Outside The Gate

OUTSIDE THE GATE

“And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.”

—Hebrews 13:12.

We live in a day, and in a world that is pulling us all in many directions.

We know that with our busy schedules we have to stay on track with what we are doing. Go here…go there…do this…do that. With each new day we wonder, “Will I ever catch up with all that I am supposed to be doing?”

The Bottom Line - Our time is precious.

Precious to us but it is, as well, very precious to the Lord.

For the younger ones here today, I will say that I can remember when I thought I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted to with my life.

For the older ones, as myself, I would only say,

“We know better…don’t we…???”

When we are young, we procrastinate.

When we are old, we may give up.

Listen carefully –

1. The things of God are more important for us to complete than we know. At any age.

2. The Lord has given to us His righteousness so that we can make every moment count.

How does the Lord give to us His righteousness? Sanctification.

Sanctification is given to us by what Jesus Christ has accomplished, Himself.

He accomplished our SANCTIFICATION entirely on His own when He bled and died for us on the cross of Calvary.

We know that Jesus has given to us many wonderful spiritual things.

And we praise Him for those blessings.

Wisdom, peace, love, values, etc…

But did you realize this SANCTIFICATION is meant for us to be blessed with now and forever…throughout eternity?

SANCTIFICATION also has to do with what the Spirit is doing within us today.

The Bible says there is a work which God accomplishes by means of the Holy Spirit from the first moment we are saved (born again), to the last moment

when we are taken to heaven.

This work is a direct result of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. But this sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is something we can experience now. We can actually see the results of it.

This work of SANCTIFICATION is proven to us when we are tempted with the evils of this world. We can overcome the corruptions and lusts in our lives with the SANCTIFICATION of the Holy Spirit.

That is, if we allow the Holy Spirit to..??

And as a result, our faith is increased.

To put it more simply, SANCTIFICATION means tow things –

1. We are pardoned from our sins (we have committed).

2. We are cleansed from the sins (we are about to commit).

It is both. SANCTIFICATION is doing two jobs at the same time. Probably twice as much work for you as you thought.

Some of you may have (recently) been tempted by something, but this time you noticed that you didn’t do it.

You may have asked yourself, “Self…why didn’t I just do what I used to do? You know…sin the same old sin I always have sinned?”

The answer is the SANCTIFYING work of the Holy Spirit stopped you!

Imagine this with me – there is a divine fountain of the Blood of Jesus pouring out and being delivered to you (personally) by the Holy Spirit.

Sound a little strange to you?

Not really…do you remember what poured out of the side of Jesus?

Of the four disciples who recorded the crucifixion of Jesus, (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) it was only John who made note of this.

(It is our KEY VERSE)

John 19:34

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

John was emphatic about this so he also wrote in I John 5:6 -

This is He who came by water and blood-- Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness…

Listen carefully and don’t miss this -

There is a sacred water given to us from the atonement of the death of Jesus.

It is applied to our heart, sprinkling us and cleansing us from dead works.

The work of the Holy Spirit with the “blood and water” is purging you from an evil conscience that we may serve God without the hindrance of sin.

We must look to Jesus knowing that the

Spirit is sanctifying us through His blood.

Furthermore, we must understand that the nearer we live to the cross of Jesus, the more of SANTIFICATION, and spiritual growth we will see in our lives.

Listen again to our passage:

“And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.”