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1979 – Robert Hansen starts working for the KGB.
1985 – Aldrich ames starts working for the KGB.
1980 – Dmitri Polyyakov (codenamed TOPHAT), a General in the Soviet army
(working for the US), is betrayed and executed.
1983 – Hansen assigned to the Soviet counterintelligence unit, charged with
finding Soviet spies working within the United States.
1985 – CIA - operatives and double agents in the Soviet Union start disappearing at an alarming rate.
1987 – Hanssen was asked to head a task force to find the guy who revealed 3 agents, two of which were executed, one imprisoned. He was looking for
himself.
1989 – FBI tunnel under the Soviet embassy is exposed.
Feb. 1994 – Ames arrested. They thought they had it all taken care of…
2001 – Hansen arrested while making a drop of information. First words, “What took you so long?”
For centuries, Christians have said that we have three enemies: The World, the Flesh, The Devil.
What we're talking about here is "THE FLESH," not meaning your body, but your sinful nature.
Last week, we talked about the importance of
Let me give you four facts that no Christian in the world who believes the Bible disagrees with.
1. God is holy.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy.
2. He calls His people to be holy.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
3. We are born with a sin nature, which produces acts of sin.
Isa 6:5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
So we have two things going against us:
> Guilt for acts of sin
> Corruption of the nature of sin.
4. This nature remains in the heart even after forgiveness.
You have a new nature when you become a Christian, a new nature of righteousness, but now you have two natures:
> The nature of Christ
> The sinful nature
This is what why James says:
James 1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Double-minded.
If you've been a Christian for any amount of time at all, you know that feeling.... I am following Jesus... I want right -- but something in me wants wrong too!
So far, what I've said -- every evangelical Christian in the world agrees with. Really -- there's not one orthodox theology person in the world that disagrees with those four ideas.
So the next question is:
What does God do about it? We're saved, but we still have a nature of sin, and old habits that tie us to the old life.
The answer to the that question is the secret to glorious freedom.
The answer is the doctrine of SANCTIFICATION.
Justification means "forgiven, declared not guilty." it concerns the acts of sin. It happens in a moment of time.
Sanctification means "being made holy." It concerns the habits and nature of sin.
TWO APPROACHES
Everyone agrees on the problem.
What makes us unique as Methodists, as "holiness people" is what we believe God does about it.
Approach #1: Deprivation
Most denominations in the church world believe that you must continue to struggle against the sin nature until someday you go to heaven.
They read the commands to holiness, and say, "Well, isn't it a shame we can't actually DO that?"
Approach #2: Possibility
We believe that when God says, "Be holy" - he has also provided the grace to do that.
We believe that God can take out the betrayer.
James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
We believe God can do something more with sin that just forgive it. He can break its power in your life.
How does he do that?
By utter and complete surrender to Christ, and faith in the sanctifying power of His Holy Spirit.
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For centuries, CHristians have said that we have three enemies: The World, the _______________________, and The Devil. This message is about the "flesh" and what God can do about it.
4 facts that no Christian in the world who believes the Bible disagrees with:
1. God is _________________.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy.
2. He calls His _________________ to be holy.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
3. We are born with a sin ____________________, which produces acts of sin.
Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
4. This nature ___________________ in the heart even after forgiveness.
This is what why James says:
James 1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
So the next question is:
What does God do about it? We're saved, but we still have a nature of sin, and old habits that tie us to the old life.
The answer is the doctrine of ___________________________________.
Justification means "_____________________, declared not guilty."
Sanctification means "being made _________________."
James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
We believe God can do something more with sin that just ________________________________. He can break its power in your life.
