You know what is encouraging, living for Christ is not about me, but about Him.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I honestly struggle to pursue Christ. I don’t know about you but sometimes I struggle to really live for Christ. I mean, really live for Christ. I mean seriously live for Christ. Let me say that it is easy to fake it. It is easy to look good on the outside, that is what the Pharisees did. They looked good on the outside. But what about those thoughts that come inside your head? What about what you are NOT doing? What about spiritual disciplines. Jesus calls us, and really offers us, a “relationship” with Him.

The Apostle Paul had the same problem turn with me to Romans 7:14-25:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Notice the end of the passage, who delivers him, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Sanctification means to set apart. If you are a Christian you are positionally set apart for holiness in God’s eyes.

1 Cor. 6:11 is positional sanctification: And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

God has set us apart for His glory and purposes. God has made you righteous. This happens at the moment of salvation. But, on the other hand, we still struggle with sin. God wants us to be sanctified in this life and this is something only God can do. I want to re-title “sanctification” as “living for Christ.”

My theme today:

Sanctification, let’s call it “Living For Christ,” is not about us but about HIM.

Application:

Let Christ be Lord. Be encouraged that you are sanctified in His eyes.  

Sanctification:

 I received these steps in sanctification from the Christian and Missionary Alliance website:

https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/sanctifier

1. You cannot make yourself holy any more than you can make yourself saved! (Rom. 6:11; Rom. 12:1-2)
   1. Remember sanctification is about Him and not about you. Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you,brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
   2. Romans 6:11: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sinbut alive to God in Christ Jesus.
   3. You can try all you want but you really cannot live the Christian life on your own strength.
   4. You can try and you may look pretty good, but it is simply “sin-management.” I think some can do pretty good on “sin-management” without Christ. “Sin-management” is recognizing that certain things are harmful so we quit doing them. It is about taking things out. “Sin-management” is like dieting.
      1. We take out sweets because they are harmful and so maybe we take out bad words.
      2. We take out fatty food because they are harmful so maybe we take out lies.

• We take out soda because it is not good so we take out pornography.

1. We take out potatoes because they are not good for you and so we take out lust.
2. We take out, we take out.
3. Sometimes we add things such as vegetables and in the Christian life maybe you add going to church.

1. This still is not surrender and this still makes YOU in charge. But we need to let Christ be in charge. Surrender to Jesus and let Him take care of you.
2. There comes a point in the Christian life when we realize we cannot do this in our own strength. No matter what I take out, I am burdened. No matter what I take out, I still desire sin.
3. The Christian going through sanctification, meaning living for Christ, still will sin, but they desire to live for Christ, not sin. The more sanctified you are, the more living for Christ you are, the more you don’t desire sin and the more you desire to live for Christ. You desire the fruit of the Spirit: love joy, pace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
4. The surrendered Christian, striving to live for Christ is convicted of that sin because it hurts Jesus. They ask Jesus to convict them.
5. Sanctification, let’s call it “Living For Christ,” is not about us but about HIM.

1. Christ is your Sanctifier in the same way that He is your Savior! (Col. 2:6; Gal. 2:20)
   1. Accept that we need Jesus, we cannot do this on our own.
   2. 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
   3. It is about dying to self and letting Jesus live through you.
   4. Don’t just take stuff out, put Jesus in. Add the light.
   5. 2:6: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,continue to live your lives in him…
   6. Sanctification, let’s call it “Living For Christ,” is not about us but about HIM.

• Maintain a continuous relationship with Jesus through obedience to his Word. (John 15:1-11)
  1. In John 15:1-11 Jesus gives His abide in me illustration. We have to be branches connected to Him. He is the vine and we are the branches. Every branch that does not bear fruit is cut off and thrown in the fire, but if we bear fruit He makes it so we can bear more fruit.
  2. Jesus says in John 15:4: Remain in me, as I also remain in you.No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
  3. That is sanctification, remaining in Christ, living in His strength.
  4. Sanctification, let’s call it “Living For Christ,” is not about us but about HIM.
  5. I could easily say it is about the Spiritual Disciplines and it is, but it is more than that. It is a mindset that you really desire Jesus to be Your Lord. You desire to serve Him and not sin. You don’t desire to sin in your thought life but serve Jesus. You don’t desire to sin in your actions but serve Christ. You desire to be connected to Him. You desire to be connected to the Vine.

Close:

Many times I have a lot of sticks and tree branches in my yard, a storm will come and dead branches fall out of the trees. Sometimes live branches are cut off. In this case the tree branch has green leaves on it. I drag it over to the wood pile. Within a few days that tree branch is dry, the leaves are dry and they fall off. It totally changes. That is us without Christ. Without Christ the life is not in us. With Christ we are growing, green and ripe and we bear fruit.

That is sanctification, living for Christ, it is being connected to Him. Can a tree branch grow apart from the trunk? Can a tree branch bear fruit apart from the trunk? We need Jesus. The Christian life is about Jesus. Christ is our sanctifier.

Let Christ be Lord. Be encouraged that you are sanctified in His eyes.  

I am encouraged that I am made righteous in God’s sight. But I am also encouraged that I don’t have, and cannot, live the Christian life in my own strength, only in His.

The Bible teaches three tenses of salvation:

• I have been saved: Justification
• I am being saved: Sanctification
• I will be saved: Glorification[1]

Do you know Him? Are you wholly surrendered? Or, are you living the Christian life on your own strength?

Luke 9:23

Let’s pray.

• God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)
• Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)
• Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)
• Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)
• Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)
• Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

 

[1] https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/sanctifier