing the work of God which would benefit us

(Matt 26)  Peter, James and John go with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane.  Our Lord is in great distress in (vs 38) He tells them “watch with Me” after praying He returns to where they are and finds them sleeping (vs 40) “What could ye not watch with Me one hour” but notice what else He says (vs 41  Read)

*The Lord wants you to witness, read His Word, pray each day, attend church and do His good works and you would like to do those things.  You’ve mad promises to yourselves to serve God more faithfully.

1) You intend to talk to someone you know about Christ but something hinders you.

2) You want to come to more church services but something keeps coming up.

3) You want to tithe your income but your car broke down, or plumbing went bad.

4) You want to read your Bible daily but get busy and the day ends without you doing it.

*Satan will do his best to make you sleep when you should be watching, praying or working.

(3) Satan hinders us by keeping us from spreading God’s Word

(I Thes 2:16  Read)

*Satan will go to great lengths to keep you and I from sharing Christ with others.

*The ACLU and others will go to great lengths to keep the Gospel confined in the four walls of the local church.

*Several years back, a dean at Stanford University began to pressure Christian groups on campus to stop the practice of witnessing to other students.  He was angered not by the content of the message but the practice of telling others.  His opinion “You are implying that a person’s beliefs are inferior to your own.  It is self-righteous, biased and intolerant”.  Is it self-righteous and intolerant to want to see others know the joy of Christ and escape Hell?

(4) Satan hinders by sowing tares among the wheat

(Matt 13:25,39  Read)

Two questions:

1)      What is a tare?  It is a poisonous weed that looks very similar to the wheat.  At the beginning you can’t tell them apart and by the time they have grown together it would endanger the wheat if you try to separate it.

2)      What is a tare in the church?

*It is unsaved church members and unfortunately we may have some in this church.  They come regularly, they speak words which insinuate they are Christians.  But outside of these walls, their words, their deeds prove otherwise.

* How sad that the Holy Church of Christ is made to look hypocritical, a fake because  those professing to be Christians are seen staggering down a street in drunkenness .

*I cannot always see the difference between the tares and wheat but God can.

(5) Satan hinders the unsaved by stealing the seed or Word of God

(Luke 8:11,12  Read)

1)      He will try to keep your heart unprepared to receive God’s Word.  Got along with spouse all week till Sunday and argued all the way to church.

2)      He will try to keep you from hearing the Truth when it is offered.

Keep you daydreaming or occupied with something else in church.

Story is told of a minister that was preaching a church that had a wall pipe organ and he said “ I don’t know how many pipes are in the organ”.  A man hollered out “53”.

*SANCTIFICATION*

(I Thess 5:23)

Sanctification is a word rarely used in Christian circles.  I have rarely if at all heard a sermon or even a Sunday School class taught on this subject.  Unfortunately because of this its meaning is not clear to most Christians.

Notice three thoughts on Sanctification:

(1)    What is sanctification?

Four thoughts noted on this

1)      To be sanctified mean to be set apart.

*This is illustrated in the OT more frequently than the NT

Seventh Day (Gen 2:3) “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”

*Even though we no longer worship on the Jewish Sabbath, we worship on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, it is a day set apart.  Not today, the world has taken over.

(Exo 13:2) tells us the first born of man and animal was to be sanctified.

(Leviticus) tell us of the sanctuary, the vessels in it to be sanctified.

2)      Sanctification is the work of God (vs 23 A)

*Sanctification is a matter of you allowing God to work out His will in your life.

3)    Sanctification is a continuous process

(Phil 1:6 )  “being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will

perform ( perfect) it until the day of Jesus Christ.

*Regeneration (being saved) is instantaneous but sanctification takes time.  There is the song “He’s Still Working on Me” and He will continue to do so till Jesus comes or you are taken in death.

4) Sanctification helps prepare the Christian for heaven

*Most people hope to go to heaven but few take the time to think whether they will enjoy heaven when they get there.

*By this I mean they are carnal Christians:

1) They enjoy listening to questionable music

2) They attend or watch questionable movies

3) They dress immodestly before others

*Heaven is a Holy place to be inhabited by Holy people.

(2) The Results of sanctification

Basically two results:

1)      You will grow spiritually  (Matt 5:48  Read)

*In life some things  grow stronger than others and usually it is due to what we eat and exercise.

*This is true in the Christian life, no one gets saved and is immediately a fully mature Christian.  It takes time to grow Christians.

*In (I Tim 3) Apostle Paul talks of not putting a novice (young in Christ) in a place of authority

2) The beginning of sanctification will radically change a life.  (I Cor 6:11  Read)

*The old nature is not eradicated but is counteracted.  That Adamic nature and the nature of the spirit of God are two different natures.  And I have found the one you feed the most will be the strongest.

(3) When does sanctification take place?

*This is a point of disagreement among bible believing Christians.

*There is a denomination that teaches a second work of grace after you get saved.  You first get saved and at some future time you will be sanctified.

*When you are sanctified the old Adamic (sinful nature) is eradicated (done away with) and you will no longer sin.

*I don’t believe that: I believe sanctification begins in the life of a person the moment they trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Question: How are we sanctified?   (Heb 13:12  Read)

*When we confess a sin and our desire is to let it go, Christ’s blood cleanses us and sets it apart from us.

(John 17:17) “Sanctify them thru thy truth; thy word is truth.”

The word has a cleansing effect, the more you know, the more you will mature.