Gospel 101: Part 8 - The Prescription - Sanctification

well hi there once again this is Phil

Carlson with a quick message for your

personal professional and spiritual

growth and this is episode 8 of 9

regarding the gospel gospel 101 is the

series and this is the last video in our

segment regarding being reconciled to

God so so far in all of our videos up to

this point we've talked about basically

what are the four categories which we

said those four categories are first of

all the premise then the problem then

the prescription and finally the future

promise or the future Prospect

now

we and we're going to be dealing with

the prospect in the video after this but

in this video we're going to be dealing

with

the question of sanctification and

sanctification fits within the larger

concept of being reconciled to God the

prescription that God has for us in

terms of how we deal with sin how do we

get back to God's original intent in the

creation which is that Humanity exists

for the glory of God in perfect

relationship with God and God being not

just in charge of creation but God

actually being the originator the

dictator the supreme ruler over all

creation to which all creation owes its

existence and even its very ability to

exist in the very moment in which it

exists at every moment is owed to God so

the fact that for anyone who lives as an

enemy of God which would be anyone who

hasn't surrendered to Jesus Christ the

fact that they're even breathing right

now is because of the grace and mercy of

God that he still is giving them time to

come to trust in Jesus to repent of

their sin and Trust in the perfect work

of Jesus and to understand these

Concepts just look at the previous

videos but in today's video we're going

to talk about sanctification now I

should emphasize and this is true of all

of the various Concepts that I've been

talking about so far that if one of

these key ideas is over emphasized it

actually destroys the gospel as a good

example when it comes to sanctification

people tend to think of sanctification

as having to do with good works

and that's true there are good works

that happen in a person's life as they

are sanctified

but

they don't earn those good works they

don't even produce them they're simply

participating with the spirit of God

who's the one who actually accomplishes

those good works through them

and this may sound like double talk but

the reality is if you over emphasize

sanctification it leads to people

believing in a works-based Salvation

they end up thinking that the only way

they either get saved or stay saved is

by trying to do good works and that's

simply not true we are saved by faith we

are Sanctified by faith

so let's look at the word of God the

scriptures and see what the Bible

actually has to say about sanctification

and first of all let's just try to

Define our terms when we're saying

sanctification another term for

sanctification which is used in certain

groups like The methodists or even

Pentecostal circles is they'll say

Holiness now for making ease of

Distinction we're just going to say

Holiness is a state in which God Lives

sanctification is the process by which a

person is who's in Christ who's actually

become a Christian that person is now

beginning to reflect the Holiness of God

increasingly in their life over time and

sometimes that person has years to do

this and they grow and mature in their

process of intimacy with Christ and

other people they don't have that much

time for that sanctification but

whatever the question is it's not about

looking and being perfect in every

possible way we're going to look in

Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. here's

Paul speaking and he's saying to the

Roman Church the the Christians living

in Rome therefore I urge you Brethren by

the mercies of God to present your

bodies a living and holy sacrifice

acceptable to God which is your

spiritual service of worship

and do not be conformed to this world

but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind so that you may prove what the

will of God is that which is good and

acceptable and perfect let's start with

the first verse specifically dealing

with this idea of your spiritual service

of worship for a Christian who's

following God we do not just worship God

when we come to a quote unquote worship

service on a Sunday morning we worship

God 24 hours a day seven days a week and

if we cease to worship God

then we are actually acting inconsistent

with our own character

how do we worship God we do this by

presenting our bodies a living and holy

sacrifice meaning I realize I don't live

for myself

I if I don't if I do actually start

choosing to live for myself I'm living

inconsistent with the good news about

Jesus I'm living inconsistent with the

world as God has made it

God will allow me to make that stupid

choice of choosing to live for myself

and he will allow me to go through

circumstances that correct me but

ultimately

God's desire for those who call

themselves by the name of Jesus Christ

is that we actually recognize we don't

live for ourselves we exist for the

pleasure of God we are to live like

Jesus in the world and it isn't just by

imagining for ourselves what Jesus might

be like or might do

it's actually through coming to know

what Jesus is like through reading his

word through sitting under powerful and

true Biblical teaching

because all we know about what Jesus is

like is written in the New Testament

it's written in the Bible

and if people think they can imagine

what Jesus was like and use that in an

authoritative way they're in error

we are constrained by the Bible we

talked about this in a previous video

that it is the Canon it is the standard

by which we are to understand all

Christian teaching and all Christian

rule of life it is the Bible the word of

God in those books the 27 which are in

the New Testament 66 overall Old and New

Testament

when we live by that standard that's how

we come to know Jesus when we go to the

word of God and we see what Jesus is

like

so it says do not be conformed to this

world so we don't ask the world's

opinion about what Jesus is like we go

to the Bible it says be transformed by

the renewing of your mind so that you

may prove what the will of God is that

which is good and acceptable and perfect

well how do I test or prove what the

will of God is if I spend time in the

Bible I actually see what his standards

are and I see what his will is here's a

good example God I want to know your

will for my life how do I know the will

of God for my life oh I'm really

struggling to identify God what's your

will for my life there's an answer

already in the Bible let's look at SEC

at first Thessalonians chapter 5 verses

16

through 18. it says Rejoice always

doesn't tell me whether it's good

circumstances or bad circumstances just

as Rejoice always

pray without ceasing so pray all the

time

in everything give thanks so be thankful

in everything no matter what it is good

or bad whether I feel it's good or bad

anyhow in everything give thanks for

this is God's will for you in Christ

Jesus I just found the will of God for

my life

it's right here it's written in Black

letters on White Pages and this isn't a

Red Letter Bible so I'm not talking

about whether it's the words of Jesus or

not it's just this is the word of God

period

and it says to me this is Will God's

will for me in Jesus Christ

that I would Rejoice always that I would

pray without ceasing and that I would

give thanks in everything

now there are other scriptures like this

regarding the will of God and I can

discern that now and as I test the

things that are going on in my life

according to the word of God I can start

to discern what is God's will what is

good and acceptable and perfect

I can start living that way and I can

gather around other brothers and sisters

in Christ who are also following Jesus

and are also testing things according to

the word of God and they can help keep

me accountable

most ideally it's men with men and women

with women unless of course you're

married you can both work on that

together but this is something we can be

engaged in right now we can find the

will of God written in the Bible and

recognize that this is a powerful tool

set that transforms our mind in fact the

more time we spend in the Bible the more

we're going to mature in Christ the more

we will begin to live out the

sanctification he has for us now look

just because you know the Bible well

doesn't mean you will live in accordance

with God's word more properly remember

the Pharisees who Jesus had a lot of

disagreements with they actually

memorized the first five books of the

Bible the Torah the Books of Moses they

had them memorized

and yet they got key things wrong

so yes we want to spend time in the word

but it's not just the word written it's

the word applied it's the word of God

lived out and I can't do that in

isolation I can't just hide in a cave

and live out the fullness of the word of

God there are very clear scriptures that

require engagement with other human

beings I cannot obey those if I don't

live in relationship with other people

and so I want to actually be held

accountable by other brothers and

sisters in Christ am I living this out

and if they tell me the answer is no

it's not for me to then get down on

myself it's like okay God

I need your help I want to obey your

word and I'm not doing it over in this

part of my life

seek out other older Believers who've

been there done that made all the

mistakes they can help you hand hold you

and show you look I understand why

you're struggling with this here's the

way through now let's look at first John

chapter 3 verse 3. and everyone who has

this hope fixed on him purifies himself

just as he is pure so how am I

Sanctified how am I purified in this

regard if I Set My Hope on Jesus

that is how I'm actually going to start

to be conformed to His Image that's how

I'm actually going to be changed in the

way I think and the way I live set my

Hope on him and that means I can expect

if my hope is him then I'll probably go

through what he went through

he was persecuted he was even killed

maybe I won't get killed but I might

have to pay for my trust in Jesus in the

eyes of other people and to build on

this idea let's look at Hebrews chapter

12 verses 1 through 4 which talks about

the same concept therefore since we have

so great a cloud of witnesses

surrounding us it's the previous chapter

the Hall of Faith Hebrews chapter 11 it

talks about all these people who've come

before us holding on in faith that God

was going to do what he promised to do

and they didn't see it

but they still didn't give up and we're

told be like them

and we're surrounded by these people

who've been faithful we can be too

so it continuing in verse one let us

also lay aside every encumbrance and the

sin which so easily entangles us and let

us run with endurance the race that is

set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus

we just talked about this concept in

First John 3 3. fixing our eyes on Jesus

the author and Perfecter of our faith

who for the joy set before him endured

the cross despising the shame and sat

down at the right hand of the Throne of

God for consider him who has endured

such hostility by Sinners against

himself so that you will not grow weary

and lose heart when we're following

Jesus we're adopted in the family of God

we are regenerated and have his image

inside of us and we're being Sanctified

and we're Justified before God we may

not be justified in the eyes of other

people

and as far as other people may be

concerned we're still the same old dirty

Sinners we were before

they don't know who we really are if

we're truly following Jesus they don't

realize the struggle we're going through

of really trying to come into alignment

with the word of God and so they may

judge us they may persecute us they may

hate us

but look that's what Jesus went through

he was misunderstood by the very people

who should have recognized him and

received him we cannot expect anything

less than that so let's trust him and

recognize there's joy set before us

it says in verse 4 you have not yet

resisted to the point of shedding blood

in your striving against sin look the

only way you can say all right I've had

as much hope as I can have I've trusted

Jesus as much as I can I've been looking

to him as Faithfully as I possibly can

and I can give no more

and now I don't know what else to do the

only way you can truly say that is if

you've actually been martyred for the

faith at that point you can say yes I

gave everything until you've actually

laid your life down for the gospel until

you've been persecuted to the point

where you have lost everything including

your own life you have not

been as committed as anyone possibly can

be

so in the meantime

be as committed as you possibly can be

right now and whatever comes comes but

of course seek out guidance be discipled

by another believer who's older than you

and knows the word of God better than

you and this is key for you actually

becoming more conformed to the image of

Jesus Christ and now for Romans chapter

8 verses 29 to 30. now we've already

gone through these verses in a couple

other previous videos because they keep

applying to so many of these Concepts

and so we're going to visit them one

more time it says for those who me

foreknew God he also predestined to

become conformed to the image of his son

Jesus so that he would be the firstborn

among many Brethren and these whom he

predestined he also called and these

whom he called he also Justified and

these whom he justified he also

glorified so it says that he predestined

us to be conformed to the image of his

son he predestined us to be conformed to

the image of his son that conforming to

the image of Jesus happens both

instantaneously in the moment that a

person comes to Faith in Jesus Christ

when they are regenerated when they

become a new creation

but it also comes gradually we become

conformed to the image of the son of

Jesus

as our character our our mind our will

and our emotions start to become more

and more conformed to the way Jesus

lived on the earth as that happens

this scripture is fulfilled in our lives

and it becomes more evidence that we

actually belong to him now second

Corinthians Chapter 3 Verse 18 but we

all with unveiled face beholding as in a

mirror the glory of the Lord

are being transformed into the same

image from glory to glory Justice from

the Lord the spirit we are being

transformed it's a process so for some

people here's how this process looks a

guy is totally addicted to drugs

he comes to Faith in Jesus

completely loses all craving and desire

for the drugs never touches them again

awesome now on the other hand that same

guy is also addicted to pornography

he won't touch the drugs anymore he's

given that up and he's no he no longer

even feels that addiction that desire

anymore but he is fighting with

pornography and over the course of

decades he has smaller small victories

little by little

and then eventually after 30 years of

fighting

he never has a desire to look again

never again at pornography

this is

really a good example of the kind of

thing that happens for many Believers

certain things they become Christians

and they never want to do it again the

the sins that they loved they now hate

and they hate it in such a way that

their zero craving never do it again

other sin issues

it's like breathing for them

they don't do other things that they

used to do they don't crave other things

they that they used to Crave certain

things are easy for them to say no to

that it's hard for other Christians to

say no to

but then there's this one area

well if you're in that place let me just

tell you don't give up and find some

other believers who are going to be in

this battle with you God does not save

people into an orphanage he saves them

into a family we talked about this in

the previous video regarding adoption if

you are born again if you're a new

creation in Jesus make sure you've got

other Christians around you and I'm not

just talking about Christians you listen

to in a podcast I'm talking about

Christians who are actually in

relationship with you they know you

personally and they are able to hold you

accountable to the very things you say

you want to live for and so you can both

encourage each other in the Lord you can

as a community as a group of people

knowing each other's lives deeply

encourage each other towards the good

works that God has prepared for you

before the beginning of creation I'm

actually referencing Ephesians 2 10 as

well as another scripture there

so let's look at one more passage and

then we're going to wrap up this

discussion on sanctification First

Corinthians chapter three and we're

going to start at verse 10 and end

around verse 15. starting at verse 10.

according to the grace of God which was

given to me like a wise master builder I

laid a foundation this is Paul speaking

here and he's talking to the Corinthian

Church which he helped to found

and another is building on that

Foundation but each man must be careful

how he builds on it for no man can lay a

foundation other than the one which is

laid which is Jesus Christ

now if any man builds on the foundation

with gold silver precious stones wood

hay straw

each man's work will become evident for

the day he's talking about the day of

the Lord the day of judgment the day

will show it because it is to be

revealed with fire and the fire itself

will test the quality of each man's work

you see there is going to be a judgment

and we're not talking about the Judgment

of who goes to heaven and who goes to

hell there is a forthcoming judgment on

the last day

about those who are in Christ those who

actually trust him

to test the works of their lives to test

the way they have built on the

foundation of Jesus in their lives

this is a terrifying thought in the

regard of it's not about death

eternally versus life eternally it's

actually about eternal rewards let's

continue

if any man's work which he has built on

it remains he will receive a reward yes

there's actual description of rewards

what does that mean I still don't

entirely know but from what I've

gathered it has to do with certain kinds

of access of intimacy or certain kinds

of possibly responsibilities and

Eternity what does that look like I

don't know there are a number of

scriptures on this I'll leave that to

people who are experts on the end times

and in the New Jerusalem Book of

Revelation uh Daniel Ezekiel and other

passages but the one thing I see here is

there's a promise of a reward for those

whose lives whose Works survive the fire

if any man's work verse 15 is burned up

he will suffer loss but he himself will

be saved yet so as through fire so there

are going to be some Christians they

enter into eternity they're born again

they're saved

but they have nothing of anything in

their lives the way they lived that's

going to survive that testing of Fire

what survives the fire

well first of all we have wood hay and

stubble that are mentioned here and

those are easily found above the ground

that cost very little

and so you can get them quite easily

relatively compared to Gold Silver and

precious stones

but Gold Silver and precious stones

those are below the ground you have to

dig for them they're harder to find if

you spent a hundred dollars on wood hay

or stubble you're going to get a lot

more of those than you are on gold

silver or precious stones so a key idea

here is that a lot of the things just

like old silver and precious stones are

hidden they're in secret

The Works that matter most that God is

looking for that are going to survive

the fire of testing for Eternal rewards

are ones that aren't necessarily seen

they may be hidden

what are these Works what are some of

these things that are going to survive

well there are two things I know that

are Eternal and I have to credit Stan

Bauer for having taught this to me

it's the souls of men and the word of

God if we invest our lives in The Souls

of men in the words of words of God then

we are investing in something Eternal

something that survives the fire of

testing what do I mean by investing in

The Souls of men making disciples how is

that done it's a relationship you grab

your bible and as long as you're you've

read one more chapter than the guy

you're trying to help teach it to then

you can teach him what the Bible says

but if he gets ahead of you maybe he'll

start discipling you maybe he will be

appalled to you and you can be his

Timothy

just as Paul disciple Timothy we read

about this in other parts of the New

Testament

now we were sent on a mission that Jesus

actually announced in Matthew chapter

28. where he says go into all the world

and make disciples he says we're to do

this because all authority in heaven and

on Earth has been given to him

he says all authority in heaven on Earth

have been given to me go therefore and

Make Disciples of all Nations teaching

them

to obey the things I've commanded you

baptizing them in the name of the Father

the Son and the Holy Spirit

and behold I'm with you always even to

the end of the age he promises intimacy

and and access to himself for eternity

but it's also in connection with a

mission we've been sent on to teach the

word of God to teach the truth of the

Gospel to other people in a relational

way that's what Jesus did with his

disciples for three years he spent time

with them and often discipleship

actually looks like wasting time while

you are investing the word of God in

another man's life maybe you go play

golf together or maybe you go grab a

beer together

whatever it is and of course if you have

an alcohol issue then don't get a beer

together get a soda together

but or a kombucha I guess that might be

what a lot of people do but

no this is an opportunity to be engaged

in a sanctifying work

of investing in something that we carry

into the next life and I say it's a

sanctifying work how so well as I have

personally been trying to invest in the

lives of other men I've seen God call me

out on my own hypocrisies I've actually

seen the word of God that I'm sharing

with another man to serve and help him

accuse my own heart in a way where it's

actually showing me Phil

see the specific area of sin in your

life that has to change

and so I actually had this happen where

I met with a guy I shared some things

with him and I realized after that

meeting oh my gosh the things I just

shared with him I'm not living this out

and so a week later I told him you know

this thing I pointed out to you I

realized I'm missing that Mark too

you see it's one thing to receive

teaching from the Bible through another

man it's something else to receive to

receive it through trying to teach

another that's really where the rubber

starts to meet the road in a whole new

way

so today we've just talked about

sanctification

Eternal rewards is something that really

has to do with what's coming in the next

life and that is really where we get

into our last video our last session

which is coming next glorification the

fact is there is something more

wonderful and glorious coming

and it's come because

God has reconciled those who've trusted

in Jesus

he's Justified us he's regenerated

regenerated us he's adopted us and he's

sanctifying us and this is all to remedy

the problem of sin to ultimately get

back to the ultimate purpose of God in

creation which is that all things would

exist for his glory and all things would

exist in relationship with him perfectly

to his honor and Glory forever will God

bless you and have a great day