Sanification (vic stock)

Sanctification Is Needed to Bring Back the Image of God TUESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2008 08:57 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 This is the third part of our study on Sanctification from Romans chapters 6,7, and 8, which is emphasizing living to the Spirit of God, by crucifying the flesh. Additionally, Paul was also dealing with the law in the 7th chapter. There is bondage in merely knowing the law. Paul often dealt with the issues concerning the law to show that people need something more than the constraints of the law to serve God. Some people will compromise on the scriptures by leaving out part (Romans chapter 6 and 8), and focus only on part of the scriptures (like in Romans chapter 7) to use them in a way that lets them live the way that they want to. We can't do that if we sincerely want to make heaven our home. Romans chapter 6 deals with the need to crucify the flesh. Chapter 7 shows that people in the flesh are under the power of sin, and the law further exposes the working of sin. Chapter 8 deals with how we can be delivered completely from sin and the very nature to sin. Paul exhorted us to stay holy and to stay true. Sanctification is not a partial work that we are working to attain to. There is a work and growth in Christ but that is not sanctification. There is a fleshly, carnal nature that everyone is born with, but God did not originally create man and woman that way. God originally created man in his own image, or with his own divine and holy nature - without sin. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26 God is a spirit, not a fleshly body. The image God spoke about creating man in was not a physical one, but rather a spiritual one - one that is pure and holy in nature. God said. “let us”. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always been "one". To fully understand this "oneness" you must come to understand the love that makes them one! Jesus prayed (in John the 17th chapter) for his apostles to be one with “us”. That divine love image he was referring to was a reflection of the image of God, the love that causes them to be one. God created man with that divine love. When man sinned, he lost that divine nature of sacrificial love. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: Genesis 5:3 Because Adam lost the image of God when he sinned, Adam’s son, Seth, was in Adam's image, not God's. The offspring's image from Adam and Eve was not the same as the image that God gave Adam and Eve when he created them. That nature is a fleshly nature that tends to a self purpose. It will be at odds with sacrificial love nature of God. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 We need to preserve our soul, spirit, and body, for God's purposes. The Old Testament sacrifices of the law never took care of sanctifying the nature of man. The sacrifice of Jesus life's blood, held the plan to take care of the soul and the nature. Our nature needs to be changed to become a divine one motivated by sacrificial love. Sanctification defines a heart that is cleansed with blood and set aside for only a holy use. The blood must be applied to the soul and the nature, to be purged in sanctification. We are today the temple of the Lord, and by the experience of sanctification we can be set aside for only God's use. When the apostles were with Jesus, they were saved, but were not sanctified - yet. On the day of Pentecost, they were sanctified. The blood of Christ does the second work also, which is the necessity of the carnal nature being purged. The Holy Ghost reigning within sets us aside for holy use. The body stays preserved by crucifying the flesh. The body lives holy because the old fleshly man is crucified. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Romans 8:1-9 The selfish, fleshly nature is still there if we have not been sanctified. If we don’t surrender it to be purged, it will draw us back into sin. If you are not sanctified, the Spirit of God is not reigning on the inside. Thank God we do not have to be in bondage to the fleshly nature if we will fully place our lives on the altar of sacrificial love and service to the Lord!