Even those of us who speak the same language might have a bit of trouble understanding each other if we are from different areas of our country. Pop to a person from up north is translated "Coke" down south. So the words are locational.
Over the last few weeks in our Wednesday night Bible study we have been studying what I call "Churchy words". These are words that are used almost exclusively in the church or religious setting. We discussed words like redemption, justification, atonement, adoption, and grace. I doubt that you use many of those words on a regular basis anywhere outside the church setting. So I thought that it might behoove us to look at the meaning of those words and see if we could understand the practical use of them.
I will not take the time here to go over those aforementioned words, (You should have been in Bible study) but I do want to take time to cover on word that I love and feel is important to understand.
If you have been around a Wesleyan denomination for any length of time you have undoubtedly heard the word SANCTIFY or SANCTIFICATION used. This is definitely not a word that you would hear used on the streets of your town, in Wal-Mart or the supermarket. Other than in the context of the Bible and the church I have never heard it used.
Most people who sit under the teaching or preaching of this topic enter into the session unsure, confused and bewildered about it. When they leave the session they are usually MORE unsure, confused and bewildered about it. The topic seems so hard. Hard to understand and hard to experience. Most simply chose to just ignore it, forget it or leave it alone. "It might be for some but it's definitely not for me" they will say.
I hope I can present this in a way that will give a clear understanding of the topic and leave you with a hunger to experience sanctification.
To review what we discussed in prior lessons, there are two types of sin.
- Actual or personal sin: Which is defined as, intentional, deliberate, pre-meditated breaking or violation of the known will of God by a morally responsible person.
- Inherited or original sin: Which is sin we are born with, which leaves us with a natural bent or proclivity or desire to commit actual or personal sin.
But there is still something there inside of us that is bending us, pushing us to commit things that go directly against God's will. That thing, that desire, that attitude is in fact what the Wesleyan movement calls inbred, inherited or original sin.
If there was no book or doctrine to tell you about this condition, you would recognize it on your own. No one has to convince you that after you were saved, after you gave your heart to God, deep down inside of you there was still that longing, that desire to go against the directions and leadership of God.
Please understand that this is more than temptation. Everyone is tempted. Jesus Himself was tempted. Temptation is not sin. Get as deep with God as you can go. Get as close to God as you can get. There is still no place while you are still on this earth where temptation can not reach you. You will always, as long as you are on the south side of Heaven, be tempted. Know this, Salvation and sanctification will not deliver you from temptation.
Original sin is the same thing that possessed Adam and Eve when they decided it as okay to eat the fruit that God had said not to eat. It's the same thing that caused David to look across the rooftops at Bathsheba and decide it was okay for him to call her to his room and not only have sexual relations with her but afterwards to kill her husband to cover up his sin. It's the same thing that cause Judas to sell Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. And it's the same thing that has caused every sin in every man and woman since that day in the Garden of Eden. It is SELFISHNESS. It is doing what I want to do and not what God wants me to do.
There are two meanings to sanctification.
1. To set apart: We have discussed this before. When the Hebrews were preparing the tabernacle and the ancient temple they would take a piece of furniture, a lamp, a table or a chair and sanctify that article to God. It was set aside for His use.
Once sanctified it was not to be used by others for other purposes. Many times we dismiss this meaning as not being very important. When we set ourselves apart to God we should understand and live our lives differently from the world.
If the world does drugs, we shouldn't. If it's okay with the world that men and women drink themselves into a stupor, it should not be so with us. If the president of the United States or congress or the Supreme court says it's okay for men to sleep with men and women to sleep with women, if they want to call it an "alternate lifestyle", it should not be our life style. We are to be set aside and be different. We belong to God and are set aside for His use.
2. Be clean or pure: Not only were these items set apart and separated but they were also made clean. Someone took them and purposefully and ceremoniously cleaned them before it could be used for God's purpose. God won't used dirty tools or vessels.
So sanctification comes down to this: Give your heart to God and ask Him to clean if an fill it with His Holy Spirit. Simple enough, right?
I don't have to tell you that you can't do this on your own do I? All of my efforts, all of my promises, all of my rituals and church going and praying and Bible study and disciplines CANNOT MAKE ME CLEAN.
I have a part and God has a part. Just as in salvation, I cannot come to God without being drawn by the Holy Spirit. So to in sanctification. The Holy Spirit must convict my heart and convince me that I need to be sanctified. He may do this by a sermon, a lesson, a song, a talk with a friend or by whatever method He might chose. But you will feel that pull just as you did when God put you under conviction regarding salvation.
My part: Ask God to take my all and set it apart and make it clean for His purpose.
His part: In response to my total surrender, God gives me His Holy Spirit to make me clean.
The hard part for us is usually the surrendering, the dying out to self and selfishness. When we get there it is a simple matter.
I love this verse, "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE, will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him". (Luke 11:13)
It comes down to a matter of your will. I have used the illustration several times. If you are at the helm of a ship and the captain says "Make your heading zero nine zero." You turn the helm to that setting, you are doing the captain's bidding and eventually the ship will come around to that heading. It is your job to set the helm.
I surrender my will, my life, my health, my happiness, my desires, my money, my future, my family, my death and my heavenly home completely to God. My helm is set. What freedom! No longer do I have to worry about it. No longer is it my problem. God has control of my life. It is in His hands. Now I have that Glorious Freedom that we sing about.
Will I be tempted? Yes
Can I give in to those temptations? Yes
Can I sin after I am sanctified? Yes
Am I at the mercy of Satan and must I do his bidding? Absolutely not!
Can I ask you the same question Paul asked the church at Ephesus? "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed"? If not why wait?
A while back I told you how God spoke to me down by the "branch" behind my house. He said ever so clearly, "If you give me all you've got, I'll give you all you ever need". I believe that with all my heart.
Give Him your all, ask Him to clean you and use you for His glory. If you do, He is waiting to give you all you will ever need.
