I. Introduction
The Lord is looking for a people who will love Him and serve Him and be His. When God created Adam and Eve in the garden it was with the thought that they and their descendants would love and worship God but they failed Him.
Then God destroyed the world with a flood and that Noah would father a race to love him, but that did not work out either, so He chose one man, Abram, and have His descendants follow Him, but they could not do it either. So He chose one tribe, the Levites, to be faithful servants but neither were they up to the task. It makes sense in a way because “by the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 3:11)
So Jesus the Son of God came and made a way for God and man to be reconciled but one thing has not changed: He is seeking people to serve God, and we must take care to do things God’s way.
We speak much of salvation and so we should for without it we are without hope, and we speak of deliverance, but we seem to forget the thought of sanctification.
SANCTIFICATION, SANCTIFY
hagiasmos NT:38, "sanctification," is used of (a) separation to God, 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; (b) the course of life befitting those so separated, 1 Thess 4:3,4,7; Rom 6:19,22; 1 Tim 2:15; Heb 12:14. "Sanctification is that relationship with God into which men enter by faith in Christ, Acts 26:18; 1 Cor 6:11, and to which their sole title is the death of Christ, Eph 5:25,26; Col 1:22; Heb 10:10,29; 13:12.
"Sanctification is also used in NT of the separation of the believer from evil things and ways. This sanctification is God’s will for the believer, and His purpose in calling him by the gospel; it must be learned from God, as He teaches it by His Word, and it must be pursued by the believer, earnestly and undeviatingly. For the holy character, hagiosune, is not vicarious, i. e., it cannot be transferred or imputed, it is an individual possession, built up, little by little, as the result of obedience to the Word of God, and of following the example of Christ.[i]
II. Break The Yokes
2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
-This is one of the most abused verses in the Bible and has been use falsely to try to justify many things, including bigotry but these do not fit (not kidding they tried to use this as a verse against interracial relationships!)
-The simple plain truth is that we need to be not yoked together with non-believers.
Unequally Yoked is NT:2086 heterozugeo (het-er-od-zoog-eh’-o); from a compound of NT:2087 and NT:2218; to yoke up differently, i.e. (figuratively) to associate discordantly: KJV - unequally yoke together with.[ii]
-This is a condemnation of all intimate relationships with non-believers. We are not to be bound by marriage, business partnerships, or close friendships. The negative impact will always bring the higher down to the lower. If that woman is living a life of sin now you will not bring her up with your relationship, she will bring you down. You will not change the unethical business partner, but he will soil your reputation. The same is true for close friendships; they will drag you down into the sewer with them.
-This does not mean we avoid them at all cost, we have to love them and care for them and let the light of Christ shine abroad in our hearts. To help to lead them to Jesus.
III. Touch Not The Unclean Thing
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
In times past God dwelt in tabernacles and temples built by the hands of men but now God dwells in the hearts of men. The saved are His temple now:
1 Cor 6:19-20
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Come out: to start the processes we must be willing to leave the old life behind and be separate.
Leave those former things behind, those things that will make us unclean. There were many laws given on this in the Old Testament (unclean anmials, dead bodies, women during their “time of the month”, etc.) but we are given new guidelines in the New Testament.
IV. A New Standard
1 Thess. 4:3-7
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
-Abstain from fornication: NT:4202 porneia (por-ni’-ah); from NT:4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry: KJV - fornication.[iii]
-While in the OT a lot of the uncleanliness referred to what went into us, like what we ate, or what we touched, no blood, no dead bodies, the NT introduces a new standard.
-Physical fornication: that is committing any sexual sin, and for the record the only sex allowed is in marriage between one man and one woman. Anything else is forbidden.
-Emotional Fornication: Jesus upped the ante on this one:
Matt 5:27-28
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
-This covers every wicked thought we have. We need to remember we will be judged on every wicked though and idle word spoken.
Matt 15:17-20
Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
-Moral Fornication: This is idolatry. What is idolatry? Anything more important to you is an idol and becomes idolatry. most of us today feel we are too sophisticated to bow down to a statue, but look around us, we have images of men and by the definition of idols, we have them here folks!
We may not bow to statues of Mary and the saints, but what do we bow to in our hearts? Is it money, status, jobs, cars, TV, the pillow God? Even good things can become idols if we allow them to rule us. I know a man who almost lost his wife because his ministry became the most important thing to him, not the God he served. We need to keep a close watch on our hearts.
V. How Can We Hope to Succeed?
How can we hope to hold to any standard of sanctification? If all our righteousness is as filthy rags and all our best efforts fall short, how can we hope to succeed?
The good news is we are not alone.
1 Thess. 5:23-24
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. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
The God of Peace, our Saviour, is able to lead us into sanctification. He wants our obedience, our willingness, and if we humbly submit to Him, willing to be changed by Him, then He will do the work in us.
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[i] Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[ii] Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.
[iii] Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.
