Get The Mansion!

"Get the Mansion!"

Author: Dr. Neal Gray

Passage: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Purpose: What does sanctification mean? It

means to 1) separate, 2) dedicate, and 3) to be

filled. All of this happens by the power of

God; but He will not intrude upon our lives

unless we grant Him permission in sincere

faith.

INTRODUCTION

Opening

Last week I had the occasion to go near to

downtown Baltimore, to the world-famous

Johns Hopkins hospital, for a hospital visit

with a person. Even though I received good

instructions on how to get to this hospital,

still I missed the highway exit and had to

find an alternate way.

The road I took put me in the middle of

the old downtown residence area. I want you

to know, (if you haven’t been to this part

of Baltimore, Maryland), that the houses

there are old, small, and ugly. Personally,

I hope I never have to live there.

But it made me think about a parallel

situation we have in our spiritual lives. As

Christians, we are no longer renters in

life; we own land, "spiritual land" if you

will. But without the presence and full

commitment to live our lives as Jesus would

have us to, our life is about as crumbly,

unattractive, and even undesirable as those

houses.

God has much work He wants and needs to

do in our lives. And something wonderful

happens when we turn our "homes," i.e., our

lives, over to Jesus for Him to wonderfully,

miraculously transform into "mansions."

Jesus Upgrades Our Lives

The Lord Jesus totally "upgrades" our lives.

He doesn’t simply "fix us up," but rather He

completely changes us into a person who has

magnificent qualities. Consider this passage

written by St. John the Apostle:

And we have come to know and have

believed the love which God has

for us. God is love, and the one

who abides in love abides in God,

and God abides in him. By this,

love is perfected with us, that we

may have confidence in the day of

judgment; BECAUSE AS HE IS, SO

ALSO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD. (1 John

4:16-17)

Jesus makes us "as He is"! I would take

it that He expects us--we who are like Him--

to live, think, behave, and set our sights

in life just as He did.

I truly believe that there are great

numbers of Christian men and women who long

daily for the victory of the Risen and

Victorious Christ in their lives, even here

in this world! They want victory in Jesus!

They want to live "as He is." But because of

unbelief, un-surrender, and smallness of

faith, they fail to live deeply in Christ.

So their lives lack the brilliance that

God so much wants to give to them. Listen

closely this morning. Perhaps you and the

Holy Spirit of Christ might come to an

agreement; because Jesus your Savior is

offering to give you so much more right now!

He wants you to have victory right now!

Scripture

Our Scripture is primarily from 2

Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Let’s see from this

passage that God tells us to "perfect

holiness."

THE REAL PROBLEM

Introduction

We who are called "sons and daughters" of

the Lord can be thankful that our heavenly

Father is the God of Peace.

Peace and Reconciliation Go Together

It is a very good thing for us, because by

their very nature, PEACE AND RECONCILIATION

GO TOGETHER. It is useless to seek to be on

good terms with God until you are firmly

convinced by faith and by your heart’s

experience that He is the God of peace.

Look at any person who has just found the

mercy and grace of Christ in their lives.

The first thing that they want to tell you

is that FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIFE,

THEY HAVE REAL PEACE.

The Ugliness When We Fail to Live

as the Savior Lived

But, what happens to the freshly new-born

Christian when the influences of the world,

of sinning friends, of pressures to renounce

their new faith creep in? What happens when

the "sons and daughters" of God "touch what

is unclean"?

I’ll tell you what happens: that

Christian, who is surely a saved person,

begins to look as ugly as those downtown

shanties. They PROFESS TO BELIEVE in the

awesome power of the Son of God--which means

they know they can be like Him--yet THEY

LIVE AS THOUGH THE DEVILISH GOD OF THIS

WORLD is the one they really want to follow.

Oh yes, there are many ways to disguise

that sinful life. But paint, siding, and

sweeping the front porch can only do so much

to cover the truth of the deteriorating

condition. (Most usually, it is the person

who fools himself or herself with cover-up

tactics.) And the whole world, who sees